You really need to know your local real estate market, what is happening right now and how will this effect the market in the months to come.  I was reading the paper this morning and came across a report that home sales have dipped the Commerce Department said sales of new homes fell 1.6 percent last month.   That number is a national figure and not necessarily the same for your own backyard.  In the Antelope Valley, Palmdale/Lancaster cities new home sale are up a bit.  Resale is up almost 2% from this time last year.  But that is not the entire story, home sold has been in a decline over the past 3 months off by 35%.  So we some extraordinary market forces coming to a head here, sales are down so far this year, available is dropping like a stone, we could be in for a fun summer… Jan... 03/23/2012

More and more is coming out about the U.S. government trial project to sell large pools of single-family homes that Fannie Mae currently owns.  The pilot program will be offering 2,500, if successful Freddie & Fannie have more than 200,000 foreclosed homes they could release.  What is a concern are the reports that these pools have a potentially discounted to 20% to 40% prevailing market prices. This could really have an adverse effect to the local real estate prices thus prolonging the recovery.  A side bar, doesn’t this actually move the real property assets to the top 1%?  Would it be better to release these homes in a controlled manner making them available to all buyers?    Janet O'Brian is a Certified Short Sales Specialist in California is ready to help you with your Situation…Sh... 03/21/2012

Real Estate Trends - Palmdale, Lancaster, Quartz Hill and the Greater Antelope Valley March 19, 2012 It appears the Antelope Valley real estate market is in flux, as inventories continue to drop.  Just 10 days ago I posted that available listings dropped below 1,400 as of today we have dropped below 1,300.  That works out to around 300 per month giving us an effective Absorption Rate of 4 months.  A normal available inventory is 2,500 at the current 300 per month rate.  I’m just not seeing any big numbers coming onto the market in the short term.  Furthermore, I believe the current hubbub about the bank 25billion deal has pushed some sellers from listing there homes.  However with only 5billion being allocated to loan modification enough to help roughly 1million homeowners, stranding t... 03/19/2012

Real Estate Trends - Palmdale, Lancaster, Quartz Hill and the Greater Antelope Valley March 15, 2012 Water and the high desert are is for a ruff summer this year, and need to prepare and save your hard earned money.  Here are some tips on how to start saving: When it rains turn off your lawn sprinklers. Put in a drip systems.  Check out your local water companies some have a rebate program.  Now if you’re really looking to save change out your lawn with a deserts-scrape and don’t for get the high efficiency toilet. Janet O'Brian is a Certified Short Sales Specialist in California is ready to help you with your Situation… Short Sale  Monthend Numbers Feb Jan '12 Dec Nov Oct Sep Aug July June May Apr Mar Feb Listed  561 601 599 732 797 813 679 631 646 620 561 690 443 Pending  495 581 522... 03/15/2012

Real Estate Trends - Palmdale, Lancaster, Quartz Hill and the Greater Antelope Valley March 14, 2012 Short Sales are here and are going to be a large part of the real estate market in the Antelope Valley, Palmdale and Lancaster for the next few years experts say.  There are some misconceptions running round with seller these days that are just not true.  Janet and I are well qualified with the truth about some of them we have heard, like a homeowner’s credit standing is about the same doing a short sale as a foreclosure.  Not true: in most cases your credit and deficiency are worse with a foreclosure than a short sale.  A completed short sale can frequently lead to quicker financial improvement for the seller and should be measured carefully in there decision to sell.  If now this is a... 03/14/2012

Real Estate Trends - Palmdale, Lancaster, Quartz Hill and the Greater Antelope Valley March 13, 2012 Inventory continues to drop, open escrows are on track and closings are down almost 30% from March 2011.  Over the past few years the real estate market in the Antelope Valley has been ahead of the pack due to its relative small size.  We were hit with foreclosures in 2007 and 2008, and then short sales took over in 2009 and have been holding around 40% of the market.  This current lows down in available inventory is out of the ordinary as we are moving into historical lows…  Janet O'Brian is a Certified Short Sales Specialist in California is ready to help you with your Situation… Short Sale  Monthend Numbers Feb Jan '12 Dec Nov Oct Sep Aug July June May Apr Mar Feb Listed  561 601 599... 03/13/2012

Real Estate Trends - Palmdale, Lancaster, Quartz Hill and the Greater Antelope Valley March 12, 2012  LeFrancis Arnold the president of the California Association of Realtors was the guess speaker last Thursday in Lancaster.  He along with NAR (National Association of Realtors®) make out against the FHFA releasing bulk owned homes to institutional buyers.  These institutional buyers do not have much interest in the communities as an occupying owner would be.  Furthermore, we are moving through our current inventory right now, we have less then a 4 months supply. The pilot program will start of with 2,500 homes about one-sixth of which are in Riverside & Los Angeles areas.  The homes will be rented for an unspecified time. Janet O'Brian is a Certified Short Sales Specialist in Californi... 03/12/2012

Real Estate Trends - Palmdale, Lancaster, Quartz Hill and the Greater Antelope Valley March 9, 2012 - Day-light saving time starts this Sunday. Yes it is that week end again, we get to have open houses in the evening and get up in the dark.  Summer can’t far off.  Day-light saving time starts this Sunday, March 11, at 2:00a oh sure I’ll get up change all the clocks.  I believe it will end after Halloween… Now if you’re calling or going to Arizona or Hawaii they don’t change their time…  Oh one more thing we all loose an hour of sleep… Janet O'Brian is a Certified Short Sales Specialist in California is ready to help you with your Situation… Short Sale  Monthend Numbers Feb Jan '12 Dec Nov Oct Sep Aug July June May Apr Mar Feb Listed  561 601 599 732 797 813 679 631 646 620 561 690 443 ... 03/09/2012

Real Estate Trends - Palmdale, Lancaster, Quartz Hill and the Greater Antelope Valley March 8, 2012. Since the news came out about the government making a deal with the banks regarding the illegal robo-singing and foreclosures we are seeing a change in activity in our local real estate mark.  In mid February when the news hit we were showing over 1,500 homes for sale in the Antelope Valley we have drop below 1400 as of today.  We are down 7.23% in less then a month.  We are watching this trend carefully to see what impact it will have going into the spring and summer buying season. Janet O'Brian is a Certified Short Sales Specialist in California is ready to help you with your Situation… Short Sale  Monthend Numbers Feb Jan '12 Dec Nov Oct Sep Aug July June May Apr Mar Feb Listed  561 ... 03/08/2012

Real Estate Trends - Palmdale, Lancaster, Quartz Hill and the Greater Antelope Valley March 7, 2012. I'm sure you all have heard this before but sometimgs a review is a good thing... The "Pareto Principle" contends that you get 80 percent of your results from 20 percent of your actions. To maximize this 20 percent, use the following tips to give you a competitive edge:    1. Develop a clear idea of what tasks are important so that you can focus on them.   2. Make a to-do chart that categorizes tasks by priority level: High, Medium, and Low. Pay attention to the Highs and Mediums first.   3. Have a clear understanding about what is important to the other members of your work team, associates, or family members. 4. Schedule time to respond to voicemail and e-mail; then don't allow yourse... 03/07/2012

Real Estate Trends - Palmdale, Lancaster, Quartz Hill and the Greater Antelope Valley March 5, 2012. Palmdale adding another school, and is slated to be completed this year.  Funding came from a variety of groups, the Foreign Language Assistance Program (FLAP) grant provided $6.6 million, A capital facilities fund provided $1.6 million for construction,  Dos Caminos School is finished it will have 4 building with 4 class rooms.  The school will start with kindergarten through third grade and will add grades in time. Janet O'Brian is a Certified Short Sales Specialist in California is ready to help you with your Situation… Short Sale  Monthend Numbers Feb Jan '12 Dec Nov Oct Sep Aug July June May Apr Mar Feb Listed  561 601 599 732 797 813 679 631 646 620 561 690 443 Pending  495 581 52... 03/05/2012

The Index is at 70.8 (base 1985=100), that is up from 61.5 in January. The Present Situation Index increased to 45 from 38.8. Other key indicators rose to 88 from 76.7 in January.  We are seeing better economic data everywhere now. The public’s opinion of the current economics overall conditions was favorable in February.  Even business conditions are “good” increased slightly to 13.3 percent from 13.2%; while those claiming business conditions are “bad” dropped to 31.2 percent from 38.3% Consumer even believe the labor market was also looking better, there seems to be more jobs out there now. The short term folks are happier about the than last month. People are upbeat about the labor market too; they foresee more jobs in the months ahead.  The only issue we can see right is the tensio... 03/01/2012

Yes they can be, there is poor uniformity from one experience to the next, and when you toss in the bank on a short sale things can really heat up. Why are so many people involved in a short sale? The chief explanation is that each transaction has a different group of people in the mix. Let’s imagine you’re a coach of a ball team, and for each game, a whole new set of player’s shows up on the field! That is a good idea of how the real estate deal works.   Back in 1975 a federal statute was enacted called Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA).  It separates all the bits and pieces of a real estate transaction, agency, lending, title, etc.  It gives the customer more choices and adds competition which we all agree is good for lowing cost. The rub is each player is disconnected fro... 03/01/2012

West Palmdale, California Real EstateWe here at the Gockel Group, continuously monitor local real estate statistics to keep our clients informed and ahead of the real estate trends. Below you will find West Palmdale real estate statistics for the last seven days.Total inventory today is: 146   Of these, the number that are short pays is: 75Number of homes entering the market in the last 7 days: 11    Of these, the number that are short pays is: 3Number of homes entering escrow in the last 7 days: 27Number of homes closing escrow (sold) in the last 7 days: 9   Of these, the number that are short pays is: 0Number of homes cancelled/removed/expired/withdrawn from the market in the last 7 days: 7ALL DATA WAS DERIVED FROM THE "GREATER ANTELOPE VALLEY ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®" AND IS DEEMED R... 03/01/2012

Real Estate Trends - Palmdale, Lancaster, Quartz Hill and the Greater Antelope Valley March 1, 2012. Buyers need to know the perils of escrow the excitement and the uncertainty of something going wrong.  Escrows and go bad for a number of issues, currently we are seeing lending as the biggest obstacle is closing escrow, with the tighter requirements they days even qualified people can be denied.  Repairs can also mess up you closing for first time buyers.  Any red flags that popup can be scary, and asking for every little item to be fixed by the seller might be seen as unreasonable, even more so in a short sale as the seller does not have any cash to repair anything let alone make the mortgage payment.  The well meaning friend, relative or associate can create doubt in mind of the buyer... 03/01/2012

Real Estate Trends - Palmdale, Lancaster, Quartz Hill and the Greater Antelope Valley Feb 29, 2012 LEAP YEAR. Here it is Leap Year the 29thof February why do have this anyways? This is a constant source of perplexity. In a normal series of years, a calendar date that falls on a Monday one year will fall on Tuesday the next, Wednesday the year after that, Thursday the year after that, you get the picture. But every fourth year, thanks to the extra day in February, we "leap" over the expected day of the week — Wednesday this year, and that same calendar date lands on Thursday instead. Why such complexity? Because the exact number of days in a solar year is actually ever-so-slightly less than 365.25 (it is 365.242374, to be oddly precise), so the algorithm had to be designed so that every ... 02/29/2012

Real estate sales are booming in the Palmdale, Lancaster California market!  Investors, first-time buyers and retirees are swarming to score unbelievable deals on real estate in the Palmdale/Lancaster California market! Investors are buying 10-12 single family homes at a time! First-time homebuyers and retirees are enjoying unprecedented rock bottom prices!  I have borrowed a page out of the HGTV playbook and created a "What You Get For Your Money" video to illustrate the amazing deals waiting for homebuyers in the Palmdale/Lancaster California market! For more information email me at buyahomeca@kwrealty.com   02/29/2012

Real Estate Trends - Palmdale, Lancaster, Quartz Hill and the Greater Antelope Valley Feb 28, 2012. Senators are introducing legislation to shorten the process of a short sale about time.  Sen. Scott Brown, R-Mass., along with Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio have joined forces and have a bill in the works.  The Bill S-2120 aim is to require lenders to shorten the time to get an approval.  This Act may be cited as the `Prompt Notification of Short Sales Act'. And if passed would cut the time to 75 days for approval.  This is one to watch… Janet O'Brian is a Certified Short Sales Specialist in California is ready to help you with your Situation… Short Sale  Monthend Numbers Jan '12 Dec Nov Oct Sep Aug July June May Apr Mar Feb Jan '11 Listed  601 599 732 797... 02/27/2012

Antelope Valley Building Permit History Foretells Bull Real Estate Market The building boom of the late 1980’s (25,118 homes in 3 years) far exceeded the boom of 2003-2007 (17,045 homes in 5 years).  The weakest year during the 1990’s was 1995 at 861 permits pulled.  That is almost 3 times stronger than last year, 2011, the low so far in this down cycle.  During the slow 1990’s, a lot of pent up demand was formed.  If the pent up demand of the 1990’s lead us into the strong market of the 2000’s, how much pent up demand is being developed right now with an even slower market?  In markets, one extreme leads to another this Bear market is creating conditions for the next Bull market.  Source of data: Antelope Valley Building Industry Assoc. bold red= housing boom years 1987- 5,948 1988- 6,... 02/27/2012

Are lenders relaxing FICO requirements?  We believe it is starting right now.  We have seen the average credit (FICO) score required to get a home loan at about 700. This is higher than scores needed before to the collapse and has remained for about a year or so.  Also surviving loan broker’s shows FICO scores have been holding steady for the last 3 quarters. Now we are seeing scores under 680.  Additional market indicators also see the home loan stabilizing and show some softening of lending standards and a relaxing of credit availability. Lenders have upped the amount from 3.2 times the income of the borrower to 3.5 times currently. They are also backing off on the loan to value which have been around 75% and now a much as 83% LTV.   This is great news for buyers as lenders are loosen... 02/27/2012