Categories
- Buying
- Benicia
- Investors
- Vallejo
- Solano
- Contra Costa
- Selling
- Market Update
- Loans / Financing
- Foreclosures / Short Sales
- Local Stuff
- Fun Stuff
- Vacaville
- Fairfield-Gr Valley
- Suisun City
- The Economy
- Viewpoint
- New Listings
- Resources
Archive
- July 2011 (1)
- June 2011 (2)
- May 2011 (2)
- April 2011 (3)
- March 2011 (6)
- February 2011 (4)
- May 2010 (5)
- April 2010 (30)
- March 2010 (7)
- February 2010 (6)
- January 2010 (11)
- December 2009 (15)
- November 2009 (10)
- October 2009 (20)
- September 2009 (13)
- August 2009 (15)
- July 2009 (10)
- June 2009 (9)
- May 2009 (18)
- April 2009 (14)
- March 2009 (14)
- February 2009 (22)
- January 2009 (21)
- December 2008 (7)
- November 2008 (1)
- October 2008 (2)
- September 2008 (8)
Archive for October, 2009
More Benicia Scarecrow Photos — Part 3
October 18th, 2009 categories: Benicia, Fun Stuff, Local Stuff
Another two photos of entries from this year’s Benicia Scarecrow Contest. Today is “Bunny Day” as both entries are distant relatives of Peter Cottontail.
Click the image to the right for today’s photos — this year’s entries from Piccolo and Studio 41 — both located in the 600 block of First St. (depending on your browser, once the image appears, you may have to click on it again to enlarge it to full size).
Be sure to vote for your favorite Scarecrow! I’ll post several more photos each day until they’ve all appeared and then I’ll post one final collage of the entire bunch. Read the rest of this entry »
| Discussion: No Comments »
More Benicia Scarecrows…Part 2
October 17th, 2009 categories: Benicia, Fun Stuff, Local Stuff
Yesterday I posted the first three photos of this year’s Benicia Scarecrow Contest contestants. I’ll continue to do so until all 20 or so that I have taken have been posted.
Click below for today’s photos — they’re of the entries from Aroma Indian Cuisune and Bombshell Hair & Ink.
And be sure to vote for your favorite Scarecrow! I’ll post several more photos each day until they’ve all appeared and then I’ll post one final collage of the entire bunch.
For a complete list of this year’s entries, courtesy of the Benicia Main Street Program, which sponsors the contest each year, click here (not every businesses on this list has a scarecrow yet on display). Read the rest of this entry »
| Discussion: No Comments »
SCARECROWS All Over Benicia!!
October 16th, 2009 categories: Benicia, Fun Stuff, Local Stuff
By the sight of First Street these days, you’d think that Benicia had been invaded by a swarm of hungry crows.
Nope, that’s not it at all.
It’s the city’s annual Fall Scarecrow Contest, something that always makes strolling down First Street in October a veritable delight.
I did just that earlier today and snapped photos of almost two dozen scarecrows — some scary, some funny, but all of them very creative.
Between now and Halloween I’ll post several photos each day. Be sure to take a walk down First Street and see them all for yourself. Read the rest of this entry »
| Discussion: No Comments »
Attaboy Arnie! Maybe This New Emergency Law Will Burst A Few REO Sellers’ Balloons
October 15th, 2009 categories: Buying, Foreclosures / Short Sales
If you’ve been keeping score, the REO asset managers have been calling most if not all of the shots over the past eight or nine months.
But thanks to Arnie and his band of Sacramento lawmakers, REO departments for the banks doing business here in California may have just lost one of their hammers.
That’s because earlier this week, Gov. Schwarzenegger
signed an emergency bill (AB 957 – Galgiani) that immediately prevents lenders who are selling a foreclosed property from requiring the buyer to use a particular title or escrow company.
Even though federal law already prohibits sellers of federally related loans from directing title business, most REO sellers continue to require the buyer to use a title and escrow company of their choosing.
Buyers Really Haven’t Had A Choice Before Now
As a result, many buyers find themselves “forced” to use a title and escrow company located far away from the county they’re buying and with no local offices to serve them.
So when it comes time to sign closing papers, that often means a huge logistical nightmare, with an escrow company in Southern California trying to find a mobile notary who knows little more about the papers the buyer is signing than the buyer himself. Read the rest of this entry »
| Discussion: No Comments »
How Much Did Every Benicia or Vallejo Home Sell For Last Month? Find Out Right Here
October 14th, 2009 categories: Benicia, Buying, Market Update, Selling, Vallejo
Curious what that home around the corner sold for last month?
Wonder if that seller on such-and-such street really got his asking price?
Want to know whether a particular home sold at, below or above the asking price — and by how much?
Those answers and more are just a few clicks away — in September’s Benicia and Vallejo Home Sales Reports.
To view the September Benicia Report, click here.
For the September Vallejo Report, click here.
Some highlights from September’s reports:
- Benicia had 29 sales last month — three more than in August. Of those, 17 were distress sales (13 REO’s and 4 short sales). Read the rest of this entry »
| Discussion: No Comments »
Solano County Real Estate Report For Oct. 12: Vallejo & Suisun Hit YTD Inventory Lows
October 13th, 2009 categories: Benicia, Buying, Fairfield-Gr Valley, Market Update, Selling, Solano, Suisun City, Vacaville, Vallejo
As the headline above cries out, the big news in Solano County real estate this week was that Vallejo and Suisun City each saw their housing supplies drop to year-to-date lows.
Vallejo, which boasted 899 homes for sale in early January, now has but 213 active listings. And Suisun, which had 240 homes on the market back in January now has a mere 49.
The other big news was also in Vallejo, which had its fewest number of closed sales (20) for any week since at least mid-February (when I started tracking that statistic). The previous low was 35 weeks ago (Feb. 15) when Vallejo had 21 sales for the week. Read the rest of this entry »
| Discussion: No Comments »
3rd Quarter Home Sales For Solano County: Just About What We Expected
October 13th, 2009 categories: Benicia, Buying, Fairfield-Gr Valley, Market Update, Selling, Solano, Suisun City, Vacaville, Vallejo
If your appetite for statistics wasn’t satisfied with my previous post showing the final monthly numbers for September, hopefully this post will satisfy your hunger.
Since a quarterly report covers a much larger sample size than just one single month, they’re usually far more relevant and offer a better snapshot of what’s really happening in the marketplace.
Overall, the 3rd quarter home sale numbers for Solano County were pretty much in line with what I expected, based on what we’ve been seeing in the field: continued stronger sales along with some long-awaited price appreciation.
| Discussion: No Comments »
Sept. 09 Solano Home Sale Stats: Looks Like The Market Is Indeed Stabilizing
October 10th, 2009 categories: Benicia, Buying, Fairfield-Gr Valley, Market Update, Selling, Solano, Suisun City, Vacaville, Vallejo
If you’re a number cruncher or really like to read the boxscores on the sports page, you’re going to love my next few posts.
For it’s that time of the month when we get to look back and see what really happened the previous month.
I just downloaded Solano County’s home sale numbers for September and have assembled several reports, which you can download.
In a nutshell, the median price for Solano on a county-wide basis was largely the same as it was last month ($200,000 in Sept. and $197,950 in Aug.). Read the rest of this entry »
| Discussion: No Comments »
Solano County Real Estate Report For Oct. 5: Three Quarters Down, One To Go
October 5th, 2009 categories: Benicia, Buying, Fairfield-Gr Valley, Market Update, Selling, Solano, Suisun City, Vacaville, Vallejo
I’m off to San Jose for our California of Realtors’ annual conference for the next two days. I’m sure I’ll have some new insights to share when I return. So be sure to check back later in the week for all the latest.
But before I go, it’s time to publish this week’s Solano Weekly Real Estate Report.
For the calendar watchers, last week marked the end of the 3rd quarter, which means we have three down and one to go.
As we head towards the finish line for 2009, we continue to see low inventory and rapid-fire multi-offer sales in the $300,000-and-below price range. Read the rest of this entry »
| Discussion: No Comments »
Wanna Get A Tax Credit? The Clock Is Ticking…
October 5th, 2009 categories: Buying
The calendar says October 5th, which means that there are now less than 60 days before the First Time Homebuyer Tax Credit expires here in Solano County as well as the rest of the U.S.
Or to be more specific, if you don’t want to take it down to the wire, you really have about two weeks to get an accepted contract if you want to have a realistic chance of closing escrow in time to qualify for the $8,000 tax credit.
I’ve written about the tax credit periodically in this blog, so I won’t bore you with all the nitty-gritty details (click here for that) but in a nutshell, if you haven’t owned a home in the past three years, you’re probably considered a first-time homebuyer in Uncle Sam’s eyes. Read the rest of this entry »
| Discussion: No Comments »
