Blog Post

Corinne Raffanti
Intero Real Estate Services
Email: craffanti@interorealestate.com
CorinneSellsHomes.com
DRE: 00827405
P.S. My business is based on your referrals. If you know of anyone needing real estate assistance, please let me know and I will gladly follow up! Thank you!

Seeing Signs of Recovery?

One week it’s up, things are looking good and the next week? Down.  Who do you believe and why is it that none of the experts have really been able to put their finger on how fast or slow the recovery of the real estate market will be.

Some say we haven’t seen the worst of it yet (and we certainly hope that’s not the case!)  While others have a much brighter view saying that the turnaround has happened and we are on the way back!

It seems that being more prudent and taking things more cautiously is probably the best way to deal in this market.  Brace yourself for setbacks, but consider the great strides the real estate industry has made in the past year!  Obviously, the recovery of this sector isn’t going to be instantaneous, no matter how badly we’d like it to be.  The boom market by which we were spoiled lasted the better part of a decade and has left a great deal of wreckage in it’s path…….

Last week, Standard & Poor’s released it’s quarterly home price numbers, which were encouraging.  They do show that, while it’s gradual and slow, recovery is, most certainly taking place.  For the seventh consecutive month, there was an improvement in pricing.  Granted, this quarter’s increase was just three tenths of a percent, but it’s an increase all the same.   More locally, substantial gains were seen in San Francisco. San Deigo, Dallas Washington DC, Boston and Denver all showed gains.  Even the hardest hit cities like Las Vegas and Phoenix saw increases not seen in a very long time.

Even Warren Buffet, whom we all can agree knows a thing or two about money, seems to feel that we’ll have recovered from this slump by 2011.  He said recently that while prices will remain below “bubble” levels, a more normalized market will return by sometime next year.

We are by no means, over every hurdle.  We are not printing toward the finish line, but we are making progress.  Slow and steady to be sure, but progress nonetheless.

Contributed by Gino Blefari – The Intero Insider  March 2, 2010

Act fast! Homebuyer tax credit to end soon!

Passed earlier this year as a part of the economic stimulus package, the credit is good for up to $8,000 or 10% of the purchase price and applies to people who have not owned a home in the previous three years.  (There are some income restrictions)  The best part:  Unlike a similar program from 2008, the credit does not have to be repaid!  The BAD part:  It ends on December 1!  Because it can, in some in cases take up to 90 days or more to close on ahouse after a contract is sigbned, buyers have very little time left to act.  It still remains to be seen as to whether or not this tax credit will be extended at all for next 2010.

Silicon Valley home sales at 3 year high!

Home sales are at a 3 year high!  June 2009 show that sales are up by 31% over a year ago!   Bargain properties and the loosening of the mortgage market seem to be the primary cause.  At the same time, we are also seeing a revival of the more costly housing market and the drop in foreclosure sales has helped boost the median price of  single-family homes by 2 percent!  We are seeing more higher-priced deals flowing into our statistics every month and that could be a sign that bigger loans, from $417,000 to $729,750 are becoming easier to obtain.

What are “Short Sales,” really?

Almost everyone by now has heard or read about “short sales?”  Some people may wonder, are they real estate sales that take a short amount

of time?  Those who have been involved with short sales would laugh at that and comment: just the opposite!   Many people may realize that they

are “upside-down” in today’s real estate market.  Their mortgage and/or other loans secured against their homes total an amount more than the

current market value of their property.   When hardships are involved due to loss of job, income, divorce, etc., and a sale of the property is

necessary to “get out from underneath the debt” or prevent a future foreclosure most lenders are approving short sales.  A house is listed on the

market for a competitive priced based upon current sales in the area.  When offers come in on the property, the bank (not the homeowner) can

agree to approve an offer in some cases well below the amount that is owed them.  This is usually a much better alternative for a homeowner/

seller than just no longer making payments and await the foreclosure process to take place.  This is particularly important when the preservation

of a homeowner’s credit is at stake.

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