Guest post by Julie Jacobson, Redfin field agent in the San Fernando Valley and LEED Green Associate

Home buying used to be all about how much home you could afford. Now it’s also about how much home you can afford to operate.

Redfin agent Susan MacLean specializes in the San Fernando Valley. You can meet her at our upcoming happy hour event!

Click on the map at right to see where Redfin offers direct service: if it’s within the red shaded section of the map, it’s in our direct service area.

New: Redfin Now Tours You Twice Before Pre-Approval

Good news, southern California: We no longer require you to get pre-approved before your first home tour — or your second! You can now take two home tours with Redfin before submitting a pre-approval letter.

Joyti Goundar, one of our all-star agents in Southern California worked on 39 offers in June and 30 of them were on listings with multiple offers. “Things are so competitive right now, many listings are getting 5 – 10 offers so you have to put your best foot forward and make a strong offer,” says Joyti.

One of Joyti’s clients recently bought a home in Pasadena that had 16 other offers. To show they were serious about buying the home, her clients’ offer included a 40% down payment, 3% earnest money, no appraisal contingency and an inspection contingency reduced from 17 to 10 days.

However, sometimes putting their best foot forward isn’t enough. Another one of Joyti’s clients made an offer over listing price, with a 25% down payment and an inspection contingency reduced from 17 to 10 days. The sellers rejected the offer. There were 18 offers and the sellers were countering with the top nine.

A lot of this competition is due to families with school-aged kids trying to buy in between school years. “The summer market is always busy because parents want to buy and get settled before the school year begins,” says Joyti.

Where are you seeing listings with multiple offers?

I was out and about in Woodland Hills today and noticed a billowing cloud to the north. It had the faintest amber hue to it. The air felt murkier. And I’ve seen snippets of ash fly across the sky.

So I checked around the news for local fires and as of 10 a.m. this morning, the fires have been burning out by Porter Ranch. Porter Ranch is located in the northwestern part of the San Fernando Valley, a little over 10 miles north of my residence. The area is characterized by hilly terrain, winding streets, and tile roofed-homes circa the 1970′s. And if you’re living in Porter Ranch, your family is likely in the six-figure income bracket.

I hope the homes in the area are safe from the fires. If you’re just curious, take a look at the real estate below.

11487  Twin Hills Ave./4bd, 3bth/2,861 sq. ft./$680,000

11690 Seminole Circle/4bd, 3bth/2,552 sq. ft./$749,000

11743 Doral Ave./4bd, 3bth/2,276 sq. ft./$925,000

As sharp as the correction was turning out to be, after all, we had seen it all before.  Many Southern Californians remembered the regional housing corrections of the early ’80s and again in the early ’90s following boom (read bubble) times.  Though no fun for owners and would-be sellers of inflated properties, at least we had the comfort of historical perspective, and the foreknowledge that this too would pass; property values would eventually recover and begin to rise again.

Today, three months later, we have no such assurances, no such familiar historical perspective.  We’ve been plunged headlong on a journey through utterly alien territory.  Instead of a relatively routine once-a-decade cyclical event, we seem to be verging on an economic upheaval that happens once in a century, one whose contours and consequences are yet unfathomable.

The neatly compartmentalized housing crisis that was the center of our economic attention just three months ago has spun beyond the bounds of all but the most fanatical bubble blogger’s imagination, and is now mere prologue for the events that, on a daily and hourly basis, are unfolding on an unthinkable scale.  Not since 9/11, or perhaps Katrina, has the nation, and the world, been so transfixed by a cataclysmic spectacle.  That this one is reshaping the economic universe, rather than the political one, makes it no less arresting.

The role of Redfin’s bloggers in all this is, thankfully, modest and focused:  we strive to shed light on the current dynamics of real estate in the communities where we live.

How the financial and economic maelstrom that is accelerating around us will impact ordinary buyers and sellers, asking and selling prices, incomes and inventories, completely remains to be seen.

I’m happy to be back at Redfin keeping watch on my pockets of the housing market for readers in these extraordinary times.

About two weeks ago, I got a pamphlet in the mail. It was the information guide for Measure R. Measure R adds a half cent sales tax increase to LA County and will pay for lots of goodies, like street repair, light rail transit expansion, and bus line improvements. According to the LA County Metro, the average increase in expense per year to the average Joe Commuter or Jane Driver is $25. Measure R comes on the ballot in November.

Are you kidding me? Twenty-five bucks? I’m sold! I’d pay twenty-five bucks a year to reduce traffic, cut down on smog, improve the streets, and make an efficient public transportation system available to the masses.

Think about it this way. If you buy $5,000 a year in taxable stuff, you’ll currently pay $412.50 in sales tax (8.25%). If you pay the tax hike of half-a-cent for measure R, you’ll pay $437.50 in sales tax. Take a look at the proposed rail expansion projects (Click map below). It would be much easier to travel from parts of the San Fernando Valley to the rest of Los Angeles.

Curbed LA has a mention in their blog about the proposed measure. LA Times says “Yes” on R, while a few naysayers say “No“. What do you say?

When all is said and done, how does your monthly budget look? Do you have money left over to save or are you living beyond your means every month?

I’ve been keeping track of what I spend money on and it’s a real eye-opener to see where all the cash goes. I use the Monthly Home Budget chart that’s part of my Microsoft Office programs. But I’m sure there are plenty of other software choices out there that can help keep track of monthly spending habits.

One family in Granada Hills spends beyond their means every month. Kim Shekerlian and Stan Monterrosa have a combined take-home pay of $4,600. Their mortgage is $1,850. And judging by their budget list, they really don’t spend extravagantly.

Click the chart below and take a look at how they spend their money.

The couple’s story comes out of an article from the Daily News.

Just for kicks, I thought I’d check out what types of homes you could afford in Granada Hills for the same mortgage that Kim and Stan are paying. I’m assuming 20% down ($75,000) on a $375,000 house with a 6.25% interest rate for a monthly payment of $1,847 and some odd change.

15946 Lahey St./4bd, 2bth/1,383 sq. ft./$345,000

11219 Gaynor Ave./4bd, 2bth/1,399 sq. ft./$369,950

11130 Whitman Ave./3bd, 2bth/1,537 sq. ft./$390,000

By the way, the above listed homes are all part of best-ranked elementary school in the area (according to GreatSchools.net) – Danube Avenue Elementary School.

So you all know that they signed the bailout bill last Friday, right? The provisions in the bill include measures that are supposed to help owners avoid foreclosure. But the bill isn’t exactly what I wanted to write about today.

Instead, I wanted to share this with you.

I went back to one of my favorite real estate blogs, BusinessWeeks’s Hot Property, and found an interesting little post. Peter Coy, who wrote JPMorgan’s “Cheats & Tricks”, uncovered an older article that speaks volumes about the mentality that got us into this mortgage mess. There was a memo that got sent through JPMorgan Chase’s email system. The memo details how loan representatives can get Zippy (the Chase loan underwriting system) to approve loans that otherwise would be denied to applicants.  Well, the alleged author did get fired (she maintains her innocence in the article) and JPMorgan did issue a statement that the memo was not representative of corporate policy. However, it’s easy to see why so many homeowners are in such a financial mess with friendly mortgage brokers to help along in the process of spending beyond their means.

OK. Just go ahead and read the memo. Feel free to let me know what you think.

ZiPPY Cheats & Tricks…

If you get a “refer” or if you DO NOT get Stated Income / Stated Asset findings…. Never Fear!! ZiPPY can be adjusted (just ever so slightly)

Try these steps next time you use Zippy! You just might get the findings you need!!

• Always select “ALTERNATE DOCS” in the documentation drop down.
• Borrower(s) MUST have a mid credit score of 700.
• First time homebuyers require a 720 credit score.
• NO! BK’s OR Foreclosures, EVER!! Regardless of time!
• Salaried borrowers must have 2 years time on job with current employer .
• Self employed must be in existence for 2 years. (verified with biz license)
• NO non-occupant co borrowers.
• Max LTV/CLTV is 100%

Try these handy steps to get SISA findings . . .

1) In the income section of your 1003, make sure you input all income in base income. DO NOT break it down by overtime, commissions or bonus.

2) NO GIFT FUNDS! If your borrower is getting a gift, add it to a bank account along with the rest of the assets. Be sure to remove any mention of gift funds on the rest of your 1003.

3) If you do not get Stated/Stated, try resubmitting with slightly higher income.
Inch it up $500 to see if you can get the findings you want. Do the same for assets.

It’s super easy! Give it a try!
If you get stuck, call me . . . I am happy to help!

Tammy Lish
(503) 307-7079
tammy.d.lish@chase.com

Do you remember being 19? At the time I was 19, I made enough money from my part-time job to cover the expenses of my clothing needs. I had a roof over my head. (Thanks, Mom and Dad.) And I was happy with that.

But if you’re 19 and a starlet in Hollywood, you make enough money to buy much, much more. In the case of High School Musical actress Vanessa Hudgens, her job buys her a $2,750,000 house in Studio City. How’s that for a first house purchase?

Here’s an excerpt from the LA Times Hot Property Article.

The house, old-world Tuscan style, has a city lights view. There are six bedrooms and 6 1/2 bathrooms in 5,200 square feet. The property has a Pebble Tec pool and spa, waterfalls, cabana and a barbecue island. The kitchen has Thermador appliances and copper sinks. There is a wine cellar with glass doors and Mexican wrought iron.

Apparently, even Miss Hudgens got a deal on her new home – if you can call it that. The home was on the market for nearly a year and was most recently listed at $3,299,000. If you break it down, the home comes out to $529 a square foot.

There are a handful of properties in Studio City that you can get in the same price range (if you’re curious or are just loaded.) Here are a few I wouldn’t mind owning.

3297 Wrightwood Dr./4bd, 3.5bth/4,082 sq. ft./$2,699,000

3725 Goodland Ave./6bd, 5bth/5,473 sq. ft./$2,995,000

11540 Kelsey St./5bd, 6bth/5,870 sq. ft./$3,349,500

I was checking my inbox recently and found the latest info on foreclosures from Property Shark. Last time I wrote about foreclosures back in September, I noted that parts of the San Fernando Valley topped the charts for number of foreclosures in the Southern California area. Here is a brief list, so you can see which areas have the most foreclosed homes for the third quarter of 2008:

Taking the #3 spot for the second time in a row is Sylmar with 301 trustee sales.

Pacoima keeps the #4 spot with 290 trustee sales.

Reseda is new to the list, taking the  #11 spot with 225 trustee sales.

If you’re interested in the chart, click on it to enlarge.

I also combed the report for other areas I thought some of our readers might be interested in. These are all Q3 foreclosure numbers.

Encino (91316): 68

Encino (91436): 15

Sherman Oaks (91403): 33

Sherman Oaks (91423): 33

Woodland Hills (91367): 63

Woodland Hills (91364): 57

West Hills (91307): 45

West Hills (91304): 110

Back in September, a reader asked if I thought the stats indicated a firming market in West Hills (91307). Given this latest foreclosure report, the fact that the number of houses for sale is only declining slightly (perhaps due to seasonal influences), and the fact that the charts still show the sold price per square foot to decline, I would have to say we’re not at the bottom yet. (Some of you might be saying, “duh!”)

What are your thoughts?  Are any of you actually finding bargains in the foreclosure market? Please share.