San Francisco Real Estate - Janice Lee

WASHINGTON President Barack Obama moved Wednesday to make it cheaper for first-time and younger buyers to take out a mortgage. Obama lowered the mortgage-insurance premium for borrowers who have a down payment of just 3.5 percent of the home’s purchase price and finance the rest of the purchase with a loan backed by the Federal Housing Administration. The reduction is expected to save the typical first-time homebuyer an average of $900 a year on the insurance, the White House said. The insurance is required because they’re financing so much of the purchase and the loans are riskier. Existing homeowners who refinance into an FHA mortgage will see similar reductions, the White House said. The White House estimated that the change will help 800,000 homeowners save on their mortgages and 250,000 new buyers save on mortgage payments over the next three years. Obama, expected to highlight the lower-cost mortgages Thursday during a visit to Arizona, has been under pressure from the housing se...

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Janice Lee 415-832-9151 JaniceFLee@gmail.com www.JaniceLeeHomes.com BRE #01720205

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San Francisco's tech industry rush has translated into a golden commercial real estate industry with high office rents and big sale prices, but now there are concerns about where the nation's hottest market is headed. During a 10-month period from July 2012 to April, 48 properties valued at $20 million or more exchanged hands — illustrating the strength of the market and how San Francisco ended up with higher-than-expected property-sales taxes. The sale prices of those properties totaled more than $4.5 billion, with 15 fetching more than $100 million and the 48-story tower at 101 California St. going for $910 million. "San Francisco has recently been the healthiest office market in the U.S. thanks to the tech boom, and that health has attracted significant investor demand, including overseas capital," said Jed Reagan, an analyst with the Newport Beach-based commercial real estate consulting firm Green Street Advisors. This level of activity has not been seen since fis...

While homeownership numbers may be down, Americans continue to believe that owning a home is still a good decision even as mortgage rates have changed. According to the National Association of Realtors 2013 National Housing Pulse Survey, eight in 10 people believe that purchasing a home is a good choice and 68% believe that now is a good time to make a purchase. Since the last survey in 2011, renters who are contemplating a home purchase rose from 25% to 36% while those who stated they prefer to rent fell from 31% to 25%. More than half of the renters surveyed stated that one of their highest priorities is owning a home, up to 51% from 42%. According to the most recent survey of wholesale and direct lenders performed by FreeRateUpdate.com,  current conforming 30 year fixed mortgage rates are as low as 3.875% (APR 4.052%), 15 year fixed mortgage interest rates are as low as 2.750% (APR 3.168%) and 5/1 adjustable mortgage rates are as low as 2.375% (APR 2.628%). Low rates are avail...

A new generation is skipping the 'starter home' and betting heavily on high-end real estate.  Two years ago, when he was 26, Matt Winter paid a little over $1 million for a four-bedroom, Mediterranean-style house in Culver City, an artsy, formerly industrial section of Los Angeles. This month, the now 28-year-old Mr. Winter, who runs his own interior design firm, paid about $1.7 million for his second home, a three-bedroom, Spanish-revival in Westwood, a neighborhood near UCLA.    "I have always felt that having your money in property is the safest and best thing to do if you want to grow your personal wealth," says Mr. Winter, who founded his design company at 23. None of Mr. Winter's assets are in the stock market—he says the market "spooks him" and that he prefers to invest in real estate. Mr. Winter is part of a growing group of wealthy young buyers who are making inroads in the world of high-end real estate, acquiring properties...

One phrase sums up the current Bay Area home-buying experience: "We were beat out by a deep-pocketed investor." Around the region, absentee buyers are muscling out the competition by ponying up all cash for investment homes. These real estate investors range from the new kids on the block - brand-new companies backed with serious Wall Street money - to contractors rehabbing "handyman specials" and retirees augmenting their nest eggs. While some are in the market to "fix and flip," increasingly investors have been buying single-family homes and condos to "hold and rent." Simple economics lured them. Post-downturn, houses are cheaper than they've been in years. At the same time, droves of folks need places to rent, because either they've lost their homes to foreclosure, they can't meet newly strict lending standards or their job situation is precarious. "Investors looked at the numbers and saw it's clearly a good financia...