Real Estate News and Information

An estimated 39,051 new and resale houses and condos sold statewide last month. That was up 3.4 percent from 37,764 in March, and up 2.1 percent from 38,241 sales in April 2012, according to San Diego-based DataQuick.

Last month's sales count was the strongest for an April since 48,894 homes were sold in April 2006. California April sales have varied from a low of 27,625 in 1995 to a high of 71,638 in 2004. Last month's sales were 11.1 percent below the average of 43,920 sales for all the months of April since 1988, when DataQuick's statistics begin.

The median price paid for a home in California last month was $324,000, which is the highest for any month since the median was $328,000 in June 2008. Last month's median was up 3.5 percent from $313,000 in March and up 22.7 percent from $264,000 in April 2012. April was the 14th consecutive month in which the state's median sale price rose year-over-year. In March/April/May 2007 the median peaked at $484,000. The post-peak trough was $221,000 in April 2009.

Of the existing homes sold last month, 13.5 percent were properties that had been foreclosed on during the past year – the lowest level since foreclosure resales were 12.6 percent of the resale market in September 2007. Last month’s figure was down from a revised 15.0 percent in March and 30.3 percent a year earlier. Foreclosure resales peaked at 58.8 percent in February 2009.

Short sales - transactions where the sale price fell short of what was owed on the property - made up an estimated 17.7 percent of the homes that resold last month. That was down from a revised estimate of 19.7 percent the month before and 23.9 percent a year earlier.

The typical mortgage payment that home buyers committed themselves to paying last month was $1,157. That was up from $1,134 in March and up from $1,010 a year earlier. Adjusted for inflation, last month's typical payment was 49.8 percent below the 1989 peak of the prior real estate cycle, and 59.3 percent below the 2006 peak of the current cycle.

DataQuick monitors real estate activity nationwide and provides information to consumers, educational institutions, public agencies, lending institutions, title companies and industry analysts.

Indicators of market distress continue to decline. Foreclosure activity remains well below year-ago and peak levels reached several years ago. Financing with multiple mortgages is low, while down payment sizes are stable, DataQuick reported.

 Source: DataQuick; DQNews.com

It might finally be time to come out of the basement.

Seven years after the housing market began to collapse, rising prices and thinner inventories are presenting new opportunities for home sellers. Some hot markets are even seeing multiple offers for the same property—a phenomenon rarely seen since the boom years—as buyers become more confident and seek to take advantage of today's near-record-low mortgage rates.

Home prices nationally climbed 8.3% in December from the same period a year earlier, according to CoreLogic, a real-estate analytics company. The increase was the largest since May 2006 and the 10th consecutive monthly gain. The CoreLogic figures include foreclosures and other distressed sales.

The gains are good news for would-be sellers who have been stranded on the sidelines since home prices peaked in 2006. Nearly one in four homeowners and renters say now is a good time to sell a home, according to a survey released this month by Fannie Mae, the government-backed mortgage company, up from 11% a year earlier.

"You will unambiguously see more people test the water," says Thomas Lawler, an independent housing economist in Leesburg, Va. He expects home prices to rise another 3% this year.

Thinking about selling? You are likely to find a buyer more quickly and at a better price if you factor in local market conditions and recent sales before setting an asking price, burnish your home's Internet profile and plan ahead for a home appraisal.

Acting soon may pay off as well. While trends vary by region, buyer search activity generally peaks in March and April, while seller listings peak in July, says Jed Kolko, chief economist at real-estate website Trulia.com. "Most sellers would be better off if they pushed the process up a couple of months," he says.

Sellers could face headwinds if mortgage rates jump or the economy weakens, while the supply of homes for sale is likely to increase over the next few months, creating more competition, say real-estate agents.

Don't expect to make a killing. Even after the recent gains, home prices remain about 27% below their 2006 highs, according to CoreLogic.

In some markets, prices remain so low that selling is likely to prove painful—unless you are looking to buy a more expensive home at a discount.

"The only reason I would sell today is if I wanted something more than I currently have," says Craig Beggins, president of Century 21 Beggins Enterprises in Tampa Bay, Fla., where prices are still off more than 40% from their 2006 peak.

Still, in many markets, sellers have more of an edge than they have had in years. One big reason: The number of existing homes on the market dropped to 1.74 million in January, down 25% from a year earlier and the lowest level since December 1999, according to the National Association of Realtors.

Houses are also selling faster. The median number of days on the market for homes in January was 71, according to the Realtors group, meaning half of all homes sold within that time. That's down from 99 days one year ago.

Elizabeth Tolli first put her 4,400-square-foot St. Petersburg, Fla., house up for sale in late 2009, but took the listing down a year later after not receiving any offers. She recently put it back on the market.

"I feel more confident, even if prices aren't at the height they were six or seven years ago," says Ms. Tolli, who has set a $1.2 million asking price for the five-bedroom waterfront property. That is more than it would have fetched a year or two ago, she says, but still well below its peak value of more than $2 million.

If you are thinking of making a move, start by assessing conditions in your local market. Lanny Baker, chief executive of ZipRealty, an online real-estate brokerage based in Emeryville, Calif., suggests focusing on five measures: price changes, the inventory of homes for sale, competition from foreclosures, the average time it takes a home to sell and the gap between selling prices and list prices.

In markets such as Las Vegas, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., "prices are up, competition is down, bank competition is down more, days on the market are shorter, and the prices being realized relative to the list price have really improved," all good news for sellers, Mr. Baker says.

But sellers shouldn't be complacent. Here are some steps to consider.

Interview multiple agents. Some people prefer to handle the selling process themselves. But if you plan to use a real-estate agent, start by interviewing several contenders.

Mr. Baker of ZipRealty suggests narrowing your search to agents who have handled many sales in your neighborhood. They are likely to have the best view of local market conditions and can better assess what your home may sell for and how it should be marketed, he says.

Nancy Vaske, a jewelry designer in Chicago, interviewed four brokers before putting her 1,800-square-foot condominium on the market this past week for an asking price of $995,000.

"I wanted to know whether they had sold any units in my building because it's a specific market in the city, and whether they've represented the buyer or the seller," she says.

The broker Ms. Vaske chose has represented both sellers and buyers in her building, and "probably knows more details about the workings of this building than most residents do," she says.

Adjust your sights to today's market. Set aside what you home might have fetched in 2006 and focus instead on what homes are selling for today.

Dan Elsea, president of Real Estate One in Detroit, uses recent sales as his guide, paying particular attention to properties that have received multiple offers. He prefers the homes he sells to be among the five lowest-priced properties among similar homes. "Typically, a buyer will see and remember five homes at a time," he explains.

Pay attention to how long competing homes have been on the market. These days, well-priced homes often sell in a week or two, while homes that languish for months are typically priced at unrealistic levels.

Don't overreach. Given today's thin inventories, it is tempting to reach for the stars. But if you get greedy and set the price too high, you are likely to wind up in a downward spiral.

"You are going to have your largest viewing audience in your first days on the market, when the house is the newest product on the shelf," says Lloyd Fox, a broker at Long Realty in Scottsdale, Ariz. If the price is too high, buyers and agents are likely to relegate your listing to the sidelines.

Properly priced homes are likely to get eight to 10 showings their first week on the market and an offer soon after, Mr. Fox says. If not, "you have missed the market" and it's likely a price cut is in order, he adds.

Make the Internet work for you. Most home buyers and agents are now starting the search process online, which means it is important to make the Internet a key part of your marketing strategy. Begin by carefully selecting the photos you will post online.

For maximum impact, start with the photo "that is going to tell the best story of your home," whether it's the front view or a special feature, says Mr. Fox, the Scottsdale broker. Too many shots of a single room could bore buyers, he adds.

For Kenneth Vaughan's Phoenix home, Mr. Fox started with a photo of the home's exterior to show its "curb appeal," followed by photos of the living room, kitchen, backyard and master bedroom and bathroom. The home, which is selling for $119,900, received three full-priced offers in the first week, says Mr. Vaughan, a retired police officer.

Factor in Internet searches when setting your listing price. Because most buyers tend to search in $25,000 or $50,000 increments, you can maximize your exposure by pricing your home at a round number, such as $400,000. That way the house will show up when buyers search for homes in the $350,000 to $400,000 range and for those priced at $400,000 to $450,000.

Weigh multiple offers carefully. In cases of multiple bidders, you should focus not just on price, but also on terms.

In comparing two competing bids at similar prices, Kristine Lambrecht, an agent at Real Estate One in Clarkston, Mich., recommends choosing the buyer who is putting down more cash or is willing to forgo an inspection, since those deals are likely to close sooner and with fewer hassles. If she thinks the appraisal will be lower than the sale price, she will take a slightly lower bid if the buyer is willing to guarantee the purchase price.

Clean up your act. Even in a market where inventories are thin, a home isn't likely to sell if it looks shabby or crowded. At a minimum, you'll need to touch up the paint, clean the carpet and pare your possessions.

Suzanne Peltier, who lives in Farmington Hills, Mich., hired a handyman to patch loose bricks and touch up the paint on her four-bedroom Colonial before putting it on the market. She also removed some of her furniture so the home looks bigger.

Julie Kaczor, a broker at Baird & Warner Real Estate in Chicago's western suburbs, advises clients to get rid of magazine racks, statues, fireplace tools and anything else that can clutter up the edges of a room. She looks for inexpensive fixes with good payoffs, such as a fresh coat of paint, removing outdated window treatments or a carpet cleaning.

Ron Phipps, principal broker at Phipps Realty in Warwick, R.I., often sends clients to other sellers' open houses to size up the competition and get a better sense of how buyers may view their home. "It's a good way to do counterintelligence," he says. "It's also a good way to see what works in terms of staging and presentation and what makes you uncomfortable."

Plan ahead for the appraisal. About 30% of real-estate agents reported that low appraisals had resulted in the cancellation, delay or renegotiation of a purchase, according to a January survey by the National Association of Realtors.

You can reduce the chances you will encounter problems by providing the appraiser with examples of comparable sales and pointing out special features. Barbara Moody, an agent at Coldwell Banker United Realtors in Sugar Land, Texas, prepares a booklet for appraisers that includes examples of comparable sales, information about the home and receipts for substantial upgrades such as a swimming pool or kitchen renovation.

When a recent sale was almost torpedoed by a low valuation, Ms. Moody showed the appraiser comparable homes he had missed. The result: The appraiser raised his valuation by $7,000 to $129,000. The buyer and seller then split the difference between the appraised value and the $132,000 price they had initially agreed on.

Jan Baker, the home's former owner, says the deal would have fallen through without the higher appraisal. "I would have had to have rented it again," says Ms. Baker, a lawyer who purchased the home in 2005 for $136,900 and now lives in Midland, Texas.

Finally, it’s spring. To celebrate, do a few improvements indoors — tweaking your home’s energy efficiency and getting doors to operate smoothly — and then get outdoors to do some work that shows off your home’s exterior. Install a new screen door or repair an old one. Maintain fireplaces and gas appliances while avoiding the scammers who pop out of the woodwork like bugs this season. Repair fences. Remove stubborn stains from concrete garage floors, patios and sidewalks. And try one or all of our eight cheap and fun ways to give your home’s entrance some exciting spring sparkle.

Inside
Install a programmable thermostat
Energy is wasted when you push up the temperature when the room feels cold or turn down the heat manually when it’s too warm. You can save about $180 a year with one of these devices.

 A programmable thermostat lets you set the temperature in your home, then leave it. The most useful products give you options for establishing different temperatures for day and night (62 at night, for example, and 65 during the day), weekdays and weekends (keep the house cooler while you’re away at work and warmer when you’re home) and also let you turn the heat way down during vacations without changing your daily settings. (Learn more and find out how to get a federal tax credit and possible rebates in this Energy Star article on programmable thermostats)

 Cut energy expenses further

While you are in the mood to reduce energy consumption, call your electric utility and/or your heating-fuel company to ask about financial incentives for installing energy-efficient appliances or improvements. Some utilities subsidize the cost of improvements: adding insulation or weatherstripping, or installing that programmable thermostat, for example. Others give rebates for purchasing Energy Star appliances such as water heaters, air conditioners, dehumidifiers, heat pumps and fans. Also, remember to take the federal tax credit for such purchases. See the entire list at the Energy Star site. Senior citizens may qualify for additional subsidies.

Look for additional savings: Many states offer additional incentives. Find programs in your state onthis map, at the Database of State Incentives for Renewables & Efficiency.

Walk around the house with a can of silicone lubricant and a rag, trying each door. If a door is sticky, open it partway and pull the hinge pin out. The pin is found in the center of the hinge, in the joint between the plate on the wall and the one on the door. Lightly oil the pin and the hole into which it will fit, using the rag to stop drips. Drop the pin back in place. (Find inspiration and tips at "Door repair 101: How to fix a squeaky door hinge, gaps and more.") If a pin is stuck in a hinge, use a hammer and small screwdriver to knock it all the way out. Sand off accumulated oil, dust and rust from pin and lightly lubricate it before reinstalling. You may have to do this with both pins.

 Outside

Repair or replace screen doors 
Get ready for bug season by hanging screen doors. You can repair torn screens yourself:

• Measure the screen opening. You’ll need overage, so add at least an inch to each side. Bring the measurements to a hardware store and purchase a new length of screen.
• The screen is held in place by a flexible cord fitted into a channel that runs around the screen frame. Lift out the cord. If it is old and brittle, measure it and buy new cord at the hardware store.
•  Place the new screen over the opening, fit it snugly in place by settling the cord in its channel around the entire opening (poke it in place with a screwdriver). Trim the excess screen with scissors or a box cutter.

If the door sags, see if you can tighten it by replacing missing or corroded hinge screws.  If that doesn’t work, or if the door is bent or battered, purchase and install a new aluminum screen door.

You could send out an invitation to birds and squirrels to come nest in the warmth of your chimney, or you could install a cap to protect the stack from dripping rain and uninvited critters.  A cap, sometimes called a “crown,” shelters the opening while it lets smoke escape. A cap prevents wind from entering your home and helps create a good draft that feeds your fireplace or stove with oxygen. Metal chimneys usually come with caps, but if yours doesn’t have one, ask the manufacturer for advice.  Caps are not appropriate for all chimneys. Ask your chimney sweep to inspect the chimney each year for damage and to advise you on whether to install a cap.

 Beware chimney-sweep scams

Yes, you should have your chimney swept by a professional to remove flammable creosote that builds up inside the flue from wood smoke. (If you don’t use the stove or fireplace much, you can wait two to three years between cleanings.) But not every chimney sweep is right out of “Mary Poppins.” Door-to-door scammers prey on homeowners, dangling deliciously low prices, then pressuring owners into “repairing” expensive but fictitious problems. Protect yourself by using a chimney sweep with an established business in your town. Check a company’s track record through the Better Business Bureau and locate certified sweeps at the National Chimney Sweep Guild or the Chimney Safety Institute of America.

 Have gas-burning furnaces and appliances inspected

The economy is improving, but foreclosure is still in our midst.

Recognizing that, the Hope NOW Alliance and Making Home Affordable program has set up a free, April 16 workshop at Los Angeles Convention Center, 1201 South Figueroa Street, to help struggling homeowners.

The event is designed to give homeowners a chance to meet face-to-face with their mortgage company and a HUD-approved counseling agency to work on solution to help avoid foreclosure. Refinance assistance will also be available to struggling borrowers who are current on their mortgages.

Mortgage companies expected to participate in the 1 to 8 p.m. event include Bank of America, Chase, Citi Mortgage, GMAC Mortgage, Homeward Residential, HSBC, Nationstar, Ocwen, OneWest, PNC, Select Portfolio Servicing, Seterus, US Bank and Wells Fargo.

For more information, visit: www. HopeNow.com orwww.MakingHomeAffordable.gov

Buying or selling a home is one of the biggest financial transactions most people will ever make in their lives. It can be stressful and overwhelming, but the good news is you are not alone. Real estate agents are trained experts that can help you through the process. Follow this advice to find an agent that best suits your needs.

How to Choose a Real Estate Agent

No matter if you are looking for a buyer’s agent or a listing agent, you need someone that is an expert on your neighborhood and that is familiar with your area’s market.

 Your neighborhood is a good place to start looking for your agent. Keep your eyes peeled for agents that have a lot of for sale signs in your area. Talk to your neighbors to see which broker they used and what they thought about the experience. You can also drop into open houses to see the brokers in action.

Interview The Agent

Treat the agent hiring process the same way you would hire a new employee. You need to interview several candidates, get a good understanding of their track records and gather references.

Start off the interview process by asking to see their current and previous listings and pay special attention to the price ranges, neighborhoods and list to sell prices.

Take stock of who the agent is as a person. Have the agent sell you on why she is the perfect person to find your next home or sell your current home. If the person can’t sell herself, she can’t sell your home. Ask yourself if she seems honest, communicative and hard-working.

 Find out if the agent works on a team and who will handle each part of the process. Having a support team behind your agent can be helpful, but be sure to get an understanding if the big name broker you are expecting to work with is actually the person that will show up.

It is also important to review the buyer purchase or seller listing agreement and take a close look at your cancellation rights.

Dive Into The Numbers

Find out what the agent’s real estate fee is, but don’t automatically go with the person with the lowest fee because it might mean they are pressed for business or inexperienced. If you are buying and selling a home at the same time or can use the broker for future purchases, then you should try to negotiate the fee.

 Likewise, when you ask the agent what they will list your house for, don’t necessarily go with the person that says she can get you the highest price. It might mean that she is unfamiliar with the market or trying to tell you what you want to hear to get hired.

If you are working with listing agents, ask about what types of marketing they will do and what they will spend. At a minimum you can expect open houses, professional photos, website promotion and advertising.

Stay informed, do your own research, have an open mind and keep lines of communication open with your agent and you will find your new home in no time.

In the Inland region, low inventory is pushing up home prices, bailing out underwater homeowners and strengthening recovery

 The real estate market in the Inland region is at an interesting juncture: tight inventory and pent-up demand; investors, foreign and domestic, pitted against first-time homebuyers for a dwindling number of affordable homes.

Prices are appreciating at rates not seen since the market over-corrected in the Great Recession to bargain-basement levels.

Homeowners, long underwater on equity, are starting to come up for air.

Agents so strapped for listings, are knocking on doors.

“This is unprecedented,” Inland economist John Husing said.

“It’s a dynamic that is out of balance,” said Paul Herrera, government affairs director for Inland Valleys Association of Realtors. “People who own property are enjoying what’s happening with price points at the moment, but if you want to own a piece of property, you may be very frustrated right now.”

Housing inventory in the Inland region at the end of February fell to 8,113 listings, down significantly from the 15,120 listings recorded in Riverside and San Bernardino counties in February 2012. Since December, the levels have ranged from 6,900 to 7,500 listings.

Although the number rose, the pace is well below what’s needed to sustain a normal amount of home sales, Herrera said.

The dynamic is playing out across the nation.

Total housing inventory at the end of January fell 25 percent year-over-year to 1.7 million existing homes available for sale, a 4.2-month supply at the current sales pace.

That’s the lowest housing supply since April 2005. In Riverside and San Bernardino counties, total listings dropped 40 percent from one year ago.

“In terms of raw numbers, these are the lowest we’ve seen since December 1999,’’ said National Association of Realtors spokesman Walter Molony.

HUNGRY INVESTORS

Limited housing supply is being constricted even further because foreclosures are falling, and a large chunk of that distressed property is getting gobbled up by investor groups before they hit the open market, Husing said.

Even if homebuyers want to take advantage of good prices, Husing said, they don’t have the opportunity because the properties are fast-becoming transformed into the new rental market.

The state of flux with inventory loads has prompted the national Realtors association to upgrade its projections on housing price appreciation from 5.6 percent in 2013 up to 7 percent.

Bruce Norris, founder of The Norris Group, who early in the year predicted that price appreciation would be considerably more aggressive here — pegging price gains of 20 percent in the Inland area real estate market for 2013 — hasn’t altered his stance.

“Whoever buys property one year from now will have a big smile on their face,” Norris said.

It’s also become a seller’s market in the sense price has gone up from where it was, Norris added. “But a lot of inventory is still well below the replacement cost: We’re still a way from the peak of prices it could get to.”

Steve Manos, a real estate broker with Prima Vista Realtors, characterized the shift toward a sellers’ market as a positive, natural progression of the housing recovery.

“We have to go through this,” he said. “Home prices have to re-bounce” to get homeowners who are still sitting in place to regain mobility in the marketplace.

Last year, Zillow.com, the real estate information reporting service, said there were 1 million fewer homeowners who were underwater and no longer owed more on their mortgage than their home was worth. The percentage fell 1 percentage point to 27.5 percent, or 13.8 million people.

This year, another 1 million will be freed from their negative equity position, Zillow.com predicted.

Christopher Thornberg, founder of Beacon Economics, said this confluence of events is causing inventory to dry up.

It’s also helping to boost homebuilding, and that’s driving new jobs into the market. “The surge in payroll jobs at the national and state level is good news,” he said. “It’s pushing the economy forward. The narrow recovery is becoming wider.”

The National Association of Realtors on Thursday, March 20, reported that existing home sales across the nation in February rose eight-tenths of 1 percent to a pace of 4.9 million from the month before, and 10.2 percent from one year earlier.

Lawrence Yun, chief economist, said in a statement that conditions for continued housing improvement are taking root. Job growth and pent-up demand are sparking home sales and rental leasing, he said.

For the West, existing-home sales rose 2.6 percent to a pace of 1.2 million from January and 1.7 percent from February 2012. Limited inventory and reports of multiple bids on sales pushed the median price up for February to $237,000, some 22 percent higher than one year ago.