Free Home Buyer Seminar

Home Buying Seminar

Wednesday Nov. 10 - 6:00 P.M.
Location: 180 El Camino Real, San Bruno
Hosted by Lee Ginsburg and Wells Fargo Bank

One Person’s Loss, Is Your Window Of Opportunity!!!

·Learn How To Take Advantage of Today’s Real Estate Market. Yea!
· REO’s, Bank Owned Property, Foreclosures, Short Sales
· Qualifying For a Loan in Today’s Market. It’s not that bad.
· Low Down Payment Programs. Try 3.5% Down!
· Understand the Home Buying Process.
· Closing Costs, Inspections, Contingencies, Title Insurance.
· First Time Home Buyer Credits.
·Real Estate Auctions

Complimentary: Parking·Dinner· Home Buying Guide

There is NO CHARGE for this seminar. Pre-registration would be helpful. Guests and Walk-ins are welcomed. 877-Lee-Sells 533-7355 Or email lee@leesellsmore.com

Free Home Buyer Seminar

Foreclosure Baloney

I don't get this foreclosure moratorium stuff.

I don't understand why the press and politicians are putting so much into it. I can assure you the banks are not foreclosing on anyone current on their homes. Many of these home they are foreclosing on are vacant and some inhabitable.

A sad fact I heard recently is many homeowners are losing their homes due to medical bills. That should not be.

Making the banks review additional papers, re-file, and delay the inevitable is only getting revenge and that is not healthy. No good come out of that.

We should be putting pressure on the banks to modify the loans of homeowners who are good, honest, hard working people. Many of these people for whatever reason can't make payments at the current payment but can and want to make modified payments. I don't understand the need for a bank to go to the expense and foreclose on a home with a $500,000 loan and a month later sell the home to someone else for $300,000. The original owners would have been capable and extremely happy to make payments probably on $350,000. The banks would have been $50,000 + expenses better, with less property on the market values would be up protecting their equity in all their portfolio.

I have another idea to deal with this foreclosure cancer. Equity Share. Let the banks lower the principal and they share in the increase in equity with the bank getting the first 25% of any increase. This allows the bank to regain their loss and possibly make a profit. More important it keeps more people in their homes, and creates a lower inventory of homes for sale stabilizing and increasing home prices. With stable and increasing home prices it will eradicate the foreclosure cancer and increase the value of the homes already in the banks hands.

It sounds so simple. Why don't the politicians fight for that rather than trying to get revenge on the bank.

http://www.asianjournal.com/dateline-usa/15-dateline-usa/7268-california-officials-demand-foreclosure-moratorium.html

http://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/124533-foreclosure-moratorium-takes-center-stage-in-senate-battleground-states

www.leesellsmore.com

Foreclosure Baloney

Investing: Bay Area Real Estate Vs. The S&P

I personally have been investing in Bay Area real estate since I moved out here from Brooklyn in 1977. I have 75% of my assets invested in Bay Area Real Estate. Most of my remaining assets are invested in the stock market. I was curious which investment has had the best return on my investment over the last 20 years. Bay Area Real Estate has proven to produce an 8% greater return than the S&P over the last 20 years. Quite honestly I was expecting that number to be greater, but I am grateful, that with all of the ups and downs, I have made the right decision.

Let me quickly explain my numbers. I took a $100,000 investment in the S & P in 1990 and compared that to a $500,000 home purchase using the same $100,000, or the standard 20% down payment also in 1990. I am not a statistician so my numbers are rounded off and are deemed reliable, but certainly not guaranteed. These numbers are based on not selling and leaving it invested in an S&P index fund. Let me say if you paid cash for that same $500,000 home you would be substantially better off with investing in the S&P.

Please review the facts and would love your comments.

Year	S&P % CAGR *	$100,000 investment will be worth	Bay Area % Median Price Change *	$500,000 purchase with 20% down payment
1990	-3.42	$96,580	-0.005	$497,500
1991	30.94	$126,462	0.024	$509,440
1992	7.6	$136,073	-0.012	$503,326
1993	10.17	$149,911	-0.004	$501,313
1994	1.19	$151,695	0.022	$512,342
1995	38.02	$209,370	-0.004	$510,292
1996	23.06	$257,650	0.05	$535,807
1997	33.67	$344,400	0.072	$574,385
1998	28.73	$443,347	0.121	$643,886
1999	21.11	$536,937	0.131	$728,235
2000	-9.11	$488,022	0.253	$912,479
2001	-11.98	$429,557	0.046	$954,453
2002	22.27	$525,219	0.086	$1,036,536
2003	18.72	$623,540	0.077	$1,116,349
2004	10.82	$691,007	0.151	$1,284,918
2005	4.79	$724,106	0.115	$1,477,655
2006	15.74	$838,081	0.051	$1,553,016
2007	5.46	$883,840	0.071	$1,663,280
2008	-37.22	$554,874	-0.227	$1,452,043
2009	27.11	$705,301	-0.207	$1,151,470
	TOTAL GAIN	$605,301	TOTAL GAIN	$651,470

Tax consequences and principal pay down really need to be considered to compare real gains.

CAGR is the Compounded Annual Growth Return -http://www.moneychimp.com/features/market_cagr.htm

Bay Area Median Price from CAR Annual Historical Data Summary http://www.car.org/tools/smart/archive/2010ahds/ I consider Real Estate a safer and more conservative investment. The temptation to buy and sell as the market fluctuates while invested in the stock market is much greater than in Real Estate. I believe Real Estate has many other benefits; certainly the tax benefits are great. As an investor you can have a non-cash write off of depreciation, and as a homeowner you can deduct all interest and property taxes, plus you are allowed a tax free gain of $250,000. Picking a stock is much harder than picking a home. Most homes in a regional area appreciate in similar proportions. I quickly looked at San Bruno and San Mateo for the last 10 years and they both appreciated 19%. Not sure if you can say the same for the S&P. You could lose everything if you invest in the wrong stock. Having the discipline not to sell a stock is very difficult. With Real Estate you can never lose everything. Even if it burns down and you have no insurance, the land has value. Real Estate investments are a bit more difficult to liquidate so it is forced savings. Most important Real Estate offers you a home to live in. The cost of borrowing for homeowners comes with the tax benefits above and in 30 years it will be paid in full. The cost of borrowing for Real Estate investors is paid by the tenants and so is the principal payoff. Many financial advisers believe in diversification; small cap, large cap, international, etc. I do not suggest that for Real Estate Investing. Managing single family homes is different than multi unit buildings and different again from commercial property. Managing properties in different areas even if they are the same type of property does not work either. Different areas have different rent control policies, different laws, and different expenses. I am a believer one should only invest in real estate you can drive to in an hour or two. I heard about a great investment on the east coast. If everything went as planned it would have been a great investment but being 3000 miles away I was not able to control the plan. I am happy to be out of that investment. I would love to hear your feedback. www.leesellsmore.com

Investing: Bay Area Real Estate Vs. The S&P