Benefits and Perils of the Bay Area High Speed Rail
On November 5, 2008 California voters approved Proposition 1A (the Safe, Reliable High-Speed Passenger Train Bond Act) to establish a clean, efficient high-speed train service linking Southern California, the Sacramento San Joaquin Valley, and the San Francisco Bay Area. Click>here for the California High Speed Rail Authority proposed routes and some interesting trip…
FEMA Flood Hazard Maps for SCC Updated
Today, May 18, 2009, revised Flood Hazard Maps from FEMA go into effect for Santa Clara County. Flood insurance is generally required for federally backed mortgages on homes within a “Special Flood Hazard Area”, also called a “100-year flood” zone. The revised FEMA maps will expand the 100-year flood zone…
First Time Home Buyer Help
FEDERAL STIMULUS ACT – President Obama has signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 which resets the conforming loan limit cap at $729,750, up from $625,500. These loan limits will remain in effect through Dec. 31, 2009. This has been approved for some time now, but finally last…
Plan B for Low Appraisals
The pendulum regarding real estate appraisals has swung to the opposite extreme compared with the lax attitude that was rampant a couple of years ago. First, it is important to understand that appraisals are just “quesstimates” and the process is not an “exact science”, even though the process is guided…
Getting The Most Out of your Client Organizer
If you are one of my homebuyer clients, I have probably set up an automatic Home Search for you through my website www.RickBonetti.com. You will have also received an email from me with you username and password and a link to log on to your Client Organizer where you may…
$10,000 California Tax Credit for New Construction
As part of the 2009 budget, California lawmakers approved a provision allocating state funds for a tax credit of up to $10,000 for buyers of newly built homes. To qualify for the $10,000 tax credit home buyers must purchase a new home between March 1, 2009 and March 1, 2010.…
Real Estate Stimulus
Hardly zero Dollars!!! The House of Representatives today passed a $787 billion stimulus bill aimed at resuscitating the U.S. economy, approving it on a largely party-line vote of 246 to 183. So much for bi-partisan cooperation. 176 Republicans voted against the bill, joined by 7 Democrats; no Republicans voted in…
Downtown San Jose Residences Rising
Now emerging in the downtown (SoFA district) San Jose landscape is a new 23 story luxury High-Rise project called 360 Residences, with 213 homes for sale, ranging in price from the mid $500K’s to over $2 million. Condominiums range in size from 795 to 3,440 sf. Scheduled completion is next year (Spring 2009). There is…
