SMA Realty & Finance Real Estate & Home Loan Specialists Serving Californians since 1992 November 2004

Dear Friend,

I hope you voiced your opinion on Nov. 2. Democracy fails when people lose interest in it. Only 60% of registered voters voted, which the media tells us is the highest recent turnout on a percentage basis for a national election; but that means more than one-third of the people are disinterested. The next 4 years are fully in the “righteous” Republicans’ hands, and we’ll either look back at these next 4 years as the best of times or the worst of time. I hope it’s the former.

Real Estate Update The market has heated up considerably in the last 60 days. This time of year the inventory drops, and normally so do the number of buyers, but for some reason, the latter didn’t happen and I’ve been seeing price increases of 3-8% over the last sale in the most desirable neighborhoods. One needs to have patience and persistence to buy in this market. Opportunities do appear but they need to be scooped up quickly. You need to be pre-approved. Recently I went hunting for new home investment ideas in Newton, Patterson, Livermore, Milpitas, and Hayward. I liked Hayward and Livermore the best. Hayward because its downtown is being revitalized, and Livermore, since it still has plenty of land to develop and the schools are decent. Give me a call if you’d like to discuss some of these communities. Are you looking for new real estate investment ideas (out of the bay area, out of California). Take a look at the quarterly reports published by OFHEO (Office of Federal Housing Oversight). You can see which communities experienced the greatest or least appreciation. If you want to know the price a home sold for shoot me an email with the property address.

Property Taxes Became Due Nov. 1 and will be late on Dec. 10. To get a copy of your bill go to: http://www.smafinancing.com/property_taxes.htm Prepay your 2nd Installment Consult your tax consultant to see if it makes sense to make both property tax payments before year end (you need to make sure the extra payment doesn’t throw you into AMT Tax).

Prime Rate Increase The Fed raised the interest rate on the Fed Funds rates by 0.25% to 2% and banks increased the Prime rate a .25% to 5.00%. Expect your Home Equity Line interest rate to increase 0.25%.

Refi Central The Fed indicated on Nov. 10, that they will continue the measured pace of rate increases. There is some debate on whether or not the next increase will be in December, however next year we can expect at least 4 more increases.

Looking for a Faster Virus-Free Browser Check out Firefox Believe or not there’s a new browser in town that’s making inroads on Microsoft’s IE, and it’s free. It’s called Firefox by Mozilla (a Netscape scion), in my tests it’s much faster than Microsoft’s IE, however, for now you’ll have to use both browser’s because some banking sites will not work with Firefox yet. Also if you are allowing for a free alternative to MS Office, try OPENOFFICE, it’s a suite of word processing, spreadsheet, and presentation applications that are roughly comparable to Microsoft Office. (review)
	Brokers Rate Higher JD Power: Consumers Like Brokers Better - According the JD Power 2005 Home Mortgage Study, consumers who use mortgage brokers tend to be more satisfied with the lending process than those who work directly with lenders. "Brokers appear to perform significantly better in meeting customer expectations," said Jeremy Bowler, director of the firm's finance and insurance practice. "Brokers are perhaps more dependent on customer referrals than the direct lenders. As a result, brokers may be more in tune with the cause-and-effect of customer satisfaction and advocacy."

New Car Buying Tips Crash Test Results (look for 5 star ratings on frontal, side impacts, also compare potential to flip over) Fuel Econony Green Vehicle Guide (look for ULEV rating) Vehicle Reliability: JD Powers Report / Consumer Reports Quick Pricing: Carsdirect.com or use AAA’s Vehicle Buying Service Reliability: JD Power (very cool) or MSN or Consumer Reports (subscription required)

Free Sweet Lime Tree

There are still a few left.

My dad’s has 11 Sweet Lime Trees to give away. Let me know if you’d like one. In India the sweet lime is therapeutically valued for its cooling effect in cases of fever and jaundice. It’s also though to be cure for malaria.

Sweet lime is a fruit that resembles lemons in every respect, except it does not have the mouth-puckering taste. Its mild, sweet juice tastes like home-made lemonade.