Testmoni: Carmel Valley, GREENBRIER

I am so happy that they finally found their dream house in Carmel Valley. It's not too big but the floor plan is open and house is airy.

Here is what Becky wrote to me:

We felt so lucky to have Connie as our buyer agent, she is so knowledgeable in Rnacho Bernado and Carmel Valley areas, and she always serves a great source of information for us. Connie always puts customer's interest as her top priority, unlike other agents we worked with, she never push you to a sale, instead she will actually give you advice on the house, both pros AND cons! -- that's very rare among real estate agents and extremely helpful in our opinion. We ended up buying this beautiful property Connie found for us, we just can't thank her enough!

-Becky Bai becky_bai@yahoo.com

Co-Ownership Gets Popular as Lending Tightens

Real estate co-ownership arrangements are becoming increasingly popular, especially in cities where prices—even after the real estate meltdown—remain out of reach for many buyers.

"Lending guidelines have become twice as hard to meet because of the housing market," says Joe Schiller, an associate with Rubloff Real Estate in Chicago. "People just don't qualify like they used to. But if they get some friends and put money together, they can afford that 20 percent down that you now need to purchase."

Schiller says that while financing is easier, these arrangements have the capacity to fail. He recommends that people who are considering a joint purchase hire a lawyer to draw up a co-ownership agreement, including a plan to get out of the arrangement.

Here are some other tips for co-buyers:

* Before you begin looking for property, decide the geographic and financial ranges for the search.
* Understand potential co-buyers’ finances; lenders will look hard at the finances of all partners in the deal.
* If the property is a condo, understand the rules regarding rentals, just in case one partner needs to move out.
* Put everything in writing, particularly the escape plan.

如果你的房子降了很多。。。

你可以去county要求一个新的估价：

填一个表格（Application for Changed Assessment, form #BOE-305-AH (S1) Rev. 6 (2-06)）
It is a single page application that asks you to provide the filed values on the tax roll and asks you for your opinion of current value for land and structures. This form's purpose is to file for an assessment appeal. 填好寄给county后，你会收到一个post card 上面会给你一个application number.

The County Tax Assessor's office has been inundated with appeal applications.

但是要注意的是，一旦你要求county来重新估价你的房子，（re-assess）， 你就自动的从一个Prop 13的保护下出来了。 这个Prop 13的意思是fixes your property taxes (with minimal increases) to the value of our home at the time of purchase. 这样一来，以后每2年county都会来重新估价。 That's fine as long as the value of our homes continues to decline; 但是如果房子上涨的话那可能就不那么合算了。你可能反而会多交税了。 但是从现在的房市看，可能还是重新估价一下比较好。

自己再多做做研究。 看看怎么会合适你。

http://arcc.co.san-diego.ca.us/docs/calrev.pdf

房子降价了

最近这么多坏消息，大家人心惶惶， 还是听听歌笑一笑吧。

Still strong price appreciation? Top-10 most expensive ZIP Codes

Forbes magazine examined the top 100 most expensive ZIP codes in the United States and concluded that most saw strong price appreciation in the last 12 months.

Here are the top-10 most expensive ZIP Codes and the median home sales prices:

1. Fisher Island, Fla., Miami-Dade County, 33109. Median sales price: $3.85 million
2. Alpine, N.J. Bergen County, 07620, $3.59 million
3. Mill Neck, N.Y. Nassau County, 11765, $3 million
4. Newport Coast, Calif., Orange County, 92657, $2.8 million
5. Water Mill, NY, Suffolk County, 11976, $2.72 million
6. Atherton, Calif., San Mateo County, 94027, $2.7 million
7. Santa Barbara, Calif., Santa Barbara County, 93108, $2.7 million
8. Wainscott, N.Y., Suffolk County, 11975, $2.56 million
9. Rancho Sante Fe, Calif., San Diego County, 92067, $2.47 million
10. Beverly Hills, Calif. Los Angeles County, 90210, $2.41 million