Annie Nguyen

You have to apply to find out about the results. - Wed May 7 2008, 18:31

Hello,

The lender might only accept the appraisal from their own appraiser in order to approve your loan. Since the mortgage crisis, lenders have the tendency to tighten on the guidelines for loan borrower. Also they will deduct 5% less than the loan you asking due the decline in market value. So if you are looking at the full amount of the loan that you are expecting to have. ( for example if you put 20% down for 1.6M that leaves u
around 1,280,000 you will only get around 1,216,000 ( which is 5% less than the loan value) Lender might not take the appraisal provided by listing agent in consideration since they consider it as very biased. I hope my answer will help. You can contact me for more details. Are you working with a Realtor? Your agent might have good answer for you if you ask. Good luck on your biggest investment. - Tue May 6 2008, 18:18

Hello Raj,

It is the convenience for family with children. However, when the house is close to the park , it brings you the benefit of cleaner air with the plants acted as air filter and noise reduction. It also brings you the tranquility of calmness and relaxation. Most of close to school houses are often well kept and better neighborhood that also add value to the location of the property. Especially when the good school system exists there, parents with serious concern about their children's education will try their best to get their kids into that school. The demand will cause the price of the houses there much higher than the other areas. Houses with easy access to freeways and other convenient location in including shopping centers and school will attract more buyers since everybody like convenience and safety. Nice and safe neighborhood often comes with well kept house with good school nearby. It is the general norm.
I hope my answer will be adequate enough for your question. - Thu May 1 2008, 21:48

Hi Grace,

It is impossible. Even the market price is lower and more foreclosures on the market, it doesn't mean the value and the price of the houses will go down to the bottom almost equal zero. San Jose has been always a good area for homes with different level of prices depends on the neighborhood and school system. I guess that you just read the headline on the Mercury News on Thursday 4/ 24/ 2008 that mentioned about the population in San Jose might reach to 7 number figures. That means more people less houses. Do you know what will happen when demand exceeds supply? The cost of housing will rise again. We can have more people but we can't have more land. That is the fact. Also, in the next 2 years the job available rate in San Jose and San Francisco will raise to 2.1%. In addition, the cost of gasoline is increasing. Who knows how high it will be? That will make the high rise condos and closer housing where the jobs are more costly. SO you see, in San Jose if you are lucky to get the house around 450K in foreclosure in the area 95116, or 95121 you are making money already. If you can get one in 95148 then you win lotto. You know the market price there and when you buy the bank owned or foreclosure around $500, you know you have some equity at least 100K to make you richer. Good neighborhood always hold value of the homes. I see you are in Mission San Jose. My office is around the corner. You might want to stop by and we can chat about the benefit and what's good and bad in buying foreclosures as investment. Thank you for giving me the question so I can answer. - Fri Apr 25 2008, 17:13

Hello Vee,

Mello-Roos tax is a special additional tax to theproperty tax to pay for new development for public use such as park, road, new school site to the new development areas. Often this kind of tax is short term and temporary. ( they might end up at the end of 5 years) You can negotiate with the builder to pay for this kind of tax as a buying incentive. Here is the website to give you more details in Mello-Roos tax. For better correct and correct answer you can contact the Santa Clara Assessor Office to ask.

http://www.californiataxdata.com/A_Free_Resources/faq.asp#faq_05 - Fri Apr 25 2008, 16:55