May Statistics

The “LA Area Real Estate” iPhone application that we published has been a great hit. We have received such a great response by new and existing clients that we are actually working on an upgrade. Look for that on our website or the iTunes App Store in the coming weeks. We will also announce it here when it is ready. If you are an iPhone or iPOD Touch user and have not downloaded the application, check it here: http://www.teamgreenrealty.com/iphone_app.htm.

On to business…

The First-Time Home Buyer’s Tax Credit specifies that you need to close on a property by December 1st to qualify for the credit. If you are planning on taking advantage of this great tax break, you better get moving. The average escrow is 45-60 days in today’s market. This means that you need to not only find a place, but get it into escrow by October 1st to comfortably make the requirement.

The rest of this entry will focus on May stats.

Overall fewer houses are on the market compared to last month. Combine that with the fact that more are selling each month and we see that the overall inventory is decreasing. As many of you already know, spring and summer are the busiest high seasons in real estate. These are great indicators that our local market is picking up.

One of the things that I see when I look at these statistics is that there are far fewer expired listings in the market this month. That, combined with our increase in sales and shortened average days on market is a very clear indicator that houses are moving. Glendale continues to be one of our fastest moving local markets with the lowest average days on market of any other area at 64 days.Much of our improving market can be attributed to the credit market loosening even further. Loans are reasonably easy to get these days and there are loans available for as little as 3.5% down (VA loans can still be had for no money down).

Totals-Greater Los Angeles Area

Here is an Overall View of This Month’s Stats

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.

February Market Statistics

March madness is upon us and so is spring. It is time for spring-cleaning and revitalization of many areas of our lives. The economy is still a bit sluggish, but there are a few positive signs around, despite what the media has to say. Sometimes I think that if it were left to them, things would never get better. Regardless of what happens, we are thankful to be in a position to help our friends and clients with their real estate needs. We have good news with this month’s statistics that might cheer you up, so without further adieu…on to business…

February came and went quickly and we have some compelling new statistics to show for it. Overall, the greater Los Angeles area did pretty well. More new houses came on the market in February than in January and more sold! One number that I was very happy to see decrease was the number of expired listings, as well as the monthly supply. These are fabulous signs that prove things are improving in our area. I am also proud to say that the average days on market (the time it takes to sell a house) decreased by over a week.

Totals-Greater Los Angeles Area

Individual Locales

As you can see, REOs (Bank Owned Properties) and Short Sales are still accounting for more than half of all sales. This is a great time to buy real estate and if you have a need to sell, it takes a great agent to get the job done because it requires more work than in previous years. Our team is up for the challenge, so let us know if we can assist you.

For our Sellers: Determining the value of a home continues to be an art form that takes a true professional to master. Many factors affect your home’s value, including your motivation. REOs and Short Sales in your immediate area can affect your market value. For those of you considering selling, visit our free offers page by clicking here to get a free evaluation of your home.

For our Buyers: Now is an outstanding time to purchase real estate. Interest rates are still incredibly low and prices are fantastic. Make sure to pre-qualify for a loan BEFORE house shopping. This will save you headache and heartache. We are happy to help you with this process.

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.

January Market Stats and More!

What a year 2009 is shaping up to be!

Collette and I are very excited about 2009 and have been extremely busy the last few weeks fulfilling our ongoing education requirements in an effort to serve you better. We have made a firm commitment to keeping our skills as sharp as possible so that we can provide the best possible service to all of our clients.

We toured Glendale Water and Power’s reservoir construction project at the Chevy Chase Country Club last night with several other residents, including Larry Varnes from the Chevy Chase Estate Association. Larry is the Co-President of the organization, which is the oldest homeowner’s association in California. It was nice to see a large turnout of residents in our own backyard in a community forum. We wish that all communities were as involved and active in their own fates. For those of you that are interested in the association, here is the link to their website: http://www.chevychaseestates.us/. For those of you interested in reading more about the reservoir projects, including links to online construction cameras: http://www.glendalereservoir.com/.

On to business…

You will recall that our last post indicated that December was the best month of 2008 for our local real estate market. As a reminder, here is last month’s graphic:

We have more good news to report - January was also a great month! Here are the details:

All of the numbers are climbing except for one important number: the “average days on market.” This number represents the average number of days that a house sits on the market before being sold. The fact that this number dropped represents that houses sold faster in January than the previous month.

Overall, these are good numbers, but we do have one concern and that is the large spike in new listings for January. Typically, we would see an increase in new listings in January as many homeowners delay putting their home on the market over the holidays. With that said, the increase was more than 100%, making January (going into February) a great time to buy. For sellers, the good news is that the average days on market fell by nearly two weeks!

Several of you called or emailed us and asked if we would break down our statistics by area, so here are those numbers. Note that they will be included in all future stats. We will be reintroducing the line graphs at the end of February when we have like data to compare to January.

If you have any questions, or would like to see specific statistics for your area, please let us know. We are also happy to provide you with a free evaluation of your home. To take advantage of this, as well as other freebies, click here.

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.

Holiday Post

Happy Holidays from the Team Green Family!

I woke up before the rest of the house this morning to carve out a few minutes to write this entry. Our beautiful Southern California sunrise was hidden behind fog and rain early today. This is not unusual this time of year, but it is definitely not our normal weather pattern. We really are spoiled by fantastic weather in Los Angeles.

The cold air and the Christmas decorations throughout the house made me a little homesick for Central Texas and the various family traditions I observed while growing up there. One of my all-time favorites was all of our immediate family staying the night at my grandparent’s house on Christmas Eve. Opening Christmas presents on Christmas morning was always a treat, but I can still smell the blueberry muffins that Grandma made for us every year. As I checked on our five beautiful daughters (all still fast asleep) I can only dream that I am providing them with the same types of fond memories and that they will cherish the rest of their lives. If how deeply they are sleeping, or how loud some of them are snoring, is any indication, Collette and I are doing a great job. I am using every ounce of willpower I can muster not to post snoring videos here. A blog can be a powerful tool and, like Spiderman says, “With great power comes great responsibility.” Now on to business…

A good friend and client of ours asked us a few days ago what our holiday plans consisted of. She was surprised to hear that we had some work-related tasks to do around the holidays. It is true that the real estate business slows slightly during the holidays, but not as much as you might think. We get the same types of shocked and amazed looks when we meet new people and they find out that we are real estate agents in today’s market. We usually get the sympathetic, head tilted to the side, “oh wow, you guys must be really hurting for business in this market” response. This usually gets a smile out of us and usually the same response. Depending on the circumstances of the conversation, it normally goes something like this…

The holidays can be a pretty darn busy time of year. The public has it in their heads that people only buy and sell real estate, or move for that matter, when nothing else is going on, or when the market prices have peaked. Fortunately, nothing could be further from the truth. Quickly think back to all of the times when you have had friends or family tell you that they were moving. How many of those times did they say that they were moving because the market prices had peaked, or because they were trying to time the market? I will bet you that those types of responses are rare; at least for a primary residence, (income property is another story). The truth is that most people move because they need to and not necessarily because they want to. The most common reasons include:

· moving for work reasons
· they need a larger residence
· they want an upgrade to their primary residence
· they need a smaller residence with less square footage to maintain
· they want to downsize their primary residence to save money

As for when they move, we find that people are constantly moving for one reason or another. The list of reasons seems endless. The same holds true for those thinking about putting their house on the market during the holidays. One of the most interesting things about working in real estate is that each client’s situation is different and it is fun to be a part of their solution for whatever challenges lie ahead for them, whether it is moving for a new job, or expanding their family and needing more room. Whatever your situation is, we are here to help; that is what we do.

Buying or selling, if you are ready to make a move, please do not hesitate to 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.

Happy Holidays!

Inaugural Post!

Welcome to the inaugural post of Team Green Realty’s blog. We have a newly redesigned site that we hope you will enjoy and find useful. We will be posting information about real estate to this site often, to include our local Los Angeles area market conditions. We will also be posting a little bit of ourselves here as well and invite you to join in on our discussions at any time. If you prefer, you can receive an email each time the blog is updated by using the links on this page to subscribe. There are also links on this page to email our blog to your friends and colleagues.

We are here for you, so please do not hesitate to ask questions or jump in at any time.

We would like to start with this month’s market snapshot for Burbank and the San Fernando Valley. Here are this month’s basic numbers compared to previous months this year. We will be including the Glendale and Pasadena areas in future statistics and discussions.

Click Here for Overall Stats
Click Here for Total Active Listing Stats
Click Here for Sold, New and Expired Listing Stats

So what does all of this mean? Well, that is an excellent question and I am very glad you asked. We will start with the easy stuff first.

As you can see, the total number of active listings declined in November. This is partially due to a drop in new listings for the month and a slight increase in expired listings. Expired listings are those listings that were contracted to a listing agent to sell within a given time period, however, they did not sell within that specified time; therefore the listing has expired.

This decline in total available houses on the market in these areas is not necessarily a bad thing. There are a few aspects of our local market that have been driving prices down:

• A high number of short-sales and foreclosures available, which tend to drive down the value of neighboring properties
  
• A high number of total inventory
  

While the total numbers of sales throughout this year look pretty good, they have not been able to keep pace with the total amount of active listings (or inventory) available. This is reflected in the monthly absorbtion rate. This rate is basically the total number of homes sold that month, divided by the total number of homes available. We use this figure to estimate how many month’s supply of homes are on the market, or in other words, how long would it take to sell all of the current inventory.

The basic law of supply and demand is that when homes are readily available prices tend to drop. As we see the monthly absorption drop, prices should start to stabilize and then potentially rise. What does this mean for you?

Buyers: In many areas prices have already started to slowly stabilize and, based on where were sitting, it is an excellent time to buy a home. It is still a buyer’s market and there is plenty of inventory for buyers, including plenty of foreclosures and short sales to choose from and save money. Loans are easier to get approved than in past months as the credit market has loosened somewhat. It is still not as easy as it once was, but the interest rates are phenomenal and VA loans with no money down and less than stellar credit are available. FHA loans with as little as 3.5% down are available with reasonable credit. In short, this is a terrific time to buy! If you have the time and patience to wait our a short sale or foreclosure, you can save even more money.

Sellers: Unless you are selling your home and moving to a different market, or not purchasing another home, I have good news for you. If you want to make a move, our standard logic applies when staying within one market. “If you sell high, you will buy high and if you sell low, you will buy low.” So while prices may be down and you may not make as much on your existing home, the good news is that your new home will be cheaper as well. Also note that the average days on market, or in other words, the average time it will take to sell your house, has increased slightly to 88 days. This means that if you want to sell your home quickly, reasonable pricing and solid appeal to buyers are your best assets in addition to agents who will actively market your property…agents like us.

Buying or selling, if you are ready to make a move, please do not hesitate to 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.

Happy Holidays!