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Over, Under, At - SF Home Sales: December 1-December 7, 2007 2007-12-20 22:31:31 Welcome back to the “Over, Under, At”� weekly feature. It’s a simple breakdown taken from MLS data that shows the number of closed sales that sold Over Asking Price, Under Asking Price or At Asking Price. *Just a reminder that new construction sales are rarely included in this list since they don’t get posted on the MLS. I owe you guys a couple of “Over, Under, At” updates that I didn’t get a chance to post since I took a little vacation. I’ll post last week’s sales tomorrow, and by this weekend, we should be back on track. In the first week of December, single family home sales took a little drop from the week before, but condo sales and TIC’s are pretty much on par with no significant changes. Here’s a quick breakdown of closed San Francisco home sales for the week from December 1 through December 7, 2007: Single Family Homes - 38 Homes Sold 9 Sold OVER Asking Price 21 Sold UNDER Asking Price 8 Sold AT Askin ...

ByTheOwner.com Head Office Holiday Schedule 2007-12-20 09:28:22 Dear ByTheOwner.com customers and website visitors, During this time of celebration and sharing, we would like to take time to thank you for your continued support and patronage of ByTheOwner.com. It has been a fantastic year for ByTheOwner.com as more than 5,000 of our clients have SOLD and saved! This was a 44% increase in SOLD properties over 2006. We are looking forward to improving even more in 2008 as we aim to help 10,000 clients sell their home privately next year! Please note that our head office will be closed from December 22nd to January 2nd inclusive. Though our head office will be closed, we are still able to assist all of our clients and new customers. Simply contact your local representative for assistance. Wishing everyone a safe and happy holiday, The team at ByTheOwner.com ...

Toronto Real Estate Board: 2007-12-20 02:02:50 Two New Records Set in First Two Weeks of December The Greater Toronto resale home market reached two new heights during the first half of this month Toronto Real Estate Board President Maureen O’Neill announced today. “The 2,868 transactions recorded during the first two weeks of December have made this the first year that sales have exceeded 90,000,” said Ms. O’Neill. This activity also represents a 3 per cent increase over the 2,783 sales recorded during the first two weeks of December 2006. This year’s record activity has been matched by record prices. “The average price is now $404,707, which is the first time it has exceeded $400,000,” said Ms. O’Neill. The current average price has increased 3 per cent since last month and 19 per cent compared to the same timeframe a year ago. In the Danforth area (E03) transactions are up 24 per cent compared to mid-December 2006, as a result of strong semi-detached sales. New Toronto transact ...

Struggling in Quicksand - Why the Government Continues to Exacerbate the Problem 2007-12-19 05:17:33 We’ve all heard the general guidance about what to do that mythical day when we suddenly find ourselves ankle-deep in quicksand (and climbing quickly): relax, don’t panic, don’t make frantic movements, and work slowly and methodically to get out of the quagmire - or risk drowning. Technically speaking, there is little more to the advice of surviving quicksand and metaphorically speaking little more to surviving the housing market implosion. Unfortunately, our government is eschewing methodical work in favor of frantic movements - the results to date have been disastrous. Look, I understand the need for politicians and elected officials to do something. We all know what happens when they do nothing. Even if that something is the wrong thing; action beats inaction at the polls 10 times out of 10. There’s always a constituency that appreciates the effort. But these gyrations are, without a doubt, making the mortgage and housing markets less and less certain e ...

5.7 + 3.7 = 2007-12-19 01:57:34 The total in Billions of dollars that Morgan Stanley has written down their loan portfolio already in the fourth quarter.   Ouch. Read the story here. To put a total number to it, that’s $9,400,000,000.00.    Lot’s of zeroes behind it.   Share This ...

2008 Real Estate Forecast 2007-12-19 01:21:49 Canadian home prices to rise by 3.5% in 2008: Royal LePage Real estate brokerage Royal LePage is forecasting “steady, yet moderate growth” in the Canadian residential property market in 2008 after the industry’s busiest year ever in 2007. Royal LePage predicts that house prices nationally will rise by 3.5 per cent to an average of $317,288 next year. The number of transactions is forecast to slip by four per cent to just over half a million - still above the number of sales in any year before the record pace of 2007. Coinciding with the Royal LePage report came data from the Canadian Real Estate Association showing Multiple Listing Service home resales broke all previous annual records by the end of November. MLS activity in major markets totalled 345,577 units in the first 11 months of this year, 2.7 per cent more than the previous full-year record of 336,646 in 2005. Royal LePage Real Estate Services president Phil Soper said Canada’s housing market should co ...

“Yes, but how many people is it REALLY going to help?”� 2007-12-18 23:34:27 That’s what I asked when the new FHA Secure Plan was introduced back on August 31st. This is from the HUD News Release on that date: President George W. Bush today announced that HUD’s Federal Housing Administration (FHA) will help an estimated $240,000 families avoid foreclosure by enhancing its refinancing program… The eligibility requirements of the program? Homeowners must meet the following criteria: A history of on-time mortgage payments before the borrower’s teaser rates expired and loans reset; Interest rates must have or will reset between June 2005 and December 2008; Three percent cash or equity in the home; A sustained history of employment; and Sufficient income to make the mortgage payment. I remember thinking to myself, “sure they make it sound like a great program and they’re showing that the government is being active. After all, there are some good households, rightful home owners, that deserve the opportunity to refinance out ...

A present from Zillow 2007-12-18 10:17:39 Zillow just launched Smart Search, a new version of its search system, along with enhanced Neighborhood Pages that make it easier for consumers to zero-in on homes become smarter about the characteristics of surrounding areas… blah blah blah, yackity-yak….. But the real news is this cute virtual holiday missive. ...

Price Cut for FSBO Listings 2007-12-18 09:47:11 December 18, 2007 - Starting December 18, a FSBO listing on a real estate website Fizber.com will cost $49.95 per month, down from $89.95, and to make MLS submission affordable for even more home sellers this holiday season, it is lowering the price of the most popular MLS package from $799.95 to just $499.95 […] ...

How many Fronts can the NAMB survie? 2007-12-18 06:34:22 Required reading: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119798901839036859.html?mod=googlenews_wsj The staff proposal would also “generally” ban lenders from “directly or indirectly paying mortgage brokers in connection with consumer credit transactions secured by a consumer’s principal dwelling, unless the mortgage broker enters into a written agreement with the consumer” and provides certain disclosures. Creditors wouldn’t be banned from paying brokers if the compensation isn’t determined by the borrower’s interest rate (YSP). Fed staff also are proposing to ban lenders from structuring traditionally “closed-end” mortgage products as “open-ended.” Fed staff believes this is necessary to prevent lenders from trying to evade the new protections. The new proposal would apply to loans secured by the consumer’s principal dwelling where the annual percentage rate exceeds the yield on comparable Treasury securities (30- ...

Purchasing Homes in Pre-Foreclosure 2007-12-18 02:10:49 The foreclosure process begins with the notice of default that is logged with the county clerk. From that time until the auction, there is a three month period in which you may purchase the home. Many investors will search these properties from the notice of default, through to the end of the auction. Once that […] ...

Fannie and Freddie in the Jumbo market? 2007-12-17 15:55:13 This article on Bloomberg talks about Paulson and Bernanke wanting to increase the Fannie and Freddie market from $417,000 to $1,000,000.   I’ve got a couple of reactions to that: 1. If Fannie and Freddie are currently bleeding money and we don’t really know how bad things are in their current portfolios and they don’t have enough capital (or it appears that they don’t) to handle the current loan pipeline and what do we want to do?  Give them a larger portion of the mortgage market?   Are we asking for trouble?  2. I’d love to see Fannie and Freddie start buying jumbos because I think it would unfreeze the jumbo market a bit. So, what do you think? Share This ...

Signs of a bottom? 2007-12-17 15:36:53 The National Association of HomeBuilders reported that their index of home builder sentiment stayed at the same level this past month and that marks a three month level pattern.   Does that mean we’re seeing the first sign of a “bottom” in the new home market?   Or is it a temporary? Share This ...

Canadian MLS Statisitics 2007-12-17 14:04:57 New annual record for MLS® home sales in 2007 With one month still to go in the year, MLS® resale housing activity in Canada’s major markets broke all previous annual records by the end of November 2007, according to statistics released by The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA). Activity in Canada’s major markets for the year-to-date in November 2007 totaled 345,577 units, up 2.7 per cent from the previous annual record of 336,646 sales set in 2005. Transactions in the first eleven months of 2007 have exceeded last year’s annual total in almost all major markets. Seasonally adjusted MLS® sales activity rebounded by 3.2 percent month-over-month to 29,992 units in November 2007 “? the seventh highest monthly level on record. The monthly increase reflects a rise in activity in Vancouver, Toronto, Edmonton, Calgary, and Saskatoon. Seasonally adjusted transactions also set a new monthly record in Newfoundland and Labrador in November. Activity reached the ...

Cerberus Indigestion with GMAC’s ResCap 2007-12-17 07:17:08 BusinessWeek highlights the ills that mega-hedge fund Cerberus has faced with its poorly-timed investments in GMAC’s ResCap and Chrysler.  Cerberus, which just pulled out of a deal to buy H&R Block’s Option One mortgage unit, invested heavily in ResCap and watched it hemorrhage cash for the last two quarters.  Chrysler hasn’t been doing much better; and the hedge fund is getting battered with higher costs of borrowing and renewal of its short-term debt financing as the credit crunch rolls on. I think this article does a good job of showing how much of a pyramid the entire credit market really is.  When Bernanke was talking about containment of subprime mortgages he was clearly ignoring the dangers that belie the credit market house of cards.  The problem with credit is that it isn’t just constrained to mortgages - the entire American economy is propped up on a massive credit bubble.  Borrowing drives our growth. Once the credit rug gets pulled out from ...