Is Now The Time To Buy?

     If you are considering a new home this year but are still wondering if you should do it this coming year,   Check This Out

Help for Underwater Homeowners That Would Like to Refinance

 -   There are a lot of people out there that owe more then their homes are worth but are making their payments fine and want to keep their homes.  However, they would like to take advantage of today's lower interest rates but have not been able to because their homes will not appraise for the value needed to do a new loan.   If your loan is owned be either Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac and was originated prior to 5/31/09,  there is a new program that may allow you to refi and take advantage of the new rates.  Be aware that even though you may be making your payment to a bank like Wells Fargo,  Fannie or Freddie may own the loan and you could be eligible.   You can find out on their individual websites.   For more info on this, go to this

California County with the Most Distressed Property Sales

 - That would be Madera County where a whopping 89% of the homes sales are bank owned foreclosure properties or short sales. County with the least is San Mateo with only 23% of the sales being distressed properties. Where does SLO county stand? We are at 46% which is the exact average rate for all California counties.

NOVEMBER NORTH COUNTY REAL ESTATE STATISTICS- Sales of all North County real estate types increased 3 % in November over October and are up 22% over November of last year. Sales for the first 11 months of this year are also now up 19% versus the 1st 11 months of 2010. Properties in escrow are up 5 % from last month and up 19% over November of last year. Active listings on the market are down 16% when compared to the same time last year. With only one more month to go, it is now clear that we will see a dramatic improvement in sales this year over last. That will make it the 1st time in 6 years that sales have increased over the previous year. With inventories of properties for sale also now down 16% and interest rates at all time lows, what should that tell a prudent buyer?

Short Sales in Northern SLO County --

  Short Sales are listings where the asking price is less then the amount owed on the property and any sale is subject to the lender(s) agreeing to take less then the unpaid balance on the existing loan.  So far this year, in 2011, 17% of the closed escrows in the Northern SLO county have been short sales.   However, as I reported last week,  only 56% of the short sales that went into escrow in the past 11 months successfully closed.  Now, although that means there is a 44% failure rate in short sale escrows, that is an improvement over the last few years.   Banks have realized that they have a better return and less costs in a short sale then they do after foreclosing on a property and have become more realistic.   Why then is there still a 44% failure rate?   Here are some of the reasons: 

FORECLOSURE & SHORT SALE ACTIVITY IN THE NORTH COUNTY-  As of 11/18/11 of the 460 unsold homes now on the market in Northern SLO county, 9% are bank owned (REOS) and 10% are "short sales " (where the borrowers  still own the property but the asking price is less then the amount owed on the property and any sale is subject to the lender agreeing to take less then the unpaid balance on the existing loan).   

  Of the 280 homes now in escrow (Pending Sales)  or with accepted offers waiting for final lender approvals,  21% are bank owned and 41% are short sales.  The reason for the higher number for short sales in escrow or waiting for bank approvals, is that the time periods for bank approvals for them and the closing of their escrows is about 4 times longer then a traditional or bank owned sale.   

   What percentage of short sales actually close escrow?  For the past 12 months 56% of the short sale properties listed for sale actually successfully closed escrow.  The main reasons short sale escrows can fail ?-- tune in next week for those answers.  

Beau. Oak Studded Westside Templeton Acreage -

- This app. 15 acres in the Santa Rita Creek area is close to town but is very secluded. Newer barn with cement floor and power, 1 Acre Zinfandel Vineyard and well. To see the virtual tour and more info, go to http://www.timbryan.com/listings/index.php?listing=174170

OCTOBER NORTH COUNTY REAL ESTATE STATISTICS

- Sales of all North County real estate types decreased 12 % in October over September but are 10% over October of last year.  Sales for the first 10 months of this year are also now up 18% versus the 1st 10 months of 2010. Properties in escrow are up 5 % from last month and up 26% over October of last year. Active listings on the market are down 14% when compared to the same time last year. Northern San Luis Obispo County real estate sales are still improving versus other areas of the country. 

VERY SURPRISING!!

 - to see where homeownership is the highest and where it is the lowest ! Not where you would normally guess. Go tohttp://lowes.inman.com/newsletter/2011/10/18/news/157206

HATE TO ADMIT I WAS RIGHT -- but..

 Since the housing crisis started the federal government has come up with a few major programs to try and help distressed homeowners stay in their homes. As I looked at each one of them my first opinion was that this would not work unless the principal balance of the loan was reduced and no lender would want that to happen. Without that key ingredient, people would not qualify in today's lending environment for the same loan balance they were underwater on and would not be motivated to do so, even though if they could. The House Financial Services Committee just took a look at these and the results were not good news. Take a look at Ken Harney's excellent and detailed analysis.   Click here

 

SEPTEMBER NORTH COUNTY REAL ESTATE STATISTICS

- Sales of all North County real estate types decreased 8 % in September over August  but are up 22% over September of last year! Sales for the first 9 months of this year are also now up 19% versus the 1st 9 months of 2010. Properties in escrow are down  7 % from last month but up 22% over September  of last year. Active listings on the market are down 13% when compared to the same time last year.   Northern San Luis Obispo County real estate sales continue to improve this year over last despite the rest of the USA having a rougher time.

Everybody Up Against the Wall!

 -- I love Lou Barnes's recent column where he takes no prisoners . His column is also on the whole economy and not just real estate but I found it so thought provoking I decided to post it here. We all have the tendency to to side with whoever follows the rest of our political beliefs when they promote their brand of economic policy. In this day, we may have to stop just reacting and start listening and thinking.  Check It Out

AUGUST NORTH COUNTY REAL ESTATE STATISTICS

- Sales of all North County real estate types decreased 11 % in August over July but are up 34% over August of last year! Sales for the first 8 months of this year are also now up 19% versus the 1st 8 months of 2010. Properties in escrow are up 8 % from last month and 23% over August of last year. Active listings on the market are down 8 % when compared to the same time last year.

To 10 Tax Tips when Selling Your Residence

People normally have a lot of tax questions when getting ready to sell their residence. Some of these have changed through the years and some times you could make a bad mistake because you are relying on information from the past. The IRS just recently posted an excellent page on their website for homeowners. Go to http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=243682,00.html

On the Sidelines or In the Game

Real Estate is the largest purchase most people normally make. When you are in troubled times, some people seize opportunities and some people just seize. :-) To see a good article on this, go to http://lowes.inman.com/newsletter/2011/08/12/news/149949

JULY NORTH COUNTY REAL ESTATE STATISTICS

- Sales of all North County real estate types increased 21% in July over June and 27 % over July of last year! Sales for the first  7 months of this year are also now up 16 % versus the 1st 7 months of 2010.  Properties in escrow are down 15% from last month but 15% over July of last year.  Active listings  on the market are down 11% when compared to the same time last year.

California Foreclosures Hit 4 Year Low-

For some good news for a change, go to http://dqnews.com/Articles/2011/News/California/CA-Foreclosures/RRFor110719.aspx

WHAT % OF SALES ARE SHORT SALES OR BANK OWNED?

 - In Northern SLO County, for the 1st 6 months of this year, 39% of the residential sales were lender owned properties (REO's) and 18% were short sales (where the lender agrees to take less then what is owed on the loan payoff at closing) which make a total of 57% of the sales being what are known as "DIstressed Property Sales".

PROPERTY TAXES, THE SILVER LINING

PROPERTY TAXES, THE SILVER LINING - We all hate property taxes, right? Right. Well, be glad you live in California.-Well, guess where we rank in property tax rates? - Out of 50 states, we are number 48. That's right. Only 2 other states are lower. The lowest is Hawaii and just above them is Alabama. State with the highest?? -- That would be Texas-- with a property tax rate 2 1/2 time higher then us.

JUNE NORTH COUNTY REAL ESTATE STATISTICS

- Sales of all North County real estate types increased 6% in June over May and 9% over June of last year. Sales for the 1st 6 months of this year are also now up 14% versus the 1st 6 months of last year. Properties in escrow are up 10% over last month and properties on the market are down 2% when compared to the same time last year. Lower prices made this happen!

Quite a Neighborhood!

Think We Have Some Fancy & High Priced Areas in the US?- Move over, Aspen, the Hamptons, Bel Air & Atherton. In London the Brits have one street that takes the cake  - Click on this

Foreclosures Fall for 8 Straight Months

But that is not the whole story--- go to
http://money.cnn.com/2011/06/16/real_estate/foreclosures_housing_market/index.htm?iid=HP_LN

IT'S REAL SIMPLE

 - The real estate and financial industries spend tremendous amounts on acquiring data to study real estate buyer's demographics and when and why people will buy, etc . See what the mountain of all that data comes out to prove .  Go to http://lowes.inman.com/newsletter/2011/06/08/news/144530

MAY NORTH COUNTY REAL ESTATE STATISTICS

- Sales of all North County real estate types increased 9% in May over April and 23% over May of last year! Sales for the 1st 5 months of this year are also now up 15% versus the 1st 5 months of last year. Properties in escrow are up 4% over last month and properties on the market are down 8% when compared to the same time last year. A real increase for this year so far!

Lenders Have to Pony Up Big to Servicemen.

There has been a long time law protecting the rights of servicemen from foreclosure when they are called up to active duty overseas. Unfortunately some mortgage holders ignored it or just were incompetent. Go to http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/may/26/lenders-pay-22m-settlement-military-families/

Lowest Priced & Highest Priced California Counties

-- According to April Statistics, Lake County has the lowest prices, median price of a home there is$98,330. (Must be a lot of Mobile Homes). Highest is Marin County where the median price is now $726,060. Our own SLO county is now $390,180 which is 3.2% less then a year ago in April.

April North County Real Estate Stats

Sales of all North County real estate types increased 3% in April over March. Sales for the 1st 4 months of this year are also now up 17% versus the 1st 4 months of last year. Properties in escrow are also up 10% over last month and properties on the market are down 8% when compared to the same time last year. The trend continues to be positive at this time.

Largest Landowner in the US??

 - That would be Ted Turner, the former CNN Magnate who just added to his large ranch holdings with his recent purchase of Nonami Plantation near Albany, Georgia, the largest property in his hometown state. That coupled with his ranches in Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and South Dakota put him at now owning over TWO million acres. Largest in California? That would be Red Emmerson of Sierra Pacific Corp, whose timber company now owns app. 1.7 million acres.

MARCH NORTH COUNTRY REAL ESTATE STATISTICS

- Sales of all Northern SLO County real estate increased an impressive 23% in March over February of this year. The 1st quarter of this year also shows sales up 12% over the 1st quarter of last year. Pending sales (properties in escrow) are down 5% from February and there is now 9% less properties for sale then there was a year ago at this time.

New Record for Highest Price ever Paid for a Home!

Only in California and only in Silicon Valley do these things happen today!.  Go to http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704530204576233170859101198.html?mod=WSJ_RealEstate_LEADTopNews

New Record for All Cash Sales

RECORD NUMBER OF ALL CASH SALES - In January over 30% of all homes sold in California were all cash sales. To see why, go to http://www.dqnews.com/Articles/2011/News/California/CashSales/CACash110228.aspx

FEBRUARY 2011 NORTH COUNTY REAL ESTATE STATS

- Sales were down 11% in February from January but that is normal as February closed escrows depend on December openings which is the slowest time of year. 2/11 sales are up 19% over same month in 2010 and the 1st 2 months of 2011 are up 22% over the same time last year. ...

Pending Home Sales up statewide for the 1st Part of the Year

 The entire state is seeing what we are here. An increase in properties going into escrow. Go to http://www.inman.com/news/2011/02/23/pending-california-real-estate-sales-bode-well-spring

Bright spot for mortgages: Missed payments ease-

"That, according to Michael Fratantoni, vice president of research and economics for the MBA, was very welcome news. "I think we've turned the corner as concerned with loans 30 days late," he said. "It indicates that the economy has improved." To see the rest of the art...icle - go to http://money.cnn.com/2011/02/17/real_estate/delinquency_rate_falls/index.htm

JANUARY 2011 NORTH COUNTY REAL ESTATE STATISTICS

-We are off to a much better start this year.  Closed escrows for last month were a full 24% higher then for the same month in 2010 and there are also 5% more homes in escrow last month then for the same time last year.   Inventory is also down app. 5% then it was in January of 2010.

Bad Info on the Web Just Never Goes Away

The new healthcare Law does NOT impose a new tax on the sale of your home as spread over the web lately. The new law imposes a 3.8% tax for those in the top brackets on “unearned income.” This will not impact the exclusion on capital gains from the sale of a primary residence up to $250k for individuals and up to $500k for couples which is the same it has been. The 3.8% tax will only apply to capital gains above that.

SURPRISING AND ENLIGHTENING

- Historically the one nation most effected by the ups and downs of our economy has been Canada because of all of the economic interaction between the two countries. However, this time, and for the 1st time, they are virtually unscathed from the real estate downturn here. Read why at http://www.timbryan.com/listings/documents/CanadaForeclosures.pdf

2010 Top 3 Home Sales in the North County

 Per the MLS records, the 3 most expensive homes sold in the North County last year were:1) 3210 Cloudy Meadow Drive, Templeton- 5,000 sq. ft home on 40 acres -$2,150,000.00. 2) 4995 Bluebell Lane - Paso Robles - 3600 sq. ft on 10 acres -$1,200,000.3) 2775 Creston Ridge Lane - Paso Robles - 4,163 on 40 acres -$1,190,000.00. My office, Re/Max Parkside Real Estate was involved in all 3 sales

2010 North Country Real Estate Statistics

Sales of all real estate for the North County in 2010  declined  6% from 2009.   Sales of homes on  acreage in the rural areas however were only down 2% from the previous year.  Raw land sales were up 3% from 2009 and sales of large parcels 20 acres and up were up 5%  from 2009 although volume was low in both those categories.   The biggest drop of all was in homes on acreage with sales prices of $900,000 or more.  That market dropped 49% from the year previous.   That is very indicative of the upper end market in most areas of California. 

  What the above statistics show us is that with the exception of the higher end properties, the market may have stabilized as we had much higher drops each year from 2005-2009.   The most active part of the market are homes on acreage with asking prices of $500,000 or less and acreage in the under $150,000 bracket.