Rosalyn Santiago's Blog

Its the start of a new school year and my kids are excited but not because it is a new school year but because they are going to see all their old friends.  All things new are nice but only if your friends are there to enjoy them with you. 

What a concept, huh? 

We love the smell of new things and the fact that nothing has been worn or stretched; but what good are these new things if they cannot be enjoyed with family and friends. 

Same idea applies to the purchase of buying a new house but this market does not offer new new, if offers old worn out homes that have received much beating or neglect. 

But let’s look at it from the perspective that it is new to you. New in the sense that you can break it in in order to fit your needs. You can change colors of interior walls, change interior flooring, and add a landscaping to die for; but it cannot be done if it can’t be enjoyed with family and friends. The fruits of your labor will make the old worn beat up house a new home.

Happy House Hunting!

It was speculated many moons ago that Los Banos & surrounding areas were going to experience an influx of available new homes.   Although the source of this information is reliable is hard to say what happened to that influx of new listings. In Los Banos we see many homes getting foreclosed on but no listed as REO or bank owned properties. Leave us to wonder, what is happening.

In May 2010 there were 358 active listings with 211 sold and 223 that went Pending.  In june the active listing wet up 7.5% to 385 active listings and 276 Pending an increase of 23.8%. 

The majority of this listings are not Bank Owned but they still are affordable and some in more than ready to move in condition.  The seller whether an investor/investors or private sale provide clean homes with new interior paint and, if it needs it, new carpet or/and flooring.

Will we see another influx of REO homes?  Only time will tell.

Do not panic, the flood I am speaking of are of new bank owned properties.  Merced County has been told to expect some kind of a flood of new listings to hit the market early part of 2010.  We are all waiting in anticipation as things slowly recover from the holidays and start moving forward.

As we wait, lenders are releasing the new lending regulations that may or may not make it easier to borrow money for the purchase of a home; the state of california governor proposed a new round of $10,000 state tax credit for buyers of new homes and existing homes (go too www.ftb.ca.gov for further details); and the IRS will continue their tax credit until april 2010 (this one is old news but still good news).

This is good news even though some lenders are getting very strict with lending guidelines and taking longer to complete transactions. Yet with all these different stimulus and challenges, the california housing market expects a “3.3% increase in the median home price bringing it to $280,000.” (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34704789/ns/business-real_estate/). 

I am excited for what this real estate market has to offer this upcoming year and the challenges that as a realtor, I will be facing.  In conclusion, it will be good a year for some and still a better year for others. 

Below is a preview of current active listings.  We are comparing the current activity to the prior 2 months and trying to determine if we have more house selling for less or more houses selling for more.

July has a number of new active listing in each of the criteria shown below but the average marketing time as you can see is much less than 30 days in comparison to May and June 2009.

                                                2 Bedrooms      3 Bedrooms      4 Bedrooms      5+Bedrooms

# Of Active Units             0                                22                             32                             5

Average List Price           $0                             $118,889              $133,093              $185,960

Average Market Time    0                                27                            20                             21

 While in June, the average days on the market was less than the average days on the market in the month of May, June offered more new active listings than in the month May.

                                                   2 Bedrooms      3 Bedrooms     4 Bedrooms      5+Bedrooms

#of Active Units                  0                               21                             16                             0

Average List Price               $0                           $95,714                 $158,906             $0

Average Market Time         0                             56                             58                            0 

May offered even less new active listings and the days on the market were long.  Not many buyers.

                                         2- Bedrooms         3 Bedrooms    4 Bedrooms    5+Bedrooms

# Of Active Units                 2                          17                           5                              1

Average List Price               $115,250        $150,109            $144,600           169,900

Average Market Time         209                   121                         80                          285

So why is it so hard to buy in Los Banos.  For every new listing posted, the listing agent will get at least 4 offers on the first day is posted and up to 20 offers after 7 days on the market; at least 10 of those buyers are qualified buyers.  Los Banos has bargains.  For Example, the office received a new listing of a home built in 2006 with 3524 square feet and a backyard measuring over 9000 sq feet.  The property listing price is $189,900 which comes out to be $53.89 per square feet. This is a real bargain especially on a home that is the size of mansion in comparison to older homes in Los Banos.  Today’s market is about the highest and best offer even if the highest price is nowhere near the appraisal value.  Of course,  time will tell if in July all new listings indeed do sell above asking price and even above current appraisal values.