RealEstate680

 

San Francisco will be the only U.S. stop during the Olympic torch relay for the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing.  Organizers are searching for people to help carry the flame when it comes to town in April. What a thrill!

You have to be at least 14 years old, and able to physically carry the Olympic flame for a designated distance. They also must write a 200-word essay describing their qualifications for carrying the torch. The deadline to submit applications is Sunday.

For the website and application go to: http://www.sustainablejourney.org/

Since the first of January, we have seen more buyers in our open houses on Sundays.  These people seem to understand the fluctuations in the real estate market and may be ready to buy. 

Walnut Creek Real Estate Market update for January 21, 2008

The link above will show the Walnut Creek Real Estate market for the week of January 21, 2008.  The date is broken down by many different categories.  I hope this will assist many of the people looking for Walnut Creek real estate.

 

After 25 years in the same location, Walnut Creek Farmers’ Market on Jan. 6 moved to its new permanent location on the north end of Locust.  Street between Giammona Way and Lacassie Avenue.  This location will add the ability to shop many of the stores n the area as well.  The Market was moved to make room for the demolution and re-build of the new Walnut Creek Library.

 

Part of the Presidents Stimulus package is raising the mortgage loan limits from $417,000 to $625,000.  This would be a good thing for California real estate as well as other States with the price point that we have too.  Walnut Creek home prices need this increase.  Most of the San Francisco East Bay Area needs this increase.

It makes perfect sense to increase the Conforming loan limits to $625,000 because many home buyers in Contra Costa County have a $417,000 first and a second mortgage for the remainder.  In theory, they already have this debt and we certainly have the income in the Bay Area to service this debt.

 Fanny Mae and Freddie Mac are the quasi-governmental agency that wervicde these loans.  They have proven to be a very responsible resource for homeowners ans well as investors.  Increasing the loan limits in California are an absolute HOME RUN!

 My colleague, Heidi Slocomb has an Eichler listing in Concord that is absolutely fantastic.  It’s a 4 bedroom, 2 bath home with over 1800 square feet of living space, walls of glass to let in the light and a swimming pool in a very private backyard. 

 If you are in the neighborhood this Sunday January 27 fro 1 to 4 pm, please stop by.  I will be holding it open to the public

Most of you have heard that Bank of American came to the rescue of Countrywide Mortgage. Is is really a mixed bag. The good news is stability. It would be devastating to the market if the largest originator in home loans was to file for protection in a Bankruptcy. it would also create a stronger lack of confidence in all financial markets. Countrywide has alsway been a very well run company, albeit, run by salespeople with need to fund loans on a daily basis.

There is enough blame to go all the way around a couple times between Lenders, Brokers, Homeowners and don’t forget the investors.

Here’s the bad news. This has all the trappings of loosing FREE MARKET. B of A may use this to squuese the mortgage broker out of the business. BofA has already suspended a major part of their own business to licensed mortgage brokers. Now that they own Countrywide, I would suspect they will probably to something very similar with the Countywide offices.

Free markets are one of the foundations of competition in the US. The creed factor is certainly a byproduct of this, but the thought of a hand full of banks controlling the retail mortgage market hs me wondering if fair trade will exist. Only time will tell, but I have my doubts whether in the long run this is good for the consumer.

Growing up in Walnut Creek, I spent a lot of time in the main library on Broadway.  Besides the reference material we needed for our school work, I found that I could explore the world through the magazine subscriptions that arrive monthly.  Magazines like Popular Mechanics, Life, Boys Life, Look and the old stand by; National Geographic.   The women who worked there were very nice, but did not put up with any crap.  Talking was against the rules and enforced.  Yep, We got kicked out on a regular basis, but allowed back in because Walnut creek was a small town. 

The main library has closed and a new one is planned.  In the meantime, Walnut Creek has refaced the library in Northgate on Oak Grove Road.  It’s small, but fills the gap between old and new.

 

This Sunday, January 13th, there will be a “Retirement” celebration for the old library.  It’s called “Thanks for the Memories, Walnut Creek Library.”  The festivities start at 2pm and go until 5pm.  The Rossmoor Big Band will perform as well as story tellers and other personalities from the past.  A real walk down memory lane in Walnut Creek.

The Walnut Creek Library Foundation has already raised more than $1, 800,000, so I expect the new facility to be spectacular.  Walnut Creek continues to be a City that has a tremendous appeal to the residents and business owner alike.

Real Estate Owned is the full name for what we call REO.  These are properties that the Lender/Bank has actually taken back from the owner.  The homeowner has moved out and it’s the responsibility of the Bank to sell these properties.  The real estate community is seeing more and more of these as the short sales become REO.  Sometimes it’s a lot easier to deal with the bank than the homeowner trying to get out of the debt on their home through a short sale.

Here’s the rub.  Banks need to keep these properties up.  When a house is not occupied, itgets run down.  The first thing to go is the landscaping.  I’m not really talking about that.  I’m talking about water damage, critters making it their home.  Homeless people using the house to get out of the elements. That sort of thing.

Most of the time, the new buyer is look for a home that they can fix up, but not have to replace walls, framing and foundation.  The other thing is the new lender wants to make sure that they are lending on a home that is habitable.  Especially in this lending environment where lenders are making sure they fund investment quality loans.

If you are buying a REO make sure your lender is comfortable with the appraisal and the appraiser does not note that the house has major problems.  The lender may not lend on the property.  Since most of the Bank owned properties are purchased as-is, I ouwld also suggest a full home inspection as well as any other inspections that are needed. Be careful, you want to make sure you know what you are buying for you money.

Most of the bank owned properties in Contra Costa County are in East County.  However, there are a fair amount of them scatter all over the county.  It is a good idea to put these into the mix, however I think you’ll find that a motivated seller in this market will provide you with a good deal on a home too.

 

Over the past couple years, namely 2006 and 2007, Walnut Creek real estate has started the year with very little inventory.  As the year progresses; inventory increases.  The graph above shows this trend.  The interesting trend for 2008 is the we are starting the year with more inventory.  This is no surprise to anyone who has been following Walnut Creek real estate trends.

In fact the market we have in 2008 is more of a balanced market from the beginning.  When we started the year with less inventory, it was a seller’s market.  Now we have an opporutnity to buy and sell in a real estate market of parity.  Opportunitys in the move-up real estsate market are present as well as opportunites for people wanting to scale down in size or into a one-story home.

My point in this article is that our Walnut Creek real estate market is ripe for the picking for both buyers and sellers.

 
It’s another sign of the times.  Buyers are leaving the loan contingency in the accepted offer until close of escrow.  In other words; up until the day the loan funds, the buyer can back out of the transaction based on a lender that does not perform.  The reason for this is the uncertainly of some lenders in the market, but also bcause lenders are re-qualifing buyers at the last minute as well as requesting review appraisal just before they release the loan funds to close.

 I have an accepted offer on a listing in Pleasant Hill California that has all contingencies removed except the loan contingency.  The buyer is a friend and collegue of mine in the same Walnut Creek Coldwell Banker office.  I advised my sellers to accept her offer because she is putting a seizable amount of her ouwn funds into the transaction and we know that the lender, Nannette Voluntine from Priceton Capital Morgtgage has a track record of performing.  This is another way that buyers are protecting themselves in a real estate market that is going through change. 

It is very inportant the agents, buyers and sellers communicate their wants and needs in this market.  Real estate deals are lost because of a lack of communication and understanding.  The Walnut Creek, Pleasant Hill markets still have a lot of inventory and present a good opporuntity for buyers.