State of the Union

As many of you know, the members of Team Green are huge iPhone fans. In fact, we are so impressed with this technology that we have decided to publish our very own iPhone application. It will be available in Apple’s iTunes App Store shortly. Check back here to find out when it is available for download. This application will allow you to quickly communicate with our team, including using the built-in GPS to share the location of a property you like, as well as find properties for sale in the LA area. We are very excited about it. Keeping up with five children, business contacts, and friends is a tall order in today’s information age. We enjoy leveraging a device that can do just about anything you ask of it. We like to think of it as simplifying our lives, although, I will admit that we are borderline technophiles…on to business…

Positive signs that our local real estate market is improving have been around for months. Now that the media is finally picking up on these facts, word is finally getting out that prices have stabilized, and even increased in some areas. Things are finally improving. Our team has been busier in the last two months than I can remember in a quite a while and we are very happy about it. Since our phones have been ringing off the hook and our email inboxes have been filling up, we thought that this blog entry would focus on the most common information that everyone seems to want to know these days.

The current market has shown us that prices in most areas have either stabilized or started to climb. This is fantastic for property owners and sellers because it means that overall values, and thus equity, continue to improve. Helping this trend is that the current number of sold homes in Los Angeles County contains fewer foreclosures and short sales so they are having less of an impact on current sale prices. Also supporting is the fact that the overall number of sales is up, yet there are fewer overall properties on the market. In other words, the current inventory is declining. To boot, houses sold faster last month than previous months. The average “days on market” was 52 for the Glendale area during the month of April.

The good news does not stop there. Did you know that most first-time home buyer programs define a first-time buyer as simply someone who has not owned a house in the last three years…even if they have owned property before? This is opens the door (pun intended) for many potential buyers to take advantage of several programs including tax breaks and down payment assistance. Add to this the fact that the credit market has generally loosened and financing is available, plus loans are readily available with as little as 3.5% down (VA loans can still be had for no money down) and we have a great recipe for both buyers and sellers. As you can see, we are happy that the media has finally helped us by spreading the word that it is a great time to buy, sell or refinance a home. It is also a great time to buy investment properties, including second, or vacation homes.

Totals-Greater Los Angeles Area

Here is how 2009 is Faring

Individual Locales

As you can see, this is a great time to buy or sell real estate. Let us know if we can be of service to you. If you are considering selling, visit our free offers page by clicking here to get a free evaluation of your home. Buying or selling, if you are ready to make a move call us at 818.568.8402, or click here to contact us.

We look forward to hearing from you. Still not sold on us? See what our clients are saying about us by clicking here.