It’s early September and the mad rush of buying and closing so that kids are enrolled properly has dissipated. If you were not in a hurry, now is the time to make an offer. Now is the time to negotiate the price down because all indicators are that the resale market is down and inventory … Read more
OH, THOSE HAZARDS OF THE ESCROW DESK! A rather odd story to share. 15 years earlier… A Buyer entered into an escrow to buy a property. She got a loan through Countrywide, one of those adjustable rate mortgages with impounds attached. Through the years her mortgage payment rose and rose. Finally, 15 years later, the … Read more
Half a year gone, half a year to go! As this year’s president of the California Escrow Association, one of my goals is to visit every single regional association (there are 38) and bring my thoughts and concerns of the state of our escrow industry to our members. I emphasize that our industry does not … Read more
YOU HAVE QUESTIONS, WE HAVE ANSWERS! VIVA ESCROW Q & A SEGMENT Sometimes I get asked questions that inspire me to think before I respond. Then I share so that everyone is made aware. Question: I have a transaction in which the Seller is a Trust. The original Trustee is mentally incapacitated and we have … Read more
HAZARDS OF THE ESCROW DESK! And this is one for that book that I will be writing after I retire…. John and Jane are my Sellers of property A and they are my Buyers of property B. Property A has to close first so that the money will flow into their purchase of property B. … Read more
April? It’s April? Holy cow! Well, March was madness! Of course, being sick for 2/3rds of the month, rupturing my eardrum and losing my hearing in one ear did not help. I had a whole bunch of speaking engagements and when I spoke, I felt I was listening to my own echo in a large … Read more
CONSEQUENCES, CONSEQUENCES, CONSEQUENCES The big news in NYC was, of course, the decision by Amazon not to pursue building their HQ2 there. Those of us who do not live in that area are probably mildly interested, but for those developers and property owners who had their eye out for a potential real estate boom and … Read more
Happy Chinese New Year! And This Little Piggy Went To Work….. February 5th is Chinese New Year and if you were born in these years – 1935, 1947, 1959, 1971, 1983, 1995, 2007, then you are a Pig (in a good meaning of the word). The chubby cheeks and big ears epitomize the Chinese symbol … Read more
Happy New Year! If this is 2019 then it must be the year that I step up to the responsibility of being the president of the California Escrow Association. Truthfully, I have been working on familiarizing myself with this position for the last half year but now I guess it is time to ramp it … Read more
It should be time for some good news, being TIS THE SEASON TO BE JOLLY, so here we go HO! HO! HO! PROPERTY APPRECIATION NEWS Hoping that your property will appreciate in the next year? There is a forecast out on the appreciation of residential market values over 358 metropolitan areas. The top 10 and … Read more