I’m Brian Wilson and I am a Realtor in Orange County California and unlike some Realtors I do work leases.  Why?  Well the real estate business is truly a relationship business.  People know people and as a Realtor you never know where your next client will come from.  The person that is leasing the home today may also know the person that just sold his company and wants to buy the vacation home on the beach as well as the condo in the city and they don’t know a Realtor in the area.  But their friend does…

I met a couple recently that are a very nice couple and ant to move closer to the ocean for health reasons.  This is very similar to what I mentioned, their plan is to eventually buy in the area.  They also have friends in the area and may know of others who may want to own a home in the area.  See my YouTube video here.

Why many Realtors don’t like to work on leases is they are basically the same amount of work for the Realtor but with much less financial return.

Very often the amount of time it takes showing clients homes for sale and for lease can be very close to the same.  The difference comes in the check at the end of the deal.  For example, if a Realtor helps a person buy a home that costs $500,000 they may earn in commissions $15,000 .  Actually take away the broker’s fees and split with the agent then any other concessions and pay their business expenses (advertising, an assistant, etc) and lastly pay our Uncle Sam and you still have a decent amount of money.  But if you were to lease that same house let’s say for $2,500 a month the commissions earned is based on the amount paid for the term.  So, for a year the tenant would pay $30,000 and the commission would be approximately $900 and again the broker’s portion, and fees, expenses and Uncle Sam need to be paid.  You get the picture.

Take care everyo0ne and if you have any questions for me please reach out to me at my email, myrealtorbrian@gmail.com, check out my Facebook fan page or my cell phone 949-933-0852

CARs Web site is http://www.car.org/legal/2011-new-laws/.

Side note: Today Verizon announced they will carry the iPhone today, 1/11/11 and will ship them on 2/10/11 which is far more interesting so here is the Verizon and the iPhone link or keep reading for some of the information on the new laws:

AB 1762 Advanced fee prohibition:

Defined as a fee claimed or received by a licensed real estate agent/broker from their client (principle) before fully completing the services they were contracted to do.  The law does exempt advertising of real estate or a business opportunity from the advanced fee as long as the publication/media is not owned by the broker.

AB 1373 Restrictions and disclosures on grant deed copy service:

Cracks down on the mailed advertisements sent to home owners offering to provide a copy of their grant deed or other record of title for a fee.  They don’t want to mislead anyone into believing that the company making the offer is affiliated with a government agency.

SB 183 Carbon monoxide detectors; smoke detectors and water-heater bracing disclosure:

Certain seller disclosures are getting combined together; the Transfer Disclosure Statement (TDS) will also include the water-heater and smoke detector disclosure.  This will also enact the Carbon Monoxide Poisoning Prevention Act of 2010.  This means a carbon monoxide detector will need to be installed in a “dwelling unit”. So if you own rental property you will need to install a carbon monoxide detector there too.  For single family homes install by July 1, 2011 and for all other types of dwelling units install by January 1, 2013.

AB 1809 Home inspection to include HERS home energy audit, if requested:

If requested by the client, a Home Energy Rating System (HERS) Program energy audit may be performed.  To learn more about this California Energy Commission’s regulations go to http://www.energy.ca.gov/HERS/.

SB 1087 Restitution for identity theft victims:

I really like this one, this requires a defendant that is convicted of the crime of identity theft to pay restitution to the victim. This will work just like a civil judgment does now.  Not too related to real estate but I like it anyway.

SB 1411 Misdemeanor to impersonate another person on the Internet:

Any person who knowingly and without consent credibly impersonates another person through or on an Internet Web site or by other electronic means (like an email account or social network account) to harm, intimidate, threaten or defraud another person is guilty of a misdemeanor.  The person can be fined up to $1,000 or imprisonment up to a year or both.  Also not really real estate related but interesting.

AB 1800 Unlawful renting of residential dwelling:

Currently it is a misdemeanor for a person to claim ownership or to take possession of someone else’s residential property for the purpose of renting it to another without the owner’s consent.  Now the penalties will be raised to a maximum fine of $2,500 or up to a year in prison or both.

HR 5297 Landlords to report payments of $600 or more on IRS Form 1099:

This would extend the current Form 1099 requirement to any person, landlord or small investor that receives rental income, not just the property management companies.  Under the new law anyone who receives rental income from a residential or commercial property and makes annual payments of $600 or more to service providers (such as plumbers or gardeners for yard maintenance) must provide a Form 1099 for that service provider.  Talk with your tax adviser.

SB 1038 Attorney-in-fact now may be liable for losses to principal’s property:

Under this new law, if the attorney-in-fact breaches a duty that is covered by the power of attorney law they could be charged with interest for any loss or depreciation in the value of the property, any profit made due to the breach, or any profit that would have accrued to the principle if the loss or profit is a result of the breach.

Prop. 13 New Construction exclusion for seismic retrofitting:

This well known California proposition prohibits tax assessors from re-evaluating new construction for property tax purposes when the point of the new construction is to seismically retrofit an existing building.  This Proposition took affect June of 2010 but is still good information.

SB 931 Discharge of balance on loan indebtedness after a short sale for residential 1-4 real property by holder of a first deed of trust:

This law prohibits a lender that is holding the first deed of trust (purchase or refinance) for a dwelling of 1-4 units to demand a deficiency judgment (unpaid balance) from the trustor or mortgagor (owner) who sells the dwelling for than the remaining amount of the indebtedness due at the time of the short sale to which the lender has agreed in writing.  However if the owner commits either fraud with respect to the short sale or waste with respect to the secured real property, then the lender may seek damages against the owner or any third party for fraud or waste.

I just listed this nicely updated 2 bedroom 2 bath home in Laguna Woods, a community for adults over 55 years of age.  This community has so many things to offer its owners that you might want to live there sooner.  I will mention more about the amenities but first a bit more about the home. Laguna Woods was previously called Leisure World (started in 1964) and then incorporated in 1999 to become on of Orange Counties newest cities.  One thing not widely known is you don’t have to be over 55 years old to own a home, just to live in it.  This is so if a child wanted to help their parent achieve ownership they could go on title and the parent(s) could live in the home.

It is all on one level and there are no steps to enter or in the home.  The kitchen has upgraded appliances, granite counters and ceramic tile flooring.  The lighting has been updated to recessed can lights and the ceilings throughout have been scraped.  The bathrooms have skylights, granite vanities, new sinks, new toilets and ceramic tile flooring.  The rest of the spacious home has newer carpeting and the bedrooms and living room offer privacy and views of trees and greenbelt.  This Laguna Woods property is ready for the lucky buyer to own for $145,000.

The Laguna Woods community does offer many great amenities, from a couple golf courses, driving range, tennis facilities, wood working shop, sewing room, a satellite college campus, and many other arts and crafts (ceramics, art, stained glass are a few).  There is even horse stables and garden area for those with green thumbs, a bus service for travel to nearby shopping and an auditorium in the community that hosts feature movies and entertainers.  They routinely offer opportunities to gather with others, dinners, events, and more.

I have taken many photos I can share with you of this really turn-key home.  Here is one of the kitchen and click the address link to see more photos, 459 Avenida Sevilla B of this ready and available home in the guard gated resort community of Laguna Woods.

The city of Laguna Woods offers home prices that are low compared to other senior communities in the area but the major difference is that most of the homes here are cooperatives.  This is a bit different than buying a condo or single family home.  Contact me if you have questions about what is needed if you are interested.

Have a great day and if you have any questions about Orange County, CA real estate or need assistance buying, selling or leasing a home, contact me, I would love to be of service to you.

Brian Wilson, Realtor, Prudential California Realty

brian@pruoc.com    or   949-933-0852

Well we are about half way through August and there have been already 22 homes sold in Laguna Niguel.  If this trend stays true there could be approximately 45 homes sell this month.  In June there were exactly 100 homes that sold in Laguna Niguel and in July there were 63.  In both June and July the type of home that sold the most was the attached home (condos).  30 of the 38 condos (79%) that sold in June and 22 of the 26 condos (84%) that sold in July were priced under $400,000.  For this area these homes could certainly been bought by first time home buyers as well as investors (I sold one of these in July to an investor).

In regard to financing for these homes sold in June and July the majority were conventional loans, over 50% of all sales.  Another 25% of all sales for these months were cash sales, these are likely to be investor buyers.  The rest were mostly FHA buyers and even a VA buyers and a CALHFA buyer too.  These are usually first time buyers taking advantage of Federal government financing assistance programs.

The number of home sales have been on a decline after the program ended which indicates to me that there were more first time buyers taking advantage of the Federal tax credit, in Laguna Niguel anyway, than I realized.  I believe there was also more buyer and seller activity in general since the spring is usually one of the hotter markets for home buyers/sellers.  Summer normally slows down again and then the sales pick up again in the end of the summer and also toward the end of the year.  So if the numbers hold true for August the number of home sales will be lower yet again as is the norm for summer.  We will have to see if the market picks up again toward the end of summer and/or the end of the year.

Basically here are some truths about the home buying market right now; interest rates have not been as low as they are for over 40 years.  I have spoken with people who have purchased and refinanced with rates in the low to mid 4% range.  If buying and you need a loan, you will need to have good credit, a fair amount down, 20% is best but there are programs that allow you to come in with as little as 3.5% (FHA).  Bring your lender tax returns for the past couple years, bank statements for the past few months and don’t make any large purchases or deposits.  The underwriters are really scrutinizing the buyers to make sure they can afford the home they are trying to buy.

Have a great day and if you have any questions about Orange County, CA real estate or need assistance buying, selling or leasing a home please contact me, I would love to be of service to you.

Brian Wilson, Realtor, Prudential California Realty

brian@pruoc.com    or    949-933-0852

I have been contemplating the 2 major different kind of blogs that are being used, the written blog (as this one is) or the video blogs.  Does anyone have a preference?  I am thinking about setting up some sort of a studio for filming video blogs or I will do them where the mood hits me or at a home we have listed for sale.  Wherever I am it will just be the place I film and deliver good content on real estate, answer some questions, tell about a particular home or provide some information on current events related to the California market and/or real estate in general.

If anyone has an opinion please let me know, I will hopefully have something set up to start video blogging or I will be doing my video blogs from wherever the move strikes me.

Talk with you soon,

This is pre-release information about a home we are going to have, a new lease listing will come available in less than a week.  The home has tremendous 180 degree ocean views.  There are 3 bedrooms, 2.5 baths and approximately 1,600 square feet.  It also has a 2 car garage, a great entertaining ocean view deck and a private spa off the master.  The asking lease price will be right around $3,500  per month.  The community is gated and offers a pool and spa for the residents and their guests.  If you would like to lease this detached home or know someone who may please give me a call.  I will post a link and some photos shortly.

Have a great day and if you have any questions about Orange County, CA real estate or need assistance buying, selling or leasing a home please contact me, I would love to be of service to you.

Brian Wilson, Realtor, Prudential California Realty

brian@pruoc.com    or    949-933-0852

I know of a fellow agent that confided to me that he was unable to keep up with his house payments due to a huge increase after he stopped paying to try for a loan modification.  I accessed a site with foreclosure data and showed him when his estimated auction date was and he told me he didn’t know that a date had been set.

I also know someone else who has decided to stop making payments since they may need to have their capital more liquid due to a family illness.  They have decided to let the house go to have more liquid funds available if needed.  This person also asked me about how much time I thought they would have in the home before they would have to vacate.

Both these instances made me realize there is a lot of unknowns surrounding the time line of the foreclosure process in California.  I will try to explain the process so that some of the unknowns become known.

The entire process really begins when the first mortgage payment to the lender (beneficiary)  is missed by the home owner (borrower), this is called technical default and begins the collection phase for the lender.  If the home owner cannot resolve (pay what is owed) the defaulted payment amount through forbearance by the lender or some other method (short sale or loan modification), the lender will instruct the trustee to begin foreclosure proceedings.  This is done via a letter which is sent to the owner notifying them of their default of the loan.  This notifies the owner of the lender’s intent to follow through on their right to call the loan due in full, the notice also becomes public record.  A copy of the notice, which is recorded at the appropriate county recorders office for the property is mailed to the owner’s address as per the deed of trust.  Normally lenders do not file an official notice of default until at least 3 months after the first missed mortgage payment but I have heard of people who have been in their home for 6 months or longer  and still no notice of default has been filed.  The auction date for the property is approximately 3 months after the Notice of Default is filed.  This stage is know as the pre-foreclosure stage.  All other creditors (lien holders) will also be notified of the Notice of Default filing.

If the foreclosure cannot be delayed or avoided via a short sale of the property through the bank/lender the foreclosure moves forward.

California is a non-judicial foreclosure state which means the foreclosure on a mortgage can take place without a lawsuit or a court order.  This happens normally because the borrower had signed a document (trust deed) giving the trustee authorization to sell the property to pay off the debt.  Now at least 20 days after the notice of trustee sale is filed and posted at the property (the posting period) the property may be sold at public auction (usually at the courthouse steps) for the amount of the debt plus foreclosure costs.  If no one bids enough to obtain the property, the lender will assume ownership of the property.  Normally the lender will sell the property to recover as much of their cash investment as possible.  There is a delay in time from the trustee auction to the market that varies based on the lender.

The property owner does have up until 5 days prior to the actual auction date to bring the mortgage current and thus stop the sale of the property at auction.

At least 20 days before the auction date the lender must publish and record the auction time, date and place of the trustee sale.  These sales are ‘cash and carry’, meaning the bidders must have the funds at the time of the auction to make payment (cashiers checks) for their purchase.  If the bidder buys the home at the trustee sale they potentially get very good prices for the property.  The risk for the bidder is that there is no title insurance offered, if they do not do the proper research they could buy other liens with the property.  There is a risk and there is also a possibility of great reward.  If you are thinking of purchasing a home recently bought at auction with a loan there may be different lender requirements required, speak with your agent and lender.

If a property is not purchased at the courthouse auction and reverts to the lender any junior lien holders are removed, they do not get any funds from a sale.  In this instance these junior lien holders may file a deficiency judgment against the owner.  What this means is that a junior lien was dismissed is looked at as a financial windfall to the property owner ( a debt that is not repaid) and this could be a taxable event.  Please discuss the potential tax liabilities with your tax adviser or attorney that is knowledgeable in these transactions to try and access any liabilities you may have.

Basically if you have missed mortgage payments and received a Notice of Default you will have approximately 3 months plus 20 days before the property will go to auction.

Have a great day and if you have any questions about Orange County, CA real estate or need assistance buying, selling or leasing a home please contact me.

Brian Wilson, Realtor, Prudential California Realty

brian@pruoc.com    or    949-933-0852

My thought and belief is that a service animal is not considered a pet but a necessity for its owner.  To make it easier to understand let me compare the ‘pet’ to a walking stick for a blind person.  Both are essential for the blind person, one just eats a lot more.  Bad jokes aside, the animal is a working animal, keeping it’s owner out of harm and enabling that person to live a more normal life and have full use of the home and property.

If the animal is not considered a pet then it may be exempt from any “no pets” requests made by the owner or landlord.  This is where it gets interesting, now there is a potential for discrimination, even unintentionally,  by a landlord /owner or their representative.  I did a quick search online and found an article from an attorney at, http://www.msslc.com/animals.html, which is titled “Service Animals in a “No Pets” Apartment” by Martin S. Snitow of Martin S. Snitow Law Corporation, 1997 (hopefully I have given the proper credit to Mr. Snitow).

His is a very good and easy to read article that basically states the service animal is not a pet and offers an example of what happened to one landlord / owner when he asked the tenant for proof of the dogs assistance status.

Just goes to show that real estate has so many little nuances that to try and rent your investment property out yourself could bring with it many headaches.  Let someone trained in the real estate field assist you search for a home to buy, list your home for sale and even rent your home to a tenant.

Thank you again to Mr. Snitow for the use of his article in this blog post.

Have a great day and if you have any questions about Orange County, CA real estate or need assistance buying, selling or leasing a home please contact me.

Brian Wilson, Realtor, Prudential California Realty

brian@pruoc.com    or    949-933-0852

If you are reading this then I know you have already started looking online for a house, in today’s online world over 90% of home searches start online.  Do your home work.  Use the Internet to help you find a community you believe would be a good fit for you.  You can check the local schools, sales stats, and numerous other stats that will give you insight into certain areas.  You will also find many real estate agents, Realtors, that work in these areas.  They may not always be the area expert they seem to be, they may have paid for some sort of advertising that implies they are the agent for this area.  So if you call an agent as them some questions about the area to get a sense of their knowledge.

Due to the current housing market it may be a very good time to be a buyer, the most difficult part of being a buyer today is obtaining the financing.  You may want to have your credit run to make sure you don’t have any surprises and if you do find something, work on getting that removed to improve your score.  You may also need to make sure you have a good down payment, the majority of lenders will require 20% down although there are some ‘creative’ loan products out there, you will get the best loan rate and terms by having strong credit and a good down payment.

When you have met an Realtor you like and trust go and see some of the homes you found online.  Many times I have taken someone to a home they believe will be perfect for them, once there they are disappointed after they have seen the home.   Work with your Realtor and tell them all the important tings to you in your next home and see what homes he can find.  Between your looking and your agents choices you should find some good choices.

Once you have found a home that fits your needs, that you can afford and you like, buy it!  The good ones are not staying on the market too long.  A good Realtor should be able to advise on pricing and market trends.  He should also be able to supply you with good tradesmen/contractors so if the home needs some work you will have a good idea what the work will cost.

Once in escrow (under contract) do your inspections, get comfortable with the condition of the home.  A good inspection should point out any potential concerns and note the current ones too.  Besides the basic condition of the home you may need a roof inspection, a pool/spa inspection, a geological inspection, etc…   Based on your inspections you can then negotiate with the sellers to have them correct some of the concerns or if there are major problems this should be your time to back out of the transaction and find another home for your family.

The key to the home search process is patience, don’t rush in do your work and educate yourself, ask questions of your agent.  Once your friends and family know you are looking and serious about buying a home they will give you lots of advice, some good and some not so good.  Try to sort through and if you don’t understand something ask your agent.  As a Realtor I can tell you I have had some very good discussions about some topic I thought the buyer knew but they hadn’t a clue.  I try to ask many questions and will often retell a story of a past situation to encourage questions, especially from first time buyers, but please ask your agent questions.

So to pull the ways to save out into a more simple format:

1: Start your search for both house and agent online (save your gas)

2: A good Realtor may be able to negotiate a better deal (save more than the tax credit would)

3: Know your credit score (fix any surprises)

4: Save your money for a good down payment (20% may get the best loan)

5: Know your want and needs for your next home (will keep you and your agent focused)

6: Found “The One” do your inspections (know what you are buying)

7: Be patient (who may have rushed to buy a home they don’t love just to get the $8,000 tax credit?)

My simple rule for buyers: If you  like the home, can afford the home and it fits your family’s needs …. then buy it!

Have a great day and if you have any questions about Orange County, CA real estate or need assistance buying, selling or leasing a home please contact me.

Brian Wilson, Realtor, Prudential California Realty

brian@pruoc.com    or    949-933-0852