Pasadena Real Estate

Foreclosed homeowners could owe 'tens thousands of dollars' to lenders

California Association of Realtors reports:

Facing the possibility of foreclosure, California homeowners may be hit with more than just losing their homes. Due to a loophole in state law, they also can be sued by their lender. To prevent this, the CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® (C.A.R.) is sponsoring Senate Bill 1178 by State Sen. Ellen Corbett (D-San Leandro), which will extend anti-deficiency protection for consumers who have refinanced their original mortgage loans and now are facing foreclosure.

KEEP THIS IN MIND

• Currently, if a homeowner defaults on a mortgage used to purchase his or her home -- known as a "purchase money mortgage" -- the homeowner's liability on the mortgage is limited to the property itself. Unfortunately, the original law did not extend the purchase money protection to loans that refinance the original purchase debt, even if the refinance only was to obtain a lower interest rate.
• Californians who refinance a property currently do not have protection if they default on a mortgage greater than the property's value. Called a "deficiency" liability, under current California law, the lender can sue the former homeowner for the amount of the deficiency even after taking back the property.
• Recent years of low interest rates and aggressive marketing campaigns by lenders have induced tens of thousands to refinance mortgages. Few homeowners realized that by refinancing their mortgage, they were forfeiting their protections and now are personally liable.

Here's a video that explains this a bit more.

READ MORE:  What can we expect in the 2010 foreclosure market?

Pasadena Foreclosure List

IRINA NETCHAEV & ASSOCIATES

PasadenaViews Real Estate Team

445 South Fair Oaks Avenue

Pasadena, CA 91105

Email:  Irina at PasadenaViews.com

(626)629-VIEW (8439)

Interviewing to hire a real estate agent to sell your home?  With 93% of all home buyers starting their home search on-line, one of the critical questions to ask is how will your real estate utilize internet to get your home the most visibility? 

Most realtors will just place your home for sale in their MLS (Multiple Listing Service) and hope that the MLS will feed information to other sites.  Oh... and let's not forget the sign on the lawn and the flyer box.  Unfortunately, that's the extent of most real estate agent's marketing plan.

To get the top price for your home, your realtor needs to understand how to maximize all the resources available and have a comprehensive internet marketing and social media strategy.

Some of the questions to ask the realtor you're interviewing:

1.  Which internet sites will my home be listed in?

2.  Will you be able to list my home on all the major brokerage websites?

3.  What is syndication and how will that be used to market my home?

4.  Do you know how to optimize the listing of my home to ensure that it is at the top of the search page on real estate sites like realtor.com?

5.  Do you have a facebook fan page and how many followers do you have?

6.  Are you active on twitter?  How many followers do you have?

7.  Do you have a YouTube channel and what is your strategy on posting to YouTube?

8.  What is the strategy for promoting my home on classified services?  (and... I don't mean newspapers...)

9.  Do you have a blog or a website?  Both?  How many and how is it optimized?  What is the page rank? What is the traffic for your site?  Can you support it by showing me Google Analytics numbers?

10. How do you use SEO?  What is SEO?  What does this mean for my home marketing?

11. Will your Realtor use PPC to market your home?

12. Most realtors will now offer a home listing site on your home's individual domain.  However, the question to ask is, not only will your real estate agent offer that service, but where will this site be hosted?  If it's not tied to a top rated optimized site, no one will find it.

And, of course... don't forget to GOOGLE YOUR REALTOR!  You'd be surprised as to what you might find out.

Now... internet and social media strategy should not stand alone, but be part of a comprehensive marketing strategy.  However, many real estate agents are not familiar with these strategies and continue to try and sell homes with old fashioned, traditional real estate techniques.  If you want top dollar for your home, make sure that the realtor you hire is on top of the changing real estate landscape and is a pioneer in social media and internet marketing.

Why is Social Media a critical part of your home's selling strategy? 

Call me today, to see how your home can get the best of both traditional and internet marketing and understand the 5 critical areas that need to be addressed to get you what you want in the time you want it.  Get your home sold for top dollar!

PasadenaViews Real Estate Team

Pasadena Real Estate Agents

445 South Fair Oaks Avenue

Pasadena, CA 91105

Irina at PasadenaViews.com

(626)629-VIEW (8439)

Last week, I had the opportunity to tour 1649 Lombardy Road in Pasadena California.  This gracious home resides among the Pasadena estates that are minutes from the Huntington Library in San Marino and CalTech in Pasadena.

Wallace Neff, the architect known for developing the "California" style of homes excelled himself when he designed this estate in 1924.  Since then, this luxury home has been tastefully renovated and is now waiting for a new owner.

READ MORE:  Top 10 Luxury Estates sold in Pasadena in 2009

Estate Property Details:

5 Bedrooms and 6 Baths

House was measured to be over 7,300 sq. ft. per agent's brochure

Lot size is 23,425 per assessor

Formal Dining Room

Amazing Great Room with an Open Kitchen

Game Room

3 Car Garage

Zoned HVAC System

Double Gated Driveway

and much, much more...

As you walk through this home, the attention to detail and the use of materials throughout is breathtaking.  Take a look at some of these photos, courtesy of Laurie March.

Peace and tranquility with lush landscaping and use of wood floors throughout...

Library/Ofice... love the nook for the books and tons of light through the windows.

Read more »

What really happens when properties finally hit the auction block?  Well... here's an interesting chart looking at all the foreclosure home auctions in the state of California from December 20098 through 2009.  It shows that most of the properties are bought back by the bank - take a look at the red line. 

However, let's take a closer look at the dark line, the one in the middle that is on the rise.  It shows the number of homes where the auctions have been cancelled.  Reasons for it?  Many distressed home sellers are trying to minimize the impact on their credit score by negotiating a short sale on their property with the bank.  In many instances, if a home seller or a real estate agent negotiating on their behalf, can bring an offer to the bank, the lender will cancel or delay the auction date.

So... if you are a Pasadena neighborhood home owner ready to walk away from your home and leave it for the bank...  Wait... there might be a way to have you walk away with a smaller dent on your credit.  Contact a reputable real estate agent experienced with working short sales.

California Foreclosure Statistics for December 2008 through December 2009:

The orange line shows the number of homes that were purchased by investors or 3rd parties.  As you can see the numbers are significantly lower - less than 1 in 6 homes that are up for auction fall into this category.  Reasons are many - investors need all cash, they accept tremendous risk and inherit any and all title claims to the property.

READ MORE:  What happens to your credit after foreclosure or a short sale?

Pasadena Foreclosure statistics

If you are interested in seeing more data on foreclosure statistics in California, please visit our Foreclosure Search site.  If you are home owner that is having financial difficulties and need to understand your options, please do not hesitate to give us a call.

IRINA NETCHAEV & ASSOCIATES

Pasadena Real Estate Agents

445 South Fair Oaks Avenue

Pasadena, CA 91105

(626)629-VIEW(8439)

San Marino and foreclosures are not synonymous.  There were only 2 bank owned homes in San Marino last year.  Well, we have a new one on the market now.

2810 Lombardy Road in San Marino was auctioned off on November 6th 2009 and reverted to Index West LLC when there were no takers.  It is now listed in the Multiple Listing Service for $1,550,000 and is the first San Marino foreclosure for 2010.

This home features 4 bedrooms and 3 baths and is listed by the tax assessor to have 2,839 square feet.  It sits on a 12,000+ sq. ft. lot.  I have not had an opportunity to drive by and take a look at the property, but as soon as I do, I'll post some pictures.

So... how did this foreclosure happen?  What is the story behind this foreclosure home?  Let's take a look here:

September 2005:  Home purchased for $1,220,000.  The home buyers put a 30% down payment and financed the difference with a $854,000 loan.

July 2006:  Home owners took out an equity loan of $150,000

February 2007:  Home owners refinanced their loans to combine into one - $1,000,000 trust deed.

August 2007:  a 2nd loan was obtained for $500,000.

Fast forward to December of 2008:

Notice of Default filed by the Trustee on 12/12/08

Notice of Trustee Sale was filed on 3/23/09

Actual Auction Sales date was on 11/6/2009

It took the bank 2.5 months to actually list the property for sale.  Information on the listing is at the bottom of this post for your review.

In the meantime, let's take a look at how San Marino may be affected by foreclosures in the upcoming months:

There are currently, 3 homes slated to go to auction between now and the end of February and 5 San Marino homes are in pre-foreclosure process with Notices of Default already filed.

Unfortunately, San Marino is also beginning to feel the pain of this market place.  

READ MORE:  Pasadena Foreclosures - What Can We Expect in 2010 

Search all San Marino Homes for Sale here.

Search all Foreclosures here

If you are interested in seeing this home or getting information on upcoming foreclosures in San Marino, give us a call.  If you are a home owner in distress and need help in negotiating with your bank(s), let us know, we might be able to help.

IRINA NETCHAEV & ASSOCIATES

Pasadena Real Estate Agents

445 South Fair Oaks Avenue

Pasadena, CA 91105

(626)629-VIEW(8439)