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.

Your house has been on the market for two and one half months. You’ve been a good member of the Clean Counter Club but it’s getting harder and harder to do it everyday. Days get interrupted. Dinners are interrupted. Saturday open houses. Sunday open houses. Keeping the house picked up is a chore. Keeping the toys off the floor is almost impossible now. Keep the kids clean? It’s summer and oh, so impossible to do!

MILLBRAE
The city is named for Darius Ogden Mills, a rich financier who founded the Bank of California and bought land from the Sanchez family to build his country estate.  The Scott’s refer to a “brea” as rolling hills, and Mills turned into Millbrae at some time in the late 1800’s.  The Mills estate went from [...]

Real estate, like many other industries, has ebbs and flows of the market.  As we enter the final month of the year we are in one of the slow periods for buying and selling homes.  San Mateo County’s real estate market has slowed down.  We are seeing fewer homes coming on the market   and fewer [...]

Who owns that tree in front of your house? You know, the one between the sidewalk and the street. The one with beautiful shade in the summer. The one pushing up the sidewalk in front of your house. Do you own it or does the city? After all, didn’t the city originally plant the tree years ago? Guess what! It doesn’t matter. It’s your problem and if the city decides that the sidewalk in front of your house is a trip zone, be prepared for the bill from the city to replace the sidewalk. And, when the bill comes. Pay it or it will go onto your tax bill next year.