Sitting on top of the world or San Francisco’s tallest residential building just a a little bit cheaper.
The announcement on the website proclaims, “Millennium Tower announces a limited time price adjustment.”
The good news for those who bought, you’re also getting money back...
From the website
“There is no better time or opportunity to buy at Millennium Tower, a unique property that builds on Millennium Partners' legacy of creating premiere luxury living residences throughout the country. Many people have seen the earliest promise of Millennium Tower. To them, we say thank you. And to those who wish to join us, we welcome you with this exclusive limited-time opportunity, free of stressful negotiation.
To protect the investment of our owners and adjust to current market conditions, Millennium Partners has determined that we will provide a 15% price adjustment to our current buyers, and for a limited time, to our future buyers.”
The one line that struck me as strange was you could now buy, “free of stressful negotiation” Why was it stressful in the first place? Are you mean to your potential buyers? Maybe that’s why you can’t sell out....
The building’s management told Bloomberg news, “We believe it’s the right thing to do,” Richard Baumert, managing director of New York-based developer Millennium Partners LLC, said in an interview. “It’s the price we ask in the marketplace today.”
Bloomberg reports the buildings owners will refund 15 percent of the $22.5 million in deposits, and the buyer of the building’s penthouse is due a $1.65 million refund...
Enticed by tumbling housing prices, more Americans signed contracts to buy homes in December despite widespread concerns about the economy, an industry group reported on Tuesday.
The National Association of Realtors said that pending home sales rose 6.3 percent in December from a month earlier, with strong gains in the South and Midwest. The number of pending home sales — those in which a buyer has signed a contract but not closed — were up 2.1 percent from December 2007.
“We’ve got some up-turns that are encouraging to us,” said Jed Smith, director for quantitative research of the Realtors’ group. “It’s the direction we like to see.”
But economists cautioned that December could prove to be nothing more than a bump in real-estate’s long slide.
“They rebounded from an all-time low, so the level is still low,” said Patrick Newport, United States economist at IHS Global Insight. “Sales are going to continue sliding because the recession is intensifying. Banks have tightened credit since last year, and they’re not easing up.”
The number of pending sales for 2008 was down 9.5 percent from 2007 — a sign of the toll that the tight credit markets had inflicted on the flagging housing market. The Commerce Department reported that new-home sales in December fell to an annual rate of 331,000, their lowest point on record.
click here for the complete NY Times story...
I got an email this morning for a deeded parking space in the City... Haven't seen a whole lot of folks selling those of late... I figure it's probably a great option if you lose the house... A lifetime of parking for a mere $65,000...
My favorite part of the email is that it's a FULL size space... Not one of those crummy compact spaces people are always selling at a discount...
88 Townsend St #P138, San Francisco, CA
Deeded parking space for 1 car/truck. Secure controlled access to enter and exit. Perfect addition for those parking challenged buildings in San Francisco. This is a one car parking space located in a new residential/commercial building just one block from the AT&T Ballpark and in the heart of South Beach.
Contact McGuire Real Estate for more information...
If you’re in the business of selling homes to tech savvy buyers, chances are when they hear about a new listing one of the first places they go is Google Maps... Why you ask?
Google now offers for a good part of the Bay Area a service they call Street View... It allows you to enter an address into Google Maps and check out the neighborhood from the street level... You can walk up and down the street checking out the neighbors as well as local businesses... Problem is Google probably isn’t going to be updating the view all that often... Meaning if they caught you listing on a bad day, you loose...
I found this photo of a new listing in Mill Valley on Google Street View this morning....
After nearly three months I finally got approved for my refi... The list of questions of was endless, the bank's concerns made little to no sense and their excuses for the delays were never explained... One mortgage person told me the problem was there were so few folks working in mortgage departments anymore, that when a rush of refi applications do come in, there's no one there to handle it... If anyone knows the truth, I'd love to hear it...
The Chronicle today talks about the other big mortgage issue besides the length of the approval process, jumbos vs conforming...
Larger mortgages still carry higher rates
Carolyn Said, Chronicle Staff Writer
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Are jumbo conforming mortgages still second-class citizens?
That's a big question in the Bay Area, where real estate prices remain high relative to the rest of the country.
"If you have a mortgage between $417,000 and $625,500 (the range for jumbo conforming loans), you can't get a decent rate on it except for approximately one-half day out of every three weeks," said Dick Lepre, a loan agent at San Francisco's Residential Pacific Mortgage. "The problem is that we see extreme volatility, where the rate on these jumbo conformings changes massively, by almost a full percent, from one day to the next."
Bay Area homeowners trying to take advantage of historically low rates to refinance have found that the best rates are for mortgages of less than $417,000. Because many people here have larger mortgages, they may end up with monthly rates from 0.3 to one percentage point higher.
Jumbo conformings are the intermediate category of loans created last year when Congress rewrote some rules for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in an attempt to stimulate the moribund mortgage market. Conforming mortgages - the ones that Freddie and Fannie can buy, which means they carry lower rates because there is a guaranteed secondary market - used to be those less than $417,000. Starting last spring, in certain high-cost areas, including almost every inch of the Bay Area, Congress temporarily changed that limit to $729,750 through Dec. 31. As of Jan. 1, the limit changed again to $625,500 for this year.
The effect was to create three tiers of mortgages: True conforming loans under $417,000; an intermediate category called jumbo conforming or agency conforming between $417,000 and the upper limit, now at $625,500; and true jumbos, those more than $625,500. Congress' intent was to lower rates for loans below the new jumbo limits. That did happen, but the jumbo conformings still carry higher interest rates than the true conforming loans.
The reason is bound up with the complex ways in which mortgages are securitized - bundled up and sold. Under existing structure, pools of securitized mortgages can contain only 10 percent by dollar value of the jumbo conforming loans. Without a fully flourishing secondary market, these loans still end up priced higher.
"If you can only have 10 percent (jumbo conforming loans in a pool), that's not a true apples-to-apples comparison" with conforming loans, said Keith Gumbinger, vice president of New Jersey's HSH Associates, which reports on mortgage data.
click here for the complete story...
The Wall Street Journal is once again pointing out the obvious... it's time for first time buyers to get into the market... The Journal points out it is beyond a buyer's market now...
For Some, It's Finally Time to Dive Into Housing Market
By MARY PILON
For years, even as her friends bought huge houses in the expensive Phoenix market, Elizabeth Child remained a renter.
But in January, the airline customer-service agent and her boyfriend closed on their first home. The three-bedroom, two-bath house, complete with granite countertops and a pool, had been listed for $340,000 in late 2007, but the couple bought it for $220,500. "Six months ago I didn't think I would own a home," says Ms. Child, 27 years old. "And now I do. It's so perfect."
The housing bust is creating a new group of winners: first-time home buyers. People who sat on the sidelines -- often watching wistfully as their friends became homeowners -- are suddenly in a position to grab some great deals. Indeed, first-time home buyers made up 41% of all buyers at the end of 2008, up from 36% in 2006, according to a recent survey from the National Association of Realtors.
The new buyers are being lured in by home prices that are down about 25% from their peak levels in mid-2006, according to the S&P/Case-Schiller Index. In some markets, prices have dropped even further -- slumping around 40% in Phoenix, Miami and Las Vegas. Lower mortgage rates have also helped make real estate more affordable, and as houses languish on the market longer, more homeowners are willing to negotiate. With Congress considering plans to sweeten a tax credit for first-time home buyers, the picture could get even brighter.
I know there are a lot of agents out there looking to keep on the cutting of technology and marketing. One of those tools is Twitter... You may or may not have heard of it... I recently wrote an article of a magazine talking about how agents could use the new service to find business and market themselves... Over the next few days I’m going to post the stories in sections...
Twittering Part 1
Twitter in case you haven’t heard of it is the technology of the moment, maybe even the year. It combines blogging with texting; sometimes referred to as microblogging.
Twitter, one of the newest online messaging services allows you to send 140 characters messages from either their website or your cell phones. It gives you the ability to send messages or Tweets as they are called to friends, clients of complete strangers who have signed up to follow you.
I can already here the moans in the crowd. “Not another flash in the pan social networking must have.” Twitter seems to be a bit more than a flash in the pan service.
Twitter is simple to use, doesn’t make any big promises and easily integrates into your Facebook page. And for me if you can add it to Facebook, it picks up a point of two in credibility.
You do need to sign up for Twitter which takes all of a minute, but anyone who wants to follow you has to the same. Meaning if you wants clients to follow you, they’ll need to convince them it’s worth the one minute investment in time.
There are plenty of well known companies and people using Twitter from the Los Angeles Fire Department to Barack Obama to Jet Blue Airlines. And even if you don’t have any followers or if you’re just looking to keep an eye on what others are doing, maybe even your competition, you simply search them out on Twitter and follow along. The same goes for people searching out others. For this column I searched Twitter for real estate agents. Who’s to say others won’t do the same when they go looking to buy or sell a home. Maybe Twitters users want an agent who Twitters as well.
additional resources for readers interested in Twittering...
If you're looking for help setting up a Twitter page that includes branding it with your contact info, colors and logos, i know an excellent company that does the work for around $25... the company just started marketing online for the first time... they've done all of their work by word of mouth, but you can find samples of their work on the the site.... click here for Twitter Me Up...
If you're looking for help with using Twitter to find clients, I'd suggest contacting: digitalsocialists@gmail.com
If you have any questions, feel free to leave them in the comments section...
According to TechCrunch Redfin is no longer going at it alone... They're partnering up with local agents to help stay afloat... I know there are plenty of you out there that aren't fans of the Redfin's business model, but this is no time to gloat...
Here's what TechCrunch is reporting....
In a surprising move, online real estate brokerage Redfin is entering into partnerships with real estate agents from more than a dozen other brokerages in areas that Redfin’s in-house agents can’t reach. Redfin appears to have changed its tune from its founding when the firm wasn’t really getting along with real estate agents. In fact, Redfin seemed to be founded with the mission that consumers could avoid fees associated with hiring and using a real estate broker.
With the real estate market contracting and credit tightening, Redfin has been forced to reconsider its business model. It seems that these partnerships with real estate agents was necessary for Redfin to expand throughout the country without having to hire more agents. Redfin was previously limited to showing listings in the metropolitan areas of Seattle, San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, San Diego, Boston, Washington, and Chicago and will now be adding a presence in counties in Northern California, Illinois and Washington. Redfin laid off 20 percent of its staff in October of 2008 and reported slower revenue growth last year than in years before.
The firm is also hoping to make the real estate market more transparent by posting consumer reviews of in-house and partner real estate agents on its website. For every transaction completed by a partner agent, Redfin will earn a 30 percent referral fee (of the agent’s commission), but half of that fee is given back to the consumer. The returned fee to the customer averages around $1000 to $2000.
It's always nice to see a local company do well, especially when so much of the news is bad these days...
Trulia, the San Francisco based online real estate search company is reporting record traffic and growth this past year...
The reason is simple... they do a better job of marketing their services, their technology is simple to use, a better looking site and more useful information...
Real estate sites like Trulia see record traffic and revenue
Online real estate sites like Trulia.com, are reporting record traffic and revenues — even as most of the rest of the real estate industry is in the doldrums.
Trulia, based in San Francisco, says it hit record traffic levels in January, and users viewed 40 percent more pages per visit compared to a year ago.
In addition, the company plans to announce a co-branded web site with the Washington Post tomorrow that integrates Trulia’s search technology on the Washington Post’s local real estate content. Trulia will also offer its mapping and pricing information, as well as commenting, Q&As and other interactive features.
It’s yet another sign newspapers haven’t been able to figure out how to manage their once-lucrative classifieds offerings themselves. They’re dependent on startups like Trulia to do the work for them. The co-branded site should launch in April. Trulia ousts Homefinder.com, the Post’s previous real estate search vendor.
All of this is a part of the social networking process. It’s what we do, and in essence, has replaced a part of the time we use to spend on the phone chatting with friends.
If you’re going to complain that social networking is too time consuming I can only say that’s the very nature of social networking. Things like Twitter, texting, blogging and Facebook have done nothing more than soak the time you use to spend on the phone. All of the aforementioned means of communications are easier, more pleasant and more convenient than the phone. There’s no needless chit chat and you can replay at your convenience. It’s really about saving time.
Twitter offers real-time communications. You tweet and followers can respond. It’s the instant back and forth that makes it useful.
Tricia Bautista of Los Casa Realty in Los Angeles doesn’t think there are a lot of people using Twitter right now, but where she puts Twitter into play is on her Facebook page where her friends and family can see what she’s up to.
She admits it took awhile to figure out a good use for Twitter, but now she’s found the niche for it via integrating it with Facebook. At first she said Twitter was just about talking to family, but then she realized Twitter was a better form of instant messaging. Bautista could Tweet about a new listing or something she saw on tour to her followers, and instantly answer any questions they might have. Over time she figured out how to post links to photos and her listings in the tweets so followers could click directly from her tweets. She described those links as “Check this out” tweets.
Bautista said she definitely see the potential down the line.
part III on Friday
Additional resources for readers interested in Twittering...
If you're looking for help setting up a Twitter page that includes branding it with your contact info, colors and logos, i know an excellent company that does the work for around $25... the company just started marketing online for the first time... they've done all of their work by word of mouth, but you can find samples of their work on the the site.... click here for Twitter Me Up...
If you're looking for help with using Twitter to find clients, I'd suggest contacting: digitalsocialists@gmail.com
If you have any questions, feel free to leave them in the comments section...
In an effort to further drive home my point that there are new and better marketing options out there, i.e. Twitter, I wanted to point out a story in the NY Times today that explains how useful Twitter can be when done right...
Twitter? It’s What You Make It
By DAVID POGUE
Writing can be solitary work, but not when you write a tech column. Feedback pours in so quickly — by e-mail, on blogs, in online comments — that it’s almost real-time performance art.
For the longest time, my readers kept nagging me to check out this thing called Twitter. I’d been avoiding it, because it sounded like yet another one of those trendy Internet time drains. E-mail, blogs, chat, RSS, Facebook. ... Who has time to tune in to yet another stream of Internet chatter?
True, there’s nothing quite like Twitter. It’s a Web site where you can broadcast very short messages — 140 characters, max — to anyone who’s signed up to receive them. It’s like a cross between a blog and a chat room. Your “followers” might include six friends from high school, or, if you’re Barack Obama, 254,484 of your most tech-savvy fans. (Incidentally, he hasn’t sent out a single Twitter message since taking office. Where are his priorities?)
Meanwhile, you sign up to receive the utterances of other people. Eventually, your screen fills with a scrolling display of their quips — jokes, recommended links, thoughts for the day, and a lot of “what I’m doing right now” stuff.
Even so, I was turned off by the whole ego thing. Your profile displays how many followers you have, as if it’s some kind of worthiness tally. (See also: Facebook friend counter.)
Then one day, I saw Twitter in action.
I was serving on a grant proposal committee, and I watched as a fellow judge asked his Twitter followers if a certain project had been tried before. In 15 seconds, his followers replied with Web links to the information he needed. No e-mail message, phone call or Web site could have achieved the same effect. (It’s only a matter of time before some “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” contestant uses Twitter as one of his lifelines.)
So I signed up for a free account name (pogue) and stepped in.
It’s not easy to figure out what’s going on. Most people are supportive and happy to help you out. There is, however, such a thing as Twitter snobbery.
One guy took me to task for asking “dopey questions.” Others criticized me for various infractions, like not following enough other people, writing too much about nontech topics or sending too many or too few messages.
Determined to get the hang of it, I searched Google for “Twitter for beginners.” There were 927,000 search results.
I also spoke with Elizabeth Newlin, a Realtor with Century 21 in Arizona. Newlin’s approach to Twittering is much less direct. She uses the Tweets as a way of reminding friends and family she’s in the real estate business.
Rather than bang friends and family over the heads, she simply mentions what’s going on for her real estate wise.
Newlin said, “In real estate if there was any one thing that would be the end all be all, and get you as many clients as you wanted, then everybody would be doing it. In real estate you have to do a little bite of everything.”
Twitter is a way of working with early adopters and potential clients who see a tech savvy agent as a plus, she said. “There’s a certain market out there into really high tech thing and if you can show them that you’re up to par with your tech background they’re more likely to use you.”
Newlin says she understands that agents who fail to embrace technology will become road kill on the information super highway.
Users of Twitter understand the biggest downfall is you have to ask followers to sign up. While signing up is simple, most people don’t want to be bothered. So it’s up to you to convince clients Twitter is worth the time commitment.
Newlin has gotten some clients onboard, but still can’t convince her mother to sign up.
Even if you can’t convince mom to sign up, this is one of those moments where it costs you nothing to join. Plus, when someone asks if you Twitter you can say you do.
But the best reason for signing up as it was told to me, no real estate agent benefits from being a secret agent.
You can find me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/jeffhbrooks
Additional resources for readers interested in Twittering...
If you're looking for help setting up a Twitter page that includes branding it with your contact info, colors and logos, i know an excellent company that does the work for around $25... the company just started marketing online for the first time... they've done all of their work by word of mouth, but you can find samples of their work on the the site.... click here for Twitter Me Up...
If you're looking for help with using Twitter to find clients, I'd suggest contacting: digitalsocialists@gmail.com
If you have any questions, feel free to leave them in the comments section...
It’s 3-bed/2-bath fabulous Victorian TIC in a 3-unit building. In-unit laundry, high-end kitchen with marble counters, island, wine refrigerator, built-in sub-zero refrigerator, wolf range/oven, small but nicely landscaped yard, small deck off the kitchen, fireplace, hardwood, wainscoting, fabulous moldings and original detail, etc. Asking $789,000. Partially assumable group TIC loan means that a buyer would need roughly $125,000 (~14%) down in order to close escrow and take over the $679,000 loan at 6.25% interest only. The monthly payment is ~3,550 and HOA is $200/mo. There is a private leased 1-car garage 2-blocks away for another $300/month. It’s one block to the Castro underground Muni station.
Contact Eric Geleynse 415-717-3355
Frank Howard Allen Realtors www.ggvalues.com
San Francisco based CNET, an online tech site best know for their reviews of tech products is now offering home buyers a list of places to turn for home buying advice... Most of them I’ve talked about in this blog before, the one surprise a was a site called Doorfly... CNET describes Doorfly this way...
“Instead of calling different real estate firms to find the best agent, you can use DoorFly to explain your needs and watch as real estate agents bid to work with you.”
There are a couple other sites out there doing the same thing as Doorfly, but whenever one of the big papers or websites take the time to review them, buyers start reconsidering their options.
Even if you think you know every possible real estate website out there, it’s always good to have a look at what buyers are looking at and to keep up on your digital competition...
If you’re a golf fan, this one’s for you! Located right by San Francisco Golf Club, you can drop by anytime for a great game of golf. Not the golfing type? There’s more! Just minutes away from SF State and Stonestown Galleria. Don’t miss this excellent deal! Just listed at $530K for three bedrooms and two baths on 1080sqft. Go check it out this weekend! Happy house hunting!
click here for the complete listing...
Zillow has released its fourth quarter survey of homeowner confidence... It's a simple survey of what what home owners think their about home values vs Zillow's number... it's an interesting read, but I can already hear the complaining from here.... I know most of you don't like or care for the way Zillow prices homes, but it's still good reading..
Homeowner Confidence Survey
Homeowner Confidence Survey: For additional information about the Q4 Homeowner Confidence Survey, check out the regional breakdown, PDF, and graphics, featured below. Survey methodolgoy and analysis can also be found in the press release and on the Zillow Blog.
Homeowner Confidence vs. Actual Home Value Change
National Survey results:
• My Home's Value Has Increased Over Past Year: 25%
• My Home's Value Has Decreased Over Past Year: 57%
• My Home's Value Has Stayed the Same Over Past Year: 18%
Actual U.S. Home Values (according to Zillow data):
• Home Values Increasing: 20%
• Home Values Decreasing: 76%
• Home Values Staying the Same: 4%
Confidence About Own Home vs. Neighbors’ Homes
• My Own Home’s Value Will Decrease in Next Six Months: 30%
• Home Values in My Local Market Will Decrease in Next Six Months: 47%
Homeowner Confidence Survey Results by Region - Northeast:
• My Home's Value Has Increased Over Past Year: 23%
• My Home's Value Has Decreased Over Past Year: 57%
• My Home's Value Has Stayed the Same Over Past Year: 20%
Actual U.S. Home Values (according to Zillow data):
• Home Values Increasing: 24%
• Home Values Decreasing: 71%
• Home Values Staying the Same: 6%
Confidence About Own Home vs. Neighbors’ Homes:
• My Own Home’s Value Will Decrease in Next Six Months: 30%
• Home Values in My Local Market Will Decrease in Next Six Months: 46%
Homeowner Confidence Survey Results by Region - Midwest:
• My Home's Value Has Increased Over Past Year: 22%
• My Home's Value Has Decreased Over Past Year: 58%
• My Home's Value Has Stayed the Same Over Past Year: 20%
Actual U.S. Home Values (according to Zillow data):
• Home Values Increasing: 21%
• Home Values Decreasing: 73%
• Home Values Staying the Same: 5%
Confidence About Own Home vs. Neighbors’ Homes
• My Own Home’s Value Will Decrease in Next Six Months: 30%
• Home Values in My Local Market Will Decrease in Next Six Months: 47%
Homeowner Confidence Survey Results by Region - South:
• My Home's Value Has Increased Over Past Year: 33%
• My Home's Value Has Decreased Over Past Year: 47%
• My Home's Value Has Stayed the Same Over Past Year: 20%
Actual U.S. Home Values (according to Zillow data):
• Home Values Increasing: 25%
• Home Values Decreasing: 70%
• Home Values Staying the Same: 5%
Confidence About Own Home vs. Neighbors’ Homes:
• My Own Home’s Value Will Decrease in Next Six Months: 26%
• Home Values in My Local Market Will Decrease in Next Six Months: 44%
Homeowner Confidence Survey Results by Region - West:
• My Home's Value Has Increased Over Past Year: 19%
• My Home's Value Has Decreased Over Past Year: 70%
• My Home's Value Has Stayed the Same Over Past Year: 11%
Actual U.S. Home Values (according to Zillow data):
• Home Values Increasing: 9%
• Home Values Decreasing: 89%
• Home Values Staying the Same: 2%
Confidence About Own Home vs. Neighbors’ Homes
• My Own Home’s Value Will Decrease in Next Six Months: 37%
• Home Values in My Local Market Will Decrease in Next Six Months: 54%
I hate to cheapen a perfectly good day of blogging, but Pacific Union rumors are flying again... Today I've heard from three people that PacUnion's top producer Warren Mullen is seriously considering making the switch... Paper work is the only thing left to do one person told me...
Others leaving PacUnion include Colette Battaglia, Kimberly Faubert, and Beth Brody...
Stirring the pot further is Melissa Bradley with an email announcement that more than a half dozen agents have left their shops to join hers...
if you have news of any sort, be sure to drop me a note, or your leave comment in the comments section...
Brian Byers has also announced he's left Pacific Union for McGuire Real Estate... Which begs the question, is the Pacific Union Death Watch back!
McGuire Real Estate, a San Francisco-based real estate company specializing in luxury real estate, announced the appointment of Chris DeNike and Sharon Faccinto as sales associates in its Mill Valley office at 1040 Redwood Highway.
DeNike and Faccinto join McGuire from Pacific Union in Larkspur, CA where they worked as a team and focused on marketing and selling premium residential properties in Marin County.
With the announcement of the President's plan to save homes from foreclosure, came with it a series of new rules and regulations... Most of them still unknown to the populous...
So for some clarity and advice I turned a professional... The least I can do for you...
If you can get past the record number of home foreclosures, steep prices drops and the fact that more than half the homes now being sold in the Bay Area are in foreclosures, the news is all good....
Homes are selling again, that's good... excess inventory is getting taken out of the market and folks are collecting commissions... and with every foreclosed home sold comes a new proud set of homeowners looking to remodel and drop a few dollars into the economy....
Here's sgtates.com take on the new numbers out from DataQUick..
Foreclosures ignite hot Bay Area homes sales
The relentless surge of foreclosures spurred gangbuster sales and bargain prices for Bay Area homes in January, according to a real estate report released Thursday.
A total of 3,918 existing single-family homes changed hands in the nine-county region last month, a big jump from 2,312 sales in January 2008, according to research firm MDA DataQuick of San Diego.
For the first time, more than half - 54.2 percent - of all homes sold in the nine-county region were bank-owned foreclosures. Their fire-sale prices drove the median sales price for existing homes down to $304,000, a nine-year low.
"Despite virtually no signs of home prices stabilizing anywhere, plenty of people have decided it is time to buy, simply because of the increased affordability," said Andrew LePage, a DataQuick analyst. "Through all this bleak news on the economy and jobs and home prices still eroding, plenty of people who sat out the frenzied stages of the market are deciding it may not pay to wait now."
The priced-to-move foreclosures devastated the market for new construction. Only 340 new homes were sold in the Bay Area in January, almost half of the 657 sold in January 2007, and the slowest January sales since DataQuick started keeping records 21 years ago.
As the former tech columnist for a recently defunct real estate magazine it was my job to drag the business of real estate into the future... To help explain how technology was changing the business, and how to use technology to improve business... Two weeks ago I was preaching the joys of Twitter, today the New York Times is trying to show how and what real estate agents are doing to keep up with technology...
Enjoy Nervous Agencies Change Ways
SELLERS and buyers are not the only jittery players in today’s housing market. Real estate offices along Main Streets throughout Westchester County are struggling to stay in business during one of the worst markets in decades, and at the same time shift away from their traditional job description to become more competitive players on the Internet.
Reflecting the grave state of the market, Houlihan Lawrence, a family-owned real estate company dating back to the 1950s, announced on Feb. 13 that it was laying off 10 percent of its employees — although not its sales agents, who work as independent contractors.
During the past six months, the company has shuttered 5 of its 30 offices and is planning more closings as it increasingly conducts business on the Web, said Chris Meyers, the chief operating officer.
“It’s all part of our down-market strategy,” Mr. Meyers said. “Since September the economy has been in a rapid decline, and we can’t run faster than this wave any longer.”
The company is also increasingly advertising on the Web and establishing business alliances with online listing sites like Trulia.com. “It’s striking how consumer behavior has changed,” he added, “and as a result we have had to shift our strategies to meet them.”
But as the agencies themselves change tactics, so must the agents, said Mark Boyland, the president of the Westchester-Putnam Multiple Listing Service. “The old model of a sales agent who just takes listings, hosts a couple of open houses, and places an ad or two is not enough anymore,” he said.
A new breed of agent is emerging, wise in the ways of short sales and other foreclosure avoidance techniques. “That’s going to be a large part of the business going forward into the next several years,” said Mr. Boyland, who is also an associate broker for Keller Williams in White Plains. “Lots of homeowners have lost jobs and had their salaries and/or hours reduced, and they’re in trouble.”
According to RealtyTrac.com, 2,259 Westchester homes are in preforeclosure (meaning their owners have defaulted on the mortgage, but formal proceedings have not yet begun); 237 are about to be auctioned; and 358 are about to be taken over by banks. Adjustable-rate mortgages that are scheduled to be reset this year could affect those numbers, said Alex Charfen, the president and chief executive of the Distressed Property Institute in Boca Raton, Fla.
Although President Obama announced a sweeping Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan, the weekly average rate borrowers were quoted on Zillow Mortgage Marketplace for thirty-year mortgages remained steady last week at 5.25 percent, up slightly from 5.23 percent the week prior, according to the Zillow Mortgage Rate Monitor, compiled by leading real estate Web site Zillow.com®. Meanwhile, rates for 15-year fixed mortgages dropped to 4.86 percent, down from 4.93 percent and 5-1 adjustable rate mortgages also dropped, down to 5.07 percent from 5.19 percent the week prior.
Mortgage Type Average Rate Average Rate
Week ending 2/22/09 Week ending 2/15/09 % Change
30-year fixed 5.25% 5.23% 0.4%
15-year fixed 4.86% 4.93% -1.3%
5-1 ARM 5.07% 5.19% -2.4%
Rates for 30-year fixed purchase mortgages had fallen on Monday evening, with the average rate on Zillow Mortgage Marketplace at 5.14 percent. For the most current up-to-the-minute rates,
Thirty-year fixed mortgage rates varied by state. New York mortgage rates and Ohio mortgage rates decreased the most, dropping from 5.31 percent to 5.11 percent and from 5.48 percent to 5.26 percent, respectively. Florida mortgage rates (5.04%) and Pennsylvania mortgage rates (5.04%) were the lowest in the country while Tennessee mortgage rates (5.34%) were the highest. California mortgage rates were the most requested among all states.
The Zillow Mortgage Rate Monitor is compiled each week using thousands of mortgage rates quoted on Zillow Mortgage Marketplace by mortgage lenders to borrowers who have submitted loan requests. State-level data is gathered for the top 20 states with the highest quote volume on Zillow.
Remember in the old days, say six months ago when we were all told mortgage rates would fall to record lows, and a conforming mortgage would be the same as a jumbo... I was wondering what happened... I know the conforming limit for the Bay Area has been raised to around $600,000, and in some cases as high as $729,750...but it doesn’t seem to be translating into many new loans...
Finally the folks at the Wall Street Journal starting asking the same question...
Here’s what they learned...
Jumbo Mortgages, Jumbo Headaches
By NICK TIMIRAOS
Washington is trying to ease the mortgage crisis by helping people refinance into home loans with better terms. But one group is being left on the sidelines: borrowers with loans too big to qualify for government backing.
President Barack Obama's housing stability plan, announced last week, excludes such borrowers from nearly all of its mortgage-bailout provisions. Instead, it focuses on middle-income consumers who have lower, so-called conforming loans. Such loans top out at $417,000 in most parts of the country, though they can run as high as $729,750 in certain pricier markets, such as parts of California, New York and Hawaii.
Neil Littman, who lives near Boulder, Colo., says conforming-loan limits in the area are too low.
Anything bigger is called a "jumbo" loan -- and not only is the government ignoring this segment of the market, so are lenders, few of whom are originating or refinancing jumbo mortgages. The reason: Jumbo loans are too large to be guaranteed by a government-backed mortgage agency, such as Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, meaning banks assume the risk if the loan goes bad. In the current lending environment, few banks want to take on any risk.
That's hurting borrowers like Pete Zipkin, who's the kind of affluent customer that banks once coveted. The 35-year-old technology executive -- who says he has a spotless credit record and at least 20% equity in his home -- has come up empty-handed in his search for a jumbo mortgage of more than $1 million for his recently built five-bedroom home in Alamo, Calif., near San Francisco.
U.S. home prices fell a record 8.2 percent in 2008 as the recession and a surge of foreclosures caused the worst devaluation of real estate since the Great Depression.
The fourth-quarter figure was 3.4 percent lower than the prior quarter, on a seasonally adjusted basis, the Federal Housing Finance Agency said today in a report. The decline is the largest on record, the Washington-based agency said.
Prices fell as banks seized real estate from delinquent borrowers. U.S. President Barack Obama said last week his new $275 billion housing program will help about 9 million homeowners lower monthly payments in a bid to keep new foreclosures in 2009 below last year’s all-time high of 2.7 million.
Depending on whose account of the story you believe, the San Francisco Chronicle is only going to be around for a few more weeks... I give them till the start of the third quarter, but it’s anyone’s guess... You have to figure the paper’s owners are either hoping for a big rally around the paper moment, or thought a swift slap to the head would rally the staff to except huge pay cuts... Unlikely though the paper can mount 50 million dollars in cuts... Who knows...
That aside my question is this... Where do the ad dollars go? Where do you place your open house ads? Does Craigslist win?
I’m looking for suggestions... Post in the comments section and let me know...
With so many companies cutting back on extra's like public relations, I wanted to take a minute to give the folks at Zephyr Real Estate a nod... out this morning their list of top producers, via a press release...
SAN FRANCISCO, CA--(Marketwire - February 26, 2009) - Zephyr Real Estate, San Francisco's largest independent real estate firm, is pleased to announce the company's top producing real estate agents of 2008.
Achieving the title of #1 Companywide Top Producer this year is Richard Meyerson, who has been a consistent top producer since 2001. Immediately following are Bonnie Spindler, #2 Companywide Top Producer, and Vicki Valandra, #3 Companywide Top Producer. The top commercial agent is Chris Foley. Leading the individual offices are Mollie Poe of the Pacific Heights office; Michael Ackerman of the Noe Valley location; Peter Goss of the Upper Market office; Britton E. Jackson of the SOMA/South Beach location; and Robin Hubinsky of the West of Twin Peaks office.
Companywide, the 53 leading sales producers of 2008 are as follows: Richard Meyerson, Bonnie Spindler, Vicki Valandra, Mollie Poe, Michael Ackerman, Anna Spathis, Tim Hawko, Deborah Nguyen, Peter Goss, Ken Eggers, Harry Clark, Britton E. Jackson, Tanja Beck, Faye Dibachi, Chris Foley, Andrew Roth, James Romeo Holloway, Christine Doud, Dean Catiis, Robin Hubinsky, Tuan Tran, Suzy Reily, Chris Sprague, Whitney B. Davis, Marion Broder, Julie Reber, Judy Rydell, Joan Loeffler, Darin Holwitz, Laura Kaufman, David Antman, Daniel Fernandez, Hugh Groocock, Jerry Wang, Amy Clemens, Susan Olk, Jan Medina, Theresa Sedell, William Kitchen, Steve Dells, Debbie Dells, Cathy Kline Saunders, Rita Roti, Todd Wiley, Jennifer Kauffman, Danielle Lazier, Ron Whitney, Diane Onken, Sandra Onken, Eric Castongia, Gary Small, Dan Healy and Mara Klein.
Maybe I'm overstating the case of what is or isn't a landmark, but for me I grew up going to the Tower Records store on the corner of Bay and Columbus... I miss the place if for no other reason than it was open till midnight 365 days a year and gave out free calendars... Which was really cool at the time..
Granted I haven't bought a CD or an album in years, but the announcement that the Virgin Megastore on the corner of Stockton and Market is closing hurts...
According to Virgin the store will close its' doors in late April.
At this time the company isn't saying the reason for the closure, but I'm betting it has something to do with their neighbor across the street, Apple...
Enjoy the Waterfront lifestyle in this almost new Floating Home in Sausalito. Stunning Remodeled home with Amazing attention to detail. Custom wood-work makes this home shine. It features an open floor plan and a full-size kitchen with plenty of beautiful maple cabinets, granite counters, stainless appliances and even a hidden drawer dish-washer. Down the wood stairs are 2 bedrooms and a full-size bathroom. The granite and limestone bathroom features a gigantic soaking tub, and full size shower. The attention to detail and quality throughout this home is hard to match. Peaceful mountain and water views. Come enjoy the lifestyle of living on a Floating home! On a highly coveted dock in a premier deep water location. Only 10 minutes from SF.
I know all the talk these days is about foreclosures, and how well they’re selling... But from what I can gather, folks are still having a hard time tracking the properties down in the Bay Area... So at the request of many, I’m going to suggest two sites for finding foreclosures, but if you know of others, please leave them in the comments section...
A few months ago Hyundai, the South Korean automaker announced they would allow customers to return their cars within a year of a purchase or lease if they lost their job, no questions asked.
The idea has been catching on with others including airlines and now home builders...
High-end homebuilder Toll Brothers are now offering to cover your mortgage for up to six months if you loss your job.
The deal covers six months of mortgage payments, including principle, interest, real estate taxes and home owners insurance to a tune of $2,500... The catch is you have to lose your job within two years of closing.
