We were out for a drive one afternoon — kinda taking the back way home.  Greg likes to talk about how the area has changed since he was a little kid and that was some time ago.  We stopped to shoot this magnificent oak tree that he is sure it was there back in the day.  To the left of the tree, we think, are rows of lavender (not in bloom at this time).  Just another reason to live in Ventura County!!

If you haven’t guessed by now, my partner, Greg Ricci, is Italian.  And I am a Southerner of German decent (who has lived half of my life in Ventura County).  What does this have to do with real estate?  Nothing.  But it does have to do with the 805Local “Food Finds.” 

With Greg being Italian and having grown up with the fertile soil of Thousand Oaks, he loves fresh vegetables especially salads.  So coming from the South where salads consisted of head lettuce or cole slaw, I had a lot of catching up to do! 

Greg’s dad, Tom, introduced me to arugula several years ago and I immediately fell in LOVE.  This year I decided to grow my own patch of arugula.  It is easy to grow, thank goodness. 

One of our favorite ways to eat arugula is simple.  Place arugula in a large bowl with grated Parmesan cheese, tomatoes, red onion, Kalamata olives and toss with olive oil and rice vinegar.  Now this is a Food Find!  MMMMMM

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 lot of ground to cover.  We better get out there and start doing previews of homes to eliminate what not to show and create a list of what to show on Saturday morning.

Thursday afternoon: with appointments made and armed with Multiple Listing print outs, Supra programmers, maps, tank full of gasoline, cell phones and water, we head out to  find the ‘cream’ to show on Saturday morning.

Several we could eliminate quickly based on location, neighborhood and number of cars on the street.  Ooops, the next house the listing broker forgot to install a key safe, the next house has an alarm but the code is not in the listing, the next has a day sleeper but no warning noted on the print out, the next house has two inside barking dogs. And the list goes on.  We enter a vacant house and both of us start itching — the house has fleas. Yikes and both of us are allergic to fleas (note to self – remember to spray yourself for fleas before showing property).  Six of the following houses required that we have a time specific appointments with the listing agent to show — that is difficult to do when actually showing property due to the fact that we never know how long a potential buyer will want to spend in a house).  Enough, to be continued…..

Friday morning: We filter back through the lists of homes that we previewed the previous day and decide to show ten of the properties.  Next step – route the houses from the office.  Start making appointments to show the ten houses.  Backtrack – we cannot show two of the houses on Saturday but Sunday would be okay with sellers; that won’t work.  Another house was not available to show because the seller was making cookies and another seller could not decide if they really wanted to sell or to stay put.  Wow, we are down to six houses to show on Saturday.  Better go preview a few more houses this morning.  With more MLS print outs in hand, we head back out to preview more houses.

Friday afternoon:After previewing several more homes, we come up with another list of ten homes to show on Saturday morning.  Before calling it a day, it is time to get the car washed.  You don’t want to show property in a dirty car!  Plus, we need another full tank of gasoline.

Friday night: Back to routing the houses that we are going to be showing the next morning — so we start calling to make appointments.  Instead of the typical time range to show, three of the houses require an exact time appointment.  Better figure those times in the routing.  Next, print out information about each house for the clients; people like a program for a play and they like MLS print outs when they look at property.  One more thing – better check the alarm code for one property and secure the gate code for another.  That’s it – we are ready.

Friday night later: One more thing – do a ‘radius search’ in the MLS for each of the homes that are scheduled to be shown.  Buyers always ask about nearby homes whether the houses are on the market or not.  We need to be ready to answer any of their questions regarding recent sales and neighborhood activity.  Okay start searching ten different neighborhoods and print out two copies.  Ready to report for duty in the morning.

Saturday morning: We arrive at the office early (armed for fleas – see Thursday afternoon) and check the MLS to discover if there are any changes in the status of the homes we will be showing.  Perhaps one went ‘pending’ or maybe a new listing came on the market.  We get a call from one of the listing agents of a property we will be showing.  She needs to change the appointment showing time.  (Well, that phone call changed the routing of all showings!)  Not a problem – as we juggle to rearrange the routing order and make the appropriate calls to inform the sellers.

Saturday morning 10:30 a.m.: We get the phone call.  The buyers cancelled……

Ah, the GLAMOROUS life of a REALTOR! But, we wouldn’t change it for the world! The upside of the week is, we were there for someone in need that we never would have met otherwise; we were able to find solutions for newlyweds who’s dreams were becoming a nightmare; and the other stuff…well, we’ll work it all out.

In an under appreciated industry, we’d like to declare this week, Realtor appreciation week. It’s been a rough couple of years for many of us and a little bit of appreciation would sure go along way.

Here’s to you our colleagues! We applaud you all! We are sure you all can relate!

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 our buyers:

1. Get your loan fully approved from a direct endorsement lender.  You may still have to get pre-qualified through a loan rep of the lender who currently owns the house.  Example: if the house is currently owned by Countrywide, you might need to get pre-qualified through Countrywide but you will not be required to use Countrywide as your lender.  The owner/lender wants to make certain that you, as the new buyer, really qualifies.  Some lenders are satisfied if your approval is through a direct endorsement lender.
2. The property will be sold ‘as-is.’  Most lenders will not do any repairs.  What you see (or don’t see) is what you get. 
3. Since the lender will not do repairs, it is important for you to get your inspections completed in the proper time frame.   Typically lenders do not do wood-destroying pest inspections (termite inspections) so you might want to order one; the lender will not do the repairs.
4. Contingent sale - don’t even try.  The lender will not accept a purchase agreement contingent on the sale of another house.  You are wasting your time!
5. Complete the entire purchase agreement.   Sounds odd but you would be amazed how many people do not sign and/or initial the correct places on a purchase agreement.  Leave nothing to chance.   Double check; there’s lots of places to sign/initial.
6. Expect multiple offers on the property.  Lenders put low list prices on houses to attract attention both from buyers as well as from Realtors.  Lenders realize the market will push the price up through multiple offers.  Again, this does not happen with all REOs but a good number.
7. Find out before the purchase offer is written the name of the title and escrow companies that the lender uses on a regular basis.  Put these companies names in the purchase agreement. 
8. Disclosures from the lender are limited.  The lender never lived in the property.  It is up to the buyer to discover the condition of the property.
9. The contingency period may be reduced from the default of 17 days.  The lender/owner will require that you release your contingencies timely.
10. Banks do not negotiate like a traditional seller.  You might receive a ‘verbal’ counter offer, be told to give your ‘best and final’ or be told to re-write several pages of the purchase offer.  Each lender seems to operate a bit differently. 
11. Penalty clause – lenders have been known to impose a daily penalty ($$) on buyers if the escrow does not close within the specified time.  Keep your lender informed on this date!
12. Each lender has their own addedum or addedums.  So expect to receive these a few days after your offer is accepted.
13. The lender does not work on weekends or holidays.  It could five or more day to get some type of an answer.
14. Be patient.  It might be your home but it is a business decision to the lender.  Good luck!

Would you like our combined 4+ decades of working for you?  Please email us at(Greg@805Local.com or Joyce@805Local.com).  We can also be reached at (805) 340-5811 or 377-7172.  We will guide you through the maze of buying a bank-owned home.

All of these terms are used interchangeably and mean the same.  A foreclosed property has gone back to the bank and the property is now real estate owned by the bank.  So whether you call it a bank-owned, foreclosed property, or REO, they all mean the same thing. 

It has been two weeks since last we posted the bank-owned properties in Thousand Oaks and Camarillo.  Since that time, the inventory of REOs in the Conejo Valley has increased by five properties.   Camarllo has added three more bank-owned properties to the active inventory.

The Conejo Valley (Newbury Park, Thouand Oaks, Westlake, Oak Park) has a total of 50 properties on the list.

Camarillo has a total of 23 bank-owned properties on the active list this week. 

If you would like to have the complete listing of bank-owned properties throughout Ventura County delivered to your email in-box as they come available, please send me an email at Joyce@805Local.com  We can set you up on an auto email.  Get a jump on the steal and deals in Ventura County!

One City, One Book is a City-wide book club that is a month-long celebration from September 20 to October 18, 2008.   This year the chosen book is What is the What. 

What is the What is a novelized autobiography of Valentino Achak Deng, from his pre-war life in southern Sudan to his resettlement in the United States. 

Separated from his family when Arab militia destroy his village, Valentino joins thousands of other ‘Lost Boys,’ beset by starvation, thirst and man-eating lions on their march to refugee camps in Ethiopia and Kenya, where Valentino pieces together a new life. He eventually reaches America, but finds his quest for safety, community and fulfillment in many ways even more difficult there than in the camps.

The entire community is invited to read and discuss the same book, participate in book discussions, film screenings, drama, an essay contest and other events held throughout the city.

I read What is the What several months ago initially thinking that it was not ’my type’ of book but soon discovered it was a compelling, powerful account of human spirit over tragedy.  It is not possible to read this book and not be humbled.  It is a story of courage and hope to be shared.

Talk about appreciate your 805 home — read What is the What!   There is no place like home especially our paradise in the 805.

Here’s how we determined  a ‘hot buy’ — First of all,  we looked at each city individually.  To be marked a ‘hot buy,’ the houses listed below had to priced lower than the previous quarter’s median sales price and the square footage had to larger than the previous quarter’s closed sales square footage.  Sound complicated?  Not really.  We were searching for homes lower priced and larger than the median of the previous quarter.  So here goes – there are plenty of homes out there.  Click on each city for the listings.

Camarillo ‘hot buys’ of the week  - 3 are on the market this week.

Thousand Oaks ‘hot buys”‘ - 14 are available this week.

Simi Valley ‘hot buys” - 32 homes fit the bill.

Ventura ‘hot buys” - 19 single family homes to chose from.

Oxnard ‘hot buys’ - 73 homes in Oxnard are ‘hot buys’ this week.

Moorpark ‘hot buys’ - 8 homes are currently listed for sale.

Do you find this information useful?  Let us know.  We welcome your comments.  If you want to make an appointment with us to represent you on purchasing one of these ‘hot buys’ or any others, give us an email or call.