The buzz word these days is “blog”. I’ve been told it’s time to enter the world of blogging myself. So here goes…Welcome to my blog!

Hopefully I can keep these commentaries short, interesting and valuable enough for you to invest a few minutes to read them. My 21 year old son Rob works for a company named Lexblog. Started by a man who sold his first internet research company to Lexis (now LexisNexis), Lexblog creates and sells blog templates to law firms. I’m sure 5 or 6 years ago, few could imagine law firms setting up blog sites to talk about interesting and important developments in their specific law practice. But it’s taking off. Web 2.0 is really here.

My plan is to provide you with a fun and factual commentary on life and real estate in Marin. There are a few other Marin real estate blogs out there (we’ll point to those along the way), but both my son Rob and Kristin, a Marin Realty Group agent who is also a techno wiz, told me that it’s time for me to get to blogging. My subject matter will primarily be real estate, but I’ll also write about interesting people and stories related to real estate. Or any other inspirations that may come to me from my Saturday morning Mt. Tam bike rides.

In addition to my blog, we have Ana Trueman of Avatara Finance Group, our in-house loan broker, contributing financial market updates regularly in her blog the Weekly Market News.

Check in each week for a new post. I welcome any and all topic suggestions and real estate related questions to address in my blog. Just shoot me an email lou@marinrealtygroup.com with your ideas.

See you next post! – Lou La Gatta, Broker/Owner, Marin Realty Group

This week was the IRS deadline for filing income taxes and once again homeowners can be thankful for the tax deduction they get on their mortgage interest. This is one reason that owning a home continues to make good financial sense and is still a cornerstone of sound financial planning. In spite of all the negative reports on the housing market, many analysts continue to believe that this cycle will end in the next 2 years followed by a strong economic recovery. A high ranking executive at Lehman Brothers is quoted recently as saying that the worst of the credit crisis is over from the viewpoint of financial institutions…

The next few months could be the turning point for the real estate market. Some economists are saying that we’ve already seen the bottom of the market, which means that now is the time for buyers to get in contract. Remember that one never knows when the bottom (or top) of the market is reached until months afterwards… as the saying goes, “hindsight is 20/20″. This said, I concur that we’re at the darkest part of the tunnel right now, which means that light should be showing up soon. We’re still waiting to see improved pricing on the new “jumbo light” conforming loans since the initial rates for these loans are disappointing. It’s still too early to tell what the effects of these new loans will be. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that these rates will improve in the next 90 days, opening the doors for more buyers. In the meantime, jumbo ARMs are still available at excellent rates.

What does this mean for you? Regular jumbo ARMs can still be locked at excellent rates with good to excellent credit. The time to buy is NOW if you are in the market to buy, because we are likely at the bottom of the market right now. Down payments of at least 10% are essential for most buyers these days, but seller credits for closing costs up to 3% can still be approved by lenders. Marin stats are still showing us that most of Marin continues to be holding strong values although volume is down. You can use this to your advantage to get a property at a great price without a bidding war if you act now. Stated income loans are being removed from the market, so it’s essential to work with a sharp mortgage pro if you are self-employed and want to qualify for a loan. The Home Ownership Accelerator loan continues to be a great option to lower payments.