Want to know what’s going on in Simi Valley, CA this week?
A post by Simi Valley real estate agent, Ken Grech. Here are some of the upcoming events at the Ronald Regan Library, located here in Simi Valley.
November 11, 2010 Veteran’s Day Event
This annual event will honor the men and women who serve in the United States Armed Forces. At 10:30am a C-17 Flyover| 10:45 am Musical performances by the Conejo Valley Youth Orchestra| 11:05 am Program in the Presidential Learning Center| All day: Civil War re-enactments by the Washington Artillery of New Orleans| World War II trucks| Current Military vehicles on display.
All Veterans Day activities are FREE for the public to attend; regular museum admission rates apply to visit the exhibits. As always, all veterans and military members with valid ID will receive free admission to the Museum and Air Force One Pavilion all day.
A post by Simi Valley real estate agent, Ken Grech. Here are some of the upcoming events at the Ronald Regan Library, located here in Simi Valley.
November 18, 2010 Annual American Christmas
Starting November 18, 2010 the annual American Christmas display will be available to see until January 2, 1011. This is a display of 24 Christmas Trees decorated to celebrate the defining moments of America’s road to greatness. If you’ve never seen the display, it is truly worth your time to see, words cannot describe this display!
A post by Simi Valley real estate agent, Ken Grech. Here are some of the upcoming events at the Ronald Regan Library.
November 18, 2010: Special Lecture/Dinner with President George W. Bush
On November 18, 2010, President George W. Bush will be speaking and addressing the Perspectives on Leadership Forum. Tickets for this lecture are $95.00 per person which includes dinner. Signed copies of President Bush’s memoir will be available in the Library’s Museum Store before and after the event.
A post by Simi Valley real estate agent, Ken Grech. Here are some of the upcoming events at the Ronald Regan Library.
November 29, 2010: Book Signing Mike Huckabee
On November 29, 2010, former Governor of Arkansas and best selling author Mike Huckabee will be at the Library to sign copies of his two books, A Simple Chirstmas:Twelve Stories that Celebrate the True Holiday Spirit and Can’t Wait Till Christmas! Signing will take place from 12:00pm to 1:00pm This event is FREE.
End of October Events in Simi Valley
Want to know what’s happening in Simi Valley this week? A post by Simi Valley real estate agent, Ken Grech.
Friday, October 29th
Drive In Movie: Hocus Pocus
When: Oct 29, 2010 at 7:00pm
Where: 5005 Los Angeles Ave., Simi Valley, CA
From: Rancho Simi Recreation And Park District
Ghost Tours
When: Oct 29, 2010 at 5:00pm to 10:00 pm
Where: Strathearn Historical Park and Museum Simi Valley, CA
From: Rancho Simi Recreation And Park District
Saturday, October 30th
When: Oct 30, 2010 at 11:00am
Where: 2969 Tapo Canyon, Simi Valley, CA
From: Simi Valley Library
When: Oct 30, 2010 at 8:00pm
Where: 3050 East Los Angeles Avenue, Simi Valley, CA
From: Simi Valley Cultural Arts Center
Sunday, October 31st
49th Annual Youth Halloween Carnival
When: Oct 31, 2010 at 5:30pm to 8:00 pm
Where: Rancho Santa Susana Community Center Simi Valley, CA
From: Rancho Simi Recreation And Park District
Halloween celebration at Simi Valley Town Center
When: Oct 31, 2010 at 3:00pm
Where: 1555 Simi Town Center Way, Simi Valley, CA
“Surge” In Home Inventory
Post by Ken Grech, a top Simi Valley real estate agent. Search Simi Valley real estate listings. Here are some highlights from an interesting article from our company’s President that was highlighted in the Sunday Ventura County Star. Recently there has been a hughe surge in home inventory from traditional equity sellers during July and August and record high open house turnouts over recent weekends point to intensified buyer activity in Ventura County’s housing market. Countering reports of a dip in sales during July and August, these are traditionally slower months for housing sales (because of the fact that many people are taking family vacation) and September and October are historically the best months (other than March and April) for real estate.
Simi Valley properties are moving quickly. Interest rates are still at an historic low. Now is a great time to buy! For more information on Simi Valley homes, or homes in neighboring ares, please feel free to visit my website: www.simiishome.com
CalHFA Returns As Option For First-Time Buyers
Post by Ken Grech, a top Simi Valley real estate agent. Search Simi Valley real estate listings. Here’s some highlights from an interesting article that was in today’s Sunday Ventura County Star paper written by Elizabeth Alvarez.
The California Housing Finance Agency recently announced updated programs to help first-time home-buyers. While this agency cannot offer a cure-all for the real estate market, this is a welcome bit of good news for consumers who are considering buying a home. First, to clear up a common confusion regarding mortgage lingo: First-time home-buyer is a technical term for ANY person who has not owned a primary residence in the last three years. Many people of all ages, including veterans, qualify for this loan-it is not reserved solely for young people buying their first home property.
The new CALHFA mortgage is offered in partnership with the Federal Housing Administration. The loan provides low and moderate income, first-time homebuyers with below market interest rates and affordable down payment option for thier home mortgage, among other benefits. Veterans also are eligible for CALHFA financing under the Heroes Earnings Assistance and Relief Tax Act. This loan brings CALHFA back as significant provider of financing for first-time home-buyers, which, historically, is the reason why the agency was created. Through CALHFA’s down payment program, called California Homebuyer’s Downpayment Assistance Program, borrowers may qualify for up to 3 percent of the purchase price of the home for down payment or closing cost assistance.
To qualify, borrowers must qualify according to the following guidelines: Income limits-these vary by county and family size. For example, in Ventura County, a family of four may earn up to $122,500 annually; in Los Angeles County, a family of four may have a yearly income of up to $110,020. Loan limits and sales price limits-FHA mortgage loans limits are generally $417,000; sales price limits vary by county. Minimum credit score requirement of 620, and all borrowers must complete a home-buyer education program through a HUD-approved agency. For more information on this loan go to: http://www.calhfa.ca.gov or call, toll free 1-877-922-5432.
For any up to date listings or sales within the Simi Valley and/or Ventura County market please free to contact me at: 805-217-1368 or visit my website: www.simiishome.com
Mortgage Rates Fall to 4.8%, Home Buyers Still Scarce
Post by Ken Grech, a top Simi Valley real estate agent. Search Simi Valley real estate listings. The Wall Street Journal, By Nick Timiraos:
Mortgage rates fell again last week, sending refinancing applications up. But in a sign that the housing market may be stumbling through a stimulus-induced hangover, new-purchase applications also fell again to a 13-year low.
Average 30-year mortgage rates fell to 4.8% last week from 4.83% the previous week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. While rates on 15-year fixed-rate loans rose to 4.25% from 4.19%, the average fees charged to borrowers fell, effectively lowering the rate.
That helped refinance activity increase by 17% from the previous week, the third straight weekly increase. But purchase activity is down 27% over the past four weeks-a sign that the $8,000 tax credit that expired at the end of April simply moved demand forward.
“It’s not clear that we’re going to see much of an increase in purchase applications because anybody that wanted to buy a house probably did last month,” said Jay Brinkmann, the MBA’s chief economist.
For more than a year, low interest rates had been a key pillar of government support that, along with an $8,000 tax credit year, was widely credited with breaking a downward spiral in home prices by boosting demand for housing. The housing industry had braced for rates to rise once the Federal Reserve ended its $1.25 trillion in purchases of mortgage securities at the end of March.
But the European debt crisis has raised new concerns about the health of the global economy, benefiting U.S. consumers. Mortgage rates have fallen over the last two weeks as investors seek safe-haven assets such as U.S. Treasurys, to which rates on long-term mortgages are closely tied, and securities backed by mortgages that are guaranteed by the government.
To read this full report, please visit www.wsj.com. For any home or lending information, please visit www.simiishome.com.
Housing’s New Normal: Wait and See
Post by Ken Grech, a top Simi Valley real estate agent. Search Simi Valley real estate listings. The Wall Street Journal, By Dawn Wotapka:
The housing market-especially for new homes-is having a great Wednesday.
Luxury builder Toll Bros. this morning reported a narrower quarterly loss and said that in May’s first three weeks, per-community deposits have climbed 23%, while traffic is up 11% from a year earlier. Chief Executive Bob Toll says consumers feel more confident in job security and their ability to sell existing homes. “It appears our business has finally emerged from the tunnel and into a bit of daylight,” he says.
“We believe many markets are turning the corner, and housing in general is beginning its recovery.”
Then came news that new-home sales hit a two-year high in April. Inventory also fell, while March’s sales total was revised upward to 439,000 from 411,000. “The April advance confirms a strong sales rebound from their winter time lull,” writes Nomura Global Economics.
It’s exciting news-the beaten-down builder stocks are all in positive territory-given multi-year depression the entire housing market has endured. Hovnanian is up 6%, while Standard Pacific added 4.52%. Toll is up 3.83%.
But proceed with caution. “We don’t expect housing to roar back right away,” Mr. Toll said in the earnings release. “The high rate of unemployment, coupled with volatility in the financial markets, continues to weigh on the nation’s psyche.”
Need it put more bluntly? “For builders (those still standing), market conditions remain brutal,” said Patrick Newport, an economist with IHS Global Insight.
The Journal reports today that home prices remain under pressure, with March marking six straight months of decline. And the tax credit continues putting a shine on data. But the reality is that plenty of buyers rushed to ink deals before the credit of up to $8,000 expired, likely pulling demand forward. Applications for new-purchase mortgages declined again last week to a 13-year low and are down 27% over the past four months, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. UBS analyst David Goldberg fears the pull forward was greater than previously assumed.
It will be some time before we know what a normal market looks like. “We expect to see continued volatility in this data, with the obvious key question being, ‘How will traffic and sales respond now that the Federal tax credit program is over?’” said Carl Reichardt, an analyst with Wells Fargo.
Wait and see: It’s becoming the new normal in housing.
Tax Credits Boost New Home Sales
Post by Ken Grech, a top Simi Valley real estate agent. Search Simi Valley real estate listings. The Washington Post, By Renae Merle:
New home sales surged last month as home buyers rushed to take advantage of tax credits that have helped lift the housing market, according to government data released Wednesday.
Sales of new single-family homes rose 14.8 percent in April, compared with March, to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 504,000, according to Commerce Department data. Sales were up 47.8 percent, compared to the same period a year ago. That was a much bigger jump than financial analysts had expected, bringing the sales rate to its highest level in about two years.
Sales rebounded the most in the Midwest, where they rose 31.6 percent. They were up 10.8 percent in the South, which includes the Washington region, and increased 21.7 percent in the West. Sales were flat in the Northeast.
Economists said the report reflects the impact of low mortgage rates and falling home prices, which has made a home purchase cheaper for many potential buyers. The median new home sales price in April fell to $198,400, compared with $219,200 during April 2009.
But the biggest boost, economists said, came from an $8,000 tax credit available to some first-time home buyers and a $6,500 tax credit available to some repeat homeowners who buy a new primary residence. To qualify for the tax credits, a buyer must have entered into a contract by April 30 and complete the transaction by June 30.
The tax credits also helped boost existing home sales, which jumped 7.6 percent in April, according to an industry report released this week. Now that the tax credits have expired, many economists are expecting to see sales activity in both markets begin to slow. The tax credits probably spurred some people planning to buy a house to purchase them earlier, analysts said.
To read this full report, please visit www.washingtonpost.com. For any home or lending information, please visit www.simiishome.com.
Delinquency Drop Shows Impact of FHA Measures
Post by Ken Grech, a top Simi Valley real estate agent. Search Simi Valley real estate listings. American Banker, By Sara Lepro and Kate Berry:
In a surprise reversal, the delinquency rate on single-family mortgages insured by the Federal Housing Administration has fallen in each of the last three months amid record volume.
Stable housing prices and higher-quality loans are aiding the agency’s recovery, though FHA Commissioner David Stevens cautioned that the mortgage market is still on federal life support.
“Let’s be real – it’s still a government-financed market,” Stevens told a group of industry executives Monday at a Mortgage Bankers Association conference in New York. “We have a lot of work to do to get the capital markets back to a sustainable level.”
Citing a study by Campbell Communications, a Washington research firm, Stevens also said the FHA backed more single-family mortgages than Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac purchased or guaranteed in the first quarter of this year.
The FHA is on track to guarantee 1.9 million loans this fiscal year, the same as in the one that ended Sept. 30, which was up from 1.1 million a year earlier.
For FHA to handle so much volume “is a sign of a very sick market,” Stevens said. “Unfortunately, I don’t think that’s going to be changing anytime soon.”
These days FHA loans are nearly the only product lenders can offer borrowers who have little money for a down payment (and the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Agriculture’s Rural Housing Service serve only their respective niches). FHA lending now accounts for 30% of all residential mortgages written, up from 3% in 2006, said Brian Chappelle, a partner at the Washington consulting firm Potomac Partners and a former official with the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
In recent years higher volume and market share came at a stiff price: higher defaults and losses. An audit released in November showed that in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, the FHA’s capital reserve ratio had fallen to 0.53%, well below the congressionally mandated minimum of 2%.
To read this full report, please visit www.americanbanker.com. For any home or lending information, please visit www.simiishome.com.
U.S. Regulator Says Mortgage Lenders Stabilizing
Post by Ken Grech, a top Simi Valley real estate agent. Search Simi Valley real estate listings. The New York Times/REUTERS:
The U.S. thrift industry reported its third consecutive quarter of profit, earning $1.82 billion during the first three months of the year.
The Office of Thrift Supervision, which largely regulates mortgage lenders, said on Monday that earnings more than quadrupled from the prior quarter, and that overall it seemed that the thrift industry is stabilizing.
However, earnings were still suppressed by the additional $2.7 billion the industry tucked away during the quarter in anticipation of more loan losses, many tied to bad mortgages.
“The health of the thrift industry is improving but we cannot say the industry has fully recovered from the financial crisis,” said OTS Acting Director John Bowman. “Until America gets back to full employment and more families are able to pay their monthly mortgages on time, the thrift industry will continue to face significant challenges.”
The first-quarter profits were the highest since the second quarter of 2007.
The amount of troubled assets also moderated. The percentage of noncurrent loans and repossessed assets fell to 3.27 percent of industry assets, from 3.29 percent in the prior quarter.
The agency said the increases in problem assets are a direct result of the continued housing market downturn and high unemployment.
Earlier on Monday the National Association of Realtors said sales of previously owned U.S. homes touched a five-month high in April, but the inventory of existing homes also jumped, putting pressure on home prices.
Tax-Credit Rush Boosts Home Sales
Post by Ken Grech, a top Simi Valley real estate agent. Search Simi Valley real estate listings. The Washington Post, By Dina ElBoghdady:
Sales of previously owned homes surged in April to higher levels than analysts expected as buyers rushed to take advantage of a lucrative tax credit before it expired along with low interest rates and affordable prices, according to industry data released Monday.
Sales of existing homes, which consist mainly of single-family houses, town homes and condominiums, jumped 7.6 percent in April from March to a seasonally adjusted rate of 5.77 million units, the National Association of Realtors reported. Sales were up 22.8 percent from the comparable period a year earlier, the group said.
The new figures reflect significant improvements in the country’s housing market as the selling season takes off. But they could prove short-lived once the tax-credit benefit fades.
Every region in the country experienced solid month-to-month gains except for the West, where sales fell 6.2 percent. The strongest showing was in the Northeast, where sales climbed 21.1 percent.
Trailing behind were the Midwest and the South, which rose 9.9 percent and 8.6 percent, respectively.
But even as sales rose, the supply of for-sale homes grew more than the Realtors’ group expected, putting a damper on otherwise upbeat results.
As key elements in boosting sales, the report highlighted an $8,000 tax credit available to some first-time home buyers and a $6,500 tax credit available to certain homeowners who buy a new primary residence.
But many who track the industry warned not to read too much into the spike in sales ahead of the tax credit’s expiring.
“The sales would be very healthy if they were happening on their own, but they’re happening with the helpful hand of Uncle Sam,” said Michael Larson, a housing analyst at Weiss Research.
Many economists say they suspect that the tax credit lured people who were already planning to buy houses into purchasing them earlier than planned. This means the robust sales activity of the past two months could eat into sales later this summer.
To read this full report, please visit www.washingtonpost.com. For any home or lending information, please visit www.simiishome.com.
