Have We Hit the Bottom
I was reading the January/February 2009 edition of the California Association of Realtors Magazine and came across this article I thought I would share. The article has good facts with a positive economic forecast for 2009 and the graph is a great visual representation of the history of the market.
To read the full article click on the thumbnail image of the article below, then click once more on the article to make the content larger.
Open House drawing Black Friday Crowds…
With the Holidays behind us, buyers are back on the Real Estate scene scoping out the latest inventory. This weekend I held a home in SSF open. I had over 65 groups come through and even ran out of fliers & ended up staying well after 4pm as buyers kept showing up. I can’t remember the last time I ran out of fliers or had to stay longer then the open house was scheduled. I felt like I was at a department store on Black Friday and everything was 50% off!
The home was a single family fixer, in a desirable neighborhood. I figured there was an abundance of buyers because it was the first weekend of scheduled open houses, come to find out it wasn’t just my open house that faired well to the buyer’s scene, it was everyone’s.
Every Monday morning my office has its sales meetings. In the meetings we take count of how many people came through our open houses. Today the count was 400. Those are huge numbers which gives us all something to ponder… Buyers are out in droves, prices have come down and interest rates are historically at all time lows, has the market hit its threshold? What are your thoughts? All I can say is when it’s your time to buy or sell, it doesn’t really matter what else is going on around you. That’s the beauty of Real Estate.
SSF Real Estate… things are looking up
As 2008 wraps up and we all grasp onto our crystal balls to determine the fate of 2009… I wanted to end the year on a positive note with some statistics from the San Mateo County Multiple Listing Service that may help to give us all a positive outlook on the Real Estate market for 2009. South San Francisco was one of the Peninsula’s hardest hit cities with short sales and foreclosures, but by the looks of it, SSF seems to be bouncing back just fine. Read more
Mixing Business with Pleasure… does it actually mix?
Have you ever felt obligated to use a family member when it came to a business deal? While most of us have, has it ever left you wondering if that was the best decision? In some cases, it is an ideal circumstance. While in others it may be an uncomfortable situation that you were strong armed into. Read more
Last Chance for SSF Home Owners…
Last chance for all you SSF home owners to get your sewer laterals replaced and have the City pick up half the tab. The City of South San Francisco introduced a program to aide home owners in replacing those pesky sewer laterals due to widespread overflow in the city sewars during heavy rains. SSF will pay 50% of the bill or a maximum of $2500.00 towards the replacement of your sewer lateral. Read more
Is it a good time to Move Up?
Everyone’s question these days seems to be “Is now the right time to buy”? I have come up with a chart that helps you make the decision if now is the right time to buy!
Current Home New Home
|
Sell |
Spread (What it would cost you to move) |
Buy |
|
$100K |
$100K |
$200K |
|
(Value appreciates 10%) $110K |
$110K |
$220K |
|
(Value depreciates 10%) $ 90K |
$ 90K |
$180K |
The above chart is an example of a “move-up” buyer determining whether it is a good time to purchase an upgrade property.
Now ask yourself this question… “When does it make more sense to move up- when prices have gone up less or when they’ve gone down more?”
If you have answered when prices go down, you are the lucky winner!!!! You profit the most when the spread is less. So whether you are discouraged that you don’t have enough equity or down payment in order to move, ask yourself this question….
“If you don’t feel you can move up comfortably now, how will you be able to do so when prices go up further?”
***One last thing to ponder… When interest rates go from 6% to 7.5% the prices of homes would have to go down 14.7% in order to keep the same monthly payment.
Appraisers… what’s their real job description?
Since when did appraisers become home inspectors? Just curious as I encountered a never before sitaution today… As my property inspector was packing up from a routine property inspection, the appraiser drove up (early I may add) to what I thought at the time was to appraise the property. Read more
Christmas Come Early
As we approach the holiday season, while everyone else is immersed in cooking the Thanksgiving Turkey and getting up at dawn to get those Holiday discounts on the season’s hottest new toy you can take advantage of the season’s best toy… a house! Read more
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