Zillow TV

by | Nov 10, 2016 | Jim's Take on the Market, Zillow

Zillow started out with entertaining TV commercials, and now they have added an HGTV-like series on YouTube called Open House Obsessed:

Do you get the feeling that they will keep spending money until they completely dominate the real estate world?

Celebrities Lambasted

by | Nov 10, 2016 | Jim's Take on the Market, This Is America | 4 comments

djt

Somebody went out of their way to modify ads on bus benches – H/T daytrip!

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/donald-trump-celebrity-detractors-lambasted-fake-billboards-944500

The faux advertisements were plastered all over bus-stop benches in Pacific Palisades, Brentwood and Beverly Hills. The ads also appeared on yard signs one would typically see in front of homes that are for sale. All of the false ads that were peppered throughout some of the fanciest portions of Los Angeles on Sunday are based on real ones from Sotheby’s International Realty.

Bidding-War Report

by | Nov 10, 2016 | Bidding Wars, Frenzy, Jim's Take on the Market, Why You Should List With Jim | 1 comment

2016-11-09-12-20-55

We received 16 written offers on the Bluff Ct. property – here are notes:

Five agents were from the LA/OC area.  Because their MLS (CRMLS) covers most of the rest of Southern California, they were used to traveling to sell a house.  San Diego home sellers want these LA/OC buyers to come here, because our prices look cheap to them.

The first three offers were all below list price. When it came time for the highest-and-best round, all three withdrew.  I would have thought that the first offers submitted would be from the most motivated buyers?

The average down payment was 33%.  There was one cash offer, and four that had less than a 20% down payment.

Five of the financed offers didn’t include a pre-qual letter.

Five buyers increased their offer during the highest-and-best round, by an average of $21,000.

List price was $749,000 – three H&B offers came in at $799,000 and higher.

My youtube video of the home’s defects is up to 335 views!

Carmel Valley New

by | Nov 9, 2016 | Builders, Jim's Take on the Market, The Future, This Is America | 3 comments

These new homes range from 3,831 sf to 5,065 sf; priced from the $1,800,000s.  Including the ample exterior living space, these homes are huge – you would need 5-10 people living here for it to make the most sense:

They are also helping to bring attention to Rancho Santa Fe Farms and Rancho Santa Fe Lakes next door.   Here is a professional video of a resale listed on the range $2,995,000 – $3,295,000: https://youtu.be/xesNNfvH6Zc

Trump and Housing

by | Nov 9, 2016 | Frenzy, Jim's Take on the Market, Market Conditions, North County Coastal | 7 comments

celebs

Well, now what?

Will there be a flood of new inventory from those who leave the country?

No way – the mega-rich celebrities might hit the road, but normal people will stay put.  We have it too good here, and moving to another country is everything its cracked up to be:

http://www.cnbc.com/2016/10/31/heading-to-canada-post-election-is-a-bad-money-move.html

Without a flood of inventory, our market conditions should stay the same – the demand for buying houses far out-stripping the supply, with the only thing in the way of sellers selling is their own price reluctance.

The demand could get stronger too.  We had hundreds of open-house visitors to the listing on Bluff Ct., and 16 offers – the weekend before the election!  There had to be a segment of buyers who have been on hold until the election concluded.  If they get back in, the demand could grow further.

If Trump gets the same chance that Obama got to prove himself, and Trump gets off to a decent start, we could see the housing frenzy fire up again early next year around North San Diego County’s coastal region.

Teacher Loan

by | Nov 8, 2016 | Jim's Take on the Market, Mortgage News, Mortgage Qualifying | 2 comments

teachers

Changes this month by the California Housing Finance Authority will help more K-12 public school employees land their first home.

The Extra Credit Teacher Home Purchase Program — once restricted to teachers — is now available to all administrators and support staff such as aides, bus drivers and custodians in public schools, charter schools and district offices.

Education professionals can now receive down-payment assistance of up to $15,000 in “high-cost” counties such as Riverside and San Bernardino. The loan, at 2.5 percent interest, does not require payments until the home is sold, refinanced or the principal loan has been paid, explained finance authority spokesman Eric Johnson.

“People always think government programs are for low income people, but we’re really for low and moderate income residents,” Johnson said. “It’s the missing middle – people with good jobs who have sometimes been priced out of the housing market.”

Applicants must have a minimum credit score of 640. Those making more than $91,000 per year are excluded from the program. The home sales price cannot exceed $400,000.

Read full article here:

http://www.pe.com/articles/home-817823-riverside-teachers.html

CalHFA has several assistance programs:

http://www.calhfa.ca.gov/homebuyer/programs/

MLS Rules

by | Nov 7, 2016 | Jim's Take on the Market, Realtor Training

mls

I attended the Sandicor seminar last week about our rules.  Here are my notes:

  1.  ‘Coming Soon’ – The advertising of listings that are ‘Coming Soon’ is acceptable as long as the seller-signed ‘Exclusion from the MLS’ is on file at Sandicor.  There isn’t an automated data checker for this issue, so they only respond to complaints, which pretty much means you can get away with advertising direct to buyers prior to MLS input, if the seller doesn’t mind.
  2.  Value-Range Pricing – Sandicor has established a limit when using the two-price range.  The lower price cannot be less than 80% of the high-end price. I hope there aren’t too many people disappointed by that rule; as we’ve discussed that the ideal gap is around 7%.
  3.  Misuse of Remarks – They have had a data-checker for years that sweep the remarks of listings, looking for violations – such as the advertising of open houses, youtubes, agent info, etc.  But there isn’t much enforcement or penalties – an offender might get a letter.
  4.  Photos – One photo of the front exterior is required within 72 hours.  That’s it.
  5.  Advertising Other Broker’s Listings – Do you receive the realtor mailings that show the current active, pending, and sold listings?  The sold listings are fine, but an agent cannot advertise another agent’s active or pending listings without permission.  $500 fine per violation.
  6.  Days on Market – The industry has always been willing to deceive the public at will, as long as it can be said that it’s in the best interest of the seller.  The constant ‘re-freshing’ of a listing every 30 days is acceptable, as long as the listing agent has several 30-day listing agreements.  Thankfully, Sandicor is going to add the same ‘CDOM’ that is popular at the CRMLS where they also publish the cumulative-days-on-market so agents and consumers don’t have to look it up.

We have rules, but there isn’t much enforcement so it’s loosey-goosey (though Daina does the best she can!).  I doubt that most agents are aware of the rules (there were 11 agents at the seminar).  I think most just copy what they see other agents do – figuring if they’re doing it, then it must be alright.

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