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Before I get into the news, I want to wish you and your loved ones a great holiday season, and a healthy and prosperous New Year.
I
don't normally mix my music and my real estate, but I uploaded a Christmas
song I performed a couple of years ago with one of my bands. I think you'll
enjoy it. Major Market Changes... Be ahead of the media! The real estate market continues its significant correction. Overheated markets cannot last forever. After a year of inventory build-up, San Fernando Valley housing may be finding an area of stability in the 8000 unit range (see chart below). This is actually a historically healthy inventory level. If it stays in this range, and economic conditions stay solid, we should pull out of the housing value tailspin spring/summer ‘07 as sales increase. In the meanwhile housing prices will deteriorate additionally over the next 6 months, as many buyers will continue to sit on the fence. This is a normal occurrence during a real estate cycle. Even though it appears to be a negative to some, it is in reality a positive for the market long term. The fundamentals remain great for long term value appreciation after a period of price stagnation. Presently, the majority of “unrealistic” sellers are being stubborn and are wanting to get “yesterday’s prices”… Short term speculators, and weak holders of properties, are attempting to get out from under their investments, and are forced into pricing their properties aggressively. Only well priced properties are seeing any activity. A year and a half ago (when the inventory was non-existent, and there were 10 buyers for every listing) properties would receive multiple offers overnight. THAT was unhealthy. Present foreclosure rates may have doubled, but from a very low quantity, and are still below historic averages. (This is not to say the foreclosure rates won’t continue to increase and go higher than the historic average… but that is normal during this part of the real estate economic cycle, and is a lagging indicator of the cycle & values deteriorating.) Timing has to be an essential criteria when evaluating any investment. Smart investors buy when the weak sell. Don't try and catch a falling knife, as the values continue to drop...BUY as the cycle converts to a neutral market from a buyers market. This may happen within months. Feel free in calling me any time to evaluate your specific financing and housing scenarios.
Always check out the MRES site at http://mres.com/statistics.htm for the latest local housing statistics. Ron on TV Keep your eye open for an episode of “Flip That House” that I was on, that’s presently being shown on The Learning Channel. It’s about a property in West Covina that has gone through a major restoration. Next showing is Jan 1 at 7:00pm http://tlc.discovery.com/tvlistings/episode.jsp?episode=29&cpi=55442&gid=0&channel=TLC You can also see a portion of the show from a link on http://www.mres.com Did you know…? Congress has approved a one year tax deduction for mortgage insurance premiums for 2007. Under the provision taxpayers with income up to $100,000 qualify for a full deduction and a partial deduction for taxpayers with income of $101,000 to $110,000. Freddie Mac & Fannie Mae have kept their loan limits for 2007 the same as 2006
Effective January 1, 2007 there will be an alternative to the 3.33% California withholding tax when selling non-exempt real estate. Now only the estimated tax liability recognized by the seller multiplied by the highest state tax rate needs to be withheld. Real Estate CyberTips http://www.REcyber.com/cybertips/ronhenderson This month's special security issue includes the following Tips: * Anti virus solution for tightwads * Easy phishing test * Scrub - Erase - Remove |
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Remember, regardless if you have a specific real estate need, or just a |
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