Pleasanton Real estate

New Downtown Pleasanton Rental…

Pleasanton Real estate

Median sales prices Pleasanton

Pleasanton Real estate

Fannie Mae Limits Increased.

Soon to be signed by President Bush, a Bill that would increase the limits on Federally insured mortgages from $417,000 to $625,000 in most areas.

Affordability index increases!

What this means is that for local buyers here in Pleasanton and Livermore where despite a fall in value housing prices remain relatively high, more buyers will be able to fall within what is known as the “conforming limit” of a loan amount $625,000 or less. Bottom line this means a lower interest rate with lower costs associated and makes homes more affordable. Potentially this could help the market recover although signs are that the five year housing price correction is over.

Pleasanton Real estate

Thinking of Selling? You must watch this!

Common sense on NBC, what sellers must do to sell today…

Pleasanton Real estate

NBC Today show and Redfin

In case you missed it, Redfin an online real estate service company was featured on the Today show this morning by NBC. A Redfin spokesman was interviewed by Meridith Vierra.

The teaser lines which caught my attention were “everything you are being told by your Realtor may be wrong”, as well as words to the effect that you will be given information in the segment which will help sell your house and in the process turn what you know about real estate on its head.

Exciting stuff I must say and after much anticipation what was the advice given? What was the inside info from which we (myself included as I sell houses for a living) were to be able to use, what was the Holy Grail, the inside info, the scoop of all scoops? Are you ready? Sitting down?

This is what Redfin had to say;

1/ Don’t overprice your home.

2/ Place your property on Craigs list.

Thats it. Revolutionary? Not really! Since every Realtor I know already avoids overpricing when possible and a places an ad on Craigslist as standard procedure!

“Don’t overprice ?”, asked Merideth Vierra, “I have been trying to sell my house for 2 years, it still hasn’t sold!”, “I thought you should ask a much higher price so you can come down when negotiating!”. Poor Meredith, she will not have to come down on her asking price, because she will have no offer with which to negotiate with.

Really NBC should stick with stories about Brittany Spears dog, they seem far more informed about that kind of news!

Just a suggestion NBC, next time you have someone on the show to talk about selling real estate,  could you have someone that actually sells real estate!

Now there is a revolutionary idea!

Pleasanton Real estate

It doesn’t matter!

The number one issue I come across today is an objection provided by a potential home seller, and it goes something like this;

“We would like to sell, but since we can only sell for less than what the peak of the market was a couple of years ago, we will just wait and see what happens”.

Well, Mr and Mrs seller, you are absolutely correct, you can only sell for what the property is worth today, not what it was worth in the past, but, and here is my point, it does not matter!

Why, well most sellers also buy, perhaps a larger home, or smaller or perhaps they move to a different part of the country. No matter where you buy in the USA today, there is a very good chance that your destination market is also down in price.

I recently sold a home in Livermore, the sellers were reluctant to price at the market since they were holding to the belief that they were ‘losing money’ and ‘did not want to give the house away’. We sat down together on the computer and logged on to Livermore Real Estate

and we investigated my sellers destination market and to my clients pleasant surprise we found that the Colorado Springs housing market had fallen at about twice the rate of Livermore CA! In fact a home that they had identified on a recent visit to Colorado had dropped in price by $50,000!

This allowed the seller to adjust their price to market and we sold the house a couple of days later to a buyer who had already seen the home but was reluctant to make an offer. As far as the seller was concerned there was no financial hit. They merely transferred their equity from one property to another. The destination property was now more affordable!

So my challenge to sellers is this, can you see what I am trying to say? Will you write the numbers down and look at the big picture logically? If you do, you will see that the price you sell your house for today does not matter!

Pleasanton Real estate

What to expect in 2011

I keep getting asked when will house prices start rising, will it be next month, the spring perhaps well to answer that one we need to look at some cold hard facts.

Currently in Livermore CA we have well over 300 homes for sale, with an average sell rate of @ 40 -50 per month. In Pleasanton CA the picture is a little more balanced with @ 200-250 available homes for sale and the same sell rate. What this means is that we still have an oversupply of both new and resale properties for sale in and around the Tri-Valley area.

Historically slowdowns affect the Real Estate market in this area every 7 – 8 years and this one is long overdue. However since the Fed has relaxed rates I sense that we should see a flatter market developing next year with a turnaround and price appreciation starting in spring of 2012 – 2013.

Click here for homes for sale in Livermore CA and Pleasanton

Pleasanton Real estate

Fed Lowers Rate

Pretty soon we will see the effect of lower interest rates on the Realty market. Just like Aug 2006 this has been a quiet month, but by all predictions sales should pick up from October onward.
Specifically it is expected that several new families will be transferred in to the town who will work at Lawrence Livermore Lab. It is hoped that those transferees will want to own a home near their work, and with prices having fallen those folks will have lots to choose from.

39 sales in Livermore August to date.

Pleasanton Real estate

Inventory Creeps higher

At the moment there are 535 properties for sale in the town of Livermore, this is close to an all time record high and so with 60 or so sales a month we have several months of inventory to get through before the market gets into balance.
You can search all listings available at www.thescotsman.com, scroll down to the map, pick a town and click.

Mortgage lenders have overeacted to the lending crisis by, in some cases eliminating certain loans completely, and tightening standards for buyers and raising interest rates. This has directly affected move up buyers negatively. However August is usually the slowest month of the year and I would expect sales to pick up soon.

Want to know what your house is worth? visit www.livermorehomeprices.com.

Pleasanton Real estate

Have we hit bottom?

Buyers continue to be cautious, understandable, but have we hit bottom as far as prices are concerned? I am not sure of that yet, but I will say that gradually finally after several months, buyers are beginning to come back to the market. More showings and more offers on properties in the valley are being written, albeit at lower prices that sellers hoped for. CNN reports that there are still 7.5 Million sub-prime loans whuich are set to adjust over the next 2 years so it will be a while yet till the market stabalizes.
I am told that in 2008, 9 out of every 10 sales will be a short sale ie; a property on which the loan amounts are higher than the value of the home. To this end it may be a good idea to begin now to negotiate with your lender if you know you will be in this position. Your lender will already have a dept and specialists installed to negotiate with you. You can always contact your Realtor and have them do this on your behalf.

Check homes for sale at www.thescotsman.com

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