http://pardeeproperties.com/featureddetails.php?property_ID=177
Pardee Properties closes escrow on a Marina Peninsula home.
June 25th, 2010Culver Centrale – Another unit sold!
June 24th, 2010
Mortgage rates sink to lowest level on record
June 24th, 2010Rates on 30 Year fixed mortgages fall to lowest level on record according to Freddie Mac, 4.69%
Alan Zibel, AP Real Estate Writer, On Thursday June 24, 2010, 10:09 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — Mortgage rates fell this week to the lowest level on record, giving consumers added incentive to lock in low payments on home purchases and refinancings.
Mortgage company Freddie Mac said Thursday that the average rate for 30-year fixed loans sank to 4.69 percent, from 4.75 percent last week.
That’s the lowest since Freddie Mac began tracking rates in 1971. The previous record of 4.71 percent was set in December. Rates for 15-year and five-year mortgages also hit lows.
Mortgage rates have fallen over the past two months. Investors wary of the European debt crisis and the turbulent stock market have shifted money into the safety of Treasury bonds, driving down yields. Mortgage rates tend to track the yields on long-term Treasury debt.
Freddie Mac collects mortgage rates on Monday through Wednesday of each week from lenders around the country. Rates often fluctuate significantly, even within a given day.
Rates on 15-year, fixed-rate mortgages fell to an average of 4.13 percent, the lowest on records dating to September 1991 and down from 4.2 percent a week earlier.
Rates on five-year, adjustable-rate mortgages averaged 3.84 percent, down from 3.89 percent a week earlier. That was also the lowest on Freddie Mac’s records, which only date back to January 2005.
Average rates on one-year, adjustable-rate mortgages fell to 3.77 percent from 3.82 percent. That was the lowest average since May 2004.
The rates do not include add-on fees known as points. One point is equal to 1 percent of the total loan amount.
The nationwide fee for loans in Freddie Mac’s survey averaged 0.7 a point for 30-year, 5-year and 1-year loans. The average fee for 15-year loans was 0.6 of a point.
HOME OWNERSHIP – Rate down but first time buyers up!
June 16th, 2010I recommend reading this attached article from the Joint Center For Housing Studies at Harvard University. It has some really great statistics on homeownership in light of current market conditions with plunging home prices, dismal loan performance, and foreclosures. As the article states, buyers who purchase homes at or near price bottoms stand to gain if real house price appreciation returns to its long-term pace which is slightly above real income growth. First-time purchasers rose from 36 percent of all homebuyers in 2006 to about 45 percent in 2009. A sharp increase by any measure.
PENDING HOME SALES SURGE CONTINUES.
June 3rd, 2010
NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS, Washington, June 02, 2010
Pending home sales have risen for three consecutive months, reflecting the broad impact of the home buyer tax credit and favorable housing affordability conditions, according to the National Association of Realtors®.
http://www.realtor.org/press_room/news_releases/2010/06/pending_surge
GIVING BACK – ANOTHER DONATION….
May 31st, 2010Thanks to our great clients Mr. & Mrs. Kim, Pardee Properties makes another charitable donation.
HOMES ARE UNDERVALUED
May 29th, 2010Homes are now undervalued compared with the size of the U.S. economy. The chart, developed by St. Louis Fed President James Bullard and the bank’s research economists, tracks the S&P/Case-Shiller National Home-Price Index and the value of gross domestic product before adjusting for inflation. By this measure, homes are the most undervalued in at least two decades.
——Steve Matthews and Alex Tanzi
ECONOMIC NEWS
May 29th, 2010Existing home sales surged 7.6% in April to an annualized pace of 5.77 million following a similar sized gain to a rate of 5.36 million in March. The expiration of the homebuyer tax credit at the end of April was the primary driver of increased home sales in both March and April. The Case-Shiller 20-metro area home price index was unchanged on a monthly basis in March from February but gained 2.4% from March one year ago. The consumer confidence index rose to 63.3% in May from a level of 57.7% in April. An increase in expectations ratings led the overall index gain this month while consumers were generally more upbeat about the labor market outlook. New home sales jumped 14.8% in April to an annual rate of 504,000. Moreover, revisions to the data in the previous two months resulted in a net gain of 42,000 more new home sales. Personal income grew at a 0.4% rate in April the same as in March. Despite income growth last month, consumer spending was unchanged following six consecutive monthly gains.
VENICE – TRIVIA
May 23rd, 2010Thanks to Abbot Kinney and his vision we now have Venice, Ca. At the turn of the century his vision was to create a “Coney Island of the Pacific”. Did you know that Windward Circle use to be a lagoon at the beginning of the 20th Century? Here’s a pic from atop an adjacent roller coaster. For more Venice History and historic pics and maps visit:
http://www.westland.net/venicehistory/
http://www.westland.net/venice/history.htm
SHORT SALES
May 23rd, 2010What is a short sale? A short sale is a sales transaction in which the seller’s mortgage lender agrees to accept a payoff of less than the balance due on the loan.