Comments for Ventura County Real Estate

Comment on How Much Will It Cost Me To Short Sale My Ventura County Home? by Awareness Home Funding

Awareness Home Funding — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 20:10:14 +0000

Some key points we have observed:
1) Work with a professional who really does understand how short sales work. When embarking on something outside of the norm – experience pays.
2) Expect the process to take some time. These are programs designed to help people who have encountered some serious challenges for a whole host of reasons. They are not meant to quickly (or magically) erase all your problems. You have to work with the system.
3) Expect there to be some consequences involved. Depending on your individual circumstances, there may be some fees (like those mentioned above) you are responsible for. You can also expect this to affect your credit score.
This is an option and can avoid foreclosue, but as with any financial move, do so with open eyes.

Comment on Closing Cost For Ventura County Home Sellers by Open House Listing

Open House Listing — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 08:29:22 +0000

Thank you for all the great posts from last year! I look forward to reading your blog, because they are always full of information that I can put to use. Thank you again, and God bless you in 2010.

Comment on The Recession of 2008: How Did We Get Here? by Arthur Smith

Arthur Smith — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 04:08:33 +0000

during the height of the economic recession, our online and offline business in the US have suffered some major drop in sales. now our sales are getting slowly back to normal.

Comment on First Time Home Buyer Mortgage Protection Plan For Ventura County Home Buyers by mortgage info

mortgage info — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 16:45:46 +0000

This policy is a nice but bold move with payments but helping people who have been struck off especially in this world climate is a good thing they have some help for a few months with paying for their mortgage while they are finding a new source of income to carry on paying.

Comment on Foreclosure Evictions On Hold In Ventura County During The Holiday Season by Mortgage Expert

Mortgage Expert — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 15:00:47 +0000

This is a very generous gesture… something that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac did not have to do but at the end of the day they are also to blame for lending money to people who could not make the repayments.

Comment on H1N1 Vaccine For Ventura County Residents by Sheena West

Sheena West — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 17:47:35 +0000

during the height of the H1N1 or Swine Flu epidemic, i was very afraid to get infected with this disease and i wore face mask whenever i got into heavily populated areas.

Comment on Explaining The Low Housing Inventory In Ventura County by Irina Netchaev

Irina Netchaev — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 16:53:10 +0000

Mana, thanks for the mention! In Pasadena, we also see sellers that put their homes on the market only if they have to, i.e. relocation, equity needs to be pulled out for whatever reasons or distress. As your commenters mentioned there’s a lot of fear out there for both the sellers and buyers.

If you are a seller, why would you sell unless you had to in this market?
If you are a buyer, what a great opportunity to get into a property with lower prices and ridiculously low interest rates.

The big unknown is the “shadow foreclosure inventory”. We know it’s out there, we just don’t know when these homes will hit the market and how quickly.

In Pasadena, we have around 450 active listings, but over 200 homes and condos are scheduled for auction between January and February. That’s 50% or so of existing inventory.

The problem is that the auctions can be delayed and then the banks take their sweet ol’ time getting these homes listed… so timing the release of these foreclosures is difficult. However, we know they’re there.

Great post and great answers. Now… we do what we always do – track the market and advise our clients as best as we can.

Comment on Community Action Of Ventura County Helps Residents With Utility Bills by ‘Excellence’ Program Assists People With Disabilities | Businesses, Financing, and Other Things

Fri, 08 Jan 2010 10:26:44 +0000

[...] Community Action Of Ventura County Helps Residents With Utility … [...]

Comment on Explaining The Low Housing Inventory In Ventura County by Chris Tesch

Chris Tesch — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 15:09:41 +0000

Mana,

I’m in wholehearted agreement with Arlene’s assertation that the national news is, in part, driving this. I know many people are actually choosing to lease their homes out when forced to move. When you ask them why overwhelmingly you get the answer “well, I know it’s a terrible time to sell”. This despite the fact that interest rates may be rising soon and mortgage guidelines tightening.

I had some clients that decided they were done with the hassles of having an empty home and the first words out of his mouth when we met were “I know it’s a terrible time to sell”. The property was placed on the market that week after a few I sent maintenance crews in there and had multiple offers within 1 day of listing. It sold for $5000 above list price.

There may be nothing we can do about people that are wanting to stay where they are for fear of losing their jobs or a cutback in hours or wages, but I think it’s time that we start influencing the national news to not emphasis the doom and gloom and start actually reporting the news that housing is, for the most part, doing very well.

You are definately doing your part! Happy New Year!!!

Comment on Explaining The Low Housing Inventory In Ventura County by Arlene Baxter

Arlene Baxter — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 02:04:30 +0000

Mana,
Berkeley, and the surrounding communities of Albany, Kensington and the Rockridge neighborhood of Oakland are sharing the problem of low inventory, and have all year. In addition to the conditions you described so well in your post, I believe there are many sellers who read the national, or even state-wide news about a “glut of inventory” and sluggish sales in many areas, and become frightened of placing their property on the market. Much of the general news has been that the real estate market is in the doldrums, with price declines. If sellers do not take the time to consult with a local expert REALTOR, who can inform them of the conditions in their micro-market, they may be harboring very false impressions.

In Berkeley we’ve become accustomed to overbidding, and except for a few months in early 2009, overbidding has continued to be a common occurrence. This is so much the case that in Nov., and Dec. 2008, and Jan. 2009 the median sold price was higher than the median list price in Berkeley. That was also the case in three out of the past five months of 2009.

It is true that on average, prices have dropped about 12% within the past year, but within those averages are a small percentage of distressed properties. With low inventory, those properties can pull down the averages and give the impression of a market that is less robust than what we as agents are experiencing.

My buyer clients in Berkeley must be prepared for overbidding more in the range of 10% over list, depending on the number of offers. My last buyer of the year needed to pay almost 20% over list when competing against three other buyers, one of them all cash, and this in the $1M range. A client buying a foreclosure had to do the same, at a lower price point but competing against 16 other buyers.

So if we had to explain in one word why there is low inventory, I would use the word fear. Fear on the part of the sellers that their financial situations could change, fear that the buyers’ situations could be shaky and a sale might not go through, and fear that when it’s time for them to be a buyer, they’ll find it difficult to acquire the home they want. But at least in our area, if the sellers have the courage to bring their home on the market, and price and prepare it following the advice of their REALTOR, the odds are excellent that it will sell, and command a fine price.

I look forward to hearing about the experiences of other agents in different areas. Happy New Year!