Real Estate Investors are Now Officially the Good Guys

From Home Rentership Society – Realty Check with Diana Olick

All-cash investors are flooding the market, buying up distressed properties at deep discounts. [Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, Shaun] Donovan claims investors are no longer the pariah’s of the housing market; they are in fact the bulk of today’s buyers of distressed properties. At the height of the housing crash, President Obama made clear that the housing/mortgage bailout was not for investors, who bought properties with money they didn’t have, but only for owner-occupants (who also, by the way, bought properties with money they didn’t have).

The tides have turned.

“Clearly investors coming in to buy some of these homes is a key part of how these neighborhoods recover,” Donovan says. “We’re focused on, for example with REO [bank-owned] homes, investors to purchase them and get the financing they need to fix them up.”

Real Estate investors will play a key role in the eventual recovery of the real estate market. Any way you look at it, there’s a backlog of distressed properties that we’re going to deal with before we can return to a more normalized real estate market. Investors are waiting to purchase these properties, improve them and sell their end product to happy new homeowners paying full market value, which in turn will help their communities re-establish their value.

We’re excited to be a part of this recovery and we’d love to have you join us.

5 of Berkeley’s Best Make the Top 100 Bay Area Restaurants List

San Francisco Chronicle’s “Top 100 Bay Area Restaurants” came out the beginning of April with Michael Bauer, Chronicle Restaurant Critic, beginning his annual publication by stating; “2010 should go down as the most exciting year of Bay Area dining in more than a quarter century.”

Five of Berkeley’s finest make the cut.

Chez Panisse, as always, the Alice Waters Influence.

Corso Trattoria & Rivoli, the Wendy Brucker & Roscoe Skipper Team, both absolutely favorites of mine.

and finally Japanese Cusines; O Chame on Fourth Street and the newest member Ippuku in downtown Berkeley.

Check it out online. Did any of your favorites make the list?

East Bay Investment Opportunity [4-Plex] – 908 Trenton Blvd. in San Pablo, CA

If you’re looking for a buy & hold investment in the East Bay, you might want to consider this 4-plex in San Pablo. MyEastBayAgent team member Norman Gee found this property property while sifting through the MLS.

He ran a projected cash flow analysis, which you can download here. In his analysis, he projects on the low end, an Internal Rate of Return over 20% with annual cash flows >10K.

If you’re interested in this property (or want us to find you another East Bay investment property), call or email Norman directly. 510.552.0878 or email him norman [at] myeastbayagent dot com.

If you would like to be added to our East Bay Investor list, enter your email below and we’ll be happy to send potential deals your way.

Listing information deemed reliable but not guaranteed. Read full disclaimer.

Listing provided by Atlantic & Pacific Real Estate

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Is a Short Sale Really Better for Your Credit than a Foreclosure?

Is a short sale better for my credit score compared to a foreclosure?

It’s a question that we get over and over again. You’d think it would be obvious that a short sale would be better, but that’s not exactly the case. I came across a post on the FICO Banking Analytics blog titled “Research looks at how mortgage delinquencies affect scores” that I think helps to shine a light on how short sales and foreclosures affect FICO scores.

What stood out to me is that there’s virtually no difference in the both the impact of a short sale (w/ deficiency balance) &  a foreclosure to a borrower’s FICO and also the time needed for that person’s score to fully recover. Additionally, a consumer with a higher FICO score to begin with will take a bigger initial hit and will take longer for their score to recover to pre-sale levels.

Explore East Bay Price Reductions w/ Trulia’s New Visualization Tool

If you’re an East Bay housing data geek like us, you’re going to want to check out the latest visualization from Trulia.

Through this data visualization, you can hover over a zip code and you’ll find: the days before the first reduction, the average percent reduction & the probability of a second reduction.

Although there seems to be a data black hole in Berkeley, I found myself spending some time exploring trends in the different areas. Give it a try and let me know what you think!

Taking a Closer Look Into the East Bay Condo Market Slowdown

We are seeing a slowdown in the condo market and I decided to run some numbers to verify what I’ve been hearing.

Below is a chart showing the median price of condo/townhouses in selected cities on a quarterly basis over the past two years, (ending March 31, 2011).

Some are more obvious than others, but values have come down in the last two or three quarters. I expect that trend to continue. Keep in mind there are seasonal influences and there have been some ups and downs over the past couple of years in terms of inventory, demand and values.

The biggest influences with condos in this market are the difficulty in getting a loan based on the condo certifications, declining values, and high HOA dues. Many are being purchased now all cash. However, some investors have stayed away because prices have still not come down enough to cash flow, and many times that is because of the HOA dues.

Carolyn Said highlighted this in her recent article in the San Francisco Chronicle

“In a vicious cycle, lending restrictions bar potential buyers from getting a mortgage in complexes where too many units are behind in homeowner association dues, are not owner occupied or are concentrated in one party’s hands. Units is such complexes must sell for all cash, which drives down their price.”

Eve Mitchell highlights another problem for the condo market in her recent Contra Costa Times article

“In a housing market in which prices continue to be battered by foreclosures and short sales, many would-be buyers of condominiums in the Bay Area instead have found bargain-priced single-family houses as the price gap between the two housing choices closes.”

In summary, the deteriorating HOA financial situations along with the tightening loan requirements & the sudden viability of single family alternatives, have resulted in a East Bay condo market that is struggling to find it’s footing right now.

East Bay Housing Data – Glen’s Numbers through March 2011

The latest East Bay Housing numbers are in and they’re showing a slight increase in inventory levels and in pendings compared to February. Pendings are up about 3.1% over last month.

Sales remain sluggish. We’re seeing, as a trend in most cities, days on market slowly increasing, median prices decreasing slightly and the average sales price coming down slightly in comparison to the average list price.

Our Pending/Active Ratio has slightly increased to .90, still indicating that we are, on the whole, in a “buyer’s market,” but slowly returning towards a “normal” market.

The months supply remained steady at 3.3 months, still above the 2.5 month supply we saw last year at this time.

Looking Forward

I saw this post from DQ News Bay Area Housing Market Stuck In Neutral; Investors, Cash Buyers Active & thought it accurately describes what I think is in store for the Bay Are housing market.

“Over the next few months we’ll begin to see how much of the pent-up demand will play out during the traditional spring-summer home-buying season. Our sense is that we could see sales jump significantly from today’s subpar levels if the economic outlook improves, people start feeling more secure in their jobs and credit terms loosen. Some potential buyers also want to see evidence that prices have bottomed. Of course, one group will have to sit this home-buying season out: Those who don’t have enough, if any, equity in their homes.”

As always, I’m available if you want to talk about the market, or explore your options for buying, selling or investing in East Bay real estate. You can reach me directly at 510.333.4460.

You can download an entire copy of Glen’s East Bay Housing Numbers Through March 2011 here.

Great Times at Yoshi’s Jazz Club in Oakland’s Jack London Square

I like to think of myself as an avid jazz enthusiast and Yoshi’s Jazz Club in Oakland has, over the years, become my favorite venue. I became a “regular” while attending shows beginning at the “hideaway jazz club” on Claremont and on to their current location at Jack London Square. It seems like just about every major jazz artist has played here.

“Yoshi’s is one of the best jazz clubs in the world,” says Kenny Burrell, the guitar master who celebrated his 75th birthday with a special concert at the club last summer. “They have the best sound system, the best equipment, and they take extra effort to present the music to the public in the best possible way.” – The Spot for Jazz

Leading the way, Shelley Altura, organized our group from Better Homes & Gardens to attend Friday night’s show featuring Stanley Clarke and of course with her very own son Charles Altura, masterfully playing the guitar.

I loved Stanley on the acoustic bass, but as expected, he stepped it up on the electric sharing the stage with his younger group of musicians and coaxing the very best out of them together and on solos with great upbeat energy. What great chemistry and it really does sound like he’s been playing for ever with drummer Ronald Bruner Jr, who along with Charles played on Stanley’s recent 2010 Grammy winning CD for best contemporary jazz album.

Their first set was so good that I stayed on for the second set, one that I believe I enjoyed even more than the first. Great stuff, great venue, great group!!!