Real Estate Information

Capay Valley - Olive Press Facility is under development.  Building is up, County Road widen, and landscaping almost complete.

The Yolo County Planning Commission has approved a conditional use permit for Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation, allowing the development of a state-of-the-art olive mill for the region's farmers.  Construction has began.  The ground moved, building up and landscaping on its way to completion.

From what I understand the mill  will be the first of its kind in the United States, it is being custom-manufactured in Italy and will feature the latest technology and will preserve the most flavor and the greatest health benefits, the milling process will allow minimal exposure to the air. This process will create a unique, premium extra virgin olive oil that will be as fresh as possible when bottled.

The new Yocha Dehe olive mill will enable olives grown by the Tribe and local farmers to be pressed quickly after harvest, preserving the freshness critical for creating premium olive oils.  It will be interesting to watch this unravel...

3 Reasons the Term “Strategic Default” Is Misleading

In a recent study, the Chicago Booth/Kellogg School Financial Trust Index found that a full 36% of Americans would consider “strategic default”—another term for walking away from your mortgage—if they were underwater (owed more on their home than what it was worth).

Now that more than one in four American homeowners is “underwater,” I feel that it’s important for the community to know the truth about strategic default.

The truth is the foreclosure process carries with it credit issues, current and future employment challenges, issues with security clearance and possible debt collections.

That’s why it is vital to explain the 3 reasons why the term “strategic default” is misleading:

1.     There’s nothing strategic about defaulting on purpose, especially when you have options like short sales, mortgage modifications, and refinance (just to name a few) that may keep you from foreclosure.

2.     The waiting periods to apply for a new mortgage loan are at least five years less in a short sale vs. a foreclosure.

3.     A foreclosure will show up on your credit report every time you apply for a home loan, car loan, new job, etc., and will affect your financial situation for many years to come.

If you are underwater and can no longer afford your mortgage payments, you need to create a genuine strategy to avoid foreclosure, helping to provide stability for you and our community.

If you have any questions about what steps you or someone you care about should take next, contact me today!

I’m often asked if this is a good time to buy a home.  Some clients are concerned that home prices may fall further than they have already.  They are assuming that the best course of action is to wait for the bottom in the market and then buy.  The problem with this approach is that you don’t know where the bottom is until you see it in the rear view mirror, meaning until you’ve missed it!

Home prices are one factor in determining your cost of ownership, but so are interest rates and financing availability.  Even though interest rates have gone up in the last six months, they are still near historic lows.  Since your monthly mortgage payment is a combination of paying down your principal and paying the interest owed, if home prices come down a little further but interest rates go up, it could cost you even more to service a mortgage on an identical home!

While a home is a major investment, it is also the center of your personal life.  It’s important to live in a home that reflects your taste and values, yet is within your financial “comfort zone.”  To that end, it may be more important to lock in today’s relatively low interest rates and low home prices, rather than to hope for a further break in prices in the future.

Please give me a call if I can be of any assistance in determining how much home you can afford in today’s market.