Almost one out of every five homes sold in Orange County last spring went for a price lower than what the owner had paid, according to online home tracker Zillow.com
While 18.2% of all homes sold for a loss, that’s down about 2.5% from the same period a year earlier. Zillow spokeswoman Jill Simmons said that losing deals in O.C. peaked at 25% in February 2009, the month after median home prices hit bottom.
According to Zillow, losing deals were greater among condos.
Zillow figures show that 13.5% of single-family homes sold for a loss, down nearly 4% from the year before. But 29.5% of condos sold at a loss, up 1.3%.
http://lansner.ocregister.com/2010/08/30/1-in-5-o-c-homes-selling-at-a-loss/79413/
Filed under Housing Buzz, SOCAL Market Conditions, SOCALCIA Blog by on Sep 5th, 2010. Comment. 
Real Estate Outlook: Mixed Figures
by Kenneth R. Harney
With sharp drops in sales of existing and new homes plastered over the front pages and leading the nightly newscasts, it’s no wonder the real estate doomsayers on Wall Street have been working overtime.
And there’s no minimizing the bad numbers we’ve been seeing: A surprising 27 percent decline in resales from June to July, and a 12 percent drop in sales of newly-built houses during the same period.
Yes, most economists predicted that the months following the tax credits’ expiration would be negative, so we were forewarned.
But let’s not get caught in a Chicken Little economic trap here. Hidden among the recent negative numbers have been some positives that aren’t getting much attention.
http://realtytimes.com/rtpages/20100830_realestateoutlook.htm
Filed under Housing Buzz, SOCALCIA Blog by on Sep 4th, 2010. Comment.
Home values in the U.S. fell 0.2% in the second quarter of 2010 from the same quarter last year, according to the Freddie Mac Conventional Mortgage Home Price Index (CMHPI).
The CMHPI Purchase-Only Series includes only property values based on home purchases with a conventional mortgage. Freddie calculates the values for the nation, all 50 states and the nine Census divisions. The numbers are not seasonally adjusted.
National home values did increase 3.1% from the previous quarter, the first time since the second quarter of last year that home values rose in all nine Census divisions.
Amy Crews Cutts, the deputy chief economist at Freddie Mac, said the second quarter increase was due in part to the homebuyer tax credit that expired in April.
http://www.housingwire.com/2010/08/30/home-values-drop-0-2-from-a-year-ago-freddie-mac
Filed under Housing Buzz, SOCALCIA Blog by on Sep 3rd, 2010. Comment.
By David Fletcher
Recently, Tampa Bay Realtor Christine Hensley’s $153,000, 1800-square-foot ten-year old short sale cancelled unexpectedly. The seller allegedly could not get comfortable with what he would really owe the lender after the closing.
One week later, Hensley’s buyer closed for cash on a brand new upgraded 2100 square- foot Centex home for $170,000 cash, or about $2 per square-foot less than the short sale.
Within two days of asking for interviews from Centex if they had any recent sales resulting from burnt-out, distressed sale shoppers in Central Florida we had three stories and had to withdraw our request.
“I purchased a new home because I will never ever go through a short sale nightmare again in my lifetime,” said buyer Lynn Buonviri. Her dream short-sale fell through when the seller cancelled without telling anybody, refused to move out, and would not come to the door. The fact that she had just arrived after pulling a trailer 1,000 miles for the scheduled final inspection, did not help.
“My broker negotiated with the bank and owner for 5.5 months. The stress on both of us was incredible, but the idea of going through this again was unbearable.”
Fortunately, everything worked out for both buyer and broker.
Filed under Housing Buzz, SOCALCIA Blog by on Sep 2nd, 2010. Comment.
Construction spending in July fell twice as much as forecast, led by a slump in homebuilding that will depress U.S. economic growth.
The 1 percent drop brought spending to $805.2 billion, the lowest level in a decade, after a revised 0.8 percent drop in June that wiped out a previously estimated gain, Commerce Department figures showed today in Washington. Spending on federal government projects fell by the most in a year.
Builders are facing a slump in demand following the end of a homebuyer tax credit, even with mortgage rates at a record low, while mounting foreclosures will add to the inventory and further restrain prices. Government construction spending is also likely to stay weak as stimulus-linked outlays wane and state budgets shrink.
Filed under Housing Buzz, SOCAL Market Conditions, SOCALCIA Blog by on Sep 2nd, 2010. Comment.
(Reuters) – The U.S. loan picture improved slightly during the second quarter, with the amount of loans 90 days or more past due declining for the first time in more than four years, bank regulators said on Tuesday.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp revealed some encouraging figures about the bank industry, saying the sector earned $21.6 billion during the quarter largely due to banks putting away less money to cover expected loan losses.
Filed under Housing Buzz, SOCAL Market Conditions, SOCALCIA Blog by on Sep 2nd, 2010. Comment.
August 12th, 2010
The number of initial unemployment insurance claims grew by 2,000 to 484,000 in the week ending August 7, swelling more than expected after last week’s initial figure was revised upward.
The four-week moving average rose to 473,500, from the previous week’s revised average of 459,250, according to new data today from the US Department of Labor (DOL).
The weekly initial claims data is worse than the market consensus of 463,000. Economists surveyed by Market Watch had expected a 16,000 decline from last week’s initial estimate of 479,000.
The weekly growth in claims appears to narrow — to 2,000 — after the DOL revised last week’s figure was revised upward to 482,000.
The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 3.5% in the week ending July 31, a slight decrease of 10 basis points from the previous week’s unrevised rate of 3.6%.
Filed under SOCAL Market Conditions, SOCALCIA Blog by on Aug 16th, 2010. Comment.
In this tutorial, we will show you how to create a post on SOCALCIA’s Blog.
1. Login (or Register) to the site by clicking in the top right corner. (see picture below with arrow)
2. You’ll be taken to the register page where you’ll enter your user-name and email.
3. Once You’ve entered your name and email, check your email for registration confirmation and your password for your account.
4. Once you have your username and password, proceed to the login page and hit post to enter your fist post.
5. Next, start typing into the title and body sections of the post.
Enter the category the post should fall into. (Default is Blog)
And Hit publish.
6. Presto. You’re Done.
7. SPAM will not be tolerated. Any instances of SPAM will result in member’s privileges being revoked.
Filed under Sticky Posts by on Aug 15th, 2010. Comment.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — The latest foreclosure numbers carried a mixed message: They’re up 3.6% from the month before but down 9.7% from 12 months earlier.
In July there were more than 325,000 foreclosure filings — including notices of default, auctions notices and bank repossessions. That is the 17th month in a row total filings exceeded 300,000, said RealtyTrac’s CEO, James Saccacio.
“Declines in new default notices, which were down on a year-over-year basis for the sixth straight month in July,” he said, “have been offset by near-record levels of bank repossessions, which increased on a year-over-year basis for the eighth straight month.”
Filed under SOCALCIA Blog, Wholesaling Properties by on Aug 15th, 2010. Comment.
WASHINGTON — Mortgage rates sank to the lowest level in decades this week, pushed down by the weak economy and the Federal Reserve’s move to help lift the recovery by purchasing government debt.
Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac says the average rate for 30-year fixed loans this week was 4.44 percent, down from 4.49 percent last week. That’s the lowest since Freddie Mac began tracking rates in 1971.
The average rate on the 15-year fixed loan dropped to 3.92 percent, down from 3.95 percent last week and the lowest on record.
Rates have fallen since spring and the government’s July jobs report has investors worried about the country slipping back into recession. They are shifting more money into the safety of Treasury bonds, lowering their yields. Mortgage rates tend to track those yields.
And the Federal Reserve is pushing those yields down even further. The central bank said Tuesday it would buy Treasurys to help aid the recovery, using the proceeds from debt and mortgage-backed securities it bought from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
Filed under SOCAL Market Conditions, SOCALCIA Blog by on Aug 14th, 2010. 2 Comments.
August 12, 2010 – Builder confidence in the mature-housing market retreated during this year’s second quarter, according to data from the National Association of Home Builders’ 55+ Housing Market Index (55+ HMI) – a quarterly survey of the association’s builder members engaged in the production of mature-market housing. This past quarter’s index values dropped for all areas surveyed, compared to the previous year’s second quarter.
“The same factors that affect activity in the overall housing market – including hesitant home buyers, tight consumer credit, and continuing competition from foreclosed and distressed properties – are having an impact on the 55+ segment of the market, which remains stalled in most regions,” says NAHB’s Chief Economist, David Crowe. “In spite of the recent flurry of home-buying activity tied to the home buyer tax credit, many older homeowners continue to have difficulty selling their existing homes, causing them to postpone plans to look for a home that offers reduced maintenance or is otherwise more appropriately designed to accommodate their current lifestyles.”
The 55+ single-family HMI measures builder sentiment based on current sales, prospective buyer traffic and anticipated six-month sales for the 55+ single-family market. A number greater than 50 indicates that more builders view conditions as good than poor. In the second quarter of 2010, the index slipped four points compared to the same period a year earlier, down to 12. Present sales fell to 12, down four points; expected sales to 17, down seven points, and traffic to 12, down 2 points.
Filed under Commercial Real Estate, SOCALCIA Blog by on Aug 14th, 2010. Comment.
Welcome to the USA’s best real estate investment association.
We know investors want 3 things:
- Knowledge to do Deals
- Money to do Deals
- Deals!
Unlike all the other clubs that just provide one choice, we provide and facilitate all THREE. We bring you the best trainer-speakers in the US, provide money sources at our meetings, and connect you with the sellers of the best real estate deals in the Nation.
We meet monthly on Thursdays and you don’t have to be a member to attend!
Filed under SOCALCIA Blog by on Jun 28th, 2010.
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