Thinking about buying a home or refinancing?

Business as Usual does not apply to the lending business these days – especially the home mortgage business. In case you haven’t noticed, lending standards are changing everyday, banks and other lending institutions continue to try, die or sigh.

If you don’t read Dan Green regularly, give it some consideration – if you’re interested in what’s happening in the mortgage industry. Dan doesn’t serve up canned goods. His Daily Mortgage Reports offer real time, real person insight and analysis of what’s happening with YOUR potential to buy a home – in plain English.

Here’s part of what he is saying today:

If you plan to buy a new home in 2008 or 2009, give a lot of thought to moving up your time frame. 

Mortgage approvals are about to get more scarce and more expensive for everyone.

The Supporting Evidence From The News

1. FHA is increasing its mortgage insurance premiums and up-front loan fees for a lot of borrowers
2. With IndyMac's demise, other banks should follow and Alt-A loans may go the way of Sub-Prime
3. Fannie and Freddie are in financial crisis again and may be forced to add mandatory loan fees for everyone
4. Banks are doing the unthinkable just to get suspect loans off their books
5. Wall Street is losing its appetite for "guaranteed" mortgage bonds

California Mortgage News

Yesterday Governor Schwarzenegger signed a California Mortgage Bill.

Lenders must now call California homeowners or visit them in person and explore restructuring options before foreclosing on their homes under legislation signed Tuesday by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The new law also doubles the amount of time tenants have to relocate from a foreclosed property to 60 days and requires owners to maintain foreclosed properties.

I guess it had to happen sooner or later. With all the people we’ve been helping and pleasing with real estate transactions and Internet marketing advice, I’m really not that surprised to learn of this grassroots movement.

If it continues to gather steam, I may have to make other plans for the next four years.

With popular endorsement like this, shouldn’t YOU consider HarperMees & associates when considering real estate in Danville or San Ramon, California?

On the way home from 24 Hour Fitness in Walnut Creek today, I noticed activity in The Counter.

The Counter – Custom Built Burgers – is located in the new Mercer building at California and Trinity in Walnut Creek, CA. I had the thought as I passed by that maybe I would go down there for a burger later.

As it happened, Jane was at a funeral in Sacramento and went by the Squeezed Inn to check it out. We had seen the Squeezed Inn Featured on Diners, Dives and Drive-Ins with wild man Guy Fieri and had talked about driving up there to sample their “heart attack burger,” a flat grill burger with an abundance of melted cheddar on it.

So Jane brings me a burger from Sacramento, but no fries. What’s a burger without fries. An hour later, off we go to The Counter for some fries.

As it turned out, The Counter was invitation only, the grand opening is on Monday, June 23^rd. Somehow we manged to convince the staff at The  Counter that we were solid Walnut Creek citizens and hamburger addicts – so they let us in.

This was the last night for training the staff before opening. It was hectic and all proceeds were going to charity. So, what am I going to do – order fries and a coke? No, we ordered a hamburger bowl, fries, a diet coke and a glass of wine.

The Food is great! Here you see our hamburger bowl – a bed of romaine lettuce, a 2/3 pound medium, very juicy broiled burger, with blue cheese, sauteed onions and mushrooms with a peppercorn sauce. Very tasty!

The Counter gives you a form with about 128 choices of ingredients to build yourself a custom burger.

Andrew, seen above on the right behind the counter, waited on us. We told him and Rick Betance, Director of Operations, (right) that we were going to do our part to make the world aware of the gourmet burgers available in Walnut Creek by plastering their name all over the Internet – my next stop is Yelp.

My next weekly burger with my buddy Greg Beck of Balloonman fame will be at The Counter. See you there.

The Contra Costa Chapter of the Women’s Council of Realtors is sponsoring Feng Shui for Success with Marsha Golangco. Marsha has been specializing in Cross-Cultural Feng Shui since 1988. In her work, she combines her Eastern upbringing with her Western education to bring cultural awareness and understanding to the principles of Feng Shui.

You may recall our post Feng Shui California Style back in February of 2007 in which we asked – “What the heck is Feng Shui and should I be scared?”

Join the WCR and Marsha on June 20th at the Crow Canyon Country Club in Danville, California at 9:15am. Call the hotline – (925) 901–4849

After 4 hours of meetings this morning, HarperMees’ 5 principals went to Amicis at the Rose Garden for lunch. We’ve written about Amicis before and also noted that Keller Williams is moving its Danville market center to the Rose Garden.

While dining outside at Amicis, I noted that Amaranta was open. Paul said he drove by this weekend and Amaranta was packed. We all enjoy Mexican cuisine and decided to add Amaranta to our “must try” list.

After lunch, Paul, Ginny and I walked over to check out the menu at Amaranta Cocina Mexicana.

We talked briefly with Heather Gonzales, took a few pictures and picked up copies of Amaranta’s To Go Store Menu and Catering Menu. The To Go menu has prices ranging from $2 to $10 while the catering platters range from $28 to $83.

As you can see, the inside is spacious and the patio looks like a great place to kick back and have a few margaritas.

The Rose Garden along with Amicis, Amaranta and (soon) Keller Williams Danville is located on the southeast corner of Sycamore Valley Road and Camino Ramon.