Tina To's Real Estate Blog

The newly paved resting area at the sidewalk marks the newly improved Leland Street which is the major commercial area of Visitacion Valley district in San Francisco.

On September 25, 2011 (Sunday) from 10am to 4pm, the annual Visitacion Valley Street Fair finally come out.  Due to budgetary reasons, there was no street fair last year.  However, this year what I saw was still a major cut in the entertainment sessions as I did not seen any blow up play structure at the Bank of America parking lot as seen in the past Street Fair.

In 2006 and 2007, I had participated in the Street Fair and held up a booth there.  I got a lot of interested parties looking at the house pictures that I posted up and received a lot of inquiries.  The most welcomed one is the give away of the pocket diary and one old lady had literally lined up several times to get it.  I understand in the relatively poor area, many visitors liked to check if there were any “free” giveaways.  I remembered one year PG&E had given away free night light and Pacific Medical had given free emergency pocket packs.  This year, I did not see too much “free” giveaway but the weather is blessing, not windy.

Many non-profit organizations play a significant role in improving the livelihood of Visitacion Valley.  One obvious result is the improvements on Leland Street.  Currently San Francisco Water & Sewer Department had started updating all the sewers at Sunnyvale Street.  Visitacion Valley is notorious for its high crime rate.  Although there are many, many plannings in the development lining for this district, the most important issue is still how to lower the crime rate in the area.  Do you have any suggestions that we can do to help?

San Francisco is a multi-cultural city full of immigrants from all over the world.  Like many other Chinatown all over the world, the Chinatown at San Francisco is within a few minutes walk from downtown San Francisco where major headquarters and offices located.  This town is a major first stop from Chinese new immigrants to land.  Here they can speak Chinese, buy foods imported from all provinces of China and find a reasonable price logging.  It also has good public transport linked to different parts of City for their work.  No wonder the house price in San Francisco is comparatively speaking stable. Every year the 15th of August in Lunar Calendar is Mid-Autumn Festival.  This year it falls on today, September 12, 2011 that is one day after the 9/11.  In spite of the potential danger of going out on 9/11, lots and lots of people still enjoyed walking.

I feel very grateful that my son, unlike other teenagers, did not share the not so good American culture of “independence” and still willing to walk the fair together with me.  He enjoyed watching all different Chinese cultural stuff and volunteered helping to carry the “goodies” I bought.  I remember when I was at his age, 14, I did not have the concept of going out with parents is shameful or sign of independence.  The big issue in the American education is lack of moral training.  I can understand this might be difficult of USA is the mixing pot and people from different cultures barely mixed like salad.  However, there are some special moral concept about relationship between parents and children from China that categorize that children should pay special respect to parents and elderly.  I have followed this concept and I never talked back to my parents even though I did not agree to their points of view sometimes.

Putting on my hat of “realtor”, it is truly amazing how the real estate price had been supported by streams of new immigrants.  I have many clients who literally shipped their money from China to buy real estate properties in San Francisco and nearby cities.  No wonder, the house price at the Sunset district of San Francisco seems have not dropped much, maximum 20% which is nothing in comparison with other places.

Thank you for checking in with my blog and feel free to contact me if you have any real estate needs or opinions about this blog.

Mr Sing Dao Contest 2011

Recently I encouraged my son Gene to enter the Mr Sing Tao Contest 2011.  At first, he had no idea of what it was and after he googled it, his comment was this was really si-si.  Anyway, he noticed my response and how happy I was picturing him enter into the competition and agreed to try.

I remembered one famous Hong Kong actor once said at the Prize Award Ceremony,” if I were the winner, the competition was very fair, if not, it was not.”  I 100% agreed to this point of view.  Who won as the Mr Sing Dao was very subjective to the judges but who won the Mr Physical, however, was very objective.  Gene has been working out everyday for the past few years in preparation for his “fighter dream” and this led him to get his first award of Mr Physical.  He had completed the 3 different physical trial and had been the champion on the first two, lifting the most up within 30 seconds the heavy ball and jumped the most times on the heavy rope in 30 seconds (I had counted for him, of course).  I was so happy that he enjoyed it and I enjoyed it.

It had taken up a lot of time for rehearsal etc. but I would say this was also a very positive experience.  He told me that he did not have stage fright or maybe he had conquered that.  He is also the final 3 competitors in the talent competition.  He performed playing drum but did not perform well enough.  Maybe the set up time was too short (1 minute allowed for setting up the whole drum set) and Gene had to move his stool in the middle of the performance.  Anyway, according to his knowledge, all competitors would only win one prize and since he already won the Mr Physical, he could not be Mr Talent.

Mr Sing Dao, 2011 Nathan Ng

The Mr. Sing Tao came out to be the guy who posted the not so good looking picture in the newspaper (not photogenic, maybe).  However, I knew that he had prepared well and had been very thoughtful.  He gave one dozen roses to the audience during the cat walk and had answered the question tactfully and humorously (has the ability to entertain the audience which is the essence of this kind of competition).  I also have to praise Mr Talent, Grant Lim.  He had joined the Mr Sing Dao Contest 2010 but still came back to try the second time.  He must have a lot of confidence in himself.  I like this “not giving up” attitude.

Mr Talent, Grant Lim

On the whole, I would say this is a fair competition as I totally have no relationship with Sing Tao Newspaper or Sing Tao Radio Chanel.

Image via Wikipedia

The tuition fee for overseas student at the public or private universities could range 3 to 10 times of the local students with American identity.  However, if these overseas student gain  their local identity by becoming an investor immigrant, the fee they saved for those 4 years tuition could be as much as their minimum investment amount which is $500,000 easily.  Worth it or not?

Let us take a look.  The immigration attorneys typically will charge 10% of the total investment which maybe justified as they have to follow up with the process for up to 3 year long.  However, looking at the current real estate market, many properties had fallen to the 2000 level.  Again this have to be dependent on the location.

Lafayette is a  prestigous district that is only half an hour drive from UC Berkeley.  The medium price of Lafayette has dropped 23% from the year of 2006.  In the year 2006, the medium price is $16,141,000 and in the year 2011, the medium price is $1,240,000 and the lowest possible sold price is $820,000 which is never possible to find in the year 2006.

Overseas investors:  maybe this is your golden chance to invest in America NOW.

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

Hello my dear readers, please answer the following questions without peeking the answers first.

1.  Short Sale means the selling price is shorter than the seller’s loan amount, yes or no?

2.  Short Sale takes a longer time to process because it involves more than the seller’s decision, yes or no?

3.  Short Sale requires seller’s lender’s approval and this decision usually means the Bank, yes or no?

4.  The sold price of Short Sale property is lower than the fair market value, yes or no?

5.  Fair market value means the selling price of similar properties sold in similar locations within 3 months, yes or no?

6.  The parties involve in the Short Sale are: sellers, listing agents, buyers, buyer’s agents, seller’s lending institution, yes or no?

Do you get all yes?  So did I before I attended the Short Sales Seminar hosted by Chinese Real Estate Associationof America (CREAA) and presented by Elena Celestine of Bank of America today.

The answer to question no. 3 is no because while most people think that the seller’s bank has the major power to decide whether to approve the short sale transaction, in reality, the bank is only a third party who carry out the instructions from the investors behind the loan.   This also explain the complex communication path.  The listing agent has to negotiate with the “loan mitigation department” of the bank but the assigned negotiator is usually only a middle person and has to pass the information  to the investors.  Therefore, this is an extremely complex negotiation and it is more than what ordinary people think in the communication path.

The answer to question no.4 is yes and no.  Technically all sellers will not want their properties sold below fair market price and so do the seller’s lender.  However, market price is very dynamic and is determined by many factors.  Therefore, not only short sale properties, but all properties can be sold at market price, below market price or above market price.  Basically short sale properties and real estate own properties will involve more than one formal appraisals – one from the seller’s lender and one from the buyer’s lender.

The answer to question 6 is no because at least one more party will be involved, that is the investors.

1. yes    2. yes    3. no    4. yes or no    5. yes    6. no

Image via Wikipedia

It is too easy to feel blue, down, discouraged and think in a negative way.  Whenever this is going to happen to me, I will turn myself to my “Happy Diary” .  I would brainstorm everything that I should feel happy about and write them down.

Here are a few things that I can easily think of.  Let me give you an example of today.

1.  It is a sunny day with clear sky, blue sky, white cloud.

2.  I have more clothes that I need whenever I open my closet, how rich am I.

3.  My kids are growing and they are healthy.

4.  I spare some time practice “Tai Chi”.

5.  I really look at least 10 years younger and I feel at least 20 years younger.

How about you?  What is your today’s happy diary?

I am a “happy” real estate agent who can help you move into a happy home.  Please feel free to visit or contact me.

Thank you for checking in.

Image via Wikipedia

I have never thought of the difficulty of filling up the choice of school form.  When I was a student, the first time I faced it, I was only 12 years old but my parent let me make the choice.  So I fill out the school from their commonly known ranking as my choice.  That is, the school that has the highest academic score be the first choice and then next and so on.  I was sent to my 13th choice because my result of the public exam I took was bad.  But if I were smart enough, I should have chosen the sister school of my elementary school.  That school did not rank the highest but is definitely a good school and much better than the one I was sent to.  This was my choice of school story in Hong Kong.

Many, many years past.  I choice the school for my son.  Instead of making all the choices, I only made one, Rooftop Alternative School.  If my boy could not go to that particular school, I would send him to a private school.  Fortunately, he got into it and more fortunately, he likes it, enjoys it all the years from kindergarten to 8th grade.

According to the school counsellor, every student should have 3 plans: choices of public school, choices of chartered/alternative schools and private schools.  My son has opted out all chartered schools and I have opted out private schools.  Although private schools offer sliding scales for people who cannot afford full fare, most students are from rich families and the feeling or the threat of being ”high-nosed” by the schoolmates are high.  Choosing schools are not solely to get the best acadmemic or other programs, it is also about choosing learning environment and other psychological reasons.  My son agrees with me at this point.  So he chose several schools that he was interested in and shadowed them.  He made his choice accordingly.

I have interviewed several parents about how they did they fill in their forms and got these answers:  one only filled in 4 public schools and all of them were hot and popular, her son finally got into the last choice: the other one filled in 3 schools but repeatedly filled in all these 3 to take up the spaces of choices.  My fear is if I did not put in any one of the less popular school, my son may be thrown to the least wanted school.  Therefore, my son agreed to fill in one rising but not popular neighborhood school.  To be continued . . .

Thank you for checking in.

Tina To, realtor serving San Francisco and Peninsular for 20 years+

Image via Wikipedia

Just turn on the “Printer” and here you go, the money that we need.  Is it just that simple?

How about cutting tax for the higher income group to trade for the extension of another year of unemployment payment? 

Recently, I called one of my potential buyer who ended up not buying because of unemployment.  She still had that much of downpayment handy but can no longer qualify for any loan.  She is an experienced dentist assistant and I do not expect less people will see a dentist because the economy is bad.  If you have serious toothache, no matter what, you will see a dentist.  But what about that periodic cleaning or minor toothache, can you go without it?  Oh yes.  So her boss has to cut cost and so do many other businesses.  Instead of hiring full time employee, many firms fired the permanent staff and replace them with the temporary staff.  Of course, no fringe benefits, no 401K, no medical insurance payment, these add up figures help.  Now what?  Why should the unemployed work the part time job, being deducted the hard earned money from their unemployment benefits?  So, it ends up while business people try to survive by cutting cost but the unemployment money take away their part time helpers.  18 months are long enough and now another year, no kidding.

My prospect actually turned down many part time jobs.  She did not want to work for nothing.  What I mean is the money she earn from the part time job will be deducted from her unemployment paid.  So she only look for permanent position and so are thousand of many others.

Thank you for checking in.

What do you think?  The latest figure is 64% of population can now afford to buy a house but not so many people are really buying.  Why?  Will tell you next time.

Tina To – agent with heart, serving San Francisco Bay Area

Image by Emery Co Photo via Flickr

Have you winterized your home yet?  How about change your aged single pane windows into the updated double pane and keep your home a little warmer and in the meantime obtain a tax deductible amount up to $1500 for your federal tax?

If so, you need to hurry to do so before December 31, 2010.  For details please visit

http://www.energystar.gov/

Source from: C.A. R. Newsline

Thank you for checking in with me.

 

If you have a child at 8th grade like I do, you should be busy helping your child to enter his appropriate high school.  Most parents like myself have already got some help from the school counsellor or teachers or administrators of your child’s current school.  Having made a mistake with my elder son in choosing his high school, this time, I am spending more time to do my research.  Usually we (my son and I) can check schools through 3 ways:

1.  To check the websites of different schools

2.  To go to the school Open House

3.  Shadowing – shadowing means let your child shadow one student of the high school and join all the daily school regular activities including attending classes, go to recess, taking lunch etc.

There are basically 3 types of schools that all parents should consider.

1.  Public school – in San Francisco, Lowell High School ranks academically way higher than all other public school and will only consider straight A students application in their first round of “lottery” and then open to the second round of lottery which will include students from ALL – basically giving chance to those “handicapped” financially, academically, socially, racially.   There are also other highly favored public school boosted by their good academic results or other specialties.  For example, School of the Arts hold a very high Arts standard requirement beside academic results.  All candidates has to passed their board of examiners to study their chosen Arts area.  If your child plays piano very well and choose piano as their arts subject, then your child has to play one prepared piece (by memory) and then another piece by sight but was given by the examiner with no advance preparations allowed.  I have more insight of School of the Arts because my elder boy is graduated from there last year.

2.  Charter Schools – Charter Schools are public schools but have an independent administrative power to run their school in their own ways.  It is like an experimental school and usually starts from a small one.  For example, my younger boy’s current school , Rooftop, can also be considered as a Charter but it is named as alternative.  It is different from other public school in many ways.  First, the size is very small.  Each grade only has 60 students and at kindergarten and elementary level, each class has 20 students.  The students come from every where throughout San Francisco.  In addition to “standard” academic subjects, there are gardening, sensory motors and many different arts which usually integrated into the academic subject as well.  Rooftop originally starts from the roof only.  The recent Hot charter school is Gateway High School.  This year, Gateway also introduce its middle school.  However, if you are interested please check www.gatewayhigh.org.

3.  Private school

Each student can apply separately public school, charter school and private school.  In this way, your child will have at least 3 choices.  For me and my son we are still in the process of investigating different public and charter schools.  We have opted out private school for financial reasons.  Although there are scholarships or grants could be applied for students who like to attend private schools, I would not like my son to feel inferior.  By looking at the questionaires of the private schools and also Gateway High School, I feel that my son is not applying school, instead he is more like applying a very important job in the adult world.  The way both Toby and I interpretate the question is how can Toby and I contribute to Gateway so they may consider accept Toby.  What is good about Toby so that Gateway should take him as his student.  It sounds so ridiculous.  Also I do not believe the so called “lottery system”.  Lottery is just an excuse for the school to turn down one particular student’s application.

Schools play an extremely important role in the house price when the enrollment is giving priority to local residents but this had been slightly changed in the past few years.  I am a full time real estate agent and truly understand how the parent feel and will do for their children.  If you have any questions regarding schools or real estate, please contact me so that we can discuss.

Thank you for checking in.

Tina To