Bay Area REBlog

Many cities have first time home buyer assistance programs for low to Moderate income households. The program for Sunnyvale provides assistance in the form of deferred payment second mortgage with financing up to $50,000.
The buyers must currently live or work in Sunnyvale to be eligible and their gross annual income must be within the guidelines [...]

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Oh my goodness, more regulations!!  I know it is a result of the mortgage crisis and buyers saying they did not know information about the loans they agreed to sign but now we will see more time delays. The Mortgage Disclosure Improvement Act (MDIA) amends the Truth in Lending Act- (you know the Regulation Z, [...]

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I guess the silver lining of declining home values is the fact that we may get to pay less on our property taxes!  Homeowners most likely to qualify for a tax reduction are those who bought their house or condo in the last few years – if you’ve owned your home for many years you [...]

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I’ve just been looking at statistics for Mountain View and Los Altos comparing May of 2008 to May of 2009 -
Los Altos 2008 – we had 53 New Listings, 41 Closed Sales, Average Days on the Market was 27, Average Sales Price $1,980,409, with a total sales volume for the month of $81,196,801.
Los Altos 2009 [...]

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It seems the mortgage lending mess keeps getting more difficult for buyers. In an effort to fix the inflated appraisals that were a big part of the loose lending procedures, now lenders need to abide by the Home Valuation Code of Conduct.Effective May 1st, these new rules are having the unintended effect of making [...]

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When first time home buyers purchase entry level homes, that allows the entry-level homeowners to sell and move-up to a mid-level, move-up market.  By purchasing those homes, the move-up market is able to sell and ultimately purchase homes in the luxury arena.  It’s a much-needed domino effect that will have significance in our market’s rebound.  [...]

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President Obama traveled to Denver this morning to sign the stimulus bill that passed both the House and Senate on Friday.  The new bill includes a number of measures to address the troubled housing market. Two measures in particular are notable: the $8,000 homebuyer tax credit, and the reinstatement of increased loan limits for FHA, [...]

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Traditionally November and December are slow months for selling homes and many times families decide not to move during the holidays. This plus the economy affected even the affluent Los Altos market as seen below.
 
 
Median price for Los Altos 2008                                    $ 1,797,500
Median price for Los Altos 4th quarter 2008                   $ 1,605,000
   
                                                     % change                     – 11%
 
Seems as though the [...]

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 Currently there are 57 single-family homes for sale in Mountain View – the highest price being 212 Monroe Drive at $2,248,000 right down to 801 Burgoyne Street at $535,000. The month of December had 26 listings withdrawn, cancelled or expire from the multiple listing service. Typically, the seller takes a break over the holiday period [...]

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Here is a commentary from Eric Trailer of Absolute Mortgage in Palo Alto, CA regarding the 60 Minute segment that aired on December 14th. Just because an opinion is aired on TV it still must be questioned as to the true motive of the interviewed person. What did you think?
Did you happen to catch that “60 minutes” [...]

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