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Nut Tree Theme Park In Vacaville Closes Indefinitely Due To Continued Low Attendance

January 17th, 2009 categories: Local Stuff, Solano, The Economy

The Nut Tree “Family Park,” a small Vacaville theme park with kiddie rides is yet another victim of the woeful economy. Earlier this week, the Nut Tree announced that it was closing the park “indefinitely” due to two straight years of lagging business.

We took our grandson there three different times last year. Twice we went mid-week during the summer and it was like a ghost town — we pretty much had the park to ourselves; there couldn’t have been more than a dozen other patrons either time. The last time we went was on a weekend, but it was the same day they had a fall festival, so it was much more crowded that day. Even so, we never had to wait in any lines. Read the rest of this entry »

Written by Rod Herman | Discussion: No Comments »

Solano County Weekly Active Listings Report For Jan. 12, 2009

January 12th, 2009 categories: Benicia, Market Update, Solano, Vallejo

Here’s this week’s Active Listings Report for Solano County. All the cities except Benicia have more listings this week than they did last week. Typically, the inventory nudges higher in January then really starts to climb beginning in about the second or third week in February, a trend that usually continues until about May.

I’ve added a new feature to the report this week — a column showing the percentage increase or decrease from a week ago. If you pull up the entire report, you’ll see that Suisun City had the largest increase in new terms of percentage (3.4% more homes than a week ago).

Here are city-by-city totals:

  • Benicia  105
  • Fairfield-Green Valley  719
  • Suisun City   240
  • Vacaville  425
  • Vallejo  899

For more details, including a breakdown by single-family homes/condos-townhomes and to see the weekly change totals, but in numbers and percentages, click here or on the graphic above to see the full report.

Written by Rod Herman | Discussion: No Comments »

Antioch, Pittsburg & Vallejo 1-2-3 In Percentage Of Active Distress Sale Listings

January 9th, 2009 categories: Benicia, Contra Costa, Foreclosures / Short Sales, Market Update, Solano, Vallejo

For those communities that had the highest number of distress-sale listings last Fall, the news hasn’t gotten any better. In fact, it’s gotten slightly worse in places like Antioch, Pittsburg and Vallejo, where today nine out of every 10 listings are either a short sale or bank-owned.

Those three cities rank 1-2-3 in our market area, with distress properties accounting for 94%, 93% and 90% of their total listing inventory, respectively.

By comparison, the last time I prepared this report, back in late October, Antioch and Pittsburg each had 91% and Vallejo, 86%.

The news wasn’t much better for those right behind the Big Three: Suisun City, Oakley, Fairfield, and Concord, clocked in with 89%, 85%, 80% and 79%, respectively. Only Fairfield saw a decrease (albeit by a single percentage point). The other three cities all saw their percentages go up, including Concord, which jumped from from 72% in October to 79% today. Right behind Concord is Brentwood, at 77% (up from 76% in October). Read the rest of this entry »

Written by Rod Herman | Discussion: No Comments »

How Did Your Community Fare In December?

January 8th, 2009 categories: Benicia, Buying, Market Update, Selling, Solano, Vallejo

Solano County Home Sales Data For December

I just downloaded the data and the numbers are in for Solano County homes sales in December. There were a total of 556 sales county-wide, led in descending order by Vallejo (195), Fairfield/Green Valley (166), Vacaville (87), Suisun City (48) and Benicia (24).

The lowest selling price in the county was in Vallejo ($27,000) and the highest was in Vacaville (an even $1 million). The quickest sales were in Suisun City (average of 82 days on the market) and the slowest were in Vallejo (117 days). However, Vallejo had the most pending sales for the month (249), which was almost half of the entire county’s total (650).

Benicia, as usual, had the highest median sales price in the county, at $383,500 — more than $100,000 higher than the city with the next highest median price (Vacaville at $270,000. Vallejo had the lowest, with a median sales price of $160,000. The county-wide median was  $206,375 in December.

Written by Rod Herman | Discussion: No Comments »

Want To Stay Current On How Many Homes Are On The Market In Most of Solano County?

January 7th, 2009 categories: Benicia, Buying, Market Update, Selling, Solano, Vallejo

A new year means new additions and new traditions. So starting today, I’ll be tracking the number of homes on the market in the Solano County communities we serve on a weekly basis. Keeping track of the inventory every week is something I usually do for Benicia, but now I’m going to start doing it for Vallejo, Fairfield-Green Valley, Suisun and Vacaville, too. And I plan to post the numbers on this blog every week.

Today, the list is only one line long. But if you subscribe to this Blog or keep checking back regularly, as the weeks progress, you’ll see an ever-evolving incredibly useful window into what’s really happening in the market.

As the year begins, here is the housing inventory for Read the rest of this entry »

Written by Rod Herman | Discussion: No Comments »

Surprise! Solano The Only County In The State With Positive Building News

September 29th, 2008 categories: Market Update, Solano

With the entire nation mired in this period of economic uncertainty, one industry that’s taken an incredibly hard hit, as you might imagine, is the home building industry. And in a report just released by the California Building Industry Association, the builder’s trade group announced that all but one county in the golden state saw declines in new building activity.

That one lone exception? Solano County. Statewide in August, building permit activity was down 58 percent to August, 2007. Yet, in Solano, there were actually 3.3% more permits issued this year than a year ago. By comparison, Yuba-Sutter Counties saw a 93 percent drop in new construction during the same period.

That doesn’t necessarily mean that here in Solano we’re exempt from the impacts of all that’s ailing the U.S.’s financial and real estate markets. But amid all the bad news and doom and gloom, it’s nice to see something positive for a change.

Written by Rod Herman | Discussion: No Comments »

Why Savvy Real Estate Investors Are Now Licking Their Chops…Especially In Places Like Antioch, Fairfield and Vallejo

September 5th, 2008 categories: Buying, Contra Costa, Foreclosures / Short Sales, Investors, Market Update, Solano, Vallejo

Four or five years ago, when prices were skyrocketing month after month, buyers often lamented about being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

These Antioch homes are all more than 2,200 sq. ft. and below $300,000

These Antioch homes are all more than 2,200 sq. ft. and below $300,000

I’d pull up a property’s history and when they saw that the home they were about to pay $600,000 for had been purchased a dozen years earlier for $210,000, they’d say “if I’d only bought several homes back then when I had the chance.”

The ‘good ‘ol days, were long gone, with prices outpacing rents by such a long shot that any savvy real estate investor didn’t even have to crunch the numbers. Unless they were in it for a quick flip, they knew that the numbers didn’t come close to penciling out when a $550,000 home would only rent for $1,500/month. Read the rest of this entry »

Written by Rod Herman | Discussion: 1 Comment »