Monday, January 27, 2014

Real Estate Investors Offer Big Pay Off, If You Can Keep Up.


Deadline News.com article originally published on Feb. 3, 2012

JULIE WYSS – Today’s Silicon Valley real estate investor isn’t necessarily a high roller, but more often a working stiff with a small-business, who is tapping existing non-real estate investments to cash in on affordable real estate properties to flip or rent.
If you are a real estate agent looking to serve them, you’d better bring your A-game.
These younger investors aren’t “suits” sporting fancy cars, but are more likely to dress casually and drive a hard bargain, offering all cash or sizable down payments on the properties they buy.
Many are smaller, newer, more innovative-thinking investors with one or two rentals under their wing, looking to acquire more. One thirty-something investor with three children chose to drain the kids’ college accounts and buy three houses with 15-year loans. By the time the kids graduate, mom and pop can sell the farm and pay cash for college.
Some are trading in two-, three- and four-plexes for single-family homes (SFH), considered diamonds in the rough, valued at half what they cost at the peak of the market.
Investors with cash in the bank are getting off the fence because they no longer trust that their money will perform as well in conventional investments, including money market funds, stocks and other investments.
In the business to make money, investors also favor Section 8 housing’s guaranteed rental income.
San Diego-based DataQuick says absentee buyers – mostly investors – purchased a record 23.8 percent of all Bay Area homes sold, up from 21.7 percent in November and 20.2 percent a year earlier. That’s an average. The share is higher in some counties, cities and neighborhoods.
If investors sound like tough cookies, they are, but you can serve them well if you have the energy and expertise to meet their demands.
The average real estate agent thinks the job is to write a contract and pray it gets accepted. Here’s what’s really required.
Going the distance
Investors aren’t in the mood to manage. That’s what they do for a living. They expect you to take the lead on acquiring their investment and expect you to understand their investment goals.
Be prepared to show an investor as many homes as they wish to see in a day, six, eight. And not just any homes. They include short sale properties occupied by families down on their luck and homes in horrid shape.
When a hot property is available, the investor needs to be convinced to tour it.

“You need to see this property and I am picking you up at your office in 30 minutes and will have you back in an hour….” Worker bees may say “no” at first, but later will agree, because you insisted. They appreciate your initiative and ultimately enjoy the thrill of the chase.
Bring hard core negotiating skills to the table. An investor needs a real estate agent familiar with the distressed property market. After several investment purchases, a skilled agent should recognize a good deal and advise the buyer what to offer. Hit the nail on the head and you gain their trust.
When the investor trusts the agent, the investor is more often willing to offer a higher price, if that’s what it takes to get the offer accepted. However, if the investor is an all-cash buyer and can forgo the appraisal contingency, even the property inspection and disclosures contingency, then a lower offer with a quick close is a more effective strategy.
Investors have little time to spare, including the celebratory two-martini lunch after the deal closes. Instead, they’d prefer you to pick them up, get them to the sign-off and back to work in an hour.
Other investors prefer not to leave work, but complete the transaction without leaving their desk. They appreciate the convenience of electronic signatures, when permitted. Electronic signatures are not allowed on a short sale, but offering to send a traveling notary or providing curb-side pick up can overcome that obstacle and help them maintain a sense of control without actually managing you.
Investors don’t care to read the fine print, but they do want to know what’s in the deal. You, along with the lender, must review the note to be sure the rate and the terms are what the investor wants. You must sign off on the title report and be certain there are no problems with liens or easements. The new title must be in the correct name of the investor or the investor’s living trust.
After escrow, the tough keep going
The real work begins after escrow closes.
Whether the investor will flip the property or rent it out, chances are, the property could use some help.

You’ll have to have at the ready a database of trusted vendors available for any work necessary – termite work, painting, hardwood floor finishers, roofers, general contractors, landscapers, pool repair guys, HVAC companies, virtually any provider you can think of. But not just any contractor, great contractors with competitive prices.
You can manage the work by installing a lock box and setting up appointments with the contractors. This allows them to quickly get to work transforming the purchase into an investment with hefty returns.
Source: Julie Wyss is the top producing individual broker associate with Intero Real Estate Services-Los Gatos, CA. For more information about Julie and her real estate services, please visit her website.



Monday, January 20, 2014

What Is Proposition 90?


Ordinarily under Proposition 13, the value of a home for property tax purposes is re-assessed to market level whenever a change in ownership takes place. This usually results in higher property taxes for the homebuyer. 

In November 1988, the state‘s voters approved Proposition 90, which is designed to induce greater turnover of homes owned by senior citizens. The measure provides anyone over the age of 55 with relief from Proposition 13 by allowing them to move from one county to another without undergoing a change in their basic property taxes.

Proposition 90 is a "local-option" law; each county has the option of participating. If a county has adopted a Proposition 90 ordinance, it accepts transfers of property tax base assessments from other California counties. If the county that the homeowner is moving from does not have a Proposition 90 ordinance, this does not affect the eligibility of the homeowner.

Qualifications for Proposition 90 are as follows:

(1) The purchaser or spouse must be 55 years of age, AND
(2) The replacement residence must be equal to or less than the value of the residence sold, AND
(3) The replacement residence must be located in the same county as the property being sold OR must be located in one of the counties which have voted to PASS Proposition 90 in order for the real property tax base to be transferred from the former residence to the replacement residence.

Before making plans to move, call the County Assessor's Office in the county you are moving to and request the most recent information concerning Proposition 90.

If you have a need for a real estate professional, please contact me. I would also appreciate your vote of confidence by passing my name to anyone you may know who would benefit from my services.




Julie Wyss, Broker Associate
Top 1% Intero Real Estate & Santa Clara County Realtors
408.687.2026
|  Julie@JulieWyss.comwww.JulieWyss.com