Assuming you have $250,000 for a downpayment (not including closing costs), it is less expensive to buy this $1,050,000 fourplex to owner-occupy than it is to buy a comparable single family home. How?

2334 Curtis St

The upstairs “owner’s unit” has 2+Br/2Ba, with approx. 1,248 sq ft of living space.

Purchase Price: $1,050,000

Downpayment: $ 250,000

Loan Amount: $ 800,000

Interest Rate: 5.875% (30 year fixed, 0 points)

Monthly Payment (P+I) $ 4,732

Property Taxes (T) $ 1,532

Insurance (I) $ 150

TOTAL PITI $ 6,414/mo

Less existing rents $ (3,646/mo)

Effective Monthly Cost $ 2,768/mo

Compared to

2 -3 Bedroom/2 Ba single family home in the same neighborhood, in roughly the same move-in condition, would cost you approx. $625,000 today.

Purchase Price: $625,000

Downpayment: $250,000

Loan Amount: $375,000

Interest Rate: 5.75% (30 yr fixed, 0 points)

Monthly Payment (P+I) $ 2,188

Property Taxes (T) $ 912

Insurance (I) $ 100

TOTAL PITI $ 3,200/mo

Effective Monthly Cost $ 3,200/mo

Loan terms were provided by Ted Maniatis at MPR Financial. (510) 527-6146.

These rates were available on Friday Feb 8, 2008 but are subject to change.

The slogan of Pacific Union GMAC Real Estate reads “Service you Deserve”. I can’t help but wonder how this works with clients that have low self esteem, or even self loathing. These people have a day-to-day belief that they don’t deserve anything good. Or how about the criminal or sociopath that likes himself just fine but is really evil. He might deserve to be hung from a tree. So if these folks go to Pacific Union, will they live up to their slogan?

Brett Weinstein

Here’s a frustrating circumstance: I get an offer on one of my listings but one of the two seller clients has seemingly gone out of town without telling anyone and is not picking up his messages! It’s a perfectly good offer, by which I mean it is counter-able, and the one seller I’ve been able to reach is ready to sign. But without his partner, we are dead in the water! I’ve asked the buyers to be patient and that I do expect to give them a formal response. I just can’t say when.

This is very off-putting to the buyer because it reminds him of what happened on the last offer he made on a property: the seller’s agent stalled giving the buyer a response while “shopping” their offer around to other prospective buyers, i.e. telling other buyers how much the received offer was for, with the idea of getting even higher bids. The buyer got wind of this activity (which is perfectly legal but not particularly nice) and decided to pull his offer altogether.

In this case, no such thing is happening. One of my sellers is simply AWOL. But I can understand the buyer’s frustration and realize that unless we respond soon, he may very well move on to another property. All I can do is ask for his patience.

Of course, I hope that everything is ok with my client. Ah, just another day in the life of a real estate broker.

Brett Weinstein

The Emperor Has No Clothes!

Does the name of the “For Sale” sign in front of a house make any difference in its sale price? The truthful answer is, of course, no. A company doesn’t sell a house—an agent does. And there are good agents and not-so-good agents and any given company is going to have some of both. But the fact remains that there are some sellers who make their choice of who to list with based on the company name.
I guess it boils down to the mystique of “branding.” On any objective basis, there often is no qualitative difference between one product and another. In fact, in some cases two differently branded products come from the same factory, produced to the same exact specifications. The only difference is the name on the label, and a 500% difference in price! It never ceases to amaze me that some people will pay such premiums, not for any assurance of inherent quality, but simply for the snob appeal of a name.

In real estate, a similar phenomenon occurs. Some companies spend millions of dollars to brand themselves as the Gucci of companies. List your house with us, they say, because our name is synonymous with high class, and high class will attract a higher paying buyer. Newsflash: the emperor has no clothes! Houses aren’t sold this way. The majority of times, a buyer is represented by an agent from a different office. The buyer could care less who the listing agency is.

The best service comes from the best agent, period. Everything else is simply smoke and mirrors, or to borrow from Macbeth, “sound and fury, signifying nothing.”