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Vital Information For
First-Time Buyers
The first-time homebuyer Federal tax credit for $8000, record-low interest rates, and nationwide median home prices dropping to the lowest point in five years, makes this an enticing time to consider buying a home. By the way, that tax incentive isn't truly just for first-time buyers -- it's defined as those not having owned a home in the last three years. Research and knowing your options are critical. Check with your tax accountant for more details. It’s increasingly likely that Congress will extend and expand the popular home buyer tax credit, which will expire at the end of this month.
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According to an article in August in the Raleigh News & Observer, 10.8 percent of buyers are motivated to buy due to Federal and state tax incentives. So far only 1.14 million buyers have filed
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Our Featured Listings
click photos for details!
Upgraded condo great value!
3 Beds / 2.5 Baths
Thousand Oaks, CA
$279,900
Upgraded 3+2.5 townhome
3 Beds / 2.5 Baths
Moorpark, CA
$329,900
Updated 3+2 home
3 Beds / 2 Baths
Simi Valley, CA
$395,000 (In Escrow)
1/2 acre, 3+2.5, only $649,900
3 Beds / 2.5 Baths
Thousand Oaks, CA
$649,900
Large one-story newer home.
3 Beds / 3 Baths
Simi Valley, CA
$774,900
Townhome with partial ocean views!
3 Beds / 2.5 Baths
Malibu, CA
$825,000
Unique Property with
Panoramic Views
4 Beds / 3 Baths
Newbury Park, CA
$1,045,000
Magnificent Mediterranean
5 Beds / 4 Baths
Oak Park, CA
$1,199,000
Incredible Opportunity in Sunland
Sunland, CA
$1,993,500
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Relieving the Stress of Packing
Packing can be stressful time for every member of the family. To ensure that your move goes as smoothly as possible, try the following tips!
Pack a "Red Box"
Since one in five American families moves every year, that means 22 million families may be searching for their TV remote controls!
One of the pitfalls of packing for a move is you can't always anticipate what you'll need when you arrive at your new home, and movers typically list only the obvious such as dishes, glasses, bedding, etc. The miscellaneous items you need in the first few hours invariably wind up on the bottom of a random box.
To start, you may want to create your own "red box" as some moving companies ("Removers") do in Great Britain. This is the last box loaded and the first one off the truck. The one universal item in the red box is the tea kettle (perhaps this would be the coffee maker in the U.S.). This is also the place
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Making Your Home Age Appropriate Creates Appeal
All of us have something in common with our homes. Sure, style, design, and location are at the top of the list, but how about age? As we age, buyers, especially the baby boomer generation, are looking to transform their homes into a place that they can stay in for as long as possible or they're hoping to find one that's already equipped for them to age-in-place.
So how old your home and you are, are reason to give some thought to if your home needs age-appropriate adaptation in order for you to be most comfortable. And, in doing so, you may actually make your home more valuable to a wider audience of buyers, should you ever sell it.
According to the National Homebuilders Association, making a home suitable for the golden years is economicaly sound. The baby boomer generation (77 million people) makes up 28 percent of the U.S. population. Assisted living for this generation can cost more than $60-thousand per year, not counting moving expenses.
That's pretty pricey. So, if you've taken some steps to make your home an age-in-place sanctuary, then make sure you highlight those renovations if you ever
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Steven's Corner
Dear Friends and family,
Welcome to 2007 and what an exciting year it will be as our lives will be filled with new adventures to discover along the way.
Here is a couple of articles for your interest.
1)Choose Your Method of Profit
To hear many reports from in the media these days, there's no reason to buy real estate today because the "bottom's fallen out," the "balloon burst," etc. With the real estate market down (number of sales and dollar volume), you might as well put your money somewhere else -- how about the stock market or in bonds?
Following this philosophy, then whenever any investment tool drops in value -- dump it. Stocks, bonds, real estate, mutual funds -- it doesn't matter which vehicle, park it, get out and hitch a ride on the fastest moving investment possible - right? Actually, for the real estate investor who does his homework, money can be made in any market. You just have to decide on your profit methodology: cash flow or asset growth. Both are available in today's market, and the savvy investor must be sure to conduct due diligence on the bottom line.
For those who want to get in on the ground floor -- this is the best market in which to buy to plan for future asset growth. Equity growth comes in more than just buy low and sell high.
In the last few years, short-term, play investors lucked out with the market and bought houses/condos/pre-construction at high prices and were able to sell at higher prices in just a few weeks or months. This buy now, profit later can still be experienced, it just takes more patience.
Most real estate assets grow consistently year after year. What the last few years created in the short-term, however, is what it usually takes years to create -- thousands of dollars in equity growth. The usual way this growth occurs is by using other people's money (OPM) to grow your equity along with the usual appreciation.
OPM is one of the most powerful investment tools out there. Most people use OPM to purchase real estate (the mortgage) with a little bit of their own money (down payment). Each month after you buy a house, there's the monthly mortgage payment. Thus, your second use of OPM is the rental payments you receive from your tenants. Now, you're growing that equity month by month, plus paying the interest, fees, etc., with the funds provided to you from the tenants.
The second way your equity grows is through appreciation. This figure is not as controllable by you. What's really exciting about this part of the profit growth plan is that since you took control of this large asset with a little down payment, the cash on cash growth is astronomical.
For instance, let's say a rental property is purchased for $200,000 with a 10 percent down payment - $20,000. As time moves forward, you're going to make money two different ways. If the property moves up in value 6 percent on average through the next few years -- remember looking at it long term, not just in the last year -- then the house will be worth $212,000 in the next year. However, that 6 percent growth converts into a 60 percent growth of your cash investment (the $20,000) in the first year.
Secondly, if the house rents at $1,500 per month, then you have income of $18,000 per year. If you have a 6 percent mortgage, then you'll carry about a $2,500 annual profit after expenses. So your gross income is nearly 100 percent of your down payment, resulting in a nearly 10 percent net profit based on the investment of your down payment.
Your next profit choice is the stand-by fixer upper. With a slow market, many sellers are willing to sell their house as-is for a stiff discount just so they don't have to fix up the property and compete with homes that have upgrades throughout. Many investors are marketing for this type property with the "We Buy Houses" signs you've seen throughout the community. Some of the sellers are people who are behind on the mortgage and have no resources to fix up the house to sell it at a market rate. The key here is having the money already lined up through a lender to acquire the house, fix it up and market it quickly to pull in profit on the sale.
Finally, there's the method of positive cash flow. This is my method of choice, where you're creating profit with a renter who is paying for your mortgage payment and expenses, leaving profit in your bank account at the end of each month.
Is it a good time to get in the market -- absolutely. Research the market, analyze your cash flow and equity growth, then move forward.
2)Now Steven’s Stats:
For those that have been following my market statistics, here is the latest for January 2007.
Inventory and escrows have been dropping quite quickly in all cities. To define the Conejo Valley (CV) for everyone we have Agoura, Oak Park, Westlake Village, Thousand Oaks and Newbury Park. In addition, for simplicity, I’ve also added Simi Valley and Moorpark to the CV stats. There currently are 1,722 homes/condos for sale in the CV vs. the peak level we saw in 2006 was in August at 2,719 homes/condos for sale. Again, this is typical this time of year. The number of homes in escrow has fallen from its peak in June 2006 of 905 escrows to only 483 today. So we are only seeing 28% of the inventory selling currently which has been consistently low since August 2006.
The San Fernando Valley (SFV) has seen a similar reduction in inventory and escrows. We break down the SFV into 5 quadrants: Central South (CS), East North (EN), East South (ES), West North (WN) and West South (WS). There are currently 4,739 homes/condos for sale in the SFV down from its peak of 6,481 in October 2006. The number of homes in escrow has fallen from its peak of 1,574 escrows in April 2006 down to only 917 escrows today. So, currently we are seeing only 19% of the inventory selling which has consistently been under 25% since early July 2006.
We hope you all have a wonderful 2007 as we look forward to assisting each and every one of you at the start of a magical year!!
Daily News and Advice
Read about the events shaping the Real Estate market today, find current interest rates, or browse the extensive library of advice and how-to articles written by some of the top experts in Real Estate. Updated each weekday.
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