Giant Home for the Klock Family!

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One of our recent bank-owned homes in Lake Elsinore was located directly across the street from the house the Klock family was renting. Their rental house was a very small, cramped two-bedroom and it wasn't an ideal situation at all.

When they discovered the large 4 bedroom home with double the square footage was up for sale, they called us to see if it were possible for them to buy it. They didn't think it was realistic that they could qualify for a loan, but they at least wanted to try.

Long story short: we worked hard to get them qualified for an FHA loan with only 3% down payment and was able to get them qualified using their parents as "non-occupant co-buyers."

They were surprised we were able to make it work and very grateful. Tara's my new best friend and never missed an opportunity to show me her seven Special Olympic Gold Medals.

Congratulations to the Klock family! It's very gratifying for us to have been a part of making it happen for you all.

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DREAM HOME FOR FIRST TIME BUYERS CHARMAINE AND SAMY!

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First time home buyers throughout the Temecula Valley are pinching themselves over the incredible affordability of homes in the area.

Charmaine Tauanuu and Samy Tadrousse are no exception. For the last few years they thought they were locked out of the housing market for good; forever destined to rent as long as they lived in Southern California.

We had the pleasure of helping Charmaine and Samy make their very first home purchase their absolute dream home.

In the beautiful Tuscany Hills area of Lake Elsinore, Charmaine and Samy purchased a like new home on a cul-de-sac with a pool and the most incredible views of the mountains and Canyon Lake.

Congratulations Charmaine and Samy! We really enjoyed getting to know you and working with you.

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Horrible Mortgage Vanishes ... Great Mortgage Takes It's Place

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The mortgage and real estate industry is much more difficult than it was a couple years ago. Most of the people I've known for years in the business are now gone.

All of the 'EASY' loan programs are now gone; underwriting guidelines are much more strict; stated income loans are extremely difficult to qualify for.

But one of the gratifying aspects of the industry that remains is when we're able to fix the past abuses of dirt-bag lenders and real estate agents and save innocent homeowners.

Patrick Paster's Mom, Barbara was in a horrible subprime loan with a balloon payment coming due on January 1, 2009. Barbara is disabled and was really taken advantage of by the loan officer for a bank that will remain nameless.

With some difficulty, we were able to get Barbara out of the crummy loan and into an FHA 30-year fixed rate loan with a much lower interest rate.

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One of the Best Gifts Ever ... San Diego Charger "Powder Blue" Jersey!

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We just closed escrow for my clients Bill Gibbs and his fiancee Diana Babb. Bill is the Senior Field Manager for Qualcomm Stadium. The field you see on television the Chargers are playing on is his handiwork.

We had to practically go 'bare-knuckle-brawling' to get an incompetent escrow company to get his loan funded and recorded by Friday so he could move-in over the weekend.

To show his gratitude, Bill gave me this awesome San Diego Charger 'Powder-Blue' jersey. It truly is just what I've always wanted but have been to cheap to buy myself!

And Diana gave Melanie a beautiful scarf she made herself!

The house they bought is incredible. Three-story with it's own wine cellar. Very cool, very unique European Architecture style property.

Bill and Diana are the nicest people and I loved working with them.

Welcome to Temecula! You're gonna love it here!

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I Hereby Declare Today ... CHARLIE KIMBLE DAY!

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My clients Charlie & Maria Kimble are THE BEST!

With all humility, we did a pretty awesome job on Charlie and Maria's recent home purchase. Worked through a few challenges and got him a great deal on a beautiful bank-owned property in Murrieta.

How great? $67 per square foot! To put that in perspective, if you owned the lot free and clear, it would cost about $130-140 per square foot to build the same house. That's about 50 cents on the dollar or 50% below replacement cost.

The lesson to be learned: We are living in a historic period. Unfortunately, there are both winners and losers in the current economy. But make no mistake about it, there may never be a better time in history to purchase real estate than right now.

Anywho, back to Charlie and Maria. Charlie works for Pala Casino and he was so happy with the the job we did, he hooked us up with Pala's Human Resource Department and now we're providing the same kind of great service to Pala's many employees.

So far, they include: Patrick Pastor, Lucy Grant, Charmaine and Sammy Tauanuu and several more folks we're just now starting to work with.

My flash didn't work when we snapped the photo, but left to right:
Melanie Davis (our Transaction Coordinator), Charlie Kimble, me and Jon Sheehan.

MANY MANY THANKS TO CHARLIE AND MARIA!


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Tom & Robbie Long, Congratulations!

Just delivered the keys this morning to Robbie Long and her son Alexander. She and her husband Tom closed escrow yesterday on a terrific 3 bedroom 2 bath property in Temecula.

Congratulations Tom, Robbie & Alexander and welcome to Temecula!

Financial Bail-Out

I've received several calls over the last two weeks about the economic crisis and what I think about it.

Where do I start? First, I'm so disgusted with it all, I don't want to think about it at all. The picture above represents my opinion of the vast majority of our politicians in Washington (and Sacramento, too, for that matter).

As a tax payer, I'm against it. But since my crystal ball broke long ago, I don't know what will happen if it were not passed. Some say another Great Depression. Others say America will find a way to muddle through and be o.k.

I personally believe it can be done without the massive $700 Billion bail-out. Simply increase the FDIC deposit insurance to protect bank depositors but let fail the banks that are meant to fail.

For spurring the economy, that's an easy one. Simply cut the capital gains taxes to zero and entreprenurial money (the smartest money) will naturally find it's way to the most productive and profitable investment and business-building activities available.

And that will create economic growth without the politicians and beaurocrats pulling the strings (which only creates more corruption and waste).

But the politicians are NOT going to do that because it would take power and $$$$$ away from them and put it in the hands of the American people. Of course they're not going to do THAT!

After all, has government (at any level) ever proven it can run anything better than private enterprise (think Amtrak)?

In the end, any version of bail-out that passes will only delay the inevitable: the government will continue to print money, pile-up debt for future generations that can never be repaid and eventually our currency will be destroyed.

How's that for a rosy scenario?! So now that we all feel better about things, back to work:)