VacantSouls

How Weird Street Faire

2011-05-01T14:30:00.000-07:00

Updated at 3:22 p.m. PDT: Added additional images to photo gallery and a few more videos--all shot from a conference room at my work.

How Weird street faire

I shot a few photos from the How Weird Street Faire that is going on right outside of my office. The HDR photos are a bit ghosty, but still fun.

I also shot this video when walking back to the office from getting lunch. It starts off with an ass shot, so I'd say I did well.

My favorite of these videos is the guy in the alligator costume dancing.

Tahoe 2011

2011-02-15T20:24:00.001-08:00

One pissed off mother

2011-01-01T23:19:00.000-08:00

I can't help but laugh, and share this funny voice mail I had waiting for me on my work phone when I got back in the office tonight. It's obviously a wrong number, but wow this mother is pissed.

This is almost as funny as the "Tom Bodett" voice mails I use to receive when I worked at CWIS. Perhaps I can find those files--I saved them somewhere--and post them.

1200 Day Ave., Concord, CA 94520 ... good-bye

2010-06-02T15:44:00.000-07:00

Update: We ended up back with this property after many months because the crazy person came to her senses. We closed and it's now ours. yay!

Click to view more photos of 1200 Day Ave., Concord, CA

Sadly, yesterday the listing agent officially canceled our contract to buy the home in Concord, CA.

I've been filling out paperwork diligently for the past month to get the loan and everything else in order for the home. Finally, it was nearly done an we were within two weeks of our estimated closing date, when the appraisal for the property came back. It was great to finally get the appraisal done after all the hassle we've had, mostly because of the listing agent, but the bad news was its appraised value came in $35,000 less than our offer amount. Here's where the real fun begins.

The listing agent for the property is the owners wife (both are real-estate agents). You'd think they'd know something about property values? The home was listed at $235,000 and the MLS listing stated that it has lots of upgrades and so on. So we thought "great, all the work has been done for us." So we bid on it. Our first bid was rejected because they already had an offer for that amount, but we were advised--by the listing agent via our agent--to raise the offer to get the property. We next offered $250,000 which was immediately accepted. Hurray! The excitement ended in less than a day (mostly because of other drama that was happening).

A condition of the loan was that the listing agent wanted the loan contingency to be removed in 17 days--instead of the usual 30 or 45 days for Bay Area transactions. This wasn't a deal breaker, but it made my life miserable because for seven of those 14 days, I would be in Hawaii. So I had seven days to get everything I could in order before we left.

To get my loan disclosures finished, my mortgage broker needed to get escrow and closing cost estimates from the seller-selected escrow company. He was unable to get them to return calls or provide him with information, delaying the paperwork. Once he finally received the correct information from the listing agent, we were at day 17 of the loan contingency. The listing agent/seller agreed to extend the deadline for another seven days so we could get the home appraised.

Because of the mortgage meltdown, much has changed in the loan industry. Now, you can't contact an appraiser directly. Lenders must go through a proxy, thus they have no control or influence over the process (and can't urge someone to promptly appraise the home).

Many days passed without an appraisal, and finally the property was scheduled to be appraised on a Wednesday. This day, for some reason, wasn't good for the listing agent, so she contacted the appraisal company and asked for it to be delayed until the next day, Thursday. Had the appraisal been done Wednesday, we would have had it in time for the new extended contingency date. But since she delayed it by a day, that delayed when we would receive it until after the extension ended. We were going to deal with that, but as the day the extension was the end came, we began trying to find the status of the appraisal, so that we would know how long to request for another extension. What we found out was shocking. On the morning the appraisal was to happen, the listing agent called the appraiser again and said not to come out and rescheduled it for a week later! The listing agent denies doing this, but it's her word against the appraiser--I choose to believe the appraiser. After a day of the listing agent screaming at my agent--which she does often, she's so professional--and me working with my mortgage broker to get the appraisal done, we finally managed to get it. Yay! Success! Oh, wait. It only appraises for $215,000, not the $250,000 we bid nor the $235,000 she listed it at. Also, what's this? All the "flipping" I thought had been done by the current owner (the listing agent) was actually done before she bought it. The only things they had done were some foundation work, interior paint, and refinish the hardwood floors--hardly enough to justify the premium she's wanting.

When an appraisal comes in lower than the accepted offer amount, you h ave very few options, and only one realistic one. That is for the seller to lower the price to the appraised value. In this case, this means they would lose $35,000 in profit. That's rough, but that's what happens when you overprice a home in a down market. There are also some legal issues with them trying to sell the house at such a high premium. But instead of taking the profit they would still earn, the listing agent kept saying they won't drop it from $250,000 and to take it or back out--they also kept giving us extensions to decide what we wanted to do. I didn't need time to decide. The answer was always drop the price to cancel the contract.

The listing agent was unreasonable through the whole deal, but I had hoped I could knock some reality in her, so with the approval of my agent, I sent her an e-mail. Here's what it said (and it explains some of the mortgage issues she will face with other buyers).

From: Daren Darrow
To: XXXXXX XXXXXX (listing agent/owner)

May 28, 2010

Mrs. Xxxxx,

I appreciate you working to find a way to make the deal work. However, giving a list of MLS prices that are 105, 108, and 124 days old is not going to help and is a waste of everyone's time.

I'm neither a mortgage broker nor a real-estate agent, but I have learned a lot about the process since I have begun looking for homes.

Mortgage and appraisal companies do not use listing prices, but they do use comparables from similar properties sold in the past 90 days or less and within a one-mile radius of the property.

The property's appraised value of $215,000 is a fair value, albeit a lower price than what either of us expected. It's a tough market. In January 2009, Contra Costa County appraised the property for tax purposes at $217,500. In the time since, the overall average home sale price in Concord has increased about 12 percent; however, since your purchase of the property in January 2010 for $165,000, the average price in Concord has dropped nearly three percent1.

Conventional/conforming lenders have adopted HUD's proposed rules2 and will no longer fund loans wherein the sale price is more than 20 percent of its most recent sale price--for homes sold between 91 days and 12 months from its last sale.

Also, since an appraisal whom my lender ordered for this home is linked with my FHA case number, any other FHA lender that pulls a DU on this property in the next 12 to 24 months will get and use a copy of the appraisal we already performed. Even if they order another appraisal--which they won't do for at least 90 days past the date that mine was performed--and it comes in slightly higher than this one, mortgage lenders will have access to both appraisals and base a loan off the lower price.

According to the appraisal, when they pulled the MLS information from your purchases in January, most of the work involved in "flipping" the home had already been done. Since then, the only known work performed on the home--according to permits and my knowledge--is that the foundation has been repaired (permit BP10000456 from 3/10/2010), floors have been refinished, and interior has been painted. If more has been done, the City of Concord does not have permits on file for the work.

Assuming that is all the work done, you have at most an additional $10,000 invested in the property after your purchase, bringing your total investment--without any mortgage, taxes, and utility fees you have paid--to $175,000. A purchase at $215,000 will be a $40,000 profit, which breaks down to a 22.8 percent ROI for you for owning a property for six months.

$215,000 is the most you will get out of any FHA lender for at least the next 90 days for the property. Given that the sale price is more than $198,000 (which would be a 20 percent increase from your purchase price), finding a conventional lender to fund the loan will be difficult, as well. If you do find one willing to fund a loan past the 20-percent HUD recommendation, you will unlikely find one that will fund past the $215,000 appraised value.

You can back out of our contract--that is, of course, your decision to make--but keep in mind all the difficulties you will be putting any other person through who tries to get financing for the home; all the while, you will continue losing money by having a property sitting empty.
According to MLS records and the appraisal, very few homes have sold within 1 mile of 1200 Day Ave. in the past 12 months.

According to the appraisal:
"THE SUBJECT SOLD ON 1/22/2010 FOR $165,000, DOC#.10-13983. NO OTHERS APPEAR TO HAVE BEEN SOLD IN THE LAST 36 MONTHS ACCORDING TO FIRST AMERICAN REAL ESTATE SOLUTIONS/MLS. COMP#6 SOLD FOR $210,000 ON 3/29/10 DOC#.10-60358. COMPS#3&4 ARE REOs AND APPEARS TO HAVE TRANSFERRED IN THE LAST 12 MONTHS. NO OTHERS APPEAR TO HAVE TRANSFERRED IN THE LAST 12 MONTHS ACCORDING TO FIRST AMERICAN REAL ESTATE SOLUTIONS/MLS."

That means turnover in the neighborhood is not very high, and is an added barrier to selling the property. Also, there is no longer a federal tax credit enticing new buyers, and interest rates are on the rise--China is showing confidence in Europe and the Dow jumped upward of 189 points yesterday.

If you accept the $215,000, you have a buyer ready to go and most of the hurdles over with and are nearly ready to close. The other option is to cancel the contract, in which case I wish you good luck getting a lender to fund a loan for more than the appraised value of the house; I only hope you don't lose more money in the time it takes to try to persuade another lender of what you think the home is worth.

I await, hopefully, your acceptance of our addendum, or a notice of your decision to cancel the contract.

Sincerely,
Daren Darrow

1http://www.trulia.com/real_estate/Concord-California/market-trends/

2Prohibition of Property Flipping in HUD's Single Family Mortgage Insurance Programs; Final Rule; 24 CFR Part 203, Doc. No. FR-4615-F-02
3ACCORDING TO FIRST AMERICAN REAL ESTATE SOLUTIONS/MLS. COMP

Sadly, the letter did not help. She remains delusional to believe she's going to get more than $215,000 for the home anytime soon.

If anyone reading this happens to be bidding on the property, be sure to get your appraisal soon and work on the price; it will save you a lot of headache with her since she'll refuse to budge below $250,000. She claims to have two backup buyers already, but they'll run into the same appraisal issues I did.

For anyone interested, here's a copy of the appraisal.

1200 Day Ave., Concord, CA 94520 appraisal

'New in Town'

2009-12-18T12:14:00.000-08:00

Last night we watched "New in Town." It's a nice enough movie that brought my Wisconsin accent out. But the best part of the movie is that I realize I'm still in love with Harry Connick Jr. However, I did learn that I like him more with a beard and seemingly dirty, rather than when he's all cleaned up and shaven.

The movie also has some 90-year-old women in it who claims to be
Renée Zellweger, but I don't know. I don't remember her looking that old and tired.

Is it tapioca, or did he just "visit" me? :)

Not as pictured: Trader Joe's Roasted Vegetable Couscous

2009-11-16T14:31:00.000-08:00

We've all ate food, usually fast food or microwaveable meals, that didn't look quite like as appetizing as what was pictured on its box or menu. However, the food usually look somewhat similar to what's being marketed by the photo.

The same can't be said for Trader Joe's Roasted Vegetable Couscous. It looks amazing in the photo on its box. However, once you pull it out of the microwave--while salivating at the warm smell of spinach--and remove the plastic wrap, you'll think you just warmed someones vomit and can't believe you considered having it for lunch.

Even though it was horrendous looking, I ate it. For less than $3, it was quite tasty, even if it looks disgusting. But I may be a minority in that opinion. According to the products Facebook page (does everything have Facebook now?), most people think it tastes gross. Perhaps they just can't get past its appearance?

Click image for larger version.

LIPDUB - I Gotta Feeling (Comm-UQAM 2009)

2009-10-10T11:08:00.001-07:00

As if I needed another reason to miss being in college.

Mr. Bean gets all the ladies

2009-07-15T20:28:00.001-07:00

...but really, he can have them. This is funny though.

Adding Turkey to my list of countries to visit

2009-07-10T13:16:00.000-07:00

I never thought I'd have a reason to visit Turkey, but now I do. Hierapolis-Pamukkale is beautiful. The pools are made of travertine, a type of limestone deposited by evaporating water from the hot springs.

Russian sand art performance

2009-07-10T09:56:00.001-07:00

This woman is amazing.

RSS feed weirdness

2009-07-07T17:06:00.000-07:00

If anyone actually subscribes to my RSS feed, for some reason it hasn't been updating lately. The issue should now be solved. You can subscribe using this feed.

Best text message yet of 2009

2009-07-07T15:58:00.000-07:00

I woke to find this text message waiting for me this morning. This has got to be the best message yet all year.

"Tyson Chicken Is Hiring @ $35.55 An Hour And When I Told Them About All Your Experience Handling Cocks..... Well..... You Start Monday..."

PG PORN: NAILING YOUR WIFE

2009-06-10T17:27:00.001-07:00

Here I am!

2009-06-05T12:03:00.000-07:00

We're taking a break from walking around campus by sitting and
enjoying Theta Pond. This is one thing I really miss living by.

How To Shave Your Groin - Shaving Tips From Gillette

2009-06-02T20:50:00.001-07:00

Air New Zealand staff have nothing to hide

2009-05-23T09:21:00.001-07:00

Oklahoma State University's Flash Rave '09

2009-05-06T20:43:00.001-07:00

Here's a better quality video of the rave. Well, maybe not better quality but at least this one is edited and not as jerky.

OSU Flash Rave 2009

2009-05-06T09:51:00.001-07:00

Awesome, I wish I would have been here to see this in person. I don't think I can remember seeing that many people in the student union at one time before.

Not a surprise here :)

2009-04-27T21:59:00.001-07:00

Como Hacer un Bebe | How to make a baby

2009-04-20T15:37:00.001-07:00

Me and my entourange dancing

2009-03-31T11:57:00.000-07:00

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

Obama's Elf

2009-02-19T10:03:00.001-08:00

Sandwich day

2009-02-11T13:23:00.001-08:00

My co-workers (Karyne, Jeff and Emily) and a group of Karyne's friends with the The Sentinel for lunch. It was a fun excursion and Karyne wanted to play with her Flip MinoHD and the new version of iMovie, so here's the video she made.

And, yes, that is my fat face as a thumbnail. :(

My superhero

2009-02-02T15:58:00.000-08:00

I used an online widget to make my own superhero over the weekend. I wish they would have let me name him, because I prefer the Pink Avenger to Professor Soaring Angel.

Note the weapon, he's a flamer :)

MSNBC Keith Olbermann on Prop 8, Marriage and more!

2008-11-14T17:28:00.001-08:00