Erin Attardi's Blog

In a press release, the California Franchise Tax Board stated that almost all of the California New Home Purchase Tax Credit has been allocated already. There was a limited amount of money available for this tax credit, and it was available for new construction purchases by first time buyers in California between March 1, 2009 - February 28, 2010. We are only 4.5 months in...

THIS IS NOT TO BE CONFUSED WITH THE FEDERAL TAX CREDIT! The federal tax credit of up to $8,000 is still available to those who qualify and purchase their home prior to December 1, 2009.

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I had to share a success story from a closing I had earlier this month. I represented a buyer for the purchase of a 1910 Midtown Sacramento home. The buyer used a VA loan to make his purchase. Fast forward to the end of the story - he purchased his home for $0 down, and $0 out of pocket...and gets to take advantage of the $8,000 federal tax credit for first time buyers! What!?

This story is so fantastic for a couple reasons...the first reason is that there is a bit of a stigma attached to VA lending programs. Why? Mainly because these loan programs have some terms and conditions that conventional conforming loan programs do not. Listing agents and sellers are under the impression that VA loans take longer to process...there are health and safety considerations that the appraiser must take into account...the property must have a section one pest certification...there are certain fees that the seller must pay for the buyer... The second reason this story is so fantastic, is that my client literally did not spend a dime to purchase this house...VA is one of the few true 100% financing programs left.

Sellers usually select the path of least resistance in selecting which buyer to work with. Offers with VA financing generally end up at the bottom of the stack.

We were fortunate enough to discover a property that had flown under the radar. It had been sitting on the market for about 2 months, was occupied by tenants, and the property could be shown by appointment only. We patiently scheduled an appointment several days in advance...turns out we were the first and only showing of this house. My clients really liked the house, and we immediately wrote up an offer...because of its extended time on the market, we were aggressive with our offered price and terms. We asked the seller to pay ALL of the buyer's closing costs (over 4% of the purchase price), provide a pest clearance, roof certification, among other things. They accepted the offer as written the next day!

The appraiser did his inspection of the property within a few days, and the appraisal report was received within about 5 business days. The appraiser only noted one issue that was required to be repaired prior to the close of escrow (not bad for a 100 year old house!). Pest and roof inspections were performed...both were certified with few repairs. My client did his home inspection, and there were no issues found that were objectionable to the buyer.

There was enough money in my client's credit from the seller for closing costs, that we were able to invoice the inspection fee to escrow...my client did not pay anything out of pocket, and his entire $2,000 deposit was refunded to him after the close!

Anyway - buyers and sellers - keep an open mind with VA lending programs. Strategize with your Realtor on the best way to make this a win-win transaction.

To follow up on my post from two weeks ago regarding the Sacramento County Tax Assessor's "Decline in Market Value" property tax valuations, here is a little more information...

The Assessor's office has posted a "Decline in Value Proposition 8 Frequently Asked Questions" page pertaining to their re-assessment process, and their review and appeal process and timeframes for value re-assessment for this upcoming tax year...

According to an article in the Sacramento Bee today, California is imposing a new 90-day foreclosure moratorium starting tomorrow - Monday, June 15th.

A loss mitigation rep in the short sale department from GMAC actually told me this was coming a few weeks ago. He was the negotiator for a short sale that I closed with THREE mortgage loans. The first (with GMAC) was approximately $389,000, the second (also with GMAC) was approximately $73,000, and the third (a SMUD loan that had been used to finance energy efficient dual pane windows for the house), was approximately $9,500.

The house was sold for $219,000, and the written short sale approval came for all three loans within 16 days from the date we received the offer. I was able to negotiate a FULL payoff for the SMUD loan, with the remainder going to GMAC's two loans. Why were they so eager to pay off the SMUD loan in full to get this process over with?

According to the negotiator, their rationale was that they wanted to recoup any funds as quickly as possible via the short sale because the upcoming moratorium would more or less indefinitely delay GMAC's ability to foreclose and resell the house in a timely manner. Not sure if other lenders will look at their short sales in the same manner...time will tell...

There has been a lot of buzz lately about just how many short sales are on the market in Sacramento. I can tell you that I have a growing number of short sale listings myself. For me, there is not too much difference in negotiating 5 short sales or 25...I am dealing with the same lenders repetitively, and I have developed a great system to negotiate them. The number of short sales vs. bank owned properties vs. traditional sellers on the market right now is pretty interesting. So interesting, in fact, that I am going to do a little recurring experiment. Let's call it "Erin's Sacramento Short Sale Experiment."

I am no scientist (I took bone-head science - astronomy in college, ok?), but I am going to take a few zip codes and dissect them. How many short sales are there right now? How many will there be in the same areas in a few months?...and over time? What percentage of all of the listings will be short sales? My hypothesis: the number of short sales will grow over time, as will their dominance in our marketplace (overall percentage of listings).

So for my experiment, let's look at the zip codes 95624, 95610, 95826, 95818, and 95819. We'll call this sample (as of today's MLS data) the "control data" for my experiment. We will revisit these cross sections over the next few months, and see how this plays out. Oooh! How fun!!

95624 is the section of Elk Grove closest to Hwy 99. As of right this second according to MLS, there are a total of 290 active listings there. 199/290 listings are short sales. That is more than two-thirds of the inventory there!! The median price in that zip code in May 2009 was $234,000 according to Trendgraphix.

95610 is a section of Citrus Heights. As of right this second according to MLS, there are a total of 126 active listings there. 76/126 listings are short sales. Slightly less than two-thirds of the inventory there. The median price in that zip code in May 2009 was $208,000 according to Trendgraphix.

95826 is a section of Rosemont and College Greens. As of right this second according to MLS, there are a total of 90 active listings there. 56/90 listings are short sales. Slightly less than two-thirds of the inventory there. The median price in that zip code in May 2009 was also $208,000 according to Trendgraphix.

95864 is a section of Sierra Oaks, Arden Park, and Arden Manor. As of right this second according to MLS, there are a total of 147 active listings there. 25/147 listings are short sales. Slightly less than one-fifth of the inventory there. The median price in that zip code in May 2009 was $430,000 according to Trendgraphix.

95818 is a section of Midtown, Land Park, and Curtis Park. As of right this second according to MLS, there are a total of 75 active listings there. 12/75 listings are short sales. Slightly less than one-fifth of the inventory there. The median price in that zip code in May 2009 was $382,000 according to Trendgraphix.

95819 is a section of East Sacramento. As of right this second according to MLS, there are a total of 71 active listings there. 14/71 listings are short sales. Slightly less than one-fifth of the inventory there. The median price in that zip code in May 2009 was $378,000 according to Trendgraphix.

Welp...let's see how this takes shape over time!

Today, the Sacramento Association of Realtors "Young Professionals Council" put on a BBQ and Vendor Fair fundraising event to raise money for SAR's Scholarship Fund. We had 46 participating vendors, great food, ice cream, DJ music, and LOTS of donated raffle prizes. We weathered an unexpected summer rain, but a good time was had by all! While the final tallies are not in just yet, we estimate that we raised over $4,000 for the fund.

Right before our event today, SAR held a ceremony to present its annual scholarships to Sacramento-area graduating high school seniors. Today SAR gave over $44,000 in scholarships. Did you know that SAR's Scholarship program award dollars exceed that of the California Association of Realtors, and also that of the Nationals Association of Realtors? AMAZING.

This is YPC's second time doing the Vendor Fair fundraiser. Last year's event raised over $3,300, which was donated to the Mustard Seed School at Loaves & Fishes. We already set a date for next year's event, which will take place in early May 2010.

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Well, it's June 1...know what that means? That means the Sacramento County Tax Assessor's office has formally re-assessed the tax assessment basis for parcels in Sacramento.

If you follow me on Twitter, you will already know that I learned that the Prop 8 Decline in Value Re-assessed value for my own house has just been reduced by $201,000...that equates to a savings for me of roughly $2,010 per year, or roughly $167.50 per month. WOW. Not that I am stoked that the value of my house has dropped, but I am very that the tax assessment has been substantially lowered.

Visit the Sacramento County Tax Assessor's list of parcels that received a Decline in Value Reassessment. While many properties were reassessed, there are many that were not reassessed. For example on my street, only 4 parcels were reassessed (and there are at least 20 homes on my street). If you disagree with your property's reassessment, or if your property was not reassessed and you think it should be, you can file an appeal. The form will ask you for sales of like kind property from January 2009 (or as close to that date as comps are available), so feel free to email me and I can provide them to you.