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Bob Arthur | 949 Realty Group
Keller Williams OC Coastal Realty | 949.702.1232 talk/text | bob@949realty.com | www.949realty.com
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Wednesday, July 30, 2014
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Thursday, July 18, 2013
San Clemente Man Tells Council He is New Miramar Owner
Barry Baptiste Tells Council He is New Miramar Owner
Baptiste said as the result of a lawsuit against Spizzirri in 2009, he had been awarded a judgment against a limited liability
After a presentation by design consultant Matt Jennings on potential uses for the Miramar, council members expressed hope that something could be done at the site.
Tuesday, July 9, 2013
Rising prices and falling inventory across the country
Inventories are declining, and prices are rising, according to a recent report from Movoto Real Estate, a brokerage with a presence in 30 U.S. states.
Examining data from Multiple Listing Services in 34 cities across the nation, Movoto found year-over-year declines in June’s inventory in 32 of the 38 cities it tracks. The most drastic declines took place in Sacramento (-54.5 percent), Detroit (-47.1 percent), and Boston (-46.7 percent).
Over the same time period, price per square foot increased in all but two of the cities Movoto observes. The exceptions were New Orleans (-2.2 percent) and Chicago (-3.2 percent). Sacramento topped the list with a 68.1 percent price-per-square-foot increase.
Highlighting just the West Coast, Movoto found a year-over-year decrease in inventory but a month-over-month increase.
A composite of 14 major metros on the West Coast reveals
an 11.9 percent yearly decline in inventory in June, according to Movoto.
In contrast, listings rose month-over-month from 12,218 to 13,698.
West Coast cities with the steepest inventory decreases year-over-year in June were Salem, Oregon (-25.4 percent), Bellevue, Washington (-24.5 percent), and Los Angeles (-24.5 percent).
San Jose, California (19.2 percent), and San Diego, California (3.6 percent) were the only two of the 14 cities in the index to experience rising inventories over the 12-month period.
As inventory declines, price per square foot is on the rise. However, the two cities with growing inventories are not left out of this trend. San Diego and San Jose take the second and third places, respectively, in the ranking of cities by price increase over the year.
Price per square foot increased 20.8 percent in San Diego and 18.4 percent in San Jose.
The only city to beat these two was Los Angeles with a 28.6 percent increase. As of last month, the price per square foot for a home in Los Angeles is $432. This is the second-highest price per square foot on Movoto’s June index for the West Coast.
However, San Francisco outpaced all other cities with a price per square foot of $655.
Prices were also generally up over the month, according to Movoto, rising from $251 per square foot to $253 per square foot.
Friday, July 5, 2013
Mortgage rates recede after dramatic jump
Following last week’s dramatic spike, mortgage rates reversed course this week, according to surveys from Freddie Mac andBankrate.com.
Freddie Mac’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey showed the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaging 4.29 percent (0.7 point) for the week ending July 3, down from last week’s two-year high of 4.46 percent. Last year at this time, the 30-yearFRM averaged 3.62 percent.
The 15-year FRM averaged 3.39 percent (0.7 percent), down from 3.50 percent the previous weekAdjustable rates, meanwhile, stayed more or less on track. The 5-year Treasury-index hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) averaged 3.10 percent (0.7 point)—up from 3.08 percent—while the 1-year ARM averaged 2.66 percent (0.4 point), unchanged from the last survey.
“Fixed mortgage rates fell over the holiday week as market concerns over the timing of the Federal Reserve’s pullback in bond purchases eased somewhat,” said Frank Nothaft, VP and chief economist for Freddie Mac. “Rates are still low by historical standards and should continue to aid in housing affordability and the ongoing recovery of the housing market.”
Bankrate’s weekly national survey showed similar trends, with the 30-year fixed falling to 4.48 percent and the 15-year fixed dropping to 3.62 percent. Meanwhile, the 5/1 ARM rose to 3.48 percent.
While rates did ease, they’re still a far cry from where they were just two months ago.
“As recently as May 1st, the average 30-year fixed mortgage rate was 3.52 percent. At that time, a $200,000 loan would have carried a monthly payment of $900.32. With the average rate currently at 4.48 percent, the monthly payment for the same size loan would be $1,011, a difference of $111 per month for anyone that waited just a little too long,” Bankrate said in a release.
Thursday, July 4, 2013
Tips To Be A Smart Homebuyer
- If that is what you’ve been doing, stop it. Get real about flexing some very basic math skills, no matter how much you hated math in school.
- Sit down with your spouse, your bills, your bank account statements and maybe even your financial planner or CPA.
- Get clear on what comes in and goes out every month, and how much cash you can afford to put into your home up front (down payment, closing costs, and move-in expenses) and how much you can afford to spend on housing every month.
- Then, take that information to your mortgage professional and ask them to give you some financing scenarios that use what you can afford to back into the corresponding home purchase price range.
- Finally, take that to your agent and work with them to use that range to set your home search price range. If you live in a place where most homes sell for more than asking, find out how much more - then search in a range that much lower than you want to spend, so you can afford to offer enough to be successful.
Wednesday, July 3, 2013
Home prices increasing
Forty-five of the top 50 metropolitan markets will experience yearly price increases during the second half of the year, according to Clear Capital’s Home Data Index Market Reportreleased Tuesday.
This widespread forecast of price increases “speaks to this move toward a more balanced, broad-based recovery,” said Alex Villacorta, VP of research and analytics at Clear Capital.
Bakersfield, California, is expected to lead national price gains with a 5.2 percent price increase through the end of this year.
Las Vegas comes in as a close second in Clear Capital’s forecast with a projected price growth of 5 percent. Las Vegas posted the highest quarterly price gain in the second quarter—an increase of 4.4 percent.
The Bakersfield metro posted a notable jump from 29th place in Clear Capital’s first-quarter report to first place in the second quarter report.
“This leap is an example of the fundamentals driving the overall recovery, Clear Capital said, adding also that Bakersfield “serves as a reminder that the recovery continues to unfold market by market.”
After, Bakersfield and Las Vegas, the top five metros for projected price gains through the end of the year are rounded out by Chicago; Sacramento, California; and Milwaukee, Wisconsin, with gains of 4.9 percent, 4.8 percent, and 4.4 percent, respectively.
Clear Capital expects the Cleveland metro to fare the worst for the remainder of the year with a 2.2 percent price decline.
Raleigh, North Carolina; Charlotte, North Carolina; and Denver, Colorado, are the only other metros out of the top 50 with anticipated price depreciations over the remainder of the year, according to Clear Capital. However, the analytics firm expects price decreases of less than 0.5 percent in each.
“At the metro level, we saw some subtle, yet notable trends unfold in June,” Villacorta said. “While price trends continued to diverge at the micro market level, they are for the most part positive.
At a national level, Clear Capital revised its 2.6 percent projected price gain over the year this year up to 6 percent. While lower than the current yearly gain of 8.6 percent, this forecast is still greater than historical norms, which rank between 4 and 5 percent.
While it is notable that some markets are experiencing double-digit gains, “[s]eeing the bulk of major metros move into positive territory is truly good news, even if their gains are still in the single digits,” Villacorta said.
Thursday, June 27, 2013
Real Estate Recovery Myth's Unraveled
Wednesday, June 26, 2013
Price it Right the First Time
Monday, June 24, 2013
Another Real Estate Bubble???
Thursday, June 6, 2013
Rising prices encourage fewer investor purchases and longer holding times
A recent industry survey found rising home prices are impacting investor activity in a few ways—most notably encouraging them to hold properties longer and to decrease their purchase activity.
The survey, conducted by ORC Internationaland released Wednesday byMemphisInvest.com and Premier Property Management Group, revealed more than half of investors plan to keep their investment properties for five years or more. One-third said they will keep their investment properties for at least 10 years.
Investors in these categories “realize the benefits of rising rents and low vacancy rates,” according to Chris Clothier, a partner at MemphisInvest.com and Premier Property Management Group.
“Cash flow is much more important than appreciation,” Clothier said.
Close to half—48 percent—of the investors surveyed in May said they will purchase fewer properties in the next 12 months than they did in the past year. This is up from 30 percent in the same survey conducted in August 2012.
Twenty percent of survey respondents said they will purchase more properties in the next 12 months than in the previous 12 months, down from 39 percent in the August survey.
Contributing to this trend, “[f]ewer foreclosures, rising property values and competition from hedge funds are making it tough to find good deals on distress sales,” Clothier said.
Rising prices are also affecting the method by which investors pay for their properties, according to Clothier.
Thirty-seven percent of investors said they will pay cash for their next property, up from almost 25 percent in the previous survey.
“Cash sales make sense when prices are rising. They lower investors’ costs,” Clothier said.
The increase in institutional investor activity may appear to be a hurdle for private investors, but the survey revealed a minority of investors—13 percent—have noticed an impact.