“The End is Near”

Well last week I told you the week would bring some interesting twists to the market. And I was right. New mortgage applications for home purchases and refinancings were up 77 percent from the same week in April 2008.

Mortgage rates continue to average well below 5 percent – 4.7 percent last week on average for 30-year fixed rate loans and 4.5 percent for 15 year loans. Rates like these are a major factor pushing applications.

Nearly 600,000 home buyers have already claimed either the $7,500 tax credit from last year or the $8,000 credit for this year, according to IRS data cited by the National Association of Home Builders.

Also of interest, new home sales have been showing signs of improvement. Last week the Commerce Department reported that March sales were off just 0.6 percent, exceeding analysts’ expectations, after climbing in February.

In other positive trends, interestingly enough, The Wall Street Journal reported this week, “Analysts say: The end (of declines) is near. While new home sales show signs of stabilizing as builders cut back on building and boom-bloated inventories are slowly absorbed, prices of both new and existing homes are still being dragged down by a flood of foreclosures. Still, the experts were optimistic that the federal government's efforts to stem foreclosures eventually will have an effect by the end of this year or early next year; Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody's Economy.com, even ventured (jokingly) a date when home prices would stop falling—December 15, 2009.”

Also be sure to check out this The Wall Street Journal story that ran earlier this week entitled More Homes in California Are Selling: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124087905185761701.html

It’s hard to know whether or not the sum of these indicators is equivalent to a recovery but my sense is that the end is near—if we haven’t already passed it here in California (some experts are even saying that we’ve already hit bottom and we’re in slow recovery mode). When the bottom has hit exactly is hard to predict but based on what I am seeing in our offices, based on the statistics that I am seeing on pendings and buyer interest/activity and based on the overall national recovery effort, it seems the prediction by many experts (in late 2008) that we would hit bottom by the middle of 2009 is probably not far off.

Now I do feel it is important to point out, as I referenced in last week’s Weekly Market Watch, much of the recent turnaround is affecting the first time buyer/entry level market. We haven’t yet felt it in the mid-level and luxury end market. For specific news, check out this week’s LA Times article: http://www.latimes.com/classified/realestate/news/la-fi-stonebrook25-2009apr25,0,5952483.story. I point this out mainly because it is important for sellers in today’s market to remember that pricing is key and buyers are looking for a deal. So while changes are starting to take shape, we as sellers still need to be very competitive when pricing our homes so we can attract the largest pool of potential buyers.

Now for those of you who are “timing” the market, I have to caution you on this. The only way you know that the market has hit bottom is when it is on its way up. While certainly housing is one of the biggest and most important investments we will make in our lifetime, it is also important to remember that our home is so much more than an investment. It is where we raise our family, where we create memories and where we plant our roots. So as you try to “time” the market, remember these key facts and make sure that beyond the investment, you are choosing a home that will bring you the happiness you deserve. Because in the end, that is what matters most. Choose the home that is right for you and your family right now and for years to come. Historically speaking, California real estate brings long-term investment gains for almost all homeowners so if you choose the home that is right for you, you almost can’t loose.

Now, let’s take a look at this week in real estate:

• Auburn— There are buyers out there but we are having a hard time getting the short sales closed and buyers are still wanting more with the request for repairs than most sellers want to do. We have had a couple of walk-ins that have led to a listing and a buyer. Energy level seems good. The floor person received several calls with regards to the article in the Sacramento Bee of the homes under $50,000.
• Dixon/Davis—Not much change from prior weeks. We need inventory! New listings have been selling in one day with multiple offers. Lots of buyer calls.
• El Dorado Hills—No information reported.
• Elk Grove/Laguna—We are in a very steady pattern with ample active. Floor calls, open house traffic and short sale approvals are continuing at high levels. REO inventory is very low. We are seeing an increase in regular listings in the last few weeks. All in all the buyers are aware that the deals are there for the taking.
• Folsom— Listing activity for Folsom is very good, but still mostly the lower end. Average list price this week was $482,000. Sales this week were great but again mostly the lower end properties, with an average sale price was only $388,000. Agent attitude is very positive and the business is getting done by a number of the Agents—not just one or two. Twenty five different Agents got a piece of business this week which shows that everybody is busy and the market is going!
• Placerville—No information reported.
• Rocklin/Lincoln—The Agents are busy but frustrated with the amount of offers they are writing for the same buyers and still not getting the home. One of the buyers elected to pay a little more and purchase a home that wasn’t a short sale or REO as he was tired of the games. The comments in the MLS are very creative with Agents requiring the buyer use a certain lender in order to get more closing costs paid by the seller.
• Roseville/Granite Bay—Positive changes coming with more REOs in June and low interest rates. REOs and short sales are selling over price but we have low inventory right now.
• Sacramento Fair Oaks—The Agents in the office are very positive they all are seeing activity in the market place. We are also seeing the “real seller” thinking about putting their home on the market. Actually we have more listings that are real sellers than ever before.
• Sacramento Metro—No information reported.
• Sacramento Sierra Oaks—Inventory remains very low. It seems that in the price range of under $100,000 there are a ton of multiple offers
• Tahoe/Truckee—Inventory Summary: The listing inventory for the Tahoe-Truckee market decreased slightly for the week for the first time in three months. Currently, there are 2,023 active listings in the market with 1,410 residential properties and 613 lots/land listed for sale. Of the active listings, there are 113 properties listed as short sales, (5.6%) and 59 properties listed as REO sales, (2.9%). Based on the current inventory and sales year to date the market has roughly 10-months of inventory available. Sold Summary: On a year to date basis there have been 202 properties sold in the market as compared to 289 for the same period in 2008 which is 30.1% reduction in sales. The median sales price for the properties sold YTD in 2009 was $428,850 while the average sale price was $574,961. For the same period in 2008, the median sales price was $495,000 and the average sales price was $731,591 which is a 13.4% and 21.4% reduction in price, respectively. For the week of April 20th to 26th, there were 13 properties sold with only one above $750,000. Pending sales for the week increased from 112 to 126 for a 12.5% increase and is very encouraging. Activity Summary: Open house activity continues to be slow during this in between winter and summer season in Tahoe-Truckee. Once the summer season hits we should see increased open house activity. Sales Associates are seeing increased buyer activity at all price points and especially on properties classified as short sales and REOs. Coldwell Banker had six properties go into escrow last week with two over $1,000,000 and two between $750,000 and $1,000,000. It is apparent that buyer interest and activity is picking up as there are continued great values in the market. Lake Tahoe and Truckee properties are priced well and present great opportunities for interested buyers. As the summer season approaches, we are anticipating more and more buyer activity.
• Vacaville/Fairfield—Inventory is still down and therefore our buyers are finding themselves in multiple offer situations for every home priced under $275,000. Another issue we have come up against this week is an extremely slow response time from the Asset Managers.

No matter how cynical you are about today’s economy—and trust me, with as much as we’ve all been through over the last few years, I certainly understand—it’s important to point out the positive signs that we are seeing in the local marketplace. All signs are definitely pointing towards a recovery.

Next week I will release my May Reality Check message and I will focus it on why today’s market brings such prime opportunities for savvy investors. I hope you will check it out.

Until then,
Make it a great week,

Bob Bronswick

First Time Home Buyers Are Finally Fueling the Comeback!

It’s finally happening! In my August 2008 Reality Check message I discussed our market’s need for the revival of the first-time home buyer. Because, as we know, first time home buyers are a critical force that will help jump start our market rebound, creating that important domino effect that will ultimately benefit all price points.

Confused? Just think about it. If 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 could catapult our market’s rebound.

Well I talked about it eight months ago but at least you can’t accuse me of being a day late and a dollar short. I guess in this case I was a day (or eight months) early and, as my wife would say, still a dollar short. But it’s finally happening and numbers released over the last two weeks are certainly proving that.

First, let’s look at NAR’s release this week of its March existing home sales. Now of course some media did use the nationwide decrease in sales as an opportunity to take a negative spin but there were a lot of positives in this news. First, nationally, prices rose from February to March by 4.2 percent which is much higher than the typical 1.8 percent seasonal increase between those two months.

Second, housing inventory at the end of March fell 1.6 percent to 3.74 million existing homes available for sale which represents a 9.8 month supply at the current sales pace.

In the West, existing home sales declined 4.2 percent to an annual rate of 1.13 million in March but, and this is a big but people, are 18.9 percent higher than last year at this time.

Now what do all of these numbers mean? Well the fact is, the share of lower priced home sales have trended up, indicating a return of many first-time buyers. Sales in the upper price ranges remain stalled but there are two reasons for this. First, jumbo loans still are difficult to obtain right now—though that may change in the second and third quarters thanks to the government’s work to restore this—and second, now that first time home buyers are once again entering the market, it will take some time for the domino effect to take shape onto other price ranges.

Another interesting note, the Mortgage Bankers Association this week released its Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending April 17. The index showed an increase of 5.3 percent from the previous week and that was a 76.9 percent increase compared with the same week a year ago. Yes, 76.9, that’s not a typo.

Whatever you think about what our government is doing to revive our economy, it seems some of the early work like the first time home buyer tax credit is working. Earlier this week Inman News reported that the preliminary numbers from the IRS suggest 1.4 million taxpayers will claim the federal first-time home buyer tax credit on their 2008 tax returns, meaning the program is likely to meet or exceed the 2 million target set by lawmakers before it ends November 30, 2009.

Finally and I think this is probably most notable, the Wall Street Journal reported this week that prices have fallen back into line with what the typical household can afford to pay in most of the U.S. The report showed that home prices are dubbed “fairly” valued in 202 of the 330 markets studied. That means the average price level is within a band 14% above or below the historical norm. Twenty-one markets are “overvalued” or between 14% and 34% above the norm. And 106 markets are considered “undervalued” or more than 14% below the norm. Take a look at this graph which showcases where we were in the early part of the decade as compared to today:




Now I know some of you are scratching your heads and saying, how is the drop in property value a positive thing. But the fact is that though the ride was nice in the big real estate boom of the early 2000s, we couldn’t sustain those types of record appreciation levels without eliminating certain consumer niches, including first time home buyers. Now that levels are back within range, the first time home buyers are once again able to reenter the market which is why we are seeing such a strong surge in sales in that level.

It’s just a matter of time before we weed through the remaining banked owned inventory and we should begin to see prices stabilize. Once we see that, the remaining areas of the market should begin to see an upswing, too.

With that said, let’s take a look at this week in real estate:

• Auburn—The energy level has picked up and we are seeing many offers being written but the cash ones seem to be winning even if they are considerably lower than those with a loan. Our REO Agents are being given many BPOs to process but have not been given the go ahead to put them on the market. We are having a little challenge with the verbiage in the listings that state there must be a pre-approval from a direct lender even on FHA/VA loans and yet FHA/VA loan letters must be called “prequel” per HUD.
• Dixon/Davis—We had three new banks call with listings, no referral, and using CAR forms! Inventory low, multiple offers on everything. Short sales are still frustrating and slow. Buyer calls are high. We’re all waiting for the REO listings to be released! Agents are working hard and taking on the challenge of this market with good attitudes and team efforts.
• El Dorado Hills— The inventory is about the same but the pendings in the last 30 days have doubled from previous months. Open house activity is strong and buyers seem more serious. We're not seeing many multiple offers. We had three short sales we've been working on for several months get approved but overall the short sale process is dragging on for months. We've been waiting nine months on one transaction.
• Elk Grove Laguna—We have had seven new listings and 15 sales. We held at least three open houses one of which had 15 people through and another had six. We have continued to see multiple offers on properties. As for short sales we had one approved in two weeks—with Kathy's package Wells Fargo has committed on another to approve or reject in 37 days. Activity continues to remain strong with high demand for homes in the south county.
• Placerville—Inventory has shrunk some, partially due to withdrawn and cancelled listings. These seem to be sellers removing their homes from the market because they don't need to sell. No multiple offers. Our walk ins have tripled and are serious buyers.
• Rocklin/Lincoln—The energy level has picked up and we are seeing many offers being written but the cash ones seem to be winning even if they are considerably lower than those with a loan. The Agents are finding that the well priced homes are gone within a day or so of the listing.
• Roseville/Granite Bay—The listing inventory is growing and the sales inventory remains steady. We are not seeing many multiple offers at this time. Of the nine homes held open, traffic ranged between 2-27 groups. Many short sale offers out without approval. We saw activity on two of our Previews listings. We are waiting patiently for the REO tsunami to hit.
• Sacramento Fair Oaks—The listing inventory in the office has been down this past month. Also overall in all areas of Sacramento. In terms of multiple offers, there are a lot. Every Agent in the office meeting raised their hand about multiple offers—around 40. Open house traffic is pretty steady but depends on the location. I had a few Agents, one in Arden Park who stopped counting after 40 potential buyers came through. Others had around five or six. REO sales are good if you have any inventory left. They have sold very quickly. Yes a lot of our inventory is short sales and the same thing with them.
• Sacramento Metro—We’re seeing good inventory in our primary marketplace. Properties are selling within 30 days. We have had 21 new listings in the last two weeks and 50 sales in the last two weeks. We have had a total of 50 ratified offers in the last two weeks. It’s busy!
• Sacramento Sierra Oaks—Listing inventory is increasing while sales inventory is steady. It seems that in the price range of under $100,000 and up to $300,000 there are many multiple offers. We are starting to notice more activity in our higher end listings. For the rest of the market, inventory remains low.
• Tahoe/Truckee Region—Inventory Summary: The listing inventory for the Tahoe-Truckee market increased slightly for the week bringing the total active listings to 2,035. Currently, there are 1,418 residential properties and 617 lots/land listed for sale. Of the active listings, there are 113 properties listed as short sales, (5.6%) and 57 properties listed as REO, (2.8%). Based on the current inventory and sales year to date the market has roughly 11-months of inventory available. Sold Summary: On a year to date basis there have been 189 properties sold in the market as compared to 276 for the same period in 2008 which is 31.5% reduction in sales. For the week of April 13th to 19th, there were 11 properties sold all priced below $750,000. Activity Summary: Open house activity continues to be hit and miss as this is a very slow time of year for visitors to the area. Once the summer season hits we should see increased activity. The Sales Associates are seeing increased buyer activity with multiple showings at all price points. Activity on short sales and REO’s remains brisk with multiple offers occurring. We had two properties go into escrow last week. It is apparent that buyer interest and activity is picking up as there are continued great values in the market. Lake Tahoe and Truckee properties are priced well and present great opportunities for interested buyers. As the summer season approaches, we are anticipating more and more buyer activity.

Next week will bring some more interesting news. Check out this article that ran Monday in The Wall Street Journal: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/19/AR2009041901875.html. Once we see the results of new home sales (existing home sales were already reported), we should have a better indicator of where we are. I’ll leave you with this excerpt from the The Wall Street Journal’s story:

“Whatever the March numbers say, there are good reasons to think that home sales will improve as the spring selling season gets underway. Anecdotal reports suggest that low mortgage rates and an $8,000 first-time home-buyer tax credit are coaxing buyers back into the market. And while foreclosures are set to rise as banks begin to move on delinquent homeowners, that actually could boost home sales as banks auction homes for whatever the market will bear.”

The market is without a doubt changing and we may finally be seeing the end of the great housing challenge of the 2000s. I for one am very happy to see it.

Until next week,
Have a great one,

Bob Bronswick
President
Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage Sacramento/Tahoe

Are Happy Days Here Again?

We awoke Thursday morning to some very positive economic news—Wells Fargo reported a better-than-expected first quarter profit of $3 billion surging the company’s stock by 32% and boosting shares of many other big banks as investors bet that Wells Fargo’s peers may also post results that exceed Wall Street’s estimates. The hope by all involved is that the banking sector is stabilizing. Much of Wells Fargo’s recent success is in part related to the recent increases in mortgage loan applications which could be a strong sign that consumer confidence is on the rise.

Also revealed this week is the fact that new jobless claims fell more than expected. The Labor Department said Thursday that the tally of initial jobless claims fell to a seasonally adjusted 654,000 from a revised 674,000 the previous week. Analysts expected claims to drop to 660,000

This week there were so many positive headlines that, rather than provide you with my ongoing synopsis, I thought I’d give it to you straight from the horse’s mouth. Yes, even the media is now on board with the positive headlines which tells me that the market is definitely changing.

• New jobless claims, trade gap fall; retailers see signs of hope; http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/2009-04-09-jobless-trade_N.htm
• Big rally on Wall Street; http://money.cnn.com/2009/04/09/markets/markets_newyork/index.htm?postversion=2009040918
• The case for buying a home right now; http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123913901841798375.html
• With affordability up, home buyers are returning to the market; http://www.nahb.org/news_details.aspx?sectionID=0&newsID=9000
• Outlook on economy is brightening; http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/07/us/politics/07poll.html?_r=1&scp=23&sq=economy&st=nyt
• Real Estate Outlook: Promising Numbers; http://realtytimes.com/rtpages/20090407_realestateoutlook.htm

And with that very exciting and uplifting news in tow, let’s take a look at this week in real estate:

• Auburn—Listing inventory is about the same this week while sales inventory is changing. REOs declined and short sales increased. We had one short sale accepted and another waiting approval from the second. We have had several floor calls from prospects here for Easter. Two of our listings came from floor calls. We are still writing several offers for each buyer before they are in contract.
• Dixon/Davis—We had six REO listings this week. We have a lot of contracts out right now waiting on acceptances or counters. Short sales and REOs are our market! Half of Dixon’s active inventory is contingent because of short sales.
• El Dorado County—The El Dorado County market is moving steady. Floor in both offices has been busy with walk-ins in both offices and two listings taken in El Dorado Hills from floor calls. Good follow up by the floor Agent. Open house activity is steady. The inventory is down a little this week but the percentage of short sale listings is up and the number of REO listings is down. Most of the accepted offers are below $500,000. Placerville has only 10% of the listings are short sale listings. Pending price range is also lower than last year.
• Elk Grove/Laguna—The phones are ringing off the hook. One Agent had 11 calls in a two hour shift. Inventory is extremely low and REOs aren’t coming on as fast as they were. Anything priced reasonably well is receiving a lot of activity. Multiple offers are very common place.
• Folsom— Wow! What a terrific market! Ten sales in the first two days of the week is very good for the Folsom office. Every Agent is working with multiple buyers and the buyers seem to be qualified and ready to buy! Floor time is strong and opens are well attended. I think it’s a great time to buy real estate!
• Rocklin/Lincoln—We have had several floor calls from prospects here for Easter. The Agents have been contacting past clients and have received several referrals. The Agent with the open house of over 150 people a couple of weeks ago has already received several referrals. The Agents are busy with buyers as the inventory is down.
• Roseville-Granite Bay—We had the best traffic for 2009 last weekend. Looking forward to those REOs coming out. It seems that banks and the government are holding onto their REOs right now. California banks have repossessed over 80,000 homes and have not put them back on the market yet!
• Sacramento Sierra Oaks—Sales inventory is the rise. We had 24 ratified offers this week! Open house traffic remains very busy. Inventory is very low.
• Tahoe-Truckee Region—Inventory Summary: The listing inventory for the Tahoe-Truckee market increased by 48 new listings for the week bringing the total active listings to 2,019. Currently, there are 1,414 residential properties and 605 lots/land listed for sale. Of the active listings, there are 110 properties listed as short sales, (5.4%) and 52 properties listed as REO, (2.6%). There were nine new short sale properties listed last week. Based on the current inventory and sales year to date the market has roughly 12-months of inventory available. Sold Summary: On a year to date basis there have been 163 properties sold in the market as compared to 247 for the same period in 2008 which is 34.0% reduction in sales. For the week of March 30th to April 5th, there were 15 properties sold with ten (10) priced below $750,000 and five (5) priced above $750,000. Activity Summary: We held nine (9) open houses over the past weekend with minimal activity. One lakefront property listed at $3,500,000 had 15 groups visit the property which was clearly the most active. The Sales Associates are seeing increased buyer activity with multiple showings at all price points. There were twelve (12) showings on properties priced at $750,000 or higher and nine (9) showings on properties priced below $750,000. We had two properties go into escrow last week with the largest being $1,325,000. It is apparent that buyer interest and activity is picking up as there are continued great values in the market. Lake Tahoe and Truckee properties are priced well and present great opportunities for interested buyers. As the summer season approached, we are anticipating more and more buyer activity.
• Vacaville/Fairfield— The market in Solano County is robust! Our inventory is down due to the lack of REO properties being released by the banks and our buyer activity is up! Most of the properties listed under $300,000 are receiving multiple offers and our Agents are coaching their buyers to be aggressive in their offers.

Now what should we do with these positive stories? Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth! Spread the word. One of the biggest challenges hindering our sector right now is low consumer confidence. We’ve just finished three years of a very gloomy and challenging time in United States real estate. And while this optimism can’t yet be explained by official statistics, which lag behind the current market by 30-60 days, pendings are up in many markets and units sold are certainly on the rise. It’s time to target our family, friends and clients alike and educate them on the opportunities and possibilities in today’s market. The time is right now. The market is poised for a rebound. With the $8,000 first time home buyer tax credit, the historically low interest rates, the high rate of affordability—we couldn’t be in a better position for a rebound. Read my lips: spread the word! Tell your friends. Tell your family. If you’re considering buying a home, now may just be the perfect time.

Next week I will be taking a brief hiatus from Weekly Market Watch. I’ll return the following week with another exciting, robust edition.

Have a great one,

Bob Bronswick
President
Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage Sacramento/Tahoe

I’m Invigorated!

Okay, I know that headline seems a little exaggerated and maybe even a little far-fetched, but honestly I am. I don’t know if it is a combination of the sun, the clean Spring air and the excitement that seems to be brewing in our offices, but I can feel that change is abuzz in the real estate market and for the first time in a long time, I’m truly invigorated!

This week was yet another week of milestones. Several weeks ago I questioned, are all of these positive indicators the start of a trend or are they just that, positive indicators that will have a short shelf life. Well, after at least four weeks of some strong, positive gains, I truly am invigorated.

This week, NAR released its Pending Home Sales Index, a forward-looking indicator based on contracts signed in February, reporting that pending home sales rose 2.1 percent to 82.1 from a reading of 80.4 in January. Pending home sales have a way to go for there to be a meaningful increase, but recent increases in shopping activity are hopeful indicators that we’ll see additional sales gains.

NAR’s Housing Affordability Index also rose 0.9 percentage points to a record high of 173.5 in February from an upwardly revised index of 172.6 in January, and is 36.3 percentage points higher than a year ago. This broad measure of housing affordability using consistent values and assumptions over time, shows that the relationship between home prices, mortgage interest rates and family income is the most favorable since tracking began in 1970. 1970!!!!

Also interesting, Inman News released a survey this week noting that of the 225 readers who responded to an online survey from March 23 to April 1, 48.9 percent said housing markets in their area were improving, 27.1 percent said they were stabilizing and just 12.9 percent characterized them as worsening.

That, along with the indicators I’ve referenced over the last several weeks including last week’s jump in mortgage applications, the historic drop in interest rates and the surge in new housing starts, we truly are seeing some very positive and indicative signs of recovery. I truly believe that buyers are seeing inventory move and that gets them moving.

It seems some of Obama’s various recovery efforts are starting to have some effect on the market. The billions to slow foreclosures and goose bank lending, plus the tax credit, are getting buyers to move which is a positive sign.

Now, of course, we’ll have to keep our eye on it and watch as the market continues to progress through our traditionally busy Spring selling season, but thus far the signs are positive and my magic eight balls says “Outlook is Good.”

With that good news in tow, let’s take a look at this week in real estate:

• Auburn—We’re seeing a lot of good open house activity. This week we saw a lot of multiple offers on our REO and short sale properties with some properties receiving up to 20 offers. The REOs were all sold to cash buyers even though they received other offers using FHA for several thousands more. REOs are few and far between though short sales dominate the homes on the market. We have had a couple of normal sales as well. We are getting a lot more calls regarding financing and first time home buyers.
• El Dorado Hills—Our listing inventory is steady with about 10% REO listings and a slight increase in our short sale listings to nearly 30%. Open house activity is sporadic and some buyers are seeing good opportunities but many are hoping prices will continue to come down. We did have at least one buyer who is relocating from Oregon tell us he was thinking of buying in June but feels the market has reached bottom and he wants to get going before the “rush.”
• Elk Grove Laguna—We had fewer open houses this week but traffic counts remain high. The trend is consistent. We have lot of buyers—both first timers and investors. The phones are ringing and Agents who are working a plan are flourishing.
• Folsom—Activity is up and Agents seem to be smiling more! Not a lot of listings this week but the average list price for the Folsom office was only $1,753,000! OK so having only four listings and one at $4,700,000 helped pop the numbers up a little bit! Ratified sales were good but an average price of $330,000 is still quite low. We had 12 closings for the week which was good but once again price per unit is low!
• Placerville—The Placerville office had a really good month for new sales. The inventory is also steady but the buyer traffic is very optimistic. Buyer’s are commenting that they believe the market is at or near the bottom of the market and want to make a move now. The media seems to be helping at this time. We don’t see a lot of open houses because of the geographic location of many listings.
• Rocklin-Lincoln—Open house activity seems to be good. REOs are not coming on the market as frequently as in the past. It was not unusual to see 12+ any one day in the Rocklin/Lincoln area and now the most seen in one day has been four.
• Roseville-Granite Bay—Both inventories are increasing; no multiple offers, 8 ratified offers. We had seven opens with 0-10 attendees at each. Seems a little bit more upbeat. Agents have buyers and are looking to find the correct sales situation. Obviously buyers can dictate the prices except for the REOs. Agents are correctly focused and reading for a good Spring market.
• Sacramento Fair Oaks—Sales inventory is steady, Listing inventory is declining. We had 14 multiple offers, seven ratified offers and six opens with 78 groups through. REO/ Short sale activity is pretty good. The market is good- there are real sellers getting off of the fence. The market’s little inventory means more multiple offers come into play and has been raising the strike price a bit. Great opportunity to get buyer’s into the market. Sellers should take advantage of the REO moratorium and if it is priced right, it will sell.
• Sacramento Metro—Open house activity is good in core areas. Activity has increased within the last 10 days with a great month of 100 sales and 78 closings. The REO/short sale market remain slow.
• Sacramento Sierra Oaks—The price range of under $100,000 is seeing a ton of multiple offers. Overall our local market is seeing very low inventory which should, over time, help to drive up prices.
• Tahoe-Truckee Region—The listing inventory for the Tahoe-Truckee market remained relatively stable from the previous week. Currently, there are 1,369 residential properties and 602 lots/land listed for sale. Of the active listings, there are 101 properties listed as short sales, (5.1%) and 52 properties listed as REO, (2.6%). The median price for the active short sale properties is $410,000 and for the REO properties is $399,000. Based on the current inventory and sales year to date the market has roughly 14-months of inventory available. On a year to date basis there have been 146 properties sold in the market as compared to 230 for the same period in 2008 which is 36.5% reduction in sales. For the week of March 23rd through 29th, there were 17 properties sold which is double from the week prior. We held seven open houses over the past weekend with very little activity. The Sales Associates are seeing increased buyer activity with multiple showings at all price points. The short sale and REO properties are receiving the majority of the initial interest from buyers. However, buyers are realizing there are great values as well in the non short sale and REO inventory. We had three properties go into escrow last week with the largest being $809,000. It is apparent that buyer interest and activity is picking up as there are continued great values in the market.

As you can see, the market is heating up. Consumer confidence is finally on the rise and buyers are edging off the fence. For those who are still cautious, please consider all of the positive signs that are knocking at your front door. From the first time home buyer credit to the historically low interest rates to the increases in conforming loan limits to the generous amount of inventory to the motivated sellers to the…honestly, the list goes on. Opportunity is knocking and it is time for buyers to recognize this and jump in.

Until next week,
Have a great one,

Bob Bronswick
President
Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage Sacramento/Tahoe