Realtors for Ventura | Oxnard | Camarillo

At the beginning of each month, we take a snapshot to see how many homes are on the market for sale. As expected, the Ventura, Oxnard and Camarillo homes for sale inventory jumped. Why? The rush by first time buyers to get in on the Fed’s $8,000 credit sucked buyers from the late spring/early summer buying period when (historically) more homes come on the market for sale.  BUT - looking at June’s sale numbers, our area remained relatively constant and strong compared to a 30% drop nationally last month. Here are the inventory numbers.

Beginning this month, we’re adding graphs to our statistics so you can quickly see the price trends for Ventura, Oxnard and Camarillo.

Check out the quarterly graphs for single family homes and condos for the past 3 year history (longer term trends) plus the current 12 month time span (more volatile) charts. The graphs are in Adobe pdf format.

For the number crunchers out there, we still publish the hard statistic numbers like always (pendings, number of homes sold by size groupings, list prices, sold prices, days on the market, etc).

Here are the links:

• Quarterly graph – single family homes sold prices in Ventura, Oxnard, Camarillo
• 12 month graph – single family homes sold prices in Ventura, Oxnard, Camarillo
• Quarterly graph – condos sold prices in Ventura, Oxnard, Camarillo
• 12month graph – condos sold prices in Ventura, Oxnard, Camarillo
  

Detailed statistics for single family homes in:

• Ventura
• Oxnard
• Camarillo

Detailed statistics for condos in:

• Ventura
• Oxnard
• Camarillo

Detailed statistics for pendings (single family homes and condos in escrow):

• Ventura
• Oxnard
• Camarillo

In our June newsletter we talk about the U.S. Treasury’s new HAFA program designed to streamline short sales for sellers and the incentives for the sellers. On our website you can listen to two short videos we’ve put together – one is a brief intro to the HAFA program and the second is more nuts and bolts.

Do you know anyone who could benefit from this new program?

Who reads and tracks our blog? The Ventura County Star! The statistics and other info we publish is one source they use in tracking our local real estate market.  Read the article in todays paper about “flippers” – investors who buy houses, fix them up and sell them for a profit.  A reporter from the Ventura County Star, Stephanie Hoops, wanted to know what’s happening in our local market and interviewed Don Nelson.

The HAFA (Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives) program became official on April 5, 2010. The HAFA program stream lines the short sale process by preapproving the short sale prior to the homeowner putting their home on the market. There are other great benefits – see our short intro video on HAFA.

But the guidelines didn’t include Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac mortgages. Finally, those guidelines were just released… Read the rest of this article »

I finished reading a wildly popular book I bought at Costco called “The Big Short” which details the multi-billion dollar bets hedge funds made against the housing market. I also finished a University of Arizona professor’s study whether “underwater” homeowners should make a business decision to walk away from their homes (a “strategic default”).  If Morgan Stanley can walk away from 5 office buildings it bought in San Francisco at the height of the market, why can’t Joe and Mary Homeowner do the same thing? Read more in my newsletter.

At the beginning of every month (usually!) we take a check of the inventory of homes available for sale in Ventura, Oxnard and Camarillo. On a macro level, if we can tell how many homes are for sale and how many homes have sold in a given period, we can get a sense of the activity and strength of our market. Not surprisingly, we’re seeing inventory levels going up now that the first time buyer credit has expired. Inventory levels are always fluid as new homes every day come on the market and others are sold, so these numbers are merely “snapshots” at the time we pull the stats. Here are the latest numbers and trends. Here are the latest numbers and trends.

Click on the picture to view a video PowerPoint about the U.S. Treasury Department’s just announced streamlined short sale process for homeowners struggling under their mortgage payments.

The government has tried stemming the flood of foreclosures – primarily through the HAMP program – but it’s only been marginally successful. To avoid foreclosure, thousands of homeowners have attempted to do short sales, but that process has been cumbersome, time consuming for both buyers, sellers and agents, and highly frustrating for all parties.

To solve those problems, the HAFA program provides a clear path for homeowners to do a pre-approved short sale. Listen to this video PowerPoint for an overview of the program.

Click on the picture for a more detailed PowerPoint video about the U.S. Treasury Department’s just announced streamlined short sale process for homeowners struggling under their mortgage payments.

Would HAFA work for you? Listen to this video – get the information and understand your options – then call Leslie. She wants to hear your story!

In an effort to cut down on fraud by borrowers and tighten underwriting criteria, lenders will require a second full credit report just prior to closing escrow. This is part of Fannie Mae’s “loan quality initiative” (LQI) which takes effect June 1st.

Lenders are concerned that  mortgage borrowers shop for things they need for their anticipated new home – often furniture or even a car – possibly thousands of dollars worth of purchases . The home buyer often will open up a new credit account, thus affecting the borrower’s debt-to-income ratio.

What should a home buyer do? The rule of thumb is – abstinence, resist the spending until after escrow closes! Read Fannie Mae’s FAQs on this topic.