Clients contact me and want  to look for foreclosures http://www.claudinereal.com/Foreclosures.htm …and I really want to help but it seems that our area is “LOW” on foreclosures …I am of course of areas where “my clients” would like to buy …desirable areas that make sense down the road for resales (isn’t the main focus when buying foreclosures) .

What I am finding out is that looking at “regular” listings and reading in between the lines we can understand which are the ones we will be able to “get” for much less and at a comparable price that you would have on a short sale or foreclosure.

Most of the sales closed this summer were is this parameter.

Let me tell you more…don’t be shy and post your comment if you disagree.

I always spend my summer in town ; this is the down time I usually use to update my websites and take care of projects kind of put aside during season.

This is it is all different.

I have closed over 12 escrows….still a few deals not closed….and more coming …

And I am reading everywhere how bad things are!

Our local micro market is doing fine..(Well I would not say that we are selling at prices seen 2 years ago…but we are selling ..)

Deals are being made and mainly with foreigners (Canadians for the most part down here) and most of them cash deals.

What is the impact for us getting close to our season ? The inventory is coming down…not as much as we would like to see…but coming down.

See my real estate  news items : http://www.claudinereal.com/Real_Estate_News.htm

What are your concerns in buying real estate NOW in our area ?

Have you heard things different that what I am saying ?

Yes hot but hot hot in sales !  I am selling just as if we were in high season and I understand …understand the buyers brave enough to come and run around with me in 110 degrees heat to look for the deal! And yes deal are being made…and yes sellers are accepting low offers…and I am not shy of writing low offers.

This might be my best year yet in sales !! So by reading the news media …I feel I am living on another planet or continent because I AM BUSY!! and I AM SELLING!..

Take a look a the statistics page of the site http://www.claudinereal.com/Area_Sales_Statistics.htm 

First, the good news : Home sales have stabilized over the last seven months and are expected to increase measurably in the rest of 2008. And the subprime lending crisis is almost past; the balance of this year will be about cleaning up that mess. The bad news is that the current annualized sales pace of about 5 million existing homes is the lowest in 10 years. Luckly, the economy has over 10 milion more jobs than 10 yers ago, so sales should begin to grow later this years and continue into 2009, when sales should climb to 7.71 milllion units. HIgher conforming loan limits at Fannie Mae adn Freddie Mac also are helping. With high-cost limits now at $729,750, intrest rates on formerly jumb0-sized loans are easing. THere are other reasons for optimism, including the home buyer tax credit that’s passed both House and Senate. It would give buyers an incentive to get off the fence.So, eventhough we are not out of the woods yet, by many signs we’ve put the worst behind us.

 Yes between 110-115 degrees and I am showing properties and I am selling properties. Two more escrows in last week besides the 6 for the previous weeks.So DO NOT LISTEN TO THE MEDIA !As I said for over a year already, we are a micro market , so different from most of the country where yes the situation is catastrophic sometimes.We have to thank our Canadians neighbourghs for coming to our wonderful region and buying properties. Of course this is not out of their good hearts to “help us out” but just because it  makes all the sense in the world for them to buy NOW HERE :the currency gives them a 15% gain right away and of course our market.I am not shy of writing low offers…and I make the sellers understand and see the opportunity of an offer and a cash buyer at their door. So for the sellers who bought before 2004 it is not impossible to accept lower  offers.They are happy to move on and my buyers happy to have a SUPER DEAL!Yes I am not shy …try me!

This is the latest news and the importance of such a law now. This will impact a good number of our deals here in Palm Springs. 

On June 16, 2008, the State of California enacted a law thatallows same sex marriages throughout the state. In view of thisdecision, questions may arise about the requirements to insuretitle.Simply stated, upon acquisition of real property, spouses of asame sex marriage should be treated the same as spouses froman opposite sex marriage. No proof of marriage is required.Any underwriting requirements related to how title is to be heldor disposed should be the same as those currently applied totransactions involving married persons of the opposite sex.As a reminder, as an escrow holder, we are not authorized toprovide recommendations as to how anyone should hold title;however, the following variations are acceptable examples fortitle insurance purposes:John and James, who are married to each other, as tenants incommon. Susan, a married woman and Sarah, a marriedwoman, who are married to each other. Peter, a married manas his sole and separate property. Louise and Catherine, amarried couple, as joint tenants. Anthony and Douglas, spousesas community property. Barbara and Jane, a married couple ascommunity property, with right of survivorship.

Here is one more reason to really look close and take opportunity to buy now!

Rates are still low while prices are coming down..As we can read here under..a couple of months from now might make the difference in making the right move or missing the train.

I am here and available all summer (yes even with 100+ degrees of heat) 

The credit crisis is under control, but with inflation now the top concern, higher interest rates can be expected, said former Federal Reserve Chief Alan Greenspan last week.

Greenspan said he thought the credit crisis had peaked in March. “I think the worst is over (for the U.S. economy) if the financial crisis is over,” Greenspan said via video link to an event in Mexico.

But to keep inflation under control, Greenspan said the Fed will have to tighten monetary policy and that will drive up interest rates.

I know now that I am not “dreaming” and that it is true the market is turning and not only in Palm Springs area…This might be my best year ever is sales of real restate…

I must be doing something right or is that just luck ? Or I am not living on the same planet ? 

National Association of Realtors chief economist Dr. Lawrence Yun delivered a pep talk last week to agents in Miami, which he described as “one of the ground zeroes” for the downturn in the United States.
Dr. Lawrence Yun“The downturn is a short term phenomenon,” Yun told attendees at the Realtor Association of Greater Miami & the Beaches’ annual international congress, assuring the audience that key economic indicators remain strong. “The good news is that [the market] appears to have stabilized,” the NAR economist said. Valuations in mid-level cities like Miami, Las Vegas and Phoenix will grow 10 to 50 percent over the next five years, Yun predicted, a sharp contrast to the forecasts of continued declines offered by some economists. (Although the financial community might not be inspired by the possibility of a paltry 10 percent increase over five years.)

Yun warned of “pessimism in the marketplace,” suggesting that the media and the daily negative headlines are driving down the market. “Psychology” can turn into a “self-fulfilling prophecy,” he said. “You have to fight the self-fulfilling negative psychology in the marketplace.” Yun was a bit vague on data to support his optimism. He touted an un-sourced survey which suggested that “77 percent of homeowners” don’t believe prices will decline, which is akin to basing the weather report on news that 77 percent of the people don’t think it will rain. (And it also suggests that people are not all that pessimistic, despite that darn media.) Part of the reason for the stabilization in Florida, Yun noted, was an 80 percent drop in housing starts. That’s reduced the supply of shiny new Mediterranean villas, but it hardly represents a healthy industry. And he didn’t attempt to predict the fate of what he called “superstar cities,” including Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco, which he said “defy gravity.” But he did assure the audience that “99 percent of markets will have a higher value in five years.” 

Yeap this is the time of the month…Statistics!! see the page in the site :http://www.claudinereal.com/Area_Sales_Statistics.htm

Here is the update for the sales statistics for May 2008..approx. same number of sales, prices came down a little bit but still it is not STOPPED..I am giving you here the table of sales for May 2008 and May 2007 to compare :

• In Rancho Mirage prices came down 18% in one year
• In Palm Springs prices came down 20% in one year
• In Palm Desert prices came down not even 1%!!in one year
• In La Quinta prices came down close to 14% in one year
• In Indian Wells prices came down close to 15% in one year

So with all this noise and panic..done by the media …we are far from the 40% and more,  announced, we hardly reached the 20% and in average for the Valley 13.6%!!!

Love to hear your comments!! 

Hungry for a little good real estate news? Leon d’Ancona, president of IMS Inc., has something to cheer you up.

D’Ancona, who provides real estate information to the industry, has set up a Web site that lists 2,319 markets in the United States where homes are selling well.

For instance, Loganville, Ga., homes sold 38.5 percent faster in April than they did in March, and sales of homes in Avondale, Ariz., increased by 64 percent in April compared with March

“The problem with glass-is-half-empty stories is that they have an undue psychological impact on markets that is not borne out by all the facts,” says d’Ancona. “We know, because it’s our business to know, that there are hundreds of cities and thousands of neighborhoods in the United States right now where the market is very healthy, thank you.”