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  Open Letter to the Fat Me   The taunts of “fat boy” rang in my head as I got off my bike and started to walk the hill. I knew everyone else could ride the hill but big, fat me could not. The reality was I was alone on the trails around my home and 54 years old. But those thoughts resounded in my ears. They came from the inner me of my childhood. But now I was determined to push through the pain, physical and mental. As I grabbed the handle bars from the side and walked up [&hellip

Megan’s Law and looking for a home What is Megan’s law? Megan’s Law is named after seven-year-old Megan Kanka, a New Jersey girl who was raped and killed by a known registered sex offender who had moved across the street from the family without their knowledge. In the wake of the tragedy, the Kankas sought to have local communities warned about sex offenders in the area. All states now have a form of Megan’s Law. California has required sex offenders to register with their local law enforcement agencies since 1947. California’s Megan’s Law provides the public with certain information on [&hellip

Do you get it? How old are you?   The info graphic used to explain this frequently convoluted process is a “meme.” If you’re wondering what exactly memes are, they have been described as “virally-transmitted cultural symbols or social ideas” or cultural elements like jokes and turns of phrase that are created and disseminated by individuals. Communication is a big part of real estate. I don’t communicate like this, but I have people on my team that get it. I am a firm believer in a team of different experiences and abilities. If you get this, then I have people [&hellip

Sacramento Housing Numbers January 2014 Charts are good for viewing what the data of the Sacramento housing marketing is doing. This chart of the number of Homes for Sale and Homes that Sold shows that there are many more homes for sale than are being sold.  The charts are showing a strong change from last year. In January of 2013 there were 1,249 properties for sale; and, in January of 2014 there were 2,356. That is almost double the number of properties for sale. Despite the large numbers of properties for sale, fewer properties actually sold during January of this [&hellip

Qualified Mortgages The win for Lenders What is the big win for lenders making a Qualified Mortgage (QM)? A lender that fellows the rules of a QM loan have greater protection from law suits. This provision of QM is called “safe harbor”. In theory, under the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s final mortgage rules, low-priced loans that meet all the criteria of QM are supposed to be largely immune from consumer lawsuits. Lenders that make Qualified Mortgages get certain legal protections even if the loans default. For QMs that are not “higher-priced,” lenders get a “safe harbor.” This means that the [&hellip

What is the median home price?   One of the best ways to evaluate a local real estate market is to use the median home price. The median price can be compared to various periods to find a trend. It can be compared against the prior month, quarter, year, and other periods.   How is the median home price determined? Median is defined as the middle number in a sorted list of numbers. Another way of defining median is a mathematical result that indicates that one half of the group is higher and one half lower. The median price of [&hellip

  New Mortgage rules: Debt to Income Ratio The new mortgage rules called Qualified Mortgage or QM impact many parts of the real estate loan process. A major new rule is the maximum Debt to Income Ratio (DTI) or some times called the back end ratio. QM sets the new maximum DTI to 43%. This is lower than current standards. The clear impact of the new rule is less people will qualify for a QM loan. Is this a good thing, or bad thing only time will tell? What is a Debt to Income Ratio? The Debt to Income Ratio [&hellip

New Mortgage rules: Ability to Repay   The eight factors Ability to Repay creates in underwriting a new mortgage.   These eight Ability to Repay factors a lender must consider when reviewing a new mortgage loan application will cause a number of people not to be able to get a mortgage, and therefore not buy a home. Is that a good thing or bad thing only time will tell? Here is the list of the eight elements the new rule Ability to Repay (ATR) creates in mortgage lending. One. The current or reasonably expected income or assets that the consumer [&hellip

Loan Preapproval: Why You Need to be Preapproved Do you feel ready to start looking for your first house?  Well, the first step of any home-buying experience is to get prequalified for a loan. Most people are going to need a loan in order to purchase a house.  If you are one of the many people who fall into this category, then there are some things you need to know. The seller wants to get the best deal they can and they want to get it fast. If you fall in love with a home and put in an offer, [&hellip

Sacramento Housing Numbers November  2013 Charts are good for viewing what the data of the Sacramento housing marketing is doing. This chart of the number of Homes for Sale and Homes that Sold shows that there are many more homes for sale than are being sold.  This is a change from what we saw for the first half of the year.  The chart shows that homes were being bought as fast as they could be put on the market, but that has changed now.  The past several months have had many more homes for sale, but the number of buyers [&hellip