Arn Cenedella's (arncenedella) Blog

During the past few years, the market has been so hot - so many buyers were "throwing" money at sellers and sellers were getting 6 and 7 offers - no buyer with a house to sell had a chance to get his offer accepted. Times have changed. Buyers now have a change to get an offer accepted CONTINGENT ...

I recently represented a buyer on the purchase of a property in a nearby local community. This property had been on the market for some time and my buyers' intitial offer was significantly below list price. When I arrived at the listing agent's office, I was told that another offer had just come ...

If you are a first-time home buyer (defined as someone who has not owned a home in three years), here is the tax form you need to file along with instructions as to how to do so. It is fairly straight forward.

Which party (buyer or seller) in a transaction pays which closing cost  is not regulated by law. Sellers typically pay county transfer taxes. City transfer taxes are typically split 50/50 between buyer and seller. What about title and escrow fees? However each county has their own custom. In San ...

Obama's plan contains 2 main parts: 1. Refinance options for loans that are up to 105% of the current market value of the home. 2. Loan modifcation programs for people where option #1 does not apply and they are having a hard time making the monthly payments. Obama has named the plan #1 - Making ...

The $10,000 CA tax credit applies to NEW construction (never lived in properties) purchased as a primary residence. There are several new condo/townhomes projects right now in Palo Alto and Los Altos and a soon to be released project in San Carlos. Marrian Bennett Half Moon Bay Coldwell Banker ha...

In an earlier post, i wrote about a recently passed California State Franchise Tax Board $10,000 credit for the purchase of a NEW principal residence. This credit is available to all purchasers of a NEW house or condominium. Kappy Mann from beautiful Truckee Lake Tahoe area (where I will be going...

Most of the housing stock on the San Francisco Peninsula is 40 or 50 years old. As a result, many homes will have repair and/or upgrade issues. An experienced agent in conjunction with a professional home inspector can help guide you through the issues that are sure to arise in the home inspectio...

Diane Tuman of Zillow provides all the latest info on this credit. I have recently represented a young first-time home buyer who got into contract on an REO prior to the passage of the stumulus package but they closed after the package becoming law so they will receive the $8,000 credit. That was...

That is the $64Million question on many folks' minds. Here is my "take":In my San Francisco Peninsula market, I would say:Are there good values to be found? Yes.Are we at botttom? Probably not. I expect contiuned downward pressure on prices. (In most San Francisco Peninsula cites, values are down...