Melanie Ross, GRI, e-PRO Benicia CA & Vallejo CA Real Estate

Our inventory of homes for sale in Benicia, CA has dropped tremendously since the last year. HUGE drop in inventory. As I have written previously this is now a seller's market with multiple offers on homes time and time again-as soon as they hit the market.

As of 4/19/09 per the Bay Area Real Estate Information (MLS), Benicia has 106 homes for sale (single family and condos). We had almost twice as many last year.

19 of these listed homes for sale are foreclosures and the new news from several months ago is the number of short sales has gone up. There are 36 short sales listed. And short sales are going through. I recommend to my buyers that if a short sale home for sale appeals to them, go for it. It will be a long bumpy road, however, could be worth the wait. Every month we as Realtors become more adept in navigating the short sale process and getting the banks to approve a sale. It is important the buyers agent and sellers agent work closely together and communicate every week, even if the bank is not doing anything at that moment.

The interest rates are still great and there are some lovely homes for sale!! Until more foreclosures get released, as the news has indicated, it is still a great time to buy. Prices are not going up nor are they going down with all the multiple offers. They are hovering!

Remember -- use a trusted Realtor to assist you!

Our inventory of homes for sale in Vallejo, CA has dropped tremendously since the last year. HUGE drop in inventory. As I have written previously this is now a seller's market with multiple offers on homes time and time again-as soon as they hit the market.

As of 4/19/09 per the Bay Area Real Estate Information (MLS), Vallejo has 491 homes for sale (single family and condos). We had that many listed as foreclosures 6 months ago!!

166 of these listed homes for sale are foreclosures and the new news from several months ago is the number of short sales has gone up. There are 222 short sales listed. And short sales are going through. I recommend to my buyers that if a short sale home for sale appeals to them, go for it. It will be a long bumpy road, however, could be worth the wait. Every month we as Realtors become more adept in navigating the short sale process and getting the banks to approve a sale. It is important the buyers agent and sellers agent work closely together and communicate every week, even if the bank is not doing anything at that moment.

The interest rates are still great and there are some lovely homes for sale!! Until more foreclosures get released, as the news has indicated, it is still a great time to buy. Prices are not going up nor are they going down with all the multiple offers. They are hovering!

Remember -- use a trusted Realtor to assist you!

Earth Day April 22,2009 will be celebrated in Benicia with venues that will provide tools to residents and homeowners who want to learn about being energy and water efficient. This is a wonderful opportunity to take the family to learn what each one of us can do to live in our environment and save it for future generations. And of course in today's economy, finding how to lower your PGE and water bills would be worth the drive or walk to this event.

The location will be at the Veteran's Memorial Hall 1150 First Street Benicia. The event is from 5:00-8:00 PM. Mark your calendars today!!

Event Participants will include: Allied Waster- Recycling Techniques, PGE-Climate Smart Program, Master Gardeners-Household composting, Pedrotti ACE Hardware-Green Product Line, Farm Fresh to You-Locally Grown Produce, to name a few!!

The city of Benicia will present Climate Action Plan, Green building and energy efficiency retrofit information, tree program and many more.

Bring your old batteries and cell phones, bring old, unused TVs, computers, monitors as there will be on-site recycling

This event is sponsored by the Community Development Department. For more information call 707-746-4370.

Benicia is a great place to live, come check us out!

Two year ago my partner and I were the first in our office to list homes as short sales. The banks were awful to deal with and dragged the process out. As a buyer a short sale can be a great way to buy your dream home and as a seller an opportunity to get out from under a undesirable situation.

Alot has happened since two years ago. Sellers who need to get out from under their mortgages should consider a short sale. Granted it is NOT for everyone. It is an alternative to consider when researching your options on wanting to move on with your life.

As agents listing homes that are short sales, organization and constant communication with the banks is paramount. I am so proud to say we have gotten two approved short sales in the past month in Vallejo CA. Our clients are ecstatic. A short sale process may not be the answer to your concerns, BUT, it is an alternative.

Most important is to gather information so as a distressed homeowner, you can make an informed decision that will best suit their needs.

It is taking it one step at at time, and before you know it, you will know what will be the best solution for your situation. Just remember talk to someone knowledgeable about the short sale process and decide if this is right for you.

Having listed numerous bank owned homes as a listing agent and assisting buyers in buying foreclosed homes, the tide has turned for some properties listed at $150K or less.

Just this past week 23 offers were received on a Vallejo property listed for $60K. My partner and I have a bank owned property in Vallejo that the bank dropped the price to $121,900. We have had this property listed since last summer. It started at $197,000. Never thought we would get an offer back then for that price. BUT, we did and the deal fell through because of the financing for the buyer.

This home stayed under the radar, as we say, for 5 months with gradual price reductions. Four bedroom, 2 bath with new stove, laminate floors, updated kitchen. It did need new carpeting (too many pets!) and paint. Overall a decent home for a buyer or investor.

We lowered the price to $121,900 it still did not get any offers, many calls and viewings, but no offers. Out of the blue 5 offers at one time with three over asking price.

The past few weeks we have been showing property in Vacaville, again in the $150K price range. We put an offer in for a home that needed work and had no offers for over 80 days. Well everyone else must have decided to do something as this house got 3 offers the same weekend.

Just yesterday, AGAIN out looking at homes just listed on the market in Vacaville, three of the homes had multiple offers or accepted offers---two days on the market.

Our buyer looks at the number of cards when he goes in to a home and silently shudders wondering how many offers on this place. And it has been on the market only a couple of days? Agents must be waiting at the door for when the lockbox is installed!

Another home that languished on the market for at least a year in Vallejo, listed for $169,900 had 6 offers and one accepted before we could even put an offer in. As agents we HAVE to call every listing agent before showing the property as you never know if there are pending offers. We can then counsel our clients and strategize if they want to put their offer in with all the others. It is one more step we need to do in the process of being a buyer's agent. It is a horrible experience to show a home, a client love it, put together an offer, and find out the bank has already accepted an offer, but the agent has not updated the MLS. No matter what, even if we call and there are no offers at that time, those fax machines work 24hrs a day and that agent could be receiving an offer as we spoke and not realize it.

Lesson learned is have your agent do as much due diligence as possible, realizing we cannot control others actions!

I had written a blog about Collective Market Conscience. Now more than ever this is happening.

That is not to say there are not great opportunities out there, just be prepared to put your running shoes on to grab one! It is still worth your time to buy a home in today's real estate market.