Gilroy, CA

Home sales rebound in January and inventory levels are down. After a stronger month of home sales in November we saw that number drop slightly in December and increase again in January. Nationwide home sales jumped 6.5% in December. Home sales in Gilroy rose by 11.6% in January compared to December. Current inventory dropped 4.6% last month compared to a nationwide inventory drop of 18% due to improved affordability; the most favorable levels in 39 years. However, the medium sales price of a home in Gilroy dropped from $387,500 to $350,000. It is always difficult to predict when we hit "rock bottom" in home sale prices and according to Lawrence Yun, chief economist, we can expect home sales to stay soft in the first quarter and slowly rise later this year. The jump of pending home sales nationwide of 6.3% is very promising but does not indicate a rebound of the housing slump. Expect the 30-year mortgage rates to hover around 5% this year. The average 30-year mortgage rate saw another increase from 5.20 to 5.3 percent. The 10-year Treasury bond rate is expected to increase from 2.5 to 3.1 by the end of 2009. Most 30-year mortgage loans will be paid off or refinanced within 10 years and the long term mortgage interest rates are closely related to those of the 10-year Treasury bonds. Traditionally 10-year Treasury bond are good indicators as to what the mortgage rates will do, however, in this economy, the yield might increase without affecting the mortgage rates. And lastly, Congress is considering approving the $7,500 home buyer tax credit into a non repayable incentive. Stay tuned for more updates on the housing market here in Gilroy.

Gilroy High School's Chamber Choir, under the direction of Mr. Phill Robb have been invited to perform at Carnegie Hall in New York this Spring.

To us here at Eagle Ridge Realty, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity for our local high school's choir members that should provide them with long lasting memories.

We here at Eagle Ridge Realty would like to extend our congratulations to this wonderful group, and wish them the best of luck.

However, they do need some funds... If you can, please help!

If you would like to make a donation to the Gilroy High School choir program to help fund the trip to Carnegie Hall, contact Phil Robb at Phillip.Robb@gusd.k12.ca.us or call 847-2424 ext. 8567.

We are all wishing you the best!!!

All the agents at Eagle Ridge Realty-

Gary Frimann, Nancy Frimann, Nicki Kuzn, Theresa Ta-Tran, Sarah Whitely, Anja Kerstens

Eagle Ridge Realty is proud to announce the addition of Anja Kerstens as an agent to our staff.

She is the sixth agent who lives in Eagle Ridge whom we have chosen to represent both buyers and sellers of homes in Eagle Ridge.

Besides her vast knowledge of real estate, Anja is also the former Treasurer of the Homeowners' Association and is now serving as its Vice-Presicent. She is also the Parks Committee chairperson. Anja is truly an asset to not only the community, but to our firm of growing professionals as well.

We wish her tremendous luck in this new year, and hope that you consider to use Anja to help you whether you are buying or selling a home in Eagle Ridge!

Anja can be reach by email

The board of directors of the Eagle Ridge Community will have their last meeting tonight, November 19th at 6:00 pm in the HOA clubhouse. They usually meet once a month except during the holiday season. The next meeting will be held on January 29th, 2009 at the Association clubhouse. All homeowners are invited to attend and those who come out are always treated to cookies and drinks. Homeowners are encourage to bring their ideas, issues and/or concerns to the attention of the board during the beginning and the end of a meeting. Tonight's topics on the agenda are the installation of the speed humps on three locations on Club Drive to reduce the speed in the community, the landscape/maintenance report and updates, landscape installation approvals, and financial overview of the HOA. As mentioned before the budget for next year doesn't increase the hoa dues for the majority of the association. The speed humps were ready to be installed earlier this month but unfortunately they didn't fit in the locations. Eagle Ridge has several committees who work hard to make this the beautiful community it is. We have a park committee who is in charge of all the parks in the community; a family/social committee who organizes several community events throughout the year such as the Easter Egg hunt, the Fourth Of July parade and potluck and the Halloween party; the technology committee works hard to connect the homeowners through our website (http://erhoa.com/) and keep them informed on all activities and news in the community; the welcome committee welcomes all new residents with flowers and a welcome kit; the safety committee works hard to keep to community safer with a vehicle badge system and speed reduction efforts such to name a few; and finally the landscape and maintenance committee which has worked hard these last 4 years under the direction of the chairperson Ms. Graham, to improve the quality of our communities appearance. They are responsible for the beautification of the entrance to the community, upgrades to Club Drive and Muirfield and even our community off Miller Ave. (we fondly call it our "South Knoll" since it is located on top of a hill overlooking the valley) has bbenefited from their efforts with landscaped areas. Shapell (http://www.shapell.com/) who developed the "South Knoll" also added a park overlook with views of the entire valley.

All Homeowners are invited to the New Years Eve Party at the clubhouse.

December 31, 2008

Time: 8:00pm-1:00am

Appetizers and Cocktail hour hosted 8:00-9:00pm

Buffet Dinner with Carved Prime Rib

Wine During Dinner

Dessert Bar

Party Favors and Champagne Toast at Midnight!

OK to bring your own wine--$10.00 corkage fee

Dance the night away with DJ-- C.J. Wallace

Cost per person: $90.00

Make Checks payable to "Wedgewood Eagle Ridge"

Contact via email:
Rosalie Baylot rbaylot@sbcglobal.net

Cindy Burke cindyburke1@aol.com

This advertisement was provided as a Courtesy through Eagle Ridge Realty

Eagle Ridge Realty is not involved in this function, other than wishing everyone a happy new year!