Is the market starting to turn... (Riverside, Fremont: bank owned, short sales, real estate market)

[Desertrose34]

..back around up here? What is your opinion?

[nmnita]

one or two good days or months isn't an indicator of anything yet. Let's hope it is, but if you are talking about re-sales on homes, even though it was up last month, remember a lot of those sales were foreclusures..
If you are talking about the stock market, again, I think we will need to wait about 2 or 3 months to see. At least it is more encouraging than it was a month or so ago..

Nita

[Desertrose34]

Hey, yeah I was talking about the real estate market. It seems prices are dropping and people are bidding things back up again. idk

[cincyjacket]

Prices seem to be halved from their peaks a few years ago. At these prices, I've experienced bidding battles with others in my search for a house. That would make it appear to be a seller's market, but I'm not so sure about that. Inventory is still growing and it appears that banks are keeping a hidden inventory of properties to avoid flooding the market... which would send prices even lower.

While it appears that prices are currently heading back up, we may be experiencing a "dead cat bounce." This is a financial term describing a price curve that is heading down, then briefly experiencing an upturn, before resuming the course downward. I'm in the process of closing on a house, so I'm hoping this is not the case. Time will tell.

[serialdriller]

No way!!! People are buying more homes but prices are going to still drop.....

Prices aren't going to go up anytime soon.. If anything they will level off for quite a while before they go up!

Keep in mind unemployment is going up too....

[flo2900]

Originally Posted by Desertrose34

..back around up here? What is your opinion?

at least 2 more years of slow drop then level off for another 2 before going back up at a normal 3% annually. If anyone here is dreaming of buying a home now and make money in less than 10 years is a dreamer!....Remember the normal 3% annual appreciation rate in a few years is the inflation so youre basically making NO money at that rate.....Good days making a quick buck in real estate are OVER folks!
BTW regulations are in the works and on the way preventing another bubble...Feds are watching....if you made money by buying before 2000 and selling in 2006 hold on to them like gold...just my 2 cents

[california-jewel]

As i have stated, i have many realtor friends. We still are in a declining mode, we have many bank owned, short sale, and foreclosed properties still to contend with, and the banks only putting so many out at a time.
From what i understand, the homes that show nice, in nicer areas, thruout Calif in every different city, are the ones with multiple offers on them, my friend just had a home with over 30 offers on one property leaving the other home buyers, now having to have to find another home. The homes that are overpriced, because owners are pig headed and think they have the best homes, are the ones not selling. My friend works the Corona Riverside Moreno Valley area, the home was in CANYON CREST RIVERSIDE WITH MANY OFFERS ON IT. 30 to be exact no kidding. Prices may inch up a bit, but as long as the economy sucks, so many unemployed even with this new change, People losing homes every day, the market will still decline. California was so use to for so long, getting high prices for there homes, we are probably where we should be in realty but for so long we had it so good, that now, we just get sick about the situation.

[california-jewel]

If you feel that our housing market is changing, please go to WWW.WESTCOE.COM and check out the blogs there, they tell you exactly in plain english what is going on with the banks and properties they are not releasing, interesting reading, check it out. Very informative information.

[california-jewel]

Being hammered by a failing economy rising unemployment and increasing foreclosures This is not helping our California Housing Market. California is in a deficit. housing prices are on the decline even though home sales have increased. Foreclosures and short sales are selling the majority of sales in California. Riverside hard hit but sales have been on the uphill and housing deflation is beginning to show signs of being stable due to tax credits for purchasers. When those efforts are going to expire housing deflation is projected to get worse, and will hit RIVERSIDE, ONTARIO, AND SAN BERNARDINO. Does not sound promising to me.

[Meena Gujral]

Good News for sellers:
More homesare selling and they are moving more quickly than a year ago. Existing, single-family home sales increased 1 percent in October to a seasonally adjusted rate of 562,400 units on an annualized basis.
The statewide median price of an existing single-family home increased 0.3 percent in October to $297,500, compared with September 2009.
C.A.R.’s Unsold Inventory Index fell to 4 months in October, compared with 6.1 months in October 2008.
“Home sales historically trail off during the fall and winter months as we move to the off-peak season for the housing market,” said C.A.R. President Steve Goddard. “However, with affordable home prices, mortgage rates hovering around 5 percent, and the extension and expansion of the federal tax credit, we expect first-time and move-up home buyers to drive home sales through the end of this year and into early 2010.” For the first-time since July 2007, sales of homes priced $1 million or more rose in year-to-year comparisons.
“California’s median price rose for the eighth consecutive month in October and sales continued to show strength, signs that California has hit and passed the bottom of this real estate cycle,” said C.A.R. Vice President and Chief Economist Leslie-Appleton-Young. “The number of distressed sales as a share of total sales has shown considerable improvement since the beginning of the year, as a result of loan modifications and other efforts to prevent troubled mortgages from going into foreclosure. This has led to a decline in inventory levels since the start of the year that is more consistent with the price gains we have seen in recent months.”
Great news for buyers: The Mortgage Protection Program has been extended through 2010.
To continue to provide first-time home buyers with peace of mind when purchasing their first home, the CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® Housing Affordability Fund has extended the Mortgage Protection Program (MPP) through December 2010.
Through the C.A.R. Housing Affordability Fund’s MPP, first-time home buyers who lose their jobs due to layoffs may be eligible to receive up to $1,500 per month, for six months, to help make their mortgage payments. A qualified co-buyer also can participate in the program, and receive a monthly benefit of $750 per month for up to six months.
TO QUALIFY FOR THE MORTGAGE PROTECTION PROGRAM APPLICANTS MUST:
Be a first-time home buyer – someone who has not owned property in the last three years
(includes co-buyer).
Open escrow April 2, 2009, or later, and close on or before December 31, 2010
(purchase agreement cannot be dated before April 2, 2009)
Use a California REALTOR® in the transaction
Purchase the property in California
Be a W-2 employee (cannot be self-employed)
Housing affordability reaches 70.1 in third quarter.
Housing affordability stood at 70.1 percent nationwide in the third quarter, according to the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index (HOI) released last week.
That means more than 70% of all households in the country can afford to purchase a home. When you consider that so many families are settled in homes they purchased years ago at much lower prices, the percentage of people being able to achieve the American Dream of homeownership is even higher.
Low Interest Rates.
Interest rates have been historically low all year. Average conventional mortgage rates have hovered between 5 and 6 percent through most of 2009 and are currently below 5 percent. Interest rates can have even more impact on the actual cost of homeownership than sales prices.
Extension of first–time home buyers’ tax credit.
First time home buyer $8000 tax credit has been extended till April 30, 2010. Homebuyers who are in transactions of that date can close escrow on or before July 1, 2010 to get the tax credit. The amendment establishes income limits of $125,000 for an individual or $225,000 for a couple. So far an estimated 1.5 million buyers who purchased homes in 2009 are expected to claim the credit and the numbers are growing because of the extension.
New Tax credit for existing homeowners.
Homeowners that have lived in their home for 5 out of the last 8 years can get a tax credit of $6,500 when they buy another home as long as it is going to be a primary residence. In other words the buyers do not have to be first time home buyers. This means, current homeowners who want a home that is larger or smaller or in a different location may be eligible for this tax credit.
Extension of higher conforming loan limits.
Congress has agreed to extend the conforming loan limit from $417,000 to $729,750 through 2010. As you probably know jumbo rates are expensive and more difficult to obtain.

If these are not enough reasons for any buyer or seller to seriously consider buying or selling a house NOW, I wonder what is. Please call Meena Gujral (California Realtor) at 510-279-9580 if you are looking to buy or sell a home in Fremont, Castro Valley, Pleasanton, Dublin, or anywhere in the Alameda County or go to my website at Fremont Real Estate | California Real Estate | Help-U-Sell Achievers Realty | Meena Gujral