If your family is over grown and you need a larger home, it is perfect time to upsize in down market. Here's why. Consider if your current house is worth $350,000 two years ago at the peak of the market and the house you want to upsize to is worth about $550,000. You will need to pay $200,000 to upsize. Current Home Upsize Home Difference 2 years ago $350,000 $550,000 $200,000 Today's price after 20% Drop $280,000 $440,000 $160,000   Savings $ 40,000 If the market price drop 20% from 2 years ago, your current house is worth $280,000 (=$350,000 x 80%) and the house you want to purchase also dropped 20% to $440,000 (=$550,000 x 80%). You will pay $160,000 to upsize in down market which is a $40,000 saving from the up market. Buyers save more money to upsize in down market. Therefore, this... 11/30/2008

With the current state of the real estate market..the price dips and lenders, investors, buyers and sellers all concerned about their bottom line dollar, the most recent sales comparables have become crucial. Gone are the days when just about any nearby comp will do. In our soft declining market not having the latest sales comparables cold mean the end of a sales contract or the beginning of re-negotiations. Sellers and buyers alike must pay careful attention because it could make all the difference in whether a lender funds the loan on a particular sale. Sellers make sure that your Realtor keeps you informed of the latest comps every 30 days. Buyers, be sure that sales comparables are pulled each time you submit an offer.  An old standard had previously been a sales comparable within t... 11/29/2008

Legal maximum amount of security deposit that can be charged by a landlord in California is two months rent. In reality, deposit amount is charged ranging from $300 to $500 by apartment complexes and up to 2 months by private landlords. Due to the current market situation, most landlords lower their deposit amount to entice suitable renters to rent their properties. In today's market, about 90% of landlords charge approximately one month rent for deposit. For other landlords who charge 1.5 months to 2 months deposit will encounter difficulties renting their properties for not being able to compete against majority of rentals that charge only one month rent for deposit. Since most renters will rent a house with less deposit choosing between two rentals, the most sensible amount for landl... 11/29/2008

  Chino Hills continues to be a city of growth and economic development despite the dip in the median home sale price. Based upon its central location to neighboring counties, top notch schools and overall community atmosphere, people are sure to continue to flock to Chino Hills. Thus far for 2008, the second quarter showed the highest number of home sales at a little over 250 homes sold. However, historically speaking, the second quarter tends to be the strongest. For the third quarter, the median price for a home in Chino Hills is approximately $425,000. Much like you may have already heard, Real Estate is cyclical. Historically, Real Estate has gone up and then come down. Right now it is down but rest assured, it will come back up. So many people continue to worry that it is not the... 11/28/2008

Rental is like a long-term hotel for renters. It is very important that the landlords understand this and run it like a hotel business by making sure the property is in clean and move-in condition. It is very difficult to rent a dirty house if the house needs a new coat of paint, house cleaning and carpet cleaning. With a dirty house, landlord will end up doing a lot of showings with no application to rent the house. If they finally get an application to rent the house, most likely are the ones other landlords will not consider with bad credit or other problems. Those renters has no other choice but to apply for any suitable house that will consider their applications. If a landlord wants to find top notch renters with excellent credit, they need to keep the property in top shape to dra... 11/18/2008

  It’s quite an alarming feeling to watch a fire rage literally “from your backyard.” I had taken my children to a musical this afternoon. When we left the house, I had heard about the wildfires in nearby cities and even saw the billowing dark black smoke. As we made our way home and finished up a quick drive through McDonald’s my cell phone rang. It’s my husband telling me to drop whatever I am doing and get home. The fire is close and I need to gather important  papers and pictures. Traffic has been a complete disaster all the way home. As we approached the hill, I drove faster.      Barely parking, we hopped out of the car, running around to the back of our house. It’s like just watching orange streams and clouds shoot out of the hills. My five year old immediately begins an emotion... 11/16/2008

Most buyers today have questions about financing their new home. This is particularly true right now in light of recent developments in the lending industry. There are a few things that you and your Realtor can do to ensure that your new home purchase goes a little more smoothly. First and foremost, know your credit score. The lending industry is very credit score driven. FICO scores range from 300 to 850. Any FICO score above 720 is considered good.  Approximately 50% of consumers have a FICO score of 700 or better. The best way to improve FICO scores is by paying bills on time. Additionally, getting pre-approved BEFORE beginning the home search. Pre-approval generally means that the lender inquires about the buyers income, verifies income, pulls a credit report to check credit worthin... 10/04/2008

It can be a time of great disorder, despair and overwhelming responsibility. But it can be made easier. Oft times individuals are caught off guard by a parents death and must then sort through years of belongings and sell the family home. The executor  has the responsibility and liability for any financial and legal decisions associated with the sale of the home and its contents. As an executor, seek help to clear out these lifetime accumulations and prepare the house for sale. Here are a few tips 1. Decide what's most important by utilizing the 80/20 rule.  If you get hung up on the emotional whirlwind of keeping several items out of "sentimental value" then set them aside and aim your attention towards the 80% that no one cares about. 2. Be thorough. Look through everything very caref... 10/04/2008

On October 3, 2008 the U.S. House of Representatives approved the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act by a 263 to 171 vote. The legislation was then signed into law by President Bush. Here’s what the legislation does that will better the economy:1. It requires the Treasury Dept. and any federal agency that owns or controls troubled mortgages to modify those mortgages wherever possible, therefore this will help families keep their homes. This will also extends the exclusion from federal income tax of mortgage debt forgiveness until the end of 2012. This means a stabilization of our current housing market may finally begin to take shape. This means less short sales, less foreclosures and at hopefully maintaining our current equity for the time being. 2. It addresses the credit crisis by ... 10/04/2008

In the past years, we are seeing about 10 to 15 properties for rent per month in Diamond Bar and Chino Hills in the MLS database. As of 09/20/08, Diamond Bar has 67 properties for rent and Chino Hills has 52 houses for rent in the local MLS.Why is it that we are seeing 4 to 5 times more available rentals on the market this year? Here are 3 reasons:1. A lot of the sellers turned renters went back to purchase a house since house price dropped 30% to 40% in the past one year.2. Due to the low housing price, investors move into the housing market to purchase rentals.3. Sellers who need to sell their houses but do not want to give it away at today's low price, decide to rent it out instead.Due to the large selection of available rentals, most properties rented are the one with upgrades in ve... 09/20/2008

The Chino Valley School District is one of the best in the Inland Empire and a big draw for home buyers in Chino and Chino Hills. Sending your child to a top rated school is just plain good parenting! The API score is the Academic Performance Index based on state tests taken every Spring. The numeric index ranges from the lowest at 200 to the highest at 1,000. The statewide target is 800. Congratulations to  Cortez, Gird, Rhodes, El Rancho, Dickey, Liberty, Dickson, Canyon Hills, Townsend, Los Serranos and Walnut schools for their substantial increase in scores! Here are the results of this year's testing and the corresponding change in API scores:       2008 2007 Change Elementary: Borba     775 785 -10 Briggs     826 849 -23 Butterfield Ranch   897 903 -6 Cattle     844 841 3 Chaparra... 09/12/2008

No matter what the market, people will continue to desire to live in Chino Hills, as it remains one of the most active cities within San Bernardino County. Comparatively speaking, the Chino Hills  housing market continues to post brisk sales.  In of July 2008, 32 single family homes and a total of 3 condos/townhomes sold, 31 less than last month.  My overall view of the market is still slipping in cost per square foot while the sales numbers are slowing further. I expect this winter will see slowing sales and an increase pace in price decreases. For a full county market report Click Here. Closed Sales For July 2008, Up 9 from last month58 Single Family Homes3 Condos/TownhomesPending Sales For July 2008, Up 4 from last month85 Single Family Homes10 Condos/TownhomesCurrent Actives As of T... 09/09/2008

Pine Valley Estates is a new gated community developed by Meritage Homes in Chino Hills. It is located in the high desirable north Chino Hills area with only 98 home sites. Over half of the home sites have golf course view overlooking Western Hills Golf and Country Club. Houses are between 3,360 sq ft to 4,021 sq ft. The average lot size is about 8,000 sq ft. Price starts at $899,000. The property tax rate is 1.25% of the purchase price and the homeowner association fee will be $399 at buil-out.Please contact Caroline Tsou at (626)922-8408 if you are interested in learning more about golf course living in Chino Hills. 08/30/2008

If you have ever sold a home in California then you have probably endured the request for your social security number on certain documents that are then disseminated to the buyers of your home. This has always been an area of concern for many sellers. Countless times, sellers have asked why they were required to disclose such personal information to the buyer. Thankfully the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 contains a major revision to this requirement. Effective immediately sellers are no longer required to provide their buyers the Sellers Affidavit on Non Foreign Status as long as the seller furnishes the Seller's Affidavit with their social security number to escrow or a "qualified substitute." A "qualified substitute" is a person chosen to close the transaction. This can in... 08/06/2008

Seems that everyone is wondering how the recent real estate decline will affect their bottom line. With gas prices soaring, a lagging economy and foreclosures looming, it seems only natural that people are asking about their homes. The federal housing bill called the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 is geared to help stabilize the economy by providing support to first time homeowners and by providing aid to homeowners facing foreclosure. This bill will allow approximately 400,000 homeowners facing foreclosure to refinance their current mortgages with Federal Housing Administration (FHA) backed loans. The bill also permanently increases the conforming loan limit to $625,500. This is a permanent increase from the former limit of $417,000. This new loan limit will become effective... 08/06/2008

With the 30%-40% price drop in the past 1 year compounded with additional tax benefit, own a house as a lifestyle asset has becoming a more and more popular choice in Inland Empire.To own, you will need at least 20% down payment from savings, gift or qualified from city's down payment assistant program.Here's a quick comparison between paying $2200 rent vs. owning a $400,000 house with 6.75% interest rate. RentOwnRental Payment$2200  Mortgage$2075Renter Insurance 30 Insurance 107  Property Tax 417  Maintain Cost 267   Estimated Tax Benefit-$ 639 Total Payment $2230  Total Payment $2227 08/04/2008

No matter what the market, people will continue to desire to live in Chino Hills, as it remains one of the most active cities within San Bernardino County. Comparatively speaking, the Chino Hills  housing market continues to post brisk sales.  In of June 2008, 60 single family homes and a total of 6 condos/townhomes sold, 29 more than last month.  My overall view of the market is still slipping in cost per square foot while the sales numbers are stabilizing a little. I expect this winter will see slowing sales and an increase pace in price decreases. For a full county market report Click Here. Closed Sales For June 2008, Down 2 from last month51 Single Family Homes1 Condos/TownhomesPending Sales For June 2008, Up 11 from last month83 Single Family Homes8 Condos/TownhomesCurrent Actives ... 08/02/2008

How can I make such a BOLD statement? Well, because I can and I can back up that statement. With the exception of San Francisco, every other city is secondary. This is not something proud to say but here is the reason why.   *Earthquake* HITS Los Angeles today 7/29/08 @ 11:42am PST Here is an article about the quake. 5.4 Earthquake  A powerful earthquake rumbled through Southern California this morning. It registered a magnitude of 5.4 and we all felt it pretty good here. The epicenter was located near Chino Hills CA. It jolted buildings for several seconds which while you're in it is rather unnerving. I was in the second story and I can SEE the building swaying back and forth. The cracks along the walls were also audible and you can hear the wood squeaks as the earth moved from underne... 07/29/2008

The latest reports by the California Association of Realtors cite that January 2008 marked the first time in 84 months that the license population declined. In January 2000 there were 303,000 licensees and by December 2007 there were 548,959 licenses. The world of Real Estate has definitely changed. Some are the days of quick sales. The decline in real estate licensees means that consumers can expect a higher level of competence and commitment from the licensees who are sticking through the tougher times. Heck, who doesn't like their job when it is producing awesome results? It's the people who stick through the tougher times and weather the storm that are truly dedicated to the profession and thus dedicated to the consumers that they provide service to. The real estate licensees that a... 07/29/2008

At about 11:45 a.m. on July 29, 2008 Chino Hills made news with a 5.4 earthquake. Officially, it has been dubbed the "Chino Hills Quake".  While things are generally pretty quiet around Chino Hills today things were lively. While the epicenter was around Chino Hills, the effects were felt as far away as 50 miles West and even into Las Vegas. Phone systems became jammed, damage assessment crews are out and people are talking! The 1994 quake was the last sizeable quake we experienced so many of us are probably a little rusty on earthquake emergency plans. This served as a huge reminder to have an emergency plan for reaching family members. It also a good time to take a look at what to do during and earthquake and earthquake preparedness. There are some great tips available online at www.q... 07/29/2008