Judith Brickman's Blog by Judith Brickman

TIME TO BUY, OR, TIME TO CRY

During the past couple of weeks I've been noticing that a lot of homes are going pending. Not at the prices that we saw two years ago, but I'm hearing about multiple offers when the price has dropped to what the market perceives as right. Is it time to buy? Well, interest rates are going up. As my niece says, " Let's get real...".
That applies doubly to REAL Estate. Even though my business, for sellers and purchasers, is 50% internet, and, 50% client referrals (down from 85% referral), I still do open houses. Why? It pleases my clients. Interesting what I encounter amongst the people who come to the open houses. Unlike my referral clients, and the many visitors to my website, the open house visitors seem to take near zero interest in doing their homework. They evidence no interest in real numbers. Real Estate is nothing BUT numbers. The absolutely critical numbers are median price, ..(read more)

Fourth of July in the Tri-Valley Area

Danville This week Danville is celebrating 150 years which started July 3rd on Front Street with Hay rides, horse exhibition, picnics, ice cream and more from 4 P.M. to 7 P.M. The July 4th Parade will start at 9 A.M. This is one hour earlier than usual. This old fashion parade attracts 40,000 people and starts by San Ramon High school by Hartz and then on San Ramon Valley Blvd culminating at Sycamore Valley around 12 noon. Lots of fun family activities will be happening for the next couple of hours in the Danville Livery. San Ramon They have the fireworks at Bishop Ranch. If you are lucky enough to have a home in the hills with views, then you will have a front row seat. Otherwise go to Central Park for performances by the San Ramon Symphonic Band, Martin’s House Party band and an amazing fireworks show. Free– no alcohol, dogs or BBQs Moraga They are going to party ALL DAY! Lots of fun for everyone! 8:00 a.m.-10:00 ..(read more)

How to Measure Home Prices?

Business Outlook June 26, 2008,
Two top measures of home prices vary greatly in their estimates of how far prices have sunk. Which is it: 4.7% or 17.8%?
James Cooper, the respected Businessweek columnist points out the quandary of all my clients, both sellers and purchasers. Cooper states, "How much have home prices fallen since their peak? Is it 4.7% or 17.8%? Those wildly different results are the April readings from two well-respected measures: the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO) and the Standard & Poor's (MHP)/Case-Shiller home price indexes, respectively. Of course, both can't be right."
The two price indexes are similar in design, but the key difference is their coverage. The OFHEO index includes only homes with prime mortgages that conform to strict Fannie Mae (FNM) and Freddie Mac (FRE) guidelines. The S&P/Case-Shiller index does not have the broader geographic ..(read more)

Californians for High Speed Trains

Dear Blog Reader, I got this newsletter and if you are concerned about climate change, the cost of gasoline, air pollution, then please read this newsletter and consider joining me with supporting this project.. Judith Brickman California's High Speed Train Newsletter June-July 2008 Actions you can take

This project will be the biggest since the transcontinental railroad 140 years ago. ..(read more)

REO's Anyone?

A number of my clients are asking about REO's and short sales. REO is an abbreviation for real estate owned by banks. Why do they “own” it? PRICE. They foreclosed on a defaulting occupant, and, to date, have not made a deal with a new buyer. There are two components to your successful bid,
1) credibility 2) up-to-date , actionable market numbers. Some banks will deal directly with the buyer. I just had a client who got a great deal but he had to come up with ALL CASH and close in four days!!!!!! Other banks turn the homes over to agents that they have a working relationship with. Sometimes the banks will fix the property up and actually stage it and other times they don't do anything.

One self-styled reo “expert” in California’s central valley actually promises “Investment Real Estate at 20% or more below the fair market value ...”.
Really? What’s his ..(read more)

Short Sale?

I'm hearing lots of conversations about short sales. From agents who call and ask if a really well-priced home is a short sale, to clients who want to see houses that are short sales, and a few clients who are thinking about short sales. Please call me if you have questions. I do have a booklet explaining the process. There are now small companies who will do the negotiating for the seller and can cut through the maze to get a quick response from the banks. Here is the blog I have on my sister site www.topdealrealtor.com:
: the long and, the short and short sales mitigation
“short sales mitigation” is just a fancy word for having a third party, with more expertise, try to cut through the banking bureaucracy, and, ideally, get the bank to absorb a sufficient financial hit to make the lower price attractive to a ready buyer.

If your offer is anything short of fair market value for the property, the bank may choose ..(read more)

Decline-In Value Reassessment

Since property values have been dropping you should understand California Prop 8. Proposition 3 passed in November 1978 and amended Proposition 13 in order to recognize declines in value for property tax purposes. The result is that the tax assessor is required to annually enroll either the property's Proposition 13 base year value factored for inflation, or it's market value as of January 1st. Which ever one is less. Now if your property has declined in value and your assessment should be less, this will be temporary. Your property will be reassessed every year to determine the current value. Properties enrolled under Proposition 8 are NOT SUBJECT to the annual 2% increase limitation that applies to Proposition 13. How does it work? Either the property owner provides the Assessor with the information they feel warrants the reduction in value and requests a review of the property's value, or the Assessor may initiate the review. Yes, ..(read more)

Tailgating at Kirkwood

04.17.2008 Tailgating Season Officially Opens at Kirkwood ..(read more)

A Challenge Grant to help Contra Costa Schools

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SENATOR TORLAKSON JOINS COMCAST AND DONORSCHOOSE.ORG
TO ANNOUNCE $25,000 CHALLENGE GRANT FOR CONTRA COSTA SCHOOLS FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Saturday, April 5, 2008 CONCORD—Senator Tom Torlakson joined Comcast and DonorsChoose.org at Concord's Cambridge Elementary School on Friday, April 4, to announce a $25,000 challenge grant to support Contra Costa County teachers and students. From now until April 15, Comcast and DonorsChoose.org will match dollar-for-dollar every donation to schools in Contra Costa County. This means that if individuals and businesses donate $25,000 to Contra Costa schools, the matching program will fully fund all of the $50,000 in projects teachers have posted on the DonorsChoose.org web ..(read more)

Market for luxury homes remains strong

The luxury market is still going strong. This past week in our little area, a foreclosed home came on the market for $1,795,000 and sold in 2 days. It will close escrow next week. The seller had turned down an offer for $1,850,000 less than 6 months ago!!!!! Another home in Lafayette came on the market for $2,999,000 and sold in 5 days. As an active member of our Estate Division and a long time member of The Institute for Luxury Home Marketing I keep current on the trends in that market. You might want to check out my new website: www.topDEALRealtor.com to find out what is truly going on in our area. Then I read this in Business Week: Market for luxury homes remains strong While the overall housing market is in bad shape, wealthy American and foreign buyers are still willing and able to pay huge prices for lavish properties. By Prashant Gopal, BusinessWeek More from BusinessWeek Quiz: How much is this home worth? ..(read more)

Assessor's are Amenable to lowering your Property Taxes

If you want a current market analysis of your home to get your taxes lowered please contact me. I'll be happy to help you out. You don't have to be Larry Ellison to get your property taxes reduced in California. The Oracle chief executive got $100 million lopped off the assessed value of his Japanese-style estate in Woodside, which cut his property tax bill by about $1 million a year for the past three years. If your home is worth less than you paid, chances are you also can get a temporary reduction in your property taxes - without a battery of lawyers or dubious arguments about functional obsolescence. Just ask your county assessor for an informal review of your assessed value. It's free and easy to do yourself. Some companies offer to submit a request on behalf of homeowners for $25 to $200, or a percentage of the property tax reduction. But there's no need to pay for this service. Rather than wait for requests, assessors in some Bay Area counties hit hard by ..(read more)

The Long Awaited Gateway/Wilder Project for Orinda

The Gateway Project for new homes in Orinda has been starting and stopping for over 15 years. Well it is finally taking off! The exit off the freeway has been waiting.... It is right as you get out of the Caldecott tunnel if you are going East. And it is now called The Wilder Project. The Wilder Development Company will be developing it with a number of high end builders building homes from 2,800 sq. ft to over 5,000 sq. ft. Many of the designs have been approved by the City of Orinda. There will be 245 homes starting at $2,500,000. There will be 5 sport fields, 2 of them will be with all-weather turf and lit. There will be a community swim and meeting center. The olympic size pool will be state of the art for swim meets. There will be meandering trails for hiking and equestrian also. It will be a very exclusive enclave. If you want more information, call me.

A great Children's Book

Some of my clients know that my youngest sister is a world renown illustrator. For the past ten years she has developed a new style of illustration by taking pieces of construction paper, painting on it, cutting it, and molding it and making collages. As the author of her last three book wrote "Her dazzling 3-dimensional cut-paper collages just pop off of the page, eliciting oohs and ahs from everyone who sees them." This gives her illustrations depth and has won her many national and international awards. Her newest book is 'Wings" by Sneed B. Collard III and illustrated by Robin Brickman. If you see this book please note that every feather, leaf, are separate pieces of paper glued together . This book will make a wonderful gift for any young child and is only $16.95. It is also available in a paperback edition. The book describes the function of wings for Bats, butterflies, birds, and insects like dragon ..(read more)

15 Ways to Save Money on Utilities

I saw this great article by Kiplinger and you might be able to implement a number of these suggestions to cut your utility bills. http://www.kiplinger.com/features/archives/2008/02/save_on_utilities.html

Regional 211 Service to Begin in Contra Costa

There is a new hotline in the Bay area for anyone who needs assistance with food, housing, employment or health services. Although it has been operating in San Francisco for almost two years, it just started up in Contra Costa. While all calls are confidential, the operators do ask for name and phone number so they can follow up. There are Spanish speaking operators too. Common questions are about food, health issues, mental health & substance abuse treatment centers, affordable housing, rent/landlord issues. County officials are expecting about 100,000 calls anually or about one call for every 10 residents.