San Francisco Real Estate Agent
San Francisco Real Estate Agent
The SF Business Times’ new ranking of the Largest Residential Real Estate Firms in the Bay Area has just come out, based upon 2008 gross sales.
Paragon is #10 in gross sales, and for brokerages with at least 100 agents, Paragon is #1 for the highest average sales per agent.
To help provide first-time home buyers with peace of mind when purchasing a home, the C.A.R. housing Affordability Fund (C.A.R.H.A.F.) is offering a new mortgage protection program to first-time home buyers.
Rates on conforming loans up to $417k and super-conforming loans up to $625k are down about .25% since the big Fed announcement last Wednesday—they were down further but have since retraced. Increases of super-conforming loan limits to $729k have still not been announced by Fannie and Freddie—it’s expected very soon. Rates on Jumbos from $729k to $3.5m are steady.
Last week, the Fed said they’d increase their mortgage bond buying program from $500 billion by June to $1.25 trillion by December. This will help keep rates low because mortgage rates drop when bond prices rise on buying rallies. But consumers shouldn’t assume rates will drop significantly from current levels. Here’s why:
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The market continues to improve for Buyers as inventory increases. For some reason, perhaps just an anomaly, REO sales activity dropped dramatically from the previous 2-week period.
Comparing the past 2 weeks with the 2-week period, 1/30 – 2/13/09:
The number of new listings coming on the market declined by 20%
The number accepting offers (going contingent sale) increased by 35%
Closed sales went up 75%
Properties coming back on market (i.e. deals falling through) fell by 8%
The number of price reductions—already at very high rates—increased by 18%
Expired and withdrawn listings are relatively stable
26% of house sales were bank-owned properties (REO); 10% of condo sales were REOs
The links below show properties in all stages of the foreclosure process and those that are bank-owned or up for auction. Please approach these properties with caution – and call me to discuss.
In this edition:
Foreclosure Sales in San Francisco
Upper-End Home Market Wilts
New Condo Developments Reduce Prices
Regarding Statistics
Average Dollar per Square Foot in Selected Bay Area Zip Codes
Sales Price to List Price
Financing Conditions & Tax Credits
The following PDFs contain properties that are in pre-foreclosure, recently foreclosed, REO (bank-owned) and up for auction:
Generally speaking, 4-5 months supply of inventory is considered a balanced market between buyers and sellers; less than 4 months is considered a sellers’ market; and more than 5 months is considered a buyers’ market.
By these definitions (as well as others), the home market in many of San Francisco’s neighborhoods is now a strong buyers’ market – which means more choice, less competitive bidding, increased price reductions, more price negotiation. This doesn’t mean that the best-value homes aren’t still often selling quickly.
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