Fall is here now. It is important to prepare for the winder months. Below a fall home maintenance checklist for all the homeowners:

Outside of the house:

*Roof, Gutters and Downspouts:

1). Check for any sign of leaking of roof and downspouts then reapair it as soon as possible.

2). Check for any possible leaking of the flashing on vents, chimneys, and sklights.

*Walls and windows

1). Check for any cracks and holes out side wall and repair it as needed it.

2). Inspect around the windows and doors to repair any broken frames.

*Landscapes

1). Trim trees and shrubs. Keep away from the power line.

2). Fertilize and reseed your lawn. *Chimney and Fireplace1). Call a professional to inspect and clean the chimney. 2). Test the fireplace flue to a tight seal when it is closed.

Interior of the house:

Alarm System

1). Test the smoke alarm and carbon monoxide detectors.

2). Change the batteriers.

Heating Systems:

1). Replace the filter of your furnace. Have a heating system serviced.

2). Check the heating vents are not blocked by any furnature.

Plumbing Systems:

1). Check of all the faucets in the house to see the possible leaking.

2). Replace the washers if it they are needed.

The “short sale” begins when the seller has trouble of making mortgage payments and the potential sale price is less than the mortgage amount. The seller or their agent approaches the lender asking if the banks or lenders are willing to settle for less if and when a purchase contract is signed. There are good tips for sellers.

1. Select an experienced agents have done short sales. It is not like the normal sale. The seller needs to understand that the bank is the REAL decision maker. If gatekeepers listened your case, you have are much chance to close.

2. Seller prepares to disclose:

The sellers must disclose and produce all liens on the property, taxes (income tax, property tax…), back taxes, HOA dues, financial statements, letter of hardship, proof of income, proof of potential income, proof of future income, etc.

3. Make sure the buyer’s loan and down payment is place.

Short sales can drag on for months. Some of the buyers could buy it now may not do it later. If the buyer has a hard time getting a loan, it could cost the sale and become more expensive. Some lenders could charge $100 per day of delaying fee till closing.

4. Make sure you and your agent get to see all bank documents.

5. Work with a detailed minded title officer. It could make all the difference in the world.

6. The Best scenario of escrow duration is 27 days, but it many last 30-45 days even 2 and three months long.

Thank for SILVAR realtors: Donna Dawson-Schwartz, Neal Schwartz and Scott Fleming to contribute to the valuable short sale information.

The credit score (FICO) score is a number based on the information of your credit profile to show how likely you are going to pay a loan back on time. Obviously, the higher the better. The score can be in between 300 to 850. The higher score you get a better interest rate. What is a good credit score made of? The 35% score is made of the payment history, 30% amount owed and 15% is the length of the history. To start this process, you need to know your credit score.
You may obtain one free copy of your credit report annually. Try the following links: www.annualcreditreport.com or http://www.freecreditreport.com/
or you can call 1877-322-8228 to obtain your own copy.

Once you know your score and you decide to boost your credit score. You may following the tips from the MSN 7 fast tips to improve your credit score:

1. Pay down your credit cards and pay your bills on time. The longer you pay them on time, the better your score will be. The late payments are the major problems. If you have an average score, you can raise it by as much as 20 points by paying all bills on time for 2-3 months.

2. Use your card lightly: What typically report IS the last month payment. If you can lower the charge of the credit cards do help.

3. Check you limit: The credit bureaus typically use your highest balance as a proxy for your credit limit.

4. Dust off the old card: The older your credit history, the better. But if you stop using your oldest cards, the issuers may stop updating those accounts at the credit bureaus.

5. Get some goodwill. If you have been a good customer, a lender might agree to simply erase the one late payment from your credit history. You usually have to make the request in writing, and your chances for a “goodwill adjustment” improve the better your record with that company and credit in general.

6. Dispute old negatives. If you fighted with your phone company over an unfair bill a few year ago resulted in a collections account. You can continue protesting that charge to your credit company also.

Another great article about boosting credit score is do and don’t to boost credit score.

“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.

I found a 3 bedrooms 2 baths home for 1203 sqft home with lot 5978 sqft at901 Gerard way San Jose was closed for $620K August 1 2006 now at the market as the bank owned property since June 24 2008 only asking $310,000.

If you jump the conclusion that the Silicon Valley homes dropped 50% then you are totally wrong.

If you jump the conclusion that the Silicon Valley homes dropped 50% then you are totally wrong. Just look at another home at 10674 GRAPNEL  PL CUPERTINO, CA 95014 was closed 11/27/06 for $1.252 Millions. The owner put on the market April this year for $1.399 Millions. No offer is received for 2 months. As June 20 the asking price dropped to 1.15Million then the owner received 12 offers and sold for much over asking price.

The real estate market really depends on the location of the homes. Some area the prices went up and some area value goes down significantly. You may wonder how come some homes price can goes up and the other goes down.

This Cupertino homes is at the best Cupertino schools area ( Monta Vista High ). The homes at the better neighborhood preserved the value.

The Silicon Valley REALTORS® Charitable Foundation, the charitable arm of the Silicon Valley Association of REALTORS® (SILVAR), has presented scholarship awards to 18 graduating seniors from public high schools in Silicon Valley. Each student received a $1,000 scholarship.

SILVAR’s scholarship program, now on its ninth year, recognizes students who have exemplified outstanding achievements in academics, extracurricular/employment activities and community involvement. The selection committee included representatives from the local business community, area high schools, area colleges and SILVAR.

Students who received scholarships from the Foundation, the schools from which they graduated are Cupertino High, Fremont High, Gunn High, Homestead High, Los Altos High, Los Gatos High, Lynbrook High, Menlo Park Atherta High, Mountain View High, Palo Altos High, Prospect High, Santa Clara High, Saratoga High, Westmont High, Wilcox High and Woodside High.

Cammie Brodie 2008 Chairwoman of the foundation said: “ In our industry, we feel fortunate to be able to give back to the community by providing scholarships to these very deserving students.” I feel the same way

This morning Corey Folsom, property Inspector, inspected a Pebble Beach home I just sold. He  gave me  some reading material. I found this article is extremely important for the home sellers. He listed 15 items to prepare a home for the inspection:

1. Secure or remove unruly pets for the time of the inspection.

2. Create clear access to attic, crawlspace, heating , garage and electrical panels.

3. If the house is vacant, make sure that the utilities are on, including water, electric, gas, water heater, furnace, A/C and all electrical breakers.

4. Don’t do cheap, quick repairs. You may raise questions that could unfairly cause concern to inspectors and buyers.

5. Remove grade or mulch from contact with the siding (6″ inches or more).

6. Remove lumber and firewood from contact with the house.

7. Replace any burned out light bulbs.

8. Clean debris from gutters.

9. Divert all water away from the house; downspouts, A/C condensate drain, Grade should slope away from the structure, even under decking.

10. Trim vegetation back from the foundation, roof, siding and chimney.

11. Have the chimney, fireplace or woodstove cleaned and provide the buyer with a copy of the cleaning record.

12. Paint all weathered exterior wood and caulk around trim, chimney, windows and doors.

13. Install metal chimney cap if it is missing.

14. Replace IIVAC filter.

15. Install GFCI outlets at all bath, kitchen and exterior locations.

According to RealtyTrac, lenders repossessed 197,800 homes in the first four months of 2008 vs. 90,800 in that period last year. Banks is in the business of loaning money to earn the interest not owning the real estate. Banks sometimes accept the offers are much less than you might think to get off their books. But buying such properties has drawbacks. From Stephen Gandel of Money Magazine : Here’s 3 tips of buying foreclosure: 1. Use the WebWebsites can help you find foreclosed homes. On Redfin.com, you can do a free search for so-called real estate owned (REO) properties - those for which the bank holds the deed - in Baltimore, Boston, Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington, D.C. (and soon, Chicago). Or you can locate them nationwide on Foreclosures.com or RealtyTrac.com for a subscription fee of $49.95 a month. 2. Use a brokerForget buying directly from the bank (lenders typically deal only with pros) or at auction (you may wind up bidding more than you should). Work with brokers; banks use them to sell most homes. Once you’ve identified which properties are REO, you’ll know those are the ones for which a low-ball offer is more likely to be accepted. 3. Watch out for repair costsLook for houses that have been on the market for more than 90 days and offer Bank-owned houses typically need a lot of work: People facing foreclosure often neglect maintenance and may have swiped fixtures and appliances on their way out. Never buy an REO property without an inspection.I am not agreed with his opinion about looking homes that was on the market over 90 days. In Silicon Valley of Californian (Sunnyvale, Santa Clara, Mountain View, Campbell, San Jose, Los Gatos, Palo Altos,

Clutter-free interiors allow potential home buyers to see all of the home can offer — resulting in a shorter sales and a higher selling price. The fewer items there are in a home, the easier it is for a home shopper to visualize the space of their own.  I pick up some good declutter tips from the PODS. Over 80 % real estate agents agree with de-clutter homes helps the sells but only 30% of the listing agents were actually de-clutter their listings.  Some sellers are serious about selling you should go over with your home to de-clutter them.

Offer these easy decluttering tips to home owners:

1. If an item hasn’t been used in three months, box it up and take it offsite.

2. Limit items in closets and drawers to make them seem more spacious.

3. Remove excess and or worn furniture to create more room. The old files, books and memorabilia should be stored away from the house. You could rent the a mini storage to store them.

4. Remove excess and or worn furniture to create more room.

5. Pack away off-season clothes. Buyers value storage. Don’t just stash items in the basement or the garage - take them offsite.

6. Remove excess items from decks, driveways and the yard, including kids toys and pool supplies

7. Park away additonal car or cars you don’t drive often.

Don’t foget to maintain the de-cluttered home during the home is on the market to sell.