The Elephant in the Room.

This is a Real Estate Blog, right? It’s logical to assume that you’re going to get some commentary when a GREAT BIG story appears on the front page of the paper about a local developer being charged with fraud (and more), right? The fact is that I DID post a very critical column on the issue, too critical, and I was advised to delete it, which I did. The advice was good I believe. After all who am I to judge until all of the facts are known?

Every real estate office and meeting this week features this great big elephant in the middle of the room. It’s the topic on the minds of many of our customers and all of our associates. But we are justifiably cautioned not to jump to conclusions or point fingers…we are expected to not have too strong an opinion.

The point I was trying to make in my deleted post however is still valid; that too often when the term real estate is used in the media: “Real Estate Developer Charged…” or “Real Estate Lender Arrested…” all people hear is “Real Estate”. And when people think real estate they think agent. And so to some people every story about some under-handed, illegal, profit-scamming REAL ESTATE scheme becomes just another hash-mark on the list of reasons to dislike real estate agents.

Not fair! The Realtors that I know are all highly ethical, family oriented and community minded individuals. They coach kids sports teams, serve on City commissions, sit on the boards of local charities and hold blood drives. And they take their commitment to the best interests of their clients seriously.

And so…let us all reserve judgement on the recent headlines until all of the facts are known. In the meantime let’s try to remember that when you see the term Real Estate used in the newspaper it just might be a story about all of the good things Realtors do!

Farming for Sellers

In Real Estate jargon the term ‘farming’ describes the process of actively seeking, contacting and cultivating potential home sellers via door-knocking, phone-calling and by mail. Does it work in Chico? Absolutely! Here’s how a chance meeting at an open house turned into a successful search for a California Park lakefront home.

About 3 months ago while holding an open house at the Sierra Lakeside condominium complex a friendly gentleman wandered into the home for a quick look around “let me know if you ever get one of these right on the lake” he said offhandedly as he started to leave. “Do you mean it?” I replied, immediately thinking of how I might locate a seller willing to part with their home on the water. “Definitely” he replied.

The following day I composed a postcard with a colorful photo of the lake and a description of what I was looking for, and mailed it out to about 40 owners of lakefront condos in both Sierra Lakeside and Windmill Falls. After a week with no response I moved on to more pressing projects.

The following weekend while hosting another open house in a different location I had a call from Mary. Mary had fixed up a lake-view condo for herself but a job change prevented her from occupying it, so she had been renting it out for the last 4 years. She hadn’t been thinking about selling but since she’d gotten my letter she’d at least “find out what it’s worth”. As it turned out it was worth slightly more than she had thought, and she encouraged me to run it by the gentleman that had inspired my search.

When Steve saw the view of the lake he was hooked, and offered to pay Mary’s asking price. Within 3 weeks of Mary accepting Steve’s offer we had Steve’s home for sale and a month later it too had attracted a buyer. Both sales will conclude the end of June, just in time for the buyers to receive the Federal Home Buyers tax credit.

Farming works! All you need is an agent willing to put in the extra effort to search for the specific home-type you’re seeking.

Just like most crops, all this farming effort needed for success was a little water…front

Starting Over.

Many Chico area families who have either recently lost their home to foreclosure or short-sale, or are expecting too, are left wondering “what do we do next”? With home-ownership a thing of the past and credit red-lined for a minimum of 3-7 years most return rather dejectedly to renting a home or apartment. For those determined to begin anew in the home ownership game there is one option…seller financing.

With housing prices so low, the best time for buyers to get back into ownership is now, just when they’re still reeling from losing their home. By purchasing now, with values down as much as 40-50% there is actually a chance of building equity again, a condition that has not existed for about 4 years locally. With their credit shot - seller financing is likely their sole method of getting back into the game.

It may be a tough sell but it’s possible. With gobs of homes on the market and prices low, sellers who own their home free-and-clear have the ability to carry a personal loan and may find it to be one way to move their property or to compete with low priced bank-owned homes. With so much coverage of unemployment, income reduction and the huge number of foreclosures, sellers may also be more apt to understand the circumstances behind a buyer’s recent default. One of the keys is for the buyers to be completely upfront and honest about their situation.

Did the default happen because of a predatory loan? A reduction in income? A temporary job loss? Have most of those issues been resolved? Does the monthly cost of the home they’ll be buying fit within their revised budget? Was their credit good before their job loss or change of income? It is to their advantage to offer the answers to all of these questions right alongside their offer to purchase. Overcoming the seller’s reluctance to work with the buyer by honestly explaining the circumstances behind their default may be just what it takes to get them on the buyers side. A Realtor can help by explaining the benefits to the seller.

Down payment may be a problem. Most people who have recently defaulted on their homes are unlikely to have the standard 20% down payment many sellers may require. Aside from borrowing the money from sympathetic family or friends, perhaps the seller would consider a smaller down (e.g.5-10%) and/or a staggered down payment. Let’s say the seller agrees to a $10,000 down payment, might they also agree to letting the buyer make four installments of $2500, two before allowing the escrow to close the escrow and two more within 60 days after the close? It’s worth trying…we’ve seen it work!

Few listed properties advertise that the seller will carry so buyers should ask their Realtor to enquire about seller financing for homes in their target price range (a buyer should figure out what they can afford in monthly payments and work backwards to arrive at price), some listings state whether the home is owned free and clear or encumbered. To keep payments very low while getting their foot back in the door of ownership – buyers should consider older manufactured homes on land. Pre-1979 mobiles can not be financed commercially, thus the owners generally MUST carry the financing.


Advice to buyers in this situation: Keep trying, if they can demonstrate that they were a reliable mortgagee before their financial problems, can earn a seller’s trust, and are being realistic about the amount they can afford, eventually they should be able to find a seller willing to give them a chance!

Listings, Listings Everywhere...But Will The Buyers Keep Buying?

Well that dreaded date has past – the ‘sun-downing’ of the Government’s Home Buyer Tax Credit on April 30. Things got pretty busy there in April, our Chico office opened dozens of escrows in the final weeks of the month. Now the big question is: with the tax credit over will people still buy?

The tax-credit fever, combined with the first weeks of warm spring weather even seemed to incite sellers into a listing frenzy. Mark and I substantially increased our listing inventory in April and we were able to find buyers for a couple of them soon after putting them on the market. Those that we didn’t find buyers for are now waiting to see if there are enough ‘non-tax-credit-motivated’ shoppers out there to continue the increased purchasing activity.

One positive sign is that sellers know that there may be a window of opportunity left in the spring/summer buying season to complete a sale, and many are pro-actively adjusting the price of their homes weekly to assure that it stay’s fresh in the mind of buyers and to find that ‘sweet-spot’ pricing that motivates buyers to take action.

Savvy sellers, educated by the market and driven by a long period of anemic sales are making the right choices to keep the momentum started by the Home Buyer Tax Credit alive.

Comparing Apples to Oranges...

I was in the Los Angeles area (San Fernando Valley actually) last weekend to visit some friends and was amazed by property values. I know what you’re probably thinking: that it’s incredible how high real estate prices are in metropolitan areas. In fact, it’s the opposite that amazed me…how similar Chico prices are to prices in San Fernando!

My friends home is very cool, not unlike a lot of properties you see on the outskirts of Chico – a rambling 60’s vintage ranch-style home with a garage-to-den conversion, knotty cedar interior walls, on a deep lot with an in-ground pool and a detached guest house…like something you might find off of Garner, Hicks or Keefer.

At the top of the market in 2005-2006 they received an assessment of the homes value at approximately $950,000, much higher than it would have commanded in Chico at that time. But now it seems things have equalized. While home values in the San Fernando Valley dropped like a lead sinker, home prices in Chico suffered a much smaller decrease – somewhere around 30% off of their highest.

Take a guess what the above L.A. area home is currently worth…try about $450,000. How about in Chico? I found three homes with similar qualities; one on Sheridan and two on Vallombrosa… range of prices? A low of $340,000 a high of $555,000.

In other words, Chico prices for this type of home might actually be HIGHER! But then, to compare Chico to the San Fernando Valley might be a little like comparing apples to oranges.