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January Monthly Home Sale Report: Solano Sales Activity Hits 20-Month Low

February 8th, 2010 categories: Benicia, Buying, Market Update, Selling, Solano, Suisun City, Vacaville, Vallejo

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But The Median Price Is 7% Higher Than Last January


I just compiled January’s Solano County Home Sales Report and while prices were down slightly, the big news, as the headline indicates, was that Solano’s overall sales totals dropped dramatically last month, to their lowest level in well over a year.

County-wide, Solano totaled 389 home sales last month, compared to 520 in December — a 25% drop.  The last time there were that few monthly sales in Solano was May, 2008, when there were 384 sales. That was 20 months ago.Solano Home Sales - Jan 10So the big question, of course, is whether this decline is due to

  • a) the still-low inventory;
  • b) the traditionally softer holiday period (most contracts accepted during the holidays usually close in January); or,
  • c) an actual drop in demand due to a market-shift.

As I’ve cautioned before, Read the rest of this story

Written by Rod Herman | Discussion: No Comments »

Suisun Helping First-Time Home Buyers With Zero Interest Loans

February 5th, 2010 categories: Buying, Loans / Financing, Suisun City

Up To 25% When You Buy A Suisun Foreclosure


If you’re a first-time buyer looking to buy a foreclosed property, Suisun City has a program that might increaseRaining money your buying power by opening the door to homes you might otherwise never have been able to afford.

I’m talking about their First Time Home Buyer program, which not only helps those looking to get into their first home, but also helps prevent neighborhood blight at the same time.

The basic details:

  • It’s a “silent second” mortgage, with deferred payments and no interest.
  • You can borrow up to 25% of the value of the home.
  • You must purchase a foreclosure (or a short sale that’s already in foreclosure).
  • When you sell, you repay the loan PLUS the equivalent percentage of the home’s accrued appreciation.
  • To qualify, your household earnings must not exceed 120% of the area’s median income.
  • Homes must be located within Suisun’s Redevelopment District.

Here are the current income limits, which are based on the number of people in your household. Read the rest of this story

Written by Rod Herman | Discussion: No Comments »

Weekly Solano Real Estate Report For Feb. 1: Vallejo, Benicia Inventory Way Up In January

February 4th, 2010 categories: Benicia, Buying, Fairfield-Gr Valley, Market Update, Selling, Solano, Suisun City, Vacaville, Vallejo

Pull QuoteMore Like A Normal January; A Sign Of Things To Come?


The first month of 2010 is now behind us and judging by the week-to-week performance over the first 30 days of the new year, we may be seeing further signs that a more normal real estate market could be on the horizon.

Last year, of course, was anything but normal. Instead of starting low and building up over the first four months of the year, the local Solano County housing supply started Read the rest of this story

Written by Rod Herman | Discussion: No Comments »

New 3.5% Seller Credit For Some Solano Buyers…But You Have To Close By April 30

January 29th, 2010 categories: Benicia, Buying, Fairfield-Gr Valley, Foreclosures / Short Sales, Loans / Financing, Solano, Suisun City, Vacaville, Vallejo

If you’re planning to buy a home in Benicia, Vallejo or any other Solano or Contra Costa County city we serve, you might want to focusClock-Money on a Scale your eyes on Fannie Mae-owned homes for the next month or two.

For yesterday, Fannie announced a new incentive program which will provide up to a 3.5% credit to cover closing costs or a combination of credits & new appliances for qualified buyers who purchase a Fannie Mae-owned home between now and the end of April.

The details:

  • The offer must be accepted on or after Jan. 28, 2010
  • Escrow must close by April 30, 2010.
  • Buyers must be owner-occupants (no investors)
  • Qualified buyers get an incentive worth up to 3.5% of the cost of the home
  • The incentive can be used to cover closings costs, new Whirlpool appliances or a combination of the two

So, on a $250,000 home, for example, if you qualify for the full 3.5% credit, you could Read the rest of this story

Written by Rod Herman | Discussion: No Comments »

Fraud & Deceit — It’s Just Business As Normal For Some Short Sale Lenders

January 26th, 2010 categories: Foreclosures / Short Sales, Loans / Financing, Viewpoint

Thankfully, Someone’s Finally Blowing The Whistle


We’ve all heard the banks moan and complain about how they were duped into making bad loans to unscrupulous borrowers in the subprime era.

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Or how homes were appraised at values clearly tens of thousands more than the property was really worth.

Well, these banks certainly had a right to be angry.

But now, it seems, the shoe’s on the other foot.

For, these same banks who have positioned themselves as the innocent victims in the mortgage meltdown are now aggressively and openly trying to defraud each other with short sale side-deals in a manner that essentially holds the down-and-out homeowner — who’s trying to make the best of a bad situation — hostage.

Read the rest of this story

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How Much Did That Benicia or Vallejo Home Sell For In December?

January 25th, 2010 categories: Benicia, Market Update, Vallejo

Dec 09 Ben Home Sales2They say that curiosity killed the cat. But when it comes to finding out how much that home down the street sold for, I think almost everyone has a little curiosity in them.

It’s just human nature to want to get the ‘inside scoop.’

So to satisfy that curiosity, every month I post a list of every home sale in both Benicia and Vallejo.

Wonder how much a particular home sold for? Or how long it was on the market?

Curious how much a particular seller had to drop his price before getting a sale? Care to know whether a certain home sale was an REO, short sale or regular sale?

Answers to all those questions and more are just a click away, in the December Benicia Home Sale Report and Vallejo Home Sale Report.

As the graphic above illustrates, you’ll find the following information for EVERY home that closed escrow in December in Benicia and Vallejo: Read the rest of this story

Written by Rod Herman | Discussion: No Comments »

December 2009 Monthly Home Sale Statistics For Solano County

January 24th, 2010 categories: Benicia, Buying, Fairfield-Gr Valley, Market Update, Selling, Solano, Suisun City, Vacaville, Vallejo

I’ll preface the December 2009 Solano County Home Sale Report with the same disclaimer that I use every month:  the smaller the sample size, the greater the chance for the numbers to be skewed.

That’s why quarterly statistics usually are a better gauge of just where the market is really heading.

Nevertheless, if you look at the housing numbers month by month, you can see developing trends much sooner than if you only look at things every 3 months.

So I always track Solano’s home sale statistics on a monthly and quarterly basis.

December is always a busy month when it comes to housing statistics, since it’s also the end of the 4th quarter as well as the end of the year. So it usually takes a little longer to compile all the data. (How’s that for a shameless excuse as to why it took until the 24th of January to get these figures on-line!)2009 Solano County Median Sales Graph

Okay, so onto December’s numbers. Read the rest of this story

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Quarterly Solano Housing Statistics — 4th Qtr Numbers For Each City In Our Market Area

January 24th, 2010 categories: Benicia, Fairfield-Gr Valley, Market Update, Selling, Solano, Suisun City, Vacaville, Vallejo

If  you’ve been sitting by your computer wondering when the final housing numbers for the 4th Quarter of 2009 would be released, today’s your lucky day. 2009 Solano County Median Sales Price By Qtr

To see how each city in our Solano County market area fared last quarter and also how those numbers compare with a year ago, be sure to download the full Solano County Quarterly Housing Report.

Some highlights from that report:

  • The median sales price was $205,450 county-wide. In Q4 of 2008, it was $221,500. So that’s a one-year drop of 7 percent. Read the rest of this story

Written by Rod Herman | Discussion: No Comments »

Big Changes On The Horizon For FHA Borrowers In Benicia & Vallejo

January 21st, 2010 categories: Loans / Financing

FHA ChangesIf you’re planning to buy a home soon and will be using an FHA loan to finance that purchase, you may want to pay very close attention to this post.

Either that or make sure you get into contract in the next few months.

That’s because the Dept. of Housing & Urban Development (HUD),  announced a series of proposed policy changes yesterday (one of which was made official today) that are all designed to help strengthen FHA’s reserves and limit its future losses.

As a result, there will be higher up-front mortgage insurance premiums, lower allowable seller concessions, and even 10% minimum down payments for some borrowers. Plus, HUD is expected to petition Congress to allow it to also increase the monthly mortgage premium.

So if  you’re planning to buy a home in Benicia, Vallejo or Read the rest of this story

Written by Rod Herman | Discussion: No Comments »

Housing Inventory Up Again In Vallejo Last Week; Benicia, Fairfield & Vaca, Too

January 19th, 2010 categories: Benicia, Buying, Fairfield-Gr Valley, Market Update, Selling, Solano, Suisun City, Vacaville, Vallejo

Graph UPAll trends have to start somewhere, don’t they?

Last week, Vallejo’s inventory jumped 16%. And this week, it was up another 6%. That’s a 23% increase in just two weeks — from 242 to 299.

Benicia was up 7.3% this past week, boosting its supply to 88 active listings.

Elsewhere in the county, Fairfield was up 5.4% and Vacaville was up 4.8%. Suisun was the only city in our Solano County market area where the inventory dropped — although that decrease was only by a single home.

Download This Week’s Solano Real Estate Report

But the biggest news is still Vallejo — where the inventory hasn’t been this high since mid-June of last year.

You have to go all the way back to June 15, when there were 322 Read the rest of this story

Written by Rod Herman | Discussion: No Comments »

 
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