What is a Statement of Information and Why Is It Needed?

According to the California Residential Purchase Agreement released on April 28, 2010, all sellers of a Residential Property shall provide the escrow holder completed Statements of Information within seven days after acceptance of contract.

So what is a Statement of Information and why is it important?  Well, the Statement of Information (SI) is a form that you fill out.  It will ask you questions regarding other names you have used, where you have lived, the names and ages of your children and jobs you have had.  This information is provided to the title company so they can distinguish the buyers and sellers involved in this transaction from other people with similar names.  Once Title identifies the true buyers and sellers they can disregard judgments and liens on the public records that are linked to other people who may have similar names.

Whenever Title is insuring a property they search the recorded documents looking for anything that affects the property such as liens, court orders, and bankruptcies.  These things affect the title to the property and will be listed as an exception from coverage on the title policy.  The completed Statement of Information allows the title company to differentiate between recorded documents for the people involved in this particular transaction from parties with similar names.  This protects all parties involved and allows the title company to completely carry out their duties.

Termites, Termites, Everywhere

I was recently visiting a friend when I glanced over at the sliding glass window.  As I looked at the floor it appeared to be discolored and moving.  I got up to inspect and realized that the floor in front of the door was covered with bugs.  There were thousands (my friend says over a million) of them. They covered an area of approximately 3 foot by 10 foot.  As we were vacuuming them up we realized that most of the bugs appeared to be dead.  There were small black bodies and larger white wings.  Many of the wings were detached from the bodies.  I suspected they were termites but I had never seen so many dead ones at one time. 

My friend did not know what to think.  She had swept the kitchen floor earlier that day.  What the heck?!?  How could so many bugs congregate and die in such a short amount of time?  First we went on the internet and confirmed that they were termites.  We determined where they were coming from.  We noticed that we kept seeing a few stranglers by the refrigerator.  When we pulled out the frig we discovered where they were coming from. 

Subterranean Termites

Oh no.  Would they need to tent and would she have to deal with finding a place to stay for a couple of days and don't even mention the hassle of bagging up food and dishes.  We called Scott from Truly Nolan, a pest inspector I often recommend for my real estate transactions.  He came out and did the inspection and confirmed they were subterraean termites.  He did a thorough inspection and much to our relief there was no evidence of the wood eating termites in the home.  He also told us tenting is not used to treat the subterranean termites because they are in the ground.  They come out to breed and take off to establish new colonies.  This is what happened in my friend's kitchen.  They came up and tried to leave but only got as far as the closed sliding door and that is where they met their fate.

The work is scheduled for next week and should be completed in one day.  My friend does not have to leave the home and her cat will be fine inside the house.  They will squirt chemical into holes and trenches around the exterior of her home to create a barrier.  They will do the same under her frig.  While it is never pleasant to have to deal with unexpected home expenses, in this case it could have been much worse!

El Cajon Real Estate Market Report - March 2012

Here is how the El Cajon real estate market looked for the month of March. I am including the number of active listings, pending homes and homes that sold in March 2012 for all three zip codes in El Cajon. These numbers are for single family detached homes. If you would like statistics for condos or another area, please feel free to give me a call.
92019
There are currently only 61 Active homes for sale in El Cajon (92019); ranging from $169,900 for a 724 square foot, 1 bedroom, 1 bathroom property to $1,799,000 for a 3 bedroom, 4 bathroom, 4,702 square foot home.

47 properties are pending (currently in escrow).

32 properties sold in El Cajon (92019) in March (closed escrow); ranging from $155,000 for a 1,264 square foot, 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom to $750,000 for 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, 3,671 square feet. The average time on the market was 78 days.


92020
There are currently only 52 Active homes for sale in El Cajon (92020); ranging from $165,000 for a 792 square foot, 2 bedroom, 1 bathroom property to $900,000 for a 4 bedroom, 3 bathroom, 2,926 square foot home.

52 properties are pending (currently in escrow).

19 properties sold in El Cajon (92020) in March (closed escrow); ranging from $140,000 for a 720 square foot, 2 bedroom, 1 bathroom to $490,000 for 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, 2,288 square feet. The average time on the market was 58 days.


92021
There are currently only 58 Active homes for sale in El Cajon (92021); ranging from $175,000 for a 582 square foot, 1 bedroom, 1 bathroom property to $3,900,000 for a 4 bedroom, 6 bathroom, 7,745 square foot home.

54 properties are pending (currently in escrow).

39 properties sold in El Cajon (92021) in March (closed escrow); ranging from $134,000 for a 930 square foot, 3 bedroom, 1 bathroom to $860,000 for 4 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, 4,565 square feet. The average time on the market was 81 days.

Alpine Real Estate Market Report - March 2012

It is time to see how the Alpine real estate market looked. I am including the number of active Alpine listings, pending homes and homes that sold in March 2012. These number are for single family detached homes. If you would like statistics for condos or another area, please feel free to give me a call.
There are currently only 63 Active real estate listing in Alpine; ranging from $111,900 for a 768 square foot, 2 bedroom, 1 bathroom property to $2,595,000 for a 6 bedroom, 7 bathroom, 6,444 square foot home.

35 properties are pending (currently in escrow).

9 properties sold in Alpine in March (closed escrow); ranging from $251,000 for a 1,272 square foot, 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom to $499,000 for  4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, 2,585 square feet. The average time on the market was 77 days.

Jamul Real Estate Market Report - March 2012

Hard to believe but March is gone and it is time to see how the Jamul real estate market looked.  I am including the number of active Jamul listings, pending homes and homes that sold in March 2012.  These number are for single family detached homes.  If you would like statistics for another area, please feel free to give me a call.

There are currently only 26 Active real estate listing in Jamul; ranging from $159,900 for a 588 square foot studio property to $1,299,000 for a 6 bedroom, 5 bathroom, 5,712 square foot home.

18 properties are pending (currently in escrow).

10 properties sold in Jamul in March (closed escrow); ranging from $165,000 for a 1,008 square foot studio to $666,000 for  3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, 3,065 square feet.  The average time on the market was 77 days.