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Archive for December, 2009

Festive Night Kicks Off Benicia’s Holiday Season

December 5th, 2009 categories: Benicia, Fun Stuff, Local Stuff

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The annual walk on First Street — better known as Benicia’s Holiday Open House — was another rousing success Friday Night. The weather was nippy (but not too cold) and the street was packed with just about everyone in town.

Out in front of our office at 900 First St., there was a steady line pretty much all night line as people queued up for free bags of popcorn, cotton candy and pictures with Santa.

And all up and down First Street it was a sea of people, as Benicians young and old exchanged holiday greetings and paused to enjoy a wide variety of holiday musical entertainment.

The antique city fire truck was back again, adorned in festive holiday lights. And most First St. merchants kept their doors open until 9 pm, serving all sorts of holiday treats to anyone who stopped by.

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Above and below are three videos I took last night. If you missed this year’s festivities, be sure to put it on  your calendar for next December; it’s always the first Friday in December. Read the rest of this entry »

Written by Rod Herman | Discussion: No Comments »

Mortgage Rates Hit All-Time Low (Well, At Least The Lowest Since 1971)

December 4th, 2009 categories: Loans / Financing

On the left side-bar of HomeSection.com, you’ve probably seen the little “Mortgage Market Survey” graphic. It automatically updates every Thursday, when Freddie Mac updates its mortgage rate survey.

Well, this week’s report, released late yesterday, shows that interest rates over the past week dropped to 4.71% (with 0.7 points). That represents the lowest it’s ever been, since Freddie started compiling its list all the way back in 1971.

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Read the rest of this entry »

Written by Rod Herman | Discussion: No Comments »

Did You Notice THAT Little Blue Widget?

December 3rd, 2009 categories: Fun Stuff, Local Stuff

Twitter Page GraphicIf you’re a regular HomeSection.com reader, you might have noticed a subtle little change at the bottom of the right sidebar.

Yep, I finally joined the flock and started using the Twitter account that I sheepishly activated some months back but up until now had never used.

For months I’ve been trying to figure out if/why/how I’d ever use Twitter.  And I must admit: up until a few weeks ago, I still wasn’t sure.

I certainly didn’t want to tell the world how lumpy my morning oatmeal was or that I had just finished brushing my teeth.

So I continued to scratch my head, wondering why so many people out there had embraced Twitter as the new Pet Rock (don’t remember what that was, or too young to remember? Click Here).

But over the past few weeks, some applications and opportunities started to crystallize in my mind. Read the rest of this entry »

Written by Rod Herman | Discussion: No Comments »

Weekly Solano Real Estate Report For Nov 30: Thanksgiving Holiday = Lower Activity

December 3rd, 2009 categories: Benicia, Buying, Fairfield-Gr Valley, Market Update, Selling, Solano, Suisun City, Vacaville, Vallejo

weekly-solano-home-reportSorry if this week’s Solano County Real Estate Report took a little longer to post than normal.

I actually created the reports earlier this week, but attended ActiveRain’s terrific “RainCamp” on Social Media all day yesterday, so had to cram three days of work into Monday & Tuesday.

Onto this week’s real estate report. With the Thanksgiving holiday taking up a good chunk of the week, there weren’t really any earth-shattering emerging trends last week.

Every city in the county saw its inventory decline a bit, which is typical this time of the year. Vallejo saw it’s supply drop by 9 listings, followed by Suisun City (-4), Vacaville and Fairield (-3 apiece) and Benicia (-2). Read the rest of this entry »

Written by Rod Herman | Discussion: No Comments »

Fannie Tells Investors To Take A Back Seat To Owner-Occupant Home Buyers

December 1st, 2009 categories: Buying

Fannie's First-Look ProgramOne of the most frustrating parts of this real estate market for many first-time and even some move-up buyers in the Benicia-Vallejo and Solano County market area this year has been having to compete for homes with well-heeled all-cash investors.

Well some of that may soon start to change, at least if a recent program by Fannie Mae takes off and spreads to other segments of the foreclosed property resale market.

That new program, which Fannie has dubbed “First Look,” will give owner-occupant buyers “first dibs” on all Fannie Mae-owned homes for the first 15 days that it’s on the market. Read the rest of this entry »

Written by Rod Herman | Discussion: No Comments »

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