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Shop ’til you drop? Help pay for college? Put it in savings? Pay some bills? Buy a new car? Take a trip? Yes! You have a chance to win $10,000!  No Purchase. No Obligation. No strings. No cost.  Free! Our company, Troop Real Estate, and the agents are sponsoring a $10,000 Cash Give-Away on November [...]

This can’t go unnoticed!  A woman buys a stranger’s foreclosed home….and gives it back to her. Embedded video from CNN Video

I hear it on television and the radio, and people are calling me with the same question, “Are you guys still lending money?”  Really?  That’s the question?  Yes, and I’ve even seen it on the news where the “talking heads” are saying that banks aren’t lending money on real estate right now.  It’s happened too many [...]

Have you ever read a real estate ad and thought about what those words really mean?  What does handyman special mean?  And on and on……Here’s our take on those words– “Charming“ means wallpaper, lots of wallpaper plus matching drapes. “Cozy“ screams small, very small. “Lush, tropical garden” means overgrown with palm trees. “Compact kitchen” instantly says just enough room [...]

Thursday morning: “Sounds good. Let’s meet at the office at 10:00 a.m Saturday to look at homes.” Better check the MLS to see how many properties suit this buyer’s criteria.  Wow!  There is a total of 46 just in Camarillo plus there is an additional 55 homes that meets the criteria in Thousand Oaks.  That’s a [...]

As a loan officer who has worked in Ventura County for over 27 years, I’ve seen the processing and underwriting of home loans change dramatically.  Before it all went to “tighter guidelines” (that’s an understatement), the loan officer could be nothing more than an order taker.  “Yes, sir.  May I interest you in a Home Equity Line of [...]

If you live in Southern California, you know what a ‘red flag’ warning is – it means high temperatures, Santa Ana winds, low humidity.  Close the windows, stay inside and secure the lawn furniture.  Get ready for Mother Nature to do her house cleaning…… If you are like us and sell real estate in Ventura County, a red [...]

Here’s the latest in what is on the market with bank-owned properties in Camarillo and the Conejo Valley. Two weeks ago Camarillo had 23 properties currently on the market that were bank owned.  This week that total now registers 20 REOs for sale in Camarillo. Click here to get the list of bank-owned properties for sale [...]

  You are thinking about buying a bank-owned house which are also known as a REO or a foreclosed house.   Buying from a bank demands guidelines which are different than buying from a traditional homeowner.  Each bank/lender differs but there are similarities to each transaction.   Here are lessons that we have learned by writing offers on bank-owned homes with [...]

So you want to buy a house, but you don’t know what you qualify for.  You know how much you want your total payments to be, but you don’t know how much house that will buy.  What about property taxes and homeowner’s insurance?  How much would that be?  How much do you need for a down [...]