Two New Zillow Tools Added to the Online Home Valuation Page

Check out the online home valuation page here. I added two Zillow tools. Each one provides different reports even though the input form looks similar so try them both. You should be able to input an address in all 3 forms and have the output displayed on the same page and then compare the results. I hope you find these new tools useful!

Here's the first update...

I uploaded Just Sold reports for Residential, Lots/Land, and Multi-family properties to the Just Sold section.

http://www.slocountyhomes.com/just_sold.htm

Lots of updates coming....

Wow, already at the end of June. Wasn't it just Easter???

I'll be updating lots of statistics starting late tonite. Not only the monthly MLS statistics but the 2nd Quarter Median Home Prices and other inventory reports.

In addition, I have been working with the Director of Business Development at Zillow in creating some Zillow tools I can add to my online home valuation page. I hope to have those up in the next few days too. Stay tuned to this Blog!

From one our local experts in the North County...

This is my pick for Best of Atascadero Area Caravan for the week of 6/27/07

This 3 bed/3bath home has 1725 Sq.Ft. on a 2.5 acre flat USABLE parcel. It is a Colony Home that has been updated with AC/heating unit last approximately last year. It has an in-ground pool with waterfall. Also, has a large pole barn for storage that is a separate free standing building. It can use some upgrades in the bath/ kitchen areas to make it your dream home. There are original hardwood floors that give this house charm. It is on the desirable northwest side of Atascadero, but very close to schools, shopping and freeway.

Priced at $599,000 I think it’s a great value for someone with vision who wants views, space, parking and accessabilty.

(Keith's note: Unfortunately, the Listing Agent chose not to include this property in the MLS Searches on agent websites so I can't give you a link to the property details and it won't show up in a search. If you're interested in more info, use this form and mention you want more info on the Atascadero Best of Caravan home posted in the blog and we'll email you the listing detail from the MLS system.)

Best of Caravan - Scenic Coast Association (Los Osos/Morro Bay/Cayucos)

I’ll give this weeks honor to a lovely home in Los Osos. The property is located in Cuesta by the Sea, a small area in Los Osos just blocks from the bay. This one has a charm that makes it memorable. The upstairs has an open floor plan with cathedral ceilings, dual pane windows and expansive views of the bay and Morro Rock. If you want semi-single level living, there is one bedroom upstairs off of the spacious living area. Downstairs, in additional to the oversized 2-car garage, there are two additional bedrooms , including the master , which opens to a private patio.

Is this one going to sell? I think so! Click here for more details and photos

Submitted by a Keith Byrd Team Member

"Best of Caravan" - First Time Home Buyer - Pismo Coast Association

North Grover Heights..our sleepy beach community:

Dual income first time home buyers: Look no more come to "Appreciating North Grover Heights". Here is a fabulous wide open spaced 1350 square foot end condo, with large garage, large rooms, upstairs washer & dryer and large balconies off of every room upstairs and a outside yard large enough fit for "Lassie" "Babe", and low maitenance at that! .. at an asking price of $399,000, this will start you on a path of your own trump real estate investments!

Click for photos and details

Submitted by a Keith Byrd Team Member

Best of Caravan - Pismo Coast Association

From our local expert:

Owning a piece of the California Shoreline for $2.5 million, has not happened in 2 years:
This home is on an extremely sought after street in desirable Shell Beach. Ocean views hit you as you walk in the front door. Two bedrooms walk right out on to your private beach. The master suite sits alone on the second floor with additional great room space. This home needs a carpenter and some updating but well worth the buy for neighborhood and your own private piece of the California beach. Who knows maybe Paris will dump the house in Malibu and when your done come see you!!

Click here to see details and photos of this listing - Don't snooze on this one if you're in the market for oceanfront property.

I'm excited to announce a new feature of my blog called "Best of Caravan". My team of local expert agents who go on the Broker Caravan of new listings will pick their "Best of Caravan". This is a property that they feel is one that stands out over all the rest. It could be because of price, location, quality, amenities, or other criteria.

Since we have 6 seperate MLS Associations on the Central Coast, each Association has their own day they do the Broker Caravans on.

Ryan’s Mortgage Blog:
Hello from the Bay Area once again. I definitely have a love/hate relationship going on with the Bay Area. I have spent more time in traffic up here than my actual destinations…and I have gone through 2 rental cars while I’ve been waiting for my car to be fixed (transmission). Long story but I have had some good moments as well. I visited a nice bar/brewery called the Park Chalet right outside of Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. Connected to the bar is a park area where you can get drinks while your dog plays with other dogs and fellow bar patrons. The atmosphere reminded me a bit of the summer concert series “Live at the Rocks” that the Cliff’s Resort in Shell Beach hosts, which by the way starts in late July and I highly recommend it. I also spent a day visiting downtown Palo Alto and I was VERY impressed with how beautiful it was and the amount of cafés and shops there were. To finish up my trip I will be visiting the Alameda County Fair in Pleasanton which I’ve tried to attend at least once for the last 10-15 years…it’s always a good time.

So enough of the small talk...let’s get down to business. The Fed kept the rates the same this afternoon, which was expected. They still voiced their concern for inflation, but it didn’t really affect mortgage rates. Mortgage rates have eased up since their increase last month.

A product that I wanted to mention to you guys in case you aren’t familiar with it is a “pledge-asset mortgage”. I briefly spoke with a representative from Merrill Lynch recently and he told me this is a hot product right now. He is sending me more literature and a powerpoint all about it so I will let you know when I hear more…but basically you are able to take your current investments in the market and put them into one of Merrill Lynch’s investments (one option is the S&P) and this transfer will count as your down payment for a mortgage with their company. So this means no money out of pocket and your money is still invested (pledged). This sounds like a great idea for parents who have students going to Cal Poly but don’t want to cash in their investments to buy a second house while their children go to school. If your kids are going to pay rent, why not have them and their friends pay your mortgage J. If you are interested in hearing more about this product, let me know and I can explain it to you a little better and will be able to forward you some information straight from the company. You can reach me at RBaker@PeregrineLending.com or 805-540-0866.

CALIFORNIA HOME SALES DECREASE 25 PERCENT IN MAY

Sales decreased 25 percent compared with the same period a year ago, the California Assoication of Realtors (C.A.R.) reported this week. "The decline in sales continues to be driven by both tighter underwriting standards since the start of the year and the adverse psychological impact of news regarding foreclosures and the subprime situation," said C.A.R. Vice President and Chief Economist Leslie Appleton-Young. "In particular, the lower end of the market, which is the part of the market that is most affected by the subprime situation, has seen greater declines in sales and weaker prices than the higher end of the market. This will likely be a recurring theme in the coming months."

Following is an article that talks about some of the things to look out for in a loan.

Read the article here

No sign of life yet for new home sales
May reading shows ongoing slump at start of key selling season; prices fall; April sales revised lower.

Read the article here

Last night, I checked how the Central Coast market was doing with Pending Sales. We hadn't even broken 400 Pendings yet. The recent raise in mortgage rates I'm sure isn't helping either.

Homeowners looking to sell need to take a reality check. I spent this last weekend showing homes in SLO and Los Osos. I'd put the homes in two categories; 1) the ones that have been on the market since last year that are still one or two steps behind the pricing curve, and 2) homes that have been listed within the last month or so that are priced where the market currently is.

One mistake I see homeowners making is that they look at what they put their home on the market for last year and say "I've already dropped the home 20%, I'm not going any lower". While I know taking a price drop already is painful, a Buyer isn't going to care what how much you've dropped your price, especially when your current price is still 10-15% above what the current market value really is.

If you've been on the market for awhile, you need to take a fresh look at the market and the comparables for this year. I wouldn't count on the market rebounding and coming back up to your price either. With the way June is shaping up, the inventory levels we're already at, and mortgage rates rising, we haven't seen the bottom yet..IMO.

With the 4th of July not to far away, I thought I'd share how I view the fireworks at Pismo....

I used to stay far away from Pismo on the 4th, but for the past few years I've been watching the fireworks right at the pier. There is nothing like being right there. So what I do is go down to the Pismo Outlet Center about 8:15-8:30. There is never a problem finding a place to park. From there I follow everyone else as we walk over to downtown Pismo.

I usually then find a spot to stand on the boardwalk between the Pier and the SandCastle Inn. This also allows me to watch the crazies letting off fireworks on the beach before the big show starts. When the show starts, it really doesn't matter where you're at as you'll see them from anywhere by just looking UP! The show starts around 9 pm.

At the end of the fireworks, I again follow the stream of people walking away from downtown. There are plenty of people walking back to the Outlets with you. I'd recommend bringing a small flashlight if you wish to light up the path in front of your feet, just to make sure you don't trip on something. Once back, you can get back in your car and not worry about traffic.

If you go yourself, look for me on the boardwalk. I'll be the one wearing fireworks glasses (which makes a prism effect when they go off). Pretty cool!!

I was surfing the news sites earlier on Friday and saw an article about spoofing Caller ID numbers so the person you're calling doesn't see your number. I thought, yeah right, you can't do this legally. So I Googled "spoof caller id" and visited a site called http://www.spoofcard.com/.

The site said you could spoof a caller id number and choose whatever number you wanted to show up. It also could disguise your voice. AND it said it would record the call and allow you to play it back on the web. Scratching my head on how they were able to do this, I decided to fork out $10 for a calling card for 60 minutes of calls.

Well, I'm here to tell you that it was all true. I made calls to my friends with Caller ID numbers I chose myself when making the call. You have 2 choices to disguise your voice, either as male or female. The female choice made me sound like an elderly lady. The male voice deepened my voice to sound a bit like Barry White.

I must say I was having some fun today doing this. I called one of my teenage daughter's phones and put in the Caller ID of one of her friends so she would recognize it. I then (with the lady voice) told her that I had found the phone and wanted to know how much her friend would give me to get it back. She believed it...then we all had a good laugh.

Aside from the funny prank stuff, my confidence in the Caller ID has been shattered. I tried to look up my Verizon bill to see if the statement had the fake Caller ID listed on it but I have to wait until my next statement to find out. I for one, trusted the Caller ID and being a Judge Judy viewer, know that it's used in court (at least TV court) as evidence.

I know now that I can no longer trust the Caller ID.

As for recording a phone conversation, I thought this was illegal too....

As of today, the New Listing / Pending Sale ratio has climbed to 1.85 (from 1.76 a few days ago). So far this month, we've had 625 new listings and only 338 Pending Sales. Unless we get a lot of escrows in the last week of the month, we probably won't break 500 Pending Sales (last month we had 548 Pendings, June 2006 - 527, June 2005 -725).

Also, there has been 899 price changes so far this month.

See the monthly chart here

Looks like there still won't be any drive-through restaurants in San Luis Obispo. The city council decided to keep the ban on them that was introduced in the 70's during the gas shortage. The reason back then was that it wasted gas if you sat in a drive-through line.

A local restaurant owner brought in a study that proved that today, it takes more gas to turn off your car and then restart it 5-6 minutes later than sitting in a drive-through line but the City Council decided to keep the ban. They think that forcing people out of their cars will make people enjoy the city more.

BUILDER CONFIDENCE FALLS TO LOWEST LEVEL IN 16 YEARS

Concerns about rising interest rates, increased sales cancellations, and sizable inventory levels continue to negatively impact builder confidence, which declined for the fourth consecutive month in June, according to the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB). The Association's Housing Market Index (HMI), which gauges builders' perceptions of current and future home sales, now stands at 28, down two points from May and down 14 points from a year ago. The HMI has not fallen below 30 since February 1991. An HMI below 50 indicates more builders view sales conditions as poor versus good.

Ryan's Mortgage Blog:

Rates have continued to rise because of the looming threat of inflation. They have slowed down a bit the last couple days but may keep slowly rising in the future. Adjustable rates have not taken as bad of a beating as fixed rates have. Keep in mind we are spoiled by great rates not too long ago, but rates are still historically low. I know a lot of people are scared with the talk of foreclosures, the slumping housing market, and higher interest rates but it is not that bad! Many of the same products are still available...100% financing, sub-prime, hard money, adjustable mortgage, etc... Instead of sitting there wondering what you should do, all it takes is a call to your local mortgage company (me) to find out your options are. I am honest with my clients because I want them to be a customer for life, not just one deal. I know it sounds like a sales pitch but I really want you to know I am here to help you.

I also think now isn't such a bad time to buy if the situation is right. I had a client recently buy a 2 bedroom home in SLO and they couldn't be happier with their new home and they got it for a price they would have never gotten it for a couple years ago all because the seller was afraid of the current market conditions.

I always say, "why rent and pay someone else's mortgage if you can afford to buy your own home?" It is understandable if you do not have the money...but if you have good credit, enough $ for a small down payment and can afford the monthly payments...what are you waiting for? I know, I know, there are other factors but this is all fresh in my head because I have been trying to talk my friend into buying a home...and I hope he reads this! I am just tired of seeing him pay so much for rent when he can buy a decent home that he can fix up on his free time by putting a little "sweat equity" into it.

Even though I don't like to answer the question, "what is the rate today" because it isn't that simple to shoot out a number because ever scenario is different...I will still post this list of estimated rates from my company for those of you who want to see a figure:
15 Year ARM - 6.375%
30 Year Fixed - 6.75%
3 Year ARM -6.5%
5 Year ARM -6.625%
7 Year ARM -6.75%

I will be heading back to the Bay Area for the weekend, so wish me luck on a better trip this time. You can reach me at 805-540-0866 or RBaker@PeregrineLending.com with any mortgage related questions, or any questions related to the San Luis Obispo area for that matter.

The New Listings / Pending Sales ratio for the month-to-date is 1.76. This is down from 1.91 on June 12th. While inventory is still increasing, it could be a lot worse if the ratio was over 2.0 which looked like we may have been headed towards earlier in the month.

25 Dream Vacation Homes

I'd take almost any of these...

According to a legal study by the National Association of Realtors, the top 3 source of lawsuits for the real estate industry are commission disputes, property-condition disclosure and agency issues

You can avoid commission disputes by choosing one Realtor to assist you. It gets sticky if you view a home with one Realtor and then end up buying it using another Realtor to represent you. The industry has what is called "procuring cause" which says if a Realtor is first to show a home, they may be entitled to the commission regardless if another Realtor handles the transaction.

It gets stickier with Open Houses. Most Open Houses are not hosted by Listing Agents. They are usually hosted by agents in the office that use Open Houses as a way to find Buyer leads.

Here's an article about procuring cause

When you go to an Open House and asked if you are represented by an agent, just tell them you are represented by Keith Byrd. By saying my name doesn't mean that I'm entitled to anything. It just will get them from trying to get you to commit to using them to Buy a home and allow you to see the Open House without feeling like you've been labeled a "sales lead".

The 2007 Home Buyer survey was just released by the California Association of Realtors (CAR). This survey includes Buyers that purchased a home in the second half of 2006. This annual survey helps Realtors to adapt their services to how Buyers search for homes these days. Here are some of the results...

72 % of Buyers used the Internet as an important part of their home buying and selection process.

It looks like Real Estate Magazines are now almost completely worthless. Only 2.5% of Buyers even looked at a real estate magazine during their search (this includes the Buyers that didn't use the Internet!). The problem is that some Realtors are still putting the majority of their advertising budget into expensive print ads (it now costs almost $800 for a full page ad for one issue). The question Home Sellers need to ask is why would you want an agent that wastes advertising dollars on something that is no longer useful. That money should instead be used in ways to help the sale of a home (Internet exposure, brochures, professional photography, presentation, home staging, etc.).

Newspapers ads aren't much better. Only 4% of Buyers said they looked at newspaper ads for homes.

Open House ads in newspapers did better with 7.6% saying they looked for Open Houses in the newspaper. This makes sense since there is no place online that lists all Open Houses. There are a couple Open House sites that have recently popped up and are advertising on TV, but Realtors can add their Open Houses for FREE to the MLS System and be seen on http://www.centralcoastopenhouses.com/. But even with it being free, many Listing Agents don't post their open houses to the MLS system. If Realtors posted their Open Houses to the MLS, it would pretty much eliminate the need for a local paper to find them (and save Realtors thousands of dollars in unnecessary advertising).

The importance of Virtual Tours really dropped in this years survey. Multiple photos/slide show was the item most Home Buyers rated was most important.

35% of Buyers visited Google first when starting their search for a home. This means Realtors that show up in Google search results have a big advantage.

When asked "what was the most useful website visited during the home buying process?" Buyers said:

- Individual Realtor web site (31%)
- Realtor.com (20%)
- Real Estate Brokerage/Company site (12%)
- Zillow.com (12%)
- Yahoo Real Estate (5%)

Some other results:

26% of Buyers used a computer at work as their primary place where they searched for homes. This is an important statistic since you don't want music to play when a web page loads. This is a way to have a potential Buyer NEVER come back to a site since they don't want music to start playing at the office! Music should always be an option that a visitor can turn on and only if they want it.

90% of the Buyers surveyed used an agent to represent them.

50% of escrows didn't close on time.

Summary:

The Intenet continues to be the most important way to market homes to Home Buyers. But, it's real estate agents that are the ones that Buyers, that don't use the Internet, find their homes through. Listing Agents need a GREAT Internet Marketing service and a program that spefically targets other agents to really have a good Home Selling Service.

It's amazing the improvements in digital cameras over the past 10 years and it looks like they are only going to get better. Eastman Kodak just announced a technology breakthrough that will allow significantly better photos in low light. Cameras using this new technology should be available in 2008.

Read the article here

Rate on 30-year fixed mortgage climbed to to 6.74% in past week, highest level since July 2006.

Read the article here

Ryan's Mortgage Blog:
A "Short Sale" is when a lender accepts to discount the balance due on a loan due to hardship. This is usually better than a foreclosure for all parties involved. For example...Martha lost her job and her new job pays half as much as her old one did. She can no longer make her mortgage payments and the lender can't negotiate her payment any lower than it is. She owes $200,000 on the house but the house is valued at $170,000. The lender agrees to accept $170,000 as full payment instead of the $200,000 owed. As a note, she needs to be delinquent on a payment before a lender will consider accepting a short sale offer.

The borrower gets to avoid a foreclosure on their record and can lower the debt enough to sell the property without having to add cash. The lender can save money by avoiding foreclosure costs associated with taking over the home and selling it. The foreclosure process also takes time the lender doesn't have, so it may be in their best interest to accept the short sale. The lender ultimately weighs the proposed discounted amount versus how much the foreclosure process would cost them and what they think they could get for the house. They also factor in the market conditions and what is going on in that specific neighborhood.

It sounds all good and dandy for both sides, but wait...keep in mind the lender has all the power in the short sale process. You can't just go to them and say, "sorry I can't pay my loan anymore, will you accept this much for it?" That is not going to work. A Hardship is required before a lender will approve of a short sale. A hardship would be considered a job loss, divorce, excess debt, illness, death, or a job transfer. Many documents need to be provided to show proof of your hardship.

A major reason why short sales fail is the length of time it takes to get the lender's approval. You may put your house up for sale thinking the lender will accept the short sale because someone from their company told you they would...so when the buyer comes along, the bank takes 4 weeks to get back to you and the buyer was long gone. You are at the mercy of the lender and their time frame and customer service. Using a Real Estate agent with experience can help speed up the process by minimizing the back and forth delays with proper paperwork.
If you are looking buy a short sale because you think you are getting a killer deal, be careful. Just because it is listed as a short sale doesn't mean you are getting a deal. The owner may owe $100,000 more than the house is worth and the bank will most likely only except a $50,000 discount so they may try and sell the house at a higher price to help cover there loss. This wouldn't be typical practice but you never know. I always suggest working with an established agent instead of going at it by yourself.

There is also a consequence after the short sale takes place and that is dealing with the IRS. Many times the discount is considered income and you will be taxed on it, so consult with an accountant first.

To sum up... by all means opt for a short sale over a foreclosure if you are delinquent or default but be prepared to prove you can't re-pay the full amount. Lenders don't have to accept your short sale offer and can back out at the eleventh hour so be careful.

If you have any comments or mortgage related questions please contact me at RBaker@PeregrineLending.com or 805-540-0866.
PS - Congrats to all the Cal Poly Graduates this week!!!

I added a Sold report for June 1 - June 12th.

http://www.slocountyhomes.com/just_sold.htm


I also calculated the New Listings/ Pending Sales ratio for the first 12 days of June. It's at 1.91 which is down from 2.03 on June 7th.

Just Listed!

This Paso Robles home was just listed at $395,000. I took the photography of it and it's a great home for someone 55+. See details at www.175ViaSanMiguel.com

I ran across this mortgage statistic for San Luis Obispo County.

From January-April 2007, there were 4,537 mortgages (new purchase and refinance). 2,716 were fixed mortgages and 1,820 were adjustables (ARMs).

I was up in the SF Bay Area attending a graduation and stopped by to say hi to a Realtor friend in Saratoga. His hobby is woodworking and made his own yard sign frame out of redwood. It really stands out amongst the other other signs on this street!

Santa Barbara County is in the planning phase of a new city to be located between Orcutt and Los Alamos. It will have around 22,000 residents.

Here's an article from the Palm Springs paper about how Buyers are confused about hearing the number of home sales being down but median prices going up.

Read the article here

How close to the asking price are homes selling for these days?

To answer this, I ran reports on homes sold in the last 6 months (stick-built, condos, PUDs). The figures below are the average List Price to Sale Price percentage. The List Price was the last price before the home went Pending. The home may have had multiple price changes over time but only the latest one is used in this calculation.

Santa Maria - 98.12%
Paso Robles - 97.59%
Orcutt - 97.01%
Atascadero - 96.84%
Morro Bay - 96.62%
Grover Beach - 96.45%
San Luis Obispo - 96.33%
Arroyo Grande - 96.02%
Cambria - 95.71%
Los Osos - 95.51%
Nipomo - 94.40%
Cayucos - 93.84%
Pismo Beach - 93.84%

I'm wanting to alert you all to inventory changes throughout the month so you get an idea of what is happening in between my monthly statistics update. So, what I did was calculate the ratio between New Listings and Pending Listings and graphed it below the Inventory table on the www.SloWatch.com page.

What I plan to do is blog the New/Pending Listing Ratio throughout a month.

For example, for the first seven days of June the ratio is 2.03. As you'll see on the graph, over 2 is not good for home sellers. We only had a few months last year that the ratio was over 2 and it was during the summer months when inventory was growing rapidly.

Seems I need to get a couple things off my chest today...light bulbs and shopping centers.

Driving by the Costco center in San Luis Obispo the other day I noticed a "Now Hiring" sign on one of the new buildings under construction. I perked up to see what business was going in and saw it was going to be another Panda Express.

With all the hub-bub there has been about the Dalidio Marketplace, Madonna keeps adding stores that we already have in town. Did we really need another electronics store, pet store, and an office supply store? Now I hear they are going to build a new grocery store across the street within a mile of 2 existing ones.

This isn't sounding like "smart growth" to me. If different types of stores were to open in these places, maybe people wouldn't see as much of a need for the Marketplace.

I've pretty much replaced the light bulbs in my home with the low energy ones that use 1/4 of the power and last 4 times longer (can't use them with dimmers though). What I've found is that it's tough to find the low energy bulbs in stores. This is a great example of merchandising. Looks like the traditional bulb vendors are buying the shelf space, with many rows of light bulbs from the big companies (GE, Sylvania, etc.). At Orchard, the low energy bulbs are at the far end of the light bulb aisle at the very back of the store. I couldn't even find any at Walmart, just a demonstration display.

If we're serious about reducing the electricity we all use, the low-energy bulbs seem like a logical choice and don't require a life style change. Heck, since they last a lot longer than regular light bulbs, it means that we don't have to spend as much time changing bulbs. I don't know why we'd even want a large display of the energy-hogging bulbs in our Central Coast stores!

Ryan's Mortgage Blog:
Unfortunately I have to inform you guys rates for most products have slowly crept up to the highest they have been all year. The window of the non-conforming loans being better as I stated last week has passed. The only program that hasn't really changed is the one year ARM. Having been out of town and working on special projects I have not noticed how high the average rates have been getting. We have a couple lenders that I have been working with that have been offering killer deals to us, but I looked deeper into things once I got an email from them announcing some rate hikes. I was forwarded an email from a different lender, MortgageIt and I thought I would share an excerpt of it with you to help better explain what one opinion is of the current mortgage market. Here it is, "It will be interesting to see what bonds do at their current levels. It appears that there is some resistance for the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury Note to surpass 5.00%. This is good news for mortgage rates as it should prevent much more of an increase in rates. If we see continued weakness in stocks, I suspect that the current yields on bonds will attract interest from investors, boosting bonds prices and lowering mortgage rates. However, if we break 5.00%, we could see rates move much higher.

If I were considering financing/refinancing a home, I would.... Lock if my closing was taking place within 7 days... Lock if my closing was taking place between 8 and 20 days... Float if my closing was taking place between 21 and 60 days... Float if my closing was taking place over 60 days from now... This is only my opinion of what I would do if I were financing a home. It is only an opinion and cannot be guaranteed to be in the best interest of all/any other borrowers."

Stay tuned for my Short Sale blog next time!

If you have any questions or comments please email me at RBaker@PeregrineLending.com, I would love to hear from you.

Here are 2 articles about the home market. The second one is from the Wall Street Journal and may ask for a login if you try to access it after today.

Home Prices Seen Getting Worse Still

"The outlook for home prices this year - already expected to post the first drop on record - got worse Wednesday as an industry group cut its forecasts for sales and prices for 2007."

Read the article here


Rise in Home InventoryContinues to Hurt Prices

"Growing inventories of unsold homes continue to weigh on the U.S. housing market, portending more downward pressure on prices, the latest data show."

Read the article here

While you're making your summer vacation plans, I wanted to post this link to a hotel/motel reservation system. I use this system myself and have been happy with the prices for rooms. It also doesn't add an online reservation fee like other reservation systems do. I also have the link at the bottom of my home page.

http://www.ihsadvantage.com/h/home.do?pfs=1819

Pismo Beach continues to have a problem with bacteria in the ocean near the pier. One thought is that it's pigeon droppings that are causing it. Another possibility is that the city recently found a failed sewage pipe that goes under the beach. I walk my dog multiple times a week on the beach at night and don't see pigeons but don't know where they sleep (under the pier?). I did almost trip on a sea otter last week that washed up on the beach but don't know if that had something to do with the bacteria.

An environmental group recently released their report on Central Coast beaches which they test. Every beach received an "A" rating, except for Pismo Beach which received a "D".

For a city that depends on their beach to bring in tourists to fill the hotels and spend money with local businesses, they need to keep on top of their most treasured resources. I'm a bit surprised to hear that the sewage leak was found May 1st but they still haven't started to fix it. Sounds like someone needs to cut the red tape and react a lot quicker when they find something like this.

Maybe the residents should rethink raising the sales tax by 1/2 percent so there is money to be proactive about finding and fixing broken sewer pipes and other things that could effect the things that make people come to Pismo Beach.

I just ran my website statistics for the first 5 months of 2007. My blog has already received 16,427 visits! For all of 2006, this blog received 25,000 visits.

Visitors to SloCountyHomes.com also continues to increase. Year-to-date visits is 286,008 (includes return visitors) coming from 95,829 unique IP addresses. The average visitors per day is 1,857.

I added a bunch of reports for my clients. There are city reports that detail the Actives, Contingents, and Pending Sales. Within these reports, are Days on Market and Original List Prices. Valuable info!

I also generated new Just Sold reports for both residential and lots/land and they are also available.

http://www.slocountyhomes.com/just_sold.htm

The graph on the www.SloWatch.com page has been updated.

Inventory is Up

As expected, inventory increased in May. Some cities increased their residential inventory more than others. Some cities are also at their highest inventory levels going into the summer season.

Pismo Beach jumped the highest percentage, going from 98 units to 117 units. Pismo Beach is also at its highest inventory level since the market changed. The previous high was 106 units last October and November.

All other cities had an increase in inventory except for Cayucos and San Luis Obispo. Cayucos went from 52 to 50 units and SLO went from 196 to 192. In April, SLO had a big jump from 164 to 196. April was also the highest inventory level for Cayucos.

Besides Pismo, Nipomo and Oceano also exceeded their previous highest inventory level.

I did not start tracking Atascadero and Paso Robles until January of this year. Already in 2007, Paso Robles has gone from 491 to 610 units.

See all the inventory levels here:
http://www.slocountyhomes.com/slo_watch_home.htm#inventory

Central Coast MLS Statistics - Residential
May 2007

New Listings - 941
Back on Market - 283
Price Changes - 1188
Contingent - 61
Pendings - 548
Solds - 381
Expireds - 293
Inactives/Withdrawns - 287