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.

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!

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