December 2008 Snapshot of Southern California Housing Inventory

County-wide figures for Los Angeles, Riverside and Orange Counties show longer days on market and list prices overall. Average or median prices may not apply to your specific neighborhood--for a property search by your zip code to see current asking prices as directly reflected in our MLS, click on my property search function in the right column.

December 28, 07 Average List Price Median List Price Average Days On Market Los Angeles County, CA Single Family under $600K $432,967 $444,000 98 Single Family over $600K $1,109,201 $799,000 104 Condo/Townhome under $400K $306,846 $310,000 105 Condo/Townhome over $400K $544,831 $495,000 103 Orange County, CA Single Family under $1M $620,083 $595,000 103 Single Family over $1M $2,342,000 $1,695,000 129 Condo/Townhome under $600K $382,017 $379,000 106 Condo/Townhome over $600K $990,403 $795,000 114 Riverside County, CA Single Family under $700K $372,495 $355,900 112 Single Family over $700K $1,166,487 $899,000 131 Condo/Townhome under $500K $262,638 $257,000 109 Condo/Townhome over $500K N/A N/A N/A

MORTGAGE. National Averages (December 28, 07)* 30-year fixed Rate - 5.84% APR - n/a% 15-year fixed Rate - 5.38% APR - n/a% 5/1 ARM Rate - 5.55% APR - n/a%

* Mortgage rates were collected from publicly available sources (yahoo.com) on the date stated. The accuracy of the information and the availability of these rates are not guaranteed by the publisher. Rates are provided for informational purposes only and are subject to change without notice. Actual market interest rates may vary.

Foreclosure Debt Forgiven; New FICO Score System

The name of the little photo to the right is "holiday deer", and I hope you can also think of it as "Holiday Cheer" with the recent news on debt forgiveness.

At least if you do have to take the bad credit hit for a foreclosure or short pay, the new law signed yesterday by President Bush removes certain taxes that used to apply. So the good news is for renegotiated loans where more was owed than the current value of the home ("short pay'), the borrower will not have to pay income tax on the difference.

A sign of when things are going to bottom out is when there are signs of things getting better, and one of those signs with loans might be that there are more fixed rate loans taken out in the first half of 2007 compared to the first half of 2006. See this Mortgage Bankers Association article. Fixed rate loans are most certainly a sign of better financial health for many borrowers who will thus be avoiding the spiking of their monthly loan payments 1 and 2 years after taking out their loans.

If you're contacted by someone saying he/she will get you out of foreclosure, please read this article about foreclosure scams. This includes DO NOT sign over your property or sign a quit-claim deed, and do not pay someone to renegotiate your loan with the bank (you can do this yourself for free, or ask your REALTOR to help you). Foreclosure in California follow a very specific process--do not allow yourself to be taken advantage. Read my earlier post about knowing your rights if a Notice of Default has been filed on your property.

More news is about your FICO score, as calculated bv the Fair Isaac Company who invented the index most commonly used throughout the loan industry, the insurance industry, the car industry, and anyone else who wants to figure out if you're a good risk or not. Keep your credit as clean as possible, because that will help you get a better loan at a better interest rate if you are trying to refinance or purchase. This new model will be rolling out in the Spring, but may be used before that in the loan industry (it's hard to know), but take a look at the samples in the box under Figuring Your Credit Score as these may be a hint of things to come.

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FHA Loan Bill May Increase Loan Limits

The FHA Modernization Bill passed by the United States Senate on December 13 will bring changes that have been fought for long and hard. FHA loans are currently limited to $359,900 in Southern California (loan amounts are regionally based), and 3% down on top of a $359,900 loan amount does not meet most of the housing market in this region. Per California Association of Realtors, "the U.S. Senate on Dec. 14 approved legislation designed to modernize the Federal Housing Administration’s mortgage insurance program by increasing loan limits, and helping troubled borrowers with subprime loans refinance into federally insured mortgages." "The bill, which has the support of the Bush administration, also would reduce the required minimum down payment for an FHA-insured loan from 3 percent to a flat 1.5 percent of the appraised value of a home. "

If passed, new FHA loan features will also streamline condo purchases, and increase loan limits to $417,000 (the current conforming loan limits for non-FHA loans). Expect these changes to be taking effect in January after the final issues are worked out between the Senate and the House.

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Guidelines for the Interest Rate Freeze

Today's news and guidelines on loans eligible for the interest rate freeze:

According to the New York Times, the goal of the President's plan is to convert as many subprime ARMs as possible into "more sustainable loans." However, the freeze applies only to borrowers who:

Took out their loan between January 2005 and July 2007 and whose rates are set to increase between January of 2008 and July of 2010; and
Have less than 3% equity in their homes; and
Are current on their payments (or no more than 60 days behind); and
Are able to handle their current lower rate, but will not be to handle a higher payment.
Analysts estimate that the plan will help between 240,000 to 250,000 borrowers.
The freeze is a voluntary agreement on the part of lenders, so no legislation is required for this plan. Analysts note, however, that congressional approval would be necessary in order to increase current FHA loan limits.


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Interest Rate Freeze on Adjustable Rate Mortgages

More to follow, but today's news, and it should be good news for many people, is that rates for loans initiated January 1, 2005 through July 30, 2007 will stay put. If your rates were scheduled for a "reset" between January 1, 2008 and July 31, 2010, the preliminary information, to be announced tomorrow, is that your present rates will not go up per your original schedule on your loan documents, but will remain where they are. If there is also a .5% drop in long term rates on the 11th by the Federal Reserve, this should indeed be good news for borrowers. There are specific terms to this agreement, of course, and two of them are most likely going to be that this agreement between the Bush Administration and the lending industry applies to those who are current on their loan payments and those who have owner-occupied loans. Click here for more information.


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Seaport Marina Hotel Project Will Be Revised

Lennar Homes is now dropping its project to build 425 condos or townhomes plus other mixed use development at the Seaport Marina Hotel site, leaving the current operator of the site, Taki-Sun, to work out a new, scaled-down, project that will please Taki-Sun and the community. Negotiations on this project began a long time back (previous post), and have also been complicated by the area residents' objections to a proposed Home Depot construction in the same area (proposal was passed 6-3 by the City council, but is now being challenged by the Coastal Commission). This same area is part of a long term plan as reflected in the post about the SEADIP proposal, and new development will bring an additional burden on the roadways, and ultimately, quality of life, to the area.

It seems that everyone wants to be at the beach, but finding the room for maintaining coastal environment vs. building development is more and more a challenge. Our open areas along the entire Southern California coastline diminish with each decade, so every proposed use now carries more focus and stringent study.

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