Tom's Blog

Many banks have now jumped on the short sale bandwagon. Approvals on many short sales can be obtained in as little as 30 days. Major banks, not wanting to foreclosure on homeowners, have now given timely short sale approvals top priority.

Take Wachovia Bank for instance.

Now a part of Wells Fargo, Wachovia did a lot of bad loans circa 2000-2006 that many homeowners can no longer afford to keep current. Wachovia's current solution?? To allow homeowners to short sale the property in lieu of foreclosure. In fact, they've added trained personnel and streamlined the process so well that in many cases we can approvals in as little as 30 days!

And, what is even more amazing, is that in some cases, the homeowner may qualify to get as much as $2,500.00 in cash, from Wachovia, to help them with their move!

The Tom Lyons Real Estate Team presently handles a number of short sales in the Livermore, Pleasanton, Dublin, and San Ramon cities of Alameda County California. Year to date in 2009 we've been able to help more than 20 homeowners get through the complicated short sale process.

We've the experience and know how to get your short sale done quickly and efficiently at absolutely no cost to you, the homeowner.

We've got the

*Experience

*Systems in place

*Ability to get your home sold quickly with the least amount of inconvenience to you

So if doing a short sale on your home to possibly avoid foreclosure is of interest to you, please give me a call at 925-216-1105, or email me at realestate@tomlyons.com

For your convenience, if you have additional questions about the short sale process, please visit any of our websites listed below.

http://www.tomlyons.com/

http://tomlyons.yourkwagent.com/atj/user/HomePageGetAction.do

Posted on 10/28/2009

Thanks for reading!!

Tom

Many factors have come together which make it attractive, and a smart long term wealth building strategy, for first time homebuyers to purchase in 2009!!

•  Lower house prices help first time buyers affordability.
•  Historically low interest rates should remain low through 2009. The Federal Reserve Board is taking numerous steps to reduce mortgage rates.
• Federal government income tax breaks:
• $7,500.00 existing credit for first time buyers
• Existing IRS income tax breaks for homeowners
• More Federal income tax breaks may be coming in 2009

In many cases it is now cheaper to own a home than it is to rent.

Please also remember that this window of opportunity to purchase low priced houses with extremely low interest rates will not stay open forever.

Owning your first house may never be more affordable than it will be in 2009!!

Tom Lyons Real Estate Team

Real Estate Experts in Livermore, Pleasanton, Dublin, San Ramon, Danville, Tracy, Mountain House, Manteca, and Lathrop California

www.tomlyons.com

www.tomlyonsforeclosures.com

realestate@tomlyons.com

925-216-1105

Get a leg up on building your long term wealth!

Tom Lyons's Foreclosure website:

http://tomlyons.yourkwagent.com/

Dedicated to buyers, and sellers, in Alameda, San Joaquin, and Contra Costa counties California

Have questions on how to avoid foreclosure??

Go to this link.

http://tomlyons.yourkwagent.com/atj/user/HomePageGetAction.do

Or try this one

http://tomlyons.yourkwagent.com/atj/user/SellerResourceGetAction.do

Considering purchasing a REO home. Learn about the outstanding buying opportunities here.

http://tomlyons.yourkwagent.com/atj/user/BuyerResourceGetAction.do

With property values declining in 2008-2009, did you know that you can reduce your property taxes? Let us do the work for you, no charge. Just go to this link.

http://tomlyons.yourkwagent.com/atj/user/AdditionalGetAction.do?pageId=129317

The question that we get asked most often is " ARE WE AT THE BOTTOM OF THE MARKET YET?" Read our answer at ... www.activerain.com/blogs/tomlyons

Save big money on your home expenses by going green. Go to this link for more info.

http://tomlyons.yourkwagent.com/atj/user/AdditionalGetAction.do?pageId=131829

The Tom Lyons Real Estate Team

Keller Williams Realty

925-216-1105

realestate@tomlyons.com

Tom is an experienced agent (18 years) who works in the following East Bay communities of the San Francisco Bay Area. Cities covered are Livermore, Pleasanton, Dublin, San Ramon, Danville, Tracy, Mountain House, Manteca, and Lathrop.

The question that I hear most often these days from clients, friends, and potential clients is "Are we at the bottom?" Or ..."Are real estate prices going to continue to do down?" Buyers don't want to pay too much ...sellers, who can't really sell their houses right now, are waiting for some kind of recovery so they can sell their house, and investors, well, they want to buy at the absolute bottom of the market.

So ..."ARE WE AT THE BOTTOM OF THE REAL ESTATE MARKET YET?"

The answer to that is yes and no....

Yes, we are at the bottom in most cities in the lower price ranges .... For Livermore that price range is in the high $200's to low $300's. For Tracy, Mountain House, Manteca, and Lathrop the lower range is $120's to the low $200's. Lower range in Pleasanton, Dublin, San Ramon, Danville is the mid $300's to low $400's.

We are at the bottom here .... homes in these price ranges, in these cities, are selling fast. Most are bank owned REO's which are priced below current market value (CMV) and they are selling very quickly with multiple offers on the ones that are the best bang for the buck. Because of the high demand and lower supply the average months supply in these price ranges, in these cities, is approx. 2-3 months. With a 2-3 months supply of houses you normally don't see any price erosion. (Months supply equals total available house inventory divided by sales over the last 30 days)

HOW ABOUT THE MID PRICE RANGES AND HIGHER?

Mid and upper price ranges are a different story. Mid range prices in our area can be anywhere from $300K (In the Central Valley) to $700K (Pleasanton) There seems to be more downside to these yet as the months supply of available homes hovers around the 6 month mark. A 6 months supply of houses means that further price erosion is likely. In the upper price ranges, where supply is hovering around the 12-15 months mark, well, the house prices on these kinds of homes still has a way to fall.

SO WHAT"S IT ALL ABOUT ALFIE?

To summarize, it is absolutely the best time for investors, and first time home buyers, to jump in and purchase a lower priced home before all these marvelous bargains disappear. And disappear they will. For those of you with higher priced homes looking to sell .... we think that you should stay the course and not try to sell right now. If you did decide to sell .... you'd probably get a lot lower price than you'd be looking for.

For more info check out our new foreclosure website at http://www.tomlyonsforeclosures.com

Thanks for reading

As of 11/08, bank owned REO's are still selling like hotcakes in Northern California. Prices have dropped so low, that in many cases it makes more financial sense for people to buy these homes, than to rent. In the Northern California cities of Manteca, Lathrop, Tracy, Mountain House, Livermore, and Dublin there is a feeding frenzy when these REO's hit the market priced correctly. Many receive 6-10 written offers within a week from being listed!

The properties are being snapped up by:

• First time buyers
• Investors

Many investors are buying multiple properties right now. One investor, who owns a local carpet company, has bought over 30 properties within the last 6 months. Talk about a smart investor!!

For more information about the foreclosure situation in Northern California please go to my new website

http://www.tomlyonsforeclosures.com

http://www.tomlyons.com

Thanks!

Tom L

Anyone...

How do you guys, and gals, handle your cash for keys issues?? Any thoughts on timeframes for people to vacate? Any docs that you may sign with them? Or is it simply ..... "you vacate and turn over the keys and we'll give you X in $$$"

I've been fortunate enough to land a decent sized REO account .... have not yet done any cash for keys programs and I'd like not to look like a total dolt when I start doing these.

Any help or insights that you can give me would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!!

Tom

realestate@tomlyons.com

Help!

Anyone...

How do you guys, and gals, handle your cash for keys issues?? Any thoughts on timeframes for people to vacate? Any docs that you may sign with them? Or is it simply ..... "you vacate and turn over the keys and we'll give you X in $$$"

I've been fortunate enough to land a decent sized REO account .... have not yet done any cash for keys programs and I'd like not to look like a total dolt when I start doing these.

Any help or insights that you can give me would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!!

Tom

realestate@tomlyons.com

Help!

Anyone...

How do you guys, and gals, handle your cash for keys issues?? Any thoughts on timeframes for people to vacate? Any docs that you may sign with them? Or is it simply ..... "you vacate and turn over the keys and we'll give you X in $$$"

I've been fortunate enough to land a decent sized REO account .... have not yet done any cash for keys programs and I'd like not to look like a total dolt when I start doing these.

Any help or insights that you can give me would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!!

Tom

realestate@tomlyons.com

In 2008, prices have come down so much that REO's hitting the market at these low prices receive as many as 10-15 offers on them within days.

On one Northern Livermore house, a 35 year old fixer at 1300 sq. ft., priced at $334K .... there were 10 offers within a week. Of course it took the bank over 14 business days to respond, leaving potential buyers scratching their heads while waiting.

On another house, this one in the Dublin Ranch area .... priced way under current market value at $925K for over 5000 sq. ft., for a 2 year old home ... there were 15 offers within 4 days. The house will sell for $1.1M.

Home sales have picked up tremendously over the past 60 days ..... though the low prices on REO's is the main ( and probably only ) reason.

Thanks for reading,

The Tom Lyons Real Estate Team

Serving Livermore, Dublin, San Ramon, Pleasanton, Danville Ca.

realestate@tomlyons.com

925-216-1105

It's not well known to the general public right now, but in the SF bay area we may have hit the bottom of the market in many cities. True, most of the action is in REO homes, but the prices have dropped so much on these as we marched through 2008 ...many cities now have only a 2-3 month absorbsion rate in the lower end. This kind of absorbsion rate means that houses prices are unlikely to drop any further.

TV and news print articles will pick up on this within the next 60 days .... once the closings hit the county recorders offices.

For more real estate info on Northern California cities near you check out the Lyons Real Estate Report at www.tomlyons.com

Thank You!!