No sign of life yet for new home sales
May reading shows ongoing slump at start of key selling season; prices fall; April sales revised lower.
Last night, I checked how the Central Coast market was doing with Pending Sales. We hadn’t even broken 400 Pendings yet. The recent raise in mortgage rates I’m sure isn’t helping either.
Homeowners looking to sell need to take a reality check. I spent this last weekend showing homes in SLO and Los Osos. I’d put the homes in two categories; 1) the ones that have been on the market since last year that are still one or two steps behind the pricing curve, and 2) homes that have been listed within the last month or so that are priced where the market currently is.
One mistake I see homeowners making is that they look at what they put their home on the market for last year and say “I’ve already dropped the home 20%, I’m not going any lower”. While I know taking a price drop already is painful, a Buyer isn’t going to care what how much you’ve dropped your price, especially when your current price is still 10-15% above what the current market value really is.
If you’ve been on the market for awhile, you need to take a fresh look at the market and the comparables for this year. I wouldn’t count on the market rebounding and coming back up to your price either. With the way June is shaping up, the inventory levels we’re already at, and mortgage rates rising, we haven’t seen the bottom yet..IMO.
With the 4th of July not to far away, I thought I’d share how I view the fireworks at Pismo….
I used to stay far away from Pismo on the 4th, but for the past few years I’ve been watching the fireworks right at the pier. There is nothing like being right there. So what I do is go down to the Pismo Outlet Center about 8:15-8:30. There is never a problem finding a place to park. From there I follow everyone else as we walk over to downtown Pismo.
I usually then find a spot to stand on the boardwalk between the Pier and the SandCastle Inn. This also allows me to watch the crazies letting off fireworks on the beach before the big show starts. When the show starts, it really doesn’t matter where you’re at as you’ll see them from anywhere by just looking UP! The show starts around 9 pm.
At the end of the fireworks, I again follow the stream of people walking away from downtown. There are plenty of people walking back to the Outlets with you. I’d recommend bringing a small flashlight if you wish to light up the path in front of your feet, just to make sure you don’t trip on something. Once back, you can get back in your car and not worry about traffic.
If you go yourself, look for me on the boardwalk. I’ll be the one wearing fireworks glasses (which makes a prism effect when they go off). Pretty cool!!
I was surfing the news sites earlier on Friday and saw an article about spoofing Caller ID numbers so the person you’re calling doesn’t see your number. I thought, yeah right, you can’t do this legally. So I Googled “spoof caller id” and visited a site called http://www.spoofcard.com/.
The site said you could spoof a caller id number and choose whatever number you wanted to show up. It also could disguise your voice. AND it said it would record the call and allow you to play it back on the web. Scratching my head on how they were able to do this, I decided to fork out $10 for a calling card for 60 minutes of calls.
Well, I’m here to tell you that it was all true. I made calls to my friends with Caller ID numbers I chose myself when making the call. You have 2 choices to disguise your voice, either as male or female. The female choice made me sound like an elderly lady. The male voice deepened my voice to sound a bit like Barry White.
I must say I was having some fun today doing this. I called one of my teenage daughter’s phones and put in the Caller ID of one of her friends so she would recognize it. I then (with the lady voice) told her that I had found the phone and wanted to know how much her friend would give me to get it back. She believed it…then we all had a good laugh.
Aside from the funny prank stuff, my confidence in the Caller ID has been shattered. I tried to look up my Verizon bill to see if the statement had the fake Caller ID listed on it but I have to wait until my next statement to find out. I for one, trusted the Caller ID and being a Judge Judy viewer, know that it’s used in court (at least TV court) as evidence.
I know now that I can no longer trust the Caller ID.
As for recording a phone conversation, I thought this was illegal too….
As of today, the New Listing / Pending Sale ratio has climbed to 1.85 (from 1.76 a few days ago). So far this month, we’ve had 625 new listings and only 338 Pending Sales. Unless we get a lot of escrows in the last week of the month, we probably won’t break 500 Pending Sales (last month we had 548 Pendings, June 2006 – 527, June 2005 -725).
Also, there has been 899 price changes so far this month.
Looks like there still won’t be any drive-through restaurants in San Luis Obispo. The city council decided to keep the ban on them that was introduced in the 70′s during the gas shortage. The reason back then was that it wasted gas if you sat in a drive-through line.
A local restaurant owner brought in a study that proved that today, it takes more gas to turn off your car and then restart it 5-6 minutes later than sitting in a drive-through line but the City Council decided to keep the ban. They think that forcing people out of their cars will make people enjoy the city more.
BUILDER CONFIDENCE FALLS TO LOWEST LEVEL IN 16 YEARS
Concerns about rising interest rates, increased sales cancellations, and sizable inventory levels continue to negatively impact builder confidence, which declined for the fourth consecutive month in June, according to the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB). The Association’s Housing Market Index (HMI), which gauges builders’ perceptions of current and future home sales, now stands at 28, down two points from May and down 14 points from a year ago. The HMI has not fallen below 30 since February 1991. An HMI below 50 indicates more builders view sales conditions as poor versus good.
Ryan’s Mortgage Blog:
Rates have continued to rise because of the looming threat of inflation. They have slowed down a bit the last couple days but may keep slowly rising in the future. Adjustable rates have not taken as bad of a beating as fixed rates have. Keep in mind we are spoiled by great rates not too long ago, but rates are still historically low. I know a lot of people are scared with the talk of foreclosures, the slumping housing market, and higher interest rates but it is not that bad! Many of the same products are still available…100% financing, sub-prime, hard money, adjustable mortgage, etc… Instead of sitting there wondering what you should do, all it takes is a call to your local mortgage company (me) to find out your options are. I am honest with my clients because I want them to be a customer for life, not just one deal. I know it sounds like a sales pitch but I really want you to know I am here to help you.
I also think now isn’t such a bad time to buy if the situation is right. I had a client recently buy a 2 bedroom home in SLO and they couldn’t be happier with their new home and they got it for a price they would have never gotten it for a couple years ago all because the seller was afraid of the current market conditions.
I always say, “why rent and pay someone else’s mortgage if you can afford to buy your own home?” It is understandable if you do not have the money…but if you have good credit, enough $ for a small down payment and can afford the monthly payments…what are you waiting for? I know, I know, there are other factors but this is all fresh in my head because I have been trying to talk my friend into buying a home…and I hope he reads this! I am just tired of seeing him pay so much for rent when he can buy a decent home that he can fix up on his free time by putting a little “sweat equity” into it.
Even though I don’t like to answer the question, “what is the rate today” because it isn’t that simple to shoot out a number because ever scenario is different…I will still post this list of estimated rates from my company for those of you who want to see a figure:
15 Year ARM – 6.375%
30 Year Fixed – 6.75%
3 Year ARM -6.5%
5 Year ARM -6.625%
7 Year ARM -6.75%
I will be heading back to the Bay Area for the weekend, so wish me luck on a better trip this time. You can reach me at 805-540-0866 or RBaker@PeregrineLending.com with any mortgage related questions, or any questions related to the San Luis Obispo area for that matter.
According to a legal study by the National Association of Realtors, the top 3 source of lawsuits for the real estate industry are commission disputes, property-condition disclosure and agency issues
You can avoid commission disputes by choosing one Realtor to assist you. It gets sticky if you view a home with one Realtor and then end up buying it using another Realtor to represent you. The industry has what is called “procuring cause” which says if a Realtor is first to show a home, they may be entitled to the commission regardless if another Realtor handles the transaction.
It gets stickier with Open Houses. Most Open Houses are not hosted by Listing Agents. They are usually hosted by agents in the office that use Open Houses as a way to find Buyer leads.
Here’s an article about procuring cause
When you go to an Open House and asked if you are represented by an agent, just tell them you are represented by Keith Byrd. By saying my name doesn’t mean that I’m entitled to anything. It just will get them from trying to get you to commit to using them to Buy a home and allow you to see the Open House without feeling like you’ve been labeled a “sales lead”.
