Marian Bennett

My client just closed with 15% down on B of A loan. Certainly more contracts have higher downpayments now, which is a good thing. By "everything I see" do you mean what you read in the news? Remember news articles are written to sell newspapers. The program that is best for you can only be determined by you and your chosen mortgage professional, with assistance from your Realtor and financial advisor (if you use one) to ensure your team is on the same page with your goals. If you need a second opinion, get one. - Sun Jul 20 2008, 20:34

Since you want to understand the value for a refinance, you will get the Appraisal Report following your lender's appraisal - be sure to ask for a copy. The Appraisers use local comps, but usually simply to justify the loan amount. If you want to get an idea of the value before you decide to refinance, you can hire a local Appraiser or ask a local Realtor to run a Comparative Market Analysis. The Realtor's CMA is from the market perspective, not the lender's perspective. I ran two general CMAs, one for Pacifica 1 BR,2 BA and Pacifica 2 BR, 2 BA to get a rough idea of what the numbers look like. There doesn't appear to be any increase in value for the extra bedroom. However, this would be more conclusive if your Realtor were to pick and choose the comps based on Close of Escrow date, age, updates, and area, incorporating what is most like your home. You probably know that Pacifica is in a down market and has been for several months. I would be reluctant to put more money into a Pacifica home solely for a perceived increase in refinance value at this time. It would be okay if you plan to be there for a long time and you need the extra bedroom, but it may not pay off for you in this market. Be careful. I saved the reports if you want them. - Wed Jul 2 2008, 20:54

Hi June,
I have been asked advice about this very subject from two separate families recently, though not in Menlo Park. There is appraisal value and market value. Reputable appraisers who know your market should be pretty close on the number. However, if the appraiser was hired by a lender for getting a loan to purchase your husband out, then the appraiser is looking at value from the lender's perspective, not necessarily true market value. True market value is best understood by the real estate professional because they are the ones who see the insides of every house and know the real meaning behind "updated", "fixer", "views", etc. You may not be getting the full picture from just MLS sales prices. Some agents don't state if credits were given off the sales price (example - for closing costs) which would reduce value. Since the two reports you received are $100K off each other, I would ask each appraiser what comparables they used to arrive at their respective values. Once you have that information, ask a trusted local Realtor who knows your neighborhood well for their opinion. My interpretation of "holding our own" from Menlo Park Realtors is that values have not dropped significantly. I certainly would advise discussing your situation with a local expert before you write a check or sign loan docs. I personally know and would recommend Kevin Boer, Arn Cenedella, Joe Parsons, and Pooneh Fouladi to understand your market very well. Ask them for the hard data and you will gain greater understanding of where your home fits into your local market. They can show you sales volume and numbers of transactions so that you can see for yourself how fewer buyers and sellers there are compared to other years. Best of luck in your decision. - Fri Jun 6 2008, 12:48

The key word in your question is "worth". And while comps are a starting point, a particular property's worth is where the buyer and seller put pen to paper, and also the lender's appraisal if there will be a loan. However, I've heard of a recent appraisal coming in below purchase price and the buyers are still moving forward (they must have the funds) because they really want the house. I understand your question because Pacifica has such a large range of properties and values. And Pacifica has some properties with amazing views. It sounds like you're willng to pay for the view, but you don't want to overpay - especially in this market. Review all factors with your Realtor (seller motivation, other available properties that meet your goals, property condition, location, etc.) and make an offer that you can live with. However, since you're asking for opinions here, properties where more homes cannot be built behind them and unobstructed view properties are certainly desirable to a larger group of people. I wouldn't put a dollar amount on yours without specifics. - Thu May 8 2008, 10:58

There are 2 ways to go about this that I know of. The first is to go to the SM County courthouse "steps" - it's actually the bench right outside the door - and ask the auction agents about their list and watch the process once. The auctions happen most weekdays. The one I went to was on a Monday at noon. Seasoned investors were there and seem to have been tracking the properties up for auction that day for a while. Some properties scheduled for auction get postponed. You can subscribe to the list that the investors use. Finding an up to date list is difficult as changes are happening all the time. The list holders at the auction are updating their list as the auction is taking place. The second way is to find properties that interest you by searching online from a site such as foreclosureradar.com. I subscribe to Realtytrac, but it requires more research to get the right contacts, so I'm going to try foreclosureradar myself. There are probably others out there and more to come. Having said all that, the best way to proceed may depend on your goals. Hope this helps. - Fri Apr 25 2008, 08:21