City of Morgan Hill Offers Amnesty for Add-ons and Upgrades

Date: Sunday June 20, 2010
Posted in: real estate, Morgan Hill

Good news for those of you who have done unpermitted work to your property!  The City of Morgan Hill is offering an opportunity to those of you who decided to go ahead and do the work - and worry about the permit later.   For the next two years, until June 30, 2012, you can make sure that your unpermitted work meets life and safety compliance without having to pay any penalty fees for work already done.  As stated in the City of Morgan Hill’s website:

“Overview

In an attempt to assist property owners in securing retroactive permits for work that has already been performed, a temporary Building Permit Amnesty Program has been implemented.  The program will allow property owners that have constructed room additions, remodels, or performed other work that would otherwise require a building permit, to apply for the appropriate permits without paying penalties.  The primary objective is to achieve code compliance for life and safety aspects of the code, and therefore reduce liability and increase safety for property owners and/or tenants.  This program will only be in effect until June 30, 2012.

Fees

All current applicable permit and impact fees would still be due; however, the penalties would be waived–which could mean hundreds or even thousands of dollars in savings.

Process

  1. The applicant applies for a building permit and all penalty fees are waived;
  2. The Building Inspector performs a preliminary inspection of the property to determine the scope of the work, and if plans will be required;
  3. As-built plans are submitted, if deemed necessary;
  4. If the inspector determines that the unpermitted work will comply with current applicable codes, permit fees are paid, an active building permit is issued to the property owner, and a final inspection takes place.

Codes and Regulations

It will be necessary for the unpermitted construction to comply with all current codes.  In cases where there has been extreme divergence from zoning and building codes, the illegal construction will not be permitted.  In this situation, the property owner will be required to restore the structure and/or site to its previous condition.”


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How South Santa Clara County Schools Performed

Date: Tuesday September 22, 2009
Posted in: Morgan Hill, San Martin, Gilroy, school

2009 Academic Performance Index (API) scores are now available.  How did the Morgan Hill Unified and Gilroy Unified School Districts perform?

 MORGAN HILL UNIFIED

Elementary School

Junior high school

High school

GILROY UNIFIED

Elementary School

Middle school

High school

Above information taken from the San Jose Mercury News 9/16/2009.


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Why are Pending Sales So Much Greater than Closed Escrows?

Date: Tuesday July 7, 2009
Posted in: real estate, pending sales, appraisal

For months now, I’ve been stating in my weekly sales blogposts that many of the pending real estate listings reported are short sales and therefore take a long time to close.  This keeps our listings that are pending under contract percentage up artificially high because those listings stay at the pending status month after month.  And the number of listings that actually close escrow remains low in comparison.

There are several reasons the pending sales numbers are high but actual closed escrow numbers are not.  This was pointed out to me by a southern California colleague, Michelle Silverman, a Realtor in La Jolla, California. 

Michelle recently shared this Wall Street Journal blog post, Three Reasons Pending Sales Isn’t a Reliable Indicator.   The article discusses three reasons homes on the real estate market don’t close escrow after getting into contract.  One of the reasons is the one I state week after week, short sale pending contracts.  While the buyer and the seller wait for the seller’s short sale lender to approve the offer, the home sits in pending status on the multiple listing service.  Often the transaction falls through because the buyer gets frustrated with waiting for months and finds another home to purchase and sometimes the short sale lender does not approve the offer.

Another reason that homes under contract don’t close escrow is that mortgage rates have gone up, albeit a small amount.  However this raise in rates can knock out buyers who qualified at a certain interest rate when they first began their home search.  They aren’t able to go through with the purchase because now they don’t qualify for the higher monthly payment.  Buyers may also choose not to purchase due to the higher interest rates.

And the third reason pending sales don’t close escrow as discussed in the WSJ blog has to do with the latest difficulty besetting the real estate market:  appraisals.  There is a new law, The Home Valuation Code of Conduct, or HVCC, adopted May 1, 2009.  The law was formulated to elevate the independence and accuracy of the appraisal process.  To keep influence low, lenders are now required to use appraisal management companies.  In theory, this should be a positive move.  In actuality, many of the appraisers hired by the appraisal management companies don’t come from the area where the property is located and sometimes don’t even have access to the local MLS.   For example, I’ve heard of ill-informed appraisers using property sold in Gilroy as a comparable sale for property in Morgan Hill.  Some sales are falling through at the last minute due to under-valued appraisals.

Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, cautions that there could be delays in the number of contracts that go to closing. “Closed existing-home sales have improved but are coming in lower than expected because some contracts are delayed or falling through from the application of new appraisal rules for many transactions,” he said. “Rises in contract activity show buyers are becoming more active even as they face much more stringent loan underwriting standards. Speedy clarification of the appraisal rules could smooth a housing market recovery and support the overall economy.”


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