Finished

The Treasury Department’s move to takeover Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae over the weekend surprised me.  But then again, when you give someone an open line of credit, maybe you want greater accountability and say in the overall management.  Well that is exactly what happened and it appears to be a very good, if only for the short term, for the housing market.  Read more about the takeover and what benefits we could see in my weekly column, “Takeover of Freddie, Fannie is Good for Short Term,” over at Rocklin & Roseville Today.

Other News:  No surprise, should have expected it, September is busy.  Not only has the local Sacramento and Roseville real estate markets remained active but getting back into the school and soccer routine has caused us a fair amount of angst this past week and there doesn’t seem to be much relief in sight.  Always good to be busy!

Prospective homeowners have until October 1, 2008, to use down payment assistance from a seller to purchase if they intend to finance the house with FHA backed mortgage.

The Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 signed into law in July bars such seller-funded aid on Federal Housing Administration-backed mortgages. Lawmakers added the provision to the housing relief package because about 40 percent of FHA borrowers who went into foreclosure in the past year received down payment assistance from a seller.

The loss of programs such as Nehemiah and Hart which have been helping buyers use seller assistance with their down payment has the potential to keep some buyers out of the market at a time when sellers still outnumber buyers and how it impacts the Sacramento real estate market is yet to be seen.

Growing up in Alaska makes you an Alaskan wherever you live and this morning I was, along with many others, surprised to hear that John McCain had selected Alaskan Governor, Sarah Palin, as his running mate.  As much as I tried to write my Rocklin & Roseville Today column about real estate, I just had to say something about presidential politics, “Congratulations John McCain.”

Notes:  The past two weeks have been very busy for us, hiring a new assistant, bringing on a new agent, two new listings, working with several buyers and getting back in the school routine with Mikie and our work at his school.  The Labor Day weekend is looking so very good to me and I am sure to many others.  The heat of the past few days is supposed to break tomorrow, we have three days to catch up and maybe even relax.  Enjoy your weekend and be safe.

The Housing Recovery Act of 2008 contains a tax credit for first time home buyers which will be beneficial here in the Sacramento real estate market.  Although it is actually a loan, repayment is stretched out over 15 years and is interest free.  The maximum benefit is $7,500 but is conditioned on purchase price, adjusted income and tax filing status. 

Sound complicated?  It really isn’t, check out the easy to understand details in my weekly column, First Time Home Buyers, over at Rocklin & Roseville Today and/or Sacramento Today.

Guest Author – Louise Buford

Here we are in August!  It was three years ago this month when the super hot Sacramento real estate market hit the wall.  Since then it has been pretty much down-hill since then with prices declines ranging from 28.5 percent in El Dorado to 43.2 percent in Sacramento.

Finally, earlier this week the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 was signed into law.  It is a fairly complex piece of legislation and since much of it deals with mortgage industry I wanted to have an experienced lender write about how it may impact us.  I couldn’t be happier that my first choice, Louise Buford with Partners Mortgage accepted this challenge and even promised to write a second article later in the month that will cover some of the other aspects of the bill including FHA loans.

Louise’s article, “How the housing bill can help you” is posted on my Real Estate News page at Jalone.com and provides a quick overview of some of the acts most important elements and even if you are not an industry professional I recommend reading it.

If you read the headline in the Sacramento Bee this morning, “Home Sales up for 2^nd month” it might give you a feeling that our real estate market is doing pretty well after almost three years of slumping.  Don’t get me wrong, I am feeling optimistic about eventually getting back to a balanced real estate market but when you get behind some of the numbers it is pretty clear we have a ways to go.

Compared to a year ago, there were over 47 percent more sales of existing homes in Sacramento County during May than a year ago and up 154 sales from April to 1,827 closed escrows.  This is a significant increase but for Placer County the news was not as positive.  Sales or existing homes in Placer was down 24 percent from last May to 473 sales and this number was down 6.5 percent in the past month.  Nevada County sales were also down while Amador, El Dorado, Sutter, Yolo and Yuba counties all experienced increase.

Prices of existing residences in all eight counties were down year over year.  Not surprisingly, Sacramento had the largest decline at almost 36 percent.  Placer was down 24.6 percent and Amador experienced the smallest decline, 18 percent.    Only Yolo and Yuba counties had a price increase from the previous month.

Total sales for May in the eight county region totaled 3,420 which is up 204 from April but this number does not compare well to May 2004 when over 6,700 homes were sold. 

The pressure on price will continue as long as we have excess inventory available.  The good news is that even with the continued increase in foreclosures inventory has actually been declining over the past few months during a time when you would expect to have more houses coming on the market than

Check back tomorrow, I want to give my thoughts on the declining prices we are still seeing.

Approximately 183,000 at-risk homeowners were provided loan workouts in April, 23,000 more than in March, according to a new report from HOPE NOW, a private sector alliance of mortgage servicers, counselors, and investors working to prevent home foreclosures across the country. The April numbers represent the highest number of workouts provided through HOPE NOW since the program was launched in July 2007, according to the alliance.

"These numbers clearly demonstrate that we are succeeding at helping homeowners avoid foreclosure and stay in their homes," said HOPE NOW Executive Director Faith Schwartz. "Foreclosure benefits no one: the borrower, community, lender, and investor all lose. HOPE NOW has every incentive to help troubled homeowners hold on to their homes, and the alliance will continue to do everything possible to reach and help as many as possible."

From California Association of Realtors Newsline

I have been writing about using short sales to avoid foreclosures here in the Sacramento area but if you or someone you know is having difficulty paying their mortgage and wants to stay in their home, HOPE NOW is a great resource to help dealing with your lender.  As you can imagine banks and other mortgage lenders have been swamped by what is happening so like I recommended for considering a short sale, find someone with experience and knowledge to help you.  For more information about HOPE NOW, visit their website.

The number of vacant homes for sale in the United States set a new record in the first quarter of 2008, the U.S. Census Bureau reported Monday.

The Census Bureau reported that 2.9 percent of U.S. homes or 2.28 million properties, not including rentals, were vacant and for sale. It was the highest quarterly number as far back to 1956 when records of such vacancies were first kept.

The West had the biggest gain in vacancy rates among home owners, rising to 3.2 percent in the January-March period from 2.6 percent in the same quarter a year earlier. Vacancy rates inched up in the Northeast and remained steady in the Midwest and South.

From my recent house hunting trips with clients I know there are a good deal of vacant homes, many of them short sale or bank owned properties in the Sacramento area.  Of MagnumOne Realty’s current active and pending listings only 40 percent are occupied..

We are starting to hear about squatters moving in but have not had any direct experience with this issue.

Visit my website at www.jalone.com.

Get this, now is the time when inventory of homes on the market traditionally increases and should continue to so as we move into summer but inventory is remarkably stable right now.  Even with the large numbers of foreclosures in the Sacramento area during the first quarter we are seeing inventory staying right around 15,000 and even edged down last week.  We still have more “For Sale”  homes than wanted to achieve a balanced market but the fact that it is not increasing rapidly as it has in the past two years is very good news.  For sellers the icing on this cake is, believe it or not, according to our friends at HousingTracker the median asking price has actually increased in the past week.  For the week ending yesterday, the median asking price was $307,000 up $2,000 from the previous week.