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Archive for September, 2009
Solano County Real Estate Report For Sept. 28: Inventory About Where It Was In Early August
September 29th, 2009 categories: Benicia, Buying, Fairfield-Gr Valley, Market Update, Selling, Solano, Vacaville, Vallejo
This week will mark the end of the 3rd quarter, which means that three-quarters of 2009 will be in the books by mid-week. Hard to believe.
The past week saw a few interesting developments, though by and large, as the headline indicates, we’re pretty close to where we were about two months ago.
The inventory of available homes for sale in Solano County, which had started to climb earlier this month, has now dropped back to the same level as early August. Read the rest of this entry »
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Better To Pay ‘Points’ Or Take A Higher Rate?
September 27th, 2009 categories: Buying, Loans / Financing
One of the biggest dilemmas for many homebuyers in Benicia & Vallejo as well as throughout the rest of Solano County & the entire U.S. comes just about the time that their lender is ready to draw loan papers.
I’m talking about that really BIG decision that hits just about every home buyer at one point during the transaction.
No, not whether the furniture will really fit or whether their kids get to go to this school or that one.
No, I’m talking about that REALLY Big Decision — you know, the one where they have to decide whether to pay points and get a lower interest rate or forgo the points and take a higher interest rate with higher monthly payments.
Okay, maybe I’m exaggerating a bit. Read the rest of this entry »
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Solano County Real Estate Report For Sept. 21: Inventory Drops Up North, Rises In The South
September 21st, 2009 categories: Benicia, Buying, Fairfield-Gr Valley, Market Update, Selling, Solano, Suisun City, Vacaville, Vallejo
They say turnabout is fair play. Well that’s the story of Solano County real estate over the past week.
For, in a 180-degree turnaround from the previous week, when the inventory was up in the North County and down in the South County, the supply this past week was down in the north and up in the south.
So if you look at the numbers over the past two weeks, things have balanced themselves out — which often tends to happen the larger the sample size.
Pending sales activity remained strong last week as, aside from Benicia, Read the rest of this entry »
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Freshly Listed: Classic Single Story In Vallejo
September 21st, 2009 categories: Buying, New Listings, Vallejo
We just listed a home with lots of classic touches on Ensign Ave. in Vallejo.
The home, built in the 1940s, has beautiful hardwood floors, large bedrooms, a living room, dining room and fireplace, plus a sunny kitchen with breakfast nook classic Wedgewood oven and range. There’s even a large utility room. Read the rest of this entry »
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Newly Listed: Glen Cove Single Story In Vallejo
September 21st, 2009 categories: Buying, New Listings, Vallejo
We just listed a home on Bluebell Ln. in Vallejo’s Glen Cove area that could be a gem of a pickup for the right opportunistic buyer.
This single story home was built in 1980 and needs a little TLC (carpets, paint, several appliance repairs to name a few). But overall, this home has a lot going for it, including lots of upgrades, a roomy interior (almost 1,500 sq. ft.) and a great location. Plus it’s one of the few Read the rest of this entry »
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Just Listed: Updated Single Story In Vallejo
September 21st, 2009 categories: Buying, New Listings, Vallejo
We just listed a beautifully updated single-story home on Moorland St. in the Greenfield Terrace area in Vallejo. Granite counters, recently upgraded appliances, hardwood floors, fresh sod in the backyard, and a lot more. It truly is move-in ready.
The specifics:
- 581 Moorland St, Vallejo
- 3 Bedrooms
- 2 baths
- Approx. 1,166 sq. ft
- Priced at $165,000
For more details Read the rest of this entry »
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New Rules Could Mean Appraisal Headaches For Local FHA Loans Come January
September 20th, 2009 categories: Buying, Loans / Financing, Selling
UPDATE: Dec. 27, 2009 — FHA has announced that it is delaying implementation of its new appraisal policy until Feb. 15, 2010. It was originally slated to go into effect 1-1-2010, as this post indicates. For more details, click here.
If you’ve been reading this blog or following the local real estate scene in recent months, you’ve no doubt heard a lot about the Home Valuation Code of Conduct (HVCC), a policy that was adopted back in May which has created all sorts of havoc for many sales involving a conventional loan.
So far, many FHA borrowers have been spared the frustration that has ensued since the HVCC went into effect. But come Jan. 1, that could change, thanks to HUD’s upcoming appraisal requirements, which were just announced on Friday.
While HUD didn’t adopt the Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac HVCC policy verbatim, it did adopt many of the same rules and requirements.
For those who don’t know what the HVCC is all about, here’ s a quick overview. Read the rest of this entry »
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A Few Scenes From Yesterday’s 36th Annual Fine Arts & Craft Fair In Benicia
September 20th, 2009 categories: Benicia, Local Stuff
Benicia held its 36th annual Fine Arts & Craft Fair yesterday and as I strolled through the fair with my wife, daughter and our two grandchildren, I snapped a few photos and took a short video — to capture the essence of this year’s fair.
In past years, it’s simply been called the “Handicraft Fair.” This year, they gave the fair a new name — the “Fine Arts & Craft Fair”. Read the rest of this entry »
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Weekly Solano Real Estate Report For Sept. 14: Huge Drop In Closed Sales Last Week
September 17th, 2009 categories: Benicia, Buying, Fairfield-Gr Valley, Market Update, Selling, Solano, Suisun City, Vacaville, Vallejo
Since we were out of town earlier this week, this week’s report is a few days later than normal…but the data still reflects what was current as of Sept. 13th & 14th.
Some interesting notes this week:
- Inventory was up in the north county (Fairfield, Suisun, Vacaville) and down in the south (Benicia, Vallejo).
- For the year, the housing supply in Vallejo and Suisun remains down more than 75% from where it was at its peak Read the rest of this entry »
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Vallejo & Benicia Home Sales For August — Details On EVERY Closed Sale Last Month
September 17th, 2009 categories: Benicia, Market Update, Vallejo
We were on vacation from the middle of last week until Tuesday, so this month’s recap of last month’s home sales for
Benicia and Vallejo is a little tardier than normal. I had hoped to post this before we left town, but you know what they say about best laid plans.
As I do every month, I’ve tabulated the closed sales for both cities, so you can see details on every closed home sale, complete with bedrooms, baths, square footage, days on market and closing date — plus original list price, final list price and actual sales price.
There’s also a column showing whether or not it was a distress sale and another column that calculates the net price change from list date to closing date.
So if you’re curious about a home that sold in your area, Click Here for the August ‘09 Benicia report. Or Click Here for the August ‘09 Vallejo report.
Some highlights from this month’s reports: Read the rest of this entry »
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