CA May 2008 Stats

A total of 33,024 new and resale houses and condos were sold statewide last month. That was up 6.0 percent from 31,150 in April and down 10.7 percent from 36,975 for May last year. Last month’s total made for the slowest May since 1995 when 32,223 homes sold.

Of the homes sold in May, 38.3 percent were foreclosure resales, up from a revised 37.6 percent in April and 5.4 percent in May a year ago.

The median price paid for a home last month was $339,000, down 4.2 percent from $354,000 for the month before, and down 30.0 percent from $484,000 for May a year ago when the median was at its peak. Around half the drop in median is due to depreciation, the other half due to shifts in the types of homes selling, and how those homes are financed.

prepping your home for sale

The single biggest mistake made by home sellers is to think they need to do nothing before putting their home on the market. Gone are the days when a for sale sign in the front yard means the home is ready to be shown and sold. Home staging, the art of preparing a home for market, allows a home to attract offers in the top range of values rather than middle or low value levels.

Sellers sometimes want to take the easy way out and don’t want to paint, change the carpet or repair a leaky faucet. It is difficult for sellers to get enthused about sinking time and money into a house they will be leaving. However, it is counter productive to try to market a home without staging it first. Homes in not so good condition tend to attract investors and bargain hunters. No matter how low the home is priced, bargain hunters will often offer less and expect concessions for fix-ups as well. Creativity and low cost improvements can reap big rewards.

It is critical that Realtors team up with a competent stager. Few agents have the experience to work with their sellers to stage the listing. Agents are trained to market and sell properties, not stage them. It is to everyone’s advantage to use a stager to put the property in top dollar selling condition before it goes on the market.

Many agents consider staging as part of their marketing plan and a mandatory final step before listing a property for sale. Those Realtors no longer have to risk attracting investors looking for a fixer-upper when serious buyers wanting a home will be wowed from the beginning. Practically speaking, why would an agent want to give concessions or cash back allowances due to lack of preparation before the home goes on the market? Serious buyers will walk away and bargain hunters will know the listing is ripe for the picking.

In a fast moving market, staging will usually sell the property for more money. In a slow market, staging will usually sell the property while other properties remain on the market unsold. Staging sets the best scene so buyers see the features of the house in the best possible light. Staging services are an investment in achieving the goal of selling the property, creating a win-win situation for agents, sellers and buyers.

“Home Staging” – Your Must Marketing And Merchandising Tool by Amy Chany and courtesy of frogpond.com

Priscilla Rawlings and Recession and Land Refuge

The answer does not depend on what your definition of “is” is.
But there’s no one-size-fits-all answer, because much depends on the severity, length and characteristics of any economic pullback.
And everything else depends on the land you’ve bought–its price, financing terms (if any), location, uses and affordability in light of your income, among other factors.
Land bought with an Adjustable Rate Mortgage (ARM) will benefit from a recession’s lower interest rates.

But if you are laid off during a recession, you may either lose the land or have to sell it a low price to get free of its debt.

Land bought at a too-high price will lose value.

Easy credit, ARMs and speculation hyper-inflate prices in good times; when times sour, they can boil you.

Most types of rural land have not lost value in recent months. The factors that have steadily lifted their worth during the past decade are not mainly speculation and cheap credit.

Second homes that have doubled or tripled in value in the past several years are the exception. They would be front-line casualties in a recession.

The most vulnerable are likely to be those in destination settings, particularly dedicated communities.

The least vulnerable second homes are those within a reasonable driving distance of metropolitan areas.
Undeveloped land that has marginal characteristics—so-so location, limited uses, negatives—will not do well.

But quality land will ride out a recession. Population growth, not speculation, is the flood lifting this boat.

The floor under timberland is its long-term appreciation. That’s why pension funds, endowments, investors and trusts are putting money into it.

Quality land, bought at the right price with sensible financing, should weather a recession better than stocks and many other investment alternatives.
Buying land on time with a long-term fixed rate, coupled with tax-deductible interest and cash potential from a partial sale or rental, is a strategy that floats over turbulence.

The credit crisis we now see is the product of different groups each working the angle of self-interest.

Mortgage borrowers jumped at low-introductory rate ARMS and interest-only loans.

Banks sold their sub-prime loans in packages to investors who bet these risks wouldn’t bite. Banks began seeing packaged, hinky debt as a revenue stream.

Investors—hedge funds, pension funds and insurance companies—borrowed to buy these packages of shaky loans.

When mortgage borrowers started being pinched by higher interest rates, foreclosures and other problems, many sectors of the economy yelled “Ouch.”

Common sense has a way of rearing its ugly head.

Eventually, lenders will start lending again on the basis of genuine value.

Recovery starts with quality borrowing and quality lending.

Good land is a better place to wait out a recession than most others.

post by Curtis Seltzer and courtesy of http://www.frogpond.com

Author Information
(Curtis Seltzer is a land consultant. He writes summary memos for clients that lay out a target property’s benefits, risks, costs and unknowns.)