Along with their two children, three dogs and a cat, they had sold their house in Atlanta and were all packed, with the moving truck scheduled for late May, ready to move to the Bay Area for a job transfer.

When conventional house hunting with a real estate agent didn’t work out, Kevin Silva placed a detailed Craigslist ad describing their target neighborhood, price and house size. He netted five responses, one of which led to making a deal to buy a San Anselmo house directly from the owner.

While having all the stars and planets align so perfectly is rare, the Silvas’ story illustrates how many house hunters are coloring outside the lines to land a place in the overheated real estate market. Whether it be cold-calling homeowners with offers or placing ads in search of potential houses for sale, being creative is key, experts say.

Of course, the top strategy is both the simplest and the hardest – pay way over asking, in all cash.

Short of that, there are a variety of ways prospective buyers can find a house as well as rise to the top of the offer pile:

Placing an ad: Swooping in with an offer before a home is officially posted for sale is a top tactic, and it worked for the Silvas.

After being consistently outbid, they considered renting, but that market was too competitive. “I realized unless we got really aggressive, we would end up in my parents’ basement in San Mateo with the kids, the dogs, the cat and a really unhappy wife,” Kevin Silva said. In the end, a simple online ad labeled “Wanted to buy: House in San Anselmo or Fairfax” did the trick. A $1 million budget undoubtedly helped. He got one response from a man who, like Silva, was of Portuguese ancestry. They quickly bonded on the phone. Silva visited the three-bedroom house and liked it, and returned with a real estate agent friend who advised him that $1 million was a reasonable price. Attorneys helped draw up the paperwork in an amicable deal.

Both parties agreed that if the sale fell through, the Silva family would rent the house. “That took off a huge amount of stress, knowing we had a place to land,” Silva said.

Pocket listings: Many buyers are taking advantage of “pocket listings” – a heads-up within a brokerage or an informal notification network of an upcoming sale – that have been growing in popularity in recent months.

“We see pocket listings more especially in the upper end,” said Patrick Leaper of Red Oak Realty in the East Bay. “Generally, it’s someone across the aisle (in a real estate brokerage) who says, ‘Look, I have a three-bedroom house in the hills for $1.2 million and the owners don’t want the hassle of publicly marketing it.’ “

Such tips are generally within bigger brokerages, but agents at smaller firms can call friends at the larger brokerages to seek them out.

“I got my buyers in because we responded to a pocket listing e-mail within our own company,” said Simon Shue of Zephyr Real Estate in San Francisco. “We were able to negotiate and save the seller money through not staging, painting and (refinishing) floors.” Located north of the Panhandle, the property sold in March for $760,000.

Zillow’s Make Me Move feature: Real estate site Zillow.com has a feature called Make Me Move for homeowners to post what price they’d accept to sell their house.

That’s how one couple from Newark finessed their move to the Peninsula. Doris and Charles (they asked to withhold their last name for privacy reasons) faced the usual discouraging situation of being consistently outbid – in their case, five times.

That’s when Doris decided to check out Make Me Move. She saw a house in San Carlos asking $950,000.

“If we hadn’t gone through those bids, I would have thought that was crazy,” she said. “The house is not quite 1,500 square feet, one story, an old house, nothing spectacular like you’d expect for almost a million bucks.”

They contacted the owners and visited the house several times. While it had some deferred maintenance issues, it met their needs, and the price was in line with similar properties.

“We thought, ‘Do we want to keep being outbid by other people or take this house?’ ” Doris said. They ended up buying it for $925,000, negotiating money off for a new roof.

Both Doris and Charles are attorneys, so they prepared the paperwork themselves. The sellers were real estate savvy as well, she said.

“We were happy with each other. I gave them a good deal – they lived there rent free for two months after the sale – but they gave me a good deal, too,” Doris said. “If they’d put the house on the market, they probably could have gotten a little bit more, but paying the real estate commission would have eaten that up.”

Target a neighborhood: Real estate agents and would-be home buyers sometimes contact owners in target areas directly.

Randy Brase, who owns a modest two-bedroom bungalow in San Bruno’s Huntington Park neighborhood, said he was surprised to receive unsolicited calls and letters from Realtors and house hunters expressing interest in buying his house. At the time, he was in the midst of some repairs and remodeling so the house appeared run-down.

“A man and his wife wrote me a letter saying they wanted to relocate from San Francisco and wanted to buy my house,” he said. “They said that they’re not afraid of doing work to fix up the house; they’ve done stuff like that to their house they live in now.”

While representing clients hoping to buy in the Eureka Valley/Castro area, Scott Yarmack and Dan Bunker of Zephyr wrote to local property owners looking for potential sellers. They got one response, and after viewing the house decided to pursue it. Yarmack lined up a contractor for an informal inspection before the house hit the multiple listing service.

As soon as it was listed, he convinced the listing agent to present his client’s offer immediately after the first Sunday open house, rather than waiting to market the house for several weeks. The all-cash offer with no contingencies and a 14-day close was accepted.

Getting an offer accepted: Finding a suitable house is only part of the hunt. Getting an offer accepted is the next big hurdle.

Prospective buyers often write a heartfelt “love letter” describing their family and their positive feelings about the house. While that alone won’t land a place, it can keep the buyers in the game.

“The personal component has an impact,” Leaper said. “If the letter paints a sweet picture of a buyer who (the seller) feels more attracted to, but their offer isn’t as good, often sellers will give the buyers a chance to improve their offer to match a better offer.”

Offers with as few contingencies as possible are more attractive to buyers. Getting inspections in advance to forestall an inspection contingency and having enough cash to avoid either financing or appraisal contingencies are ways to ensure a deal will close quickly.

“Do your homework,” said Red Oak’s Larry Benedetto. “My clients closed in late July. For every property they considered purchasing, they went to the city to check out permits, they got disclosures from the listing agent and they read everything. When there were any unknowns, they would get an engineer to check things out. Only then, when they were confident they fully understood the property, were they able to write clean offers with a quick close.”

Carolyn Said is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: csaid@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @csaid

Article source: http://www.sfgate.com/realestate/article/Creative-ways-to-buy-a-house-4806993.php

Along with their two children, three dogs and a cat, they had sold their house in Atlanta and were all packed, with the moving truck scheduled for late May, ready to move to the Bay Area for a job transfer.

When conventional house hunting with a real estate agent didn’t work out, Kevin Silva placed a detailed Craigslist ad describing their target neighborhood, price and house size. He netted five responses, one of which led to making a deal to buy a San Anselmo house directly from the owner.

While having all the stars and planets align so perfectly is rare, the Silvas’ story illustrates how many house hunters are coloring outside the lines to land a place in the overheated real estate market. Whether it be cold-calling homeowners with offers or placing ads in search of potential houses for sale, being creative is key, experts say.

Of course, the top strategy is both the simplest and the hardest – pay way over asking, in all cash.

Short of that, there are a variety of ways prospective buyers can find a house as well as rise to the top of the offer pile:

Placing an ad: Swooping in with an offer before a home is officially posted for sale is a top tactic, and it worked for the Silvas.

After being consistently outbid, they considered renting, but that market was too competitive. “I realized unless we got really aggressive, we would end up in my parents’ basement in San Mateo with the kids, the dogs, the cat and a really unhappy wife,” Kevin Silva said. In the end, a simple online ad labeled “Wanted to buy: House in San Anselmo or Fairfax” did the trick. A $1 million budget undoubtedly helped. He got one response from a man who, like Silva, was of Portuguese ancestry. They quickly bonded on the phone. Silva visited the three-bedroom house and liked it, and returned with a real estate agent friend who advised him that $1 million was a reasonable price. Attorneys helped draw up the paperwork in an amicable deal.

Both parties agreed that if the sale fell through, the Silva family would rent the house. “That took off a huge amount of stress, knowing we had a place to land,” Silva said.

Pocket listings: Many buyers are taking advantage of “pocket listings” – a heads-up within a brokerage or an informal notification network of an upcoming sale – that have been growing in popularity in recent months.

“We see pocket listings more especially in the upper end,” said Patrick Leaper of Red Oak Realty in the East Bay. “Generally, it’s someone across the aisle (in a real estate brokerage) who says, ‘Look, I have a three-bedroom house in the hills for $1.2 million and the owners don’t want the hassle of publicly marketing it.’ “

Such tips are generally within bigger brokerages, but agents at smaller firms can call friends at the larger brokerages to seek them out.

“I got my buyers in because we responded to a pocket listing e-mail within our own company,” said Simon Shue of Zephyr Real Estate in San Francisco. “We were able to negotiate and save the seller money through not staging, painting and (refinishing) floors.” Located north of the Panhandle, the property sold in March for $760,000.

Zillow’s Make Me Move feature: Real estate site Zillow.com has a feature called Make Me Move for homeowners to post what price they’d accept to sell their house.

That’s how one couple from Newark finessed their move to the Peninsula. Doris and Charles (they asked to withhold their last name for privacy reasons) faced the usual discouraging situation of being consistently outbid – in their case, five times.

That’s when Doris decided to check out Make Me Move. She saw a house in San Carlos asking $950,000.

“If we hadn’t gone through those bids, I would have thought that was crazy,” she said. “The house is not quite 1,500 square feet, one story, an old house, nothing spectacular like you’d expect for almost a million bucks.”

They contacted the owners and visited the house several times. While it had some deferred maintenance issues, it met their needs, and the price was in line with similar properties.

“We thought, ‘Do we want to keep being outbid by other people or take this house?’ ” Doris said. They ended up buying it for $925,000, negotiating money off for a new roof.

Both Doris and Charles are attorneys, so they prepared the paperwork themselves. The sellers were real estate savvy as well, she said.

“We were happy with each other. I gave them a good deal – they lived there rent free for two months after the sale – but they gave me a good deal, too,” Doris said. “If they’d put the house on the market, they probably could have gotten a little bit more, but paying the real estate commission would have eaten that up.”

Target a neighborhood: Real estate agents and would-be home buyers sometimes contact owners in target areas directly.

Randy Brase, who owns a modest two-bedroom bungalow in San Bruno’s Huntington Park neighborhood, said he was surprised to receive unsolicited calls and letters from Realtors and house hunters expressing interest in buying his house. At the time, he was in the midst of some repairs and remodeling so the house appeared run-down.

“A man and his wife wrote me a letter saying they wanted to relocate from San Francisco and wanted to buy my house,” he said. “They said that they’re not afraid of doing work to fix up the house; they’ve done stuff like that to their house they live in now.”

While representing clients hoping to buy in the Eureka Valley/Castro area, Scott Yarmack and Dan Bunker of Zephyr wrote to local property owners looking for potential sellers. They got one response, and after viewing the house decided to pursue it. Yarmack lined up a contractor for an informal inspection before the house hit the multiple listing service.

As soon as it was listed, he convinced the listing agent to present his client’s offer immediately after the first Sunday open house, rather than waiting to market the house for several weeks. The all-cash offer with no contingencies and a 14-day close was accepted.

Getting an offer accepted: Finding a suitable house is only part of the hunt. Getting an offer accepted is the next big hurdle.

Prospective buyers often write a heartfelt “love letter” describing their family and their positive feelings about the house. While that alone won’t land a place, it can keep the buyers in the game.

“The personal component has an impact,” Leaper said. “If the letter paints a sweet picture of a buyer who (the seller) feels more attracted to, but their offer isn’t as good, often sellers will give the buyers a chance to improve their offer to match a better offer.”

Offers with as few contingencies as possible are more attractive to buyers. Getting inspections in advance to forestall an inspection contingency and having enough cash to avoid either financing or appraisal contingencies are ways to ensure a deal will close quickly.

“Do your homework,” said Red Oak’s Larry Benedetto. “My clients closed in late July. For every property they considered purchasing, they went to the city to check out permits, they got disclosures from the listing agent and they read everything. When there were any unknowns, they would get an engineer to check things out. Only then, when they were confident they fully understood the property, were they able to write clean offers with a quick close.”

Carolyn Said is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: csaid@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @csaid

Article source: http://www.sfgate.com/realestate/article/Creative-ways-to-buy-a-house-4806993.php

• www.facebook.com/blessed.herve
• A smooth-talking man named Blessed Marvelous Herve, 41, seen here riding the high seas in high style, has been accused of bilking a Bay Area couple out of $1.6 million.

Even this swanky scamming suspect’s name will fool you.

Blessed Marvelous Herve, 41, of San Francisco, is facing as many as 20 years in prison for defrauding a Bay Area couple out of $1.6 million while posing as the son of a Congolese president, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

On Tuesday, Herve was scheduled to appear in federal court in The City, but it was continued to May 8.

The alleged ruse began in 2005 when Herve met a Marin real estate agent and convinced him that his father was Congo’s president and wanted to purchase several multimillion-dollar homes, FBI Agent Brian Weber said in an affidavit. Herve allegedly got the real estate agent to front some $30,000 for the rental of bulletproof limousines for when Herve’s father arrived to tour properties.

In 2008, Weber said, Herve told the victim that the U.S. government had seized $43 million from him and that he was battling to retain the money at the federal courthouse in San Francisco. Herve signed two promissory notes stating he would pay the victim $1.5 million in exchange for financial support during the court process, Weber said.

At the time, the victim reportedly believed Herve had been living in the lavish Four Seasons Hotel near Union Square, although he never saw his room and the hotel has no record of Herve living there.

The victim regularly met Herve in the lobby of the Four Seasons and often gave him rides to the courthouse, Weber said. In regards to the court case, Herve allegedly convinced the victim that the hearings were being held in secret under the U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

Meanwhile, the victim and his girlfriend went broke while supplying Herve with funds. The victim was tapped out in 2009 after giving Herve $635,000, Weber said. From 2009 to 2012, Herve reportedly told the couple he was in federal custody due to his court case and could only communicate by phone. During that time, Weber said, the girlfriend provided him $970,000 through wire transfers on the promise that Herve would repay upon his release.
Herve was born in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and granted asylum in 1999 before becoming a U.S. citizen last month, court records show.

The real estate agent told investigators he was fooled because Herve was reportedly knowledgeable about the Bay Area real estate market and had what appeared to be credible documents from top dignitaries.

Herve certainly remained in character on his Facebook page, where photographs show him wearing dapper suits and bragging about shopping sprees in Paris. There also are letters of praise allegedly from the likes of U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein and former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown.

maldax@sfexaminer.com

Article source: http://www.sfexaminer.com/sanfrancisco/hearing-postponed-for-sf-man-accused-of-posing-as-congo-presidents-son/Content?oid=2336884

(Read More: Home Price Gains Go to Double Digits)

First-time home buyers will be hit hardest by rising rates, just as they were beginning to trickle back into the market. They made up just 29 percent of buyers in April, according to the National Association of Realtors, the lowest level in two years. Historically, they usually account for about 40 percent of the market.

The 30-year fixed mortgage hit a record low rate of 3.47 percent in December of last year. Even though it is still well below historical norms, this small rise is already taking its toll.

“In my world it’s clearly slowing the market and pricing. Right now I have properties that are well-priced yet sitting on the market unsold,” said David Fogg, a real estate agent in Burbank, CA. “Should rates continue to rise, values will likely soften.”

(Read More: Borrowers Becoming Accidental Landlords)

—By CNBC’s Diana Olick; Follow her on Twitter @Diana_Olick or on Facebook at facebook.com/DianaOlickCNBC

Questions? Comments? RealtyCheck@cnbc.com

Article source: http://www.cnbc.com/id/100772471

“To put that in perspective,the median realtor income had fallen by 35 percent during the housing downturn, but with the help of sustained increases in both home sales and prices, it’s recovered to the highest level since 2006,” says Paul Bishop, NAR’s vice president of research.

The median gross income of a realtor in 2012 was $43,500, a far cry from the peak of $52,200 in 2002, but the biggest annual gain in over a decade.

“Interestingly, the peak wasn’t during the bubble years, because there were way too many people in the business,” notes NAR president Gary Thomas, a California-based Realtor.

The real estate business is unique, in that most come to the field after other careers, or as a side-business to other jobs. Just six percent of agents now report real estate as their first career.

No surprise then, that the typical age of a realtor is 57; just two percent of them are under 30 — which given the crash is not surprising. 25 percent of realtors are over aged 65.

“I have not seen new people being drawn to the business, but I am seeing agents change firms in pursuit of better split agreements,” says Rick Ambrose, a real estate agent in Morristown, New Jersey. “Quite a few realtors have left the business or become ‘referral agents,’ so they could maintain their license while doing something else.”

With incomes rising, many will likely return to the business. While online real estate sites are gaining traction by the moment, most buyers and sellers, around 89 percent according to the NAR, still use a real estate agent to navigate the process.

—By CNBC’s Diana Olick; Follow her on Twitter @Diana_Olick or on Facebook at facebook.com/DianaOlickCNBC

Questions? Comments? RealtyCheck@cnbc.com

Article source: http://www.cnbc.com/id/100732611

SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS) — Real estate firms are reporting a record number of Bay Area homes are being bought with cash, making it increasingly difficult for first-time homebuyers to get their offers accepted.

Often, the bids are only accepted after multiple offers resulting from bidding wars, according to real estate experts.

Real estate agent Peyton Schteevah with Pacific Union in San Francisco said 26 percent of their transactions last year were all-cash deals. That is a reflection of the record statewide high in 2012, where 32.4 percent of overall home sales were cash purchases.

“People came to the table with cash deals because it was so competitive to get homes that they tried to get any advantage they could to get their foot in and have a very compelling offer,” he said.

Schteevah said plenty of people decided to cash in their stocks or use money they had saved in the bank to compete with investors, a situation that is squeezing out buyers obtaining mortgages.

“It is very, very frustrating,” he said.

Adding to the current environment is a low inventory of homes and a median Bay Area price of $426,500 in February, up 22 percent from the same time last year.

“It is a seasonal market. Right now it’s extremely hot, but if we learned anything from the past; it’s up and down,” he said.

(Copyright 2013 by CBS San Francisco. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

Article source: http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2013/04/03/rise-in-all-cash-home-sales-frustrates-bay-area-first-time-buyers/

A real estate agent tours a home for sale during an open house in San Francisco. According to real esate agents, in the current market environment, not having inside knowledge will prevent people from getting the house they desire. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Century 21 Realty Alliance president and broker Orhan Tolu shares what he knows to help buyers and sellers navigate the Bay Area’s strong and growing real estate market. The company had the biggest market share growth last year—357 percent—in the entire state of California when Century 21 Realty Alliance made its move into San Francisco, completing 850 transactions in their first year, with roughly 11 agents.

The Commercial Window

“This is the year to buy,” says Tolu.

If you have the capital, commercial properties are what you want to invest in, especially in San Francisco, Tolu says. In the current economy, it costs twice as much if you want to build a new building than what you can buy one for, and commercial property values are still comparatively low compared to housing. You might be able to buy a building for $200 per square foot, but it would cost about $400 per square foot to build that building today—and land is getting increasingly scarce.

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“Commercial is always the last sector in the real estate market to fall, and is the last one to pick up,” says Tolu, who has 15 years of experience in selling commercial real estate. “So it always happens in that cycle.”

“Right now there’s still a lot of vacancy in office space, there’s a lot of vacancy in retail,” Tolu said. “Commercial went up, rent went up, and there is a shortage of listings in apartments, too. But it’s not as bad as houses.”

“On the office or retail sector, I think it’s going to take another two years for the market to fully heal and become as good as residential in the state,” Tolu said.

In the next four to five years, Silicon Valley’s expansion will continue, and the real estate market is just growing. Analysts say the market has still not returned to normal levels, making this a good time to jump on a property if one is looking to invest.

“Real estate is maybe going to appreciate 30 to 40 percent in the next two years,” Tolu said, compared to banks or investment in stocks. “So if you add the appreciation plus net income return, it’s going to be more than 20 percent increase in a five-year time period, so there’s nothing better than a commercial real estate investment in the world, nothing better.”

Compared to other real estate sectors, “maybe you pay a little bit too much compared to the other areas, your net cap is less, but your appreciation is always much, much higher,” Tolu said.

Overseas investors may not be familiar with the market or the nuances of the way sales are made in each city. With the purchases of commercial property, there’s a big difference from housing, Tolu says. With residential real estate, buyers can look in newspapers, magazines, or search online, but commercial listings are less frequent.

Tolu says that in Silicon Valley, there are about 15 realtors who specialize in commercial real estate, and 50 to 60 in the Bay Area. In most transactions, the realtors can just make a few calls among themselves and sell the property without listing it on the market. If you want to invest in commercial real estate, be sure to find a local professional commercial real estate agent, he suggests.

International Buyers

Foreign buyers will be at a disadvantage if they search overseas. It’s necessary to be in the United States in order to even start the search, go to showings, and buy a house with the limited time buyers have to bid on properties. For international buyers, working with a company that has a large global network can greatly help facilitate the process and improve your chances of getting that house.

Just recently, Tolu said, a Century 21 real estate broker from London gave him a call—two people from London wanted to purchase a property in San Jose.

“She already did the search for me, she already did everything for me,” Tolu said. “All I have to do is send one agent to go show [the property], to take care of them.”

Many buyers in the Bay Area may be looking for something that requires specialized knowledge—condominiums, for example, are different from houses, and it’s best to choose an agent with that specialization. Properties are often sold within a week of listing, and some buyers get hasty after not being able to get a property after a certain amount of time, leading to bad decisions.

Use a Better Network

It’s crucial to have the most updated information while doing your search—lest you start to prepare to bid for a property that’s already sold. There are many popular online listing sites, like Trulia, but how up to date are they?

Listing information is released within 24 hours on Century 21’s website, Tolu says, but many other real estate sites take their listings from Century 21’s listing generator, and often aren’t updated until 72 hours after it’s available. There are even houses that are sold the next day, which the agents would know, but websites might not show.

Experience Is Key

In the current market environment, not having inside knowledge will prevent you from getting that house. Many buyers lose three or four properties before they start looking for help.

“[There’s] a huge shortage of listings. I’ve never seen a shortage like this in the last 50 years,” Tolu said. “And if you look at the data, the listing comes in today, and tomorrow it’s gone already.”

Sellers barely need to advertise, Tolu says. “You just put it in the Internet and somebody will buy it with a high price anyway. Why spend money for advertisement?”

A good broker will know the ins and outs of the neighborhoods you’re interested in, and be able to help you navigate the market, where prices are rising daily. “Rely on your broker, because your broker and your agent have much more updated information than the Internet.”

Pricing isn’t a sure thing in this market, and buyers who caution to bid 10 percent above asking price might end up with a house only months later, when asking prices too have gone up 20 percent, according to Tolu.

“If a house comes along and you don’t get the right advice, you’re going to lose that house anyway,” Tolu said. “Each time you lose, the price is going to keep going up and up. Rather than waiting six months and having the price go up, work with an experienced agent and you’ll buy it at your first look.”

Expand Your Options

Most buyers make the mistake of starting with an area they like and then look at what houses are there, Tolu said. It’s a common mistake.

If you only consider buying a house in a particular neighborhood or city, your choices are very limited, and if there are no listings, you’re stuck. Broaden your search to nearby areas, Tolu suggests, and look at their school districts as well. Then work with an experienced agent and bid right the first time.

School Districts

If you delay or don’t get the right information and haven’t gotten the house in the school district you want come September, it might affect your children’s education.

“If you do it at the right time, then your kids will go to the better schools—good schools,” Tolu said. “Otherwise in September when the schools open, if you still don’t have a property, you don’t have a good location or a good school for your kids.”

If you buy a house in a better school district, you won’t have to spend money on private schools, which can be at least $20,000 to $30,000, and very time-consuming to drive to and from, Tolu said.

Additional reporting by David Zhang

The Epoch Times publishes in 35 countries and in 21 languages. Subscribe to our e-newsletter.

Article source: http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/business/navigating-the-bay-area-real-estate-market-370116.html