Want to entice more birds to your yard? Laura Garrett, Board Member of the Pasadena Audubon Society, will share information on how to attract a wide variety of birds via plant selection, good bugs and safe pest control at the Sierra Madre Garden Club meeting on Monday, May 14, 2012, at 6:30 p.m. She will also introduce some of the more common birds of this area and give tips on where to see them. Bring your questions, concerns and enthusiasm. The public is welcome.

The presentation will be given in the newly renovated Memorial Park Hart House Senior Center, 222 W. Sierra Madre Blvd., Sierra Madre. A catered dinner will be served at 6:30. Reservations for the $9 dinner must be made by calling 355-0606. If you wish to attend only the program, there is no charge nor reservation necessary; please arrive by 7:15 p.m.

On Saturday, May 12, at 10 a.m., Janet Raymond, chief gardener for the Wrigley House rose gardens, will conduct a tour of the Tournament House rose gardens for club members and their guests. Janet will share some of the tricks of rose culture she has developed through her many years as a head gardener at the Pacific Rose Society gardens.

For more information about club activities, please visit the Sierra Madre Garden Club website at www.smgarden.org. For information concerning the Audubon Society, go to www.pasadenaaudubon.org.

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) announced today that low-interest federal disaster loans are available to those affected by the recent wind storms.Homeowners, renters, businesses and non-profits are eligible. A loan outreach center has been established at:
Pasadena Fire Headquarters199 S. Los Robles, Suite 550
Pasadena, CA 91101

Representatives are available to answer questions, issue loan applications and explain the application process.

No appointment is necessary. The center will open tomorrow through Friday, December 23 and from Monday, January 9 through Friday, January 20. Hours of operation are 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

Disaster loans up to $200,000 are available to homeowners to repair and replace damaged or destroyed real estate. Homeowners and renters are eligible for up to $40,000 to repair or replace damaged or destroyed personal property.

Businesses of any size and private, non-profit organizations may borrow up to $2 million to repair or replace damaged or destroyed real estate, machinery and equipment, and other business assets. Loans are also available to homeowners and businesses to help with the cost of making improvements that protect or prevent the same type of disaster damage from occurring in the future.

Interest rates are as low as 2.063 percent for homeowners and renters, 3 percent for private and non-profit organizations, and 4 percent for businesses. Loan amounts and terms are set by the SBA and based upon each applicant’s financial condition.

The filing deadline to return applications for property damage is February 17, 2012.
Call SBA’s Customer Service Center at (800) 659-2955. Individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing may call (800) 877-8339.

Experts say Now is the Time To Buy
With LOW Interest Rates

Interest rates are at historic lows and will determine what you actually pay for the home.Buyers should really be looking at interest rates instead of just the price of the home.
For example, if a buyer is obtaining a $250,000. loan at 4% fixed for 30 years, their monthly home payment would be approximately $1193. (including principal and interest, but not taxes and insurance). This buyer would save over $470. a month and more than $160,000. in 30 years.
The following shows the potential difference in house payment to see the monthly savings.

Interest rate

House payment 4% $1193. 7% $1663.
(incl. tax and ins.
but not taxes and insurance)

Should the buyer wait until prices go up again and the interest rates return to 7% or above, they might not be able to afford their dream home.
Interest rates are extremely important when purchasing a home. Buyers need to stop looking only at the price of the home but also focus on getting the lowest interest rate they can get.
Call Kathy Andrews at (626) 297-0632, Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage, Arcadia. DRE#00492489

Experts say Now is the Time To Buy
With LOW Interest Rates

Interest rates are at historic lows and will determine what you actually pay for the home.Buyers should really be looking at interest rates instead of just the price of the home.
For example, if a buyer is obtaining a $250,000. loan at 4% fixed for 30 years, their monthly home payment would be approximately $1193. (including principal and interest, but not taxes and insurance). This buyer would save over $470. a month and more than $160,000. in 30 years.
The following shows the potential difference in house payment to see the monthly savings.

Interest rate 4% 7%

House payment $1193. $1663.
(incl. tax and ins.
but not taxes and insurance)

Should the buyer wait until prices go up again and the interest rates return to 7% or above, they might not be able to afford their dream home.
Interest rates are extremely important when purchasing a home. Buyers need to stop looking only at the price of the home but also focus on getting the lowest interest rate they can get.
Call Kathy Andrews at (626) 297-0632, Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage, Arcadia. DRE#00492489

Mark your calendars. You’ll find fabulous buys at the Arboretum’s two-day plant sale. Come early to shop for orchids, berries, fruit trees, vegetables, succulents and a variety of annuals and perennials. The Arboretum Library will be selling used garden and plant books and cookbooks.

Where: Los Angeles County Arboretum & Botanic Garden
301 North Baldwin Avenue
Arcadia, CA. 91007

When: Saturday, April 2
Sunday, April 3

Time: 9am – 4:30pm

Admission: Event free with admission. Adults, $8; Students and seniors, $6;
Children 5 – 12, $3; Children under 5, free

Members: Free and early admission at 8am

Parking: Free

When my mother decided to remodel her home and add a second story, I was able to convince her to take some simple steps now so that she can plan to age in place, in her own home.

Some easy updates now would make her home elegant and comfortable for an able-bodied and active person. And even though she’s active, there are those days when she has balance issues, her arthritis flares up, or her back hurts, limiting her mobility and desire to stand. So adding these convenient design elements now will allow her to seamlessly ease into her golden years at home, without the institutional look.

The kitchen was a perfect place to add some simple changes to make the kitchen accessible and convenient. My mom loves to cook and bake, but standing is sometimes difficult for long periods of time, and we wanted to prepare for a time when her mobility becomes decreased. Her mobility might change down the road, but her love for being in the kitchen will never change!

For the kitchen sink, we installed a brand new Touch faucet by Delta. This wonderful faucet turns on and off with a touch to the nozzle – no handles to mess with. Great for salmonella hands after handling a chicken, or anyone who has difficulty with arthritis and struggles to turn faucet handles. This would be convenient now, and down the road.

We added a workstation in the kitchen that was lower so she could sit and prepare food. We put a cute stool, upholstered in outdoor fabric for easy cleaning, where she can sit and chop or mix, for those days where she can’t stand for long periods of time. And down the road, it will be extremely convenient for cooking in her golden years as well. We placed it within access to the sink, so down the road she can have the option of lowering the sink as well.

We lowered the height of her microwave so that she wouldn’t have to reach up too far to pull food out, or struggle with the buttons being too high.

Dishwashers with drawers, instead of the traditional ones, are much more convenient and reduce the amount of bending the user has to do. This was a great solution for my mom who finds bending difficult now and then. Even the simple act of raising the height of a dishwasher can be a tremendous help to those with limited mobility.

Roll-out shelves and drawers were installed to help her reach items in the back much more easily, instead of bending and reaching. Instead of knobs on the cabinets, we installed old-fashioned pulls that are elegant and chic; these are very easy to use if one has arthritis or difficulty opening a cabinet or drawer by grabbing onto a knob.

The refrigerator had to be replaced, so we selected one that has the freezer on the bottom with the pull-out drawer. My mom doesn’t use the freezer as often, so it’s much more convenient for her have the refrigerator part on top. Now she doesn’t have to bend down to get items out.

Fatigue is a common issue for anyone who stands at their kitchen counters too long. But throw in decreased mobility, arthritis or back problems, and standing at the kitchen counter can be a real problem. For my mom’s kitchen, we installed cork floors that are not only non-skid and safe, but they are soft and give beneath your feet. An added bonus, cork floors are also green!

These simple adjustments to make my mom’s home convenient and accessible to her in her golden years, are also easy changes that make her home comfortable now. Preparing the home for years to come has become less institutional and can look chic and elegant. My mom’s visitors would not notice the subtle amenities we’ve added during this remodel , but her daily life will be much more convenient.

In addition to the presentation of the keys, the introduction of the families and the official ribbon cuttings on each residence, the dedication also acknowledged the contributions of the hundreds of volunteers who worked on the houses, the corporations which donated funds and materials as well as the companies whose workers donated thousands of hours on the homes. The list of those who had contributed went on for pages and pages in the program. More than 1200 construction volunteers put in more than 14,800 hours of work on these four homes alone.
Interestingly, in attendance were many owners of homes formerly built by SGV Habitat for Humanity who had worked on these homes as volunteers. Of the 43 homes this group has built since its founding in 1990, all are still owned by the original families and none have gone into foreclosure. The group is currently working on 11 more homes on Kenwood Street in Glendale and will still start on a renovation program of 5 homes in Temple City to be called “Brush with Kindness.”

In her remarks, Monrovia Mayor Mary Ann Lutz welcomed the new Monrovians to the community and also thanked all of those who had worked tirelessly on the project. She called the houses “the homes that love built.”
Those new Monrovians are Mario and Jeanine Del Grosso and their children Logan, Wyatt and Gwenneth, Antonio and Irma Nava and their children Daniela, Valeria and Anthony, Raymond and Sonia Quiroz and their children Raymond Jr., Carolina, Julian, Grace and Olga, and Marco and Sandra Naccarati and their sons Marcos and Daniel.

Because there was a 10% down payment, there is almost 3 years of seasoning (the buyer has been making monthly payments for almost 3 years), and we’re only buying a partial (only the next 60 payments), which keeps the risk acceptably low.

What if the Payors had credit scores over 700?  Ka-ching . . .

The note holder / seller would be walking away with several thousand dollars more if they had been helping their Payors improve their credit scores over the last several months before trying to sell their note.

The note I am buying / brokering is secured by a property in Alaska, but the principles apply anywhere.

Lots of people have credit scores that have really taken a beating over the last couple of years.  That won’t stop them from buying property with owner financing, but with better credit scores, they could greatly expand their opportunities for buying because prospective sellers would have notes they would feel good about holding or selling.

In fact, here in our local market, I could buy a properly structured note without any seasoning, meaning I could buy it for a reasonable discount right after it was created if I was involved in underwriting the transaction (putting the deal together) right from the start.

The whole credit scoring system is a just a game, but if you don’t know the rules, you can’t possibly hope to win, and it will cost you a lot of money and lost opportunities whether you’re a buyer, or a note holder.

I’ve recently become friends with a guy who is making a profound difference by helping people quickly and dramatically improve their credit scores, even if they have foreclosures, short sales or bankruptcies on their record.

His name is Phil Tirone, and I’ve asked him to be a guest on my blog at http://notequeen.com.  He’ll be sharing the ‘right’ way to do credit repair.  A lot of credit repair companies inadvertently do their clients damage because they don’t really understand the nuances involved.

We all need to know how to get and keep the highest credit score possible, it can save us thousands, but if you fit in any of these categories, you really need to pay attention to his message:

* buyers (even if you’re buying with seller financing, a higher credit score will dramatically increase the numbers and types of properties you can buy)
* sellers who are thinking of carrying paper for a buyer(s) with poor credit
* note holders who are preparing to sell all or part of their note

In the meantime, feel free to check him out at 7 Steps to a 720 Credit Score.  He’s written a book you’ll really want to get ahold of, and you can learn more at http://www.7stepsto720.com

Always consult with your CPA, tax attorney and/or financial advisor before selling property or paper.

Dawn Rickabaugh is a RE Broker, Owner Financing Coach and Note Buyer.  www.NoteQueen.com  626.292.1875

He said:

“What I’m trying to impress upon everyone is that if you are planning on being a homeowner now and/or in the foreseeable future . . . then pay more attention to the interest rates than the price of the home. If you have a steady job, good credit, and the down payment, then you really are being offered the gift of a lifetime.”

He has a point . . . if interest rates rise even slightly, it will greatly increase the cost of owning a home, and REO properties are being snatched up quickly with multiple offers in some areas, leading many to be sure that we are at the bottom.

But are we?

How much more inventory can the market absorb, especially if interest rates start wiggling?  Foreclosures aren’t a thing of the past, and banks have been holding back, trying not to flood and drown whole neighborhoods.

I recently read that before the end of this year, 10% of homes across the nation will be ‘underwater.’  Even jumbo housing loans are going bad . . . delinquencies are up to 9.6%.  A high end Realtor friend of mine in Palm Springs confirmed that things are REALLY bad out there.

Apparently, even the Mortgage Bankers Association is officially WAY underwater on its Washington headquarters.  Not only did the group buy at the peak of the bubble, but borrowed a lot to do it.  Of the $79 million they paid, all but $5 million was financed.

I smell a ‘strategic default’ brewing . . . oh, don’t worry, it’s not unethical for large corporations.  If you’re big business or government, walking away from obligations you can’t pay is simply a sound financial decision.  For you and I, it’s proof that we lack moral fiber.

At the end of the day, real estate has to be priced so that regular people can really afford them without extreme financial manipulations, and in general, consumers are in a funk . . . they have more debt, less income, fewer jobs, and less access to credit.

There’s no doubt that opportunities are out there.  In some areas, investment properties actually cash flow with a 10-20% down payment!  Amazing!

But I still have this uneasy feeling that there are some sideswipes coming down the pipeline that no one is really talking about.
It may be a great time to buy, but make sure you aren’t stretching to do it, and that you’ll be able to make your house payment even if your income temporarily decreases for a few months.  And for heaven’s sake, don’t get a variable interest rate!

Regardless of what happens with prices and interest rates, there will always be opportunities with seller financed properties.

Many investors I know are picking up properties by offering prices that sellers can easily swallow (even in today’s market where unrealistic sellers abound), but they’re getting killer terms . . . how does 0% interest sound?

It’s just that nifty little dance between property and paper.

Over the past several months he’s been receiving all kinds of questions and complaints from his short sale agents about trouble with second lien holders.  Read the full article, written by CNBC Real Estate Reporter, Diana Olick, at: http://www.cnbc.com/id/34877347.

Brandt has apparently documented at least 200 agents that have had trouble with Citi Mortgage, JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America and other large banks, and a friend of mine recently told me the same thing.

She works tirelessly to help troubled home owners.  She spends countless hours working with the lenders to get short sales approved so people can move on with their lives, and then is asked for most of her commission at the closing table by these . . . banks (to be politically correct, because I was actually thinking of other descriptive words).

Since there’s no equity to cover many second mortgages in a foreclosure/short sale situation, they’re typically getting very little at the closing table.   So, they got this bright idea . . . why not soak it from the agents or the buyer, and have them pay a little cash on the side?

All off the books, of course, like a mangy drug deal, because if the first lien holder knew this was going on, they would definitely cancel the transaction and just take the property to foreclosure to wipe the 2nd off completely.

A HUD specialist commented that this is clearly illegal and a violation of RESPA.  So far, there aren’t any active investigations, though . . .

But why would there be?  I mean, big banks are ‘too big to fail,’ so we’re rescuing them with taxpayer dollars anyway . . . why would we care that the poor beggars are grabbing for a little more?  Just look the other way, George . . .

All the new mortgage regulations that are effective as of January 1st are cumbersome and ultimately misguided and damaging to the consumer, but probably well-intentioned (never mind that the original fraud was perpetuated by the Fed and the fiscal policy established in Washington and on Wall Street that allowed the mortgage debacle in the first place).

It reminds me of the massive increase in airport security imposed on millions of average citizens after the “authorities” allow a known terrorist suspect to board a plane.

But it’s a good plan, really . . . orchestrate disaster, create fear, ask the trembling masses to give up a few civil liberties in exchange for “safety.”  Baa baa black sheep, have you any wool?

But back to the short sale conversation . . . wow.  In the early days of short sales, I literally burned myself out working on hundreds of short sale transactions, and I know several successful agents now that won’t even touch them.

If anyone ever asks me to help them with a short sale listing, I hire a professional company who specializes in short sale negotiation so my client has the best possible outcome, and I’m not being asked (at least to my face) for my grocery money by some starving financial behemoth.

Dawn Rickabaugh is a RE Broker, Owner Financing Coach and Note Buyer. Reach her at (626) 292.1875 or www.notequeen.com. Always consult with your CPA, tax attorney and/or financial advisor before selling property or paper.