HHMM…just a little upset.

Blog photo:  This is a gardenia.  They are smallish but wonderfully fragrant…and they are showing up very early this year!  Nice!  My first date for Homecoming at high school gave me a corsage made of one of these.

Blog post:  Boomer Chick Musings

ALAMEDA REAL ESTATE THIS WEEK…
46 Captains closed this week…just under three weeks.  It was all cash for $615,000.

Hear me roar
I’ve got something to say to those who choose to live in dysfunctional homeowner associations.  I believe you know what I mean….’Keep the monthly fees low.  Buyers will love that and so will we as long as we don’t special assess ourselves.’

Townhome and condo buyers have come to expect that the HOA’s will provide something like exterior maintenance for them.  I had a seller sell her place because nobody at her association could come to agreement on certain things.  They managed themselves.

She didn’t really want to move but she knew she had to get out.  Nothing got done!  The landscaping was not the way it used to be.  Each owner had to take care of their roof from the beginning, per the CCRs.  And then the shingle siding went from being a HOA responsibility, to an owner’s repair.  When the HOA took care of the siding it looked like it had chicken pox!  It was only a temporary fix on a major problem.  And that lead to lawsuits among themselves and that lead to a disclosure about the lawsuits.  And that made some lenders mad because they weren’t sure they wanted to loan on the place. 

Folks, there are plenty of places with decent HOAs.  And many of them are responsible to their owners.   If you are choosing to buy in one of them….get involved in the association.  You have a choice to do so or not.  And if you don’t you’ll find that you will get a special assessment and that’s not fun.  It’s the way of living a lifestyle…get involved.  Really.

Not-so-quick glimpses on huge subjects.
-Dealing with Student Debt  – would you be willing to take a loan against your house for your kid’s college debt?
-Home loan demand remains high but getting credit is tough.
-New guidelines for short sales….

Broker tour -8 on the tour…I went by bike and saw 4 out at Bay Farm Island and one on the estuary at Marina, and one at Chester (near Broadway) but had to scurry home on my bike to get in my car to see the last two (one on Grand and one up at Crown Harbor!).  It was still a good ride.

Highest and Lowest Price NEW Listings!

ALAMEDA MARKET ACTIVITY THIS WEEK…CHECK OUT THE PENDINGS AND SOLDS!
New  13
BOM (back on market)  1
Price changes  7
Pending  23
Sold  19
Withdrawn/canceled  1
Expired  3


ALAMEDA REAL ESTATE AWARDS THIS WEEK….remember this is only my perspective.
 Get me a facelift!  Tie
Figure me out....I wonder what sellers think when they see the property represented like this?  What is it?