The left side  Sunnyvale Bank owned home garage converted to a big living room. The right side of Sunnyvale REO home garage coverted to 2 bedrooms and 1 bath. The non-permitted construction is an issue in any home sale. The bank owned home sellers do not disclose anything and it will only sell it “AS IS” condition also. On top of this some lenders don’t even give loan to  the homes with non permitted construction, so many those homes end up sold to the all cash buyers. 

The new buyers will assume all the responsility. If the neighbors complain to the city for this addition. then  the city  building code inspector  would decide if the structure stays or goes. Some of the cities will require the buyer to convert the garage back as an orginal garage. Some cities will allow you to  retrofite up to the current building code and issue you a code compliance.

Buying a Unpermitted alternation homes do have some risk involved.

We all know we in a buyer’s market, the buyer’s have a buffet to choose from all kinds of the homes. There are a lot of good deals now I found a good REO (Real Estate Owned) home at 418 S Mary Ave in Sunnyvale asking price is only  $420,750. It is a 3 bedrooms 2 baths 2 car garage home. The schools are Cumberland, Sunnyvale Middle, Homestead High. This home is listed by REO group of RE/MAX Real Estate Services. Last spring there was a home at the Mary Ave sold for $692,000.  This home is about $270,000 lower then last home. This home is a REO home. What is the tips to buy a REO home?

• Finding a good realtor: A good realtor will help you find the home and assist you to submit the offer.
• Prepare the financial statement: Unless you can pay all cash home then you need a direct lender to write a pre-approval letter . You meet with a few lenders to find out one can offer you the best interest rate and term and just work with one.
• Determine the market value of the home: Ask the realtor to prepare a Market Analysis for this home. You use the current available homes, pending homes and sold within 1 years near by homes. Don’t low ball the home. Usually the bank owned home are low. If you think you can still negotiate on top of them you will not get it.
• AS IS condition: Most of the bank owned homes sold “AS IS” condition and without seller’s disclosure either. It is very important to allow yourself time to inspect the home before you commit to buy. That means what you see is what you get. The biggest rish of buying “AS IS” condition home: there are hidden damage to the home. It could be the broken foundation, leaky roof, or unpermitted addtion etc.  You need to look carefully before you submit an offer.

• Sweeten the deal: You may shorten the inspection period. Offer to pay half the title insurance cost. Make sure the buyer’s agent follow what  requirement was set up by the listing agent. If the listing agent required using BOA to qualify you, you have to do so. This home a work sheet is required, then your agent has to prepare the work sheet.

I found a Cupertino  short sale homes asking only $499K today. I rubbed my eyes to see if I come cross a mistake. It is not a mistake! This small 2 bedrooms and one bath fix upper home with over 6000 sf lot. Considering the  median sales price of $927,500 for 95014 , this small fixer upper is a steal. A real estate short sale is a type of pre-foreclosure sale in which the lender agrees to sell a property for less than the mortgage owed by the owner.

Yes! This Rancho Rinchonada area of Cupertino home price just like the price durning the year of 2002 or 2003. Accordining the Wikipedia that “Rancho Rinconada is a residential neighborhood in the eastern part of Cupertino, California. It is bordered by Saratoga Creek (just west of Lawrence Expressway), Stevens Creek Boulevard, Miller Road, and Bollinger Road. Cupertino High School, Sedgwick Elementary School, and Hyde Middle School.” There are many large newer home up to 1.5 Millions and small home as this one for only $495K. There home owners and flippers built larger homes in this area.

Rancho Rinconda  is a unique area. It is the most affordable area in Cupertino . This area  has blocks and blocks of  inexpensively built homes. As the time goes by some of the larger and newer homes were built in between of those small homes. We all know the value is in the LAND. If you buy this home you can either redevelope or add roomes  to it.

There are thousands and thousands of foreclosures in Silicon Valley. The San Jose city official  announced that city has the funds to offer help for the troubled homeowners in

A “Foreclosure Help” workshop will be held April 23 at the Santa Clara County Fairground from noon to 5 p.m. It will feature city, county, non-profit groups, and the real estate and financial industries, offering information and resources on how to avoid foreclosure.“Foreclosure Help” will be a four-pronged approach that targets prevention, intervention, family stabilization and neighborhood stabilization, said San Jose City Mayor Chuck Reed.

Please check into the SJlibrary web page for the other information regarding foreclosure help.

The Fannie Mae has sent out a new update on February 6 2009, to allow the investors to own up to 10 investment properties. Wow! It will start March 1, 2009 to replace to old guide line of 4 properties. In anther words, the investors and 2^nd home buyers can purchase up to 10 investment properties. 1). The borrowers has to purchase those invest properties on or after March 1, 2009.2) The Borrowers must maintain a credit score FICO  at least 720. The maximum L/V to be 70% to 75%.3). The borrowers cannot did not file the bankruptcy or foreclosure. The borrowers do not delinquencies of 30 days or more within a year.

With the new updates it will be a perfect time to load up investment properties.

1).  There are still many REO homes, Short sales and distress sales in

 2). The Silicon Valley rental market is still strong. Due to the side effect of foreclosures is climbing that there more renters then ever need to rent. From the rental survey sources of  Marcus & Millichap Research Services, Real Facts Online. It is still a landlord’s market. 

*Buildings with five or more units. Average rent includes units that range from studios to four-bedrooms. 

Grace Keng, Silicon Valley real estate agent,  member of the Silicon Valley Association of Realtors (SILVAR) and memberships in the National Association of Realtors, (NAR),
the California Association of Realtors, (CAR) and PhD of Realtor - Certified Residential Specialist (CRS).

法拍屋

By grace keng

法拍屋

星島日報記者施秋羽布雷斯本報道

受次級房貸風暴影響，灣區阿拉美達縣以及帝利市的法拍屋如雨後春筍般滋長。連帶著很多打著提供法拍屋列表的網站，點閱率也節節高升，位於聖里安德魯兩房一廳的房屋，標價不到30萬元，讓人不心動都難，書店的架上也冒出了不少專攻法拍屋的新書。法拍屋似乎是撿便宜的絕佳途徑，但購買法拍屋的管道與程序繁瑣，一般民眾在買屋前，可得先做好功課了。

根據RE/MAX資深地產經紀耿竹萍(Grace Keng) 提供的DataQuick July24 2007數據顯示，灣區2007年第二季收到違約通知 (Notice of default) 的房屋戶數目前7696戶，比去年同期的2910戶成長了164.5%。

三藩市美亞輔鄰社的房屋發展部經理鄭柏健表示，「釋出法拍屋的屋主主要以拉丁裔與白裔為主，傳統上華人對自己辛苦供的房屋不會輕易放手，因此灣區法拍屋屋主華人所佔比率不到2%。次貸風暴引起的法拍屋效應在灣區阿拉美達縣與帝利市最為明顯，而三藩市的房價因居高不下，所以法拍屋的數目很少，也許一個月才兩三戶房子要法拍。」鄭柏健坦言，買法拍屋的確可以找到比較便宜的價錢，但也沒有如網站上面所寫的便宜到50%這麼誇張。

廣義的法拍屋(foreclosure)指是拖欠房貸款項，因而被債權人收回轉賣的物業。在美國法拍屋常常不是透過法院來拍賣，銀行、公家單位、地產公司、貸款公司、拍賣公司，都可能處理法拍屋業務的單位。

法拍屋通常有兩種情況，一種是欠稅法拍屋，主要因為拖欠土地、房屋稅款而遭法院拍賣，拍賣資訊會在地方政府的網站或公布欄公佈。而次貸風暴直接影響的，則是欠銀行貸法拍屋，屋主因為付不出房貸，房屋面臨被轉賣的命運。

一般民眾要購買法拍屋，有幾個主要管道：

地方的警長(Sheriff)辦公室主持法庭交付的拍賣業務，通常只站監督輔導的角度，真正的拍賣還是委託民間公司辦理，拍賣的資產複雜，商用建築、停車場、民宅，都是可能的拍賣項目。

拍賣會，大大小小的拍賣公司或物業公司針對不同的物產分類進行拍賣，法拍屋的產權項目與狀態都是民眾要事先注意的。拍賣會的節奏與程序非常的快速，一般非地產專業的民眾要參加可能會碰了一鼻子灰，最好是事先已經知道拍賣會上哪一棟房子是自己的目標，再來下手。

專業地產經紀，有專門負責拍賣屋的地產經紀，這些地產經紀或追逐拍賣通知尋找便宜的法拍屋，或代表買屋人參與拍賣會。負責拍賣屋業務的華裔地產經紀目前較少。

法拍屋網站，提供法拍屋資訊網站以會員制管理，會員一年約需付出600元左右來取得進一步的資訊。民眾使用法拍屋網站，主要是相信藉由網路的無遠弗屆，可以得到更多資訊，一方面也是存著「避開中間人」的心態，以節省層層附加下的成本，但事實上，大部分的法拍屋網站，在某種程度上也是仲介網站，列表的拍賣屋背後事實上都有地產經紀在處理。

政府機關如房屋與都市發展部 (HUD, Department of Housing and Urban Development)、退伍軍人局 (Veteran Administration, VA)、聯邦國家房貸協會 (Federal National Mortgage Association, 簡稱Fannie Mae)、聯邦住宅放款抵押貸款公司 (Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation ; 簡稱Freddie Mac)都會有房屋拍賣，其中HUD的房屋以1到4單位的民宅為主。一般民眾要與此類機關交涉買屋，通常需要透過該單位認證的地產經紀來下標，如果成交，部份機構如HUD也會支付地產經紀佣金。

法拍資訊除了可以透過上述的管道獲得，也可以多注意地方報紙的分類廣告欄的法拍屋資訊。更積極的買屋人，也可以注意離婚啟事、訃聞等消息，因為此類事件也常將房屋送入市場求售。

不 管透過何種管道找到理想的法拍屋，對於買屋人來說資金調度可能說是一大麻煩，因為法拍屋在理論上是以現金交易的。一般的房地產買賣，可以用買賣的房屋向銀 行抵押借貸，但是法拍屋就是因為在貸款上出了問題，債權人要的就是變賣房屋求現來解決爛帳，因此不可能先過戶到買屋人名下，再來貸款慢慢還清。

當法拍屋得標之後，必須先下訂金，之後在法拍單位規定的期限下要全額付清，這段時間通常很短，最短可以短至14天。由於短時間內就需要結清款項，因此事前先確定有現金來源就顯得格外重要，目前部份銀行提供代墊服務，先替買屋人付款，等到房屋過戶後，再轉成一般房貸處理，但切記事先取得銀行的貸款核准，免得好不容易等到的房子，卻因為付錢付慢而給飛了。 短時間內要籌措大量現金，但偏偏又不是每個人都有良好信用，銀行的效率也不一定可以跟上買屋進度，所以透過短期融資(hard money) 借貸，是常見手法，這樣的借貸方式可想而知，利率比起一般貸款要高得很多，最高可以到29%。由於次貸風暴的源起即是不良信用借貸，因此在追求好價錢的同時，買屋人也必須多注意自己的財務規劃，量力而為。

另外與法拍屋相似的選項還有銀行或是貸款公司未拍賣成功房屋，此類銀行稱為銀行擁有屋REO (Real Estate Own)，銀行擁有屋的資訊通常不易讓一般的買屋人取得，通常銀行會委託房地產經紀人處理。銀行擁有屋通常銀行虧錢廉售（short sale），因為原屋主常已拖欠5個月以上的貸款，銀行需要錢不需要房屋，銀行將房屋以低於未還貸款的金額賣掉，房地產經紀人可以幫助你尋找這種廉售房屋。

耿竹萍表示，由於銀行是廉售交易的最後決定者，礙於銀行運作等結構性問題，廉售交易曠日費時，拖上數個月並不稀奇，有時銀行還會出爾反爾，因此買屋人可得多用上一點耐心了。