Hellloooo My Wonderful Beautiful Bay Area!!… How many of you have gone through the home buying process and gone to the title company to sign off your loan documents and actually experienced waiting the day or two before your home finally became officially yours??… For those of you who have never gone through the process here’s a glimpse of what actually happens when you go to sign off your closing documents just prior to your home loan funding and recording at the County Recorder’s Office and getting your keys to your new home!… the following video is an actual signing for one of my clients (who happens to be just 23 years of age, who purchased her first home without any financial help from her parents… (I want to make clear that this example is one that is happening much more frequently than ever before … and I want to emphasize that anyone I mean anyone no matter how young or old can achieve homeownership if the desire is there…)
I hope this will enlighten you and give you extra insight as to what happens towards the end of a transaction in escrow… By all means please feel free to contact me with any questions you may have… it will be my pleasure to assist you…
Maddi is now a very happy and proud homeowner and I’m very honored to have represented her!…
Thanks for checking in…
Isi
Isi Wu… the realtor for you
Serving Clients All Over the Eastbay…
Hello My Beautiful, Wonderful Bay Area!… Today …Isi’s Fav Spots is highlighting a fun place to go have food and drinks and general merriment… Another one of those places in the Eastbay thats been around for a long time and enjoys a clientele made up of old timers – new timers and once in awhile timers… but always a great place to enjoy some food and drinks and friends or do business… hope you’ll put it on the calendar to go try it out … its a nice place…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwQz1I9MQLw
Cheers!.. Thanks for checking in…
Isi
Isi Wu
Serving Clients All Over the Eastbay…
Hellooooo My Beautiful Wonderful Bay Area… just had to share this with you… “the greatest glory in living… lies not in never falling… but in rising everytime we fall.” ~ Nelson Mandela
Greetings My Wonderful Beautiful Bay Area!!… Today I want to revisit what can happen to you if you enter into a Short Sale or if the Bank Forecloses on your property and sells it.
There is NO FREE LUNCH when it comes to the IRS… whenever your home is sold… whether by regular conventional means or if you sold your home at a loss and you paid the difference or by short sale approved by the Bank or involuntarily by foreclosure… be warned you may be subject to taxes!
It doesn’t seem fair and what’s worse… you may not even find out that you owe taxes until the day you open your mail and find a 1099.
The IRS has tax rules for foreclosures or repossessions by lenders of homes belonging to owners who have fallen behind on their mortgage payments. There can be severe and unexpected tax consequences for any owner who simply walks away just because he or she has little or no equity and the lender takes over and sells the property. When a mortgaged property is foreclosed or repossessed and the bank re-acquires it or the bank knows the owner abandoned the property… the bank will send Form 1099 to the owner and the IRS… it will include the foreclosed bid price, the actual debt (loan) amount and the amount short of the debt amount… that amount will be taxed as ordinary income… the same as for your salary.
Sellers of residences acquired within the past two years or so are going to incur losses. Even assuming no price declines, losses will result because of expenses for real estate brokers, lawyers and the like. Sellers will not be able to deduct those losses… it makes no difference that they are forced to sell because of ie)… job changes or health reasons.
** There’s also information floating around that Banks where distressed properties have overtaken the area in certain markets…are taking steps where even after they approve and close a property for short sale… they will be actively tracking the owner of that short saled property over the next 6 years… during that time if their credit rating goes up and if they attempt to purchase another home they will be pursuing them for the “short amount” they lost when they approved that person’s short sale 6 years prior… This bit of information is not fact – as of yet here in California… yet people… Everyone please do everything you can to protect yourselves BEFORE A FORECLOSURE OR SELLING… PLAN AHEAD… especially before attempting to sell on a short sale or going through a foreclosure… please get legal and tax advice… do the planning BEFORE ITS TOO LATE!!…
Thanks for checking in…
Isi
Isi Wu… the realtor for you
Serving Clients All Over the Eastbay!
Hello My Beautiful Wonderful Bay Area ~ How are things going for you today?… No matter whats going on in our crazy lives… this certainly brings a smile to most everyone’s face… it’s something we all have fond childhood memories of… One of the most treasured guilty pleasures for most everyone is “ice cream“ !!!… its simply ageless… lots of late nights spent topping off a nice day or evening out, or going for a sweet treat with friends, or spending time with a loved one or just going for a fun time… One of my most favorite places to go is a place called Fenton’s … its not just a place for ice cream… its a “happening” place to be… with darn good ice cream… all kinds… and an “all american” style menu filled with your favorite basic foods nothing fancy… but sure to please those who choose to have a meal before their “very special dessert”…here’s my attempt in sharing the essence of Fenton’s… enjoy and if you havent been… you must try it at least once in your life!… soooooo soooo yummeeeee…
Clik This >>>>>>>>> >>>> The Legendary ~ Fenton’s Ice Creamery
Thanks for checking in…
Isi
Isi Wu… the realtor for you
Serving Clients All Over the Eastbay!
HELLOOOOO My Beautiful Wonderful Bay Area!!…
Due to the horrific destruction caused by the recent merciless earthquake that hit the island of Haiti and its effects on the people of Haiti we will give, share and extend a hand wherever possible… Please be reminded…if you’re considering donating some of your hard earned money… evaluate the charity of your choice… go to “Charity Navigator” at http://bit.ly/72XzNB…
Thanks for checking in… your comments are always welcome…
Isi
Isi Wu… the realtor for you…
Serving Clients All Over the Eastbay…
Just read this article by Gil Linton and thought it was pretty insightful… It struck me that this same train of thought could be applied to how we view the business of real estate here in our beautiful cities by the San Francisco Bay … check it out..
http://tinyurl.com/yfy9onb
Your thoughts???…
As always… would love to hear back from you… I welcome your feedback… Lets Start a Dialogue!…
Save Me in your Favorites and come back and visit all the time!!…
Thanks a Bunch for your time today…
Isi Wu… the realtor for you…
Serving Clients All Over the Eastbay…
Greetings To You Today!!... Yesterday… I attended a class offered by my brokerage http://www.realtyworldnca.com… on Social Media… designed to give us insight and information on today’s technology and networking capabilities… all about the How’s, Why’s and What To Do’s and how to incorporate it all into my business… WOW what a concept!!… Help to Help Me in my work!!… Awesome… here’s my chance to go and get myself more informed… and Free… whats not to like?!?…
This class was jammed pack with information… great overview but wished we had more time for Q&A and actual instructions on the downloading of all those tools… most of these tools were brand new to me… never had anyone share these with me (thanks so much Erin…our in-house social media guru)… I was so excited and anxious to start using them ASAP!!
I wanted to download these tools while still in class… NOT… the internet connection at the venue was faulty, my own air card wasn’t working correctly… nothing I did allowed me to download a thing… was advised to wait til I got home (better connection) to download… NOT… tried and tried over and over to download… I’ve learned over the years…with much trial and error and anxiety… one must be patient, stay calm (take deep breaths) and not get aggravated when working with the computer… nothing was working out right… went to bed… woke up this morning and the very first thing I did … (even before my morning coffee) was to get on my laptop to go at it again… NOT… to avoid bothering our in-house tech guru Ron… I called my local realtor board/tech support… NOT… they couldn’t get the downloads to take… sent emails to the various sites for help… (remember that saying… if at first you don’t succeed don’t give up… keep trying… ) so I reached out to our in-house tech guru Ron… Funny thing he was at that moment working on some of the same issues I was calling about… he’ll send out update on the fixes later…
Moral to this story… there’s lots to learn, its all there for the taking, be patient, anything worthwhile will come in good time…
Have a Really Good Day All…
As always… would love to hear back from you… I welcome your feedback… Lets Start a Dialogue!…
Save Me in your Favorites and come back and visit all the time!!…
Thanks a Bunch for your time today…
Isi Wu… the realtor for you…
Serving Clients All Over the Eastbay…
You may feel too much has been written and talked about on the subject of the “downturn” of the real estate market and all of the various topics that have sprung up because of it… or just way too much info on anything related to real estate… Or perhaps you happen to be one of those folks who love to read all they can about the market… there is after all such a huge spectrum of topics to cover … and you really enjoy absorbing and reading everything you can get your hands on…
But how is one lowly realtor able to cover them all??… its an impossibility!… I choose NOT to stress about what to share on my blog… after all… we cant all be the perfect blogger with the perfect subject matter all of the time… Do you agree? After all the purpose of having a blog is to use it and express our thoughts, our knowledge, our feelings, share information, share events etc… the ideas are infinite… and geeez why worry about… what I should say… what about the content… I’m a professional am I making an impression?… Do I sound like a lunatic?… Am I rambling?… Am I choosing meaningful topics?…. who am I reaching?… so on and so on … yet we’re told constantly just to start… Don’t Not Start… JUST START … All of the techno wizzes keep drumming it into us that blogging is important…no one will find you if you don’t blog and blog often to make it work… don’t think too hard… therefore… I’ve decided very recently not to take this real estate blogging soooo seriously that I become paralyzed from participating… I’ve decided to just share whatever’s on my mind at the moment or maybe whatever’s been on my mind the last few days… or to be perfectly honest…perhaps no longer than a week prior.
I hope you’ll find what I share as somewhere between being helpful, insightful, meaningful, straightforward, informative and perhaps challenging and even enjoyable at times… I would love to hear from you… please let me know what you think… I’d really like to hear from you… in fact Let’s Start a Dialogue!!…
Actually I meant to start off with a very short intro leading into my topic but I got carried away…
The very next entry will be the topic that was meant to be a part of this entry… please check it out… in fact Save Me in your Favorites and come back and visit all the time!!…
Thanks a Bunch for your time today…
Isi Wu… the realtor for you…
Servicing Clients All Over the Eastbay…
(including but not limited to… Berkeley, Oakland, Montclair, Piedmont, San Leandro, San Lorenzo, Castro Valley, Hayward, Union City, Fremont, Dublin, Pleasanton, San Ramon, Danville, Alamo, Walnut Creek, Pleasant Hill, Orinda, Lafayette)
Calif. Median Home Price - August 09: $292,960 (Source: C.A.R.)
Calif. Highest Median Home Price by C.A.R. region August 09: Santa Barbara So. Coast $828,750 (Source: C.A.R.)
Calif. Lowest Median Home Price by C.A.R. region August 09: High Desert $111,770 (Source: C.A.R.)
Calif. First-time Buyer Affordability Index – Second Quarter 2009: 67 percent (Source: C.A.R.)
Mortgage Rates – week ending 10/01/09 30-yr. fixed: 4.94% Fees/points: 0.7% 15-yr. fixed: 4.36% Fees/points: 0.6% 1-yr. adjustable: 4.49% Fees/points: 0.5% (Source: Freddie Mac)
