By Don Dunning | May 13, 2009
According to a CNNMoney.com article today, “Foreclosures: April Was a Shocker,” U.S. foreclosures were much higher than projected, exceeding even March’s torrid figures with 342,000 homes in financial distress. In March, a record one of every 374 homes in America received either a notice of default, auction notice or was in the process of bank […]
Read MoreBy Don Dunning | May 3, 2009
According to a recent L.A. Times article, “The Obama administration, stepping up efforts to stem foreclosures, will offer lenders and homeowners incentives to cut payments on second mortgages, write down balances on first mortgages that are underwater, and repay loans in a timely fashion.” About half of all distressed first loans are believed to also […]
Read MoreBy Don Dunning | April 29, 2009
Statewide figures from the California Association of Realtors (C.A.R.) for March 2009 show a 64 per cent increase in the number of sales and a 39 per cent decrease in median price. Both of these factors are tied into the large amount of bank owned properties and short sales in California. A possible encouraging sign […]
Read MoreBy Don Dunning | April 26, 2009
A recent CNN story “Folks Losing Homes Dial 1-800; No One Answers,” describes the heartache people are going through trying to save their homes from foreclosure. They call the lender, hoping to speak to a real person who will help them, only to spend wasted hours in an endless, useless automated loop. Unfortunately, this has […]
Read MoreBy Don Dunning | April 16, 2009
As if the ineptitude our state legislators has not caused citizens of California enough headaches, a bill, AB 33 (Nava), was just approved in the Assembly Banking Committee to abolish the Department of Real Estate (DRE), the Department of Corporations, the Department of Financial Institutions, and the Office of Real Estate Appraisers. This legislation would […]
Read MoreBy Don Dunning | April 12, 2009
According to the California Association of Realtors (C.A.R.), “The director of Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies predicts continued price declines in California, but at a slower rate, which generally indicates the end of price drops.” Further, “C.A.R.’s Unsold Inventory Index stood at 6.5 months in February, compared with 15.3 months in February 2008.” In […]
Read MoreBy Don Dunning | April 7, 2009
Real estate today is a tangle of blind alleys and bewildering inconsistencies. Almost every day, buyers and sellers ask my opinion of the present market and what I expect in the future.
Market data provides useful, albeit sometimes conflicting, information. National or state reports, which appear almost daily online and TV, do not shed light on local patterns. In order to do so, I looked at Multiple Listing Service (MLS) data for five popular Oakland zip codes (94602, 94610, 94611, 94618, 94619) to get a snapshot of single family home sales, excluding condos, in our local market.
Read MoreBy Don Dunning | April 2, 2009
California Association of Realtors Creates New, First-time Buyer Program The California Association of Realtors (C.A.R.) announced a new program today for first-time buyers who purchase a California property using a Realtor. Note that not all real estate licensees are Realtors. The idea is to provide peace of mind and protection against job loss. The purchase […]
Read MoreBy Don Dunning | March 26, 2009
More and more slimy operators are crawling out of the woodwork to offer apparent help to homeowners in financial distress. This supposed assistance usually comes with illegal, up-front fees. These scam artists are not out to help anyone. To assist homeowners avoid becoming victims, the California Association of Realtors has posted a list of red […]
Read MoreBy Don Dunning | March 4, 2009
“One in Five U.S. Mortgage Borrowers Are Underwater,” is the headline in an online Reuters article today. This amounts to over 8.3 million homes and represents a nine per cent increase since September. California is mentioned as one of three states (the others are Florida and Nevada) that are “particularly stressed.” According to the article, […]
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