Today was another hustle and bustle day!! I guess that's why I can't sleep. Gotta get to bed soon, but wanted to put a few more pics of things that I did today on here...
Started out the day attending a presentation put on by American Home Mortgage....(see pic with Karen Vogel from AHM)....then headed to the Board of Realtors to stock up on some supplies and also was in Downtown Riverside (see church pic) and then finished off my Riverside County jaunt (sp?) in Norco Hills....showing this $900K property on over a 1/2 an acre with sweeping views behind....
SIMPLY AMAZING!!! Hope my clients go for it....This is a single story with a farmhouse style loft upstairs and bedroom and bath upstairs. The rest of the home is all single story....kitchen to die for, Great Room and so much more!
Here's a press release that I managed to put together today...not sure if it will make it in the paper, but at least you can find out some of the things that were presented in today's "Real Estate Outlook for 2007"....
"Real Estate Outlook for 2007"
Ontario, CA - Dozens of Realtors attended a presentation at the Doubletree Hotel in Ontario, Wednesday, February 28th, 2007. Sponsored by American Home Mortgage, the presentation was for local real estate professionals. The headlined speaker was Real Estate Economist, Gary Watts of www.ImpactRE.com. He spoke about the real estate outlook for 2007.
Historical data from 2006 was preliminarily presented before forecasts for 2007 were given. Mr. Watts presented information such as in the second quarter of 2006, when the Federal Reserve raised the discount rate to 5.25%, causing mortgage rates to rise over 6.5%. At that point in 2006, he said, "It was clear that the buyers were pulling back as the sale volume in San Bernardino declined -13.7%, yet the sales in Riverside actually increased 9.0% - and that would be the last increase of the year."
Mr. Watts continued and also gave attendees further information about each quarter of 2006. In the fourth quarter, he said that the Federal Reserve was still on pause but the excess inventory of homes, unflattering media news, and the pull-back of the buyers began to take its toll. Sales rapidly declined to -24% from the previous year (San Bernardino County)while they declined 30% in Riverside (County). Appreciation rates although dropping, remained positive with San Bernardino at 5.5%: Riverside 5.0%. For the entire year, San Bernardino came in at 12.5% for homes, while condos posted 10.3% gains. In Riverside, homes came in at 8.5% while condos were at 4.0%.
January’s (2007) sales numbers were also presented: San Bernardino County was -28.5%, while Riverside was down -34.2% vs. 2006. Appreciation numbers were surprising to Realtor, Todd Picconi of Stapp Home Realty in Alta Loma. He said, "I was excited and surprised to see that San Bernardino County (per Mr. Watts) actually appreciated in January 4.2% and Riverside up 1.2%. So despite what you read, Buyers are still buying and Sellers are still selling."
Mr. Watts then went in to presenting supply of unsold homes numbers. He said that the average supply has historically been around 6 months and 3 to 4 months for Southern California. He also commented on how newspapers are losing subscribers and television is losing viewers. Mr. Watts hopes that the information will be presented accurately, without the bold headlines that can frighten the average consumer, such as: Killer Bees, West Nile Virus and the Mad Cow, Lack of Vaccines, and asked where did SARS and the Bird Flu fly to?
He also tackled the foreclosure question, stating that, "...the truth is 98.5% of all loans in the U.S. are not in foreclosure and the remaining 1.5% that were foreclosed upon had the following breakdown: 80% were classified by federal lenders as Professional Thieves and were turned over to the FBI. 20% were classified as lenders as Fraud for Property, that resulted in unethical lending practices." He also handed the audience of anxious real estate professsionals more date about California defaults: Historical 32,762, Low: 12,145 3Q’04 High: 59,987 1Q’96 and Current: 37.273.
For more information regarding the future of real estate in Southern California feel free to contact your local real estate professioal.
Picture Heading: Local American Home Mortgage Loan Consultant Karen Vogel with local Realtor, Todd Picconi of Stapp Home Realty. To contact Karen, call (909)466-1290 ext. 118 and to contact Todd, call (909)945-7376.
