Montegut

^^^Off topic, but jym, don't forget the 25 cent martinis at Commanders at lunch.

Another piece of advice: Don't hire someone you know or a relative as a real estate agent. We hired my brother's mother in law for all the sales, and she services a totally different area of the city. Although she was an experienced realtor, she had no idea what the market was like in our area, and was either too ignorant or timid or more likely greedy to suggest we lower our price at the outset. It was aggravating to see her make a bundle on commissions during our three real estate transactions in a span of three years, while we took a bath on all the two houses we sold and paid way too much for the one house we bought.

vballmom

cpt - some cities in the Bay Area have a high percent of jumbo loans, but the median prices are still well below $700K in all but a few cities.

Santa Clara County Home Prices and Heat Map - Trulia.com

The conforming limit here is $729,750 maximum now and will go down to $625,500 in October. Having to come up with an additional $100K down payment to get a conforming loan is significant. I do hear from my mortgage broker that jumbo loans are loosening up pretty well, so they're not as hard to get as a couple of years ago.

VeryHappy

How is a jumbo loan defined? Does it vary by market?

vballmom

Jumbo limits are by county, with the vast majority maxing out at $417,000. There are "high-cost" areas where the limit is higher:

2011 Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Conforming Loan Limits | The Mortgage Reports

jym626

Montegut
Does Commanders Palace deliver? My DS got home from NOLA the other day.
Hayden
Merlot sounds good to me. Who else is drinking?
By the way, does anyone have any experience with open houses? I've not heard that they are particularly successful.

dstark

"The bad news - having to move much sooner than planned, with nowhere to go! Maybe we can move in with dstark?"

Uhhhhhhh.....no.

Vballmom...It's good news though if it works out. Getting a house ready for sale can take a lot of time.....and money.

dstark

The guy who works upstairs from me bought his house at an open house...

I would definitely have a couple at the beginning....I would have broker open houses too...maybe more broker open houses....

FauxNom

Well now that we are choosing drinks.... Our house is entering week 3 on the market, with a couple of multiple visit couples, but no offer yet. I am pretty discouraged, given how good the house looks and what a value it seems to be, given the size and unique features. Sigh! I hope things pick up before we have to reduce the price.

jym626

veryhappy and vball,
Maybe we can combine your posts and rename the thread jumbo fannie.



Sorry- I am a little punchy after watching our baseball team blow a lead and leave lots of men on base.

Fauxmom. Join the party. Houses on the market. How is yours coming along, veryhappy? You decided yes/no to sell?

And thanks for the encouragement, dstark. Will report back after the open house.

BunsenBurner

"...rename the thread jumbo fannie"

OMG, jym, that really made my day! All the best to you in your real estate endeavours.

dmd77

3 weeks on the market with several multiple-visits? Please don't get discouraged! Really, that's great. It's the no-visits in a month that need to worry!

(The house we sold in June of 2009, thrilled to get out alive, is now back on the market for a little more than they paid for it. They'll be lucky to break even after commissions. I'll be interested to see how long it takes them to sell.)

jym626

I agree that having lots of foot traffic AND repeat lookers is a great thing!! Especially since the house isnt officially on the market! Congrats vballmom!

vballmom

Well, congrats are a bit premature, but thanks for the thought

The buyers had to postpone their trip to the West Coast, so nothing's happening at the moment.

jym626

I was congratulating you on the amount of traffic and repeat visitors you've had in such a short time! Thats very impressive! Hopefully there will be more congratuations to follow!

Montegut

The people that bought my mom's house visited it several times. They loved the front and back yard, and I think they were waiting for us to be desperate enough to lower the price so they could spend what they wanted to renovate the interior to their style. The house truly was in move in condition, but they spent six months renovating, and even painted the outside. It is really nice to see how beautiful the garden is in the front yard, and I was so happy that we did give someone a home, rather than turn it into rental property, which was our initial idea. If you have repeat viewers, I would lower the price to see if they'll make an offer. You may have a meeting of the minds where you can get your monkey off your back and the buyer can get a home they really want.