Real Estate Information Archive

Question for Patti:  I have heard people refer to "buydown" or "discount" points.  What are they?

Anwer to Heather: Discount points help BUYERS save costs over the life of the loan.  Discount points are fees paid at closing to lower a monthly mortgage payment over the life of the loan.  In essence, points are prepaid interest.  A point is 1 percent of the loan.  So if you are buying a Felton Home and there is going to be a $500,000 loan, one point equals $5,000.  This cost is paid to buy a lower interest rate, and is known as a rate buydown.

If you intend to keep your home for only a short term----five years or less---then you might not recover the cost of paying the discount points.  If you plan to keep your mortgage for a long time, then discount points are an excellent upfront investment.

Another key benefit is what discount points for residential real estate are tax deductible in the year they are paid. Consult your tax advisor regarding the details of these deductions.

Felton Home Seller, If you'd like to learn more about how "buydown" or "discount' points effect you in a transaction and what they mean to you r bottom-line please contact me.

Patti Lyles, San Lorenzo Valley Best Choice in Real Estate

Q: I want to buy a Felton Home in the next 60 days. You asked me what my FICO scores are.  I just found out that the score was below what you would have liked.  My FICO scores are a little low, is there a way I can improve my scores very quickly?

A: The first rule of maintaining and keeping a healthy FICO score of 720 or higher is NEVER BE LATE!  Primarily any MORTGAGE PAYMENTS. I can't emphasize the point of how important it is to never be late on your mortgage payments.

But it is not the sole deciding factor of your FICO score, the three major credit bureaus involved with FICO scoring are Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion. All three of these companies use algorithmic equations taking in a multitude of factors in determining your FICO score. The FICO score range is between 300 and 850 and to get the best rates from lenders today, a mid-score of 720 is needed.

For example, if you have the following three scores, 680, 730, 745, you are in a position to get the most competitive rates because your mid-score of 730 is over the 720 benchmark score. So what happens if your mid-score falls under 720? There are a few things you can do to get a rapid turnaround in 30 days.

The first and most immediate impact is to look at your credit cards. If you have any credit cards at or over 50% of the maximum credit limit, pay those credit cards to under 50% of the credit limit immediately. For example, if you have a bank credit card and the credit limit is $5,000 and you have a standing balance of $3,500, pay that down immediately to 50% of the credit limit, which means sending a payment of at least $1,000 to bring the balance under $2,500. One of the biggest detriments to your FICO score is having what is classified as a revolving debt (a credit card) maxed out or over 50% of the balance. Once the revolving debt is paid down to under 50% of the credit limit, the impact on your FICO score can be significant.

What happens if you don't have the cash to pay down your credit card debts to 50% of the balance?. If you do not have the $1,000 to pay down the balance, you can ask for a credit limit increase. With the above example in mind, requesting the bank to increase your credit limit to $7,000 will reduce your debt to 50% of the credit limit and can give you a boost in your scores. But this is only for the most disciplined of people because most people are in the habit of just spending and putting more on a credit card once they are granted a credit limit increase.

There are other things you can do to improve your scores to buy that Felton Home which include limiting credit inquires to no more than 12 a year, do not cancel credit cards you may have had for a long period of time, and there are a list of others which we can go into with the lender you choose to work with on any San Lorenzo Valley  Real Estate transaction.

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Q: Dear Patti,
We're nervous about selling our Zayante home. We've spruced it up but my neighbor is quite sloppy. I don't want to hurt his feelings, but what can I do to help him clean up his yard? I offered to help him remove a collapsed camping screen that sits between our homes but he said he'd get his daughter to help do it.

It's still there, along with other junk strewn around his yard.

Harry Messe

A: Dear Harry,
You sound like a nice, gentle neighbor who respects boundaries, isn't too confrontational and wants to help others preserve their dignity. Good for you! But reality may call for you to be a little more assertive to get results in this situation and in this tough market.

Many a listing agent can tell you tales of appointments that were canceled at the last minute after potential buyers drove up for a showing only to see an undesirable neighbor situation next door. At best, a neighborhood eyesore gives one more negotiating advantage to the buyer in what is already a buyer's market. What's more, sloppy properties can prune up to 10 percent off the value of neighboring listings, according to the National Association of Realtors.

And it seems every neighborhood has one. A recent survey of 900 homeowners by the national contractor-referral firm, Service Magic, showed that 63 percent of respondents have a messy neighbor who neglects the house and/or yard to the detriment of the neighborhood. Their top complaints: high weeds, junk cars, long grass and poor paint. Yet more than 40 percent said they just put up with it.

For those of you that live in a place that has neighborhood associations, if that neighbor was violating any neighborhood association rules, you could certainly try approaching the association.  But Zayante/Lompico and most of the Valley doesn’t have associations.

Of course you always have the option of complaining to the city or county but barring any overt health risks, infestations or damage to the environment, the best you could expect would be a warning and a follow-up citation if the improvements aren't made. But I have personal experience that process could last longer than you might think -- a few months -- and perhaps create acrimony where you least want it. Not to mention that what's legal in many jurisdictions often is an eyesore that can turn off would-be buyers.

A more constructive approach might be a "neighborhood clean-up" effort. You might get the desired results if you could find a few others who'd like to see the situation rectified and be willing to help tidy up that yard under the guise of a more widespread property value improvement effort. That way, you'd come across as a do-gooder instead of a grumpy neighbor.

Just to prove my suggestion works:  I told a prospective listing client in Forest Lakes to do this with her 5 neighbors.  I told her to call it a Clean-Up Party and tell the neighbors why you were doing it.  Well, they all spent about 3-4 days really cleaning up. They collectively were able to get ride of a junk car, shared dump loads and thrift store runs.  Unfortunately for me it worked so well I lost the listing. You see, when it was all done a neighbor’s friend was impressed enough to make that prospective client a decent purchase offer!  

Finally, you might just have to conduct the cleanup yourself, perhaps offering to do it on a "while I'm at it" basis as you're mowing and tidying up your place a little. It may be you neighbor is somehow physically limited and is unable to do the work, but is too proud to ask someone else to do it.

Be sensitive but firm. Good luck on the cleanup and your sale.

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Just this week my husband (who goes on tour with me a lot), and I walked into a home that just "felt creepy". There was a coldness to the house, we couldn't put our fingers on it but we agreed something really bad had to have happened there. Turns out there'd been a murder in that home not long before. That's what I mean, a place can just feels different - sometimes good and sometimes downright creepy.

So maybe you aren't in and out of San Lorenzo Valley homes all the time. Perhaps this will ring a bell, though. You know that feeling you get when someone is looking at you, you turn and see that you were right? You felt that person's gaze, so you turned and sure enough, someone was watching you across the street.  But sometimes there's no one there and you have that “feeling”. 

Have you walked into a listing that was a piece of crap but loved it.  Something grabs you….. It just felt “GOOD” hanging out at the old place and on the property? Recently there was a listing near downtown Ben Lomond @ 9540 Love Creek that grabed you as you drove in.

That's what I'm talking about.

Stories like these have been with us forever, and I find them fascinating after a personal experience I had with one my buyers bought in Brookdale on Clear Creek. It started the day I went to preview this house with my husband and mother.  I felt “weird” like someone was trying to embracing me when I walked in the front door.  That’s unusally and hard to do because I’m a very big woman.  This feeling “wanted me to stay” an hang out.  When we started to lock-up the unique door lock jammed with me on the inside. When I just decided to just go out the side door and the back ---I couldn’t.  I played with the front door for a long time to get out.

I don’t think it was an accident that a prospect called me when I got in the car and asked to see it the next few days.  I knew than, that I was going to be the one to get a buyer to make this place feel "loved once again". Now I’ve become a ghost hobbyist soon after that.  And now collect stories about spirit sightings in San Lorenzo Valley in particular. Some local newspapers have printed many fabulous articles, usually just before Halloween, about some of our local haunts.

There are lots of known haunted places in downtown Brookdale: I'm sure there must be more. Would you eMail if you know of any?

The Brookdale Lodge would be interesting enough for historical reasons without even being haunted. But apparently it has a whole lot of spirits - by one accounting, 49 of them! A fine place for Sunday brunch ... and to spend the night if you're braver than I am. The lodge even has a floating ghost image on their website, so I think they're believers : )
The Brookdale Lodge's History & Legends 

The nice folks at the Ghost Trackers Society allowed me to join them at Brookdale Lodge in Felton for a filming of "Dead Famous". They had a parapsychologist in attendance, a psychic and a medium. It was an interesting experience!
British TV Show "Dead Famous" 

I was told to check out the Chart House over the hill. As always, I asked the receptionist, the bus boy, and our wait person about the rumors of any hauntings. Several employees there told me fascinating stories of its ethereal presences. One was of a little girl who supposedly inhabited the home back when it was a private residence. She died, I think of the flu. Her ghost was by the staircase going downstairs, and people felt cold spots there too - I am told that she has since moved on (crossed over). Then there's the bar ghost with a sense of humor. I was told that after locking up tightly etc., the next morning they'd find the electronic cash register in the bar had run up almost 20 drinks of something that was not on the menu- and not programmed into the computer!

The Los Gatos Opera House is a well documented & photographed ghost haunt - the woman said to reside there in spirit form is not to be feared though. She is benevolent and protective, as the employees can tell you.

Border's Books in Old Town has at least a couple of ghosts - a little boy said to have died when the place was a school, and a male ghost wearing a baseball cap viewed peripherally (disappearing when you turn to get a better look). Sounds are heard in the tower section especially. I wondered if they had placed the religion books there to ward them off, but apparently it's a matter of slow sales in that subject matter!

I'm wondering where else in the San Lorenzo Valley may be haunted besides the Brookdale Lodge. Do you know of any stigmatized or haunted properties in the San Lorenzo Valley.  Did any one buy a House that seems haunted in the valley?  I know there's more. Anyone??