Toni’s Real Estate blog: LALivingNow.com

Sales of existing homes–including single-family, townhomes, condominiums, and co-ops– declined 7.2 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.05 million units in January compared with 5.44 million units in December, according to NAR’s latest sales and price report.  Sales remain 11.5 percent higher than the 4.53 million-unit level in January 2009, according to NAR.  The national median home price for existing housing remained unchanged from a year earlier at $164,700.
“Most of the completed deals in January were based on contracts in November and December,” said Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist.  “People who got into the market after the home buyer tax credit was extended in November have only recently started to offer contracts, so it will take a couple [of] months to close those sales.”
Existing-home sales in the West, which includes California, declined 5.2 percent to an annual rate of 1.28 million units in January, but are 7.6 percent higher than January 2009. The median price in the West was $203,400, down 5.8 percent from a year ago.

The Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP), which was supposed to expire June 10, will be extended for another year, the Federal Housing Finance Agency said in a statement.Since HARP began last April, it has refinanced 190,180 mortgages. It is administered by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and aimed at borrowers with little or no equity in their homes.

This program is a sister to Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP), which was severely criticized by Congress last week for failing to help enough struggling home owners.

Source: Reuters News, Corbett B. Daley (03/01/2010)

Thousands of potential home buyers are expected to converge this weekend for the third annual Southern California Home Buyer’s Fair at the Los Angeles Convention Center in downtown Los Angeles. The Southern California Home Buyer’s Fair, open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, March 13, and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., Sunday, March 14, features more than 50 educational “how-to” seminars designed to help home buyers navigate today’s real estate market with confidence and peace of mind.  The event is free to the public, and the first 200 attendees each day will receive a free AMC Entertainment movie ticket (one ticket per person).  The event is sponsored by C.A.R. and the Los Angeles Times.

Seminar topics range from saving for a down payment and monitoring and repairing credit, to buying foreclosures, short sales, and bank-owned homes, and finding and qualifying for a home loan.  Several of the sessions also will be offered in Spanish.

The Southern California Home Buyer’s Fair will feature more than 80 exhibit booths, where consumers can obtain information from industry experts about homeownership and the home-buying process.  On Saturday, March 13, non-profit organization Million Trees L.A. will give away 200 free shade trees on a first-come, first-served basis starting at 10 a.m. in booth #419.  (Please note, proof of L.A. City residency—Los Angeles Dept. of Water and Power bill or California Drivers License–is required.)

C.A.R. also will give away 10 iPod shuffles each day at booth #201 in the exhibit hall.  Tickets for the iPod shuffle giveaway will be handed out one hour before each drawing in the lobby of the Concourse Hall of the Los Angeles Convention Center. Drawing times are 12 noon and 3 p.m. on Saturday, March 13, and 12 noon and 2 p.m. on Sunday, March 14.  No purchase necessary, but winners must be present to claim prize.

For complete information, go to www.homebuyersfair.com.

There is a fact sheet about the Fair at http://www.car.org/media/pdf/Fact_Sheet_2010.pdf.

Fill an old pillowcase with compost-ready materials from your kitchen, tie the top with string, submerge the pillowcase for 24 hours in a five-gallon bucket filled with water. Spread the nutrient-drenched contents on your garden the next day and use the watery brine to water other plants.

Potential home buyers who delay have a lot to lose.First-time home buyer and move-up tax credits worth $8,000 and $6,500, respectively, expire April 30. Buyers who qualify get a dollar-for-dollar reduction in taxes or a cash payment if they don’t pay enough taxes to cover the credit.

Other factors that should spur buyers:

Low mortgage rates. If the Federal Reserve stops buying mortgage-backed securities at the end of March, 30-year rates will almost certainly rise to more than 6 percent.

Rising prices. About 30 percent of markets are already experiencing price increases. Prices are falling in 12 percent of markets, says Fiserv (but that only helps if you want to live there).

Source: Money Magazine, Beth Braverman (03/02/2010)

Calif. median home price: January 2010: $287,440 (Source: C.A.R.)
Calif. highest median home price by C.A.R. region January 2010: Santa Barbara So. Coast $760,000(Source: C.A.R.)
Calif. lowest median home price by C.A.R. region January 2010: High Desert $124,480 (Source: C.A.R.)
Calif. First-time Buyer Affordability Index - Fourth Quarter 2009: 64 percent (Source: C.A.R.)
Mortgage rates - week ending 2/25/10 30-yr. fixed: 5.05 Fees/points: 0.7% 15-yr. fixed: 4.40% Fees/points: 0.7% 1-yr. adjustable: 4.15% Fees/points: 0.6% (Source: Freddie Mac)

Pending home sales are down and additional declines are expected from abnormal weather conditions, according to the National Association of REALTORS®.The Pending Home Sales Index, a forward-looking indicator based on contracts signed in January, fell 7.6 percent to 90.4 from an upwardly revised 97.8 in December, but remains 12.3 percent higher than January 2009, when it was 80.5.

Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said weather is likely to impact housing data. “January pending sales, though still higher than one year ago, remain much lower than expected given that a large number of potential buyers are eligible for the expanded home buyer tax credit. Moreover, the abnormally severe and prolonged winter weather, which affected large regions of the U.S., hampered shopping activity in February,” he said.

As such, abnormal swings are expected in housing data. “We will see weak near-term sales followed by a likely surge of existing-home sales in April, May, and June,” Yun said. “The real question is what happens in the second half of the year. If there is sufficient job creation, housing can become self-sustaining with stable to modestly rising home prices because inventory has been trending downward.”

Here’s a look at pending home sales numbers by region:

• Northeast: Pending home sales fell 8.7 percent to 71.3 in January, but are 20.5 percent higher than January 2009.
• Midwest: The index dropped 8.9 percent to 81.2 but is 11.8 percent above a year ago.
• South: Pending home sales slipped 2.1 percent to an index of 98.1, but the index is 18.0 percent higher than January 2009.
• West: The index dropped 13.2 percent to 102.9 but is 1.4 percent above a year ago.

— NAR

410A Mandate Recap:
Effective January 1, 2010, the Environmental Protection Agency, under Title VI of the Clean Air Act, will no longer allow air conditioning equipment that uses the refrigerant R-22 (commonly known by the brand name Freon®) to be manufactured. This new mandate is designed to protect the environment from ozone depleting hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) that can be released through leaks and improper disposal.
A new refrigerant, 410A, (commonly known by the brand name Puron®) is available and is less harmful to the ozone or environment if it leaks from an air conditioning system.

Check if you home warranty will cover the replacement of R-22 systems (old republic does).

Special Note: Kitchen refrigerators are not affected by the 410A Mandate because they use a different type of refrigerant than air conditioning units.