Weekly News Round-Up

I’m avoiding the sub-prime mess today in favor of bringing you some odd tidbits and useful information, as well as a rambling or two.

Yes, boys and girls, the Bay Area did make it on to Forbes‘ list of “America’s Most Overpriced Suburbs.” Matt Woolsey reports on the Top 12 suburban cities (3 in each region), based on median home price and household income. Which Bay Area city qualified? Well, that would be Tracey Taylor’s territory over in Berkeley, with their median home price of $752,500 and median household income of $51,256 (must have included students in that figure, as it seems low to me). Berkeley is in good company however, along with West Palm Beach (FL), Cambridge (MA), and Alexandria (VA).

In the “Don’t Try This At Home” category, there is a new debit card that allows you to borrow against your 401K. As if it isn’t bad enough borrowing against all of your equity, now they are making it possible to buy groceries with your retirement fund. While loans against a 401k, or penalty withdrawals, have been available, most people are wise enough not to do this unless dire circumstances prevail. And for me that would mean last resort, like I’m gonna die and need experimental treatment, not I can’t pay my mortgage and I’m gonna lose my home. Because losing my life is much more important than losing my home. And…if I’m not gonna lose my life, I want to be able to live it somewhere other than a shack or trailer park in my old age. Not that trailer parks are all that bad, my grandparents lived in one for over twenty years, but I personally believe they are tornado magnets, at least in the Midwest. But I digress…. I am willing to bet that those who take advantage of this type of debit card will rue the day. What do you think?

While the facts are a bit murky, ZGirl over at the blog Better Than Nothing wrote a recent post titled “California Mechanic’s Liens: Homebuyers Asked to Pay Subcontractors and Suppliers Stiffed by Builder.” While there aren’t that many new home developments in the core Bay Area, I would imagine that this would pertain to new condos, townhouses, and those developments in outlying counties. She talks about a case in Sacramento where a new homebuyer got stuck with 2 lawsuits and 28 liens by contractors. She covers, in detail, how mechanics leans work, which could be helpful to anyone buying a new home.

Creative Financing has taken on a whole new meaning of late, with the most recently reported scheme being “Growing Pot to Pay the Mortgage.” Not surprisingly, this article appeared in the Santa Cruz Sentinel a few days ago. But Seattlites had the same idea according to Jonathan Martin of The Seattle Times, who wrote about this last July. He reported that, ” In place of a family, the home’s primary ‘occupants’ were 658 marijuana plants. In a good year, the harvest would be substantial enough to pay off the mortgage on the $500,000 house and buy another home.” Gotta love that creativity, thinking outside the box and all…..

Katrina Munsell of the Seattle Sweet Digs Blog had a wonderful post this week titled “Is It Time to Refinance Your Home?” She interviewed Rhonda Porter of The Mortgage Porter, who answered questions that will be beneficial to many of our local homeowners. Check it out.

Back in October, one of the Mansion & Shack articles I wrote covered Steve Wozniak’s modern mansion in Los Gatos, which was listed at that point for $7,888,000. Then in November Brenda Keener wrote “Steve Wozniak’s Former Los Gatos Home Gets a Facelift,” which detailed much of what had gone into this very unique home. And just last Sunday the Chronicle ran an article by Ruth Ryon of the LA Times bringing us the news that price on this home has been slashed to $6,900,000. So, if you have some spare change under the couch cushions, you might think about making an offer. If not, it’s a cool house to look at, virtual tour and all. (NOTE: This home does not appear to be a current listing, so either Ruth is wrong, or a re-listing will be occurring shortly.)

Recent Sweet Digs Posts:
Lenders Impose “Declining Markets” Restrictions in Some Areas
Cracking Price Barriers in the ‘Nut