Lead Facts Did you know the following facts about lead?   FACT: Lead exposure can harm young children and babies even before they are born. FACT: Even children who seem healthy can have high levels of lead in their bodies. FACT: You can get lead in your body by breathing or swallowing lead dust, or by eating soil or paint chips containing lead. FACT: You have many options for reducing lead hazards. In most cases, lead-based paint that is in good condition is not a hazard. FACT: Removing lead-based paint improperly can increase the danger to your family.   If you think your home might have lead hazards, read on to learn about lead and some simple steps to protect your family. Health Effects of Lead Childhood lead poisoning remains a major environmental health problem in the U.S. Even chi... 02/26/2010

Any chance I get I like to notify people of the community of the places we can utilize to take our dump. Working on REOs, as agents we come across alot of homes that have a lot of junk, electronics, paints, etc...that needs to be disposed of and yes, you can take them to the city dump....BUT it'll cost you! As residents, I believe that we should be as conscious as possible about the proper way to dispose of hazardous and electronic waste. As well as utilizing the other recycling methods. Last year, I wrote a Blog: How Do I Get Rid of This Hazardous Waste? With Spring cleaning coming up, we should keep in mind that in addition to cleaning out and donating unwanted clothing items and furniture, we are keeping our homes  free and safe from any hazardous waste and to provide resources on ho... 01/29/2010

Foreclosed homes are not the only deals in town! Although New Home inventory is low, KB Homes does have new homes available.  KB Homes was voted the World's Most Admired Companies in 2009. KB Homes are known for homes that can be Built To Order just for you and have been building quality new homes for more than 50 years.  A List of benefits of owning a brand new home: Great opportunity to live in a home where no one else has lived before.  New One story homes starting at $181,000 with roomy floor plans.  Personalize with Built to Order choices at KB Home Studio.  KB Home 10 Year limited Warranty Homes are Energy Star qualified with features throughout the home that contribute to optimum energy efficiency. There are 6 defining features to an Energy Star qualified home: Effective insulati... 01/04/2010

Weston Ranch is a subdivision located in the southwestern corner of Stockton, California and extends south through an unincorporated portion of San Joaquin County. This community is close to 20 years old and now has  one of the highest foreclosure rates in the U.S for a community. Weston Ranch is a migration of individuals from the Bay Area. Many of these individuals continue to commute back to the Bay Area for work. Along with the City of Stockton being labled as the Ground Zero of foreclosures.    This rating is holding study now with over 584 homes in the Weston Ranch community that are in some form of distress: Pre-foreclosure Auction Bank owned (foreclosure) According to one of the largest MLS listings for the Weston Ranch area - there are: 40 - Active - bank owned listings (DOM: 2... 01/03/2010

Stockton, CA - Oak Park Ice Arena, $5 Ice Skating (Winter Wonderland) Today through Wednesday (December 21-22-23, 2009), Stockton's Oak Park Ice Arena is offering public ice skating sessions for $5, including skate rental. Here are the details from OakParkIceArena.com: Winter Wonderland - Public Ice Skating Dec 21, 2009 (Mon) 1:00 PM Stockton Arena Public Ice Skating 1:00 PM to 9:00 PMSessions are 50 minutes long and start on the hour with limited space available. Skate sizes are limited and are distributed on a first come first serve basis. Session 1 - 1:00pm to 1:50pmSession 2 - 2:00pm to 2:50pmSession 4 - 4:00pm to 4:50pmSession 6 - 6:00pm to 6:50pmSession 7 - 7:00pm to 7:50pmSession 8 - 8:00pm to 9:00pm (FINAL SESSION) Tickets $5.00 - Available at the door. -$5.00 per person includi... 12/21/2009

MA & PA buyers are rolling in the cash to get in on some of these hot deals in Stockton, CA. The word is out! MA & PA buyers are coming over to the San Joaquin Central Valley (mostly Stockton) and buying up these lower than cheap properties and they are coming with  c a s h! That's right.  Properties are selling fast in Stockton and they are being purchased by a lot of first time home buyers but the ones to look out for is the MA & PA that can see a deal and jump on it. Fannie Mae (Bank Owned properties) have put guidelines on their purchases in order to give the owner occupied buyer a break and of course the buyers that are getting assistance from the non-profit organizations.  So they have a rule: •1.      No offers submitted until after 3-5 days on the market •2.      First 15 days o... 12/20/2009

What a joy it is to see our home buyers happy at the end of the home process. With the ability to close their home loan on time or sooner makes the home loan buying process stress free. When a home buyer knows that they can give notice, make plans and prepare to celebrate their new home; these buyers become clients for life. Educating the buyer of the home loan process, being with them every step of the way, is really what it is all about. It is important to make sure the home buyer knows what their new home loan payment will be in addition to any costs out of pocket for them. A good faith estimate is a home buyers best friend. Always get a good faith estimate when you meet with your loan officer-the good faith estimate is an overall picture of the basic financing terms of the loan. Buy... 11/28/2009

FHA Streamline Refinance can REDUCE YOUR MONTHLY PAYMENT  by $50.00 to $200.00 dollars. NO Appraisal, NO bank statements, NO paystubs or W2's!! If your Interest Rate is 6% or more you may be a candidate... Minimum Credit Score of 620.00 required. Estimated Closing days of 30 days or less. 10/02/2009

When shopping for a home loan, one of the best avenue's to finding a good lender is by referral. Ask your local Realtor for a few names of lender's they may recommend. Ask family, friend and co workers who they used and find out how their experience was. Look for a loan officer who is local,working in your community and has experience. In today's market it is important to make sure you work with a loan professional. Ask how long they have been in business, spend some time with them, and most importantly have the loan office discuss in detail your good faith estimate. This form will show you prevailing interest rates, costs associated with the loan and the loan payment. This form should be explained to the buyer in detail. Buying a home can be a fun and exciting process, let your Loan Of... 09/30/2009

One of the nicest homes in the park. 4bedrooms Plus an office. Remolded home- textured walls, newer doors, doorframes, windows, paint, fixtures, kitchen countertops, sink in the kitchen, central heat and air, range hood, and more. Backs up to pastureland.no rear neighbors! Great price, great home, great location! Come make an offer today.. Move in ready. To directly access this property, use this shortcut: http://www.fizber.com/california-buy-mobile-home-home-11648104.html 08/20/2009

Tighter mortgage guidelines since late-2008 are forcing home buyers to make bigger downpayments.  Anecdotally, the change has led to a surge in buyers taking gifts of cash from family members.  If you're among those accepting a cash gift from family, it's important to know that you can't just deposit the money in your bank account.  There is a proper way to accept a cash gift and it requires 3 distinct steps: Complete and sign an acceptable gift letter Document the gifter's withdrawal of funds with teller receipts Document the giftee's deposit of funds with teller receipts See, mortgage lenders pay close attention to gifts-for-downpayments.  For one, lenders have to make sure that downpayment cash is "clean" (i.e. not laundered).  And, secondly, they want the gift to really be a gift an... 08/10/2009

I read as of July 2nd in California Title companies can once again issue us property profiles. That is good news, it feels like as of lately with all the down turn in the market that title companies have turned off the customer service switch. I'm sure it has something to do with the cuts they have had to make as well as the new laws. Lets hope we can all start working closer together to help buyers and sellers   Bryan & Neilla Vargem 07/07/2009

When the recovery in housing finally comes, some housing markets will rebound sooner than others. Real estate forecasting service Local Market Monitor, which covers the nation's 300 largest markets, has identified 13 markets where it predicts home prices will rise in the coming months and 11 markets where it expects home prices will continue to decline significantly. To make these picks, Local Market Monitor uses a proprietary formula. Here are the 13 markets where it expects prices to rise: as you can see we still have some work to do in our market, but it will be a great time to buy Baton Rouge, La. Buffalo-Niagara Falls Dallas-Plano-Irving Fort Worth-Arlington Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway, Ark. McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, Texas Oklahoma City Rochester... 06/27/2009

Qualified, first-time home buyers using a Federal Housing Administration (FHA)-insured mortgage now can apply the $8,000 federal tax credit toward their down payments, the Dept. of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced today. Currently, borrowers applying for an FHA-insured mortgage are required to issue minimum down payments of 3.5 percent. Previously, FHA-approved lenders were not allowed to monetize the tax credit as part of the 3.5 percent; however, under the new guidelines announced this afternoon, borrowers now can use the tax credit as additional down payment, or for other closing costs. For more information, please visit: http://www.hud.gov/news/release.cfm?content=pr09-072.cfm 06/24/2009

Act Now and get in on the money! Neighborhood Stabilization Program  ~   $2 billion has been allocated to the Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP), which is in addition to prior allocations. Be on the lookout for announcements of participating cities / counties that are among the selected areas that will get some of these funds. NSP is an extension of the prior Community Development Block Grant.  Realtors and investors can team with municipalities to purchase foreclosed homes in blighted areas and then resell those homes to families at or below 120% of the area median income.  Limit is that 25% of the funds must be used for families below 50% of the area income. The City of Stockton and County of San Joaquin has started to offer a purchase assistance financing to eligible low- and m... 06/04/2009

When Barack Obama was sworn into office, I took a personal oath to be a better citizen and serve my country better. You can only image all of the thoughts I thought about (and still do) to best utilize my skills.  About a year ago, I vowed to be more proactive in recycling and help my son be more active also. So, we sorted our recylceable items accordingly. I purchased an additional garbage can and separated the plastics, from the bottles and the cans. At the end of the month, we'd take these items to the local recycle center and in exchange get the money for doing so. Every month my son would have an extra twenty to thirty dollars in his bank account.  What does all this have to do with REOs? Recently we were assigned a property that contained hazardous chemicals and waste. We had to ... 02/28/2009

The close of the year often begs a retrospective approach to the events that took place-good, bad or otherwise.  The sharp edges are often dulled in hindsight, motivated by the desire to put it all behind us and move on to the fresh promise of a new year.  For those of us in the real estate business, however, the look-back at 2008 is not quite so sentimental.  Faced with varying degrees of challenge and crisis, real estate professionals from all walks of life have suffered the wounds of a thorny year. But many forged ahead and will continue to do so; some lucky few are even expecting business to pick up in '09.  But, then again, it really has nothing to do with luck.  It has to do with understanding and adopting the paradigm shifts swiftly taking root in our industry.  The game has chan... 01/22/2009

REDUCED TO $89,000 - Need to sell right away! ↑ Grab this Headline Animator 01/11/2009

I am a REO agent, anyone care to give their opinion what will happen to the REO market over the next 3-6 months? Mike 12/05/2008

Jennifer is a co-worker of mine here in Prudential CA Realty in Stockton.  We've worked together hand-in-hand in the past for our investor client... and she is great!  Without her there, I would have dissolved in tears already because of the listing side.  This particular listing agent is just impossible to work with, and I might have lost my temper but I made her deal w/ them and I deal w/ the client.  I've learned my lesson of not to show any listings from this particular listing agent.  I will not name names here, but I'm sure you can find out who this particular listing agent is if you want. So, anyway... goodluck Jennifer and giving you a warm welcome here in AR.  11/13/2008