Class Date: Tuesday February 23rd, 2010 at 7pm

This Class will Also Be Live Streamed, See Info at Bottom of Post

Continuing our month of San Mateo Condo Classes, we’ll be hosting a live seminar, Guide to Buying Townhomes and Condos in San Mateo on Tuesday February 23rd, 2010 at 7pm. For those of you who attended our recent Webinar, What to Know Before Buying a Condo in San Mateo, this program will be much more detailed.

Is a Condo in San Mateo in Your Future?

Is a condominium the right type of home for you in this stage of your life? If you answered unequivocally yes, this class will help set your expectations of how the condo buying process will unfold. But, if you answered maybe or probably not, you should definitely attend Guide to Buying Townhomes and Condos in San Mateo.

Why?

Condominium living can present many benefits you may not have considered. In this non-salesy, education based course, we’ll help lay out the pros and cons of living in a San Mateo condominium, point out some of the more desireable complexes and dispel some common myths about what condos look like. We’ll also present the new condominium financing guidelines from Fannie Mae and FHA that went into effect December 2009 and how they will affect your San Mateo condominium purchase.

What Will Be Discussed?

• How the stricter condominium financing guidelines from Fannie Mae and FHA will affect your purchase beginning in December 2009.
  
• Is a San Mateo condominium the right type of property for your home buying strategy?
  
• What is going on in the San Mateo Condo Market? – Real numbers and market statistics
  
• What do condos look like? – The answer will surprise you!
  
• What you need to know before buying a condominium in San Mateo
  
• The critical questions you need answered before you purchase a condo in San Mateo – uncovering potential problems
  
• How to protect yourself
  

I Want to Buy a Single Family Home, This Class Isn’t For Me

Unless you can say to yourself that you would rather rent than buy anything but a single family home, you should consider attending. We have had several clients over the years (2 in the last 6 months) come to us at the beginning of the home buying process and say they only want to live in a single family home, but end up buying a condominium or townhome because they did not find any single family homes in neighborhoods they’d like to live for the price they were willing to pay. Not all condos have indoor hallways, thin walls and impossible to deal with Home Owner’s Associations. We always tell our clients to get all of the information upfront so you can make an informed decision. And…if condo living still isn’t for you, we promise we won’t make you buy one!

When? Thurs. Jan. 21st, 2010 at 7pm

Guide to Buying Townhomes and Condos in San Mateo will be presented on Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010 from 7-9pm at 1700 S El Camino Real in San Mateo.

Sign Up

This program is free to attend, but registration is required as space is limited. To reserve your space, please call us at (650) 655-2500 or fill out the form below.

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Prefer to Attend Online? This Class will Also be Live Streamed

To attend this class online, view our Live Stream page on February 23rd, 2010 at 7pm.

San Mateo County Condo Search

Click on the map below to search San Mateo County condos.

Ready to Get Started on Your San Mateo Home Search?

Check out our San Mateo Buyer Representation Page for information about how we work. Then, give us a call at (650) 655-2500 or send us an email at info@LivingWellinSanMateo.com for a free, no obligation conversation. We’ll take a look at your individual situation and help you determine an appropriate home buying strategy.

Other Posts You May Enjoy

• Top 4 Reasons NOT to Buy a Condo
  
• Top 5 Reasons to Buy a Condo
  
• A Golden Opportunity for First Time Home Buyers
  
• Webinar: What to Know Before Buying a Condo in San Mateo County
  
• Park Bayshore Townhomes
  

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Raymond Stoklosa, Chela Stoklosa and Rebecca Williamson are Realtors with The RayChel Realty Group specializing in Santa Clara and San Mateo Real Estate.

Class Date/Time: Tuesday Feb. 16, 2010 at 7pm

Recently, we taught a class, How to Buy Bank Owned Homes, Short Sales and Foreclosures in San Mateo County at the College of San Mateo Community Education Program. We had such great feedback on the program, we decided to condense it and present it during our Home Buying Tuesdays series.

What Part of the Presentation Will We Include?

We’ll focus on bank owned homes in San Mateo County (post-foreclosures) because they offer the best value with the least risk for San Mateo County home buyers.

What Will You Learn?

Buying a foreclosure in San Mateo is not like buying a San Mateo home from a conventional seller. But, bank owned homes can present tremendous value to home buyers in San Mateo.

When you attend What You Need to Know About Buying Foreclosures in San Mateo, you’ll learn…

• What to watch out for when buying foreclosures in San Mateo County
  
• Some common myths about buying bank owned homes in San Mateo County
  
• What is really going on in the bank owned homes segment of the San Mateo County real estate market? – no hype, just real numbers
  
• Is buying a bank owned home in San Mateo County the right strategy for you?
  
• Where are bank owned homes located in San Mateo County?
  
• What you can expect when buying foreclosures in San Mateo County
  
• How you finance a foreclosure in San Mateo County
  
• and much, much more!
  

When?

This program will be presented on Tuesday, February 16th 2010 at 7pm at 1700 S El Camino Real in San Mateo.

Cost/Sign Up?

This program is free to attend, but we are limited as to how many people will fit in the room so sign up early to guarantee your space. You can sign up by filling out the form below, or by calling (650) 655-2500.

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Still Have Questions About Buying Foreclosures in San Mateo?

Have questions about buying foreclosures in San Mateo County? Ask us via email at info@LivingWellinSanMateo.com, phone (650) 655-2500 or via our question page.

Other Posts You May Enjoy

• Can You Really Buy San Mateo Foreclosures for Less than $20,000?
  
• How’s the San Mateo Foreclosure and Short Sale Market?
  
• What to Expect When Buying Bank Owned Homes in San Mateo – Including the Bank’s Addendum
  
• Can You Steal a Bank Owned Property?
  
• True or False: Banks Don’t Have to Provide Disclosures
  

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Raymond Stoklosa, Chela Stoklosa and Rebecca Williamson are Realtors with The RayChel Realty Group specializing in Santa Clara and San Mateo Real Estate.

Date/Time: Thursday February 4, 2010 at 6pm

As you read in a previous post here at LivingWellinSanMateo, the federal home buyer tax credit was recently expanded and extended to include not just San Mateo first time home buyers, but trade up home buyers as well. If you are considering buying a home in San Mateo County, whether it be your first or your last, this federal home buyer tax credit is something you should keep in mind.

To help San Mateo County home buyers wade through the details of the federal home buyer tax credit, I will be hosting a webinar on Thursday February 4, 2010 at 6pm. I will go through the details of the plan, including the new rules, who is eligible and how you can get the tax credit.

What Details Will We Specifically Cover About the Home Buyer Tax Credit?

• How previous San Mateo home owners can qualify for their $6,500 credit
  
• Explain the extension for certain members of the Military to 2011
  
• San Mateo County Income and Purchase Price Limits
  
• When is the deadline to purchase a San Mateo County Home and other timelines you must follow to qualify
  

How Do I Register?

Sign up using the “Sign Up” button below

Sign Up

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Raymond Stoklosa, Chela Stoklosa and Rebecca Williamson are Realtors with The RayChel Realty Group specializing in Santa Clara and San Mateo County Real Estate. Chris Williamson is a Mortgage Advisor with Mortgage California specializing in San Mateo Mortgages.

Date/Time: Thurs, Feb. 18, 2010 at 6pm

San Mateo County home buyers are some of the most sophisticated, well-educated and savvy home buyers in the Country. However, in our 31 years of exprience, we’ve seen them make some of the same home buying mistakes. Mistakes that cost them time, money and a lot of frustration!

What Kinds of Home Buying Mistakes?

Check out this video in our 3 Minute Coaching Moment Series, where Raymond Stoklosa discusses the most costly and common home buying mistake – financial unpreparedness.

What Other Costly Mistakes Do Home Buyers Make?

To learn the other 11 costly mistakes San Mateo home buyers make, register for our webinar, The 12 Most Costly Home Buying Mistakes and How You Can Avoid Them.

What Will I Learn?

In this non-salesy, education based webinar, we’ll discuss

• What are the 12 most costly mistakes San Mateo County home buyers make?
  
• How you can avoid each mistake and save yourself time, money and frustration
  
• Steps you can take to ensure you have the best real estate experience possible

Cost

Because we are dedicated to consumer protection, we host free real estate webinars and classes to inform, educate and empower home buyers and home sellers in all price ranges. We don’t charge for our educational, non-salesy webinars or classes, but do ask if you enjoyed the program you tell a friend and help us spread the word.

Sign Up

To sign up for this free webinar, click on the “Sign Up” button below.

Sign Up

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Raymond Stoklosa, Chela Stoklosa and Rebecca Williamson are Realtors with The RayChel Realty Group specializing in Santa Clara and San Mateo Real Estate.

Date/Time: Monday February 8th at 6:00pm

The Department of Housing and Urban Development announced effective December 7th 2009 stricter underwriting guidelines will be required to approve condominiums in San Mateo County.  In order for FHA or Fannie Mae (two of the primary loans consumers choose) to approve the condominium for financing, the entire complex will have to be approved by HUD.  Currently, condominiums can be approved on a one by one basis.  In a few weeks, the health of the entire complex will be highly scrutinized before Fannie Mae or FHA will lend.

What Does this Mean to San Mateo County Home Buyers?

• It has just become much harder to finance a condominium in San Mateo County
  
• Longer time periods required for complex approval – may not be realistic to close in 30 days
  
• You must be pre-approved before you enter into a contract – find a loan first, then find a home
  
• New rules are not flexible – if you need a loan, you’ll need to play by them
  
• Some complexes may not be approved – don’t waste your time or money chasing something that will never come to fruition
  
• The entire complex needs to be approved by HUD, not just your unit – no exceptions
  
• You need to work with condominium specialists to help guide you through the transaction – both on the real estate side and the financing side
  

Why Should You Care?

If you are considering purchasing a San Mateo County condominium in the next several months, your transaction will be impacted as these new rules are implemented.  There are several things you can do to front load the approval process.  By preparing early, you can minimize problems, minimize money spent and most importantly, not lose the condo you really want.

What Will You Learn During this Webinar?

Registration Info

To register for this webinar, which will be held on Monday, February 8, 2010 at 6:00, please click on the registration button below.

Sign Up

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Chris Williamson is a Mortgage Advisor with Mortgage California specializing in San Mateo mortgages.

Yes you read that right! Trustee sales are the single most dangerous way to buy real estate in San Mateo County, BUT they can also be the most profitable.

What is a Trustee Sale?

A trustee sale is a public, open auction of the Trust Deed (loan being foreclosed) due to a borrower’s non-payment of the loan payment. Trustee sales (sometimes called “buying on the courthouse steps” or “sheriff’s sales”) can be very profitable for the buyer who is willing to accept the risks associated with buying them.

Trustee Sales Considered By Most Experts to Be a Legal Mine Field

Bottom line – trustee sales are complex, complicated and considered by most experts to be a legal mine field. There is much more to learn and a lot more to know before you bid.

If you’re intrigued, sign up for this webinar with Raymond Stoklosa, Managing Broker and Co-Owner of The RayChel Realty Group in San Mateo.

Topics Raymond Will Cover:

In this non-salesy, education based seminar, we’ll discuss

• What is a trustee sale?
  
• Who should consider buying one
  
• What to expect when buying one
  
• The risks associated with buying trustee sales
  

Cost

The RayChel Realty Group is dedicated to consumer protection and host free real estate webinars and classes to inform, educate and empower home buyers and home sellers in all price ranges. We don’t charge for our educational, non-salesy webinars or classes, but do ask if you enjoyed the program you tell a friend and help us spread the word.

Registration Information

To register for this free webinar on Tuesday November 17th at 6pm click on the Sign Up button below.

Sign Up

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The next topic in our San Mateo real estate webinar series, we will be discussing What You Need to Know Before Buying a Condo in San Mateo County.

Why San Mateo Condos?

Buying a condo in San Mateo County is much different than buying a single family home in San Mateo County. There is at least twice as much paperwork to wade through and you must come to terms with the fact you are buying ownership by consensus. Ownership by consensus means a group of people, the Homowner’s Association (HOA), makes decisions on how the condomium complex operates including the collecting and dispersing of monthly dues, making the rules and regulations residents must live by and taking care of exterior maintenance.

San Mateo County home buyers need to be aware of these differences so they can determine whether or not buying a condo in San Mateo County is right for them.

What Will You Learn?

By attending our 45 minute webinar, you’ll learn:

• What is considered a condo? (Hint: They aren’t just indoor hallway, apartment style buildings!)
  
• What do you own when you buy a condo in San Mateo?
  
• If you should consider a San Mateo condo in your home buying strategy
  
• The pros and cons of buying a condo in San Mateo
  
• Some examples of what is available in San Mateo County
  

Who Should Sign Up?

Anyone who is considering buying a home in San Mateo County in the next year or so would benefit from this webinar. Even if you’d prefer to buy a single family home, San Mateo County condos may present benefits that you hadn’t considered, or you may decide after looking at single family homes available that you’d prefer to live in a condo in a nicer area of San Mateo County than buy a single family home in an inferior location. (This happens more than you’d think!)

You Never Know What You May Find When Searching for a San Mateo County Home

In fact, just last month we had a client that came to us back in February and said they’d only consider single family homes and did not want to live in a condominium. After looking for a few months and making 7 offers on single family homes that they didn’t get, we took them to a large ground floor 3 bedroom, 2 bath condo in the San Carlos hills just for fun and they fell in love with it. This San Carlos condo was more updated than any of the homes they’d seen, was in a much better location, had an extra bedroom and bathroom so they wouldn’t outgrow it when they had a baby and was in the city they really wanted to live. If you would’ve asked them in February would they end up in a condo, they would have immediately answered no. But, after all was said and done, they felt they were going to be a lot happier in the San Carlos condo than they would’ve been in any of the single family homes they’d made offers on in the past. Moral of this story….keep your options open and get all of the information before you rule something out.

When is the Webinar?

What to Know Before Buying a Condo in San Mateo County, will be presented on Tuesday October 13th at 7-7:45pm.

How Do I Sign Up?

To sign up for our free webinar, please visit our What to Know Before Buying a Condo in San Mateo County registration page.

Miss this Webinar? Download the Slides

Download Slides in PDF

Looking to Purchase a Condo in San Mateo County?

Check out our Buyer Representation Page to learn how we do business. Then, if you like what you see (and we think you will!), call us at (650) 655-2500 or email us at info[@]RayChelRealtyGroup.com for a free, no obligation consultation. We’ll help you craft a strategy to create the best home buying experience.

Other Posts You May Enjoy

• Why Now May Not Be the Right Time for You to Buy
  
• Can You Steal a Bank Owned Property?
  
• 7 Questions: Is Now the Right Time to Buy?
  
• San Mateo Real Estate Class Schedule
  
• Webinar: What Can I Afford?
  

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Monthly we present a seminar series, Home Buying Tuesdays, to help educate San Mateo County home buyers so they can make an informed purchase decision about buying a home. Our next seminar is geared toward first time home buyers.

Why First Time Home Buyers?

First time home buyers have a tremendous opportunity to buy San Mateo real estate at levels we haven’t seen in years. We are starting to see housing prices again creep up and San Mateo County first time home buyer’s may soon again be priced out of the market if they don’t act now.

What Will You Learn at our First Time Home Buyer Class?

Our first time home buyer program is all about helping you get the information you need to begin your home search. Topics discussed include:

• How San Mateo County first time home buyers can receive up to $8,000 for purchasing a home before November 30th, 2009
  
• How you can own your own San Mateo County home with as little as 3.5% down (or 0% down in some geographical areas of the Mid-Peninsula)
  
• You credit score and how it affects you as a San Mateo first time home buyer
  
• The pros and cons of buying short sales and foreclosures in San Mateo
  
• The steps to buying your first home in San Mateo County
  
• The 12 biggest mistakes even smart San Mateo home buyers make and how you can avoid them
  

Our resident financing expert, Chris Williamson with Mortgage California in San Mateo will also be there to answer all of your financing questions.

When/Where?

The program will be presented on Wednesday, September 23rd at 1700 S. El Camino Real, San Mateo from 7pm to 8:45pm with 90 minutes of class materials and 15 minutes for Q&A.

How Do I Sign Up?

The program is free to attend, but space is limited. To register, please fill out the form below or call (650) 655-2500.

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Other Posts You May Enjoy

• Real Estate Myth Busted: The Median Price is $765,000. I Can’t Afford to Buy
  
• Real Estate Myth Busted: I Need to Find the Right House Before I Apply for a Home Loan
  
• 15 Questions to Ask Before Making an Offer on a Short Sale in San Mateo
  
• Could the Inevitable Rise in San Mateo Mortgage Interest Rates Wipe Out Your Advantage?
  
• Paying More than $1,600 in Rent? You Could Own in 2009!
  

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