Tag Archive for: Market Update

How to Win a Bay Area Bidding War in 2026

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Bay Area bidding war strategy for 2026 homebuyers

Bay Area bidding war strategy for 2026 homebuyers

How to Win a Bay Area Bidding War in 2026

Winning a Bay Area bidding war in 2026 comes down to five things: knowing a home’s real value, deciding how far over it to bid, structuring an offer a seller trusts, getting fully preapproved, and being able to close on time. Here’s each, fast.

The market. San Francisco’s median hit a record $1.7M in March 2026, up 14%+ year-over-year. Typical homes sell ~15% over asking; the hottest go 30% over. Santa Clara draws ~5 offers per home and closes in ~9 days. In San Mateo County, ~75% of single-family homes sell above asking.

Quick read by area:

  • San Francisco — ~$1.7M median; ~15% over asking typical, ~30% at the top; ~14 days on market.
  • Santa Clara — ~5 offers per home; ~9 days; single-family near 107% of list.
  • San Mateo County — ~3 of 4 single-family homes over asking; ~107% sale-to-list.
  • Palo Alto / Menlo Park / Los Altos — ~8 days to contract; under 2 months of supply.
  • Condos & outer areas — softer, more inventory, room to negotiate.

List price is bait. Bay Area agents routinely price below expected value to draw a crowd and trigger offers — common enough in the East Bay to be nicknamed “egregious underpricing.” Offering 10% over a price set 15% low can still be a deal. “Over asking” tells you nothing about whether you overpaid.

Comps tell the truth. Value = what similar nearby homes recently sold for in the last few months. A good comp is recent (closed within 90 days, and a great one sold in the last 30), close by, similar in size and condition, and — critically — fed by the same school. School assignment moves Bay Area prices 3–4% per step up in quality, which on the Peninsula or South Bay can mean six figures. Note: comps lag the market by a month or two, so in a rising market assume true value sits slightly above the latest comp.

How much to bid in a Bay Area bidding war

Common guidance is 1–3% over list, or staying within 7% of fair value, or adding ~1% per expected competing offer. Treat these as rough guides, not formulas — none is well-validated. The real rule: your number rises with competition (offers made) and is measured against comps, never the list price.

Escalation clauses. These auto-bump your bid to beat rivals by a set increment up to a cap. They work but reveal your ceiling, and many sellers reject them for plain “highest and best.” If you use one, avoid round numbers ($5,500 beats $5,000) and require proof of the competing offer.

Terms win close races. When offers are near each other on price, certainty decides it. A financed offer that closes in 2–3 weeks, from an obviously ready buyer, can beat a higher price from a client who isn’t preapproved and can’t close in 2 to 3 weeks.

Contingencies. A contingency lets you exit and keep your deposit if the inspection, appraisal, or loan goes wrong. Waiving strengthens an offer — ~1 in 5 buyers nationally waived appraisal or inspection late last year, more here — but trades away protection. Waive the appraisal and a low appraisal comes out of your pocket; an appraisal gap clause caps that exposure. Waive inspection only after reading the seller’s pre-sale reports. In California, backing out after removing contingencies can cost your deposit, capped at 3% of price. Do your homework, then waive — never the reverse.

The cash myth. Cash dominates above ~$3M but is rarer below it than people think — ~1 in 5 purchases in Oakland and San Jose late last year, under the national rate. SF financed buyers almost all use conventional loans. You don’t need cash. You need to look as certain as cash.

Getting preapproved is how you win a Bay Area bidding war

Three tiers: prequalification (a guess, near-worthless in a war), preapproval (application + credit pull + docs), and fully underwritten / “TBD” approval (an underwriter clears your full file before you pick a house). The 2nd and 3rd options let you credibly promise a fast close and shorten or waive the loan contingency. Valid ~90 days, works on any property. Get fully underwritten before you shop — highest-leverage move available, and most buyers skip it.

Cost of waiting. Every over-asking sale becomes a comp that lifts the next home’s value, so prices you skip today are usually lower than what you’ll face later. And the math is gentler than it feels: at current rates, +$10,000 in price is ~$63/month. With rates expected to ease toward 6% in 2026, you can refinance the rate later — but the price is locked for good.

The buyers who win a Bay Area bidding war aren’t the richest. They’re the ones who knew the home’s value, sized up their competition, and showed up ready. That’s preparation, and it’s in your control.

Get fully preapproved by us today. If you need the name of a great realtor in your area, let me know as well — I work with the best ones.

Rob McCarthy — Senior Mortgage Advisor 650-465-8957 · rob@101loan.com CA DRE #01165697 · NMLS #121019

Ready to Buy a Home?  Follow These Steps!

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Step 1 – Research and Preparation

  • Understand the Process: Learn about the real estate market in your desired area.  Educate yourself on the home buying process and the need for representation by a realtor and lender that work together so mistakes are not made ensuring your success with home ownership.
  • Determine Your Purchase Power to include Home Affordability and Get Pre-qualified to understand your purchase power and what that buys you in terms of a property based on the price and its location.
  • Market Research: Learn about local home prices, inventory levels, and market demand in your specific search areas and what’s needed to ratify an offer on the purchase of a home.

Step 2 – Set Goals and Budget

  • Get Preapproved for Financing: Lender underwrites your income, debt, assets and credit report to determine your max purchase power in writing subject to the appraisal, ratified purchase contract and prelim.
  • Determine Your Wants and Needs: Bedrooms, Bathrooms, Locations, Schools
  • Understand Market conditions: Align your budget with local prices and what your preapproved for to ensure you can obtain what you want when buying based on inventory.
  • Plan your timeline: Stick to a schedule for home hunting and closing.
  • Advocate for yourself: Ask questions on what you don’t know and rely on your Realtor and Lender to guide you through the process of buying.

Step 3 – Start Your Home Search

  • Explore neighborhoods: Visit areas and test distance for dollars.  How far from work do you have to travel to find properties or the neighbor you like where you’d eventually like to buy.
  • Scout listings: Use real-time alerts and compare properties provided by your realtor based on your wants and needs.
  • Realtor leveraged networks: Some properties never hit the MLS.  Realtors have access to properties you will never have access to.
  • “Virtually” preview homes: Shortlist the properties meeting your needs so you can then schedule a real estate tour of those properties with your Realtor.  Make this a priority as properties sell fast in the current market (5-16-24)
  • Determine the Pro’s and Con’s of each property so you can narrow down on the ones you’d like to make an offer on.

Step 4 – Making Your Offer

  • Discuss Price to Offer with Realtor: Decide on your offer amount based on inventory, market conditions and how many other offers are being made on the same property.
  • Discuss Offer with Realtor and Lender: They can help you differentiate your offer over others by offering a quick closing or long closing based on the needs of the seller.  Closing date, contingencies, rent backs, credits, who pays for what.
  • Make sure preapproval is current and updated specific to the price you want to offer.
  • Make sure the Realtor has spoken to the listing agent about your offer and to ensure your offer is aligned with the seller as much as possible.
  • Make Sure the Lender calls the listing agent on behalf of the offer to communicate the strength of the offer and answer any questions.

Step 5 – Possible Counters and Acceptance

  • Understand multiple-offer scenarios: Have strategies ready with your realtor and lender.
  • Negotiate effectively: Secure the best terms and finalize the contract.

Step 6 – Facilitate Closing

  • Coordinate with all parties: Ensure clear communication with agents, escrow, title, lender, inspector, appraiser, escrow officer, insurance company and bank.
  • Order inspections and appraisals: Confirm property condition and value based on what’s drafted in the ratified purchase contract.
  • Track deadlines: Create timeline all parties follow and update immediately if there are delays from any party to ensure everyone is to up to date.
  • Review closing documents from realtor but also lender: Ensure accuracy and completeness.
  • Prepare for closing meeting: Coordinate with escrow and bring necessary items to sign and eventually close.
  • Finalize the transaction: Sign documents. Coordinate with lender and escrow to record the purchase.  Once the purchase is recorded, the keys to the buyer unless a rent back amount the seller and buyer was previously negotiated.

This summary highlights the key steps in the home-buying process, focusing on research, budgeting, searching for homes, preparing financing, making offers, negotiating, and finalizing the purchase.

Any questions, please contact me.

Best Regards,

101 Loan
Senior Mortgage Advisor
www.101Loan.com
650-465-8957 c  hello@101loan.com
CA DRE #01205444  NMLS #326829
101 Loan – 14435 C Big Basin Way, Saratoga, CA 95070

Products/Services/Accolades:
  1. Residential Financing for Purchases and Refinances on 1 to 4 unit properties.
  2. Reverse Mortgage Financing to include Conforming, Jumbo, HELOC Jumbo’s.
  3. Commercial & SBA Financing to include Multifamily, Office, Retail and Light Industrial.
  4. Access to over 60 banks with over 300 “Five Star” Reviews on Yelp, Google and Linkedin.
  5. Over 30 years of lending experience with over $2b in closed loan volume.

 

Make Better Real Estate Decisions…

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I recently finished a four-part series on the following topics, as it relates to Real Estate locally and abroad, helping you make better decisions in buying, selling or exploring the world of real estate. 

Click below for more info…

In addition, if you are looking to buy, sell and trade-up or trade-down real estate, please see the following:

Lastly and Important…

Did you know that the CalHFA loan (Zero Down Loan) is only available until the end of the month.  If you have a client, colleague, friend or family member that wants to buy in California and has no down payment the CalHFA program may help.  To learn more, go here or follow the instructions below and then contact me.

Do This First: For the CalHFA program, you first need to complete a registration application for a Voucher thru the CalHFA website.  CalHFA will then have a random drawing for a Voucher for the program.  Please be sure to register asap as the registration window closes April 29th.

Any questions, please contact me.  Thanks.

Best Regards,

101 Loan
Senior Mortgage Advisor
www.101Loan.com
650-465-8957 c  408-377-4123 o
CA DRE #01205444  NMLS #326829
101 Loan – 14435 C Big Basin Way, Saratoga, CA 95070

Products/Services/Accolades:

  • Residential Financing for Purchases and Refinances on 1 to 4 unit properties.
  • Reverse Mortgage Financing to include Conforming, Jumbo, HELOC Jumbo’s.
  • Commercial & SBA Financing to include Multifamily, Office, Retail and Light Industrial.
  • Access to over 60 banks with over 300 “Five Star” Reviews on Yelp, Google and Linkedin.
  • Over 30 years of lending experience with over $2b in closed loan volume.

Note: Interest rates and loan programs quoted are subject to change without notice or until locked and approved by lender.

Interesting Times in Real Estate…Part 2 (Interest Rates)

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As mentioned in part 1, Housing Inventory is influenced by many factors and one factor that has a large influence on real estate (whether it’s a good market or a bad one) is Interest Rates (the price you pay to borrow money over time).

When Interest rates are high, this usually slows down anything that’s is reliant on lending whether commercial, residential or consumer related.  When interest rates drop, businesses and consumers start spending again as their ability to leverage improves and their costs drops.

Interest Rates in the last 20 months – Once Very Low, Then Very High and Hopefully Going Lower…

In June/July of 2022, interest rates started climbing from all-time lows and continued their way up from 2.75% in rate in the residential markets to a whopping 8% as the Federal Reserve was trying to control inflation.

In August/Sept of 2023, the Federal Reserve started using language that they might slow down or stop increasing rates, as inflation showed signs that it was getting inflation under control and that they might ease rates in Q1 of 2024, great news for us loan originators, as we just had the worst year ever in 30 years of lending and why over 200,000 loan officers and support staff exited the industry similar to what was seen in 2008/2009 with the recession of the stock market and housing collapse.

At that time (still in Sept of 2023), the Federal Reserve shared their intention and plan on how they were going to lower rates in 2024, 2025 and 2026 getting us back to rates in the mid 4’s to mid 5’s.  In q1 of 2024 after seeing Decembers numbers for inflation, those plans were squashed as inflation started to rear its ugly head again even though the stock market was on fire which would normally fuel the real estate market but rates went from the mid 6’s to the low 7’s in less than 1 month and stayed that way until March when rates finally started to drop as the Federal Reserve stated in an FOMC Meeting that “the Committee decided to maintain the target range for the federal funds rate at 5-1/4 to 5-1/2 percent” which is in line with the same update in September of 2023 which was great news.

We hope the Fed’s continue to lower rates to fuel the economy and help the real estate market which should bring more buyers and sellers to the market.

What Do Interest Rates Really Do?

Interest rates directly affect the cost of borrowing for consumers and businesses alike. In the context of real estate, mortgage interest rates significantly influence the affordability of homes. Lower interest rates make mortgages more accessible and reduce monthly payments, stimulating housing demand. Conversely, higher interest rates increase borrowing costs, potentially dampening demand and slowing down the pace of home purchases. In the Bay Area’s high-priced real estate market, even slight changes in interest rates can have a substantial impact on affordability, housing activity and can increase or impede consumer confidence.

Interest Rates Affect Consumer Confidence?

Consumer confidence, a crucial driver of economic activity, is closely tied to interest rates. When rates are low, consumers are more likely to feel confident about making major purchases, such as homes and durable goods. This increased spending contributes to economic growth. Conversely, rising interest rates may cause consumers to postpone discretionary spending and investments, leading to a decline in consumer confidence and overall economic activity.

The Federal Reserve plays a central role in influencing interest rates through monetary policy decisions. By adjusting the federal funds rate, the Fed aims to achieve its dual mandate of price stability and maximum employment. Changes in the federal funds rate ripple through the financial system, impacting borrowing costs and, consequently, economic activity and real estate markets.

Summary…

In summary, interest rates in the Bay Area have far-reaching implications, affecting housing affordability, economic growth, and consumer sentiment. Monitoring interest rate trends is essential for stakeholders in the real estate industry, policymakers, and consumers alike, as they navigate the complexities of the market and plan for the future.

Any questions, please contact me.

Best Regards,

101 Loan
Senior Mortgage Advisor
www.101Loan.com
650-465-8957 c  408-377-4123 o
CA DRE #01205444  NMLS #326829
101 Loan – 14435 C Big Basin Way, Saratoga, CA 95070

Products/Services/Accolades:

  1. Residential Financing for Purchases and Refinances on 1 to 4 unit properties.
  2. Reverse Mortgage Financing to include Conforming, Jumbo, HELOC Jumbo’s.
  3. Commercial & SBA Financing to include Multifamily, Office, Retail and Light Industrial.
  4. Access to over 60 banks with over 300 “Five Star” Reviews on Yelp, Google and Linkedin.
  5. Over 30 years of lending experience with over $2b in closed loan volume.

Note: Interest rates and loan programs quoted are subject to change without notice or until locked and approved by lender.

Interesting Times in Real Estate…Part 1 (Housing Inventory)

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2024 has been “interesting” to say the least in the world of real estate due to the following:

  • Housing Inventory
  • Interest Rates
  • Recent Changes in Residential Real Estate – NAR Developments, Market Impact and Trends
  • Changes in Commercial and Construction Financing

Over the next 4 weeks I’ll send an article on each topic (above) as it relates to Real Estate in the Residential and Commercial Space.  Please see below.

Housing Inventory and How its Affecting Buyers and Sellers

Before we get started, housing inventory, specifically residential housing, is defined as the total number of active listings plus pending sales in any given month and usually includes homes, town homes and condominiums.  To see this article in html, click here.

Factors that Influence Housing Inventory:

  • Cost of Money (Interest Rates)
  • Accessibility to Money (Lending)
  • The Economy (Locally and Nationally)
  • Consumer Confidence
  • Infrastructure of the Area*
  • The Stock Market
  • Job Growth
  • Inflation

*Infrastructure for these purposes is defined as the abundance or lack of land and buildable space, population in the area, number of large, mid and small cap sized companies local to one area, support services that include the number of schools (k-12), junior colleges, colleges and universities, hospitals, medical support, multiple sport teams, safety in an area, etc.  Example: Strong Areas typically include the Bay Area, LA, San Diego, Phoenix, Denver, Dallas, Miami, Boston, New York to name of few.

What’s a Perfect Real Estate Model?

One of the most perfect real estate models is considered the Bay Area.  This is due to its high infrastructure (see above for definition) compared to most areas in the country, but also has some of the most expensive real estate.  Where infrastructure is high and the above factors are positive, residential housing inventory is this area tends to be low just as its been since 2014 after the recovery from the 2008/2009 real estate crash that affected the country.

From 2014 and forward, inventory hasn’t gone back to “normal” levels, where there’s a balance of housing supply and consumer demand.  For the last decade (with the exception of 2023 when interest rates soared), residential housing inventory locally has been low and demand has been great exceeding supply.

Currently, inventory is as follows…

  • Santa Clara County – There are 1213 listings (801 homes, 282 condos and 130 townhomes) and pending sales of 900 (603 in homes and 297 in condos and townhomes as provided by Jen Beehler with Elevate Group  650-714-8216
  • San Mateo County – There are 579 listings (91 of which are off market and only available to Realtors) and pending sales of 332 (51 contingent, 287 pending) as provided by Kiersten Ligeti with the Agency  650-766-8319
  • Santa Cruz County – There are 283 listings and 52 pending sales and 77 contingent as provided by Dawn Thomas & Chuck Holcomb at the The Dawn Thomas Team at  650-7010-7822

Important Note: Housing Inventory does fluctuate but historically over the last 10 years, supply has not kept up pace with demand causing overbidding on many homes sold with the exception was 2023 where residential real estate came to a stand still due to rising interest rates from January of 2023 at 3% to 7% (+or- .5%.)


The Bidding War…Recent Stories

As inventory remains low in the Bay Area, if a property comes on the market where 1 or more buyers like it, when they offer, a bidding war occurs especially when the listing agent accepts offers on a certain day and time.  Result, this is pushing values higher.  See some recent stories that I personally experienced…

Story 1…Last month we had a client that bid on a property where there were 11 offers on a property listed for $1.595m.  Our bid was the winner at 1.8m due to a short closing and no contingencies.  We were worried that the appraised value would come in low but low and behold the appraised value came in and we closed with no issue.  This then becomes the new comp/closing for the area pushing values higher.

Story 2…Dawn Thomas (that provided info for Santa Cruz County) has a client that presented an offer at $2.1m bringing in a significant down payment and the home sold at $2.8m with the client knowing full well they may need to make of the difference if the appraised value comes in short (while we are waiting for the appraisal).  What’s crazy, with all this over bidding, when the property closes, that property becomes the new comp for their neighborhood pushing prices up further.  Just look at the recent Housing Price Index for San Jose, Sunnyvale and Santa Clara as it correlates to supply and demand of the local real estate market and the increase of home prices over time.

Summary

Low Housing Inventory with High Demand equals Overbidding and Higher Values in the Near Future.  If you’re a seller trading up or trading down or selling for profit, you can still sell for top dollar.  If you’re a buyer, if you buy now, your locking in the price as its expected to go higher due to housing inventory and lower rates as expected by the Fed Reserve in q3 and q4 of this year.  Next week, I will cover Interest rates and how they correlate with Real Estate and the over all economy and of course consumer confidence which also drives real estate prices up.

If you have any questions and would like to get preapproved or determine your purchase power or financing options, please contact me.  Thanks.


Best Regards,

101 Loan
Senior Mortgage Advisor
www.101Loan.com
650-465-8957 c 408-377-4123 o
CA DRE #01205444 NMLS #326829
101 Loan – 14435 C Big Basin Way, Saratoga, CA 95070

Products/Services/Accolades:

  1. Residential Financing for Purchases and Refinances on 1 to 4 unit properties.
  2. Reverse Mortgage Financing to include Conforming, Jumbo, HELOC Jumbo’s.
  3. Commercial & SBA Financing to include Multifamily, Office, Retail and Light Industrial.
  4. Access to over 60 banks with over 300 “Five Star” Reviews on Yelp, Google and Linkedin.
  5. Over 30 years of lending experience with over$2b in closed loan volume.

Note: Interest rates and loan programs quoted are subject to change without notice or until locked and approved by lender.

 

 

 

If You’re a Buyer or Seller…What Should You Do?

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In 2022, real estate hit an all time high in terms of prices at which time I personally decided to sell my home as I thought real estate would be taking a nose dive due to rising interest rates.  Part of decision was taking advantage of the strong real estate market but also the fact that I wanted to downsize from a large home to something smaller in not just square feet but also in overall payment.

Here’s  What’s Interesting… 

Real estate flattened in price for the next 6 months and with rates going higher, I thought for sure more inventory would come on the market as companies laid off thousands of employees locally.  That didn’t happen and this year in February/March, we started seeing prices increase as inventory stayed low even with interest rates going even higher and just 900+ properties in Santa Clara County, 350 in Santa Cruz County and 920 in San Mateo County per the MLS (www.mlslistings.com).

As we enter Q4 and have pulled up local housing inventory, San Mateo County has 790 listings (comprised of houses, townhouses and condos).  Santa Clara County has 1145 (a 17% increase) and Santa Cruz County has 340 with a very small decrease.

Thus far, not a significant change compared to last quarter.  Per the Case Schiller Index for the Bay Area, real estate in near term seems to continue its way up since February of 2023.

Since inventory is still very low (and still a sellers market), competition for good property is fierce even with higher rates.  Warren Buffet said, buy when no one is buying and sell when every one is buying to get the lowest price when buying and the highest price when selling.

There is consensus with Realtors, Lenders, Appraisers and Consumers that when interest rates start dropping (as they should in Q1 of 2024) that home owners will start considering to sell as many are wanting to downsize as they get older and others that may want to leave the area or state for lower taxes and lower housing prices.

Per the Federal Reserve in a report dated 9/20/23, the Federal Fund rate should go from 5.5% to 5.1% or lower in 2024 and 3.9% in 2025 and continue that trend in 2026.  Time will tell of course but were getting near the end of high rates thank goodness and if the Federal Reserve does actually lower rates, we should see listing inventory increase as witnessed from 2012 onward where values exponentially grew as rated lowered.

Again, this could happen in other geographic areas but in the Bay Area, its more likely due to the wealth locally, the lack of land, high tech, VC and all the support services offered that include over 6 top tier universities and some of the best hospitals in the world as well as many other factors.

So…If your a Buyer or Seller…What Should You Do?

Any questions, please contact us.  Thanks.

Best Regards,

101 Loan

Senior Mortgage Advisor

www.101Loan.com

650-465-8957 c  408-377-4123 o  408-608-1921 f

CA DRE #01205444  NMLS #326829

101 Loan – 14435 C Big Basin Way, Saratoga, CA 95070

Products/Services/Accolades:

  1. Residential Financing for Purchases and Refinances on 1 to 4 unit properties.
  2. Reverse Mortgage Financing to include Conforming, Jumbo, HELOC Jumbo’s.
  3. Commercial & SBA Financing to include Multifamily, Office, Retail and Light Industrial.
  4. Access to over 60 banks with over 300 “Five Star” Reviews on Yelp, Google, Facebook and Linkedin.

Note: Interest rates and loan programs quoted are subject to change without notice or until locked and approved by lender.

Market Update – Unemployment and Property Values

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Good Afternoon,

I wanted to share with you a recent presentation I did, posted on You Tube, about the impact unemployment will have on local housing values compared to the rest of California with the big question in mind…

  • Are we headed towards a Recession?
  • Are we headed into a Real Estate Correction

Feel free to view and share with colleagues, friends and clients.

This Friday, I will be providing a new video and more unemployment numbers that have been recently released and what they mean.  If you need anything, please contact me.  Thanks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFq0qqyxOb0

Have a great week and stay safe!

Best Regards,

101 Loan

Senior Mortgage Advisor

www.101Loan.com

408-377-4123 o  650-465-8957 c   408-608-1921 f

101 Loan – 14435 C Big Basin Way, Saratoga, CA 95070

101 Loan LLC – CA DRE #01205444  NMLS #326829

Products/Services/Accolades:

  1. Residential Financing for Purchases and Refinances on 1 to 4 unit properties.
  2. Reverse Mortgage Financing to include Conforming, Jumbo, HELOC Jumbo’s.
  3. Commercial & SBA Financing to include Multifamily, Office, Retail and Light Industrial.
  4. Access to over 50 banks with over 200 “Five Star” Reviews on Yelp, Google, Facebook and Linkedin.

BTW…Interested in learning more about how to Choose a Lender…

Obtaining a mortgage in today’s market for a future purchase or refinance can be a complex ordeal. A top financing professional can be critical in getting your offer excepted, or locking the lowest rates and fees with

the most favorable terms. Below are some questions you will want to ask, to make the best choice in choosing your residential or commercial lender or mortgage originator.

By asking the following questions, we can quickly help determine your goals and financing options…

  • How long will you live in the area?
  • How long will you keep the property?
  • Are you planning on doing any remodeling or adding on to the property in the future?
  • When would you like to retire?
  • Are you after cash flow or paying off the loan as quickly as possible?
  • Plus many more…

Once we have your answers, we will advise on what loan programs are best for you and what loan structure will meet your goals.  This is done at the pre-approval appointment and reviewed again once in contract or when we lock your loan.

How will you help me understand the tax benefits of home financing for the future purchase of a home?    

We will determine your approximate tax write offs, net tax benefit, and net effective payment based on your tax bracket. Then we will compare your current mortgage payment to rent and you the benefit on a monthly basis in real dollars.

What is your process in assisting me so I can get my offers accepted?

We do several things that include providing a pre-approval in ms-word, so then at moment’s notice the Realtor can modify the price of the pre-approval to match any offer if purchasing below or at the original pre-approved amount. We also call the listing agent on each offer to convey the buyers compensating factors and to differentiate the offer from everyone else’s.   Lastly, we will help coordinate short closings and “as is” offers with no contingencies.

For more info, go here, then click on Home Financing Brochure for more info.  Thanks.

Purchasing Start

Market Report and What the Unemployment Numbers are Saying…

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Please See this Weeks Market Update that will Discuss the following:

  1. Last Weeks Market Review
  2. A Look Ahead – What to Expect
  3. How Zoom has changed the way we do business!

(http://www.mmgweekly.com/w/index.html?SID=86df7dcfd896fcaf2674f757a2463eba)

Next and Most Important…please see April’s unemployment numbers that were just released at 10am this morning.  California’s unemployment rose from 2.9 in February to 5.3 in March to 15.5 in April (https://www.bls.gov/lau/).

Locally though, unemployment (still waiting for the numbers in the bay area), should be lower since we are a tech based economy with large cap companies with lots of  cash in reserves (Example: Apple has 116 Billion in Cash).  Once the bay area updates, I will send another report.

In Closing, the Basic Consensus is as follows:

If our (bay area) unemployment numbers are lower than the average of the state, coupled with low housing inventory and low rates, demand for housing should stay strong.  If unemployment numbers are high, then we could be going into a recession as predicted by analysts throughout the country.  Based on history though, we (bay area real estate) tends to outpace and outperform the rest of the country.   As mentioned, I will update you once I have more info.

BTW…for more news in the future, always go here: https://101loan.com/blog/

All the Best,

101 Loan

Senior Mortgage Advisor

www.101Loan.com

408-377-4123 o  650-465-8957 c   408-608-1921 f

101 Loan – 14435 C Big Basin Way, Saratoga, CA 95070

101 Loan LLC – CA DRE #01205444  NMLS #326829

Products/Services/Accolades:

  1. Residential Financing for Purchases and Refinances on 1 to 4 unit properties.
  2. Reverse Mortgage Financing to include Conforming, Jumbo, HELOC Jumbo’s.
  3. Commercial & SBA Financing to include Multifamily, Office, Retail and Light Industrial.
  4. Access to over 50 banks with over 200 “Five Star” Reviews on Yelp, Google, Facebook and Linkedin.