RE Investing

Nov 13

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Facts and numbers to keep perspective!

By Mirjam | Economy, Financial news, Interest rates, RE by the numbers, RE Investing | No Comments

Some people have compared the current financial turbulence to the 1930’s and other ‘black days’. Some facts to know:

More than 1000 banks closed in 1930 – only 14 U.S. banks have been taken over in 2008
There are 76 million households in the U.S. that own their home – 24 million of these homes are free and clear
There are 52 million homes with mortgages – 97.2% of these are not in foreclosure, 93.8% of these homes are current on their payments

On a sobering note:

Over 20% of homeowners with a mortgage owe more than their home is worth
40% of all foreclosures are non-owner occupied

How did we get here?

Resale numbers – the above does not include new home sales.

Sources: Wall Street Journal / Moody’s Economy.com / RealtyTrac / NAR / Forbes

Do you see the problem and thus the predicament we’re in? Something had to happen one way or the other. Of course no one wanted it to be this bad. Let’s see what’s going to happen the coming time. In the mean time, Pat Kitano has a great way of keeping us informed –

In the mean time, it’s an excellent time to buy real estate!

Mirjam

Sep 15

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Golden State Venture Capital Network, Venture Communities

By Mirjam | Economy, RE Investing, Sonoma County info | No Comments

Need Funding? Are you an investor? Need information about how “funding” works for your company’s growth? See www.goldencapital.net for the latest information about their virtual venture communities.

There are 8 communities in the network:

Golden Capital Network

Golden Capital Network fuels innovation, entrepreneurship and investment capital networks by

Assisting and coaching companies to become more “investment ready”
Connecting companies to accredited angel and venture capital investors
Sourcing company deal flow to investors
Fostering entrepreneurial networks in forward-thinking communities for economic development
Providing early stage capital for companies

Venture Communities ignites entrepreneurship and investing by connecting innovative companies, early stage investors and forward thinking communities.

Venture Communities is part of the Golden Capital Network, where over 1000 companies have raised over $1.3 billion in capital from accredited angels and venture capital firms since 1999.

Venture Communities Online is a virtual community where companies, investors, talent , media and other high-value participants create individual and company profiles to share knowledge, make connections, distribute milestone news and get involved in innovation-focused events in their region and throughout the network.

Venture Communities provides:

Networking and connections for companies, investors, advisors and communities across regions, industries and disciplines
Access to exclusive content and coaching for growth entrepreneurs, angel investors, policy-makers
Event updates and special VIP registration offers for all events and activities happening in the Venture Communities network

Members of the network engage in different ways to get the most from Venture Communitie:

Growth Companies

Send news about your company throughout the entire GCN subscriber network
Invite investors and advisors to view your profile and inquire about their interest in your company
Upload a two-minute video elevator pitch and other documents as part of your profile
Apply to present at a VIP registration rate at future GCN events
Apply to the Golden Capital Venture Fund
Keep tabs on upcoming events, networking opportunities and other entrepreneur-investor focused activities in your region and throughout the entire Venture Communities network.

Investors

Keep periodic tabs on companies you see at GCN live or virtual events you think might be interesting, but who aren’t a fit right now
Send news about your fund, investing group or portfolio companies through the GCN subscriber network

Advisors and Service Providers

Create an advisor profile to connect with your advisory group and add value to your most promising companies.

Individuals

Create a Community Member profile to receive newsfeeds, manage your watchlist, keep tabs on innovation entrepreneurship by industry, region or events

NEXT EVENT:

November 14 2008 in Santa Rosa

May 25

0

You first home is free!

By Mirjam | Buyers, Economy, RE by the numbers, RE Investing | No Comments

George Houghton a CPA in town who is specialized in Real Estate gave a seminar this Friday. His concepts on Real Estate and Real Estate investing in the Bay area are profound and supported by numbers. Please remember, these are concepts, give or take a few years.

Rules of inflation (excluding high tech stuff and salary) : every 30 years add a zero. Think about the value in gold, rent, ticket to the movies etc

For Real Estate: every 10 years values double , every 30 years ad a zero.

Your first house is free. You have to live somewhere and if you take the cost of renting a home, compare that to all the tax benefits of owning a home, it’s almost the same. Rent is paid to someone else, mortgage is paid ‘to yourself’. Of course this does not work for a million dollar home but for an entry level/median home.

Every rental cost about 10% of the value. Yes, this is true, think about it, I look forward to your reaction!

And last but not least: every $10K spend on a car is the same as $100,000 is Real Estate and 1 million in retirement… I know you have to enjoy life but it gives something to think about an spend more consciously.

By the way: George Houghton wrote a book: Unleash the power of Real Estate.

Have a great weekend!

Mirjam (mirjam@c21alliance.com)

May 18

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Green living in Sonoma County

By Mirjam | Buyers, RE Investing, Sonoma County info, Visit WineCountry, Wine, Winery with picnic place | No Comments

Did you see the new homes at Bridge Trail at the North Village ? It’s developed by Hugh Futrell, a great developer who does unusual projects. He also build The Burbank on seventh street in Santa Rosa. Both developments have something special. All the homes at Bridge Trail come with solar panels a great way to lower your PG&E bill, actually there are tax rebates that can be claimed too!

The homes in the newer subdivisions are built on small lots (post stamp lots), the beauty of the Bridge Trail projects that it comes with open space/trails, kids will be able to walk to the Jack London Elementary and Piner Olivet Charter Middle school. And don’t forget the North Village club community center with pool gym etc.

The homes are priced in the low $400K range, should you be looking for a new home: there is lots of value that come with these homes. Tell them Mirjam de Rijk sent you and say hi to Stan and Juan.

Yesterday’s Wine club party at Seghesio Winery in Healdsburg was great, 400 pounds of crawfish was flown in from New Orleans (Peter’s wife comes from New Orleans) and that was served cajun style with red potatoes, corn and sausage. It came with Gumbo, that was absolutely the best I had.Last time I mentioned the 2004 Venom, a Sangiovese from Rattle snake hill (sold to members only), this time I need to tell you about Defiant, a new wine that will come out next year. Peter shared some of it to sample: it is still very young but already delicious and my expectations are extremely high for when it come out next year. It’s a mix from some Italian vines, will have to ask again what’s in it since I did not write it down.

Oh, Seghesio is also a great place for a picnic: enjoy you picnic with a great glass of wine while enjoying a nice game of Bocce. It doesn’t come better than that: Sonoma County living at it’s best!

Have a great day!

Mirjam (707-486-2638)

May 10

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Foreclosures …

By Mirjam | Buyers, Financial news, Foreclosure, RE by the numbers, RE Investing, Sonoma County info, Wine Tasting | No Comments

With so much said in the news about foreclosures and short sales just some facts.

At this moment the bank owned properties are selling well, the lower price range of our market is selling, some bank owned properties were priced so low that they had more than 20 offers on them and I know of one property ( NW Santa Rosa) that went into escrow $100,000 over asking. It will be interesting to see the numbers when these transactions close.

Financial Title did sent me enclosed stat, an overview of the sub prime ARM’s that will mature the coming months/are maturing now. Sorry to say that quite a bit of these will end up as foreclosure. Banks are only interested to sell these properties as fast as they can.

While you have to be careful buying these (use a good Realtor), they are excellent opportunities for investors and buyers. Should you like to be on my ‘opportunities watch list’, just send me and email with your contact info so I can set you up. By the way, not only bank owned properties are great deals, sometimes a regular sale might be a better deal.

We are going to have a wonderful weekend, great for touring around Sonoma County an enjoy some wines. I did meet Pat Maier at the Chamber Expo this week, she was pouring an excellent 2005 Cabernet. Check out their website, you have to make an appointment to taste their wines, they are also available at some great restaurants in town (one was Willi’s Wine bar in Larkfield).

Have a wonderful weekend!

Mirjam (mirjam@C21alliance.com)