Best Realty's Lake Oroville Real Estate Blog » california

There Goes The Neighborhood?

Mark Wisterman — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 19:51:00 +0000

In the nearly 18 years that I have been actively negotiating on behalf of buyers and sellers in the Lake Oroville real estate market, I have been involved in numerous transactions involving property located in the Kelly Ridge Subdivision.
For those of you unfamiliar with Kelly Ridge, it is a nice community overlooking Lake Oroville and Bidwell Marina; with a 9 hole golf course intertwined among many of the homes. For the most part it is a quiet neighborhood and pride of ownership is evident as you drive through the community’s winding roads.
As with nearly all subdivisions of this nature, there is an active homeowners’ association (HOA) there, as well as a document called Conditions, Covenants, and Restrictions. (CC&R’s) recorded on each lot in the subdivsion. These CC&R’s are basically a set of rules established as a means of insuring a certain conformity among the homes in the subdivision, which in turn protects the integrity of the subdivision and helps in maintaining property values. For example, most CC& R’s that I have read over the years set minimum lot sizes, minimum square footage requirements, prohibit livestock, require that your RV be parked out of view of the street, and so on. For the most part, the CC&R’s in this area are not as restrictive as they are in the more urban areas, but are just restrictive enough to do the job they were intended to do.
The enforcement mechanism in these CC&R’s is generally the homeowners of the subdivision. If a homeowner notes a violation then he/she can normally take action to enforce the correction of the violation. In cases where there is also a homeowners association in place, the association itself can usually act to enforce the CC&R’s. If the violator fails to take corrective action, the complaining party, through a civil action, can ask a judge to force the violator to comply. As human nature would have it, there are sometimes instances in associations such as these where some get “too big for their britches, ” (as my parents used to say) and, in their own mind, become “Mayor” of the subdivision. Fortunately for the Lake Oroville real estate market, there are not many HOA’s in the area, but the 2 or three that we do have, have demonstrated, for the most part, a fairly reasonable approach in the administration of their duties.
But, as they say, the times they are a changin’.
The most recent newletter published by the Kelly Ridge Estates Owners’ Association (KREOA) contains what I view is a very disconcerting column regarding a new enforcement program they are implementing to address CC&R violations.
Now, before I continue, I want to be clear here that I am in total support of homeowners that want to see their neighborhood properly maintained. It is, after all, in everyone’s best interest that this be so. I just think this may be a heavy-handed approach that has the potential of causing a lot of unnecessary strife.
According to the newsletter, KREOA,

“……will contract with a person who will do as complete exterior inspection as possible,” to “identify CC&R violations on homes listed for sale and foreclosed homes owned by banks.”

“Both buyer and seller are to be notified that escrow will not close until corrections are complete.” “…..the notification letter will be sent to the escrow company handling the sale advising that they are not to close until we verify that corrections have been made.”

Sounds harmless and reasonable you say?
Maybe it is. But I do not think so.
Look who KREOA is targeting with this: “homes listed for sale and foreclosed homes owned by the banks.” Why are they not targeting ALL violators? Why are they engaging in discrimination in their enforcement of their rules? I will tell you why….because it is an easy target. But will it accomplish their goal or just prolong the process of getting the neighborhood in compliance?
For example:
What happens to the elderly widow who is trying to sell her house in order that she can move to an assisted living facility and needs every penny she can get out of her home in order to pay for her care? Let’s say she has her house on the market and has a buyer for her home who is willing to comply with any repairs that KREOA insists on being done. Because it is inadvisable that a buyer make repairs to a home that the buyer does not yet own, and the seller simply has no funds to pay for the required repairs, the repairs can’t get done and the house cannot sell. So the transaction dies, the widow takes the house off the market, and because the focus of KREOA is only homes listed for sale, the repairs never get done! Are you following me on this???
Here is another thing that KREOA is getting ready to do: They intend to hire someone to go out to the County of Butte Building Department and research building permits to see which homeowners have not pulled the proper permits when repairing their homes. Shades of Big Brother??????
It seems that KREOA has decided it is in the best interest of the neighborhood if they establish their own informal Kelly Ridge Association Patrol force (my words, not theirs)
Over reaction you say? I thought that too when I first reacted to the newsletter. Until I read this sentence in the newsletter that I think portends a coming conflict:

“If you have a problem with a neighbor leave a message at 589-**** and it will be handled by one of the Directors.”

In other words, if you don’t like something your neighbor is doing, like, as the newlstter says, leaving, “excessive amounts of dog poop in a yard constituting a health hazards (and driving neighbors off their decks to in homes with windows shut), call what I am now calling the Kelly Ridge Association Patrol People (K.R.A.P.P.) and it will be handled- whatever that means!
I wonder if all of the Director’s homes are in compliance? If not, I wonder how they are going to ”handle” it when they find K.R.A.P P. on their doorsteps. Or do they only intend to send a bunch of K.R.A.P.P. their neighbors way!!!!!
There goes the neighborhood? I certainly hope not!

This Just In….

Mark Wisterman — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 23:24:00 +0000

I just received an e-mail from the CEO of REALTY WORLD -Northern Ca/Nevada with an attached article discussing the latest foreclosure numbers for the State of California.
Now, normally I would proclaim to all of you in the Lake Oroville real estate market that all real estate is local and that it is much more important to stay in tune with the local home sales numbers as opposed to general reports on the market. While this is still my philosophy, I do not think it is at all wise to IGNORE reports on the broader markets. After all, it is the broader markets that get the media coverage when it comes to just about anything real estate these days. Like it or not the media has a lot of influence on the consumer’s psyche that helps in creating the mindset that consumers are using when making decisions on whether to buy or sell a home. If you are a regular reader of this blog site that serves the real estate housing markets of Oroville, Chico, Paradise, Yuba City, and Marysville California you know that I do not believe any improvement will occur in this housing market until we have two things: Employment and consumer confidence.
It is becuase of the latter of these two vital ingredients that I want to share excerpts from the article posted on DQNews.com.

The number of California homes that went into foreclosure fell to a four-year low last quarter, the result of a more stable housing market as well as policy changes in the mortgage servicing industry, a real estate information service reported.
Last quarter’s activity was the lowest for any quarter since 53,493 NoDs were recorded in the second quarter of 2007. It was well below half the record 135,431 default notices recorded in the first quarter of 2009.
A total of 56,633 Notices of Default (NoDs) were recorded at county recorders offices during the April-to-June period. That was down 17.0 percent from 68,239 for the prior quarter, and down 19.2 percent from 70,051 in second-quarter 2010, according to San Diego-based DataQuick.
Mortgages were least likely to go into default in San Francisco, Marin and San Mateo counties. The probability was highest in Kings, Sutter and Yuba counties.
Trustees Deeds recorded (TDs), or the actual loss of a home to foreclosure, totaled 42,465 during the second quarter. That was down 1.4 percent from 43,052 for the prior quarter, and down 10.9 percent from 47,669 for second-quarter 2010. The all-time peak was 79,511 in third-quarter 2008.
Last quarter’s trustees deeds total was the lowest since 35,431 were filed in fourth quarter 2010, and the second-lowest since fourth quarter 2007, when 31,676 were filed.

Now, let’s be clear here. Even with this “encouraging” news, we have a long long way to go until the real estate market is healthy again. But it is important to understand, especially for you buyers out there who are still waiting for things to go lower, that this market is so beat up right now that, if this type of news consistently continues over the next two or three quarters, it is very possible to see some firming up of prices and maybe even some very modest price increases. Just food for thought.

Did you know if you have a contractor bid a job for an FHA203K loan they must be qualified to do so?

Steffan Blaser — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 14:43:00 +0000

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The Contractor must be qualified to bid & do the work for your FHA203K loan if you choose one. Just a few points so you know.
Remember the contractor must have an active general contractors license at the time he or she submits the bid (there are exceptions to this) .
Before you have the contractor bid for the work check to make sure that the contractor has the following:
1    Copy of his Contractors license card and print from the California State Contractors Licensing showing status of license
2    Copy of his bond insurance
3    Copy of his General Liability Insurance and possibly Errors and Omissions Insurance
4     Resume with 3 references
5     If the contractor has employees or sub-contractors, proof of workman’s comp insurance will be required and if sole proprietor and not covered under workman’s comp insurance the Liability insurance with$1million coverage
If the ONLY repair is electrical or plumbing repairs to be completed, the contractor must be licensed to perform these repairs or a separate bid from an electrical or plumbing contractor must be provided along with the 5 required items above.
Once you have the bids and have decided on which contractor you will be using, the contractor will fill out a Homeowner/Contractor Agreement and a W-9.
Every lending institution may have Additional requirements so check with your loan officer, mortgage broker or personal banker whatever they may be called these days.
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