Rachel Zeppinick

Woodland Hills California Real Estate - Woodland Hills Pierce Collage

2008-05-12T15:28:00Z

Woodland Hills California Real Estate - Woodland Hills Pierce College Evolved

Pierce Collage in Woodland Hills is celebrating 60 years, the college evolved from the Valley's need for agricultural workers. Getting to the classes in the college was an adventure. At that time in 1948 roads were running north to the Woodland Hills campus stopped at Ventura Blvd. and students had to make the rest of the way to the collage on a farm wagon or by horse. Talking to students from that time gives you a sense of how much students who aspired to be farmers loved the place and referred to it as heaven-sent. and continued to say the place was enchanting.
The year was 1948, when the West Valley, was still made up of little more than farms, dairies and a few movie ranches, and Pierce College was established to celebrate the area's agricultural community.

In the past six decades many things changed. The area farms have been replaced with homes, condos and high-rises. And many majors at the College - like swine husbandry and crop science - have been replaced by fields such as graphic design and computer science.

Today the future of Pierce College reallies on its ability to integrate its past with the future. The farm is sacred to this community, and the collage is bringing modern agricultural and animal science to the campus. Pierce College's agricultural focus has been at the hart of its existence since it was founded by Dr. Clarance Pierce., on 427 acres nestled in Woodland Hills. It was designed to help train military personal that came home from World Wat II and gone to collage on the GI bill of rights. The college was going to train them and they could find work on the farms across the Valley. Pierce Collage was an all male collage till 1950s, and started to admit women then.
By the 1960s, Pierce started with majors in the aerospace, auto mechanics and mechanical engineering. The collage endured some hard times in the 1970s, and the limited funds available forced the collage to forgo repairs and outreach efforts. The lake of funds also force the collage to drop courses and programs, many of them in agricultural fields including a popular spring time rodeo that was frequented by celebrities like former President Ronald Reagan.

The college has several construction projects under way, including a 100,000 square foot science building that will house life, animal and earth science programs as well as chemistry courses.

Steve McHargue is a professor of history and political science at the collage, he followed in his dad's foot steps, when he took the job at the collage. McHargue treasures the fact that he is been able to watch the campus evolve.

There is one program steeped in a century old crop, for which McHargue is delaying his retirement. The collage has planted grape vines on campus and he said he wont leave until he gets his first sip of Pierce Collage wine.

A community Collage develops with the community its serves, at the beginning the community was prod eminently agricultural, then industrial and now its technology driven, and Pierce College is here to serve the community for all its needs.

Woodland Hills California Real Estate - Sellers Want To Sell Your Home? Think Like A Buyer

2008-05-09T04:41:00Z

Woodland Hills California Real Estate - Sellers Want To Sell Your Home? Think Like A Buyer
Buying season is upon us, Southern California housing market is turning around, home sales have increased for three month in a row. raising hopes that the housing market is turning around. Sellers in the San Fernando Valley that their homes are for sale are hoping to get properties sold before property prices go lower as a result of lower prices caused by sales of foreclosed homes and short sales.

So if you are the seller trying to sell now you need an edge convincing these prospective buyers that your home is their dream home. The most important decision you need to make is setting the initial selling price.

Rules to follow to get your home sold

Forget The" I am Gorgeous inside" riders to get traffic. Evaluate your home from across the street and find its best and worst features and work on the latter. Find the best color to underline its best image.
List the repairs the home needs first. Spend you time of work that increases your home curve appeal, such as cutting the grass and getting rid of the weeds.
Clean all mold and mildew on the house, side walk, roof and drive way.A simple solution of bleach and water will do the job.
Don t leave landscape tools around, put them away.
Clean the windows and gutters in front of the house with a pressure wash, don t forget the siding and decks.
Make sure you spruce up your back yard too.
Put low-voltage lighting along the driveway and important landscape elements.A variety of solar powered elements will work well. add an attractive lamp to a porch.
As we all know kitchen and bathrooms sell homes, make them as fresh, modern and bright as possible, Make sure they are odor and leak free. A fresh coat of paint will do wonders.
Become a master of illusion and make your home look as spacious as possible by removing clutter and unnecessary big pieces of furniture.
Dust everything
Prospective buyers will look inside your closets, so make sure they are tidy.
Make sure all the light bulbs work, open all drapes and blinds and let the light shine in.
Put your pets away , their cages and feeding bowls too.
Wash the dishes and put them away, same goes for the laundry.
Set the mood with soft music and candles.
Put away your family photos, let the buyer see himself in the home not you.
Clean the fire place.
Remember: look at your home from a buyers prospective.

Visit my profile to find out more about our services. Call us today at 818.288.7255. Contact us by email if you prefer by clicking on email me on the right side of this page under my profile.

P.S. If you are listing your home as a short sale in Woodland Hills California make sure you hire an agent who knows how to do short sales and has the experience to get the job done. We are doing successful short sale packages. Call us at818-288-7255 to find out more.

Woodland Hills California Real Estate - Hale Middle School Kids Color To Help Other Kids

2008-05-09T04:36:00Z

Woodland Hills California Real Estate - Hale Middle School Kids Color To Help Other Kids

The students of Hale Middle school in Woodland Hills California mixed artistry and philanthropy this Tuesday, a rainbow of colored pencils were the tool used in this project, thanks to Staedtler Inc, an international drawing and writing instrument with local headquarters.

An official with the company sent letters in March from their office to a few local schools about an annual World Kids Coloring Day on Tuesday. This event was open to all schools to sign up. The company based in the San Fernando Valley since 1986, supplied classrooms with a set of colored pencils and paper. An official of the company said they wanted to create a special day so kids all over the world could unite together and color and then sell their work of art as a way to benefit other children. The company president emphasized how important coloring is for child development and the need for all children to have the supplies they need for education.

The letter about the children Coloring Day reached the desk of the assistant principal at Hale. He was intrigued by the idea and talked it over with the art teacher at school who decided to "run" with the idea.

This idea gave the kids in school the chance to color while they are helping other kids with fund raising. The idea of World Kids Coloring came from the company's corporate office in Germany, A representative of the company Ms. Kathye Louis which is the creative design of the company was at Hale middle school watching outdoor field study by the students. There are about 24 other countries involved.

The Hale student's drawings will be on display and up for sale through a silent auction from 5 to 8 Thursday at the school spring dance performance at the campuses, 23830 Califa St. in Woodland Hills.

Funds raised from the auction will benefit save the Children USA.

Copyright © 2008 By Rachel Zeppinick, All Rights Reserved. Hale Middle School Kids Color To Help Other Kids. * Contact Rachel Zeppinick for Customized Listing package, showing of available homes at short sales and foreclosures, the best your money can buy.

Visit my profile to find out more about our services. Call us today at 818.288.7255. Contact us by email if you prefer by clicking on email me on the right side of this page under my profile.

Woodland Hills California Real Estate - Woodland Hills School - Vocational

2008-05-01T04:05:00Z

Woodland Hills California Real Estate - Woodland Hills Schools - Vocational

"The best kept secrets" in the west Valley is the campus of the West Valley Occupational Center, located in Woodland Hills this school is serving 15,000 students a semester and continues to be relatively undiscovered . The school was founded by Calvin Dellefield in 1969, the school set on a 19 acre campus was designed as an alternative school for adult students looking to acquire skills quickly and inexpensively before going out to look for a job.
Through the years the hillside campus has done much more than just train workers. The campus benefited the community by helping people support families and turning them into valuable citizens of their communities, training workers that in turn became taxpayers.

West Valley Occupational Center has ESL division that helps immigrant students learn the English language and help them adapt better to their new country. Kids who failed in traditional schools West Valley Alternative Work Education Center gives them one more chance to succeed.
Altghout some of these classes could be taken at a community College or adult education school, West Valley school's focus is on getting his graduates jobs right after they finish the program.

The focus on getting jobs has forced the center to grow and change classes as industries have changed, classes as bicycle repair and print shop have been replaced with classes teaching hybrid-car repair and computer studies.

Some courses have come full circle like motorcycle repair classes. This course was big in the 1970's and 1980's , and made a come back because of rising gas prices.

When the Real Estate market was at its peak, a real estate class had more that 100 students. The classes are down to 40 now.

As layoffs in and around the San Fernando Valley continue the last year the school has seen a rise of 10% in enrollment as adults change occupations.
The rise in enrollment did not change the fact that the center had no new construction in the past 30 year sand many classes are conducted in bungalows, but the centers student don't seem to mined.
Clark Jackson was an auto upholstery student at the center 30 years ago and enjoyed the school so much that he decided to come back as a teacher and has spent 21 years in the role. He got the call 21 years ago that the program was going to be shut down because they could not find an instructor, Jackson answered the call, he could not let the program go away. He gets pleasure by watching his students develop " their entrepreneurial Spirit."

Visit my profile to find out more about our services. Call us today at 818.288.7255. Contact us by email if you prefer by clicking on email me on the right side of this page under my profile.

Woodland Hills California Real Estate - Woodland Hills Short Sales # 5

2008-04-27T18:45:00Z

Short Sales In Woodland Hills California- This short sale series is to help sellers, buyers and their agents understand the complexity of using the Short Sale process as an alternative to Foreclosures.

What You Need to know if you are buying or Selling

Do You Qualify to Do a Short Sale In Woodland Hills California

What You Need to Have In Your Short Sale Package

The Process of The Short Sale What's Next

This post Is about how do we Make a decision regarding the amount we are going to offer on a short sale, myths and truths about the right prices on short sales.

There is a hough amount of wrong information regarding how much you can buy a short sale for. There are people who are watching too much late night TV, seeing these so called gurus that tell you how to get rich fast by buying real estate at 50 cents on the dollar and with no money down.

MYTH- The lenders have so many properties and are so desperate they will accept any low amount that is offered on a short sale.

TRUTH- The lenders prefer to work out a feasible agreement with the homeowner. Lenders have a formula they use to determine the amount they are willing to lose and what the actual net proceeds they will accept at a short sale closing.

MYTH- Lenders are just siting and waiting for your low offer!

TRUTH- Lenders have a policy they follow, the policy is : The seller's agent submits a short sale package, with the short sales offer from the buyer, At that time the lender orders a BPO, the BPO is a Broker's Price Opinion, This is not a regular appraisal, the lender is paying the agent somewhere between $50 to $100 to do a BPO, versus $400 to an appraiser. That usually takes 5-10 days to complete.

Once the BPO is back they figure out their formula , the lender sends us a statement with the amount they need to net from the property, the BPO is usually the amount of similar properties sold. The lender will accept about 5%-15% less

MYTH- You can offer as low as 30 cents to 50 cents on the dollar of what the listed price is.

TRUTH- The above statement is NOT true. The lender will take a small discount off of the BPO value. They want the offer to be right below market value.

The list price is not your starting point in the negotiations on a short sale offer. You must pull up the county records and check to see how much the owner owes to the lender. You will look to see if a notice of default has been filed. You will also need to take into consideration that if this house is in in defaulter there are other bills they most likely have not paid for and affect the sale of the property.

Those are:

Unpaid Property Taxes

Second notes or home equity lines of credit

Unpaid HOA fees and related attorney's collection fees

Title insurance

Real Estate Agents' fees

All of these are going to have be paid at the closing. The seller is not likely to have these amounts of money at closing, the additional expenses will be part of the lenders closing fees, which they will have to approve and be reduced.

Once you know the amounts the seller owes on his/her property you will have a a picture of as to how to structure your offer.

If this short sale is in Woodland Hills California it is very likely that you could get the property for 70 cents on the dollar on what the seller loans are, NOT what the list price is. The list price is usually very close to market value. This is where the misunderstanding comes in for most offers.

You must look at what is owed to the bank versus what the market value is; the list price. The lender is actually reducing the loan down to the market value which can be a reduction of up to 50% it depends on the market area you are in, some have dropped that much in the last couple of years.

Many times you can get a better idea if you are a buyer by making an offer on a property that has equity in it and the seller is motivated to accept a lower than market value offer. When making an offer on a short sale you must have allot of patience. If you need to be in a house at a certain time , trying to buy a short sale that is at the very beginning of the process and there is no BPO yet on the property, its most likely not in your best interest to pursue the offer.

You can ask your agent to find short sales that already have a BPO from a previous offer, and the original offerer is no longer on the table. In this case you know the amount the lender will accept as his bottom net and you can decide if you want to pursue with buying that property. In this situations we can close the purchase rather quickly, usually within 4-6 weeks.

So make your offer based on TRUTH not MYTH.

Disclaimer: This post is not intended to be or to provide legal advice. We recommend that you speak to your tax accountant regarding specifics and to find out if this is the best option for you in your situation.

The information provided herein is supplied by several sources and is subject to change without notice. Woodland Homes and Estates Blog does not guarantee or is any way responsible for its accuracy, and provides said information without warranties of any kind, either express or implied. Entries on Woodland Hills Homes and Estates Blog represent the opinions and ideas of the author(s). .

Contact : Rachel Zeppinick @ 818.288.7255

Visit my profile to find out more about our services. Call us today at 818.288.7255. Contact us by email if you prefer by clicking on email me on the right side of this page under my profile.

Woodland Hills California Real EState - Woodland Hills Rose Garden

2008-04-19T15:43:00Z

Woodland Hills California Real Estate - My Rose Garden

One of the pleasures I have living in Woodland Hills California in my home, is my rose garden, every year at this time all my roses are coming back after the winter pruning and the garden is a wash with colors and smells of these beautiful plants. I have about 65 bushes of roses that I can not remember all their names but a couple which are: the Barbara Streisand Rose, Kennedy Rose, an English Rose some ti,es called a cabbage Rose, I should really try to keep a list of names of all of them.

The history of the Rose:

Roses have a long and colorful history. They have been symbols of love, beauty, war, and politics. . In nature, the genus Rosa has some 150 species spread throughout the Northern Hemisphere, from Alaska to Mexico and including northern Africa. Garden cultivation of roses began some 5,000 years ago, probably in China. During the Roman period, roses were grown extensively in the Middle East. They were used as confetti at celebrations, for medicinal purposes, and as a source of perfume. Roman nobility established large public rose gardens in the south of Rome. After the fall of the Roman Empire, the popularity of roses seemed to rise and fall depending on gardening trends of the time.

White Rose of York

Roses were in such high demand during the seventeenth century that royalty considered roses or rose water as legal tender, and they were often used as barter and for payments. Napoleon's wife Josephine established an extensive collection of roses at Château de Malmaison, an estate seven miles west of Paris in the 1800s. This garden became the setting for Pierre Joseph Redoute's work as a botanical illustrator. In 1824, he completed his watercolor collection "Les Rose," which is still considered one of the finest records of botanical illustration.Roses were in such high demand during the seventeenth century that royalty considered roses or rose water as legal tender, and they were often used as barter and for payments. Napoleon's wife Josephine established an extensive collection of roses at Château de Malmaison, an estate seven miles west of Paris in the 1800s. This garden became the setting for Pierre Joseph Redoute's work as a botanical illustrator. In 1824, he completed his watercolor collection "Les Rose," which is still considered one of the finest records of botanical illustration.

Woodland Hills California Real Estate - Farming In The Hart Of Woodland Hills

2008-04-19T15:33:00Z

Woodland Hills California Real Estate - Farming in The Hart of Woodland Hills

Selling homemade jams, strawberries avocados and other seasonal produce through the summer up to December, the farm market at Pierce College at the corner of Victory and De soto, bring a touch of country into the middle of our urban community. All the vegetable and fruits are grown at this 2 year college or brought in from farms that are in Southern California, starting at Ventura County in the north to San Diego in the south.
Its nice to have a little agriculture in our community and we would be allot healthier if we had less sprawl and more country. Despite the noise of traffic on the surrounding streets, the outdoor market remains peacfull. The morning starts with employees quietly sorting flats of strawberries packing them up for sale.

In addition to the strawberries, bottles of stuffed olives, home made salad dressing, jugs of gourmet honey and bunches of colorful Daisies are currently featured at the market which opened again after it was closed for the winter on April 1st.

As the the spring and summer continues more products and produce will be added for sale.

Last year this little store brought more that $200,00, which helps aid the educational foundation that supports Pierce College. The goal eventually is to expand the farm center and build a conference facility that may include a kitchen for cooking demonstration of local grown food.

First opening as a pumpkin farm and corn maze a few years ago, the farm center hopes to keep the facility open year round. The community looks at this place as a farm experience, families on shopping trips and school children on field trips roam through a nearby pasture to pet goats, sheep, ponies and Holly day Hills Farms, this give the children a connection to the place and they have some fun while connecting to the basic of life.

Copyright© Rachel Zeppinick 2008 All Rights Reserved Woodland Hills California Real Estate - Farming In The Hart Of Woodland Hills. Contact Rachel Zeppinick for customized listing packages. @ 818.288.7255

Woodland Hills California Real Estate - Woodland Hills Schools

2008-04-19T15:25:00Z

Woodland Hills California Real Estate - Our Schools

Every 29 seconds a student drops out of our public schools system. Before the end of this year more then a million children will drop out, by doing so passing on their best chances for success in adulthood. Strengthening the schools is critical, when one in three young adults drops out every year its not just about improving the education. We have to create an integrated approach that will involve the family, the school and the community.

Our Schools Report Card

Math and reading scores of Los Angeles Unified's fourth- and eighth-graders showed no improvement over last year and continue to lag behind both state and national averages.

In reading, performance of students in fourth and eighth grades in the Los Angeles Unified School District was the worst among 11 of the nation's largest urban school districts, according to the report card by the National Assessment of Education Progress.

In math, fourth-graders ranked eighth among peers in districts including Boston, Houston and New York, while eighth-graders fared better than peers in just two districts: the District of Columbia and Atlanta.

Valley Schools

Despite all of these problems, more than a dozen San Fernando Valley schools were honored last Wednesday for exemplary academic performance.

A good reason to move to the Woodland Hills California area is that 2 of the grade schools honored Wednesday are here, they are Welby Way Elementary and Woodland Hills Elementary,. There are a couple of middle schools and high schools that ranked the best in the nation.

woodland Hills California Real EState - Get Your Kids Thumbs Greener

2008-04-06T17:27:00Z

Woodland Hills California Real Estate - Get Your Kids Thumbs Greener : As we are preparing our gardens for spring and summer, Now is a good time to get your kids interested in gardening , taking advantage of gardening moments with your kids every week in your own yard without competing with the TV and other activities they are involved in is important, this is your time with them.

Here are some helpful tips:

* Since kids are into instant gratification start with a flat of annual flowers. The reward in immediate.
* Choose unusual plants such as : pink potatoes, orange cauliflower, find edible flowers and herbs, such as basil, fragrant plants as lemon basil and orange thyme. to engage all the senses.
* Kids, even older ones, like hiding places, so grow them one in the garden. here are two ideas: Plant tall-growing Sun Flower seeds in a circle, leaving space for a "door" that kids can crawl through once the flowers have grown
10 feet high. or build a simple tepee out of fallen tree branches or gardening stakes and plant bean seeds around the outside.
beans grow fast, and and very soon the children will have a secret hiding
* A birdbath or a small shallow pond will bring critters like frogs to enter the garden, which will in turn draw your children out there too.
* If tools attract them let them dig holes for the stakes.
* The kids will notice the changes in the garden, encourage and help them track them on a calender, in a
journal or with photographs. Pay attention to the birds and insects in the garden too.
* Build a scarecrow together, build a birdhouse, make personalized stepping stones to mark the pathways in the garden.
* Plan a garden that is based on a child's favorite story book, like The Very Hungry Caterpillar or The tale Of
Peter The Rabbit.

You can find more information on how to engage your kids in gardening at: www.kidagardening.org

Copyright© Rachel Zeppinick 2008 All Rights Reserved Woodland Hills California Real Estate - Get Your Kids Thumbs Greener. Contact Rachel Zeppinick for customized listing packages. @ 818.288.7255

Woodland Hills California Real Estate - Short Sales # 4

2008-04-04T03:17:00Z

his series on Short sales woodland Hills California continues we are going to explain what happens once we write an offer on a short sale listing. This post is important to buyers who are interested in buying homes that are short sales. You should be aware of all the steps involved and your Real Estate agent should understand and be able to follow the process of making a short sale offer.

To fully understand the scope of short sales in Woodland Hills California you should consider reading the other 3 parts of this series:

Woodland Hills California Real Estate - Short Sale Part 2

Woodland Hills California Real Estate Short Sales Part 3

We are going to assume for this post that the seller understands what a short sale is, his Realtor(R) has experience working in Short sales, the seller in this case has met all qualification t to do a short sale, the seller and his agent have all the documents his specific lender requires to do a short sale except for the offer from a buyer.
We are set to receive offers from buyers. The buyer's agent aught to
know how to help a buyer be aware of all that is involved from the two sides, buyer and seller prerequisites in order to have a purchase deal that runs as smooth as possible in this particular situation.

The first and most important thing to understand about the short sale is that the owner of the property ( seller) still owns the property,he still holds title to the property and also has the say so as to what offers he will accepted or not. The seller has mortgaged his property to the lender to whom he pays his monthly mortgage payments the mortgage company is the note holder or in many cases, the note servicer. The mortgage company does NOT own the property. A notice of default may have been filed and foreclosure proceedings may have started but until that property is actually sold on those courthouse steps the owner of records is still the person that is on the county records.

All of that being said the owner/seller can accept an offer from a buyer but because the offer amount is shorter than the amount the seller owes to his lender, that makes the case for a third party approval to the offer. This third party is the mortgage company to whom the seller owes his loan to.

The mortgage company will require the property to be sold in its as is condition and will probably need to approve all the closing costs fees on the sellers side.

Part of the purchase packet the buyer will need to prepare a good presentation to this third party lender.as with any other offer You will need to have your lender's pre-approval letter for this purchase. Make sure you have been approved for your loan. This means that you have already submitted a loan application, and had all the documentation to the lender to be able to proceed with the loan for this purchase. Please be advised that should your offer be accepted it is very likely that the short sale lender will want you to close within 3 weeks of them accepting the terms and short pay off amount.

You should choose a mortgage company who is aware of the working of short sales and knows how to get your loan through underwriting in a short amount of time.

Have your earnest money deposit ready when you write the offer send it to escrow the moment that the third party lender approves your offer. Get a signed and dated receipt for your earnest money deposit. A fact to keep in mind is, if you are paying by a personal check most title companies will require 10 to 14 days for that check to clear. You may consider getting a cashier's check to the title company so that there is no hold up at closing for funds that have not cleared yet.

Along with your offer you should submit a nice hand written letter explaining to the third party lender why you want to move into the home and that you are an end user. Telling them how long you have been waiting to be able to purchase your dream home.

Your Realtor should enclose with your offer the comparative sales in the area and other market information documents to prove the case of your offer.

The next post in this series will be about how to decide what to offer on a short sale, myths and truths about offer prices on short sales.

Disclaimer: This post is not intended to be or to provide legal advice. We recommend that you speak to your attorney and your tax accountant regarding specifics and to find out if this is the best option for you in your situation.

The information provided herein is supplied by several sources and is subject to change.

P.S. If you are listing your home as a short sale in Woodland Hills California make sure you hire an agent who knows how to do short sales and has the experience to get the job done. We are doing successful short sale packages. Call us at 818 – 288-7255 to find out more.

Woodland Hills California Real EState - Buyer Services

2008-03-31T19:28:00Z

Woodland Hills California Real Estate Spring is here and the real estate season has started. We changed our clocks back, we have more day light into the evening hours, making it easier to see properties after a work day, buyers like what they see in this sprig's Woodland Hills housing prices.

Prices are down by 19% according to the Board of Realtors, foreclosed and short sale properties are being placed for sale on the The Multiple Listings daily and investors who were waiting for a buyers market are buying. New Sellers are realizing they have to price their homes right to compete with short sales and foreclosures . There are beautiful homes for sale on the market here in Woodland Hills California at the moment, and buyers can go for the best ones.

Recently buyers had the luxury of time when they found a home they were interested in, this is no longer always true. You probably read in the papers that home sales for the last 3-4 weeks had picked up, buyers who think to long lost the homes they wanted - to buyers who were quicker than they were to write an offer.. Buyers who have been slower to act because of the slower market are losing out.

Strategy is important
When you find a Woodland Hills home that you want to purchase go ahead and write the offer as soon as possible. You will have time to continue thinking about it after the offer is written. Once the offer is submitted to the other agent it will initially takes a few days to work out counter offers, once your offer is accepted you have an additional 17 days to perform all inspections and approve all disclosures, you can use any of these to back out of the purchase if it is not up to your expectations and standards.

Writing a good offer to be accepted is the other part of the equation. With good properties in Woodland Hills now receiving multiple offers it often pays to write your best offer, in particular when writing an offer on a bank owned property. Each home needs to be examined on its individual basis before you decide on how to structure your offer and the price you will offer.The value of the property is a culminatin of amenities and condition of the property itself.

If you are listing your home as a short sale in San Fernando Valley California make sure you hire an agent who knows how to do short sales and has the experience to get the job done. We are doing successful short sales, call @ 818.288.7255

Woodland Hills California Real Estate - Warner Center Park, Summer Will Be Jamming

2008-03-26T15:52:00Z

Woodland Hills California Real Estate - Warner Center Park Summer Will be Jamming

Living in San Fernando Valley your summers are filled with music, people from through out the San Fernando Valley enjoy Sunday in harmony with nature. Every year the Valley Cultural Center is preparing what we call The summer concert series. This years concert lineup includes the returned or the popular Playboy Jazz Festival Community Concert on June 1st , preforming in the series for the first time, 1980 New Wave rocker Howard Jones on July 13th. There will be the annual July 4th extravaganza with a fireworks display sponsored by one of Los Angeles Councilman, accompanied by the Woodland Hills California Pierce Collage Symphonic Winds.

Other concerts are:

June 8 - The third Marine Aircraft Wing Band
June 15 Horace Heidt Big Band
June 22 Berlin, as part of the Woodland Hills-Tarzana Chamber of Commerce Family Festival
June 29 Preservation Hall Jazz Band
July 20 Beatles tribute band Ticket to Ride
July 27 Steely Dan tribute group Pretzel Logic
Aug. 3 Sheila E.
Aug. 10 B. J. Thomas, as part of the Winnetka Neighborhood Council Earth Day Festival
Aug. 17 The Knack

Aug 24 Starship, staring Micky Thomas

This year the park is going to have 16 food vendors in the food court.

The Children's Play Zone will include a bounce slide, clowns, face painting and balloon artists.

The concerts start at 6:00 P.M with a few exceptions, June 1st Playboy Festival will start at 2 p.m, June 22, The Family Festival will start at 2 p.m, Aug. 10 Earth Day will will start at 2p.m

All concerts and festivals are free.

So get your calender out and make a date with some family and friends and enjoy what the park has to offer.

Woodland Hills California Real Estate - Falling Home Prices

2008-03-22T16:37:00Z

Woodland Hills California Real Estate - Falling Home Prices

Well it is the first day of spring in Woodland Hills California, usually its time for families who want to move in the summer time to put their home on the market. I was just checking the MLS for listings for Woodland Hills California and saw a home that have been reduced in price by more than $100,000 dollars. At one time the home was listed for slightly more than $780,000 when it went on the market 217 days ago and is now listed for $605,000. I am watching it now to see how many days it remains on the market. It is a short sale, and the lender approved it as such, some of the banks have figured out if they make the price low enough they can get multiple offers and get more than they ask for it.

Some sellers still can not see what is happening in the market and are pricing themselves out of the market, basing their asking price on how much they paid for the home, or how much they owe on it, or how much equity they need to get out of the home so they can move up to a bigger home they want to buy. The sad truth is that buyers don't care how much sellers want for their home, they are looking for bargains and finding them.

P.S. If you are listing your home as a short sale in San Fernando Valley California make sure you hire an agent who knows how to do short sales and has the experience to get the job done. We are doing successful short sales, call @ 818.288.7255

Woodland Hills California Real Estate Information - Short Sales Part 3

2008-03-17T21:24:00Z

Woodland Hills California Real Estate Information - Short Sales Part 3

The Short Sales in Woodland Hills Ca is a series of articles for sellers and buyers to be better informed what a short sale is and how to advance with closing with a short sale. In order to surmise where we are at in the series please read part 1 and part 2.

Short Sales In Woodland Hills California- What You Need To Know, What Is A Short Sale?

Short Sales in Woodland Hills, West Hills California- What You Need To Know, Who Qualifies To Sell A Short Sale?

Now that you know what a short sale is and you have passed the entitled tests as set out in the above posts you are now ready to put your short sales package together for your agent and your lender.

Before you even call your agent to list your property you should have your short sale package put together. This way your agent will be able to facilitate the short sale process. Once an offer is made on your property your short sale package must have all associated documents with that offer. You will be delaying the process and possibly lose the buyer if you are waiting until you get an offer before you gather up all your documents for your short sale package. There is no deviation to this process that I have heard about or experienced.

The very first thing that you need to do is call your lender, tell them you are intending to put your house up for sale and confirm that the lender still the note holder. or servicer. We just went through sending out a short sale package for one of our sellers only to find out that the note was sold to another lender. We had to start the process all over again. You may be able to save some time by confirming your lender.

The next thing you will need to do is write an authorization letter for your agent to discuss your loan standing, details and short sale offers with your lender. This letter must have the name of the person the loan is under and the loan number must be on the letter along with the name and company of your agent. Please date the letter. Most lenders have a period of time in for which the authorization letter is good for and after that time it expires you will need to write another authorization letter.

Here is the list of all the documents you may be required to submit. If you put together a package and then you find out they don't need one of these documents then just take it out of the package. It is better to be prepared and find out you did more than required than to submit an incomplete package. Your agent should be checking the package to make sure there is nothing missing. The lenders receive so many files each day that they can not even look at the uncompleted packages.

Your authorization letter as stated above.

A handwritten hardship letter explaining your hardship. This hardship letter needs to explain why you need to sell your property as a short sale. Please refer to my previous posts regarding the letter.

A completed financial statement that your Realtor® has received from your lender. We have found through our experience that each lender has their own financial statement that they provide. It is not difficult to fill out. It is in form format with fill in the blanks. There is an asset column and a debt column and they will have a place to write in your income and your expenses. This is where it is important that you told the truth on your loan application.

The last 2 pay stubs for all the signers on the mortgage.

The last 2 years of tax returns for all the signers on the mortgage.

A copy of your listing agreement with your Realtor®; your agent will provide that.

Put all these documents together and give them to your Realtor® so that he/she can get to work on your short sale package and make all the proper notations. Each document will have to have your loan number written on it.

After you get an offer you and your agent will have to put together the rest of the package and that includes:

A fully executed offer of sale and purchase agreement.

The prequalification letter for the new buyer. A copy of a deposit check

A HUD1 settlement statement from the title company with all the fees listed correctly. The lender will need to approve the expenses prior to accepting the buyer's offer.

Your agent should put together a sales package along with the short sale package. He/she should have your current market value paperwork and evidence showing the offer is reasonable. We also put newspaper articles in the package showing our current market conditions. Documentation beats conversation. This is one of those times you can take all the bad news and work it in your favor. We make a very though and compelling argument and we have met with good responses going the extra mile with the lenders.

Stay tuned for part 4 of our Short Sales, In the Series as we discuss what happens after the short sale package and offer is sent in to the lender. If you are interested in buying a short sale property understanding what happens after the lender receives your offer will be benefit you.

Woodland Hills California Real Estate Information - Short Sales part # 2

2008-03-15T00:38:00Z

Woodland Hills California Real Estate Information - Short Sales part # 2

Welcome to part 2 of our series, 'Short Sales In Woodland Hills California- What You Need To Know. If you have not read Short sales In Woodland Hills Ca. part #1 then please take a moment to read the first in this series.

Just because you own a house in Woodland Hills California and you have found out that you owe your lender more money than what a buyer is willing to pay for it, does not mean you are going to be able to` sell your house for less than what you owe your lender.

You must pass the Hardship Test. There must be a good and undoubted reason why you can not keep your home any longer.

The Distress Test: Ask yourself these questions and look at your situation to see if it will pass the distress test.

Did you loose your job since you bought the house?

Did you have a bad accident or illness in which you got hurt and could not work?

Do you have large new medical bills that you incurred since buying the house?

Have you been relocated to another city or state?

Has your interest rate gone up so much that it is now a hardship for you to pay your mortgage?

Now each short sale request is looked at independently. Each situation is different. But you must be able to prove there is clearly a hardship.

What is NOT a hardship?

If you have used your house as you ATM machine and took all your equity out of your house and are now in debt, well, that is a hardship that is going to have a tough time being accepted. I would suggest that you do what you have to do to keep your house.

If you bought your house on the tip of the market and now it is worth less than what you paid for it, that is not a hardship and not a reason to sell your house as a short sale in Woodland Hills.

The Asset Test: Do you have assets that you can liquidate to bring to closing when you sell your house short of what you owe your lender?

Do you have money in CD's and Savings Accounts?

Do you have equity in other properties?

Do you have stocks and bonds?

If you have assets your lender is not going to take all the loss and not have you bring some money to the closing table. They will only accept the short sale if you are contributing as well to the loss. You may be able to negotiate the loss with your lender.

The Fraud Test: Did you commit fraud when you applied for your loan for this property? This means did you lie about anything on your loan application such as:

How much money were you making?

Place of work?

What were your assets?

Any of these untruths or lies, whatever you want to call them is going to be checked out by the lender. They will match up what you are saying now to what your application said when you applied for the loan. If there are significant difference between your loan application, and the short sale application than there better be an explanation of why the difference, losing a job is obviously a reason for a drastic change in income.

We will not list your property as a Short Sale in Woodland Hills if you committed fraud, you will be required to turn in a short sale package which we will help you put together and send to the lender along with an offer and then you are exposing the fraud and that can have serious ramifications to you.

The next post in this series of Short Sales In Woodland Hills California will cover the documents that you are required to put together in the short sale package. So stay tuned for Part 3