Kimberley Kelly

The California Desert's median home prices are all over the map! This article from today's Desert Sun Newspaper shows just how much the median price can change..and quickly! http://tinyurl.com/ygtbcpu

There were some high end sales here in the desert, La Quinta and Rancho Mirage, and that immediately skews the median. The good news is that there WERE some high end sales, the bad news is that new homes sales plummeted even more. Makes sense. The high end is re-setting and the new Homes cannot compete with the Resales (mostly Short Sales and Foreclosures) that are driving the market.

The lowest prices are not going down. Even with more Foreclosures, there are just too many buyers willing and waiting for their home to show up. The middle price range, $500-$800,000 are settling into a groove. If they are priced alongside the bank owned properties, they are selling. Remember that these same properties were sold for 40 to 60% more at the peak so they're a good price now. The High end on the other hand is just starting to come down. There's a foreclosure today that sold in 2005 for $1,845,000 and is listed at $1,049,000..there's a deal! They are starting to sell again...

Buying a Home; Who Do You Believe???? I'm looking at the LA Times for today, and all on one page of the Business section are the following Headlines..
"October Sales Rise for New Homes.", "Interest rates drop, matching record low", "Fannie Mae to tighten mortgage lending rules" Good Grief! Is it any wonder Buyers are pretty cynical about what they are reading?

Get a good local agent! I am working with many out of town, and out of State, "Buyers to be" right now. They skim Redfin, and other sites, they ask me to preview and give them my local advice..get a good local agent! Real Estate is a ton of work, especially right now when your Agent HAS to be on top of the developments in their specialized areas. I am heading out today to look at homes from Rancho Mirage, Palm Desert, Indian Wells and back to La Quinta. I will narrow them down, head out again tomorrow, and then meet my clients on Sat for two days of showings. MAYBE I capture a sale. This is the truth of the market..you MUST be out there in it. No short cuts. Get out there, or have a Local Agent that does it for you. Don't just believe everything you read...

The media reports a general overview. Even the local media is not out there pounding the pavement, going in and out of homes, reviewing sales, comparing price/sf in the actual properties. My job is to eliminate the "too good to be trues", and direct my buyers to the real deals..whether they are the SS's and bank owned or actual Seller listings. Get a good local agent!

Read the press, paper or online, check the facts, then get a good agent and most of all, trust them! If your Agent isn't on top of it, move on to another. There are plenty of great Agents pounding the pavement, climbing in and out of their cars
and racking up the mileage because we are committed. We want to provide our Buyers, (and Sellers), with the REAL information about the market they are looking in.

Banks are Homeowners, Occupants are Debtowners. 1 in 7 is what this article says from Wall Street Journal..http://tinyurl.com/yfonrnb 1 in 7 homeowners are in default. At least 30 to 90 days behind in their mortgage payments. This number is astronomical! Hopefully, some of the loans will be re-structured in such a manner that the owners can stay in their homes, but the reality is that the BANKS ARE THE HOMEOWNERS!

This is always the case, of course, when you sign a loan, but it is really apparent now since many of these Owners are so intent on NOT helping the occupants in the homes. Why should they? Those idiots took out the bad loans, right? Well, that idea held water during the first flood of Foreclosures..blame the people that signed the loan docs. Not any more. Now, it is apparent that even people that did qualify, did not take out more loan than they could handle, and held jobs are in trouble. Look at the jobs..that will tell you how bad it is going to get and here in Calif., we are somewhere around 15% unemployment depending on what you read and who you include..the part-timers with no benefits etc. Yikes.

Here in the desert, there is going to be another onslaught of REO's and Short Sales..probably throughout 2010 and 2011. Yes, the bottom will continue to sell, how can it not when you cannot even drop the sticks on the lots for what the completed homes sell for? Plus, even on minimum wage, a family can now afford to make the payments so that supply will meet the demand. It's the higher priced homes that are and will continue to be hit.

I know the Banks are in it to make money, who isn't? However, failing to see the value of re-setting loans, and I mean re-calculating the PRINCIPLE, is going to cost the Banks and our country even more over the long run. Whoever said Business was in the Long Run arena? A quick buck now is always worth more than the overall good it seems.

Yuck. I think I am just tired of all the REO's and Short Sales and the human stories that accompany them. It hurts.

California Golf Courses; Feeling the Pinch. The desert is famous for it's 120 plus courses, but the reality of the new economy and housing starts and pricing is really hitting home. This article from today's LA Times is interesting.. http://tinyurl.com/ye8h3gh

This is why once again, as a realtor in the resort area of the desert..La Quinta, Palm Desert, Palm Springs and Coachella, I stand by my belief that golf course homes will continue to drop in value. The HOA's demanded by these private courses in particular are very high, ranging from approximately $400 to approx $800/month, and that doesn't include golf! Many require initiation fees and then a steep monthly fee to play the courses that you bought a home on and pay HOA's for!

If you are looking for a golf course retirement home, or want to move up, or are waiting to buy/lease/sell in the future, it's going to be an incredible market in 2010 here in the desert.

Foreclosures in the California Inland Empire; Where ARE they?? I'm out here every single day, slugging it out, trying to find homes within a certain price point, in a certain location. Buyers from out of town, are reading about all the Foreclosures in the Coachella Valley..La Quinta, Palm Desert, Indio, and when I struggle to find enough properties to show them, they cannot believe it! This past year has changed dramatically in the desert. We are a resort town for many, and a year round home for even more, so we have several demanding buyers markets.

The reality is this..homes in the very low end have been stabilized for the past 12 months with more Buyers than Sellers, which are usually banks or Short Sales. Investors with lots of cash have been cruising the desert's lowest priced developments the entire time, and are now finding less properties to choose between. This is a good thing! Even with more Foreclosures predicted in the desert, the pent up Buyer demand will move the low end homes that the banks release.

I have also noticed a settling of the mid to high (up to $1,000,000) homes, especially in golf course communities. A year ago, I didn't think they were a particularly good investment..now I do. You can now purchase a gorgeous, 2004 or newer, 3/3ba on the fairway with a pool/spa for less than $500,000. This is about .60cents/on the original dollar which was what got the bottom priced homes moving. This market is the one that many buyers have been waiting for, and they are now making their moves. Again, there is a shortage of REO's, and when one appears, it is snapped up or generates multiple offers.