Mike’s Real Estate Show

WASHINGTON, April 22, 2008

Existing-home sales edged down in March, remaining within a narrow range of sales activity that has persisted since last September, according to the National Association of Realtors®.

Existing-home sales – including single-family, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops – were down 2.0 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate1 of 4.93 million units in March from a level of 5.03 million in February, and remain 19.3 percent below the 6.11 million-unit pace in March 2007. A rise in condo sales in March was offset by a drop in single-family sales. Regionally, sales rose in the Northeast and West but fell in the Midwest and South.

Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said the market is performing unevenly. “Though mortgage rates are at historically low levels, some borrowers are facing restrictive lending practices in declining markets,” he said. “At the same time, many buyers continue to bide their time with a large number of homes to choose from, while other potential buyers remain on the sidelines.” Read the rest of this entry »

We are finally getting off the snide, having moved off the perpetual sales numbe of 200-225 per month since September of ‘07! We now have 278 sales and still have a few days left in the month. This is a good thing as it represents a 20% increase over last month. However, year-to-date we are off 22% as last year at this time our sales hit 355. The median took a hit falling 17%.Last year at this time: $520,000, Today? $430,000.  But REMEMBER, this is indicative of where the action is in the marketplace. The rash of REO’s (Real Estate Owned–bank properties post-foreclosure) and Short-Sales (pre-foreclosure with Lender allowing reduction of loan amount to make a sale), are in the lower price points and keeping our median down. Read the rest of this entry »

Listeners and Friends,

  This is for the month of February, 2008 and is gleaned from our Multiple Listing Service data. This concerns single family dwellings + Condos (not Multi-family,commercial, or Land sales). REO’s (Real Estate Owned or Bank owned, post foreclosure properties) now domiante the marketplace in Sonoma County.

Active Listings: 2477    Median Price: $477,170 with days on the market(DOM) of 109.

Properties in Escrow: Continue to Show (Properties still in the due diligence phase): 439  $399,950 Median, DOM 118

Pending (contingencies usually removed): 117.  $500,000 median, DOM 129

Total  of both Continue to show and Pending: 556

Or: We have a 4.5 months supply.   Or–roughly 23% of the listings are in escrow which means you have a 1 in 4 chance of getting your home sold! You need to ask yourself this question: Do you want to be in the 23% who are in escrow or the 77% who are still looking for a buyer? How you get your home in the 23% is by pricing, staging it to SELL!!

Solds for the Month of February: 200 even! Read the rest of this entry »

What a year!! Whew! I predicted eveything about this year except for the massive “crater” which happened due to the “credit tightening” we experienced in late August. This “crunch” is still in effect as it has crippled the “jumbo” loans (all loans originiating over the conforming rate of $417,000) and since we are officialy a “High-Value” area this has knocked the slats out from a somewhere lack luster year. Our sales have been “limping” along since September with sales just over 200 units per month. From the perspective of a “year-to-date” monthly sales comparision sales have dropped over 50%!! And the median home price is starting to erode also. It took a while as the lower end market vaporized due to a number of issues; credit tightening, tougher underwriting guidelines, rate increases, full documentation for loans, etc. The median seemed to be fine as the only real activity was the higher priced homes which held the median up. Now we have a rash of short-sales and bank owned properties flooding the market and escrows are starting to close at these distressed prices. The median a year ago at this time was $547,000. Today it is $434,500 or a 27.5% drop. The sales activity is even more startling: December of ‘06: 438 units sold and today 186!! Read the rest of this entry »