Greenspan Calls Housing Bottom

Alan Greenspan, former head of the Federal Reserve, has predicted that housing will hit bottom at the beginning of 2009 when the market absorbs the excess inventory. He is, of course, talking about housing prices nationally.

Sacramento might already have hit bottom. Anecdotally, I see a lot of pent up buyer demand for bank-owned homes. Once the excess inventory gets bought up, watch the prices rise!

Federal Reserve cuts Interest Rate by 0.75%

Another rate cut came in today. The Fed cut interest rates by .75% down to 2.25% now.

If you are a home buyer wondering if this will affect mortgage rates, the answer is probably yes. But maybe not in the direction you are hoping.

Head on over to Dan Green's Mortgage Reports to get an idea of why.

Home Buyers: 100% Financing Getting Harder

I had mentioned in early December that first time home buyers would have a harder time getting qualified for a loan and that there was still time to buy real estate with zero down before February. My clients at the time had excellent credit scores, great incomes and were buying a house so far below market that even when the lender asked for more comps, we were able to provide them.

That excellent purchase went through just fine, but today the Sacramento Bee reports that mortgage insurers may begin to stop issuing PMI for 0 down financing.

Unfortunately, thanks to the empty-headed bubbleheads out there, such warnings when issued by Realtors are ignored as "just a sales pitch" with the obvious remark, "Of course you're going to say that - you sell real estate!" That's like saying, borrowing a comment from John Lockwood, to a doctor, "Of course you're going to say it's a good time to get sick - you're a doctor!"

MLS Search is Live!

In the past, I've been sending you to the Elite Properties site to search for real estate in Sacramento, but now you can search for homes right here on Sacramento Real Estate Gal.

Just follow this link.

Bear with me while I add more links to automatic email updates of properties and the such, but for now the MLS is searchable right here!

Enjoy!

Rate Cut as Expected by Most

The Federal Reserve just cut another 1/2 point - federal funds rate is now down to 3.0%

Read the details here.

Fed Meeting Today...

I'm curious to see what they have in store. After the last .75% rate cut, most experts expect another .50% cut today.

While this rate cut may take a long time to affect mortgage rates, it is still good news for anyone with equity in their homes or first time real estate buyers.

Wait and watch.

Will Investors Save the Sacramento Market?

This winter has been different for sure. While last winter, the real estate market was still reeling from sellers realizing that their mortgages were too high for them to refinance and or sell and get market value to salvage their home, this winter seems to be dotted with home buyers.

Several things I've been reading lately seem to be coming to a head to make 2008 a very exciting year for real estate.

On January 4th, the Sacramento Bee reported that Sacramento real estate is gaining its price edge over the Bay Area and Southern California. And while that may be a different way of saying that prices here have fallen faster and harder than elsewhere in California, the net effect seems to be the same: buyers from other parts of California are beginning to express interest in Sacramento. Again.

Investors in Sacramento might take longer to recover, but since almost all of them depend on equity to buy other houses, once the prices start heading up, I have no doubt they'll be out there as well.

Another piece of news that surprised me (pleasantly) this morning was the Federal Reserve cutting interest rates by .75%! Since mortgage rates inevitably follow, the downward trend is good news for buyers and investors out there.

As I've said before, the real estate market can go up, down or sideways, but every move is almost always interesting!

Federal Reserve cuts Interest Rates Again!

Another .25% in the Federal Funds rate and .25% in the discount rate.

Read all about it here.

Zillow to Nationalize Real Estate Advertising

Realtors are getting luckier - now we can advertise our Open House in Sacramento, CA to someone in Houston, TX. Or so says Lloyd Frink, president of Zillow in a company-prepared press release.

Basically, this would work well for Realtors who advertise in the Sunday classifieds. Zillow has formed a partnership with about 282 newspapers (and are expecting more to join before the first half of 2008) where anyone who advertises in the classifieds will have the option to advertise online on Zillow across the nationwide alliances.

Already I find a few of my clients using Zestimates to evaluate the market for their homes and I've been known to add homes for sale to the Zillow database. While I think the Zestimates are not accurate, they're a good place to start. Then get a Realtor to tweak them.

My real problem with Zillow is that it is not regulated enough. And while I have had problems with the Metrolist MLS that keeps a very strict tab on Realtors and fines you for being late in reporting a sale or a pending sale, I must admit it has the most accurate information online. Zillow, especially because it is free, does not download directly from the MLS and often depends on people to update statuses. Which they often do not.

Federal Reserve cuts Interest Rates Again!

This just in... the Federal Reserve dropped interest rates again -

Fed Funds Rate is down .25% to 4.50% and the discount rate is down .25% to 5.00%

Use your Fireplaces with Care this Winter

Sacramento County will have no-burn days beginning December 1, 2007. As of next year, these no-burn days will begin in November and extend through February. On days with heavy pollution, Sacramento county residents will not be able to use their fireplaces (and other wood-burning devices) and will have to depend on other forms of heat - mainly electric.

On less severe pollution days, only those with EPA certified devices or pellet stoves will be allowed to burn.

In general, people with certified devices would not be able to burn them about 11 days a year and those without would not be able to use their fireplaces and wood stoves about 23 days a year.

Sacramento Bee: Sales of New Homes Rise

The Sacramento Bee today reported that sales of new homes rose 4.8% in September. The sales are still much worse than they were last year, but in this market any news of flattening is better than the same old, same old.

Wouldn't you say?

Breaking News...

There's been a lot of talk about the Federal Reserve cutting interest rates lately.

And it's finally happened.

Just remember, you read about it on SacramentoRealEstateGal first!