Leslie and I are trying to get a handle on the dizzying flow of news coming out of Washington and Wall Street this weekend.  As the late Senator Everett Dirksen famously once said, “A Billion Here, A Billion There, Pretty Soon You’re Talking Real Money”. Read the rest of this article »

Here are the August sold statistics. We continue seeing price point declines in Oxnard because of bank foreclosures, but Camarillo and Ventura appear to be close to July numbers. Based on square footage prices, condos have gone up in value in Camarillo and Ventura, while Oxnard was about the same.

Because the monthly statistics can vary quite a bit, after we see the September  statistics, we’ll combine the monthly stats into quarterly stats and see how trends are looking.

September has been super busy, what with the drop in interest rates, lots of REO properties coming on the market – buyers seem to be coming out of the woodwork. Here are the numbers for the August pending sales.

“Pendings” are homes that have just gone into escrow. A buyer and seller have agreed to terms, and the buyer has put hard cash (the security deposit) into escrow. We track pendings as a leading indicator of real estate activity.

August shows TWICE the number of pendings for Ventura compared to 2007. Oxnard had 4 TIMES the number of pendings compared to last year, and even Camarillo had more pendings than last year.

September’s newsletter deals with the crisis and turmoil in the financial markets. It also talks about a Chinese concept, and what many Westerners believe the Chinese word “crisis” means (Danger + Opportunity).

Is that a true concept? Skim over the newsletter and see!

I just wrote a post a couple of days ago about the great loan available from the State of California for first time homebuyers who were either disabled or had a disabled family member living with them.  It was a 4%, 30 year fixed rate loan.

I have to eat my words – the State just jumped the interest rate up a whopping 1 1/2% to 5.5% yesterday. It’s obviously due to the turmoil in the financial markets. Many people are now waiting for cooler heads to prevail on Wall Street.

On the Monday after the Fed effectively took over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, interest rates plunged down by over 1/2 %. Absolutely crazy drop! But yesterday and today, credit lending between banks froze for a number of reasons and the overnight dollar LIBOR (London Interbank Offered Rate) rate screamed up. It soared 3.33 percentage points to 6.44 percent – about doubled.

Some mortgage adjustable loans are tied to the LIBOR, and there’s concern for homeowners with that type of mortgage. But 30 year fixed rates also went up by almost 1/2% yesterday as well. Hopefully, this is just a crazy market time, cooler heads will prevail, the dust will settle, and rates will settle down.

Many home buyers from the 2003 – 2005 era are now “upside down” in their mortgages (ie, they owe more than their home is worth), especially if they had little or no equity in their home when they bought. The substantial drop in home values, with the possibility of re-setting mortgages and the inability to re-finance have created a no-win situation for many.

What to do? Fannie Mae may give some guidance on your decision making. Read the rest of this article »

California has great first time homebuyer financing programs for first time homebuyers (defined as not having owned a home in the previous 3 years). But there’s also a little known California financing program for disabled buyers (or if they have a family member with disabilities living with them) and it’s got a super interest rate – 4% fixed rate for 30 years!

The loan is for 95% of the purchase price, plus there are additional “silent second” loans available to help with closing costs.

Do you know anyone that might benefit from this program? Have them give Leslie a call for more info!

I (Leslie) was showing property to a client last weekend, but when I tried to close and lock the front door, the outside door knob loosened and I heard a loud crash inside – the door knob fell off! What do you do when the door knob just falls off?

Fortunately, there was a dead bolt which I locked, and I tried calling the Realtor but his mailbox was full!

Just another day in the life of a Realtor!

Probably forgotten in all the media saturation of real estate issues recently is the $7,500 tax credit Congress passed and President Bush signed (the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008) for first time home buyers (haven’t owned a home in previous 3 years). Read the rest of this article »