What is a Trust Sale?

As some of you may have noticed, I've been selling a lot of trust sales recently. The question frequently comes up: What is a trust sale? What does a trust sale involve? Here is a brief overview of the process:

1. 1. The short answer to this is that a trust sale is the sale of a property that is held by a trust where the original trustee is either under a conservatorship due to an inability to handle his/her affairs, or the original trustee has passed away.

2. 2. There is an executor of the estate of the deceased property owner or a conservator who is acting as the trustee for the estate.

3. 3. The trustee picks a realtor to represent the estate in the sale of the property.

4. 4. The property is marketed and offers are received. The offers must be “As-Is” and the estate is exempt from several disclosures. In Ca. the exempt disclosures include the transfer disclosure statement, the seller’s supplemental or seller’s questionnaire, smoke detector disclosure and installation, and signature on the Natural Hazard Disclosure Statement, but the report must be provided.

5. 5. Although the trustee is exempt from some of the standard disclosures anything that is known by the trustee or realtor must be disclosed.

6. 6. Once the trustee accepts an offer on a deceased estate the heirs must be given 45 days to sign the notice of proposed action. If anyone objects the estate needs to go to court to get the right to sell the property. If there are no objections the sale goes through.

7. 7. If the home is under conservatorship the trustee does not need to give a notice of proposed action because the profit is any, stays in the estate and is not distributed to multiple heirs.

8. 8. Trust sales can be a good option for a buyer. They are often owned by long time sellers and therefore the estate often has enough equity to withstand the downturns in the market. If property is being sold the trustee has usually determined that the estate needs to sell the property and will sell it at the price the market will bear, as opposed to a price that someone wants. This is not always true, but often is.

9. 9. If you are a trustee and need to sell a property it is a good idea to hire a realtor who understands the duties and responsibilities involved in selling a property held in trust and who is able to work well with the estate’s attorney.

I hope this is a clear overview of the process. If you have any questions please feel free to ask.

Marcy Moyer

Keller Williams Realty

www.marcymoyer.com

marcy@marcymoyer.com

650-619-9285

Palo Alto Market Update, April 11th: Single Family Homes

Here is today's snapshot of the Palo Alto market for single family homes:

77 Active listings

46 Pending sales

Breakdown of Price Points:

Under 1 million: 9 Active Listings / 10 Pending Sales

1 to 1.5 Mil: 28 Active Listings/ 15 Pending Sales

1.5-2 mil: 16 Active Listings/ 8 Pending Sales

2-3 Million 13 Active listings/ 8 Pending Sales

3+ mil: 12 Active Listings/ 3 Pending Sales

What does mean? The market overall is pretty healthy. There is virtually no change since my last update on 3/3/10. Under 1 million is very competitive, 1-2 million is trending seller’s market, but most surprisingly, 2-3 million is pretty healthy again this week which I will now declare a trend. Over 3 million is still anemic and probably the best chance for a bargain. So it seems there are still a lot of people who want to move to Palo Alto, and there is completion for homes.

· If you are interested in finding the final selling price of any home, anywhere, you can do it on my web site. Go to www.marcymoyer.com and click on Cyberhome Home Valuation. You can then type in any address next to the search icon and get the county records.

If you need anything else please feel free to contact me. I am here to help you.

Marcy Moyer Intero Real Estate

marcy@marcymoyer.com

650-619-9285

www.marcymoyer.com

DRE 01191194

What I Learned About Real Estate in 2009

I want to start by thanking all of you who have read my blog. So far no corporation has contacted me to ask to advertise on my site because of my incredible readership, but enough of you are reading and commenting to make me feel as if my efforts are worthwhile, so thank you very much.

2009 has been quite a year for real estate. Silicon Valley has seen some changes that many people never saw coming. While some cities were not hit by huge waves of foreclosures or short sales, no place was immune from a drop in value. At the start of the year mortgages, particularly jumbo mortgages were hard to get, but that has passed. While we will never go back to the days where the qualification to get a mortgage was a pulse, there is money available for people with provable income, down payment, and credit. In many areas a flood of foreclosures caused a huge drop in value, followed by a wave of cash rich investors buying up property and the return of multiple offers for well priced homes. In Palo Alto we saw a slower drop in prices, a big increase in inventory, followed by a drop in inventory and now a more balanced market.

I have personally experienced a very different kind of buyer and seller this year, and a change in what is expected of an agent. Some of my personal encounters with buyers:

1. Buyers are better educated than ever before and pay a lot of attention to numbers, values, and market trends. The home of my dream concept has often been replaced by the deal of my dream.

2. Buyers will go to web sites like Zillow and Redfin for information, but many still want the extra help that a local agent can give them to determine value.

3. There is an increase in buyers in think they know enough to attempt to buy a home without using an agent.

4. Buyers who find me on the internet trust me more than buyers I meet at open houses. This is the fact I find more interesting than anything else I have encountered this year. I guess that my writing makes people feel they know me, which I think is a good thing.

My personal encounters with sellers:

1. While selling a home where a bank is involved, ie a REO, has a level of frustration unequaled by any other type of sale, you can be assured that the house is going to be sold at whatever price the market will bear. The bank will not withdraw the listing just because they can not get their expected price.

2. Last Jan short sales had about a 10% chance of closing. I do not know the national average for closings, but most banks are allowing the process to proceed and eventually closing many of short sales rather than foreclosing.

3. Estate sales, whether they are trusts or probates also close. The estate has to sell and will do it at market value and not throw a hissy fit and go home if they do not get what they want. Well, they may throw a hissy fit, but eventually they still make the sale.

4. Individual sellers are still often unrealistic and think their home is worth more than a buyer thinks it is worth. This is nothing new, but what is new is that these sellers now have competition from the above three types of sales so very often an individual seller will just not sell if he or she does not like the market value.

What has not changed for me this year is my belief that real estate is a wonderful long term wealth builder and if you buy a home, pay it off, and have it to live in, rent out, or give to your heirs, it is a smart way to spend your money. I also still believe in the home of your dreams, even if many of my clients do not.

Thank you all for your support and your disagreements, I learn from both.

Marcy Moyer

Intero Real Estate

D.R.E. 01191194

marcy@marcymoyer.com

www.marcymoyer.com

650-619-9285