Archive for February, 2008
Would You Buy A House With A Sex Offender Living Next Door?
February 29th, 2008 Categories: Chico CA Real Estate News
Imagine yourself in this scenario.
You have been searching high and low for what seems like FOREVER, for the “perfect” new home.
You have scoured the glossy magazines available in your local supermarket. You’ve been scrambling to read the classifieds first thing every morning. As a sophisticated house hunter, you have spent hours upon hours pouring over every website in your local area. You even check Craigslist, Localism, and Zillow. Come to think of it, you know the listings in your price range better than your favorite Realtor!
After a LOT of effort, the day finally comes when you find IT.
The perfect house.
Your new house is in the right Chico neighborhood. It faces just the right direction for optimal sunlight. It has the right yard for the kids and dogs and stuff. The carpet is perfect. The laundry room is in the most convenient location. There are plenty of cupboards! All of your furniture will go perfectly.
You excitedly write the offer.
You jump up and down when your Realtor congratulates you on your pending sale.
You cancel your lease, start packing, line up friends to help you move, and spend extra time picking out just the right new paint colors for the living room.
Just when you are all geared up, your Realtor tells you that the sellers just disclosed that they live next to a sex offender.
What are you going to do?
Panic?
Live in denial, because you REALLY want the house?
Track the guy down online and memorize his tattoos, alias’ and address?
Decide he looks too old to be dangerous?
All of the above?
For many buyers, the story above hits pretty close to home. They only find out the bad news AFTER they have fallen in love with the house. Depending on personal factors, the decision about whether or not to move forward with the purchase can be an agonizing one.
One buyer I know stopped to consider what the sex offender was actually charged with. In his mind, some offenses were more worrisome than others, and he carefully weighed his decision on the information we were able to obtain. By utilizing any one of the websites below, you can find pictures of the offender, address, descriptions of identifying tattoos, and a history of offenses such as:
m647.6(a) ANNOY/MOLEST CHILDREN
288(b) LEWD OR LASCIVIOUS ACTS WITH CHILD UNDER 14 YEARS W/FORCE
f243.4(a) SEXUAL BATTERY
288.5 CONTINUOUS SEXUAL ABUSE OF CHILD
261(a)(2) RAPE BY FORCE/FEAR/ETC
261.2/261.3 PRIOR CODE-RAPE WITH FORCE AND THREAT
286(c) SODOMY WITH PERSON UNDER 14 YEARS OR WITH FORCE
288a(c) ORAL COPULATION WITH PERSON UNDER 14/ETC OR BY FORCE/ETC
220 ASSAULT W/INTENT TO COMMIT RAPE, SODOMY, OR ORAL COPULATION
Some buyers don’t express any concern whatsoever, regardless of the offense. Other buyers (probably childless) are less concerned with a convicted child molester than they might be with a 250 pound rapist.
No seller in his right mind will actually advertise up front that his house sits next door to a convicted sex offender.
Take responsibility for learning as much as you can about the neighborhood and history of your potential new Chico home! If this is an issue that is particularly sensitive for you and your family, why not do the research before you ever view the house? It will only take a minute, and you will be glad you did.
National Sex Offender Public Website
I have found all three of these websites to be particularly useful- I especially like the Family WatchDog site because it shows the locations of local Chico residents in relation to a particular address, whether it’s a school, residence, park or other location. However, I am not representing that the information provided is all-inclusive, accurate, or up-to-date. The sites are provided as additional resources only.
Although an ethical seller will disclose all known material facts to you at some point, the seller might not actually be aware of issues that could be a deal breaker for you. Some sellers just don’t know anything about their neighbors or the things that go on right next door.
Don’t forget, as a buyer, it is YOUR responsibility to be diligent in your investigation of the house, neighborhood, and any other extraneous factors that are important to you.
| Discussion: 4 Comments »
Will Buyers Benefit from the New FHA Limits?
February 21st, 2008 Categories: Chico CA Real Estate News
Economic Stimulus or Stagnation?
by Mike Wiegert
After months of hopes and expectations our legislative and executive branches of government have come together to approve the economic stimulus package containing higher mortgage limits for both FHA and FNMA/FHLMC mortgages. Although this is certainly a step in the right direction, what affect does the new bill really have on our local and regional real estate economy? More directly, will Chico buyers benefit??
In many instances, particularly in California we will see that the plan will provide limited benefits to specific geographic areas. The bill sets the FHA and conforming (FNMA/FHLMC) loan limits to the lesser of $729,750 or 125% of an area’s median home sales price. If 125% of an area’s median home sales price is below the current conforming loan limit of $417,000 the current limit still applies. In other words, you will not be any worse off than you are today. The area median home price is determined by HUD and is based, in part, on the National Association of Realtors data for each Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA). In California there are 28 MSAs. Our local MSA is Butte County. With the latest figures of median home prices at about $344,000 in the Chico area and about $294,000 county wide, we are not going to see a real benefit from the increase of mortgage limits provided in the bill. Using the county wide median price statistic will not even bring us to the current loan limit and if the Chico area median price statistic is used, that only gets us to about $430,000.
Not much help!
The FHA and conforming limit changes are meant to be temporary and are set to expire on December 31, 2008 unless extended. The new limits will apply to 30 year and 15 year fixed rate, fully amortizing mortgages. So by now many of you that are continuing to read may feel that all of this has little affect on your home buying choices, and you’d be right. But for those looking to buy their second or third home to accommodate an expanding family, the insignificant end product of this part of the economic stimulus bill can have some major affects. Why? Because jumbo loans (those above the conforming limits) carry some hefty surcharges and increased interest rates. When you consider that an extra half to three-quarter of a percent increase in interest rate on a $600,000 loan equals about $250 to $400 per month, a lot of buyers are going to be looking for solutions. Adding on a number of costs and surcharges not common to conforming loans, the end result is the new bill doesn’t really do anything to help sales of upper middle to upper priced homes.
Again, I urge you to seek counseling with your trusted mortgage or Chico real estate professional to look at options when considering purchasing a home.
Now here’s some interesting statistical reporting: In the first six weeks of 2007, the Chico MLS reported only 2 pending (under contract but not closed) homes sales and 145 sold (closed) homes sales. The first six weeks of this year reported a total of 57 pending and 60 closed home sales in the Chico area.
The obvious statement these statistics make is that lesser periods of time do not give an accurate overall view of market conditions. It’s very common to have one month of considerable market activity and the next month can be sluggish. As stated in previous posts, while market activity has shown definite signs of slowing in recent months, sales of homes in our area continue to be brisk.
Whether you believe the market has bottomed out or not, you won’t want to miss some of the great Chico real estate opportunities available today. The interest rates are phenomenal!
Chico Homes Real Estate is located at 2580 Sierra Sunrise Terrace in Chico, CA.
Call Mike 530-624-3800 or Sandi 530-864-5407 today!
| Discussion: 5 Comments »
Chico CA Real Estate Market Report for Week Ending 2/18/2008
February 20th, 2008 Categories: Chico CA Real Estate Market Stats, Chico CA Real Estate News
Chico real estate market data.
I’ve always found real estate market reports to be really dry reading… but many of you potential Chico buyers and sellers have been coming to my blog looking for this type of information, so here you go!
The following represents the market data including Chico homes sold, listed, price changes, and pendings for single family homes only. Chico areas covered are 1A to 1F, as provided by the Sierra North Valley MLS.
Looking for other Chico real estate market data? Tell me what you need!
Subscribe to Chico CA Real Estate Blog and MLS Listings Search to receive regular market updates.
| Discussion: 1 Comment »
When Business Gets in the Way of Blogging
February 19th, 2008 Categories: Chico CA Real Estate News, My Opinion on Things
Business, for me, sometimes gets so crazy I feel that I’m barely keeping my head above water.
Every couple of months, it just seems to hit all at once! I find myself working 12-15 hour days just to stay on top of the details.
As much as I’ve disliked not attending to my blog regularly the past couple of weeks, I’ve had several critical transactions in front of me that necessitated my full attention. 24 hours a day doesn’t seem quite enough, let alone leave time to do any blogging!
I’ve worried a great deal about what my peers and readers must be thinking when I disappear from the blogosphere.
It’s occurred to me that I might appear to be inconsistent, undisciplined, or untrustworthy. I can’t tell you how much the idea bothers me, or how far from the truth it actually is! Unfortunately, I am not superhuman, and something has to give. In this case, it is posting to my blog.
I have made the business decision to NOT delegate critical tasks to a team member, and above all, quality customer service is imperative.
When seriously stretched for time, I choose to focus my efforts on clients that need my immediate attention.
The good news is this: when YOU are ready to move forward, you can rest assured that my attention will be on YOUR transaction- not on procuring new Chico buyers and sellers, blogging, social networking, or anything else that takes time away from your file.
After all, YOUR deal is the most important of them all, is it not?
Thank you for your patience! Though I might take a break now and then, I will always be working to bring helpful posts to The Pink Couch. Some days are just harder than others!!
| Discussion: 8 Comments »
Chico CA Real Estate Listings SOLD! Week Ending 2/16/08
February 18th, 2008 Categories: Chico CA Real Estate Market Stats, Chico CA Real Estate News
Chico Residential Listings SOLD!
$165,000 1401 SANTA CLARA AVE 1161 sqft
$220,000 330 W 14TH STREET 1300 sqft
$231,500 689 E 18TH STREET 2000 sqft
$285,000 1196 #B FILBERT AVE 1173 sqft
$285,000 1300 CHESTNUT ST 1280 sqft
$275,000 1391 CROUCH AVE 1967 sqft
$269,000 1389 KERI LANE 1592 sqft
$280,000 735 PINE ST 2020 sqft Duplex
$285,000 667 E 8TH STREET 1261 sqft
$255,000 1558 FILBERT AVE 1658 sqft
$275,000 1300 CHESTNUT ST 1280 sqft
$295,000 5 TORINO CT 1810 sqft
$390,000 1520 LOCUST ST 4 plex
$545,000 638 STILSON CANYON RD 2402 sqft
$775,000 488 E 3RD STREET 4500 sqft
$900,000 1328 ESPLANADE 5-15 units
Want to see your Chico property listed up there in the “SOLD!” section?
Contact me for a no obligation, Comparative Market Analysis to find out what your house may sell for. Ask me about my internet marketing plan!
My direct number: 530-864-5407. Email: sandibauman@sbcglobal.net.
| Discussion: No Comments »
