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.