The N.A.R. rolled out a new logo a couple of weeks ago, and the response from agents was so bad they rescinded it. Undaunted, the California Association of Realtors did the same thing today (above), but at least they didn’t reveal the cost (N.A.R. blew $250,000).
They also released a couple of new ads (below). Both end with what must be a new slogan, “Who’s Your Realtor”, which is pretty vague. But below that is a mention of a website, championsofhome.com, which actually has some helpful information, including videos of real people talking about their experience and providing tips. Good for C.A.R., at least they are trying to help us!
This is their third round of layoffs, and I think it’s around 10% of the staff that’s been let go. One of these days, it could affect the real estate market. From the UT:
Qualcomm began notifying workers of layoffs on Wednesday as part of its previously announced plan to trim $1 billion in costs.
Reader AI wondered what happened to the homes for the middle class. The Seaport is a good example. In 1977, these 1,512sf to 1,946sf homes across the street from the La Costa Resort were priced reasonably:
Today?
A remodeled house with an extra 500sf addition just sold for $1,035,000!
New research and data suggest that the practices of house flippers fed the bubble of the early 2000s. Much of the blame for the housing crash has fallen on subprime borrowers and people who bought and lived in homes they couldn’t afford.
But researchers are now coming to understand that a big part of the problem was people with better-than-average credit scores who owned multiple homes — not subprime buyers, but real estate investors, landlords and flippers.
The real estate business has been too easy the last few years, and it appears a tougher market is coming, which will help weed out the agents. Unfortunately, downturns don’t discriminate – a slower market will cause the retirements of realtors young and old, of every age, and every color. Be happy it lasted as long as it did, and you made the best of it. I hope we all make it!
But let’s deal with the reality – we can handle the truth:
I am the QUEEN of buying tons of groceries/bringing home all my leftovers and just throwing them in the fridge … and then eventually throwing them out – ask any of my roommates!
Did you know that 40% of the food in the US goes uneaten? Which means that Americans are throwing out the equivalent of $165 BILLION each year! Yeah, I’m not helping the cause but HEY it’s time to change!
Some of you might already know these, but here are some tips I have learned about organizing your refrigerator!
1. Set your refrigerator to 40 degrees or lower – bacteria grows rapidly between 40-140 degrees.
2. Refrigerator door is the warmest – try to only store condiments in this area. Anything dairy (especially milk) or eggs will go bad quickly – the temperature fluctuates too much in the door.
3. Upper shelves are the slightly-warmer section – store foods that don’t have a health safety risk aka leftovers, drinks, ready-to-eat foods. Getting clear containers for leftovers is also helpful because it will help you see what the heck are in those white take out boxes!
4. Bottom shelves = coldest section – store meats, poultry, or any other raw meats. This also prevents drips from contaminating food below. If you take it out of the meat packaging, put it in a bowl.
5. Mason jars for salads – mason jars are the longest-lasting way to keeps salads. Dressing on the bottom, veggies and other salads goodies get piled on top. If you have a lid for your jar, they can last up to 5-7 days!
6. Containers – if you haven’t figured it out by now, I LOVE the Container Store! Here are some great containers to use for wine bottles, soda cans, eggs, etc!
8. Allow enough space between foods – air needs to circulate around food to keep it cool. A crowded fridge can create warm spots and cool spaces, which can lead to spoilage.
Can you do an article on the housing affordability index related to NSDCC? Just wondering what percentage of people need x amount of dollars with 20% down to afford a median priced home?
Let’s include data on the median price of detached-home active listings, and those sold in the last 90 days. I used an interest rate of 4.50%, 20% down payment (25% down payment on $2,395,000 price), and qualifying ratio of 35%:
Category
# in Category
Median Price
Cash to Close
Annual Income
SDCo Actives
3,912
$824,823
$170,000
$115,000
SDCo Solds
4,744
$624,700
$130,000
$87,000
NSDCC Actives
822
$2,395,000
$605,000
$312,000
NSDCC Solds
608
$1,327,500
$270,000
$185,000
The fixer market feels the impact. When it takes both spouses holding down good jobs to qualify, they don’t have the time or patience to fix up a house – they want and need a house in good shape. Maybe this is where Zillow and others can provide more renovated homes to fit the needs of today’s buyers.
We’ve seen this one before – it sold for $1,750,000 in 2013, and $2,275,000 in 2016 – it just sold again for $2,350,000. The house is 3,574sf on a 15,000sf lot.
Zillow is setting up their home-flipping business in Phoenix and Las Vegas, which are two very safe towns for taking a risk.
The vast majority of houses there are easy-to-value tract homes, and relatively inexpensive compared to the coasts. But Zillow’s stock price has plunged 10% since they announced their new venture.
In this cnbc article, Mahaney makes a good point. Having skin in the game will assist Zillow to better gauge and predict market conditions. When we still hear the typical market nonsense from N.A.R., Zillow could become the voice of real estate – if they’re not already:
In May 2017, Zillow announced the launch of Instant Offers, which enables home sellers in the Las Vegas and Orlando test markets to get cash offers from potential investors on Zillow’s platform. The company said homeowners prefer the process, and that most of them who requested an Instant Offer ended up selling their home with an agent.
“Home sellers welcome a hassle-free experience selling your home without decluttering your garage or taking the kids out of the house,” Rascoff said.
Rascoff said the company will take on collateralized debt to purchase the homes, and hopes to have between 300 and 1,000 homes held for sale by year’s end. He called the move “industry friendly,” benefiting buyers, investors and agents. He also said it could help stimulate the real estate market and open up new inventory for prospective buyers.
“There are people that are basically stuck in their home that would love to go buy another home, but can’t sell,” Rascoff said. “This could provide the ability to unstick people from their homes.”
Mahaney said that it will help Zillow test how much the real estate market is turning.
“This is an interesting experiment on the company’s part,” Mahaney said. “They’ve reached the point of scale with both real estate agents and with consumers. There are data points in the market that suggest this way of buying and selling homes is really starting to gain traction.”
The program will start this year in Phoenix and Las Vegas. Zillow didn’t say when it will expand into other markets.
I doubt any of the corporate flippers will ever come to the high-priced California coastal markets – with fewer tract homes and high cost, it’s too risky.
The numbers of pendings is dropping, and we’re behind recent years when looking at the number of new pendings for the last week of March and first three weeks of April:
NSDCC Last Four Weeks
Year
Total Number of New Listings
Total Number of New Pendings
2015
365
277
2016
400
292
2017
381
282
2018
390
233
You can’t blame it on the lack of inventory – we’re having just as many listings to consider as we’ve had in recent years. But the new-pending count is 18% below the average for the last three years. Price will fix everything wrong here!
