Central Coast residents will get a chance to see Major League Soccer in a few weeks without having to travel far. The San Jose Earthquakes will be playing two exhibition games at Cal Poly. The first is on Friday, February 22nd vs. Columbus Crews at 7 pm. The second is Sunday the 24th at 1 pm vs. the DC United. Tickets are on sale tomorrow at the University and on their website.

Number of REALTORs decreases in California for the first time since 1999

According to the California Association of REALTORS, the number of members dropped in December 2007. While not a huge decrease, it is significant if you look how the membership has grown the past few years.

There still are A LOT of Realtors out there. In 2007, there was 1 Realtor for every 1.4 homes sold in the state.

Month	Licensees	% Chg.
Dec-95	329,254
Dec-96	313,776	-4.7%
Dec-97	300,751	-4.2%
Dec-98	295,433	-1.8%
Dec-99	303,289	2.7%
Dec-00	309,126	1.9%
Dec-01	315,282	2.0%
Dec-02	335,940	6.6%
Dec-03	367,779	9.5%
Dec-04	418,044	13.7%
Dec-05	476,244	13.9%
Dec-06	549,244	15.3%
Dec-07	548,959	-0.1%

Ok, got to sleep in today and I've got the diet cokes in the fridge for later tonite. I'll be updating all the market stats on the www.SloWatch.com site so we all can see how January shaped up. Should all be there for you when you check the site tomorrow morning.

I'm up late (as usual) and just heard the police are at Britney Spears home again (it's after midnight) and the paparazzi are already there because they camp out every night.

Boy, being a celebrity has to be a drag since you can't go anywhere without showing up on TMZ or the many other places that buy the paparazzi photos. There was a 17-year old girl with a video camera hounding the cheerleader from Heroes (Hayden P.) in the airport the other day.

It seems like the Central Coast would be a nice getaway for the LA Celebrities. There are so many places they could go and would probably go unnoticed. So...if any celebrities are reading this and want some ideas on where to stay and where to go to enjoy yourselves, just send me an email!

Best and Worst Places to Buy a House

Here's an article from Entrepeneur.com with someone's opinion on what areas they'd buy in and others they'd stay away from.

Read the article here

It isn't a Buyers market everywhere in California. I talked to a Reatlor friend of mine in the Bay Area and he told me of his latest two experiences.

He presented an offer for a client on a $1.675 Million home in Campbell. They over bid at $1.751 Million. There were a total of 24 offers on the home and they didn't even receive a call back on their offer.

The other one was in Saratoga. Seven days on the market and listed at $850K. He submitted an offer and is one of six. He hasn't heard if his client is still in the running on this one.

A UK grocery store chain is making its way into California. Fresh and Easy Neighborhood Market has already opened in the Los Angeles area and just announced 18 locations in the Bay Area. They are a smaller store with many exclusive items and from the reviews I've read from shoppers, they like the stores.

Safeway/Vons is looking to test a smaller store with a similar format. No word on if they will make their way to the Central Coast. Maybe Spencer's should be looking at what they are doing and try to head them off at the pass (or county line)!

Help one of our Blog readers find his dog

Please be on the lookout for Max. He broke out of his home in Santa Maria during the storm last Saturday in the area near East Park Ave between Miller and Broadway.

If you have seen him, please let the owner know. They have a website with more info and photos here. www.helpfindmax.com

Oops...I was told that the latest Just Sold report was from 2007. I guess I'm not used to putting in 2008 yet!

I reran the report and uploaded it so if you click on it now, you'll get the Sold info for the last 12 days.

There's a new Bed & Breakfast that just opened in the heart of the wine country in Paso Robles. It's called Villa Valdemosa, "A Romantic Bed and Breakfast Inn".

Here's the description from their web site:

Villa Valdemosa, the Central Coasts newest, ( and possibly the highest) Bed and Breakfast is now a reality, after nearly three years of planning and development. Situated at nearly 1200 ft. above sea level, and several hundred feet above the valley floor, the property offers visitors incredible 270 degree "see forever" views "From his many years traveling in France, the owner/developer has had a vision of a romantic country Inn and boutique, old world style winery ,and realized that this ten+ acre parcel located close to Paso Robles was ideal.

Check out the web site here

I updated the REO and Just Sold reports tonite.

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

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

The following article is about a couple who are suing their Realtor claiming the agent did not give them neighborhood comparables and they ended up paying lots more for their home in San Diego than they should have.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22840771/

If you read my blog and search the information on my website and www.SloWatch.com, you may wonder how anyone can not do their own homework but there are lots of Buyers and Sellers out there that trust their agent to do it for them. That was mistake #1!

The lawsuit defense is that the couple “simply didn’t do what is expected of a knowledgeable and sophisticated buyer, and are looking for someone other than themselves to take responsibility.”

There's been a lot of press coverage on the rebates that are part of the proposed economic stimulus plan but there are other parts of it too.

One is to raise the conforming loan limits from the current $417,00 maximum to as high as $725,000 in high-cost areas. Currently, many home buyers on the Central Coast have to look at Jumbo loans as their financing option.

This is not a done deal yet but heading in the right direction.

Here's a site I visit when we have a series of storms to check out the rainfall totals. If you're looking for local weather statistics, this is the site to go to:

http://wx.sloweather.com/

Wasn't it just a few weeks ago when we had 70 degree weather?? As my wife keeps saying..."it's cold". Saw the snow up in the North County on the news..brrrrrrrr.

I'm sure the folks in Nipomo are happy with all this rain though. They did a test of the ground water level in October and found it to be close to salt water intrusion. They are going to measure again in April and if still low, will adopt water conversation measures in May.

Here's a tip if you have a automatic garage door opener...

I was having a heck of a time getting the light bulb in the opener to keep working. The vibration was breaking the filament in the light bulb after a few opens and closes. I replaced it with an energy efficient florescent bulb and it has been working for many months now (knock on wood)!

Real estate: Buy, sell, or hold?

That's the question homeowners are asking in the midst of the worst real estate slump in decades. Our exclusive calculations can help you figure out what your house will be worth in coming years.

This article was sent in by one of our blog readers (thanks Stephen!).

Read the article here

Thanks to a well thought out and prepared presentation by Realtors, the County Board of Supervisors agreed to take another look at their proposal to require low-water use fixtures in several county areas! They are going to look at the implementation procedures to make this project more successful.

Chumash Casino has posted their upcoming entertainment calendar. What a variety!

KC & the Sunshine Band - 1/24
REO Speedwagon - 1/31
Johnny Mathis - 2/14
Liza Minneli - 2/21
Grand Funk Railroad - 2/28
Chris Rock - 3/7
Don Rickles - 3/13
ShoXC (mixed martial extreme combat) - 3/21
Carole King - 3/27
Tanya Tucker - 4/3
Julio Iglesias - 4/10
Boz Scaggs - 4/17
Kenny Rogers - 4/24
Montgomery Gentry - 5/8

Other local entertaiment:
Willie Nelson 2/8 at Madonna Inn Expo Center
Jefferson Starship - 3/1 at Mongos in Grover Beach
Central Coast Roller Derby - 2/23 at Paso Robles Event Center

I calculated the Months of Inventory (MOI) for SLO County has of today. It's at 13.8 months which is lower than the 16.1 months at the beginning of the January.

So What's Selling and Where??

I looked at the 168 homes currently Pending Sale in SLO County. Here's the breakdown:

Cambria - 9 homes (Two 2-bedroom, Three 3-bedroom, One 4-bedroom)
Cayucos - 3 homes (Three 2-bedroom)
Morro Bay - 8 homes (One 2-bedroom, Six 3-bedroom, One 4-bedroom)
Los Osos - 8 homes (One 2-bedroom, Four 3-bedroom, Two 4-bedroom, One 5- bedroom)
San Luis Obispo - 17 homes (Three 2-bedroom, Six 3-bedroom, Seven 4-bedroom, One 5- bedroom)
Avila Beach - 1 home (One 3-bedroom)
Pismo Beach - 8 homes (One 2-bedroom, Five 3-bedroom, Two 4-bedroom)
Grover Beach - 8 homes (Two 2-bedroom, Four 3-bedroom, Two 4-bedroom)
Arroyo Grande - 21 homes (Two 2-bedroom, Nine 3-bedroom, Eight 4-bedroom, Two 5- bedroom)
Oceano - 3 homes (Three 3-bedroom)
Nipomo - 21 homes (Eleven 3-bedroom, Seven 4-bedroom, Three 5- bedroom)
Atascadero - 12 homes (Nine 3-bedroom, Three 4-bedroom)
Templeton - 8 homes (Four 3-bedroom, Four 4-bedroom)
Santa Margarita - 1 home (One 4-bedroom)
Paso Robles - 32 homes (Three 2-bedroom, Fourteen 3-bedroom, Ten 4-bedroom, Five 5- bedroom)

And the average Days on Market (DOM) for all these Pendings is....129 Days (or about 4 months, 1 week).

A quick note...

The new listing at 1460 Railroad St, Oceano will be Open from 1-3 pm on Saturday. If you're in the area, stop by and say hi to Robin. Tell her you're a Blog reader!! A map is on the www.1460Railroad.com site.

The elephant seals are in town! December thru March they are breeding on the coast near Hearst Castle. 5 miles north of the Castle is a large parking lot for visitors and a nice walking deck to view the seals. There are at least 200 Elephant seals covering the beach. It’s a nice drive and you won’t be disappointed.

Also Cambria has their Art and Wine festival on January 25, 26,27th. For more info go to http://www.seecambria.com/artwine

Announcing a New Listing from the Keith Byrd Team...

A 3 Bedroom, 2.5 bath located within blocks to the ocean in Oceano.

This uses our new 2008 property website design. There are two types of floor plan tools on this site. One is an interactive floor plan where you can click on the photo icon to see a view from that part of the room. The other is a 2D Planning Tool where you can drag furniture into the floor plan, resize it, and move it around.

Check it out!!

www.1460Railroad.com

There's a foreclosure in Pismo that just came on the market. $383,000 for a multifamily duplex. Two 1-bedroom units, 500 sq ft each. The property sold for $670K in March 2006.

For more details, go to my Pismo Beach MLS Map search, choose multi-family, $400K max price. You won't have a problem finding it as it will be the only house icon on the map!

It was reported yesterday that because of proposed budget cuts, Poly will be accepting 500 fewer freshman next year. Just as the closing of Montana De Oro and Morro Strand parks threat, I'm not sure if these budget cuts will end up happening.

If they do cut the educational budget and Poly does lower incoming freshman levels, I've been asked what effect that will be on the local rental market. With the new Poly Canyon city being constructed right now, the increased number of beds was to be offset by an increased enrollment. The Poly Canyon Village is planned to provide 2700 beds when it is all finished with the first 1000 available starting next fall. Poly is planning to increase its enrollment which would offset the increased housing on-campus. But, if for next fall, they decrease the number of incoming freshman by 500 at the same time they add 1000 beds, it will have an impact on off-campus housing if they fill those rooms.

I think that the off-campus housing complexes will be impacted the most (Stenner Glen, Mustang Village, Valencia, etc.) but it will also lessen the demand for off campus homes and condos. Student housing outside of SLO would be probably be effected next. This past September, there were plenty of students panicing because they couldn't find a place to rent in SLO so I really don't see too big of an impact within the city limits, especially for housing closer to campus.

I updated the REO and Just Sold reports today.

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

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

Through the middle of the month, here where we stand:

321 New Listings
558 Price Changes
174 Pending Sales

If the second half of the month is similar, we'll end at the same activity September and October of last year were at but with fewer Pendings than last January.

Last January we ended with:

666 New Listings
714 Price Changes
475 Pending Sales

If you want to get away to Vegas and you can travel mid-week, Allegiant air has some good deals. They sent me an email promotion but the small writing down at the bottom said it was only good out of Fresno. I checked a date close to the promotion they had for Fresno and here's what I found:

Leaving Sun Feb 10th
Returning Wed Feb 13th
From Santa Maria

3 nights at the Imperial Palace on the strip (most other popular hotels were available)

2 round trip shuttle rides to/from the airport

Costs $445 for two people ($221 each). Not bad for round trip airfare and a hotel for 4 days/3 nights!!

http://www.allegiantair.com/

Some of my peers don't believe I should be providing the information I do on this blog, http://www.slowatch.com/, and on my SloCountyHomes.com site. They've rather be the key holder to information that they control. I was delighted to see this message today from the President of the National Association of REALTORS:

"Give Consumers the Facts"

This is what I strive to do with all my sites. I approach everything I do thinking that if I am a Buyer or Seller of real estate on the Central Coast, what information would I want to know. A home transaction is one of the most expensive transactions that you will make in your lifetime and the more educated you are, the better the chances you will make the right decisions. I don't agree that a Realtor should be the gatekeeper of all information. Sure, there is valuable information that a Realtor brings to the table as part of their service but facts about houses on the market or current and historical market statistics is something everyone should have access to.

The lack of info to clients isn't always because the Realtor is purposely keeping it from them. They just may not know. Ask a Realtor what the current months of inventory is for the cities they focus on and what the trends are. I think you'll be surprised with the answers (or non-answers) you receive. If that's knowledge that you expect a Realtor to know that is guiding you on your financial transaction, then I'd definitely ask the question!

I've assembled a great team of REALTORS throughout the Central Coast to assist you. They complement the online services I offer and I feel the combination provides the best service you'll find from any other Brokerage. I hope you give us the opportunity to assist you if you're looking to Buy or Sell real estate here on the Central Coast.

We're always looking to improve our services too. You need to stay on your toes and modify your services as the market or industry changes. Here's a good question to ask...
"Do you have 10 years of experience...or 1 year of experience that you've repeated 9 times?"

Looking at an agent's Internet offerings is a good way to gauge the answer to this question to see how current they are with todays real estate industry.

House Price Risk Map (from the report linked below)

PMI Mortgage Insurance company released their updated report of the U.S. Market Risk Index. The reports looks at what areas are at risk of having lower housing prices in the next 2 years.

All but two of the 13 highest-risk markets were in California and Florida. In California, the report noted, markets in the Central Valley and Southern California are weaker than those in Northern California , where employment continues to be strong.

The metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) with the highest risk scores were Riverside, Calif., where PMI forecasts a 94 percent chance of a two-year price decline; Las Vegas (89 percent); and Phoenix (83 percent).

You can download the report here

I went to Borders in SLO and noticed that our hometown champion, Chuck Liddell, is signing his new book at the store on February 12th at 7:00. But you might want to verify this as I just Googled it and found KSBY reporting it is to happen February 17th at 7:00. I think I know what I'm going to get my nephew for his birthday!

Real estate commissions rise

With the collapse of the sellers' market, real estate agents are finding themselves in the driver's seat when it comes to charging fees.

Read entire article here

Can you believe this weather the past few days?! I took the above photo last night of a paraglider coming in for a landing at the Oceano airport. (Click photo to display a big one)

This is from one of our North County Team Memebers:

I wanted to let everyone know about a great new place for kids in Paso Robles. The Paso Robles Children Museum opened In November and it is a big hit with my kids. There website is www.pasokids.org. We bought a season pass at the beginning of the year for the family and we have been going once a week. We stay for about 2 hours and the kids still don’t want to leave. It is at the old fire station on 13th street and the have completely renovated the station. They even have a real fire truck from the 1940s or 50s.

I just heard that the Govenor's budget proposal includes reducing expenses by closing some state parks, Montana De Oro being one of them. What!? When I think about the treasures of the Central Coast, Montana De Oro is at the top of the list!

I saw the following in an article from a panel discussion about the psychology of the current state of the housing market.

“The first stage is denial. At first, when the housing market began to slow, some analysts and experts said it would be short lived.

At the next stage, there was an admission that there was a housing problem but a denial that it was impacting the overall economy.

The next stages are grief; depression and acceptance. The National Association of Realtors trade group shares some blame for releasing "sunny forecasts that did not accurately reflect the spiraling market.”

At a SLO County Board of Supervisors hearing scheduled for January 15th they will discuss and consider approving water conservation retrofit/permit ordinances.

If approved, the two proposed ordinances would immediately affect those living within either the Nipomo Mesa Water Conservation Area and the Los Osos Groundwater Basin Area.

There are appoximately 300+ sellers who currently have their homes on the market in those areas (Nipomo, Los Osos and Arroyo Grande Mesa), and before they can close escrow they would have spend $$$ to tear out and replace plumbing fixtures, etc.

The Pismo Coast Association of REALTORS sent out an email to its members to alert everyone about the January 15th meeting. They also have done some research on the toilets required in the ordinances and did not find any local suppliers that carried a product that would meet the requirement.

While water conversation is an important issue that we all should help out with, it sounds like the County may be rushing into an ordinance without looking at the details of the retrofits that they are requiring. Hopefully homeowners won't have to pay a premium for the products required and that the money is kept in the County vs. giving it to out-of-town suppliers! '

I have put up the ordinances and the Q/A document that the Pismo Coast Association of REALTORS put together. You can access this information here

Ryan's Mortgage Blog:

So right after I stated last week that rates were slightly up...hours later they lowered....figures. Maybe I will keep posting rates are up and they will actually go down :). Right now the average 30 Year fixed rate is at 5.7%, the lowest since Sept. 2005.

Mortgage Bankers of America reported this morning that mortgage applications (both purchase and refi’s) increased 32% over the week ending January 3^rd. This is good news, but not necessarily a sign the housing problem is coming to an end. These stats aren't counted per person, but per application, so one person could have five applications due to the tightening of underwriting guidelines.

Feel free to contact me at RBaker@PeregrineLending.com or 805-540-0866.

Stable Existing-Home Sales Expected in Early 2008, then Gradual Rise

WASHINGTON, January 08, 2008 - Over the next few months, existing-home sales are expected to hold fairly steady as indicated by pending sales activity, then rise later in the year and continue to improve in 2009, according to the latest forecast by the National Association of Realtors®.

Read the article here

And here is CNN's take on this news release

Thanks to a tip from a blog reader, I took my daughter to a new Thai restaurant in Grover Beach for lunch today. I love Thai food and I'm always looking out for something new.

The restaurant is called Thai Dheva and it's located on the corner of 5th and Grand. The inside had an open feel and nice new hardwood floors.

Prices for most entrees are $8.95, $1 cheaper than the $9.95 that Thai Kitchen in Arroyo Grande charges. Thai Dheva has lunch specials Mon-Sat from 11-3. At first I was surprised to see them for $7.95 (most others in the area are $5.95) but a soft drink is included as well. And, it's not just a 12 oz. can that's brought out to your table like other restaurants. They actually bring it in a glass with ice and give you refills! In addition to the entree and the drink, lunch specials also include soup, a won ton, and cucumber salad. Both my daughter and I really like the marinated cucumber salad and this is the first Thai restaurant I've been to that includes it with a lunch.

We both ordered the yellow curry with chicken. I should have ordered something different so we could have sampled something else but we really like the yellow curry from Thai Kitchen and both had a craving for it. The portion was large (you won't leave feeling hungry) but it's not quite as spectacular as Thai Kitchen's.

We also ordered Chicken Satay, which is something I try at all Thai restaurants. Thai Dheva's was outstanding and one of the better ones I've tasted.

The owner who served us was very nice. She and her boyfriend obviously are trying to make this restaurant work. I'm definitely going to go back and try some more of their entrees. I also really like the Sweet Basil dish and want to see how Thai Dheva's compares to others I've tried.

I'd recommend giving it a try. If you go...tell her Keith sent you!

A few of you have asked me if I'm seeing the market take off since the New Year. I think it's too early to tell but I do know that since about the 30th of December, we've seen a significant increase in the number of Buyers contacting us for information about properties.

As far as statistics go, the first 7 days of 2008 resulted in:

115 - New Listings
252 - Price Changes
77 - Pending Sales

I was going through some old photos on my computer and found one of my ole' PT Cruiser with the surfboards on it. I really liked the car...until the transmission and turbo failed at under 40,000 miles. I still have the surfboards....hmm...wonder if they'll fit on one of those new Smart Cars?

I've recevied 2 messages since last night from people having problems accessing my MLS Map Search. I use what's called inline frames to display the map on the page. If you have any problems displaying a map page, see if at the top of the page it says this
"Your browser does not support inline frames or is currently configured not to display inline frames. "

If you run into this, I'd appreciate it if you let me know. At this point, I'm thinking that there may been an update to a security program that is blocking inline frames. I've checked the net and found a couple other webmasters that reported some weird intermittant problems with inline frames but nothing definite yet.

If you are having problems displaying the MLS Search maps, you can always use the MLS form search (which doesn't use inline frames):

http://www.slocountyhomes.com/search_mls_page1.htm

The Top Ten Reasons It's a Great Time To Buy Real Estate!

Read this article by a REALTOR in Arizona on his top 10 reasons why it's a great time to buy real estate.

I'd like to comment on Reason #7:

"Repair requests are welcomed. After a buyer completes a home inspection, they are allowed to submit a repair request to the seller. In the past a seller might insist the home was sold 'as is'. Many times, there were back-up buyers waiting for a primary buyer to upset the seller whose home was increasing in value almost daily. "

While I don't know if the correct word is "welcomed", I do agree that a Buyer coming back with a list of repairs has to be considered by the home seller these days.

This part of the process never made too much sense to me, even during a Sellers market...

A Homeowner gets an offer from a Buyer and the negotiation begins. You go back and forth and get down to the Buyer offering $647,000 and the Seller wanting $649,000 until finally one gives and you agree on "the price" (some negotiations come down to a few hundred dollars between the two and no one wants to budge). Then, the Buyer gets a home inspection (from an inspector the Buyer chooses) and then the Seller gets a Request for Repairs and negotiations begin again! These days, why wouldn't the Buyer put every little item found by the Home Inspector on the Request for Repairs list? Even the little things can add up, plus the time it will take the Homeowner to get the people to come out to fix a plumbing item (or items), an electrical one, etc. when the escrow clock is ticking with little time to get estimates. Plus, if a major item is found during the inspection, the repairs may be 5, 10, 15 thousands of dollars or more. Would the homeowner have agreed on the original price of the home first negotiated if they knew there was $15,000 worth of repairs needed??

What option does the Homeowner have in this market? They can say they won't pay for a portion of the repairs and risk the Buyer canceling the agreement which they can do anytime during the Inspection period. Then the homeowner gets a "Back on Market" tag next to their property in the MLS which makes agents wonder what is wrong with the house. When the next offer comes in, the homeowner MUST disclose everything found by the old Buyer's home inspector to the new potential Buyer.

Wouldn't it make more sense for the Homeowner to pay for the pest inspection AND a home inspection BEFORE the property goes on the market?? Then, you know exactly what the product is that you are selling. You may price it differently by knowing this info. Or, you may want to fix some of the items before you list the home. At least you know what you have when you enter into the initial price negotiation and won't be SURPRISED when the Buyer does the home inspection. You also keep it down to a SINGLE negotiation. If the home inspection comes back fairly clean, that's also a powerful tool for the Listing Agent to use when negotiating the price with the Buyer!

If the Buyer decides to have their own home inspection and find some discrepancies between the reports, it's the home inspectors that will need to work this out. If you use a good one, they can argue something that another one finds that really isn't valid and something you probably would have paid to fix if you only had the one report from the Buyer's inspector.

A pest inspection is something that the Seller usually pays for around here anyways. For the $60-$75 most cost, it will also tell you how much you're going to need to spend to get a Section One clearance and what Section Two work is noted. A home inspection costs around $400. I know of a really good inspector on the Central Coast and would be happy to give you his name if you send me an email.

While the homeowner will have to pay around $400 for a home inspection, chances are you'll going to make it back plus more by knowing the condition of your home during the price negotiation.

The ultimate GEEK show, CES, is happening in Las Vegas (I should be there!). This is where companies announce new products and technologies. Digital camera technologies continue to improve. This one was announced by Casio and will be available in the Spring.

"LAS VEGAS - Every photographer experiences it: missing the perfect moment.

You either take a picture a moment too soon, or a moment too late. Your kid won't stay still, the camera's not ready, it takes too long for the shutter to fire.

Whatever. You missed it.

Well, Casio is holding out the promise that - if you get one of its new cameras - this frustration will never happen again. The company showed off a number of technologies that try to ensure the camera and the photographer are ready when the 'moment' comes along.

Perhaps the company's most ambitious effort to that end is its new Exilim Pro EX-F1 camera. The camera, Casio's first digital single lens reflex, offers some super-fast shooting modes.

Many cameras will shoot pictures in 'bursts' of about 3 to 5 a second. In contrast, the EX-F1 will shoot bursts of 60 frames a second. Users can then review the individual frames to pick the precise 'moment' that they want."

Full article here

Here's a price reduction that happened today.

One Bedroom home in North Grover Beach on a 6500 sq foot lot. Was listed at $399,000, today it's $300,000. It is a short sale subject to lenders approval....

I should have looked at ALL the price reductions that happened today before writing about the one above. A Santa Maria home was reduced from $599,000 to $479,000, also a short sale. It originally listed in September for $689,000.

Here are some statistics on the Million Dollar+ home market. The chart below lists all the homes sold over $1 Million for the last few years, broken down to three lot size categories. The last column lists the amount of homes available as of today in those categories.

	2007	2006	2005		avail 1/5/08
<= 1 acre	115	167	161		156
1.01-5 acres	46	65	57		79
over 5 acres	53	65	62		79
Total	214	297	280

I calculated 2nd Half 2007 median home prices and put them on the chart on www.SloWatch.com. I also redid the slowatch site a bit. You can access the median home price page from the navigation bar at the top of each page.

Although it's British humor, this explains the subprime situation better than most things I've read. The unemployed black man in Alabama reference didn't set too well with me though.

Click to see to the video It's 8 1/2 minutes long and they start talking about the mortgage mess a few minutes into it.

Ryan's Mortgage Blog:

Hope everyone had a great holiday! Sorry for the delay on my mortgage blog, I am just getting back to the swing of things after a long holiday of traveling and over eating. Mortgage rates are slight up this week, one reason I saw was because consumer spending for November was a little higher than expected.

I found another cool calculator for you guys to try out. This one is for people who have a loan that will be adjusting soon. It takes the actual current rates from the specific index your loan is based off of, and lets you know what your loan should be adjusting to. You can find it here

On a side note, I hope everyone stays dry and is prepared for the storm this weekend. Luckily San Luis Obispo should not be hit as hard as the rest of the State, but if you are traveling you should check the weather report ahead of time. From what I have heard, most of the Tahoe area will be closed down due to extremely high winds and blizzard conditions.

If you have any mortgage related questions or comments, please contact me at RBaker@PeregrineLending.com or 805-540-0866.

My wife and I saw the movie Juno tonite. We both highly recommend it!

I updated the Median Home Price table on the www.SloWatch.com site for the 4th Quarter (October-December 2007). Some interesting results...

Cambria, Cayucos, Morro Bay, Pismo Beach, Arroyo Grande, and San Luis Obispo appear to be fairing better than other cities, at least in the 4th Quarter. Some of these cities median home price jumped in the 4th Quarter (over 3rd Quarter). Because of the up and down difference between Q3 and Q4 for some of the cities, I'm going to calcuate 1st half and 2nd half '07 prices to compare them against 2006 prices which should paint a better picture.

These cities showed a clear decline in prices; Atascadero, Los Osos, Paso Robles, and Santa Maria.

The Santa Barabara County Health Department now has restaurant inspection reports online. If you're wondering if a restaurant is following health procedures for food, just click here and enter in the restaurant name. San Luis Obispo County is supposed to be working on doing the same but I'm unsure when it will be online.

I took a quick look at some restaurants in Santa Maria and only found a few that had a violation. Most of those were improper temperatures for food storage which were cleared in a follow-up inspection.

I took my wife an a quick getaway to Monterey before she goes back to work next week (she's a teacher at the SLO Juvenile Services Center). We stayed at the SpinDrift Inn on Cannery row and I'd highly recommend it. We had room 403 (top floor) which is ocean front. The room has a window seat where you can sit and watch the sea otters, a fireplace, and hardwood floors. We ate at the nearby Fish Hopper which was excellent as well. It was real quiet too (meaning the walls weren't thin so we didn't hear people in the other rooms). A quick but refreshing trip!

I hoped the San Luis Obispo Real Estate Blog would break 50,000 visitors in 2007 it but ended up a bit short. But...I'm not complaining!! The visitor count doesn't include RSS feeds or visits to particular blog posts found through search engines, it just counts visitors to the main blog page on SloCountyHomes.com.

I updated both the Just Sold and REO report sections tonite.

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

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

Central Coast MLS Statistics -Residential -December 2007
(Last months data is also included - December (November))

New Listings - 403 (489)
Back on Market - 230 (197)
Price Changes - 636 (1053)
Contingent - 50 (50)
Pendings - 285 (334)
Solds - 233 (240)
Expireds - 405 (375)
Inactives/Withdrawns - 270 (328)

The above data includes SLO County Plus Santa Maria/Orcutt.

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December is always a slow month and this December is no different. Pending Sales were down almost 20% from the levels of the last few months. When January Solds are reported in the newspaper many weeks from now, you'll read how low they are but you'll already know that since you read this blog!

Months of Inventory (MOI) for SLO County continues to increase, up to 16.0 months from 15.1 months 30 days ago. Santa Maria/Orcutt had a good month and when you add in that area, the MOI for SLO County/Santa Maria Valley actually went down to 14.5 months (from 15.4).

Inventory levels for individual cities were lower in most cities than 30 days ago. Atascadero and Arroyo Grande had the biggest drops but when you calculate the MOI for these cities, the months went up because of few sales in December. Arroyo Grande and Atascadero each had 10 solds for the month. Santa Maria had 36, Orcutt 27, Paso Robles 23, and San Luis Obispo 19. Cayucos only had 1 Sold in December which really made its MOI jump (to 51 months of inventory).

The city of San Luis Obispo reduced their MOI for the first time in a few months (from 9.3 to 8.3 months). Orcutt had a good month, lowering their MOI to 9.6 months.

I updated the statistics graph, inventory levels, and Month of Inventory calculations on the http://www.slowatch.com/ site.

I'll be working on the 4th quarter median home price reports and year-end reports later this week.