Glen’s November East Bay Housing Numbers

December 3, 2009

Here’s the latest numbers for the 38 San Francisco Bay Area Cities that I follow. Change from the last month was minimal.
We’ve heard encouraging news from NAR recently referring to the October housing numbers; “Nine Consecutive Gains for Pending Home Sales”
We’ve experienced the same trend in the San Francisco East Bay Area. However, we finally [...]

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Fannie Mae Sends Investor REO Buyers to the Back of the Line

December 1, 2009

If you’re an investor looking to purchase Fannie Mae REO properties, then their new First Look initiative will be of interest to you.
To provide owner occupants and public entities an advantage in purchasing Fannie Mae-owned foreclosed properties, the company has created the First Look initiative. With First Look, only offers from owner occupants and buyers [...]

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A Renewed Focus on Converting Trial Loan Modifications into Permanent Ones

November 30, 2009

The Obama administration announced today that it’s refocusing their efforts on increasing the number of permanent loan modifications under the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) through better outreach tools, borrower resources and servicer accountability.
They also announced that there are 650,000 trial modifications now in place and roughly 375,000 scheduled to convert to permanent modifications by [...]

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[Video] UC Berkeley Real Estate Economist Ken Rosen Gives His Take on the Housing Market

November 24, 2009

UC Berkeley real estate economist Ken Rosen talks about the federal home buyers tax credit and how the next six to nine months are good times to buy a house, if you plan to live in it.

h/t marketwatch

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REO’s Jump 22% in California

November 20, 2009

From DSNews:
After three months of consecutive declines, the number of foreclosed homes in California taken back by banks rose by 22.24 percent from September to October, according to ForeclosureRadar, a local property information site that tracks every foreclosure in the Golden State and provides daily auction updates.
The company’s tally of new REOs is a 20.95 [...]

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Is Calfornia in the Eye of the Housing Market Hurricane?

November 4, 2009

This post says we are.
Definitely recommended reading if you’re interested in future of the California housing market.

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Glen’s October East Bay Housing Numbers

November 2, 2009

Here’s a snapshot of the San Francisco East Bay Real Estate Market through October 31st. I run these numbers monthly and have been tracking 38 cities since 2005. I primarily look at two indicators, Months Supply and Pending Over Active ratios.
Pending Over Active ratio relates to buyers and sellers. Basic Econ 101, Supply and demand. [...]

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links for 2009-10-29

October 29, 2009

Calculated Risk: Home Buyer Tax Credit Revision
The article states the plan might still change .
The details:
# Income eligibility for home buyers increases to $125,000 for individuals and $225,000 for couples.
# The tax credit for first-time home buyers (anyone who has not owned in the last 3 years) will be the lesser of $8,000 or 10% [...]

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links for 2009-10-28

October 28, 2009

[Oct 09] RealtyTrends Foreclosure Newsletter
Rick Sharga tackles the Shadow REO Inventory topic.
(tags: housing foreclosure reo realtytrac myeastbayagent)

Simon Johnson and James Kwak – The home-buyer tax credit: Throwing good money after bad – washingtonpost.com
Given the serious possibility that housing prices are currently being propped up by the tax credit — Goldman estimates by 5 percent — [...]

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links for 2009-10-27

October 27, 2009

Seth's Blog: Dunbar's Number isn't just a number, it's the law
Some people online are trying to flout Dunbar's number, to become connected and actual friends with tens of thousands of people at once. And guess what? It doesn't scale. You might be able to stretch to 200 or 400, but no, you can't effectively engage [...]

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