Isi Wu's Blog

Hellooooo My Wonderful, Beautiful Bay Area!!… Please take a few minutes to preview this Darling Bungalow in San Jose, CA…  Located in the Central District near everything in Downtown San Jose… Perfect little home in a nice single family home neighborhood… for 1st x homebuyer/s, empty nesting, spacious private backyard, huge tandem driveway,beautiful floors,  new roof, new dual pane windows throughout, new gas heater, appliances, ceiling fans, upgraded bath, inside laundry room… Just Move Right In!!… Put on your thinking caps this one is a real little gem…Get it while you can!!… This one is NOT a Short Sale is Not an REO… its a straight sale… Response time will be fast…

Thanks for checking in… Cheers!!…

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!!…  Happy Day to You!!… You may or may not have heard… but its Happy Hallelujah Day for all First Time Homebuyers who have ratified contracts in place as of  April 30, 2010!!… As of last nite the Senate passed the bill and the House of Representatives passed the same bill earlier this week to EXTEND the closing deadline for Homebuyer Tax Credit Eligibility from June 30, 2010 to the new date of September 30, 2010… The bill now goes to the President for his signature..

To be clear… the extension applies only to transactions with ratified contracts by April 30, 2010 that have not yet closed?  (Nearly 180,000 homebuyers would have missed out on the tax credit had Congress not taken action to extend the deadline to close escrow… Estimates from the National Association of Realtors show as many as 17,700 home buyers in California would not have received the tax credit without this extension…)

Will keep you posted… Thanks for checking in…

Cheers Everyone!…

Isi

Isi Wu… the realtor for you…

Serving Clients All Over the Eastbay!

Related articles …

• Congress extends closing deadline for home buyer tax credit  sfgate.com)
• Home buyers must scramble to claim federal tax credit  sfgate.com)
• House votes to extend homebuyer credit 3 months  seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• Rush on to meet tax credit deadline  lansner.ocregister.com)

Hello My Beautiful Wonderful Bay Area!!   Happy Sunday to you…  Summer is here, the sun is out, the days are longer, the kids are out of school, lots of great activities swirling all around our Beautiful Bay Area… and the nagging question remains… just what are you going to do with that old frig… its old and ugly, but still works but its costing you up to $100 or more a year for electricity… what to do… what to do… there’s plenty of folks not happy with PG&E’s  “smart meter“.. in fact there’s quite an uproar going on currently about the effectiveness of this program… I’m sure it will get ironed out in some way in the not too distant future… HOWEVER…  did you know PG&E has an “appliance recycling program”?…  They will actually come and pick up your old refrigerator for FREE, Recycle it and PAY YOU $35.00… if you recycle an old air conditioner at the same time you’ll receive an extra $25.00…  Find out more and Schedule a Pick Up at…

http://bit.ly/c8jIjy

Sounds like this will not only help you,  but help the environment and help someone else as well… whats not to like??… Go ahead be kind and nice… Make Someone’s Day… share this info with your family, friends and neighbors…

Happy Sunday & Cheers Everyone…

Thanks for checking in…

Isi

Isi Wu… the realtor for you

Serving Clients All Over the Eastbay!

Related articles by Zemanta

• PG&E customer refuses to take smart meter, locks up old meter  sfgate.com)
• San Francisco public power plan hits snag  sfgate.com)
• Calif. utility giant under fire for ’smart meters’  seattletimes.nwsource.com)

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!

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• Frequently Asked Questions on Short Sales answered by my Short Sale partner IFR  visionaryrealtynews.com)
• 75% of modified home loans will redefault  money.cnn.com)

Hello My Beautiful Wonderful Bay Area… Its just a fact these days… many many people are in need of a way to earn some money for food, shelter and basic necessities… I happened to come across this article and thought it might be helpful and might shed some great ideas to keep going… at the bottom of the 24 ideas are various comments made by readers… pros and cons to ideas suggested but give it a whirl and check it out… Please share with others if you find it helpful…

http://bit.ly/bDcUW7

I wish everyone a way to find some sunshine in their lives…

Thanks for checking in…

Isi

Isi Wu… the realtor for you

Serving Clients All Over the Eastbay!

Related articles by Zemanta

• Home sales dip, prices rise in Bay Area  sfgate.com)
• Home sales dip, prices rise in Bay Area  sfgate.com)

Helllllloooo My Wonderful Beautiful Bay Area!…  Part of all things wonderful here in our neck of the woods… is the awesome music and artistic talent that is seemingly endless and so rich with diversity… we can find music just about anywhere… in many forms and venues… one not quite yet a destination but wonderful quietly kept venue is a place called Zen’s in San Leandro…  known amongst karaoke aficionados as the place to be on certain days of the week to trip the light fantastic and test out your vocal skills…  on the last Saturday of every month there is a live “local” band that performs for your dancing and listening enjoyment… Just this past Saturday we went to see SOB (Same Old Band)… one of the better Top 40 local bands in the Bay Area…. here’s a sampling for you… Enjoy My Friends!…

watch?v=mDwafzUvLlM

Thanks for checking in…

Isi

Isi Wu… the realtor for you

Serving Clients throughout the Eastbay…

Good Morning My Wonderful Beautiful Bay Area!!….  There’s just something to be said about working with clients who pay attention to their purchase and any legislation that might affect their transaction…

First thing this morning received a call from a client in escrow… he just heard on the news that there may be another $10,000 tax credit for 1^st x homebuyers specific to the State of California… was this true and could we get included??…

Personally I hadn’t heard so after checking with my local board, CAR, other sources including CAR Legal… IN CASE YOU HAVENT HEARD  … there is indeed an extension that will go into effect sometime in May of this year which will give first time homebuyers an additional $10,000 tax credit from our great state of California! In addition to the $8,000 tax credit from the federal government…  if your buyers are in contract by April 30… This piece of legislation is very very good news !!… we’re advised to wait a few days for the details to come out…

Keep checking in… Will post updates as more details roll out…

 Hope this news comes in handy for you… It’s a bright sunny day… Cheers Everyone!!

 Your comments are always welcome!!…

Isi

Isi Wu… the realtor for you

Serving Clients All Over the Eastbay…

Thanks for checking in… Your comments are always welcome…

Isi

Isi Wu… the realtor for you…

Serving clients throughout the Eastbay

Related articles by Zemanta

• Rain, Everywhere  sfist.com)

Greetings to you My Beautiful Wonderful Bay Area!!…

Looking at homes and learning how and why they’re built the way they are and getting to know abit about the people that built and reside in their homes has always been very interesting to me… we have so many luxuries in our homes many elsewhere in the world can never realize or imagine… there’s always been the haves and have nots… and those somewhere in the middle… Today I just thought it might be interesting to share some info and photos of a home we recently visited…

My husband and I recently took a holiday trip to Bangkok, Thailand… one of the most intriguing, fascinating, informative trips we’ve ever had the pleasure of taking…Part of what makes travel so intriguing  is to see the different ways people live and the kinds of structures they reside in… the most lavish structures and materials in Thailand are used for the many temples that are scattered throughout… Thailand being a deeply religious Buddhist country.

 One of the most revered and unique single residences in Bangkok was built by Jim Thompson… the man who had the vision to bring Thai Silk to the world…http://bit.ly/8gaxDf…

His home was and still is a showplace and one of a kind… so very unique in that he purchased 6 single traditional Thai homes made of the best teak wood (most of which were already two centuries old from different provinces in Thailand) and moved them all to the location where it still stands today inside the City of Bangkok (which sits just next to a working canal)… he used his training as an architect to create and build his home…but kept in keeping with Thai customs and style… Thai homes were never built with bolts and screws, all the wood was cut precisely and fit into grooves or wood slots when the owners wanted to move it was very easy to disassemble and then reassemble at they’re new location… the house was elevated a full story as with all other Thai homes… above the ground… for several reasons…

Traditional Thai Roof to keep the home cooler….

Jim Thompson’s Bedroom Suite…

Traditional Lower Level of Thai Homes… Jim Thompson’s is much more elaborate…

Some of the Tropical Plantings in his Garden…

When the home was completed Jim Thompson moved in. It became the place to be invited to if you were anybody in Thailand… People from all walks of life were honored to join Mr. Thompson for a wonderful evening of dinner, entertainment and conversation… he almost always had guests every evening and  became the most sought after invitation to receive.  We werent allowed to take fotos of the interior of the home but please be assured it is still in its original glory…beautifully maintained… all the floors are made of teak and Mr. Thompson with his architectural abilities added some western influences (not customary in Thai homes) such as electrical lighting (chandeliers which came from Thai palaces), indoor staircase, interior toilet and shower. 

This was Mr. Thompson’s permanent residence for 8 years before he mysteriously disappeared and no signs of what happened to him has ever surfaced… Today his home belongs to Thailand and is preserved as a lasting reminder of  his creative ability and deep love of Thailand.

 I hope one day you can go and enjoy this home in person its truly a wonder in how it was put together!

After all…   there are so many diverse ways of living throughout the world… and if we can enjoy and appreciate them… it only enriches and enlightens our personal worlds. 

Sawadeeka (Thai meaning Have a Good Day!)

Thanks for checking in… your comments are always welcomed!

Isi

Isi Wu, the realtor for you

Serving Clients All Over the Eastbay