We don’t get snow falling on our Pleasanton Homes or need a snow blower to clear a path to the front door of our Dublin Ranch Condo, but there are traditions even a Tri Valley Christmas minus the snow cannot do without.

It’s a Wonderful Life, check.

Santa picture, check. Could have got one last week in Pleasanton, but the mall is always an option.

Christmas tree, stockings, too much food, check, check, check.

What if that wasn’t enough of tradition? What if you were the craziest fan of A Christmas Story? Well, you could always rent the home from the movie that Ralphie lived in and recreate the movie, yes, you can leave your Pleasanton Home and the brisk 50 degrees we will probably on have on Christmas in the Tri Valley for 10 degrees in Cleveland. Rent A Christmas Story home for Christmas.

The auction is over for the home, but you can go on tours throughout the year. Don’t forget to bid for next year.

A Christmas Story House

Dublin Short Sales are on the rise and hiring a Short Sale Realtor and local expert is extremely important. Messing up your Dublin short sale could lead to foreclosure.

If you are a Dublin homeowner it might be interesting to know there are currently 64 short sales in Dublin.

What is a Short Sale? Basically a short sale is selling a home short of what is owed on the mortgage. If you owe $500,000 on your home and similar homes are selling for $400,000, you would be shorting the bank $100,000 if you had to sell. Fore more info contact us at 925.621.4064.

Benefits of Short Sale. Avoiding foreclosure and saving credit score. Most of the negative effect of a credit score comes from missed payments on your loan, that is why hiring an agent who knows the short sale process can actually help save your credit too.

Negatives of Short Sale. Time and a lot of lookers. If you need to sell your home and you are short, you need to price it well enough to attract buyers and keep them around. The process of a short sale can take months and buyers can walk away. There will also be a lot of activity if the pricing is right to keep acitvity high. Again make sure the agent you hire knows the short sale process.

If you are a Dublin resident and need help selling a home and you fit the scenario above, contact us at 925.621.4064, or send us an email. We have successfully sold many short sales in Dublin and Pleasanton.

A short sale in basic terms is selling a home for less than what is owed on the home.

Other than the seller being ‘upside down’ and as a buyer needing to deal with the bank, most aspects of a short sale are similar to buying a home in which the seller has equity.

What is different in a short sale?

The biggest difference is the obvious, getting the lender to accept less than what is owed to them.

One point to remember is that just because a home is listed for sale as a short sale doesn’t mean the bank will accept less, they may decide to go to foreclosure even if the seller accepts your offer.

If you write an offer on a short sale, prepare to wait and wait and wait for an answer from the bank. Many times the home you made an offer on and received acceptance from the seller is still on the market as available. The seller may hope to receive another higher offer, and some banks can request all offers to be submitted to them and you could be bumped out of acceptance if a higher comes in, despite the initial acceptance from the seller.

Make sure the agent you hire has checked the important foreclosure proceeding dates. Nothing could be worse than waiting to receive acceptance from the bank only to see someone come in and buy that home at auction out from under you.  

If you are thinking of buying a short sale, talk to a Realtor who has experience with short sales and a Realtor who is local and knows the neighborhood.

In the last month and a half we have been apart of 3 different Dublin Ranch Condos receiving multiple bids. Now, I’m not saying this is the sign buyers have been waiting for, but it is one piece of the larger puzzle.

Why Dublin Ranch Condos Are Receiving Multiple Bids
LACK OF SUPPLY(opinion!)
You may say that Dublin Ranch is over supplied, not so fast.
Do a search for Dublin Ranch Condos under $475,000 at least 2 Bedrooms and you get.
Dublin Ranch Villas: 3 Available Homes all short sales, but one is contingent.
Dublin Ranch Cottages: 2 Available, 1 Short Sale, 1 ‘Normal’
Dublin Ranch Courtyards: 3 Available, all Short Sales
Dublin Ranch Terraces: 3 Available, all Short Sales

What we have is a supply of Dublin Ranch Condos that are not a great ‘value’ in the eyes of the buyer. Factors include: condition, location, price, and time it will take to close (short sale).

Of all the available Dublin Ranch Condos only 1 is not a short sale, and at this moment about to be marked Pending - 3706 Central in the Dublin Ranch Cottages. The demand is for clean and stress free condos, not a beat up foreclosure or short sale with missing appliances. Not that there is anything inherently wrong with them, but buyers are still looking for value as they always have.

Here is the moral of the story. If you are looking and waiting for the right Dublin Ranch Condo to come up, so are a lot of people. Not all sellers are just hoping to receive an offer, in fact we will see a few over bid Dublin Ranch Condos close in the next 30 days. I guarantee the next Dublin Ranch Condo to come on the market that is a great value will sell quick and with multiple bids.

If you are looking for a great Dublin Ranch Condo at a great price, let us know and we can update you before a home goes on the market. Visit our site Dublin Ranch Condos.com for more information.

If the Staples Ranch development is passed as designed by Stoneridge Creek, it will have something that the residents of the East Bay could really use. I tried to upload the image, but it was 7MB, so I skipped it, but I will email it to you if you want to see the layout. Stoneridge Creek at Staples Ranch is a continuing care retirement community. Residents choose from 10 different floor plans which meet their needs, and can even get a detached home with garage! Stoneridge Creek at Staples Ranch will have amenities and activities like a movie theatre, dog park, art studio, bocce ball… the list continues. Staples Ranch will also have a community park which may or may not include a San Jose Sharks extension (youth facility), auto dealership and retail. For more information on Staples Ranch - Stoneridge Creek visit: www.stoneridgecreek.com

There is not too much land in Pleasanton left to develop and in the Pleasanton real estate market which includes the new Ironwood community land is hard to come across. The Pleasanton Presbyterian Church was blessed with 6.5 acres at the corner of Busch and Valley in Pleasanton which is part of the Ironwood community built by Ponderosa Homes. Pleasanton real estate will set the price of an acre at around a $1 Million, but the Pleasanton Presbyterian Church was able to grab it for $2.5 Million! Below is a video and a few photos borrowed from Pleasanton Presbyterian Church.

Located in Downtown Pleasanton, close to shopping dining and 680.

4 Bedrooms, 2.5 Baths, 2,159sf.

National housing prices continued to slide last quarter, dropping an average of 1.5% over the year before, according to the latest report by the National Association of Realtors.

But things are looking up for two-thirds of the country’s big cities where median home sale prices rose.

Leading the charge was Seattle, where prices increased 8.9%; in San Jose, they rose 8.8%; and in Raleigh and Charlotte, N.C., prices jumped 8.3% and 8.4% respectively.

Compare that to Detroit and Cleveland. In these metros, prices fell 7.1%. Skies aren’t much sunnier in the West. Median home sale numbers in Sacramento, Las Vegas and Phoenix dropped 6.3%, 3.6% and 2.7%, respectively.

HARDEST HIT
Economists fault the country’s mortgage crisis for these cities’ slumping numbers. Those most exposed to fallout from risky loans failed last quarter to post the price improvements that could rejuvenate their markets. Based on figures from the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), the largest share of the country’s risky loans and foreclosures are in California, Florida, Nevada, Arizona, Ohio, Indiana and Michigan. In these markets, appreciation for the most part stayed flat or sank.

STABILITY
Where the money comes from dictates stability. Markets where new development was fueled by flippers and investors are more volatile because such buyers are more likely to take out risky loans and to walk away from a property when the market sours. Looking at the long term in any investment is going to produce better long term results with less volatility. Flippers and Speculators caused prices to become over inflated in many markets. Interest rates and hype also fueled the markets robust numbers, but when flippers, speculators and the hype leave, so do price gains.

WARREN BUFFET TIME!
There are opportunities in every market! If you see prices falling in Sacramento, it does not mean San Jose is in the same boat! Look a what drives pricing and potential long tem gains. Demand is still strong in many markets across the U.S. (North Carolina, Texas, Oregon, New Mexico all have regions posting gains.

WHERE TO INVEST?
Contact the Moxley Team and we will give you information on investing in appreciating markets through our 3rd party contacts who do nothing but study changing and appreciating markets.