Archive for June, 2008

Rebecca Williamson

Market Snapshot – The Perfect Tool for the San Mateo Home Buyer Too!

***I’m sick, but I’ll be back with your WSJ info on Friday. In the meantime, Rebecca will be giving you some technology advice. Thanks, Raymond*** My last post, Market Snapshot – The Perfect Tool for the San Mateo Home Owner, I described how a San Mateo home owner could use the Market Snapshot to stay [...]

Raymond Stoklosa

WSJ: New Agreement to Help Home Owners

I came across this article in the Wall Street Journal today, New Agreement Could Mean More Help for Homeowners. The article discusses the new agreement among the firms in the Treasury Department-backed Hope Now alliance to give borrowers more options to stay in their homes. It left me thinking, is the government and leading firms [...]

Raymond Stoklosa

How to Select a Buyer’s Agent

Many people come to me looking for advice on how to select a buyer’s agent. We told you how to select a listing agent in our post, Quick Guide to Interviewing Listing Agents. A Buyer’s Agent, however, is distinctly different by training, temperament and allegiance from a Listing Agent. While a Listing Agent’s job is [...]

Raymond Stoklosa

Housing Crunch, 90210 – San Mateo County View

While doing some reading yesterday, I came across this article at CNN Money: Housing Crunch, 90210. I found the statistics they quoted to be rather interesting. One interesting statistic was that Atherton, California was still posting a 5% gain in median housing prices. As I’ve been telling you, the Mid-Peninsula is holding fairly strong, but [...]

Raymond Stoklosa

How Much Earnest Money Should the San Mateo Home Buyer Put Down?

Here’s a question I get all the time from both buyers and sellers: How much should the buyer put up as an earnest money deposit? First off, let’s start with the basic question – what is an earnest money deposit? Earnest money is an amount of money that the buyer gives to the escrow agent, [...]