Archive for March, 2008

Raymond Stoklosa

Top Three Home Financing Mistakes

Are you making a financing mistake? Take a quick look and see if your financing plan is really a good idea… Mistake #1. The most common mistake is looking for a home without really knowing how much you can afford to spend. The amount you can pay for a home depends on your income, the [...]

Raymond Stoklosa

What home inspections do I need as a San Mateo County home seller?

If you are getting ready to sell your house, you have probably heard a little bit about inspections. What exactly are they, though, and which inspections do you really need? Inspections are a relatively easy way to limit the seller’s liability. In San Mateo County, California, it has become common practice for home sellers to [...]

Raymond Stoklosa

Can I Get a Bargain Price with a San Mateo Short Sale?

I have received several email questions about short sales. The reader asked: “Can I get a good deal, a bargain priced home in a short sale?” Not a surprising question considering the increasing number of loan defaults and foreclosures hitting the market. First of all, what is a short sale? Simply, it’s a situation where [...]

Raymond Stoklosa

The New Bay Area Mortgage Market

Good news for Bay Area home buyers and particularly those looking to buy in cities such as San Mateo, Belmont, San Carlos, Foster City and Burlingame.  The economic stimulus package passed by Congress is effective immediately and it includes a temporary provision that increases both the FHA and Conforming Loan limits to a possible high [...]

Raymond Stoklosa

Loan Scam Alert!

It’s back! We’ve heard reports that the old “lender servicing scam” has been showing up lately and it works like this. A home owner with a mortgage loan receives an official looking letter instructing him or her to direct all future mortgage payments to a new loan servicing agent. (A loan servicer is an entity [...]