Fremont, CA

July 3 2009

Due to the turmoil in the real estate market, a Florida couple is raffling off their luxury home in Fort Lauderdale for only $10 a ticket. After the drawing is held, the deed and title to the home will be transferred to the lucky winner (with no mortgage), and a portion of the proceeds raised will go to benefit a local charity.

Moving from their dream home is something the Brannans never thought would happen, but the economic crisis has caused them to make many tough decisions. They came to the conclusion that raffling off their 6,000 sq. ft.
home was the only reasonable solution.

In addition to offering people an opportunity to win this home for just $10, the couple states that a portion of the proceeds from the drawing will benefit The Mission of St. Francis, a charitable organization in Ft. Lauderdale. According to Miles Brannan, "The Mission of St. Francis is a wonderful organization that helps individuals suffering from addictions by providing them housing and helping them find jobs to get back on their feet.

We've all been hit hard by the poor economy lately, and I feel The Mission is really making a difference in people's lives. So a portion of the proceeds will go to the Mission to aid in their efforts."

The Florida home's spacious open floor plan includes 6 bedrooms and 6.5 baths. The master suite is 1,000 square feet and has a second story balcony overlooking the waterway. The estate also has a theater room with a 120?
screen, 4 car garage, and beautiful winding staircase. I

Only 300,000 tickets will be sold for this raffle, and the drawing will take place once all tickets have been sold. Once the drawing has taken place the winner will be notified within 24 hours by phone, e-mail or certified mail.
Winners do not need to be present to win. All monies collected will be held by Chicago Title Insurance Agency, Inc.

For more information, visit www.floridaluxuryauctions.com.

Home sales increased 35.2 percent in May in California compared with the same period a year ago, while the median price of an existing home declined 30.4 percent, C.A.R. reported last week. "With affordability for first-time buyers at a record high, sales of existing, single-family homes continued to remain above the 500,000 level for the ninth consecutive month," said C.A.R. President James Liptak. "Buyers are beginning to realize that the combination of favorable home prices, historically low mortgage rates, and first-time home buyer tax credits, may not align again for many years.
"The sales gains over last year have diminished in recent months," he added. "This trend is expected to continue through the end of the year, as limited inventory at the moderate and low end of the market constrains sales activity," he said.

I read this great information from my Calif. Association of Realtors e-mail update. www.car.org

Brian Ripp, CRS, GRI, Broker - your Bay Area Realtor

www.BrianRipp.com Serving Fremont, Newark, Union City & surrounding communities. Real Estate & Property Management.

Real Estate Market Weekly Update Webcast: http://realtytimes.com/REUv/BrianRipp

After a recent spike seen in mortgage rates, some consumers are wondering whether they've missed their

chance to refinance into an ultra-low rate.

Fear not: While the conforming 30-year fixed-rate mortgage hit a daily average of 5.81% last Thursday

06/18/09, it averaged 5.53% on Tuesday 06/23/09, and it's possible that rates could continue to fall.

Predicting interest rates is like predicting who is going to win the World Series in January,I feel

the recent spike is somewhat of an aberration, I expect rates will continue to drift down.

Why the recent run-up in rates? Over the past month or two, the economic skies have brightened

somewhat, and the threat of trillion-dollar budget deficits for the foreseeable future, the potential

for significant inflation, and few clues as to how the government might extricate itself from

intrusions into markets created a landscape that was not appealing to investors.

But now, rates are retreating partly because inflation doesn't seem as immediate a threat as investors

feared. In my opinion, nothing fundamentally has changed in the economy over recent weeks to warrant

the rate rise, yet he expects volatility through the remainder of the year as investors debate the

economy's health. Realistically, I think that the rates will drift under 5% again. It may take a month, may

take twomonths.

It's also important, however, to realize that extremely low rates likely won't be around forever. Luckily, we

have seen rates drop some this week, which should help many consumers breathe a little easier. But the

fact remains, the government's plan of purchasing mortgage-backed securities cannot go on indefinitely,

and when it ends, we will most certainly see a spike in rates. The hope is that the Fed can keep rates low l

ong enough to kick-start a housing recovery. Whether that will work remains to be seen.

Are Tighter Appraisals Hurting Home Sales?

June 26 2009

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Make sure your home is in top condition so you have a better chance to get a good appraisal.........

Less than a week after putting his newly renovated house on the market, "Rick" accepted a full-price offer of $242,900 on the 1940 bungalow. But the appraisal on the 1,780-square-foot home came in at just $206,000. The buyer couldn't come up with enough cash to make up the difference and Rick wasn't willing to drop the price, so the deal fell through.

On top of sluggish home sales, are appraisals becoming the newest threat to the local housing market?

Real estate experts say sales are collapsing as appraisers are being more conservative and valuing homes for less than what buyers have agreed to pay. Owners can't refinance because appraisers say their homes are worth less than they had counted on.

In the example of Rick's home, the low appraisal affected the would-be buyer's ability to get a mortgage for the contracted price. Their lender naturally, wouldn't approve that. Many Real estate brokers have seen a number of sales fall through because of low appraisals, and that has the potential to hurt property values, too.

Part of what's at issue, a new rule that went into effect May 1 prohibiting loan officers, mortgage brokers and real estate agents from selecting appraisers.

The rule falls under the new Home Valuation Code of Conduct, the result of an agreement between Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, the Federal Housing Finance Agency and the New York state attorney general to enhance the independence and accuracy of the appraisal process. It applies to lenders that sell single-family mortgage loans to the government-sponsored enterprises.

The rule was meant to prevent inflated appraisals like those that proliferated during the housing boom.

Unfamiliar with the area

One of the unintended consequences of this system, however, is the chance that a management company, will hire an appraiser who isn't familiar with the neighborhood where the house is being evaluated. When you have appraisers coming from different parts of town and not knowing areas, they aren't doing justice to the people that are trying to refinance or sell, It really skews the whole appraisal process.

A surge in home sales that started in some of California's more affordable inland areas has begun to spread to several more expensive coastal areas, another indicator that the state's real estate market may be in recovery mode.

•· Many homes in the lower end of the market are receiving multiple offers, with some prospective buyers bidding well above asking prices. Inventory levels for homes priced under $500,000 stood at 3.2 months in May 2009, compared with 9.4 months in May 2008.

•· Some buyers, especially those in historically higher-priced markets such as the San Francisco Bay Area, are newly optimistic about buying homes and are realizing that the combination of low interest rates, favorable home prices, and first-time home buyer tax credits may not realign for many years.

•· Some housing economists caution against interpreting signs of increased sales activity as meaning the market has bottomed. Interest rates on 30-year, fixed-rate prime mortgages have risen above 5 percent in recent weeks and could continue to increase as fears of inflation impact interest rates. Additionally, the federal tax credit for first-time home buyers is scheduled to end Nov. 30, which may remove the incentive to purchase.

•· Although the median price in the state has risen for four consecutive months, prices in some higher-income neighborhoods still are declining. Some agents say that declining prices in these neighborhoods are a reflection of borrowers' problems getting jumbo mortgages to make purchases.

Bottom line is - it appears that we have hit the bottom of the market (if not, it's really, really close) and if you have considered buying a home or condo, now is the time to start the ball rolling.

Brian Ripp, CRS, GRI, Broker - your Bay Area Realtor

www.BrianRipp.com serving Fremont, Newark, Union City & surrounding communities. Real Estate & Property Management.

Real Estate Market Weekly Update Webcast: http://realtytimes.com/REUv/BrianRipp