I sure keep getting great ideas when blog readers send in questions! I got another great one the other day from Debbie who wanted to know the importance of using a local lender for a purchase. She had been told, erroneously, that it wasn’t OK to use a San Jose lender for her purchase because that lender was out of the area. Here’s my opinion…I think it very well could be a mistake to use an out-of-area lender for a purchase around here. I also think that San Jose is local!

This is a very tech friendly environment we live in around here and it’s not an uncommon notion for many folks who are employed by technology firms to want to use an online lender for their purchase. Unfortunately, I’ve had more than one escrow disaster when a buyer has insisted on using an online lender…who often is located outside of California. They’ve proven to me to be slow to respond and unfamiliar with local customs. I really think it’s important to have a representative in this area that can handle the inevitable bumps that occur along the path to closing. I remember one poor buyer who found a lender in up state New York online and paid them the loan points up front to get him a loan. Ten days prior to closing they couldn’t find his file when his agent called! He was forced to abandon his already paid fee so that he wouldn’t lose his deposit as he approached a closing that no one was sure was going to happen. He had to change lenders to BofA locally…who closed it a few days late.

I also had a recent request from a buyer to use an online title company to complete our transaction. I actually had never heard of such a thing…but we talked his agent into using a local firm for that. I can’t imagine wanting to send a $30,000 deposit to a Title company that’s not even in the Bay Area.

I think most agents have folks they trust who they know can get the job done. As buyers you sure have plenty of choices but keeping things local is, most likely, going to save you enormous headaches in the long run.

It’s the brand new Teen Center, called “The Vibe” at the south end of Leo Ryan Park. If you haven’t been there it really is a must see…it’s fantastic! This weeks winner was Kim Lloyd who wins a $30.00 iTunes gift certificate courtesy of Asif Suria and his new website www.appstruck.com. Great job Kim! Also arriving with the correct answer was Erika, Jeff, Nancy, Trisha and Larissa. Great job folks! See you all here again on Friday…meanwhile go check out the Vibe!

Realtors in Britain. Very amusing!

Something new and different this week on the foto contest…a fun new prize! Blog reader Asif Suria has created a new website called AppStruck.com which is dedicated to reviewing apps for the iPhone, which now number over 52,000. Asif and AppStruck are sponsoring this weeks contest with a $30.00 iTunes gift certificate. The question you need to answer in order to win that prize is…where is this funky grill we’re looking at? All the rules of the road are available to view on the left hand margin as well as on the bar above. The winner as well as all correct answers will not be published until Monday morning. All silly jokes, semi rude quips and all wrong answers will be published immediately if not sooner. Asif himself is eligible too! Let’s see if he wins his own prize! Good luck everybody!

A couple of weeks ago at my fun listing at 9 Violet in San Carlos one of the neighbors came into my open house and told me that, in the process of refinancing, his appraisal came in at $710,000. Interesting since he has the identical unit to the one I have for sale…and it’s listed for $879,000. Both of these units have expansive views of the Bay. I just closed one without a view on Violet for $761,000. In addition to that a larger view unit 2 blocks away in the same project just closed last week at $915,000. The neighbor wanted my advice about what he should do.

Then last week I get a comment here on the blog from Michelle that her waterfront, 3 bedroom townhouse just got appraised at $540,000 even though there are units in her complex listed for more than $650,000.

Appraisals are brutal right now. To make matters worse it’s no longer OK for the lender’s loan officer to actually talk to their own appraiser about the values of these properties. It’s a knee jerk reacti0n to the mortgage meltdown. Whatever the appraiser says, goes…even if they don’t have the foggiest notion of values in a given area.

I heard a story a week or so ago, an agent that I know had an escrow locally on a purchase of  $2,080,000. The appraisal came in at $2,050,000 and they buyer wanted to pay for a second appraisal hoping to bring it in at value. The bank randomly sent out an East Bay appraiser who was completely unfamiliar with our area…and his appraisal came in at $1,400,000! It seems like everybody I’m talking to right now has an appraisal horror story. I honestly don’t understand these refi appraisal stories though. In the case of Violet Lane there were comparables that truly did support a higher value. Why not use them to support the refi? Does the lender in question just not want to loan right now? Are these appraisers so very frightened of over committing on value that they intentionally aim low?

One thing I do know…it’s an interesting time. If I were trying to refinance right now and got an appraisal like the ones mentioned above I’d definitely have another one done. If you’re in this boat right now, be patient and be persistent.

So, what the heck is this market really doing? Sometimes it seems like it’s doing everything! Foreclosures (REO’s) are getting an incredible amount of interest and in many places it feels just like 2004. In the northern part of San Mateo County it seems like everything that comes on the market that even looks like a discount is getting multiple offers. Who would have thought that Daly City would ever be a hotter market than San Carlos?

Here’s how it seems to be breaking out to me. If a property (single family)is priced below $550,000 you can probably expect a ton of interest. In some areas there’s multiple offers on homes that are listed below $700,000! I wrote an offer on a house at 420 31st in San Mateo on Friday that got 3 offers and went over the asking price…it’s a 2 bedroom, 1 bath houses and was listed for $699,000. I think single family homes in these lower ranges are in real demand. In most of their price ranges FHA loans are available for buyers who have less than 20% down and that’s adding fuel to the fire. I also think that prices have already gone up in many areas from where they were in January or February.

That’s not, however, the case with condos/townhouses in the same price ranges and alot of that may be because of high HOA dues. I’ve had many clients balk at the notion of $450.00 plus dues this year. They would rather have a house.

It’s also not the case with single family in the Jumbo loan ranges. If your house is priced at $950,000 or more, for example I’ll bet you’re experiencing things at a much slower pace. The higher the price…the slower the market.

I think the market is much, much healthier than it was a few months ago…but it’s still not back yet. Yes, I do think that prices have come back to a very great degree in many areas. Demand has certainly come back in most of the Peninsula too, but I think there’s still room for price erosion in the range over a million dollars and in condo/townhouses that have HOA dues over $450.00 a month.

It was a hard one, huh! Even so, blog reader Jerry Freeman decided to make it a family project and he piled the kids in the car and went in search of the treasure. They found it, (it’s the sign for the Antigua development) and those are Jerry’s kids in the photo above…GREAT job guys!! Unfortunately, they weren’t first. That honor goes to first time winner Trisha DeGuzman who wins the $30.00 gift certificate to Kobe Japanese in Edgewater Place. Good knowledge Trisha! Thanks also to the Freeman family for having fun with the contest…and for sending me this pic!! See you all again this Friday.

For a long time I’ve felt that newspapers were a dying breed. It’s the biggest reason I, along with many other realtors avoid Sunday Open House ads in the Chronicle. Well, leave it to Jon Stewart to put an exclamation point on it!

OK, this one may be the hardest one yet! Only once in 61 weeks have I totally stumped this group…could this be the second time? The question again is…what do these sailboats mean, or where is this? This weeks winner will receive a $30.00 gift certificate to Kobe Japanese Food at Edgewater Place. One of my favorites in town…but they need a website! All the rules of the road are available to view on the left hand margin as well as on the bar above. The winner along with all correct answers will not be published until Monday morning…assuming there is a winner! Any and all cranky and or irritable barbs about the alleged difficulty of this foto, any semi funny to actually funny jokes as well as all wrong answers will be published immediately. Have a great time this weekend…and Happy Father’s Day!

So last weekend I was holding open my listing at 9 Violet Lane in San Carlos when this older couple walked in. We went through the usual pleasantries and they proceeded to look around. The lady was taking pains not to make eye contact with me in any way, like if she did so I would whip out the contract, wrestle her to the floor and make her buy the place on the spot. They actually spent some time in the place, and honestly I left them alone, and when they came down the stairs from the bedrooms they headed for the door to leave.

The gentleman said thank you and goodbye…as did the lady. Yet, something inside of her was coming to a boil. I could just see it in her body language. She turned and came back, looked me in the eye and said. “We could buy this place…but we’re not going to!” Take that! “These prices out here are just ridiculous and we’re not budging until they come way down!” she said.

Somehow, I’d become the “realtor stereotype”? The sounding board for her frustration? I don’t know, but she needed to show me who’s boss. Sorry, but this scenario was just too irresistible to me…and I leapt into the breach. “Jeez, I think the market’s coming back and I’ll bet we’ll see prices go up again soon” (I actually don’t think that…but I couldn’t resist goading her a little). At that point I could see the blood rush to her face, she said “Why that’s crazy! Prices should fall another 40 or 50 percent…certainly before we buy!” she blurted. “All you crazy Californians think that you’re so special, why back in New Jersey prices are half of what they are in this crazy place!” She added  “You drop this price another 40% and we’ll buy it”.

Again, I couldn’t resist…I said. ” Oh, I know prices are far different back there, but the problem is…you would have to live in New Jersey”. “There’s plenty of places around here where you could find price reductions of 40 or 50 percent though…have you looked in Hayward or south San Jose?”

“We wouldn’t live there!” she replied.

At that point her husband came back in and dragged her out. Sorry, but it was funny! This lady, like lots of people (both buyers and sellers) had built an enemy out of the marketplace. The marketplace is inanimate…it doesn’t care about our feelings. It’s like getting mad at the Sun for shinning. Sorry to disappoint you but the market in San Carlos, or San Mateo or Foster City is not the same market as Denver or Cleveland…or New Jersey. It’s not even the same market as Daly City or Fremont or San Jose. Because you can buy a foreclosure in Detroit for $14,000 doesn’t mean the same thing is inevitable around here.

Having said that…9 Violet is still available. It’s priced right too!