Viva Escrow

Reminder! You get 2 more days to pay your property taxes this year. A penalty is due if not paid by April 12. And that is no April Fool’s! Buyer unable to get possession of new home even after a year? My April newsblog contains this story and more!

Time to get back to work! It's goodbye old man Winter & hello lady Spring! Daylight Savings Time is coming up 3/14 so we have work to do. Need a break? Nothing fancy, here is my link to my March newsblog & within it, a link to my Escrow Tip for the month!

February is shaping up to be a busy and fun month, but it will never be as dramatic and eventful as January, 2021. For actions and stories that affect our industries please access my February, 2021 newsletter.

It has been a difficult day politically in this country, but it is the dawn of a New Year and we hold high hopes that things will settle down. Meanwhile, my first newsblog of 2021 is here. Let’s look to happier news!

Happy New Year from our Viva Escrow family to you! Our annual New Years Eve toast - fully masked, socially distanced and Zoomed for those working at home. We appreciate our staff, the hard work, flexibility, adaptability and patience throughout this dramatic and traumatic year. We appreciate their willingness to go over and beyond expectations and absorb new methods of working. Hindsight is 2020!

This is a perfect image of how I feel this month-end-month-beginning. Life goes on though, and my September 2020 Newsblog is up!

Real estate sale market is booming! Trying to remember how to open as Sale Escrow! Just kidding.... Here is my August 2020 Newsblog and take a look at what caught my interest for this month.

Viva Escrow's Multi Purpose room - some days it is the scene of our monthly staff meetings, some nights it's yoga. But Most days it is our signing room under the pandemic - with acrylic shields, disinfectant wipes, hand sanitizers, disposable gloves and pens, and 2 HEPA filters. Separate entrance from back of building. No mask? No signing!

It is not your imagination; the real estate market is starting to rise, so if you are selling your castle, this will be a good time! Read what I have to say in my July newsblog.

As a follow up to my FIRPTA - Withholding on Foreigners who sell video, here is Part 2 the questions that are invariably asked and my answers. You have more questions? Give us at Viva Escrow a call and we will answer those, too,

May your Independence Day be filled with summer fun food of ice cream and cake.... to be enjoyed with masks on, hands washed and socially distanced! Viva Escrow will be closed on 07/03/2020

I have been a newsblogger for over 10 years and now, I am a YouTuber, too! My June 2020 Newsblog is here along with a link to my Think Escrow! channel on YouTube. I hope they provide food for thought. Leave me a comment!

May 15th! May 15th! Will this be THE day? Will we be like middle school kids let out for the summer? We can only hope. In the meantime, here is a snapshot of the real estate industry and some other parts of life under COVID-19 - Home selling, home buying, mortgage lending, appraisals, forbearance, the IRS, and so forth. Just a little taste of everything COVID. For those of you who need to be cheered up I have a few funny/amusing entries, taken off the web, at the end. Hang ...in there! Remember, it is better to be (Shelter in Place) safe than sorry! From the internet: Played monopoly with the family last night. Ran out of money. Totally unrealistic game! Where's the FED? The link is here and below: https://julianatu.com/may-2020-newsblog/

Pictures of "Shelter in Office". The City of LA's new requirement is to wear masks when going to visit essential businesses. We may not be in City of LA, but we are an essential business and are following this requirement as we do what we can to shelter each other within the office. Good thing we each have individual offices. Let's flatten that dratted curve!

What a difference a month makes! The March blog went out on March 4th and my commentaries hadn’t even settled yet when we were swept willy-nilly into the Twilight Zone. Want to know how the escrow, real estate, lending and notary industries are doing? Read up here at this link below For my disclosure: Things can and will happen any day, any minute, any time. We try to keep the articles current, but sometimes, we just can’t keep up. Opinions expressed are those of the author ...and we certainly invite your response. Share your stories! Stay safe, stay healthy, stay calm, stay at home.

Viva Escrow will maintain an office presence behind closed doors during this time of statewide mandatory restrictions due to COVID-19. We feel that our escrow services are deemed an essential service of the financial industry and may be exempt from the Shelter at home order. Under Escrow Law we must conduct business at our designated office location. Until our regulator the Department of Business Oversight gives us an exemption from this law that will allow us to wor...k remotely, we will continue to service your transactions expeditiously from our office location but we will not take in-office appointments. Please call your Escrow Officer or our main number #(626) 584-9999 if you have any questions. Stay healthy! Don’t let those dratted little viruses get to you! #escrow #escrowlaw #coronavirus #covid19 #shelterathome

Happy Lose-An-Hour Day! Reminder, on March 8 some of us will go through trauma as we face losing an hour. Does the government really think we have too much time on our hands? I was pretty grateful for that extra day this year, weren’t you? I was able to dedicate the whole 24 hours on Saturday to doing nothing. Such an accomplishment. Like everyone else, I have to get my two cents worth in about the coronavirus, but that is not ALL that I have to say, thank goodness. With Supe...r Tuesday being done and election season heating up, the big issues will come into the forefront, particularly HOUSING AFFORDABILITY. And gosh, this craze about the iBuyer market, how is that working out? I do have a new Hazards of the Escrow Desk and this is a doozy. Read about how I found out someone tampered with my documents without letting me know! Here is the link hand don’t let any stinking little viruses get to you!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Can this be an auspicious start to the Chinese Year of the Rat, when all of us have to shoulder the worries of the coronavirus? This pandemic is hanging over the whole world and may cause unintended consequences. For instance, how do localities deal with the threat? Will the Port of Long Beach close down so that incoming cargo ships can be checked for sick crew on board (I heard this over the radio today)? Amidst all the drama of the coronavirus, the non -impeachment and our sorrows for the Kobe Bryant family, my February 2020 newsblog must go on! And here it is below. Leave me a comment !