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Half Yearly Report

03 Jul

Half way into 2010!  Short sales are still the name of the game.  Numbers have changed quite a bit in the last 3 months.

Upland has 185 listings,  47 are short sales and 14 are Bank owned.

Rancho Cucamonga has 424 listings – up 61.  176 are short sales and 53 are bank owned.

Claremont has 114 listings compared to 96 -3 months ago.  10 are short sales and 11 are bank owned.

Ontario has 358 listings up 46.  172 are short sales and 67 are bank owned.

Good old Fontana has 658 listings – 3 months ago they had 498 – that’s 160 more listings!  289 are short sales – 71 more than the last report and 84 Bank owned down 44.

So there you have the half yearly report – good news!  More homes for sale, and super low interest rates -  it’s still a Seller’s market here in the Inland Empire.  Buyers are still hungry for more – so let’s watch how the summer of 2010 heats up!

 
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Posted in Real Estate Update, Uncategorized

 

I Was Hacked!

16 Jun

But I have good news – my site had to be rebuilt from the ground up.  I now have a new theme – my best ever!  Needed new plugins, widgets, etc.

With the new look of my site – I feel good about posting more often.  So add my RSS feed and follow me!

 
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Good News!

16 Jun

For all you First Time Buyers who are frantically hoping your escrow closes by June 30th – fret no more!

The Senate approved extending the time to September 30th to close your escrow and still be eligible for the Federal Tax Credit of $8000!

This is Good News!

 
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Posted in FHA, Real Estate Update

 

April Stats

05 Apr

Wow, the first 3 months of the year are over!  This month  I want to add in Sales in the last 30 days.

How are the local cities doing as we enter the second quarter?

Upland has 183 listings, 47 are short sales and 14 are bank owned.  March sales 59

Rancho Cucamonga has 363 listings, 175 are short sales and 53 are bank owned.  March Sales 171

Ontario has 312 listings, 151 are short sales and 69 are bank owned.  March sales 139

Claremont has 96 listings, 10 are short sales and 11 are bank owned.  March sales 25

Fontana has 498 listings, 289 are short sales and 84 are bank owned.  March sales 278

Let’s start looking at Montclair – 56 listings, 29 are short sales and 7 are bank owned.  March sales 20

With all the First-time Buyers rushing to meet the April 30 tax credit deadline, it’s good to see that we have more listings to choose from!

My take on these stats are that we look at the ratio of listed homes to sold homes to see how many months of inventory we have available thus showing us if the market is a buyer’s or seller’s market.  Overall, we have 2-3 months inventory in the 6 cities highlighted.  That my friends, is a Seller’s Market!  More demand for homes than homes available on the market.

 
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March Stats

04 Mar

February was a good but hectic month for me – filled with nothing but Short Sales!

Are short sales the “new” norm for real estate?  Hate to say it but in this area, YES!  I am immersing myself in the world of short sales, it’s sink or swim, no getting away from them!

So knowing that, let’s look at the stats for the local cities I’ve been watching.

Upland – 159 listings, 14 of those are REO and 49 are short sales.

Rancho Cucamonga – 343 listings, 53 REO and 156 short sales.

Claremont – 84 listings, 5 REO and 11 short sales -whoa!

Ontario – 243 listings, 50 REO and 164 short sales.

Fontana – 494 listings, 81 REO and 287 short sales.

My take on these numbers for March?

Well, dear old Claremont is picking up speed – 16 more listings, 4 more REO’s and only 1 more short sale.

Overall, the other cities saw increases in listings except Rancho, down 11.   Lone wolf Fontana was the only city with more REO’s, the other cities were down for the count.

But SHORT SALES were UP in every city I’m currently watching!

The heat is on!  I just want to throw this out there.   Did you know that in the 91701 zip code, one of the most affluent in the Inland Empire,  there are 175 Notices of Default on homes?  These homeowners are 3 months delinquent.  And these homes are NOT on the market.  What happens when the loan modifications don’t work and they hit the market as SHORT SALES?   The writing is on the wall…….

 
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Short Sales

23 Feb

Another day, another short sale seminar.  But the one I attended today was different.   The content went so deep into the subject and questioned  how to decide if a short sale is even possible.  Not all short sales are alike.

I learned you need to qualify the Listing Agent as well as the property.  What does that mean?  Well, not all listing agents are educated in the process.  Not all listing agents know what a hardship is.  Short sales are predicated on the fact that there is a hardship such as: death, divorce, job loss or relocation and illness.  Loss of equity is not a hardship.

The second most important factor in a short sale is: does the loan qualify for a short sale?  This means is it purchase money or refi?  Will the banks say ok to the fact that a homeowner took out a second loan to buy a new Escalade or take a trip to Europe?  Well, well the plot thickens.

If you are finding yourself at a point that you need real estate counseling, please call the right professional – an educated Short Sale Realtor.  Maybe a loan modification will do the trick, if not short sale is an option.

 
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Posted in Real Estate Update

 

Alta Loma Tour

15 Feb

Here I am in Alta Loma, California.  Check it out!

 
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February Stats

08 Feb

Last month I started reporting the number of homes for sale in Upland, Rancho Cucamonga, Claremont, Ontario and Fontana. I also reported the number of short sales and Bank owned (REO) listings. Those numbers gave us a benchmark to track the sales and listing activity for 2010.

Let’s take a look at where we are in the Real Estate market today.

Upland is coming in with 152 total listings. 40 are short sales and 17 are REO.
Rancho Cucamonga is at 332 listings. 152 are short sales and 51 are REO.
Ontario has 284 listings. 157 are short sales and 47 are REO.
Claremont is at 68 listings. 10 are short sales and only 1 REO.
Fontana is at 487 total listings. 272 are short sales and 89 are REO.

So what does this tell us from my January 5th post?

Upland, Rancho and Fontana had a spike in new listings in the last month. While Ontario and Claremont declined slightly in total listings.
Short sales are on the rise in all cities except Claremont.
And the number you have all been waiting for: REO’s, the dreaded bank inventory is DOWN in all 5 cities!

Draw your own conclusions, my take from this is that we are just starting to see the tip of the iceberg in regards to short sales hitting the market.
Buckle up, this is going to be a bumpy ride!

 
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Posted in Real Estate Update

 

90 Day Flip Rule is History

21 Jan

Good News!

February 1, 2010 is the date we have been waiting for!

The 90 day “flip” rule that FHA imposed to slow down the turn around time for investors to flip houses has been suspended for a year – until 2/1/11.

What does this mean?  Well, as an active Buyer’s agent I can say that I have had to say 100′s of times  to my very excited FHA Buyer, “sorry, you can’t make an offer on this home because the 90 day rule applies”.   It’s like popping a balloon!  They are confused and I explain that the rule means that an investor has purchased the home less than 90 days ago at a very low price because the home is distressed.  The investor then “rehabs” the home with carpet, paint, landscaping, etc.  so the home is brought up to speed for the neighborhood.

Then the investor lists the house with a Realtor but if its still within the 90 day time frame, only buyers approved for a conventional loan of 10-20% down payment or an all cash Buyer can purchase the home.  The rule “protected” the Buyer from an investor who was trying to make a lot of $$ in a short time and inflating prices in the neighborhood thus making for another over inflated market like we experienced just a few years ago.

I think the flip rule was not that effective because the houses still sold to other “investors” who were just too lazy to do the work themselves.  The only Loser in this whole scenario was the 1st time FHA Buyer who really wanted to buy a house but was discouraged time and again by the “90 day flip rule”.

So, Hooray for whoever got this rule suspended.  Homeownership is for everyone – not just the investors who are trying to make a quick buck.   The thrill for the 1st time homeowner is back, as it should be!

 
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Posted in FHA, Uncategorized

 

Are Banks going to get it together in 2010?

11 Jan
Second week of the year and rumor has it that banks – especially Bank of America, have plans in place to “streamline” the short sale process.  Well, let’s hope so!  Last year I can tell you that I along with my colleagues vowed that we would not touch a short sale property with a 10 foot pole!
The term “short sale” as used in Real Estate speak refers to a home that has a mortgage greater than what the home can sell for in today’s market.  The process is anything but short.  I’ve heard the horror stories of banks taking as long as a year to approve a short sale!  Now that is totally ridiculous.  There is no reason that it would take so long to get a bank to say ok to an offer made by a qualified Buyer at market value.  Do these loss mitigators sit around eating bon bons and watching soap operas while devastated homeowners sweat it out?
There has got to be a better way and I for one hope that they get their “head out” and start working on approving these short sales before the homeowners are foreclosed on.  The banks caused this fiasco now let’s hope they get it together and make the process truly short!
 
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