Buying a home, second thoughts...

Many recent homebuyers would make different choices if they had a second chance, according to a study commissioned by JPMorgan Chase & Co.

New homeowners say they wish they had done more homework at the outset of their home search and purchase process.  Nine of every 10 buyers felt prepared when they bought their home, but in hindsight, 56% wish they were armed with more knowledge about the financial aspects of purchasing a home, such as the closing process (22%), making an offer and negotiating (19%) and financing (15%).

Many recent homebuyers were surprised by how long the home-buying process took:  40% say it took longer than they expected.  And while more than 80% of buyers had considered their home move-in ready, 76% have done or are planning to do renovations to their home in the near-term.

Two thirds of recent homebuyers sought advice from real estate agents, the study finds.

"While consumers said they felt prepared to buy a home and were satisfied with their home purchase, our results found that there are challenges and areas for improvement," says Lisa Foradori, chief marketing officer for Chase Mortgage Banking.

Many Realtors come from the teaching profession, and there is a good reason for that: to be a good agent, one needs to have a passion for explaining why and how things work during the buying (or selling) process.  And even when clients have bought real estate in the past, they need someone on their side who knows what has changed recently, both in the market place, and in the profession (new forms, new rules and laws, new tools).    I always advise my clients to work on their loan qualifications first: there are many choices involved in getting a loan, and choosing the right loan should not be an afterthought.

Thanks for reading!
Francis

Silicon Valley real estate specialist
Detailed, local trends etc...
Current mortgage rates

Most parents make home buying decision around kids:

A recent survey by Coldwell Banker Real Estate found that 79% of Millennial parents (between 18 and 34) and 70% of Gen X parents (between 35 and 49) make major purchasing decisions around

their children, stating that they are more concerned about the immediate impact of a move on the emotional well-being of their children than whether moving is a good decision.

Francis

Silicon Valley real estate specialist
Detailed, local trends etc...
Current mortgage rates

Our next E-Waste & Shredding event is on:
Sat. Oct 25, 9am - 2pm (or until truck is full)
at: 161 S. San Antonio Rd
Los Altos, CA

Eye Candy.. Prime properties for sale.

This is the latest edition of our Coldwell Banker Previews International offerings. Most of the properties are pretty close to home, or even right there where we live.  Click on the cover to see the magazine.

Let me know if you have any question about one of these homes!

Francis Rolland
Previews Specialist

Silicon Valley real estate specialist
Detailed, local trends etc...
Current mortgage rates

Our next E-Waste & Shredding event is on:
Sat. Oct 25, 9am - 2pm (or until truck is full)
at: 161 S. San Antonio Rd
Los Altos, CA

Top 10 Cities for Projected Job Growth.

Where the jobs are...

As Realtors we know how important a role a robust job market plays in driving home sales.  So which big cities feature the strongest job markets?

Forbes magazine ranked the top big cities for projected job growth in 2014 based on several factors:
- current growth of employment rates,
- mid-term growth (the average annual rate from 2008-2013);
- long-term trends;
- and a 10-year average.

Three of the top-ranking cities are in Texas, while two are in California.

Top 10 cities:

1- San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, California,
2- San Francisco-San Mateo-Redwood City, California,
3- Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, Texas,
4- Raleigh-Cary, North Carolina,
5- Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown, Texas,
6- Nashville-Davidson-Murfreesboro-Franklin, Tennessee,
7- New York City, New York
8- Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, Florida,
9- Dallas-Plano-Irving, Texas,
10- Denver-Aurora-Broomfield, Colorado.

Thank you for reading!
Francis

Silicon Valley real estate specialist
Detailed, local trends etc...
Current mortgage rates

Our next E-Waste & Shredding event is on:
Sat. Oct 25, 9am - 2pm (or until truck is full)
at: 161 S. San Antonio Rd
Los Altos, CA

Student loans causing housing shift...

An analysis by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York found that for the first time in at least a decade, households with student-loan debt are less likely to have a mortgage than those without student-loan debt.

Additionally, a survey by the National Association of Realtors found that 49% of Americans reported that student loan debt is a "huge obstacle" to homeownership.

I had already blogged in July of last year about student loans and the general concerns this is causing for the housing market; the average pay-off time for a student loan is 21 years! 
This is also the subject of an article just published in the SJ Merc. on Sept. 23 2014, indicating: a "consultant's study says 8% fewer houses sold in the U.S." (as a result of student debt levels).
The Consultant is John burns Consulting, an Irvine-based firm that advises homebuilders. The article is from Tim Logan of the Los Angeles Times.

Thanks for reading!
Francis


Silicon Valley real estate specialist
Detailed, local trends etc...
Current mortgage rates
Our next E-Waste & Shredding event is on:
Sat. Oct 25, from 9am to 2pm (or until truck is full)

at: 161 S. San Antonio Rd
Los Altos, CA

Real estate investors homework .. Where to buy?

Many of my clients have invested in real estate to balance their investment portfolio, as I have done myself.  To piggy up on my last blog on the subject dating back to July (Investing in real estate), when people contact me with this goal in mind, their first question is: where should I invest?

Indeed, this is the first step: decide what should be your main goal with your real estate investing.  Is it to maximize appreciation, or is it to maximize returns?  Typically, where there is appreciation, the return on investment (ROI) is lower, and vice-versa, where there is a large return, appreciation is lower.  There are so many areas in the US to choose from...  and it would take a long time to go and visit each place of interest, and compare.

The Bay Area has always been expensive, and by the time you have purchased a condominium or a house, you have spent so much money that the return after finding a tenant is going to be around 3% to 4% maximum in the best case.   - Although for those who have bought before 2012, their return has gone up quite a bit due to the extreme increase in rents that we have seen since then: what used to rent for about $1900 about 5 years ago now fetches easily around $2,800, and even $3,000.

In Texas in the area of Dallas-Fort Worth one may buy a 4-bedroom house in a pretty nice neighborhood for say, around $150 to $160K, and the monthly rent is going to be around $1400.  With these kinds of figures, the return jumps to 10 or 11% very easily.

So where should one go?

I came across an interesting web site offering a lot of property management resources: http://www.allpropertymanagement.com/
and they have already done a lot of the research, by tracking a number of different metrics, from rental vacancy rates and home values to regional job growth, for 75 different metro areas in 5 regions of the country. They use that data, along with input from their nationwide network of over 5,000 property managers, to produce their quarterly Rental Ranking report, which measures a city’s attractiveness for real estate investment. 
Here is a link to their "All Property Management Q2 2014 Rental Ranking Report".   According to the data, San Jose is the second-strongest rental investment market in the West Region, and the fifth-best in the nation.

Finding the right place to invest also depends on where you live: sometimes, closer to you is better because you can manage the properties yourself, which can have huge implications for taxes, and also for the maintenance costs.

Once you have found you path, let me know: I can help you purchase the better property, or properties.  Whether it is in my backyard (including San Jose) or not, I can help you personally or I can find you the right agent through my network.  And should you end up in Dallas, I can also recommend a great management company there.

Thanks for reading,
Francis


Silicon Valley real estate specialist
Detailed, local trends etc...
Current mortgage rates

Know your insurance before remodeling.

Property insurance is not a very exciting subject to be sure.  I just read this blog from a local insurance company, Allied Brokers Inc., well known for their involvement in real estate insurance

here in the San Francisco Mid-Peninsula area.

The article covers the insurance issues that can pop up when you have a remodeling project that encounters problems; things are not always covered as you thought they were, and it is a good idea to check up on your insurance coverage with your insurer before starting any remodeling.

Checking also whether your contractor has any insurance, along with his/her sub-contractors if there are any, is essential, and you may also want to add yourself to the Contractor's policy.

More on this important subject in this Allied Brokers Inc. article.

Thanks for reading,
Francis

Silicon Valley real estate specialist
Detailed, local trends etc...
Current mortgage rates

Average prices in the SF Bay local Counties - evolution.

To piggy back on an earlier blog of mine, dating back to January of this year, here is an update to the graphs showing the increase in average prices in both the counties of Santa Clara and San Mateo; the figures include both the houses and the condominiums/townhouses.

As always, one has to be careful with statistics: a few very high priced homes can skew the average to a high number, even though nothing much else has happened in the market place.

A few things to note:
- In general, average prices go down at the end of the year and until January.  Last year was shielded in large part from this phenomenon: prices went down, but not much.  We will see if this year acts more "normal".
- The total number of homes (houses and condos) for sale last year at the end of August was 1,852 in the Cnty of Santa Clara, and it is now 1,778  - a little lower.  Still a lack of inventory ...
- Prices were an average of $715.7K in the County of Santa Clara in Jan of 2013, and they are now $992.5K, a 38.7% increase !
- From the graphs below, it seems that averages move faster up and down in the County of San Mateo than in the County of Santa Clara.  I believe it reflects the fact that a lot more properties went into the averages in SCC than in SM Cnty: 25,705 listings for Santa Clara County, vs 10,619 for San Mateo County.  The more properties you have, and the more the averages are going to be representative of the real market, instead of the specifics of the homes.  To say it simply, if you have a few very high properties, they will have less of an effect on the average of 25,000 sales vs the average of 10,000 sales.

One final note: the inventory of homes for sale in January of 2014 was around 900, about half of what it is now.  So it is a better time to look for a home!  Also, many trades linked to real estate, like property inspection services, termite companies, stagers, report being extremely busy right now (beg. of Sept.).  This could mean that inventory may increase soon...

County of Santa Clara:

County of San Mateo:

 

 

Thank you for reading,

Francis

Silicon Valley real estate specialist
Detailed, local trends etc...
Current mortgage rates

non-profit organization worth noting: Partners for New Generations - now called:
Mentor Tutor Connection.