Below is a chart showing the number of houses sold in Phillips Ranch from 2006 to 2009. In February 2009, 4 properties were sold and 15 properties went into escrow in Phillips Ranch. Below is a list of the 4 properties sold in Phillips Ranch in February 2009. Type Address Bank REO? Br/Ba Sq Ft Built Pool View Listing Price Sold Price Cndo 27 Country Mile Rd Yes 2/2 892 1983 No No $139,900 $130,000 Cndo 91 Country Mile Rd Yes 2/2 1034 1987 No No $190,000 $185,000 Hs 20 Viewpoint Circle Yes 3/3 2128 1979 No No $359,000 $370,000 Hs 51 Meadow View Dr No 4/2 1560 1981 No Yes $399,900 $375,000 There were 52 properties for sale and 4 sold last month making February's sold rate equals to 8%. 3 out of 4 properties sold last month were bank owned. Chance of privately owned homes sold is only 2%. ... 03/04/2009

President Obama signed the stimulus package on 02/17/09. H.R. 1, is a $787 billion package containing over $280 billion in tax relief and over 300 changes to the IRC. For first-time homebuyer, if you make a purchase in 2009 (01/01/09-12/31/09), the maximum tax credit is increased to $8000 and the repayment provisions are eliminated for taxpayers who own and live in the home for at least 36 months. (IRC 36). The tax credit amount is 10% of cost of home not to exceed $8,000. If you purchase a house for $300,000, 10% of the purchase price is $30,000. Since $30,000 is greater than $8,000, you will be entitle to $8,000 tax credit. For example, if you owe IRS $10,000 on your income tax and your qualified tax credit is $8000, your net tax liability is only $2000. Making this year an outstandin... 02/22/2009

Below is a chart showing the number of houses sold in Phillips Ranch from 2006 to 2009. With low interest rate and large bank owned homes selling at bargain prices, we are seeing twice more houses sold in January 2009 comparing to January 2008. The number of houses sold in January 2009 is back to the same level as January 2006. We will continue monitor the market for few more months to determine if the housing market is in the process of rebounding. 02/06/2009

Below is a list of the 6 properties sold in Phillips Ranch in January 2009. Type Address Bank REO? Br/Ba Sq Ft Built Pool View Listing Price Sold Price Cndo 82 Country Mile Yes 3/3 1204 1986 No No $199,900 $200,000 Hs 7 Hidden Hills Yes 4/3 2097 1979 No No $309,100 $360,000 Hs 17 Cottontail Yes 4/2 1806 1981 No No $351,500 $365,000 Hs 16 Monte Diablo No 3/2 1733 1989 No No $429,000 $410,000 Hs 31 Navajo Trail No 4/3 1984 1981 No No $419,900 $415,000 Hs 15 Pala Mesa Yes 3/3 2940 1990 No Yes $659,900 $659,900 There were 50 properties for sale and 6 sold last month making the January sold rate 12%. 4 out of 6 properties sold last month were bank owned properties. Chance of privately owned homes sold is only 4%. In order to get the house sold, private owners need to either price their house... 02/03/2009

According to Freddie Mac, 30 year moorage rates drop below 5% setting new record for the lowest mark since 1971. This week on 01/17/09, the rate dropped to 4.96% down from previous record of 5.01%. It is the 11th straight weekly drop that is way below 5.69% at the same time last year. 01/17/2009

May this new year adorn your life with many beautiful things and sweet memories to cherish forever. And care of those whom the heart holds close, along with abundant joys and happiness, for you and your family. Wishing you life's best this New Year. 12/26/2008

There are 4 stages in a short sale transaction: 1. Offer solicitation stage I This stage is controlled by the seller and time frame shall be as short as possible. A good agent shall be able to help you price your house to get offers within a week the house is listed on the market. 2. Lender approval stage This stage is controlled by the lenders and can be anywhere from 2 months to 6 months depending on who the lenders are and how many lenders (liens) are on the property. 3. Offer solicitation stage II By the time we get the short sale approvals from the lenders few months after the house was initially listed, most likely we lost all the offers to purchase the house. We will need to start the offer solicitation stage again with the new price that is approved by the lenders. Most offers c... 12/17/2008

I had a lot of buyers asking me about the difference between purchasing bank owned and short sales properties. Below is a quick comparison chart: Property Condition Time Required (From Offer to Close Escrow) Price Bank Owned Horrible to excellent condition depending on the property. Sold as-is with no repair As soon as 10 days. 5% to 30% below market price. Approved Short Sale Mint to Excellent Condition. Sold as-is with no repair. 1 to 2 months. As much as 10% lower than bank owned properties. Non-Approved Short Sale Mint to Excellent Condition. Sold as-is with no repair. 2 to 6 months depending on the lenders. As much as 10% lower than bank owned properties. Since most short sale purchase takes a long time to realize, the transaction can easily fall apart due to seller's change in fin... 12/14/2008

Being in the real estate business, I heard a lot of horror stories recently about scammers taking advantage of distressed property owners. Exercise common judgment like "If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is." Be especially alert, if you need to put money up front or sign over your house deed. You can also check with Better Business Bureau to make sure they are legitimate business and not scams. Here are some free and honest resources to assist distressed owners: 1. Home Ownership Preservation (HOPE) program. They have counselor to help you writing a hardship letter and assist you in preparing loan modification documentation free of charge. HOPE (888) 995-4673 http://www.995hope.org 2. You can also contact HUD. Here's the contact info: HUD (800) 569-4287 http://www.hud.gov/fo... 12/07/2008

It is always very challenging to rent a house that has red, orange, yellow, green, blue, lilac or pink wall or carpet. It will take an extra one to two months to rent those properties and most likely at the lower than market rate. Here's the reason why. Let say if a rental has red wall. Since about 50% of prospected renters will like it and the other cannot stand it, the color will eliminate 50% of the suitable renters. Thus doubling the length of time in securing a qualified renter. Also, the strong color of the property will probably post a challenge to match tenant's furniture's color scheme. The same rule applies to wallpapers. Some people will like it and the others won't. Often times, even if they like rest of the house, most renters will just move on to the next suitable rental s... 12/03/2008

If you cannot afford to pay the mortgage anymore, Instead of walking away from your house, this is what you can do: Contact your lender immediately to see if you are qualify for a loan modification. Explain to your lender that you can no longer afford the mortgage payment due to your current situation (sickness, lost of job or income, divorce...) to see what the lender can do to help you stay at your home. If you owe more than the house's worth, ask for lender's loss mitigation department will help speed up the process. To help homeowners keep their houses, lenders can lower your principle and/or lower your interest rate through loan modification. By doing so, it will lower your mortgage payment tremendously provided that you have enough income to pay for the reduced payment. Here's a r... 11/25/2008

What "loan buy down" does is if you pay more at the beginning for your loan fee, your interest rate will be lower and thus lower your monthly payment. As an example, suppose you can find a 30-year fixed rate mortgage at 7 percent with no points (=$0 loan fee). On a $300,000 30-year mortgage your payment would be $1984.32 per month. Loan Amount = $300,000 Point Point Fee Interest Payment 10 year Savings 30 year Savings 0 $0 7% $1984.32 n/a n/a 1 $3000 6.75% $1934.90 $6000+ $18,000+ If you're willing to pay 1 point (1% x $300,000 loan = $3000) at closing, you can then "buy down" the rate to 6.75 percent so your payment will drop from $1984.32 to $1934.90 saving you almost $6000 over the next 10 years or $18,000 over the next 30 years. The more you pay to buy down the loan, the smaller mon... 11/17/2008

8 properties in Phillips Ranch were sold in October 2008. 6 out of 8 are either short sale or bank owned properties that offer outstanding value. Price Bank Owned? Type Address BR/BA Size (sf) Pool? $838,000 No House 45 Willowbrook Ln 4/3 2940 Yes $486,000 No House 69 Hunter Point Rd 4/3 2128 No $425,000 Bank Owned House 18 Rock Bluff Rd 3/2.5 2563 No $415,000 Bank Owned House 6 Wild West Cir 3/2 1814 No $385,000 Bank Owned House 20 Deer Creek Rd 3/2.5 2020 Yes $375,000 Bank Owned House 11 Ravenhill Dr 3/2.5 2233 No $250,000 Short Sale Condo 21 Willowcrest Ln 3/2.5 1339 Yes $240,000 Short Sale Condo 12 Carriage Way 2/2 1204 Yes There are currently 57 properties for sale in Phillips Ranch and since only 8 were sold last month, it will take about 7 months to consume all 57 properties prov... 11/04/2008

Once buyer's offer is accepted, it is time to think about how to hold title to the property. Since there is a legal and tax consequences on how title is vested, professional consultation from an attorney and/or CPA are strongly recommended. Type of Ownership Own By Divisible Interest? Right Of Survivorship? Sole Ownership 1 n/a No Tenancy In Common 2 or more Yes No Joint Tenancy 2 or more No Yes Community Property Only Husband & wife Yes, 50% husband and 50% wife. No Community Property with Right of Survivorship Only Husband & wife No Yes Living Trust 1 or more As specified in the trust provision As specified in the trust provision The comparison above is provided for information only, it should not be used to determine how you hold title. 11/03/2008

There were 2 similar homes went into escrow this month in Phillips Ranch. Both of them have same floorplan and both are 2940 sq ft. One is regular sale with pool that is listed for $855,000 and another is a bank owned property listed for $659,900. The bank owned one was sold in 9 days and the regular sale was sold in 99 days. If banks are so penny pinching on service fees, why are they selling bank owned home at 30% below market? Are they out of their mind? To answer this, let's look at the recently revised instruction on how to perform BPOs (Broker Price Opinion) on pre-foreclosure and foreclosed properties from the lenders. Lenders now want "A realistic, low end 30 day liquidation price, most importantly achieving multiple offers within 1 week of listing." They are desperate to conver... 10/18/2008

I recently submitted an offer for my client to purchase a bank owned home in Chino Hills. My cleint's offer is $15,000 over bank's asking price with 50% down payment. By the end of the 1st listing day, there were 5 offers and my client's offer was out bid by an all cash offer.This month, I am seeing bidding frenzy on some bank owned properties - especially the upgraded ones with move-in condition.Another example of this craziness is the house at 14 Falcon Ridge Drive in Phillips Ranch. With wood floor upgrade, move in condition, and location right in front of the beautiful greenbelt, it was sold $61,100 over the asking price on 08/25/08. The asking price is $348,900 and the final price is $410,00 which is 17.5% over the asking price.I recently received several phone calls from investors... 08/26/2008

For landlords who have homeowner policies for their rental properties, since the needs of a landlord are different from homeowners, you might like to consider landlord's policy instead.Both policies cover dwelling and liability. Homeowner policy covers personal property. Since a landlord does not live in the rental property, the landlord insurance covers payments for lost of rental income instead.The costs for for both policies should be more or less the same. Please consult with your insurance agent for detail. 08/07/2008

With the recent rapid decline of home value, lots of homeowners are upside down on their loans.For those who can no longer make payment on their mortgage due to sickness, divorce, job lost or an option ARM payment that is resetting higher, hire an real estate agent to do a short sale can be a valuable exit strategy instead of foreclosure by the lender.Your agent can help you secure a buyer for your property and process the paper work required with the bank for short sale approval. Lenders favor short sale over foreclosure because they stand to loss more money via foreclosure than short sale.For homeowners, instead of just let got of their property and have the foreclosure stay on the credit for up to 7 years, a successful short sale will help get them out of a financial predicament a cl... 08/06/2008

The Foreclosure Prevention Act of 2008 (H.R. 3221) was passed by the U.S. Senate on April 10 this year. In it, it includes a bail out for mortgage industry by giving $7000 tax credit to home owners who purchased a bank owned home as their primary residence. The $7000 can be divided equally between the two years after the purchase. For married couples filing separately, it can be divided into $3500 per person.In order for investors to claim this tax credit, they need to live in the house for 24 months. 08/05/2008

The following is a list of home sales in Chino Hills, Diamond Bar, Phillips Ranch and Walnut in July 2008 using MLS data.Home Sales by CityMarch 2008 No. of Homes For SaleNo. of New ListingsNo. of Homes PendingNo. of Homes Sold Chino 344896863Chino Hills2921056553Diamond Bar 209764447Phillips Ranch5511129Rowland Hts 110532622Walnut 111433520 08/03/2008