Investing

Jan
06

Grubb & Ellis Pick Top 10 Real Estate Markets for 2010, Oakland / East Bay Ranks #5

Posted In: General Real Estate News, Investing, Local Market Statistics
Grubb & Ellis have picked their top 10 Real Estate Markets for 2010.  Oakland and the East Bay rank #5, San Francisco chimes in at #10. U.S. MULTI HOUSING MARKET STRENGTH FORECAST Top 10 Markets 2010-2014United States Overall Score* Rank 1.     Los Angeles 64.8 2.     Washington, D.C. 60.5 3.     Orange County, Calif. 60.1 4.     San Diego 58.3 5.     Oakland/East Bay, Calif. [...]
Apr
03

Oakland under $100k

Posted In: First Time Home Buyers, For Buyers, Investing, Local Market Statistics, Oakland
In the past couple of days there has been lots of discussion with clients regarding a recent blog post of mine about multiple offers, as well as the article in the paper from last Sunday’s Chron (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/03/29/MN3K16M9RT.DTL) .  It appears that if people aren’t running, they are confused. These discussions have prompted me to delve into Oakland’s inventory under $100k.  [...]
Feb
12

Investor Mortgage Programs

Posted In: Investing, Mortgage & Finance
This just in from Chet Gohd, mortgage broker extraordinaire, and owner of RPM Mortgage in Berkeley. “I’ve just heard some exciting news and thought I’d pass it along. Fannie Mae, who buys most of the loans which are placed up to $625,500, has just announced that they will be lifting the restrictions for Investor buyers. Currently, there is a maximum [...]
Jan
22

The Future Looks Grim, So Sayeth Carole Rodoni

Posted In: Economy, For Buyers, Foreclosures & Short Sales, General Real Estate News, Investing, Local Market Statistics
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If you are looking for someone with a strong opinion about the economy and real estate, then look no further than Carole Rodoni.  Her leadership and statistical analysis of the economy and how it affects real estate makes her opinions extremely valuable.  Yesterday I spent nearly 2 hours in a room with 500 other curious minds to see what Carole had [...]
Jan
16

Alameda & Contra Costa County Statistics, Oct. 2007 – Dec. 2008

Posted In: Economy, First Time Home Buyers, Foreclosures & Short Sales, General Real Estate News, Investing, Local Market Statistics
thumbnail for Alameda & Contra Costa County Statistics, Oct. 2007 – Dec. 2008
The first graph is for single family homes in Alameda County, the second graph is Contra Costa County.  The blue bar shows “sold,” the green bar shows “for sale,” and the triangles show “pending.” First of all, let’s look at the obvious.  Both graphs show a similar pattern with January being the lowest in inventory.  In February inventory goes up, peaks in [...]
May
22

Important: New financial guidelines for investors

Posted In: For Buyers, Investing, Mortgage & Finance
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Freddie Mac Cuts Maximum Number of Financed Properties Freddie Mac recently announced guideline changes that will greatly affect residential real estate investors. Beginning August 1st, 2008 the following changes will go into effect: A borrower may not have more than four financed 1-4 unit properties, including the subject property. For cash out refinances the borrower must own the property for [...]
May
22

Hawaii Real Estate

Posted In: Investing, Places
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So I am back from my extended vacation. Spent some time in Maui and Kauai. While I was there my husband and I poked around at real estate, of course. We were suprised to discover that much of the land is still purchased using a land lease. What is a land lease? Wikipedia says that a land lease is a [...]