OPEN HOUSE
SUNDAY 1/29
11AM - 4PM
1 comment • Adam Brett - Fullerton, California Realtor • January 27 2012 03:11PMFun in Fullerton
Helping the Environment is Fun! And why not clean out that cluttered room full of electronics while you’re at it, right? Fullerton Union High School and All Green Electronics Recycling have teamed up to host an event to help you get rid of them responsibly--absolutely free of charge! And it's this Saturday the 28th!
Bring all of your old electronics to the event, including, but not limited to: computers, monitors, televisions, printers, mobile phones, laptops, DVD players, VCRs, microwaves, calculators, iPods, cables and wires, telephones, fax machines, scanners, computer parts, and more.
Did you know that electronics contain toxic chemicals that, if recycled irresponsibly, can contaminate our land, air, and water? All Green Electronics Recycling promises to recycle everything it accepts in North America and will never send anything to a landfill or overseas for processing.
Here’s Where to go:
Fullerton Union High School
201 E Chapman Ave
Fullerton, CA 92832
(714) 626-3803
Parking lot off Pomona Avenue, behind school, in the football stadium parking lot.
0 comments • Adam Brett - Fullerton, California Realtor • January 27 2012 01:18PMTHE QUESTION: Can you guess the size of this home?
HINT - “Clinton beats Dole ”
THE ANSWER: 96 square feet!
THE FACTS:
Jay Shafer is the creator and resident of the smallest house in the world, which he has proudly named Tumbleweed. Jay is an artist and architect, who lives in his home near San Francisco. He sells plans for, and builds, tiny homes in sizes ranging from an extremely small 50 square feet to a practically roomy 500 square feet.
Jay has been living in a house smaller than some people’s closets since 1997.
Jay’s decision to inhabit just 96 square feet arose from his concerns he had about the impact a larger house would have on the environment, and because he does not want to maintain a lot of unused or unusable space.
2 comments • Adam Brett - Fullerton, California Realtor • January 24 2012 07:09PMNEWS FLASH: From Freddie Mac’s weekly survey the average 30-year fixed loan is at a new record low, averaging 3.88 percent and .8 point. Last week’s survey reported 30-year fixed at 3.89 percent. The 15-year fixed averaged up one basis point to 3.17 percent and .8 point, from last week’s from last week’s 3.16 percent. The 5-year ARM had no change, remaining at 2.82 percent for 2 straight weeks.
WHAT I SEE: From rate sheets hitting my desk that are not part of Freddie Mac’s survey: Forget ARMS when you can get 30-year fixed rates (locked in forever) at 3.75 percent and 1 point. Fifteen-year fixed rates are 2.875 percent and 1 point. Conforming plus ($417,001 to $625,500) for a 30-year fixed is 3.875 percent and 1 point. The 15-year conforming plus is 3.125 percent.
MY THOUGHTS: My current lenders are warning me that loan pricing will change in the coming days. If you are contemplating refinancing or you are in the middle of a purchase, you best lock in your interest rate as soon as possible. That new guarantee (G-fee) fee being imposed by Fannie and Freddie of ½ percent to the loan cost (not the interest rate) is going to get priced in within days by many lenders. If you want to find super deals on foreclosures for owner-occupancy, second-homes and investment properties we offer a quick and easy search module here.
0 comments • Adam Brett - Fullerton, California Realtor • January 19 2012 04:54PMHOW HOME STAGING
HELPS SELL A HOME
Trying to sell a home, or thinking about it in the near future? If so, you have somewhat of a challenge ahead of you, as today's housing market is definitely a buyer's market. Selling a home isn't nearly as simple as it was prior to the housing bubble popping in 2007; now, sellers have to take extra steps and pull out all the stops to make their home as presentable as possible.
One way you can put your home in the best light possible is to stage it appropriately, taking into consideration what people desire when they look for a home. Here we'll discuss what goes into a successful staging that'll catch eyes and attract interested buyers eager to buy your property.
What Potential Buyers Look For in a Prospective Home
There are a few factors you will need to consider when staging your home, to take advantage of what most prospective buyers look for when searching for an ideal property.
Layout
Buyers these days love a nice, open layout - a layout that allows freedom of movement and ample living space. A buyer wants to see how a home will look, and a lot of that comes from how the layout is arranged. Try to emphasize clear and open lines of travel from room to room, with a lack of major furniture pieces in the middle blocking traffic and clear lines of sight throughout the house. If you can walk from one end of your home to the other easily, your layout is attractive.
Open Space
To go along with the layout of the home, a buyer wants plenty of open space - space where he or she can use to truly customize the home. Open space makes a home appear larger than it really is. It also reduces feelings of being cramped and cluttered, especially with larger households. Emphasizing open space through a clean and streamlined layout helps immensely.
Special Features
Of course, any special feature that your home has should be prominently featured. Do you have exquisite countertops? Nothing should be obscuring their view or distracting the gaze away from your polished granite beauties in your kitchen. Have a spa or a Jacuzzi? Make it easy to see. Play up to your home's special features, things that are considered "bonus" features or items and make sure your layout is designed to incorporate them fully.
The Purpose of Staging a Home
Now we will get into the nuts and bolts of staging a home appropriately for a potential showing and for any prospective buyers who come by.
Creating a Better Image
Staging a home involves putting your home in order in a way that makes it look its best - and no home looks its best when it looks empty. You want to create the best possible image for your home, and that involves highlighting its selling points while minimizing its weaknesses. For example, if your dining room has a beautiful, full-length dining bay with French windows, stage your home with carefully-selected furniture, curtains, and other furnishings to highlight the area. Accent your vaulted ceilings with artwork and other pieces of décor that draw attention upwards. Creating a better image is all about creating an ideal appearance for your home.
Giving an Impression of a Livable House
Staging a home also involves giving your prospective buyer an idea of what the home may look like once it has been set up. A properly-staged home features just enough furniture, décor, and fixtures to make the living space attractive, draw attention to the open space and layout, and present a possibility for the buyer. When you do this, though, try to avoid putting in personal effects; you want to create something of a blank canvas for your buyer's imagination to use. A living room with a couple of couches, a coffee table, and a throw rug, accented with a candle or two and soft music is a welcoming and comforting staging for that living space. A warm kitchen with a pleasing aroma and cooking implements casually placed around on the countertops and table is another way to highlight this particular room.
Creating Helpful Suggestions
When you stage a home, you also help the buyer see what he or she should do when fixing up their own home. This doesn't mean they'll take your indirect advice, but subconsciously, they will appreciate the appearance of a well-kept home that looks 'lived in' - and may even keep the same arrangement.
Home Staging as a Good Selling Tactic
Home staging is a great selling tactic for a variety of reasons, primarily because it presents your home in the best possible light for a wide variety of buyers who want to see the ideal version of a home - not a home that is stripped bare with white walls and no character or personality. A staged home is an exciting home, full of possibilities. It gets the buyer's creative juices flowing, instead of presenting the buyer with a completely blank canvas without any suggestions or hints as to what makes the home really come alive. Staging a home also encourages the homeowner to play around with the layout and furniture as you have presented them. It is guaranteed that any interested buyer will start to mentally place his or her furniture in the rooms instead, to see how it would look versus what you have - and that automatically starts them down the road of a purchase. At the end of the day, staging a home gives your buyers every incentive to want to buy your home, all things considered equal. It is a must and something worth perfecting when selling your property.
2 comments • Adam Brett - Fullerton, California Realtor • January 18 2012 02:18PM
THE QUESTION: What Award Winning Screenplay was written in this house?
HINT - “HOW BOUT’ THEM APPLES!”
THE ANSWER: Good Will Hunting
THE FACTS:
It’s an old-world kind of house — a unique Tudor straight out of a Brothers Grimm fairy tale. It was part of a 19th-century hilltop farm that overlooked Los Angeles that was subdivided in the 1920s, when a renowned architect was brought in to infuse a Viking-French Norman style to the structure.
But none of those details compare to a more recent historical footnote for this unique Eagle Rock real estate market home where two ambitious, Boston-bred friends set up camp and hammered out a screenplay that resulted in two Academy Awards.
No, Ben Affleck and Matt Damon do not come with this house at 2327 Hill Drive. But as a result of the creative whirlwind the pair cooked up inside these funky walls, this Eagle Rock address has unofficially become known as the “Good Will Hunting” home. In reality, the house that Matt & Ben “built” is not the “Good Will Hunting” house, but better known as the ”Braasch House” and “Ma Castle.”
Los Angeles real estate agent Michael Locke of Keller Williams Los Feliz holds the listing.
“We have had a lot of interest, but so far, no one has bit the bullet,” said Locke, a photographer whose work, displayed on Flickr, chronicles a great swath of Los Angeles real estate. Locke said the house hasn’t been occupied for several years but it is in “reasonably good shape for a house of its age.
“The hardwood floors are in amazing condition; the windows have never been painted, so there’s not layers of paint to be removed. It has a new roof and chimney flue. It’s in an original unspoiled condition except for the kitchen, which was remodeled probably in the 1960′s and needs to be re-done. The big expenses involve the systems (plumbing, electrical, heating, etc.) which seem to be original and therefore probably need to be replaced,” said Locke, who has seen his share of Los Angeles real estate.
The price for the Eagle Rock house was recently dropped to $779K, down from the original list price of $1,274,000. The revamped listing description is also a lot more informational:
“Albert Braasch, an Eagle Rock pioneer and entrepreneur, purchased the property in the early 1900s, commissioning architect Jean L. Egasse to design the farmhouse along Norman lines, such as were left by the decedents of the Vikings, following their journey from an ante-medieval period,” and that “the collaboration between architect and owner is evident in the architect’s ‘French-cum-Nordic’ theme.”
Locke said he’s not “exactly sure of the dates that Matt and Ben lived in the house, however ‘Good Will Hunting‘ came out in 1997 and Ben was in the Class of ’95 (at Occidental) so you can probably estimate the approximate time. The same man has owned the house since (Ben and Matt were there) since he has owned it for over 30 years.”
Before Matt and Ben got cranking on their critically acclaimed movie, the home’s interior walls featured murals depicting the Norse warriors in action. And even before their Hollywood cache was brought to the home, it was written up in an anthology called “An Architectural Guidebook to Los Angeles” as well as in California Southland magazine in 1923, shortly after the home was built.
“To design a house for a hillside as one would plan an ornament for a crown or sword hilt: to make the hill a picture or a tapestry of houses and gardens — this is the craft of J.L. Egasse who seems able to grasp the ensemble of a hillside and to build his house and garden as a part of the landscape.”
The 2,187-sq ft 4-bedroom, 2-bath home features fireplaces, crown molding, stone floors, a detached garage, and treetop views. It’s also called a fixer in need of a little TLC that could stand as an historical-cultural monument.
Maybe that means any remodel of the “Braasch/Ma Castle/Good Will Hunting House” must include a special gold statue. Oscar was there, in spirit.
2 comments • Adam Brett - Fullerton, California Realtor • January 17 2012 03:08PMPlacentia, Orange County
Real Estate Market Reports
& Trends for the Week of January 16
The following below is an exclusive report that contains real estate trends, graphs, market updates and home sales information for city of Placentia in Orange County. It is the latest report on the real estate market in the city including valuable forecast information for home buyers, sellers and real estate agents. These reports include data for specific zip code area of 92870 for Placentia.
- City of Placentia -
Current Reports
Past Reports
0 comments • Adam Brett - Fullerton, California Realtor • January 16 2012 06:48PM
Brea, Orange County
Real Estate Market Reports
& Trends for the Week of January 16
The following below is an exclusive report that contains real estate trends, graphs, market updates and home sales information for city of Brea in Orange County. It is the latest report on the real estate market in the city including valuable forecast information for home buyers, sellers and real estate agents. These reports include data for specific zip code areas of 92821, 92823 of Brea.
0 comments • Adam Brett - Fullerton, California Realtor • January 16 2012 05:55PM
0 comments • Adam Brett - Fullerton, California Realtor • January 16 2012 05:06PMThis home will not last long. The best priced home in the entire City of Fullerton - we have a full approval from the lender at the list price!
Don't wait - call us today for a showing of the awesome home!
0 comments • Adam Brett - Fullerton, California Realtor • January 14 2012 02:40PM
Whatever you call it, the building is a physical representation of emerging markets taking over the world in terms of money and power, which is also what it screams (money and power) from the top of its 173 meter high walls: an asymmetric stack of glass, steel and tiles with a four-storey hanging garden and solid gold chandeliers hanging from the ball room ceiling.
“Antilia is marvellous, I remember a Picasso painting [there], it was one of its kind – stunning,” one local businessman who visited the building gushed to the Times of India newspaper.
As well as having a health club with a gym and dance studio, at least one swimming pool, a ballroom, guestrooms, 9 elevators, a variety of lounges and a 50-seater cinema, the tower also has 3 helipads on the roof, and a parking garage with capacity for 160 cars in the lower floors.
The family quarters are understandably on the top floors, where they enjoy an incredible view across Mumbai and the Arabian Sea. Experts say there is no other private property of comparable size and prominence in the world.
3 comments • Adam Brett - Fullerton, California Realtor • January 10 2012 02:54PM
0 comments • Adam Brett - Fullerton, California Realtor • January 09 2012 06:16PM
0 comments • Adam Brett - Fullerton, California Realtor • January 09 2012 06:11PM
0 comments • Adam Brett - Fullerton, California Realtor • January 09 2012 05:38PM
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0 comments • Adam Brett - Fullerton, California Realtor • January 06 2012 08:50PM
Over 30 local art venues will be participating in the next monthly art walk bringing Fullerton residents and out-of-towners to downtown.
Local art galleries and downtown venues are preparing to host the monthly First Friday Art Walk in Downtown Fullerton, which will be held on January 6, 2012 from 
6:00 PM to 10:00 PM. The incredibly popular Art Walk brings hundreds of art lovers and Fullertonians to full the streets of downtown Fullerton and various venues hosting art shows for the event. Families and art lovers are encouraged to come to Downtown Fullerton and enjoy an evening of over twenty venues of free art activities and exhibition openings within walking distance of each other. A map will be provided at each venue providing a guided tour. Free refreshments are also provided throughout the evening at many of the stops.
Need directions? Check out the clickable map below!
0 comments • Adam Brett - Fullerton, California Realtor • January 06 2012 02:39PM· Down payments as low as 3.5% - The down payment does not have to come from you “Gift” funds are OK using FHA financing
· Loan amounts up to $729,750
· 100% gift funds allowed – Family members can “gift” you the money to close. Funds to close DO NOT have to come from your bank account.
· Up to 6% seller concessions for closing costs
· NO reserves required – “Conventional” loans require 6 months mortgage payments seasoned in the bank BUT FHA does NOT require you to have any reserves what so ever.
· NO open or active tradelines required – All you need is a minimum of two credit scores reporting and the lowest needs to be a 640 or better.
· Citizenship is NOT required
· Non-Occupant co borrowers allowed (family member can help you qualify for the loan IF you cannot qualify on your own)
Offers a home loan program to help armed forces veterans obtain mortgages. The only documentation you need is your DD-214 and your Certificate of Eligibility.
To get a VA backed loan, you must fall under one of four groups. These groups include veterans, active duty personnel, National Guard members and surviving spouses of a veteran who died due to military service. You will need a Certificate of Eligibility to prove your eligibility for a VA loan.
Please let me know if you have any questions. VA is a great loan that offers no money down and no mortgage insurance.
Regards,
Matthew R. Chase
"I'm the Realtor's Best Friend!"
This information is provided to you by Matthew Chase of SWBC Mortgage, a long-time trusted partner of Adam Brett, The Home Sold Team. He is a direct Lender who can ensure you get the best rate and loan available. For more information about interest rates, visit: www.homesoldteam.com or contact Matthew Chase.
Matthew Chase | 562-216-0688 | mchase@swbc.com | www.swbcmortgage/chase
License # Ca-DOC242600
1 comment • Adam Brett - Fullerton, California Realtor • January 04 2012 06:46PM
Ask if refinancing your home loan will save you money.
Refinancing may be a great option if:
- You want to take cash out to pay off holiday bills, taxes or other debt
- Your loan rate is more than 5%
- You have a balloon or an adjustable-rate loan and want the stability of a fixed-rate loan
- You want a shorter-term loan so you can pay off your home at a faster rate
- Need to lower monthly payments to stretch household budget
- Need home equity to make another purchase or cover another expense
Call today for a complimentary loan analysis OR email a copy of a recent monthly statement to me. I will quickly send you a personalized loan analysis – at no obligation.
Regards,
Matthew R. Chase
"I'm the Realtor's Best Friend!"
This information is provided to you by Matthew Chase of SWBC Mortgage, a long-time trusted partner of Adam Brett, The Home Sold Team. He is a direct Lender who can ensure you get the best rate and loan available. For more information about interest rates, visit: www.homesoldteam.com or contact Matthew Chase.
Matthew Chase | 562-216-0688 | mchase@swbc.com | www.swbcmortgage/chase
License # Ca-DOC242600
0 comments • Adam Brett - Fullerton, California Realtor • January 04 2012 05:37PM
The Wall Street Journal reports stronger lure for prospective home buyers with the monthly cost of owning a home more affordable now than at any point in the past 15 years, homeownership is becoming less expensive than renting in a growing number of cities.
0 comments • Adam Brett - Fullerton, California Realtor • January 04 2012 04:31PM
0 comments • Adam Brett - Fullerton, California Realtor • January 03 2012 03:26PM
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