List vs Sold ...Ask me about your area!

The Average Price of Listed Properties VS the Average Price of Sold Properties

The graph above represtents the following criteria:

• Single Family homes
• Priced between $700,000 - 99,000,000
• In Alamo, Danville, Lafayette, Moraga, Orinda and Walnut Creek
• Between January 1 2007 to January 31, 2009
  

January 2007
List Average Price $1,286,000
Sold Average Price $1,189,000

January 2008
List Average Price $1,354,000
Sold Average Price $1,142,000

January 2009
List Average Price $1,467,000
Sold Average Price $1,171,000

Send me an email or give me a call for up-to-date information about your city.

Based on information from Bay East Association of Realtors and Contra Costa Association of Realtors for the period 01/01/2007 through 01/31/2009. Due to MLS reporting methods and allowable reporting policy, this data is only informational and may not be completely accurate. Therefore, Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage does not guarantee the data accuracy. Data maintained by the MLS's may not reflect all real estate activity in the market.

American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009

Late this evening, the U.S. Senate passed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 by a 60 to 38 vote.

Earlier today, the stimulus package passed the U.S. House of Representatives in a 246 to 183 vote. Today’s votes followed several days of negotiations by the House, Senate, and White House, with the final tab for the stimulus bill coming in at $787.2 billion.

On the housing front, the good news is that the legislation resets the conforming loan limit cap at $729,750, up from $625,500.

Numerous counties in California experienced a marked decrease in their conforming loan and FHA limits on Jan. 1, and the stimulus bill reinstates 2008 loan limits through Dec. 31, 2009.

The bill also increases the first-time home buyer credit from $7,500 to $8,000, and removes the requirement that the credit be paid back if the buyer stays in the home for at least three years. It also extends the expiration date for the credit from July 1 to Dec. 1, 2009. Homebuyers must have purchased a home after Jan. 1, 2009, and before Dec. 1, 2009, to be eligible for the $8,000 credit.

The California Association of Realtors and the National Associon of Realtors have long advocated for higher conforming loan limits. The conforming loan limit provisions and other housing elements in the stimulus package are a step in the right direction for our industry and all Californians.

The stimulus package also contains $308.3 billion in appropriations spending, including $120 billion on infrastructure and science and more than $30 billion on energy-related infrastructure projects.

It also allocated an additional $267 billion for direct spending, including increased unemployment benefits and food stamps; and provides $212 billion in tax breaks for individuals and businesses.

Now that the stimulus package is approved and is on its way to President Obama for signature, it is our hope that Congress will turn its attention toward helping homeowners remain in their homes and will take immediate steps directed specifically at stemming the ongoing foreclosure crisis.

Sincerely,

James Liptak

2009 PresidentCALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®

What is a Short Sale?

In real estate, a short sale is a sale of real estate in which the proceeds from the sale fall short of the balance owed on a loan secured by the property sold. In a short sale, the bank or mortgage lender agrees to discount a loan balance due to an economic or financial hardship on the part of the mortgagor. This negotiation is all done through communication with a bank's loss mitigation or workout department. The home owner/debtor sells the mortgaged property for less than the outstanding balance of the loan, and turns over the proceeds of the sale to the lender, sometimes (but not always) in full satisfaction of the debt. In such instances, the lender would have the right to approve or disapprove of a proposed sale. Many Short Sales leave a deficiency balance for which the Mortgagor / Borrower may liableExtenuating circumstances influence whether or not banks will discount a loan balance. These circumstances are usually related to the current real estate market and the borrower's financial situation.

A short sale typically is executed to prevent a home foreclosure. Often a bank will allow a short sale if they believe that it will result in a smaller financial loss than foreclosing. For the home owner, advantages include avoidance of a foreclosure on their credit history and partial control of the monetary deficiency. A short sale is typically faster and less expensive than a foreclosure. In short, a short sale is nothing more than negotiating with lien holders a payoff for less than what they are owed, or rather a sale of a debt, generally on a piece of real estate, short of the full debt amount. It does not extinguish the remaining balance unless settlement is clearly indicated on the acceptance of offer.
Wikpedia
Give me a call for a list of short sales and foreclosures in your area.

New Market Trend????

Weekly Market Report
By Joe Brown, President Coldwell Banker

Is It Too Early to Call It a Trend?

Earlier this week, the National Association of Realtors reported that in December, existing home sales rose unexpectedly while inventory declined, led by a surge of sales in the West.

The national real estate organization reported, “Existing home sales – including single-family, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops – jumped 6.5 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.74 million units in December from a downwardly revised pace of 4.45 million units in November, but are 3.5 percent below the 4.91 million unit pace in December 2007.”

In the West, existing home sales jumped 13.6 percent to an annual rate of 1.25 million in December and are 31.6 percent higher than a year ago. However, the median price was $213,100, down 31.5 percent from December 2007.

Here at home, the news only gets better. CAR reported this week that home sales increased 84.9 percent in December in California compared with the same period a year ago. No, that’s not a typo. 84.9 percent. On the flip side, the median price of an existing home fell 41.5 percent, a continued symbol of buyers taking advantage of the large number of distressed properties currently available.

So why the sudden, so drastic surge in sales? There are a few reasons:

· A lot of people who were previously priced out of the housing market can finally buy
· With interest rates under 5%, a buyer’s purchasing power is at its best in more than three decades
· After months of increasing or stable inventory, we are finally starting to see the numbers fall
· Increased consumer confidence (of late) based on the new administration
· We’re seeing a lot more investors coming into the market in addition to first time buyers. Consider the fact that this week alone, one Gilroy Agent represented 10 properties that went into contract. Almost all were investors and the properties were condos in the under $100,000 price range.

So is it too early to call it a trend? Probably. In all honestly, we still have a lot of distressed properties to move through before we can begin to see prices stabilize. At least for the foreseeable future, buyers will probably have the edge but with an 84.9 percent increase in sales year over year and inventories on the decline, we’re finally moving in the right direction. The key to all of this: buyers are ready to buy when they perceive a good value. Until then, they wait.

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Main Level…
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Optional Room…
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Garden Level…
The relaxed Garden level features a state of art Media/Play Room, Wet Bar, art niches, Guest Suite, Two Large Bedrooms & Full Bathroom. The additional flat grassy area awaits your pleasure outside the Play Room.

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First Time Home Buyers--Heads Up!!!

$7500 Tax Credit for First Time Home Buyers------Good or Bad?????

By Alan J. Heavens

RISMEDIA, August 22, 2008-(MCT/RISMedia)-So I get a phone call from an angry reader who complains that the Housing and Economic Recovery Act’s $7,500 tax credit to first-time buyers is a sham.

“It’s just a zero-interest loan!” the fellow shouts loudly into the receiver, as if I’m responsible for the actions of Congress. “The least they could have done was given us a gift!”

“When it comes to the overall bill, part of it is very good and the other part of it is just a band aid. I’m always hesitant when the government gets involved,” says Charles A. McDonald, associate broker at RE/MAX Assured Properties in Charlottesville, Virginia. “But for a first-time home buyer, the tax credit is a good thing because it’s really not a tax credit; it’s really an interest-free loan. If you look at it from that perspective, it’s a nice incentive for the first-time home buyers or people that need some assistance in purchasing a home.”

Yes, the tax credit technically is a zero-interest loan that you will repay to the government over 15 years, starting two years after the credit is claimed, at $500 a year.

This article goes on for awhile. Please give me a call or email and I will happily send it to you in its entirety.

Bottom Line....it is a GOOD thing!!

Silver Lining!!!

How Savvy Consumers, Who Know the Facts, Are Making the Most Out of Today’s Real Estate Market

There are a lot of bright spots in Northern California’s
real estate market today. Attractive interest rates. Sizeable inventory. Historically strong housing market. Immigration’s affect on our market. And how about the fact that we live in one of the most desirable areas in the world?
So while some headlines say that the sky is falling, I am urging my clients to see the silver lining in today’s real estate market so they may make the most out of what may be one of the decade’s best opportunities to enter
the real estate market.

A Correction is Exactly What We Needed
To understand where the economy is heading, it helps to take a step back and discuss how we arrived at this point. In the early part of the 2000s, investors, who took advantage of attractive interest rates and favorable economic conditions, helped drive prices to new heights so they could flip purchases for profit. Some markets, including ours, saw price appreciation rates of as much as 30-50%, versus the average annual rate of about 10%.
While many of us enjoyed the benefits of the early part of the decade’s housing boom, what this did to our market was make housing extremely unaffordable. Prices are moving back to be more in line with household incomes and that sets the stage for a healthier market. Furthermore, last year we began to witness the result of the sub-prime crunch. Brendon Riordan, the Senior Vice President of Production for Mortgage Banker Princeton Capital, describes the background behind the crunch: “In
short, the underwriting guidelines for loans started to loosen up around 2002. As we progressed through 2005, the guidelines became even more liberal. It seemed as if the easier the guidelines became, the more loans were generated. The more risk these loans had, the higher the yields were to the investors who purchased these loans. At one point in time, a buyer with a low credit score could purchase a home without any down payment and not have to verify his/her income or assets. These lenient underwriting standards led to many people buying homes that they probably couldn’t really afford.

“The mortgage industry has returned to the traditional way of lending. Where just a few years ago, 100% financing and non-stated income had become the norm, today those options are almost non-existent. Lending rules are more stringent with buyers, in most cases, now being required
to have higher credit scores, at least a 5% down payment, and buyers have to fully document their income and assets.”

Economic Update
Despite challenges in the housing market over the last couple of years, some experts are predicting that we will escape an economic recession in 2008 with a projected market turnaround by 2009.
According to NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun’s December 27, 2007
report entitled “The Forecast,” “All in all, we will easily escape
recession – despite the anticipated screaming headlines of impending doom. The GDP reading for each of the successive quarters in 2008 will be positive: 2.2 percent in the first quarter, 2.6 percent in the second quarter, 3.0 percent in the third quarter, and 3.1 percent in the fourth. Job gains also will continue into 2008.”

The Bay Area Council Economic Institute also noted in its Beacon Economics 2007 Bay Area Regional Forecast Conference Series held on September 13, 2007, “Overall growth for 2008 will be barely positive before the economy gets back on track in 2009.”

So what does this mean for savvy consumers?

With some experts predicting that 2009 will bring a market warming
trend, 2008 may become one of the best opportunities to enter the real estate market, giving consumers the potential opportunity of getting in on the ground floor and potentially reaping the benefits of one of the best buyer’s markets in more than a decade.

Now May Be the Best Time
In 2006 we entered a transitional market – one in which sellers were still looking at prices of old and the appreciation they had realized in the early part of the decade while buyers were beginning to be a bit more conscientious and were looking for a “deal.” What this meant for buyers and sellers was a bit of a “wait and see game” with both parties often holding out. Now, the stars are much more aligned for buyers and sellers.
Heres Why:
For Buyers
• Sellers are motivated.
• In many areas there is a sizeable inventory of homes to choose from.
• And, according to Freddie Mac’s January 31, 2008 Primary
Mortgage Market Survey, mortgage rates are well below the historical average with 30-year fixed rate mortgages averaging 5.68% with 0.4 points.
What this means for buyers is they can afford more today
than they may be able to tomorrow, should interest rates
increase. Couple that with motivated sellers and sizeable
inventory, and buyers are in a favorable situation.

For Sellers
• Historically speaking, the housing market remains strong.
o According to Freddie Mac, national average home prices have yet to post a year-over-year decline in the 37 years the Federal Government has been tracking them.
o In fact, the last significant decline in average U.S. home prices occurred during the deflationary era of the Great Depression.
• The affect of immigration on our market is tremendous. According to the 2006 Census and World Wealth Report:
o From 1980 to 2000, over 6.2 million immigrant households joined the ranks of middle-income earners, and they are purchasing housing.
o Immigrant children who arrived with their parents in the 1980s and 1990s are now buying homes.
o As first time home buyers, these individuals represent 35% of the first time resale market.
o The falling dollar makes U.S. real estate an attractive buy for many foreigners.
o The Bay Area ranks in the top five U.S. areas for Asian immigrant growth and California as a whole is the nation’s leading state for immigrant real estate purchases.
• Even with the market corrections, there remains a great deal of pent-up demand. According to the State of California U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics:
o California is home to 36.5 million residents with the population growing over 800,000 last year; by 2050, our population is projected to explode (nearly doubling) to 60 million people.
• We live in a highly desirable area.
o The Bay Area is one of the wealthiest areas in the world; of California’s top 10 counties for household income, six of these counties are in the Bay Area, according to the California U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics.
o Northern California is one of the few areas in the country, where home prices, in some pockets, are still rising slightly, according to the California Association of Realtors.

So there you have it. A lot of interesting facts about today’s market. Facts that you don’t always get to see in the Sunday paper but truly paint a vivid picture of today’s market. There is a silver lining to today’s market and ultimately a great deal of opportunity. As your real estate professional, I would welcome the opportunity to counsel you on the opportunities
available in today’s market and help you take advantage of them
before it is too late.
Please call me today so we may get started.