Eva Bradley's Blog

This is what you will hear from realtors in the following weeks, all over the country:  The time to buy a house is now! 

Interest rates are at historical low levels, home prices are very affordable; it just doesn’t get any better than this.  If you were waiting for the bottom, this is it!

Please read the article below; NAR (National Association of Realtors) finally has some good news to report on the housing front: 

Big gain on existing homes sales

Mello-Roos Taxes

Mello-Roos taxes are assessed to special tax districts, known as Mello-Roos Districts or Community Facilities Districts, for the purpose of financing public services and/or facilities including streets, police protection, fire protection, elementary schools, parks, libraries, museums, and cultural facilities.

California State Senator Henry Mello and Assemblyman Mike Roos spearheaded the successful passage of the Mello-Roos Community Facilities District Act in 1982. The Act passed in response to Proposition 13 (enacted in 1978), which limited the ability of local governments and developers to finance new projects.

Mello Roos District
The Mello-Roos act authorized any county, city, special district, school district or joint powers of authority to create a Mello Roos District with approval of a two-thirds margin of qualified voters in the district.

Property Owners
The Mello Roos District can issue bonds to pay for public improvements. The district’s property owners are responsible for payment of a “special tax” to repay these bonds. The act allows for considerable flexibility on how the special tax is calculated. The calculation often takes into account property characteristics such as square footage of the home and parcel size. Typically, the tax is included with your general property tax bill.

Time Limit
The special Mello-Roos tax stays in effect as long as needed to repay the principal and interest on the special bond along with any reasonable administrative costs. The Mello Roos tax may not stay in effect for a period longer than 40 years.

Property Sale
An increased value of the property does not affect the amount of the tax when property is sold.

Where in Tracy?   Homes built before 1982 are free of Mello Ross Taxes. In newer areas of Tracy a couple of home builders paid all Mello Ross taxes in advance, so homeowners don’t have to worry about it.  Please feel free to contact me if you would like to know which areas in Tracy are without Mello Ross taxes.                                                                     

Avoid Holiday Theft

Although we’d like to believe the holidays bring out peace on earth and good will towards men (as the Christmas carol goes), the weeks between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day tend to be a prime season for criminals. During this busy time of year, you can take some easy precautions to prevent becoming a victim of theft. Consider the following safety tips:

When holiday shopping:

• Don’t park in unlit areas at night.
• Put your shopping bags in your trunk. Don’t try to cover items on your seats with a blanket. Better yet, take your packages straight home after a shopping spree and then go back out.
• Don’t carry large amounts of cash with you, or else, keep it in your front pocket not in your purse or wallet.
• Be extra careful when carrying a purse – they are the prime targets of criminals in crowded shopping areas. If you must carry one, make sure it has a strap that can go over the shoulder and be held under the arm, making them more difficult for purse snatchers to grab.
• Keep a record of all of your credit card numbers in a safe place at home.
• Beware of strangers approaching you. This is the time of year when thieves may try various methods to distract you with the intention of taking your money or belongings.

At home:

• When leaving home for an extended time, have a neighbor or family member watch your house and pick up your newspapers and mail.
• Leave a light on when you leave your home at night or put your lights (including Christmas lights) on an automatic timer.
• Make sure your holiday gifts are not visible through the windows and doors of your home.
• Never say you are away from home on the outgoing message on you answering machine or voice mail. Simply say you are unable to get answer the phone at the time.

During the holidays, many people can become careless and vulnerable to theft and other holiday crime. Protecting yourself and your home from potential crime is the easiest way to ensure a safe and happy holiday season.

Here are some more tips:

• Never ever sit in your car without looking in the backseat area.
• Always be aware of your surroundings.
• Snap or zip up your hand bag.
• Do not ever roll down your car window for anyone.

Have fun shopping this Holyday Season, but remember: better be safe than sorry.

In my opinion, this is a step in the right direction, taken by Fannie Mae.  I can only hope that other lenders will follow this.  It will help homeowners to stay in their homes after the foreclosure and at the same time it will stabilize neighborhoods and keep homes in better shape.

Read the full story here: http://bit.ly/bxVq9

Please, ckeck out this monthly publication; it contains relevant information not only about mortgages and real estate in general, but good house keeping tips and other useful information as well. Please check out my October Newsletter.

If you have something in mind that could be included in the next month’s publication, please feel free to let me know about it.  I would be glad to insert it for you.

Once again, on September 10th of this year, Dennis Stewart with Realty World NCA gathered the agents who signed up for the prestiges Eagle course. The first week was all about getting used to each other and to Dennis’ rules.   Our assignments for the fourth week were to write an article about the Eagles. Instead of writing about the course, I decided that maybe it would be a good idea to introduce the group members individually as I see them.

 Meet the “Magnificent ourteen”:

Sue Langdon, she has to be the first not only because she is my broker, but also because Sue is one of the nicest people you can ever hope to meet.  Sue has her challenges to keep up with the ever evolving technology, but giving an extra effort to learn it.

Jennifer West: Jennifer is a very busy lady, her phone never stops ringing and she takes care of fifteen different things all at the same time, but you would never notice, because she always has a minute to listen to us. I don’t know how she does it…

Sharon Camilleri: Sharon always keeps a cool head and looking at things in a most logical way.

Susan Wilson: Susan never seems to run out of questions, which is a good thing, because that is how one can learn.

Debbie Rouhtier:  Although, Debbie’s challenge is to get up early in the morning, she almost always manages to come to the meetings on time.

Chiquita Redmond:  Chiquita looks, speaks and behaves as professional as one can be

Tony Sanchez: Tony has the most colorful personality; he makes jokes about everybody and everything

Sandy Frits: Sandy is the helping hand for Tony…..but she doesn’t seem to mind.  Sandy is always smiling, always friendly – great attitude.

Steve Davis: Steve is an admirable person with an admirable family…sends out emails to everybody.

Randy Elliott: Randy’s jokes and funny remarks are coming to him so naturally and easy, along with many good ideas.

Cameron Riegel: Cameron is the tallest man in the room, friendly and very professional.

Darryl Manson: the quite guy…Darryl knows more than what he makes us believe he does.

Yulanda Ong: she has a really nice personality. Yulanda brings goodies for everybody, which is very much appreciated  

Oh, and me, Eva Bradley: eager to apply all the new technology that Realty World provides, to differentiate us and helps us rise above all the other real estate companies.

Well, here we all are, learning to spread our wings, as young eagles do.  Hopefully, by the end of this course, we all will be soaring in the skies and looking at our business from a total different perspective.  We all owe a big thank you to Dennis Stewart and a big thanks to Realty World NCA to help us reach and supersede our performances as Realtors® and to provide the highest level of customer service our clients deserve.