New Mortgage Calculators!
I purchased a set of mortgage calculators that I really like and have put them on the website. Not only do they do the calculations but present reports as well.
Check them out!!
Month: February 2008
I saw this posted on another site and thought it was an interesting way to present the subprime mess. Warning…it does have the f-word in it so if that offends you, please don’t click on the link.
The Subprime Primer – http://tinyurl.com/2kvosz
Here’s a chart from the California Association of Realtors with median home price and sales volume comparsions between 2006 and 2007.
| Median 2007 | Median 2006 | Price change | # Sales Change | |
| Region | ||||
| Central Valley | $330,500 | $362,910 | -8.90% | -30.60% |
| High Desert | $296,380 | $330,380 | -10.30% | -49.40% |
| Los Angeles | $589,150 | $584,820 | 0.70% | -22.60% |
| Monterey | $731,190 | $713,900 | 2.40% | -28.10% |
| Nor. Calif. | $381,850 | $409,460 | -6.70% | -10.50% |
| Nor. Wine Country | $589,050 | $620,040 | -5.00% | -23.10% |
| Orange County | $699,590 | $709,000 | -1.30% | -22.70% |
| Palm Springs/Lower Desert | $371,840 | $369,700 | 0.60% | -27.30% |
| Riverside/S.B. | $381,390 | $400,660 | -4.80% | -41.60% |
| Sacramento | $342,730 | $374,530 | -8.50% | -25.90% |
| San Diego | $588,700 | $601,760 | -2.20% | -20.70% |
| San Francisco Bay | $805,400 | $752,820 | 7.00% | -23.40% |
| San Luis Obispo | $570,770 | $580,800 | -1.70% | -14.50% |
| Santa Barbara County | $801,360 | $752,260 | 6.50% | -16.80% |
| Santa Clara | $836,775 | $775,000 | 8.00% | -22.70% |
| Ventura | $673,940 | $685,960 | -1.80% | -28.80% |
There’s a Walt Disney outlet store opening in a few weeks in Pismo Beach. It’s in the Pismo Outlet center where Mikasa used to be. They are test marketing in the area and will only be open from March 14 – May 11 and then will determine if they’ll open a permanent location on the Central Coast.
You can get Disney stuff for up to 80% off. This is a great deal, especially if you’ve got kids and are traveling to Disneyland. You can buy some stuff here, take it with you, and then give it to your kids when at Disneyland. They’ll be happy and you’ll save $$$ from not buying it at Disneyland.
Looks like Michael Jackson’s Neverland in Los Olivos will be auctioned on March 19th in Santa Barbara. This should be interesting…
Here’s a good article on how your credit score impacts your ability to get a loan. In it, there’s a link to a site where you can get free credit reports once a year from 3 credit reporting companies. If you want your FICO credit score, it will cost you $5.95 from one and $7.95 from the others.
I got a report from all 3 and my FICO score from the $5.95 one so it does deliver what it says it will.
About 10 days ago I reported that market activity appeared to be picking up. Well, we have 2 more days to go and we will need a bunch of Pending Sales to break 400. We’re sitting at 357 for the month thus far.
I have a really good Spam email blocker that I’ve been using for years which catches over 99.9% of unwanted emails but a few do get through once in awhile. One that got to my inbox today started with
“The California foreclosure explosion provides a great opportunity for CA real estate agents to help families and generate healthy commissions”.
It went on to supply a link to a marketing program to make boatloads of dollars by sitting on the beach doing Short Sales. I’m including the site here as I think it’s a HOOT to see what people will do to try to make a buck – http://www.myshortsaleclub.com/
If you read it you’ll learn such marketing practices as placing “bandit signs” everywhere and take the fines from the local city sign ordinance since you’ll be earning thousands on every short sale transaction anyways!
The reality is that I haven’t talked to a single REALTOR yet that hasn’t had a heck of a tough time dealing with a Short Sale and most want to AVOID them.
I calculated the monthly average Days On Market (DOM) for single family homes since January 2005 for SLO County and have included the graph on the http://www.slowatch.com/ home page. I also updated the Sold graphs towards the bottom of the SloWatch home page.
The Lindsay Lohan film which included scenes filmed in San Luis Obispo won a record 8 Razzie awards this morning. I Know Who Killed Me awards included worst film of the year, worst director, worst screenplay, and worst actress.
Showgirls and Battlestar Earth previous held the record of 7 Razzies.
Maybe Lohan’s film will become a cult favorite and people will be coming to SLO to stay in the room Lohan ruined by her chain smoking at the Apple Farm Inn (which has since been remodeled).