Before                                                                     After

A Santa Clara  investor  flipped a home in 3 months and walked away with profit.This home is 1865 CABRILLO AV, Santa Clara 95050. It was a bank owned home on May 30, 2008 which is an extremely lowed price for $375,250. It was a clean flat-top roof home with 3 bedrooms and 1 bath the 1 car garage converted to another living quarter with living room and 1 bedroom plus1 bath. The lot size is 7140 sf. I showed it to my client. He did not like the add on. Little I know…It sold in 3 days with 38 offers for $382,000 and it closed on July 2 2008. Two months later the house is painted in and out with new window covering. It is back on the market again for $499K on September 4 2008. It is sold again and closed on October 10 for $490,000.

Let me put the dates as follows:

5/30, 2008 listed $375,250

7/2/2008 closed & closed $ 382,000

9/4/2008 listed again $499,000

10/10,2008 sold & closed $490,000

It is pretty good for an investor to walk away $108,000 (before the cost) in short 3 months. I see the investor are flipping the house but the buyers are waiting.If you are have questions, please email or contact me.

Grace Keng, CRS, Silicon Valley, Northern California Real Estate Residential Specialist 408 733-8887

Rated number #2 featured Cupertino Realtor on Activerain.com and Localism.com. California relocation, local events, homeowner information and fun! For more information on Grace Keng Silicon Valley homes

After I wrote the above article,Santa Clara REO and short sale homes for sale 1 of 2,more buyers have asked me for good real estate deal in city of Santa Clara. The good deal here means good valued home for sale.

I will give you my two picks today.

1).2229 Brown Ave Santa Clara, CA asking for
$477,500 with 4 bedrooms and 2 car garage is converted to another rental unit.

The front yard has about 8 grape vines with purple grapes on it also. The back yard needs some work.

2). 2105 MAIN ST, Santa Clara 95050
$384,900 Beds: 3 bedrooms 1 bath. It is a smaller and cozy home. It do need some repairs which reflect for this excellent price for a single family home in city of Santa Clara.

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Two Cupertino almost identical homes but sold for a lot difference in price.

Yes! There are two Cupertino Rancho homes both are located at the same street Wunderlich Dr.

A street with mixed sized of homes some are about 2000 sf for 1.2 millions and the other tiny homes are about $650,000 range.

The 10415 Wunderlich past owner applied the building permit and approved by city of Cupertino for an addition to become a 3 bedrooms and 2 baths. Will this city permit costs $55,000?? I don’t think so.

There is only one Cupertino bank own/REO homes on the market and two Cupertino REO have sold in pending. This home located 10440 JOHNSON AV, Cupertino 95014. It is only 7 years old, 3 bedrooms and 2 baths and two car garage. It is located at the most affordable area Cupertino Rancho Riconada. This area has the excellent Cupertino schools with Hyde Junior High and Cupertino High School. It has light color hardwood flooring through out with open floor plan. It has high ceilings. The kitchen has nice matching colored cabinets and granite counter tops and island. The master suite comes with his/her sinks, jetted tub, and shower. It does need a special attention. The garage door needs adjustment, missing wall lights. There are many other bank owned listings in the surrounding areas such as Sunnyvale, Santa Clara, San Jose and Campbell. The San Jose has the most bank own and short sales homes available. I have another article about the foreclosure homes you may want to read it.

2549 Butch Dr. Gilory CA 95030 5 bedrooms 4+ baths was sold for 2.4 Millions in March 2006.This 3 year new custom home on the hills of Gilroy is bank owned now and the asking price is $1.325 Millions which is about half it was sold in 2005.

Can you picture yourself live in a large home 6207 sf on the lot of 491,792 sq ft for only 1.325 Millions dollars?

It has2 master bedroom suites,beautiful chandeliers almost every rooms , with magnificent foyer,a large swimming w/spa,4 balconies w/mountain &city light view!

If I have the money, I will love to own this mansion.

3347 Cashdan Ct Santa Clara Ca 4 bedrooms 3 baths $484900

Larger lot small homes. The kitchen has been remodeled with granite counter top and newer cabinets. The both baths are redone also. I like the over sided lot with an old tree.

I know it does need new landscape but overall it is a good buy.

1070 MARYANN DR, San Jose 95050 (Santa Clara)
$545,000 Beds: 3 bed(s) Baths: 1 1/2 bath(s) It is located at just the cornor of Lawrence and Benton. It has a fireplace and updated.

2028 LOS PADRES BL, Santa Clara 95050 (Santa Clara)
$499,999 Beds: 3 bed(s) Baths: 2 bath(s) with an open floor plan and 1566 sf.This one is a short sale. If you want to know more about the short sale please check on this blog.

Those two homes are all sold. If you want to see more you can check with

This Cupertino bank own/REO homeis just on the market for $684,5000. This one is lowest priced 3 bedrooms 1 bath and 1 car garage and it is located at the most affordable area Rancho Ricinconada. This area has the excellent Cupertino schools.

 There are many other bank owned listings in the surrounding areas such as Sunnyvale, Santa Clara, San Jose and Campbell. The San Jose has the most bank own and short sales homes available.

There is another bank owned property in this area. It is a 3 years old Sunnyvale home with 1483 sf and 3 bedrooms and 3 baths for $599,900

What short sale is:

• When the owner cannot make the monthly payment and a short sale is when a bank or mortgage lender agrees to discount a loan balance due to an economic hardship
• It is pre foreclosure situation.
• The owner’s hardship could be divorce, job loss, sickness, bankruptcy or combination the financial problems all together.
• The owner’s credit will hurt badly, but it is better than a foreclosure.
• The short sale is a long process. It could take 2 – 3 months easily. The closing rate of short sale is improving from 12% January 2008 to mid-year about 40%.
• The short sale is avoidable if the lender offers a loan modification to the owner.

What short sale isn’t:

• Not all the short sale is a bargain. It really depends. Buyers beware. Again location, location, location. Hire an experienced real estate agent to help you buy home.
• It isn’t a way for the owner walk away the loan free without trace. This owner’s credit score will be damaged.

Why the short sale happens:

• It all begins with the owner cannot make the monthly payment.
• The owner pays option ARMS there is no equity build up.
• The owner purchased with 100% financing (another no equity).
• The owner refinanced 100% or above 100% without equity.
• Owner’s economic situation is upside down and the owner missed payment.
• The home was bought over price and it is devalued.
• The owner cannot refinance anymore.

“Short sale” becomes a buzz word nowadays but what is that?

According to About.com the short sale is

A short sale occurs when a property is sold and the lender agrees to accept a discounted payoff, meaning the lender will release the lien that is secured to the property upon receipt of less money than is actually owed.

For example: In 2004 said Lisa bought a townhouse in Campbell for $344Kwhen the market is up in either 2005 and 2006. Liza taps into her equality. She borrowed $425K from the home. Something happened she cannot make the payment. The lender filed the notice of default and the lender requests she to pay. Lisa sells her home on the market for sale as $380K. The lender receives less then what was loaned out.

There are a few steps to short sale a home:

1). Contact lenders: To find the exactly what you need to get out the loan and home.

2). Do everything the lenders needs:

That the owner need to provide a personal financial hardship letter, proof of income and assets, Preliminary Net sheet etc.

3).The accepted offer. You have to hire the realtor to sell the home.

4). Submit the offer to the lender and wait for the lender to accept this offer.

The whole process could take up to 2 to 3 months to finish a short because backlog the lender and or asset managers to handle the demands. In the beginning of 2008 the success rate of short sale was about 12%. Now it went up to 40% because the handlers are more experience to do so.

When the homeowner cannot make the monthly payment. The lender can place a notice of default to this home. The home owner usually can make the following 3 actions:

1) Make the payment

2) Hire a realtor to sell the home

3) Do nothing.

If the home owner hire a realtor to sell the home. a lot of time it is a short sale case due to the homeowner owes more money then he can sell it for example the home owner bought this home with 100% loan and the market is not as much as it used to be.

The lender will receive less then the loan. The owner’s realtor need to negotiate the sale with the lender(s) to get the offer accepted. If the short sale is not successful.

If the short sale is not successful, then the lender can auction it or place it for sale again as a bank owner property. Any buyer can hire a RE agent to buy it. Usually at this time the price is well below the market price. Last two bank owned homes in Santa Clara were sold with 38 and 46 offers because they are such as good deals.