If a property is being sold as a Short Sale it means that the loan on the property is for more money than the property can be sold for. There is a shortage of funds due the lender. Sometimes a lender will forgive this amount and sometimes it will not. If the amount is forgiven it may not be a win for the seller because they may have to show this amount “forgiven” as income in their taxes the following year. It must be shown as income because it was money that was owed by the seller through a note to buy the property, but not paid back to the lender and the IRS looks at this as money in your pocket even though you never see the money.

It is said that a picture is worth a thousand words and when I drove up to see this property, I had to take this picture of the garage roof.  It is an indicator of how bad this house is, and how much in need of help.  Calling All Contractors out there! This can [...]

San Mateo County real estate investors, what are you waiting for?  There are many, many good buys for investment today and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loan limits will never be higher.  With housing prices dropping, and rates at consistent levels you should be looking right now!  If you want to invest in housing under [...]

If you have some cash in the bank this is a great time for investors to buy real estate here in our own San Mateo County.  It’s been a long time for anyone to see a positive cash flow from investment real estate around here, but with the large number of short sales and bank [...]

We’re often asked what it costs to fix up a prospective house that we are showing a client.  Of course, the answer can be as much as you want it to cost, but that’s not being realistic.  San Mateo County is not the least expensive place to live and therefore, having work done will cost [...]