Monday, July 28, 2008

June Santa Barbara REO's

There is nothing unusual about June's list of REO's. They are spread out throughout the county just as you would suspect.

There were 11 properties between Carpinteria and Goleta.

The Santa Maria area had the largest number with 106.

Lompoc had 32.

The rest of the the properties taken back by the banks were scattered among Santa Ynez, Solvang, Guadalupe, & Buellton.

In reviewing the loan amounts you can see that most of the properties had loan amounts under $500,000. There were 2 properties whose loan amounts were over $1,000,000 and they were both in Santa Barbara.

The list of lenders wouldn't surprise you either. All the major players are represented with multiple properties on the list. A couple of the lenders that have been in the news most recently like IndyMac and Countrywide are certainly busy taking back property.

Some of the other lenders are Wells Fargo, Wachovia, Washington Mutual, Deutsche Bank, & Chase.

Friday, July 25, 2008

The State of Home Financing in Santa Barbara


Our escrow staff was fortunate enough to have a loan professional come talk to us at our meeting this morning. I wasn't really sure how well it would go, but it was a terrific forum for us to share what we are seeing on our escrows as well as hear what type of financing is out there.

I wasn't sure that the raising of the conforming loan limit that happened with the economic stimulus package had really helped people who were borrowing between the old limit and the new limit of $729,750 but it is.

If you are wanting to put less than 20% down on a piece of property and aren't needing to borrow more than the new limit an FHA loan has some possibilities for you. We were even told that there are some down payment assistance programs you can use in conjunction with this financing that could really lower your down payment.

We were told that there are still some sources for loans between 2 and 5 million although people who borrow these amounts usually do it for a short time since their isn't any tax benefit.

This lender also told us that they are not viewing Santa Barbara as a declining market any more and they will loan you over 1.1 million with 20% down.

There were some comments made about home equity loans being frozen and we found out that with this lender even though you may have received a nasty letter from them, if you get in touch with them they have been able to unfreeze your line. They can even help you put on a new HELOC.

One other interesting product that was mentioned is the construction to permanent loan program they have. With between 20 and 30% down a buyer can purchase a tear down and as an example get a 1.5 million dollar construction loan on a $750,000 purchase price.

I left our meeting thinking that many folks don't understand the opportunity that is out there. The opportunity buyers who need to borrow less than the $729,750 when purchasing a property could come to an end this year. If you need more information, just shoot me an email and I'll let you know who to contact.

Spread the word!

Thursday, July 24, 2008

Santa Maria & Lompoc Property Sales In June


The North part of Santa Barbara County has been experiencing what I would call a bit of a recovery regarding the number of homes and condos that have been selling. In June the number of transfers for Lompoc and Santa Maria hit a total of 191 transactions.

Santa Maria has been showing the most improvement in the last few months. In March there were 87 transactions. In April, May, & June there have been 134,137,& 141 respectively.

June's number of 141 is the highest number on the chart except for December of 2005 which hit 156. Once again in reviewing the transfers there were many bank owned properties that were purchased.

This trend continues to be good in my opinion since it will continue to take some time to get that inventory off the market. The foreclosures seem to just keep on coming, but if the banks have figured out the price point to get them sold then that is a big piece of the puzzle.

In Lompoc June was almost as good as the previous month. April had 51 transactions and June had 50. Not too bad when you consider that late last year the number of transactions was in the 20's.

Lompoc has seen a steady increase in the number of transactions this year. I'm not sure how long it will continue, but a steady increase is much better than the alternative.

My guess is that these increases are signs of a market that is in recovery as well as some normal seasonal increases. The spring and summer are usually the months where homes are sold and people move in to their new places.

Stay Tuned!

Monday, July 21, 2008

South Coast Vacancy Rates

The Tuler/Gamberdella Team from Radius Group Commercial Real Estate has released their Quarterly Review of the commercial markets on the South Coast. Check them out!


Radius Group Commercial Real Estate is pleased to provide the RADIUS GROUP SOUTH COAST 2nd Quarter 2008 REVIEW for the commercial markets of Santa Barbara, Goleta and Carpinteria. Included in the report are the largest leased properties and largest vacancies in each city during the 2nd Quarter 2008.

The following is a summary of Vacancy Rates from April 2008 through June 2008.

Santa Barbara

Office Vacancy increased slightly from 2.9% to 3.8%.
Industrial Vacancy remained the same at 0.4% to 0.4%.
Retail Vacancy increased slightly from 1.1% to 1.2%.

Goleta

Office Vacancy increased from 8.6% to 9.0%.
Industrial Vacancy increased from 4.5% to 5.9%.

Carpinteria

Office Vacancy increased from 2.5% to 2.8%.
Industrial Vacancy increased from 2.8% to 8.4%.

Please click here to view the detailed report for the changes in lease rates, the largest lease transactions and current vacancies.


Please contact Bob Tuler (805) 879-9605, Paul Gamberdella (805) 879-9622, or Gene Deering (805) 879-9623 for any commercial real estate related needs.

Friday, July 18, 2008

Property Sales Prices In The Santa Barbara Area

Our interactive map for Homes, Condo, and all other property sales is now available.



There were not many sales in Carpinteria for June. The lowest priced sale was for $290,000 at 5945 Hickory St #1. There was one good sized sale in Carpinteria for $2,400,000 at 6635 Arozena Ln.

Goleta had a really low sales price reported for 5218 Mono Dr. of $12,750. My guess is that is some kind of partial interest in a piece of property but who knows. The next reasonably priced property was for $510,000 at 5290 Overpass Rd #12. The highest priced property in Goleta was probably a commercial piece of property at 7000 Hollister Ave for $2,900,000.

Moving on to Santa Barbara, this price is a little hard to believe, $129,000 for 4545 Oak Glen Dr #D. The highest priced piece of property reported sold by CORT in Santa Barbara was $5,100,000 at 4160 Mariposa Dr.

Montecito's lowest priced property was 621 Romero Canyon Rd, which sold for $944,000. On the other end of the spectrum, 919 Park Ln sold for $8,967,500.

If you would like information on previous months sales you can use the links to the right.

Thursday, July 17, 2008

Santa Barbara Property Sales In June

Can you say plateau! In April there were 135 sales, in May there were 132 sales and in June there were 127 sales in the South County of Santa Barbara. In looking at the chart that is a pretty flat line.
















If that was all you were reviewing you wouldn't really be seeing the full story. The sub markets are almost all showing some changes. Carpinteria and Summerland are probably the exception in that they are flat as well.

The Santa Barbara market climbed from 53 transactions in May to 67 transactions in June. That is the highest number of sales since August of 2007 when there were 86.

The Goleta market took an about face. It had hit a high of 47 in May and then dropped to 33 in June. When you look at the Goleta chart it does appear to be more of an EKG than anything else. Up one month down the next. I hope that means that the patient is alive and doing well.

















Montecito appears to be taking a bit of a nose dive. There were 32 transactions in April, and 23 in May. June's number was 16 which is the lowest number since January. Interestingly enough though is the correlation to the last couple of years. Montecito has flattened out in 06 and 07 in the last half of the year and it would appear to be doing the same this year.

So the cliche that real estate is local certainly applies to the numbers for June in the Santa Barbara area. Looking at only the overall numbers won't really give a very clear picture of what is happening. I'll be posting the map for all the sales shortly.

Thursday, July 10, 2008

Santa Barbara County Foreclosure Trends

In reviewing the June numbers for Santa Barbara County you can see that the number of Notices of Defaults that have been recorded have not slowed down in recent months. On the other hand they haven't increased significantly either.

This number could be impacted in future months by new legislation that has been signed by the Governor. The new bill makes the lenders who are wanting to record Notice of Default go through a more stringent effort to contact and help out the borrower. If you would like to read more detailed information on this new legislation please check out the California Land Title Association website.

Staying with, the it hasn't changed much in the last few months theme, neither has the number of loans that are scheduled to adjust. It was 171 in April, 180 in May, and 182 in June. I do know that the number jumps to 228 in September and then is back down to 160 in November. This may cause a small spike in Notice of Defaults sometime after September.

The number of trustees deeds that recorded in June dropped a tiny bit from the 180that recorded in May. The 175 that recorded in June certainly isn't representative of a slow down, but the good news is that number didn't increase. I would hope the lenders are working out loan issues with the borrowers and aren't having to take back as many properties. This is probably wishful thinking, but it also sounds like the right thing to do.

The number that did rise significantly was the number of REO properties that sold. This is terrific news because the faster the REO product is sold the quicker the real estate market will get back on it's feet. The June number rose to 50, where the May number was 36 and the previous high was in April at 37. This is a 35% increase over April.

My final thoughts about the foreclosure market are mostly anecdotal. I have been hearing that the lenders are as aggressive as they have to be in pricing their properties. This may not help the median prices of the areas with foreclosures, but it will help move this property more quickly which in the end shortens the amount of time these properties will affect the surrounding neighborhoods. We have been handling many more short sale escrows recently and I have to believe that is also good news for the market. My last thought is that the foreclosures will be around for a while longer, but everyone involved is getting better at processing them which should lesson the influence they have on the real estate market.

See You In Escrow!

Thursday, July 3, 2008

Tired Of The High Price Of Gas, Then Take The Challenge!

I received an email today from Traffic Solutions. They have a terrific program to help motivate you to use alternative transportation.



Are You Up for the Challenge?

· Register at Traffic Solutions Online
· Join a team of five - or form your own team
· Log your August and September commute trips
Bus · Bike · Walk · Carpool · Vanpool · Telecommute · Train
· Win great prizes!
· Employers support their teams and compete

What is the Commute Challenge?
The Commute Challenge is a friendly competition that runs for all of August and September, with five member teams making round-trips using sustainable transportation instead of driving alone. Team members log each day they use an eligible mode of alternative transportation (Bus, Bike, Walk, Carpool, Vanpool, Telecommute, Train, or Skate). At the end of the competition, the team with the most trips logged wins the grand prize. The top 101 teams will receive prizes, and we'll also have raffles at least once a week. Our interactive website means participants can track teams' progress and post fun pictures and other information
about their teams.


For Instructions and Rules, visit
www.trafficsolutions.info/cc-instructions-rules.htm

Employer vs. Employer
In addition to the 5 person team competition and prizes, this year the Commute Challenge will feature employer competitions. We have multiple employer categories, and the winning employers from each category will get a photo of their participants in their local newspaper, commending their performance, as well as prizes from Traffic Solutions.

For Employer Info visit
www.trafficsolutions.info/cc-employers.htm
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