Conforming Loan Limits Extended For 2010

I know that many folks are supportive of this latest move by the government to help the housing market. I suppose it won't hurt anything, but I'm still trying to figure out if it helped anything here in Santa Barbara over the last year.

I don't believe any of the lenders I am familiar with have ever treated a loan between $417,000 and $729,000 as a conforming loan. They treat them as Jumbo Conforming which is an entirely different animal when it comes to the rate.

I believe that some of the increase we have experienced in the lower price points in our market are due to excellent loan rates below $417,000. I also believe that the higher rates over $417,000 have hampered the housing market above $500,000 in Santa Barbara.

Tell me what you think!

For additional reading
New Conforming Loan Limit Has Too Many Strings
Wild, Wild West: California Cold To 'Jumbo Conforming' Loans

Wow! Homes Sales Rise In June.

When we have been seeing the number of properties sell in the South Coast hover around or under 100 monthly, 157 is a big increase. The chart reflects 158, but CORT reported a duplicate that I have removed.

That is the highest number of properties selling since August of 2007 when there were 160. It is also well above the highest number of sales in a given month for all of last year of 131.

The area that saw the highest number of sales was Santa Barbara with 77. Goleta had 46, Carpinteria and Montecito both had 15, Hope Ranch had 2, Summerland 1, and Unincorporated Area had 1.

Median prices for the communities of Goleta, Carpinteria, and Santa Barbara continue to be affordable based on years past. Santa Barbara's median price was $715,000. Goleta's was $635,000, and Carpinteria's was $555,000.

Having a 49% jump in the number of sales from May to June was a bit of a surprise, although the activity has been better in recent months. It would appear there was some pent up demand as well as buyers finding the deals they are looking for.

I would like to think the number of sales will continue to stay around 150, but a small increase in rates and the summer holidays may throw a bit of cold water on the activity.

Let me know your thoughts.

Santa Barbara's Real Estate Trend Continues-FLAT!

I have to admit I was starting to get optimistic about where the real estate sales numbers were headed. I thought we may see a little stronger number in May than we did. May's closings for the Goleta, Carpinteria, Santa Barbara and Montecito areas were 105.

With 111 closed transactions and what I perceived as a reasonable number of open escrows in April, I thought the number of closings in May would match or beat April. I was wrong, not the first time and certainly not the last time.

What will happen in the coming months? What happened to all those open escrows we had been seeing? Those are just a couple of the questions that come to mind regarding what's going on.

We are still experiencing a pretty active number of sale escrows opening. This would lead me to believe that the closing number could start rising soon, unless the number of cancellations is going to increase. More wait and see as far as what might be in our future.

The escrows we do have open seem to be hanging in there. The cancellations don't seem to be any higher than usual and I haven't heard about any real issues that would make me think that they aren't going to close. I do believe we are working harder on each escrow and they are certainly taking longer to get to the point of closing.

Why do I think the number of closings is a big deal? I'm a simple guy and supply and demand is the answer. As soon as we see the number of sales begin to increase is when the demand is building and that is when the prices will begin to increase again. Just my opinion!

So I ask you, take a look at the Market Trend Chart on our website and tell me what you think might be going on?

January in Santa Barbara

There certainly are more positive things to talk about in this terrific destination spot for the rich and famous than the number of homes that sold in January, but I am cursed with being the messenger in this industry that is taking it's share of lumps.

In January there were 64 transactions that closed in the communities of Goleta, Carpinteria, Montecito, and Santa Barbara. That is 30 transactions less than the 94 in January of 2008.

I had the privelage of hearing Leslie Appleton Young speak last week and she predicted there would be more sales this year than last. Good thing we have 11 months left to catch up. Her prediction wasn't any kind of overwhelming number. If my memory serves me right, she thought we would see about an 8% increase statewide.

I do know our resale openings have begun to pick up, nothing real significant yet, but with the rates being as low as they are and the prices of properties being down I'm sure some people are seeing a reason to buy and some sellers are needing to sell.

September Real Estate Sales In Santa Barbara

The Santa Barbara area has been pretty consistent in recent months with the number of sales that CORT has been reporting. September saw a small decrease to 117.

The 2 largest sales appear to be commercial properties. 600 Pine Ave. in Goleta sold for $13,100,000 and 5464 Carpinteria Ave. sold for $12,000,000.

 

The largest residential sales appear to be 942 Hot Springs which sold for $10,107,000 and 803 Picacho sold for $9,500,000.

 

Hope Ranch appeared to have a pretty active month with 3 properties selling.

1. $2,555,500 9/12/2008 1510 CANTERA AVE
2. $3,495,000 9/30/2008 1151 ESTRELLA DR
3. $5,000,000 9/30/2008 4545 VIA ESPERANZA

I noticed a number of Highlands Condos transferring as well.

1. $380,000 9/10/2008 968 Miramonte DR 2
2. $389,000 9/2/2008 965 Miramonte DR 5
3. $475,000 9/26/2008 951 Miramonte DR 3

Those are my quick observations for now. Be your own judge on what is happening in your area of interest.

The Visitors Center

I just received the Chamber of Commerce's July Newsletter. It is, as usual, packed full of good information about local business and the local community. One particularly interesting piece of information came from the article on the visitors center. They reported 20,000 visitors during the month of June. The report said "The weekends were packed with people from all over." I would reason to say that some of those folks will fall in love with our community and desire to buy some property. I would also guess they might need a Real Estate Agent to help them out. I'm not sure how I would try and take advantage of this as a real estate agent, but I would certainly try. Heck, I would probably do my best to convince my wife to work there. ;o) Check out the newsletter on the chambers site for all the details.