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On Nov. 8th Mountain Voters approved Measure V, commonly known as the Rent Control Measure. If you are the Administrator of a Mountain View Probate Estate that has rental property to sell this is a huge deal. You need to know the rules in order to make sure the property is sold without breaking any new laws.

What does restricting rental price increases have to do with selling a Mountain View rental in Probateyou may ask? Well, I’ll tell you.

The reason is MOUNTAIN VIEW JUST CAUSE EVICTION.

Measure V relates to not only rent control, but also JUST CAUSE EVICTION.

Just Cause Eviction means that tenants cannot be asked to vacate just because the lease is up or they are on a month to month rental and you give 30 or 60 days notice (if they have been there a year or more).

Tenants can only be told to leave a Mountain View Rental Property under the following circumstances:

1.      Failure to pay rent or other breach of lease
2.      Continuing failure to give landlord access
3.      Repairs that will last over 30 days that are needed for code upgrades or health and safety reasons. NOTE: COSMETIC REPAIRS ARE NOT INCLUDED IN THIS EXEMPTION. This would include a kitchen or bath re-model to make the property more valuable.
4.      Owner or family member going to occupy the entire property
5.      Withdrawal from rental market with 120 day notice to tenant, unless over 62, disabled, or a tenant for 5 years or more. In these circumstances you need 1 year notice.

The good thing is that single family homes, condos, and duplexes are exempt from both rent control and Mountain View Just Cause Eviction. If you are an Administrator of a Mountain View Probate Estate that has a four- plex or more units to sell Mountain View JUST CAUSE EVICTION rules will apply to the estate.

Some things you should NOT do before selling the building are:

1.      Try to evict the tenants because they make the building look messy.
2.      Try to evict the tenants because the property is dated and you want to upgrade it before putting it on the market.
3.      Raise the rents above the allowable rent increase so the CAP rate looks better and makes the property more valuable.

Some things you can do when you are selling a Mountain View Four-Plex  or larger building in Probate.

1.      Paint the exterior
2.      Make sure the tenants do not leave personal property outside the building
3.      Upgrade the landscaping
4.      Give the tenants an incentive to keep their apartments clean and allow showings.

This law is new, and takes effect Dec 23rd. There is an emergency ordinance that was passed Nov 16th to keep landlords from evicting tenants in order to raise rents on vacant apartments before that date, so if you are reading this before Dec 23rd you are out of luck anyway.

Just remember the Mountain View rental market is strong, and even with rent control and Just Cause Eviction there will be buyers for your Mountain View Apartment in Probate so relax, hire a great real estate agent who knows Probate (like myself) and let the process work itself out.

If you have any questions about selling or buying Probate property in Santa Clara or San Mateo County please feel free to contact me.

Marcy Moyer

Keller Williams Realty

Specializing in Probate and Trust Sales

650-619-9285

marcy@marcymoyer.com

www.marcymoyer.com

As a REO agent, we learn very quickly how important a good BPO is. Not only because we have to do them...along with MMR (Month Marketing Reports) but because our AMs rely on 3rd party BPOs to help them determine our list prices. Yes, you heard me correctly, I as the REO agent rarely get to list the property for the price I want. In fact, most to the time, I have to list the property at the 3rd party BPO price. So, I am trying to sell a property at a price I had no control over, my AM has no control over and yet we are held to that standard.

So, does this policy work......um, not really but sort of kind of. Figure that one out?

I understand that the 3rd party BPO prevents the AM and Realtor from fire selling the property but, guess what it also does, it prevents properties from selling. What....did I say that? Yes....oh hell yes I did. You see, some of these people doing these BPOs are working under the misconception that they have a chance to get the REO, if the price the property high. They think a high BPO suggested list price means the am looking at the BPO is going to give them a call and that AM is going to say....those two magic words, "You're hired!"

In reality, it sticks me with a list price, 10-50% above FMV because it's the AMPs policy to take the 3rd party BPO, add that to my BPO, average the two and add 5%...whiz, boom, bang, you got you a list price good buddy. SERIOUSLY!?!?!?

In fact, without naming names, without disclosing the address, I got a listing right now, it's 100% overpriced. Now, I am not saying that as a figure of speech or as an exaggeration to make a point, I literally do mean it's 100% over FMV (Fair Market Value). Now, here is the sad part...I know it's 100% over priced, my AM knows it's 100% over priced yet, neither one of us can do a damn thing about but ask for price reductions every 30 days while we both kill our stats.

So, here we are, 202 days later, it's now listed at $44,900.00 and yes, in 2 days I had 5 offers. MOF (Multiple Offer Forms) have been sent out and yes, it looks like we are going to have a deal.

Now, just a thought....but, it's a good thought, I promise. Why punish me and my AM? Why not ask yourself, "why didn't this property sell when it was listed at 95,000? We marketed this property no different than the others, in fact, we did much more.....multiple open houses, broker tours, neighborhood farm post card, email blast...etc, yet...not a single offer till we got down to $44,900.00.....maybe that's because the FMV is $44,900? Which is actually amazing considering my BPO...202 days ago suggested a list price of 49,900.

I am truly sorry to say but, I strongly feel the BPO and Appraisal industries are sham...truly a sham. Especially BPOs. Let's be clear, I understand why they are used, I understand what makes them important but, I don't believe it's any different than going down to my friend local psychic Esmeralda and asking her, how much should my house sale for.

Better yet, why don't we let AMs and Realtors determine value? I know, it's a novel idea..truly it is but, why the hell not try it, it might just work.