New Listing Above the College

This Ventura home for sale is located in sought after neighborhoodand and made for entertaining with open floor plan and lots of light. Remodeled full baths and new cabinets in kitchen. Formal dining room and a cozy breakfast area to sip your morning coffee. Spacious master has a balcony with ocean and island views. For more pictures and info on this and other Ventura homes for sale, visit my web site at http://www.LynnKenton.com or http://idx123.realtytech.com/lkenton/Vanderbilt.aspx
Lic. #01061434

Short Sale Update: A Win for Short Sale Sellers

This month, Gov. Jerry Brown signed SB 458 (Corbett) into law. SB 458 extends the protections of SB 931 (2010), to guarantee that any lender agreeing to a short sale is required to accept the approved short sale payment as payment in full of the outstanding balance of all loans.

Under previous law (SB 931 of 2010), a first mortgage holder could accept the agreed-upon short sale payment as full payment for the outstanding balance of the loan, but that rule didn’t apply to junior lien holders (second trust deeds). SB 458 extends the protections of SB 931 to junior liens. SB 458 contains an urgency clause making it effective upon signing. This should make sellers’ lives a little less stressful after undergoing the hardships that necessitated the short sale.

If you know of someone considering a short sale, give me a call- we’ve assembled a great team of short sale negotiating experts and can equip you with information to make the right decision for you.

Real Estate Update

The National Association of Realtors® has reported that pending home sales increased in six of the last nine months. The Pending Home Sale Index is an indicator derived from signed contracts and showed a rise of 5.1% in March from February. The index also showed that it was 11.4% lower than March of 2010. This was caused by the high number of contract signings by people wanting to cash in on the home buyer tax credit.

NAR’s chief economist, Lawrence Yun feels that market activity has shown an irregular but palpable improvement. “Since reaching a cyclical bottom last June, pending home sales have posted an overall gain of 24 percent and demonstrate the market is recovering on its own,” he stated. “The index means modest near-term gains in existing-home sales are likely, which would be even stronger if tight mortgage lending criteria returned to normal, safe standards.”

“Based on the current uptrend with very favorable affordability conditions, rising apartment rents and ongoing job creation, existing-home sales should rise around 5 to 10 percent this year with sales growth of lower priced homes likely to outperform high-end homes. That means the price trend will reflect more homes sold in the lower price ranges,” he said.

Yun also added, “The good news is that recent home buyers are staying well within budget, leading to exceptionally low loan default rates among home buyers over the past two years.”

What’s Really Happening in the Housing Market?

During the Great Depression the primary means of reporting news was simply printed news and radio. Now we’re bombarded non stop (if we allow it) with a stream of news and communication from the time we wake to the time we hit the pillow.

TV, radio, laptops, Ipads, Blackberries, Facebook, Twitter and on and on. Instant and constant input is de rigueur. Times were pretty rugged back then. One has to ponder if communications were then what they are now if the entirety of our nation would have vaporized under the pressure.

Let’s face it, bad news sells. Times are tough and “they” love to talk about it. But you can look at the glass half empty or half full. We anticipated some consequences when the tax credit expired.

Realtors’ association economist Lawrence Yun has spoken of the current downturn, but presents another viewpoint as well. “Since May, after the April 30th deadline, contract signings have been notably lower,” he said, “and a pause period for home sales is likely to last through September.”

Still, Yun said, it’s anticipated that annual sales will approach five million in 2010 due to robust sales in the first part of the year. “To place that in perspective, annual sales averaged 4.9 million in the past 20 years, and 4.4 million over the past 30 years.”

As a result of the tax credit, there has been stabilization in home values for 18 months, Yun said.

Additionally, recently released data from the S & P/ Case-Shiller Home Price Index showed a 3.6% increase in national home prices in the last year.
"While the numbers are upbeat, other more recent data on home sales and mortgages point to fewer gains ahead," states David M. Blitzer, chairman of the Index Committee at Standard & Poor's. "Even with concerns about near term developments, we recognize that the housing market is in better shape than this time last year."

Locally, in Ventura County, we’ve experienced some slowing since the end of the tax credit. However, there was actually an increase in closed sales sales with 4871 in the last six months over 4548 in the previous six months.

Historically low interest rates and stabilized home values make a compelling case for purchasing property at this time. The window of opportunity is there. Let me know if I can help open it!