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Fresno California Real Estate Market Update (edit/delete)

Interesting article in the Fresno Bee yesterday discussing the uptick real estate sales.  According to the article the same investors who sold property 2003 - 2005 and went to the sidelines are now coming back in.

• Fresno Association of Realtors reports preliminary figures of  612 units sold in October
• Over half of  October sales (56%)  were foreclosures.
• The median price of a home is now $175,000 ( down 31% from a year ago)

Go here for a chart of sales in Fresno  Clovis area

		Direct: Fax:		559.301.1647 559.438.7475
1319 W Bullard #4 — Fresno CA — 93711
© Randy “Lazarus” McAtee

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With prices continuing to decline in the Fresno Real Estate Market buyers are shuffling into the market. Anyone who has read my blog in the past (say since this time last year) knows that I have advised extreme caution and repeatedly stated I believed prices were going lower.

At this time last year sales were abysmal, inventory was peaking (it actually hit a peak in Sept of 07) and prices were substantially higher.

Here are couple of graphs taken from the FAR Grapevine that will help you to see what is taking place in the Fresno Market.

I don’t think anyone really knows where the bottom is with respect to prices but statistics indicate to me — AGAIN, as I have previously stated in other blogs — we are bouncing along a bottom. The only thing I dont know is if this is THE bottom. I certainly hope that it is and that the market is able to mend from here.

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Here’s a tidbit gleaned from a recent publication of the Grapevine:

A FAR survey of 1,800 single family residences in an equal amount of homes from high, medium, and low income in the Fresno Clovis area found that 43 out of 1,800 homes had active notices of default. Translation:

97.5 % of the Fresno/Clovis homes are NOT in default

Which means the GLASS IS MORE THAN HALF FULL!

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The *Fresno Bee reported today that Home Sales in Fresno are UP.

The increase in sales is a function of prices dropping to levels that either make the home prices attractive to investors or providing the opportunity for first time buyers and others to enter the market.

**

I am personally working with 2 first time home buyers which would not be in the market if it were not for the deep decline in prices making properties affordable and purchasing an alternative to renting. One of my clients, if the deal goes through, will have a house payment (including taxes and insurance) that is comparable to what he would be paying in rent for the same home. The other clients, if their deal goes through, will actually be paying LESS to own home then they are currently paying for rent: SUBSTANTIALLY LESS.

If you would like to BUY a home in Fresno California, CALL ME: Lazarus @ 559.301.1647 and let me help you TODAY!

*I would have provide a direct link to the FB article only I could not find the article on their online site.

** I created this chart using the statistics from the Fresno Bee which attributed Data Quick as their source for the information

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I haven’t done this for awhile and should probably do it more regularly. It does take time but I expect its the kind of information I would like to see if I was going to a Realtor’s® website looking for information on a particular market.

I’m not going to add much in terms of analysis, I will just let the numbers speak for themselves. What you need to know is that these are the numbers for the last 24 hours as of 10:00 P.M on June 16 2008.

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Sunday’s Fresno Bee reported that home sales in Fresno are indeed picking up. I read the news and intended to comment on it but even if you ARE the blogging broker you still only have 24 hours in a day. Then last night ABC 30 did segment on the market. Unfortunately, I’m not able to embed the video into my blog but you can go here and see/read the story.

I will add that besides the sales being UP as they mention, the *MSI (months supply of inventory) is WAY DOWN from what it was in the fall of last year when I began reporting the numbers. In September of 2007 the MSI was at 20.2 months. In April the MSI was down to 6.3 months. What an improvement!

As I’ve stated before, the numbers show we hit a bottom in November of 2007 - and AGAIN - whether or not this is THE bottom I can’t tell you. But the numbers are improving and it would be nice to see things continue like this.

Lazarus will be out showing homes this evening and hopes to write and OFFER THAT STICKS

If you are looking to area, call me, Lazarus @ 559-301-1647

*The MSI is calculated by taking the number of properties listed on the last day of the month and dividing it by the number of solds in that month

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INFORMATION ON THE FRESNO CALIFORNIA REAL ESTATE MARKET FROM FRESNO’S BLOGGING BROKER

C.A.R. stands for the California Association of Realtors and they constantly send Realtors®. Often more info than we have time to digest. Here are some recent highlights:

NEW HOME SALES DOWN 57 PERCENT IN FEBRUARY (Statewide)

that’s 57% from last Februaty

Median price of SoCal homes plunged 24 pct to 4-year low

March 2008 median price was $385,000 compared to March 2007 median price of $505,000>
The median price in 2004 was $380,000

Fifty-six percent of homes sold in Riverside County in March were foreclosures

Foreclosures Creating Ghost Towns
read the story HERE

After C.A.R. gives us the bad news they actually conclude by saying:

Here’s what to tell consumers — and then they proceed to tell us what we should be telling YOU, the consumer. Personally I think they need to word that differently. N.A.R. and C.A.R. dont have the best reputation - and neither do Realtors®. When I was at the S.W.A.T. meeting last week they said that consumers rated Realtors® as and 11 on a one to twelve trust scale - with ONE being the highest rating. It think we rated lower than auto mechanics.

Folks, the glass is half-full:  interest rates remain at historic lows, the affordability index is rising, and sales volume is picking up, and if you’re BUYER you are in the driver’s seat (oh what a difference a few years make!)

All Lazarus lacks is YOUR business.  Call me TODAY and let me hep you buy or sell your home: 559.301.1647

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I just got these number from the latest issue of the Grapevine.

Sold *units on Fresno/Clovis MLS in 2007:      3935
Sold   units on Fresno/Clovis MLS in 2007 down 27% from 2006
of the 3925 units sold 44 were reported as short sales and 392 were reported as REO or foreclosures

Another interesting statistic that that Don Scordino, the current president of FAR, pointed out is that of the foreclosures only 18% were foreclosures in which there was Realtor representation.

The results of a FAR survey showed that 51% of foreclosures were “cash out” foreclosures where the owner refinanced, took out cash, and later either could not make the payments or walked away.  Another 28% of the foreclosures involved transactions where buyers purchased the homes without the representation of a Realtor.  Then there were 3% rate and term refinances.  And finally 18% of the foreclosures involved transactions where there was Realtor representation.

So the bottom line is the majority of foreclosure problems are the result of people using their homes as an ATM machines.

ARE YOU AMONG THE FORTUNATE FEW THAT STILL HAS EQUITY IN YOUR HOME?
Would you like to tap into that equity and use your home like an ATM machine?  CALL ME - I can help.  559-301-1647

Geesh! that’s sounds terrible..lol

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I ask this because I know that many people are absolutely clueless as to what their Realtor is doing to market their home. I was looking at the expired listings yesterday, and there were something like 84 of them and I came across this one:

Great Oppertunity

and this was followed by an 8 word description with NO PHOTOS.

Now the Marketing box in the MLS (that is where you give the viewers a detailed description of the property) allows for 1000 characters. The agent utilized only a fraction of the space available, which means that potential buyers had very little information available to them. More importantly, there were no photos. Some buyers and agents will actually only look at those that offer a picture, because proverbially, the picture says a thousand words, so even if you didn’t have any information in the description box you should have some photos.

For me the word Oppertunity says a thousand words and gives me a pretty good idea of the kind of agent handling the transaction. Little wonder that this listing languished on the market for over 6 months with no takers. Which should not be the case, because in the agent remarks this agent said this property was priced to sell. Well, if it WAS priced to sell, WHY DIDN’T IT SELL?

© Randy “Lazarus” McAtee
Owner/Broker Lazarus Realty

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