Friday, September 24th, 2010National Flood Insurance Extended Through 2011 The National Association of REALTORS® is pleased to report that Congress has unanimously approved a one-year extension, until Sept. 30, 2011, for the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). A long-term extension has been a top legislative priority for NAR. Earlier in 2010 the NFIP lapsed, causing major disruptions [...]
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 Have you registered your customers and clients as SAR Auxiliary Members yet? This new customer appreciation program, entitled Sacramento Home Advantage, launched in June and is well on its way to becoming a national model. Let me tell you what it is and how it can work for you. Just stop by the SAR Store and Membership Department to register current customers and clients – your buyers and sellers – as well as loyal clients in your book of business. For $15.00 each, you will pick up a gift basket valued at over $200 to give to your consumer. It contains gift cards and discounts gathered through affinity programs that SAR has established in Sacramento. Delivering this gift is a good reason to call on your consumer. Present the basket and go through its contents to ensureyour client is aware of all the benefits. You will also give your new Auxiliary Member a link through either your website or email address that will take them to SacramentoHomeAdvantage.com That link places your image and contact information on the home page. This website has been created by SAR for your Auxiliary Members. It contains information about Sacramento’s amenities and marketplace with tips for buyers and sellers. It is refreshed each week with additional information for the consumer.  Sacramento County District Attorney Jan Scully announced in early August that all real estate fraud investigations in Sacramento County will now be conducted by investigators assigned to her office. For those that support strong action against the perpetrators of real estate fraud this should be very welcome news. Up until now, the county sheriff and several of the cities conducted their own real estate fraud investigation activities. By merging these into one office, we should get investigators who rapidly become experts at recognizing fraudulent activities and moving to stop them. This move is also important during this time of fiscal constraint. Each time a document related to real estate such as a Grant Deed or Deed of Trust is recorded, part of the recording fee goes into a special account to support real estate fraud investigation and prosecution. By consolidating these activities in one office, you only have one unit accessing these funds. That should allow more aggressive and effective real estate fraud investigation with a steady source of funding for their activities. On the other hand, for those engaged in fraudulent activity this is terrible news. Hopefully this action, coupled with the new law in California that makes loan fraud a felony as of January 1, 2010, will go a long way to reducing the instances of real estate and loan fraud in Sacramento County. Additional good news is that if you see real estate activity in Sacramento County that may be fraudulent you only have one place you need to go to report it. The website has yet to be updated to reflect the merger, but the info there is still good. The URL for the site is http://sacda.org/si/realestate.htm and the telephone number for the real estate fraud unit is 916-874-9045. Continue reading: Real Estate Fraud Becomes Riskier in Sacramento County The 2011 SAR Officers and Directors election results are in! This year was an exciting race with the candidates actively campaigning and a continued use of technology. Once again the candidates filmed campaign videos which were then available on the election website and YouTube. Our candidates used social networking to get the word out, [...] August home sales breathed some life into the Sacramento housing market; increasing 9.8% from 1,363 to 1,496. This, however, is still 11.1% below the 1,683 home sales of August 2009. Of the sales this month, 541 units (or 36%) were REO properties, 398 units (27%) were short sales and 557 (37%) were conventional sales. There has been a change in the Sacramento market over the last year, shifting towards conventional and short sales. The charts below represent the type of sale (REO, short sale and conventional) in both August 2009 and August 2010. REO properties have dropped 24% from last year when they made up nearly 48% of all sales. Conventional sales have been on the rebound, slowly rising to make up a majority of all sales. Short sales have also been on the rise, signaling that lenders have been more enthusiastic about working with REALTORS® and getting buyers into homes.  August 2010 Statistics Pie Chart The Sacramento median homes sales price rose slightly month-to-month, increasing .5% from $185,000 to $186,000. Compared with the same month last year ($190,000), the median home price has decreased 2.1%. The $200,000 – $249,999 price range mode still accounts for a majority (18.5% or 277 units) of the 1,496 total sales this month, while homes under $100,000 totaled 200 (13.3%) units. Financing options continue to change as record low mortgage rates become available for buyers. This month conventional financing made up a majority of all home and condo sales (578 or 35.6%) with cash (28.6%) and FHA financing (26.8%) making up the two other large categories. VA loans (47 or 2.9%) and other financing (100 or 6.2%) rounded out the remainder. The other category includes CalVet, contract of sale, creative, farm home loan and owner financing. The average length of time a home spent on the market before opening escrow was 65 days. Nearly half of all properties (45%) sold in 30 days or less. 116 properties (7.1%) had been on the market for more than 181 days and 17 of those properties had been on the market for more than a year before finally being sold in August. The median amount of days spent on the market was 35 – up from the 31 DOM in July. The Total Listing Inventory has recently been split up to more accurately display the current market. Active Listings numbered 5,045 properties and Active Short Sales Contingent showed 2,021. Active Short Sale Contingent properties are short sale properties on which initial offers have been made and are not entirely “active.” After breaking down Total Listing Inventory, we find that the Housing Market Supply figure is more accurately reflected. Month to month the Housing Market Supply figure for August was 3.4 Months. This figure represents the amount of time – in months – it would take to deplete the Active Listing Inventory (5,045) given the current number of closed escrows (1,496). According to MetroList® MLS data, the average home was 1,708 square feet. Of the 1,496 sales this month, 148 (9.8%) had 2 bedrooms or fewer, 819 (34.6%) had 3 bedrooms, 427 (28.5%) were 4 bedroom properties and 99 properties (6.6%) had 5+ bedrooms. Continue reading: Sales Pick Up After Slow July, REO Sales Decreasing  FHA announced as of October 4, 2010 that they will change their mortgage insurance costs to the borrower. Before the change, the up front mortgage insurance (the mortgage insurance that is financed into the loan) was 2.25% on or after October 4. It will drop to 1.00%. The monthly mortgage insurance which is added to the borrower’s monthly payment will increase from .55% to .90% (annually on amortized loans over 15 years). Your clients will qualify for less now that the MMI has nearly doubled. It would have benefited the buyer/ borrower if the upfront mortgage insurance went up and the monthly mortgage insurance went down since the upfront mortgage insurance is financed over 30 years (or whatever the amortization might be). New competition for Short Sales Fannie created a website on August 3, 2010: “Know Your Options” Additional Resources  SAFETY… When I think of safety for REALTORS®, I think of physical safety while showing property or holding open houses. In real estate, we do everything our parents taught us not to do: we put strangers in our cars and we meet people in vacant houses. I got my first car phone after being stranded in a bad neighborhood at twilight at a freeway entrance. Fortunately, I was able to walk to a service station for help. However, I bought my car phone the next day for $800. My, how things have changed! If you pay any attention at all to your safety as a REALTOR®, you know to meet new clients at the office. If you work alone or from your house, meet a new client at the title company. REALTORS® often get into dangerous situations the same way anyone does – by not paying attention to their surroundings and by not listening to their gut. Think of the 10-second rule:
(Thanks to Linda Justus, Sacramento REALTOR® and former police officer, for this handy 10-second rule.)  The 2nd Annual Sip and Support fundraiser for Christmas CanTree and The Salvation Army was another hugely successful event. Following its “Ha-wine-ian” theme, the Carvalho Winery was transformed into a tropical luau setting with attendees outfitted in brightly colored flowered shirts and resort casual attire. Guests feasted on roasted pig, donated by John Quinn and Jennifer Albiani-Quinn, and prepared by Steve Coutrakis of J & J Realty. Carvalho Winery generously provided the wine at a discount, and our non-wine drinkers enjoyed Barbara Harsch’s famous non-alcoholic Hawaiian Punch and beer donated by Miller-Coors. Channel 31’s Good Day Sacramento host Nick Toma and KFBK 1530 talk show host Terry Knight were the evening’s emcees. The Makamae Melia O’Polynesian dancers entertained guests during dinner, inspiring a few audience members to come up for a dance lesson. The evening was kicked into high gear following dinner when the Halie O’Ryan Band, featuring drummer Bobby Campbell of Coastal Pacific Mortgage, began their first set. People danced until midnight when the event concluded. More funds were raised as people bid on silent auction items and purchased raffle tickets for other great prizes donated by SAR REALTOR® and Affiliate Members. In addition, each ticket holder was entered into a drawing for three major prizes. Clint Swift won $500 in cash; Ava Simpson won an iPad; and Jennifer Merica took home a 42” flatscreen HDTV. Our major prize sponsor was CVM Law Group, LLC. |
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