Great New Arts Site For The Palm Springs Desert Area

Check out this great new site, Arts Oasis, I just found highlighting the arts and entertainment in the Coachella Valley and High Desert areas.

I am excited to see something like this started. Check it out and consider joining their site.

This Month In Real Estate Sept 2010

Upcoming and Newly Listed Properties

Here are some of the new listings just on the market or coming right up. For more information on any of these properties just call Michael at 760-408-5300

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States Try To Ban Employer Credit Check

There has been debate, at least on the state level that employers shouldn't be able to discriminate against a potential employee with bad credit.  Several states are proposing legislation to actually ban employers from checking most potential new hires credit.

This brings up an interesting debate.  Should someone who has pressing credit and financial problems be working say, in a casino accounting job or a bank?  Or how about the person who just had an honest run of bad luck in these tough economic times and got behind on some bills or had to short sale their home?

As we work our way though any kind of economic recovery I have to wonder what will happen to the established credit scoring system.  It has been reported that some 28% of the people in the country are in some sort of distressed situation with their homes.  All of that has to have a devastating effect on the crucial credit score. Which leads me to ask how can we really have a full economic recovery without some sort of change to this system?  How can we really recover of a quarter of the population is shut out of not only lending (cars, homes, school loans?)  but perhaps even jobs.  Read more in the link below to the Associated press story as published in the Houston Chronicle.

States may ban credit checks on job applicants....some lawmakers believe the measures are a trap for people trying to get out of debt.
By KATHLEEN MILLER Associated Press

Dual Master Suites / Newer Construction

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Cimarron Cove in Cathedral City Ca. This great New Listing has everything you want at a price you won't believe. Gated community, newer construction 2 master suites. Balcony, in ground spa, slab granite, lighting upgrades. Prepare to be spoiled.

See more about 67868 Via Estrella Cathedral City CA

Foreclosure, Foreclosed, Foreclose…..Now Lets Conjugate “short sale”!

Short sales, REO’s, Foreclosures, Auctions and…….

It is a little confusing out there these days for the lay person who does not know all the “new” vocabulary in real estate.  It might seem like word soup or you might think you are back in foreign language class conjugating verbs. Actually, most of this vocabulary is not really new but so much of

it was never or hardly used in the last ten years. Well it is back now and it helps to understand what you are looking at.

Here is a quick guide for you:

Short Sale: This happens when the owner wishes to sell their home for less than the amount that the bank is owed. Everything happens just like a normal sale right up until a buyer submits an offer. Then there is a process of getting the lender to accept the deficiency or shortage between what they are owed and what they will actually receive. This process can take up to 120 days and usually the seller will remain in the home until it is finished.

REO: This stands for Real Estate Owned by Lender. This is the status of a property after the full foreclosure happens and the bank has physically taken the property back. Realtors will often use this term and you may see it in advertising though the term bank owned is much more common.

Foreclosure: The process by which the bank takes back a house after the payments have not been made as agreed. In our market here the process usually starts after 3 months of no payments. Confusion comes about when people talk about properties being “in foreclosure” a home can be in that state for many months before it is actually foreclosed and thus bank or investor owned.

Auctions: Confusion with this word usually centers around the auctions you see advertised at hotel ballrooms and convention centers vs the auction that takes place on the courthouse steps as the final phase of the banks foreclosure on a property. The first type of auction is usually investors or banks who have grouped a bunch of properties together and are trying to move them as quickly as possible. The courthouse steps type of auction is reserved for the properties that are in that very last phase of the foreclosure process.