Well, what a difference a few months can make! If you haven’t picked up on it, the real estate market in many of the Bay Area neighborhoods is heating up. Some areas are actually on fire. For me, the printer and emails are flying presenting and receiving multiple offers on homes that have been on the market less than a week! On average for “highly desire-able” areas we are seeing sales prices at 2-5% over last comp. Even in areas like Morgan Hill, Milpitas, and Evergreen, we are seeing multiple offers. I have presented offers on homes with as many as 18 other offers! Why is this happening now? 1.) Hope! Even the smallest signs that the economy and jobs are recovering, gives people a reason to consider making a move. The smallest positive sign makes buyers realize this may be the time to buy. Not to mention Warren Buffet spoke and said now was the time to buy. : ) 2.) Low inventory. Bottom of the market (six months ago), keeps regular equity sellers off the market (buy low – sell high mentality) and therefore the only sellers on the market are …BANKS and motivated private sellers. Banks in the form of short sales (lender must approve sale) or REO/bank owned/foreclosure properties and private sellers in the form of relocation and “I’m not going to wait any longer to get the bigger/better house I want” or “I am not going to wait any longer to move on and retire!”. A brief side step on this topic of “deals” and short sales and bank owned properties. The banks have already taken their losses. We the taxpayers bailed them out of their loss. Now, it is upside time. Most banks are completing full appraisals on short sales and REOs. They know…

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Good news!  FHA loan limits have been extended at higher cost living area FHA loan amounts of $729,750 instead of $625,500! This will help FHA buyers opportunities to more homes in the Bay Area. HIGHLIGHTS: For the general housing market of Silicon Valley and Central Coast: The median price of existing single-family homes decreased to $510,000 down -1.0% vs Sep-11. Existing single-family home sales decreased -13.9% from Sep-11 for a Oct-11 total of 1,722 sold units. Condos decreased in price to $310,000 down -2.5% vs Sep-11. Existing condo sales decreased -8.6% in Oct-11 over Sep-11 for a total of 489 sold units. When you look at San Jose specifically: San Jose Median Price = $485,000 which is up 2% when comparing October ’11 to Sept ’11 but down 2% when you compare October 2011 to October 2010. Total volume of sales up 4% for October when compared to Oct 2010. But San Jose Neighborhoods are the real deal: Here is a pie graph showing neighborhoods by Sales Volume.  Fairly proportion to neighborhood size except Willow Glen.  Evergreen sales are up mainly due to Silver Creek average price. Total Dollar in Sales since July 2011:                         Another graph -  More desired the neighborhood, the higher price and the lower the avg days on market (since July 2011): Guess where the deals might be?                             Finally- in preparation for holiday shopping – increasing inventory.  But remember, this time 2008, we had nearly 4700 home for sale.  (nearly 2x what we have now.) Amazing how consistent total closed sales run.                             I hope these numbers give…

What drives the real estate more than any other factor?  Jobs. What drives buyers from renting to buying?  Increase in rents to the point where home ownership is attractive. What drives buyers who plan to buy a home to buy now?  Interest rates. So now, some data to back all these ideas up. From the LA Times report, “home prices are projected to turn around in 2012 — jumping 11.5% to $321,138 next year, then rising 10% more in 2013 to $353,411. The recovery is expected to run through 2017.”  Here are graphs they showed on their post regarding California Home Price Recovery. From the California Association of Realtors Economist Leslie Appleton Young’s prediction for 2012, “The California median home price will increase 1.7 percent in 2012 to $296,000 in 2012, according to the forecast.  Following a double-digit increase in the median price in 2010, the median home price will decrease a projected 4 percent in 2011 to $291,000.” According to The Economist Magazine’s writer Kari Smith, “My concern is over Owner’s Equivalent Rent. The data suggest to me that there is a shortage of housing in the United States. We should expect rents to begin rising in the near term. This will push up Owner’s Equivalent Rent which accounts for somewhere around 35% of core CPI.” Interest rates are expected to begin creeping up between 0-.25% per month in 2012 according to the the November 2011 Federal Reserve Update.  If you have questions about a specific housing market around San Jose, contact me. If you have questions about real estate, ask me now via my online chat link to the right of this post. Tags: Market Information