Archive for April, 2010

Homebuyers Interested in Real Estate Investments

Move Inc. recently conducted a survey about real estate investments and attitudes of home buyers and here are a few of the highlights. Some of these are quite interesting to note. For one, interest in real estate investments has more than tripled in the past year. The survey said that in fact 17.2% of potential home buyers today said that they planned on purchasing a home in the near future as an investment compared to just 5.6% in March 2009.

The Move Homeownership survey also found that approximately half – 49% – of all homeowners they surveyed would buy another home today if they could sell their current home for what they paid for it or more. Some of the most important reasons influencing decisions to sell their current homes have to do with day-to-day budgeting. Many homeowners would like to reduce monthly expenses because of financially hard times, growing families or a better school district for their children. A few other reasons for selling have been moving closer to conveniences and purchasing a nicer or larger home. In many cases, loan modifications have not been available, although this is purely anecdotal evidence.

As far as perceptions go, real estate remains high on people’s radar with 55% of responders saying that they pay attention to their home’s values today as compared to a year ago. Just 10% said they paid less attention.

For the entire article published in Realtor.com go here.

Foreclosures: Contradictory Messages and Different Numbers?

The California Association of Realtors announced recently that foreclosure sales have increased 92.3% year over year in March 2010. In February 2010 this increase was 24.2% as compared with February 2009. This information comes directly from ForeclosureRadar’s March foreclosure report. Elsewhere there is information that real estate prices are set to fall once again.

I just want to jump into this and clarify the difference between foreclosure sales as reported by companies like ForeclosureRadar and this website. Our information comes solely from the MLS and what our website calls “foreclosure sales” are those homes that have been placed on the open real estate market by banks and listed by a real estate broker. These homes are considered REOs, or “real estate owned” by the bank, houses that have been foreclosed on by banks due to lack of mortgage payment by home owners.

Most companies that keep track of real estate sales data that are not primarily a real estate brokerages also count the “sale” of a home back to the bank as a foreclosure sale, which is why their numbers always appear more numerous than our totals. In their case, the foreclosure of one home can appear twice – one sale to the bank, the other to a homebuyer, while we would only count the latter. It is an important difference to remember.

Antelope Real Estate Market Update: March 2010

71 homes closed escrow in Antelope in the month of March, an overall unit volume increase of 12.7% year over year. In other good news for the area of Antelope, foreclosure sales are down 17.1% year over year. Short sales seem to be gaining ground (22 sales this March over 13 last March) and so are non-distressed sales (15 sales this March over 9 sales last March), both overall increases of close to 70% year over year.

Average sold price per square foot remained almost the same at a 5% decrease for the same period from $112.40 last year to $118.06 this March. Average sales price fell from $203,240 to rest at $186,627; that’s a decline of 8.2%. Median sales price however fell roughly 7% from $204,000 to $190,000.

Inventory in Antelope is at 4.8 months based on the last year of sales and 5.3 months based on the last six months of sales. Foreclosure inventory is around 1.5 months and short sale inventory remains at right around a year.

Land Park Real Estate Market Update: March 2010

Most sales in the Land Park area continue to be focused in the non-distressed category of homes, a good sign in this time of turmoil in the real estate market. A total of 18 homes sold this month, an overall unit volume increase of 38.5% year over year. Of these 18, 15 were non-distressed sales and just 1 was a foreclosure while 2 were short sales. This means all the increase in the sales was from the non-distressed sales category, although with the 2 short sales, the statistics show that they doubled from year over year!

Average price per square foot is now $258.99 in Land Park, a 7.9% decline year over year from a high of $281.09 last March. Average sales price fell 3.7% for the same period from $393,931 to rest at $379,400. Median sales price at the same time however increased by almost 10% from $335,000 to $367,500 for the same period.

Inventory in Land Park is at 4.9 months based on the last year of sales and 5.5 months based on the last six months of sales. Foreclosure inventory continues to remain at between 2 and 3.5 months while the same short sale inventory remains steady at 12 homes on the market.

Carmichael Real Estate Market Update: March 2010

51 homes sold in the city of Carmichael this month – an overall unit volume increase of 70% year over year. A look at the specific categories indicate that home buyer interest has moved into the non-distressed area of homes on the market. There was a 72% increase in the non-distressed category from last March when just 18 homes sold. This March, the number was 31. Short sales also increased dramatically – from just 1 last March to 7 this month. Foreclosure sales remained almost the same at 13.

Average price per square foot is now $154.96 down 6.3% year over year from $165.40. Homebuyers afforded themselves homes on average 15% larger than they did over last March. Average sales price thus rose 7.4% year over year to rest at $284,332 from $264,667 last March. Median sales price jumped 23% to hit $270,000.

Inventory in Carmichael is at 6.5 months. Foreclosure inventory is a little under 2 months while short sale inventory is still just a tad under 2 years – an indication that this real estate recovery might take a while unless short sales begin to move faster – either into sales or into outright foreclosures.

Fair Oaks Real Estate Market Update: March 2010

A mixed bag of news for Fair Oaks, especially as it relates to home sales in the area. This 95628 zip code has had 32 homes sold this last month. Why mixed bag? Because overall sales are up, which is a good thing. As compared to a year ago at the same time the 32 sold homes are a 33.3% increase over a year ago when just 24 homes had closed escrow.

The sales however are primarily in the category of non-distressed properties as well as foreclosures. Short sales have suffered a decline. In fact, just 1 short sale closed escrow this month and with short sale inventory in this area hovering around a year and a half, that is definitely not something to celebrate.

Average price per square foot is now $146.76 – a 4.4% increase year over year from $140.60 last March. Homebuyers also bought homes on average 11% bigger this March than they did last March. Affordability and tax credits may have something to do with that. Average sales price is now 16.1% higher than it was a year ago when it was $226,573. Median sales price now rests at $232,000 which is 5.7% higher than a year ago.

Inventory in Fair Oaks is at 6.2 months based on the last year of sales and 6.4 months based on the last six months of sales. Short sale inventory has grown to 21 months based on the last six months of sales and is now inching towards 2 years.

Folsom Real Estate Market Update: March 2010

79 homes sold in the city of Folsom this month, an overall unit volume increase of 43.6% year over year. Foreclosure inventory seems to be relatively higher in Folsom than it is elsewhere in Sacramento county. Whereas elsewhere in the county, foreclosure inventory hovers around a month, here in Folsom it is almost double that.

It is no wonder then that sold REOs continue to make up about 20% of all sold homes. Short sales currently make up 25% of all sales and the rest are attributed to non-distressed homes. The good news is that we are slowly beginning to see an increase in non-distressed sales as buyers long for less paperwork and easier home purchases without the lender being involved for approvals, as is the case in both short sales and foreclosure sales.

Average price per square foot is not $169.57 which is 7% lower than it was a year ago. Last March average price per square foot was resting at $182.25. Homebuyers this month also bought homes on average 9% bigger than they did last March. Average sales price as a result has climbed 1.4% over last year to rest at $378,232 from $373,185. However, the more accurate figure is price per square foot. Median sales price has also risen correspondingly to $375,000.

Inventory in Folsom is now at 4.9 months. Foreclosure inventory is at 1.9 months and short sale inventory is at 12.7 months based on the last year of sales and 10.7 months based on the last six months of sales.

Met a Great Realtor Lately?

Our Realtor Mike Keleshian received this letter after his recent sale escrow from his clients.

Dear Mike,
Thank you so much for helping us get our first house. It has been such a great experience and so much of that is thanks to you. We really appreciate all of the time, effort and thought you put into finding us a home. We look forward to referring more people your way and doing more business with you. Once again, thank you for everything. You truly went above and beyond.
Take care,
Matt and Brittany.

If you’re looking for a Realtor who goes above and beyond for you as a regular part of his day maybe it’s time to call Mike at 916-997-4086.

Elk Grove Real Estate Market Update: March 2010

After a decent month of price increase in February, March has seen some interesting changes in the real estate market of Elk Grove. The more things change, they say, the more they remain the same and it’s been certainly true this month in Elk Grove. A total of 254 homes sold in the area in the month of March, an increase of 7.6% year over year. A full third of all homes that sell are now non-distressed, a good change from last year where only 1 out of 10 homes sold was non-distressed.

Of the 254 sold homes, just 104 were foreclosures, a large number by any other area in Sacramento county but a 41% decline in foreclosure sales year over year for Elk Grove. Short sales were up by 117.6% which is always a good thing to see and non-distressed home sales have risen by a whopping 192.3%. Overall unit volume was up 7.6% year over year.

Average price per square foot seems to have leveled off at $115.48. Last March it was $115.69. Average sales price is also almost the same as last March at $241,939 – a 2.8% decline over $248,872 last March. Median sales price also remains almost the same year over year at $231,500.

Inventory is at 4.1 months based on the last year of sales and 4.6 months based on the last six months of sales. Short sale inventory that is worrying everyone lately is still is just under a year.

El Dorado County Real Estate Market Update: March 2010

March was a better month for real estate in El Dorado in general with 168 homes selling this month over 115 last March. Real estate sales were also better this month than they had been in the previous with February selling only 122 homes. Overall unit volume sales were 46.1% year over year with short sales noting the most increase percentage-wise: 131.2% for the same period. Foreclosure sales remained at almost the same levels and non-distressed sales gained 46.1% year over year. 2 out of every 3 sold homes is now a non-distressed home.

Average sold price per square foot is now $150.84 down 6.8% year over year. Average homes sold were also 6% smaller than they were a year ago and so the average sales price in El Dorado county is 12.4% lower than it was a year ago. It is currently $327,988 down from $374,330 last March. Median sales price is currently $294,950.

El Dorado county has 8.3 months of inventory based on the last year of sales. Looking at the last 6 months of sales, that inventory goes up to 8.7 months.

Foreclosures are Down, But…

Spring has definitely sprung. I don’t know about you but a few days ago when I saw the weather report and saw an entire week of uninterrupted sunshine, my heart gave a little jump. And obviously home buyers are feeling the same way. This is the last official month of the homebuyer tax credit and tax returns are in. The real estate season seems like it’s definitely here!

It might not be time for homeowners in Sacramento or people considering selling their homes to rejoice yet, however. True, we are seeing some great news come out of foreclosure sales. In fact, over the last three months foreclosure sales are consistently at 50% of what they were a year ago at the same time. (This is of course referring to the number of sales and not real estate prices.)

Non-distressed properties are also gaining momentum in sales. Closed escrows now tell us that 1 out of every 3 sold homes is non-distressed, which means that the homeowners are not upside down in their home and they do not have to get bank approval to forgive their mortgage debt in order to sell it. That’s good news. A year ago, just 1 out of every 10 homes was in that situation. Quite a dramatic turn around.

Unfortunately, the one dark cloud in this real estate recovery is the short sale inventory. And it could just be the reason why the green shoots springing up from the ground might take a while to show the bloom of price gains. For the last three months, we have seen more than a year of short sale inventory every month. With just over 300 short sales closing escrow, the 4200 or so short sales on the market might take a while to get absorbed.

Dark cloud? Yes, definitely. The only silver lining I can see here is that based on the last year of real estate sales, we had 13.5 months of short sale inventory and based on the last six months of sales, that number of short sales has gone down to 12.7 months. It’s a beginning. Let’s hope so, anyway.

Sacramento County Real Estate Market Update: March 2010

Another month of leveling off here for Sacramento county home sales and home prices. A total of 1715 homes sold in the county, an overall unit volume drop of 6.6% year over year. Perhaps the best reason for better spirits in home sellers should be this: foreclosure sales were down 46.5% while short sales were up by 86.4% and non-distressed homes by 91.3% year over year. More than 1 out of 3 homes sold now is non-distressed!

While the market still has a long way to go in terms of clearing its short sale inventory before we see any real price gains, it’s good to note that for now at least prices are leveling off. Average price per square foot is currently $120.00 which is 6.5% higher than it was a year ago when it was $112.70. Average sales price of a home is now $196,299 – about 8% higher than it was a year go when it was $181,685 and median sales price currently rests at $172,900.

Real estate inventory is at 4.3 months based on the last year of sales and 4.8 months based on the last six months of sales.

Easter Celebrations in Sacramento

If you’re looking to do something with the young ones this Easter, here are a few places you can go if you don’t have invitations for neighborhood or church easter egg hunts already!

At Arden Fair Mall, you can go visit the Easter Bunny over in the Center Court. You can take pictures and get a free gift. Here are the details.

The Southside Park is hosting an Easter Egg Hunt on April 3rd at 2115 6th Street in Sacramento. The event begins at 11 am. Here are the details on this one.

Here’s something else that quite cute. After the Easter Egg hunt you can catch the Easter Bunny at your own home! Check it out! The kids might just love it.

Happy Easter! See you Monday!

Making Home Affordable – Is It For You?

If you’ve received a slick flyer in the mail and thrown it away with all the other junk mail, I won’t blame you. There is just so much mail filling up our mailboxes these days. But this one might be worth another look. The Obama Administration’s Making Home Affordable Program is said to target 7 to 9 million homeowners and offers you the opportunity to be able to refinance or modify your home loan. There are also possibilities for being able to request a short sale or a deed-in-lieu-of-foreclosure set out.

All details are at the Making Home Affordable Website. Go there with your mortgage statements ready and be prepared to do some math. The website walks you through your eligibility for the various programs as well as calculates if your payments are more than 31% of your gross pay. 31% so far seems to be the magic number.

New details also state that the latest enhancements to this program include not just help for homeowners that have not been making payments but also homeowners who have been timely and are underwater on their homes. This has been a frustrating fact for homeowners in the past and it might just be what some homeowners who feel stretched too far will need to remain in their homes and prevent further foreclosures. Now if only the banks would co-operate!

Be forewarned, however. Some of these modifications, short sales or refinances can have tax consequences and you will want to talk with your tax consultant about them.