A Storm is Coming to San Mateo
This has nothing to do with real estate exactly, but a major storm is coming to San Mateo County tomorrow and will last until Wednesday. Redwood City residents can pick up a max of 24 free sandbags at 1400 Broadway. For those of you living in the hills, coast, or the Redwood Shores area this might be worth doing. Hopefully everyone will be okay!
Making Home Affordable expanded to give 125% financing
Just when you think that it could not get more confusing and loose, the government decided to knowingly give out refinances that are worth more than the underlying collateral.
I can see this letting some folks in the Bay Area refinance to a lower rate, but it would not help much. It seems irresponsible to lend out technically what is government/tax payer money this way. What do you think?
First time homebuyer credit to rise to $15000???
Apparently Congress is considering expanding and extending the $8000 first time home buyers credit to $15000. This time it would apply to all homebuyers. $15000 still isn’t going to go very far here in San Mateo since the latest Dataquick numbers shows that the San Mateo’s median price is still $550,000. However, in other states where the median home price is under $100k this would be a huge credit. I really do not understand why this particular government is so obsessed with propping up home prices. Does buying a home really produce so much for the economy? As far as I can see renters have furniture, electronics, and cars, too. What do you think? Would you buy a home if you are guaranteed $15,000?
Another 90 day California foreclosure moratorium
It seems that a bill passed earlier in the year is going into effect on Monday, 6/15/2009. This will put another 90 day foreclosure moratorium in effect. All I can say is, do they really think this will help property prices from sliding? The people who bought houses that are worth more than 10x their salaries still will not be able to afford their houses after the 90 days are over unless they get some kind of magical 300% raise, or the bank cuts their principal by 70% somehow. This wishful thinking is sort of hilarious. The best thing for Californians who are facing foreclosure now is really just to stay in their house as long as possible and save all the “free rent”. What do you think?
Bay Area median prices rose in April, San Mateo sales still down
It seems that the Bay Area median price for homes rose month to month for the first time in almost two years. San Mateo’s sales is still down 22.5% since last year. If you read the report, you will notice this little snippet.
Foreclosure resales – homes sold in April that had been foreclosed on in the prior 12 months – accounted for 47.4 percent of Bay Area resales. That was down from 50.2 percent in March and 52.0 percent in February. Last month’s figure was the lowest since foreclosure resales were 46.8 percent of existing home sales last November.
A lower concentration of discounted foreclosure resales in the statistics is one reason the median sale price has recently begun to more or less flatten, or at least erode more slowly, in many markets.
This is largely due to the moratorium that has been lifted which reduced foreclosure inventory. As the foreclosures come back I think we will see median prices slip again in May. San Mateo’s median still stands at $520,000, which is not exactly affordable for the median income family in San Mateo.
Menlo Park plans to artificially prop up home prices
Apparently, city officials in Menlo Park are planning to spend $1 million to prop up prices in East Menlo Park. The basic deal is that they will find delinquent homeowners and help them negotiate a refinance with a local bank. The city will pitch in 30% of the loan amount, and the homeowner has to pay the mortgage on the remaining 70%. When the home sells the city will split the appreciation with the homeowner 50/50. Supposedly East Palo Alto is considering something similar.
I personally go to East Menlo Park a lot for this restaurant called Back A Yard Grill . They really have the best jerked chicken, but that neighborhood is not somewhere you want to be after dark. The houses there are definitely not worth the 600k to 700k they sold for in the peak, and using public funds to keep prices that high seems pretty ridiculous. What do you think?
Offers
Subscribe to San Mateo Home Sellers in Trouble
Calling London? United Kingdom calling card
Time to call? quality calling card - instant PINs available
Refinance or Purchase Minnesota Mortgage Homeowners or Homebuyers