Categories
- Buying
- Benicia
- Investors
- Vallejo
- Solano
- Contra Costa
- Selling
- Market Update
- Loans / Financing
- Foreclosures / Short Sales
- Local Stuff
- Fun Stuff
- Vacaville
- Fairfield-Gr Valley
- Suisun City
- The Economy
- Viewpoint
- New Listings
- Resources
Archive
- July 2011 (1)
- June 2011 (2)
- May 2011 (2)
- April 2011 (3)
- March 2011 (6)
- February 2011 (4)
- May 2010 (5)
- April 2010 (30)
- March 2010 (7)
- February 2010 (6)
- January 2010 (11)
- December 2009 (15)
- November 2009 (10)
- October 2009 (20)
- September 2009 (13)
- August 2009 (15)
- July 2009 (10)
- June 2009 (9)
- May 2009 (18)
- April 2009 (14)
- March 2009 (14)
- February 2009 (22)
- January 2009 (21)
- December 2008 (7)
- November 2008 (1)
- October 2008 (2)
- September 2008 (8)
Archive for 'Benicia'
My Benicia Garden — Week 7
June 18th, 2011 categories: Benicia, Fun Stuff
A lot has happened in my Benicia garden since my last update. Now that the unseasonably cool and wet weather seems to at long last be behind us, all of my warm-weather loving plants are now really starting to take off.
The tomato plants have plenty of new growth and are all flowering. Most of the plants are now almost 2 feet tall. And some of the plants have stalks are a good inch in diameter. I haven’t yet found any little baby tomatoes, but I’m hoping they’ll start appearing in a matter of days. 
I did have two tomato casualties since my previous garden update. My Black Prince and Costoluto Genovese plants started wilting and I had to give them a proper burial (in the green-waste bin). Fortunately, I still had another seedling of each variety, so I replanted them about 3 weeks ago. So far the deceased plants’ siblings seem to be doing well. Read the rest of this entry »
| Discussion: No Comments »
FHA & Conventional Loans About To Evaporate For Some Benicia, Vallejo Homebuyers?
June 18th, 2011 categories: Benicia, Buying, Loans / Financing, Solano, Vallejo
Unless Congress steps in soon, some Benicia, Vallejo homebuyers may find it impossible to get an FHA or conventional loan by early Fall.
That’s because loan limits for the two loan programs that cover probably at least 90% of the loans originated in Solano County are set to change come Oct. 1.
And barring Congressional action, the maximum you can borrow under both programs is going to drop substantially, which means that many Benicia, Vallejo and Solano County home buyers could suddenly find themselves needing to come up with tens of thousands more in down payment or accept a costlier “jumbo” loan.
Right now, the maximum you can borrow with an FHA or conventional loan is $557,500. But as it stands right now, after September 30, the conforming loan limit in Solano County will drop to $417,000 and the FHA limit to $400,200, which is certain to impact local borrowers who are planning to finance a home with a loan amount that exceeds the new limits.
In plain English, that means that any borrower in Solano County who is today planning to buy a home for more Read the rest of this entry »
| Discussion: No Comments »
My Benicia Vegetable Garden – Day 18
May 16th, 2011 categories: Benicia, Fun Stuff, Local Stuff
It’s been about 2-1/2 weeks since I planted my tomatoes, peppers and other summer garden veggies and so far, with one or two exceptions, things are going well.
If you read the earlier posts about my garden, you know that between myself, Richard Bortolazzo and a few other friends in Benicia, we nurtured and gave away over 400 tomato, pepper and cucumber plants, all of which we started from seeds earlier this spring.
We put our seeds in the starter kits on President’s Day back in February, transplanted them into individual peat pots in mid-March and started distributing them to friends and co-workers in late April.
I planted mine in Earthboxes on April 28 — 10 different varieties of tomatoes, five varieties of peppers, and a few straggly cucumber plants. I also planted some nursery-bought seedlngs: Japanese eggplant, bunching onions, a tomatilla plant and a backup 6-pack of pickling cukes. Plus I refreshed my herb garden with new basil, cilantro, Italian parsley, sage, fennel epazote, and dill.
So it’s now 18 days since I planted and most everything is going well. Nine of my 10 tomato plants are very robust and pushing skyward. The 10th Read the rest of this entry »
| Discussion: 2 Comments »
My Benicia Vegetable Garden – Day 11
May 9th, 2011 categories: Benicia, Fun Stuff, Local Stuff
It’s been 11 days since I planted this year’s tomato crop and so far all’s well on the veggie front. All 10 home-grown heirloom tomato seedlings seem to be doing well — they’ve each grown about 6-8 inches in about a week and a half. All but one variety are now about a foot tall.
More importantly, they’ve seen just about all nature can throw at them — a few blistering hot days last week followed by a little rain and cold, gusty winds.
| Discussion: No Comments »
It’s Official…NOW Spring Has Arrived
April 28th, 2011 categories: Benicia, Fun Stuff, Local Stuff
The calendar may say that spring arrived a month ago, but I say it’s not officially Spring until the Benicia Farmer’s Market opens.
And today was opening day for the 2011 market, which means that at long last, Spring is finally here. At least that’s the way I see it.
There’s something extra special about Opening Day — whether it’s a sporting event, a theatrical production or the Farmer’s Market. Everyone has a little extra bounce in their step and a little broader smile on their face. And that’s how it was today as farmers, merchants and shoppers all welcomed each other to the 2011 market season. Read the rest of this entry »
| Discussion: No Comments »
My Benicia Vegetable Garden – Season II
April 28th, 2011 categories: Benicia, Fun Stuff, Local Stuff
Want A Few Free Tomato Seedlings? Read On…
About a year ago, I posted pictures of my just-planted tomato garden and had every intention of posting periodic photos so you could watch my Benicia vegetable garden grow.
Well, the garden grew and grew and grew and we enjoyed tomatoes and peppers well into October.
But despite those “best laid plans,” aside from a few early-season posts, my garden’s progress never made it all the way to blog.
Well this year, I’m making the same pledge, only this time, I plan to post my garden photo updates with a lot more regularity.
This year’s garden just got off the “ground” today. Well I use “today” loosely.
If you really want to know the truth, it really got off the ground about 10 weeks ago, when I purchased about a dozen and half heirloom seed packets from a place called the Seed Bank in Petaluma.
A week later, on President’s Day, Richard Bortolazzo (who owns our Coldwell Banker franchise) & I spent the morning filling up three 72-cell seedling trays. We put 2-3 seeds in each cell, as the directions said, figuring that only a small portion of the seeds would “take.”
Well, boy were we wrong! Read the rest of this entry »
| Discussion: No Comments »
How Big Is Benicia-Vallejo’s Shadow Inventory?
April 7th, 2011 categories: Benicia, Fairfield-Gr Valley, Foreclosures / Short Sales, Market Update, Selling, Suisun City, The Economy, Vacaville, Vallejo
About a week ago, I listened to Rick Sharga, Sr. V.P. of Realty Trac, share his firm’s current foreclosure numbers. In his talk, one statistic really stood out: right now, there are 1 million foreclosures in the U.S., yet only 300,000 of them have come on the market.
In other words, 7 out of every 10 U.S. homes that the banks already own haven’t even hit the market yet. That’s the “shadow inventory” that you may have heard people talk about.
It prompted me to look at our local market a little closer and see how big our own shadow inventory is right now. The numbers were pretty startling. Not quite as large as the nationwide figures that Mr. Sharga talked about, but still pretty shocking nonetheless.
I looked at all five cities in our primary market area (Benicia, Vallejo, Fairfield, Suisun City & Vacaville) and found that about 3 of every 5 foreclosed homes have not yet come on the market. Read the rest of this entry »
| Discussion: No Comments »
10 Ways To Help Avoid A Short Sale Disaster
March 11th, 2011 categories: Benicia, Foreclosures / Short Sales, Selling, Solano, Vallejo
As anyone looking for a home in Solano County right now can tell you, many of the homes on the market right now are short sales (where the seller owes more than the home is worth and can’t complete the sale without their lender(s) agreeing to reduce the amount they owe).
Short sales are far more complicated than a regular sales transaction and can take far take longer, too, due to the time a bank can take to review the seller’s financial situation.
Right now, about 4 out of every 10 homes on the market in Solano County are short sales, including 43% of the homes in Benicia and 47% in Vallejo. And, despite what you may have heard, many short sales do indeed close escrow.
Most of the short sales we’ve represented clients on over the past few years have successfully closed.Yes, there can be some drama or unexpected twists and turns along the way.
But sadly, many sellers or agents either throw in the towel far too early — either out of frustration or by giving up at the first sign of a short sale decline.
If there’s one thing I’ve learned from representing short sale clients it’s that there’s definitely an art to successfully negotiating a short sale. There’s far more to it than just shuffling papers and waiting for the bank to give its answer.
Over the years I’ve found that there are 10 critical factors that either the listing agent or the seller can directly control. Read the rest of this entry »
| Discussion: No Comments »
Chase Offering Some Benicia, Vallejo Sellers $20k To Do A Short Sale?
March 9th, 2011 categories: Benicia, Foreclosures / Short Sales, Vallejo
Tales Of Letters Offering Upside-Down Borrowers $20k…But Are They Legit?
Over the past few months, I’ve heard rumors of Chase Bank offering some upside-down borrowers a $20,000 incentive to sell their homes as a short sale.
When I first saw this, I thought it was probably nothing more than an internet scam perpetrated by some unscrupulous bottom-feeders in our industry who were trying to prey on down-on-their-luck homeowners.
There are a few short sale programs (BofA’s Cooperative Short Sale and the Fed’s HAFA program), where the homeowner receives a few thousand dollars as an incentive to participate in a short sale.
But $20,000?! That seemed wildly unlikely.
However, at our local Assn. of Realtors breakfast this morning, I heard the same rumor Read the rest of this entry »
| Discussion: 20 Comments »
April 2010 Benicia & Vallejo Home Sales
May 18th, 2010 categories: Benicia, Buying, Market Update, Selling, Vallejo
Curious what that Benicia home down the street sold for last month? Wonder how much your Vallejo neighbor sold his home sold for? Or how long it took a certain Vallejo or Benicia home to sell?
Just download our April Benicia and Vallejo Home Sale Reports for those answers and more. Some highlights from April’s Benicia & Vallejo Home Sale Reports appears below. Read the rest of this entry »
| Discussion: No Comments »
