Month: July 2009

Starting July 30, if the APR on an initial Good Faith Estimate is no longer accurate (within a 0.125 percent range) at close of escrow, a lender must generally provide a residential borrower with a new disclosure and a three-day right to rescind before consummating the loan. Because of this new three-day waiting period, a lender’s failure to timely provide corrected disclosures has the potential of delaying funding of the loan and close of escrow. This new requirement is part of the Mortgage Disclosure Improvement Act (MDIA) implementing new loan procedures to protect borrowers and foster greater transparency in mortgage lending.

The Equine Center is hosting its Annual Equine Expo on Wednesday, November 4th, 2009, from 6-9 p.m. at the Alex Madonna’s Expo Center in San Luis Obispo. The purpose of the Expo is to educate horse people with lectures regarding what is new in equine veterinary medicine, present them with cutting edge science and technology, and to offer them a varied selection of equestrian vendors in our trade show area. The event is open to public attendance, regardless of veterinary affiliation, and admission is free.

If you’re looking for a single story home on an acre+ lot, we’ve got a listing coming on later this week that will be a good choice. Located in a great neighborhood in Nipomo, this 2400-ish sq foot home is move-in ready! If you’ve looked at our other recent listings than you know what to expect in a Keith Byrd Team listing (good quality and value). Stay tuned for the details.

While the economic data released last week was somewhat mixed, the Dow rose over 500 points on improved outlook for future economic growth due to strong bank earnings reports and tame inflation data. Volatility is likely to continue as the markets try to sort our whether the economy is still failing or if the worst is behind us.

Retail Sales in June were much stronger than expected up 0.6%. Consumer Prices were up as expected primarily due to soaring gasoline prices, however, CPI is actually down 1.4% compared to one year ago, the biggest decline since 1950. The housing sector data released last week showed improvement. Housing Starts rose 3.6% in June to the highest level in seven months. Building Permits jumped 9%. The National Association of Home Builders sentiment index increased to the highest level since September 2008.

On the flip side, manfacturing data was less than amazing. Industrial Production was down 0.4% and Capacity Utilization fell to its lowest level since records began in 1967. The Fed released its minutes from the June 24th FOMC meeting, expressing reluctance to increase the MBS purchasing program and suggesting they will begin to discuss an exit strategy. The report also suggested the Unemployment Rate will exceed 10% this year and that the economy continues to be weak and vulnerable.

The economic calendar will be very light this week, although bank earnings news continues to come out. Today we have Leading Economic Indicators, Thursday we have Existing Home Sales and Jobless Claims, and Michigan’s Consumer Sentiment survey will come out on Friday. Finally, Thursday’s announcement on the size of upcoming Treasury auctions may have an impact on mortgage rates.

Currently the 30-Year Fixed sits at 4.875% (5.054% APR).

Tune in to “Mortgage Matters” every Saturday from 11AM to Noon on 920AM KVEC for more real estate and finance news and opinions.

Daniel Podesto
Central Coast Lending, Inc.
(805) 771-9870
dan@centralcoastlending.com

My wife and I decided to de-clutter our home a bit and had a garage sale today. We put a $20 ad in the Trib and a free post on Craigslist. We also put out directional signs on a couple street corners.

The response was tremendous. Had 97%+ of the items sold within 2 hours. In the informal survey I took, most everyone came because of the directional signs. I only found one person that came because of the Tribune ad (looking for something I listed in there) and no one I talked to had found about our sale from Craigslist.

This is similar to Open Houses. Most people that come to Open Houses are just driving around the area and see the signs.

Dan Podesto from Central Coast Lending will be posting a weekly Mortgage update starting next Monday. Dan and his partner Jason have a wealth of knowledge about mortgages and the mortgage industry. They are approved with over 40 banks which allows them to shop around for the best rate and programs for their clients.

Dan and Jason host a weekly mortgage show on KVEC 920 AM on Saturday’s from 11AM-Noon and take whatever question is thrown at them.

I’m excited to add Dan’s knowledge and insight to the Keith Byrd Blog!

Can you tell my dog likes the beach? This was at Avila Beach on Thursday evening.

I was quoted in an article in Friday’s Trib-
http://www.sanluisobispo.com/business/story/786106.html

The quote I gave over the phone sounds kinda weird which is why I do better at email!

If this is the first time you’ve read my blog you’ll find that I track many types of data for the Central Coast real estate market including inventory levels, Months of Inventory, sales volume, median home prices, and more. Some of it I post to this blog, other information is on my stats site – www.SloWatch.com, and I put additional stats in my monthly market newsletter. If the Buyer calls me (or the Trib calls me), I’ll give my interpretation of the most current months data. I provide the data via my websites/blog/newsletter so you can make your own conclusions. And when our local market shows evidence of bottoming out, I’ll be the first to point that out too!

I got my real estate license in 2002 and started creating my Internet site(s). From the beginning, my goal was to provide a real estate web site that I would want to have access to if I was Buying or Selling on the Central Coast. A real estate transaction is one of the largest personal financial transaction most of us will make in our lifetime and I would want to know as much as I could to help make a good financial decision. Unfortunately, there are agents out there that are first and foremost, a Sales Person. They will want to control the homes they send you to look at and tour the fewest number homes with you with the goal of getting you to buy something in the shortest amount of time. Fortunately, the days of the classic pushy real estate sales person are numbered because Buyers that use the Internet are much more knowledgeable and no longer rely solely on the info provided by a real estate agent. Actually, studies by the Realtor Associations show that Buyers that use the Internet to search for homes end up looking at fewer homes than “traditional buyers”.

The service I provide is online real estate information (Easy MLS searches, the blog, statistics, etc.) and when you’re ready for personal service I have a team of hand-picked Realtors to assit you that have knowledge and experience in the neighborhoods on the Central Coast you’re interested in.

Here are the number of homes sold (by city) for REOs and Short Sales

REOs

Arroyo Grande – 20
Atascadero – 55
Cambria – 4
Cayucos – 0
Cayuma – 4
Grover Beach – 9
Los Osos – 12
Morro Bay – 7
Nipomo – 50
Oceano – 9
Pismo Beach – 6
Paso Robles – 117
San Luis Obispo – 4
Santa Margarita -2
Templeton – 5

Short Sales

Arroyo Grande – 13
Atascadero – 13
Cambria – 2
Cayucos – 1
Cayuma – 0
Grover Beach – 2
Los Osos – 3
Morro Bay – 4
Nipomo – 6
Oceano – 2
Pismo Beach – 3
Paso Robles – 42
San Luis Obispo – 4
Santa Margarita -0
Templeton – 6

Foreclosureradar released their June 2009 foreclosure report for California. SLO County’s foreclosures increased just 2% from May while most other counties in California had double digit increases. SLO County is now ranked 44 out of 54 counties according to this report.

Download the report here