I just finish reading an article on Inman news talking about a "huge decline" in home sales. There was a lot of other bad news that you could have fallen into and started a pity party with. However I am one to always see the glass half full. While I am optimistic I am not foolish.

There is still a lot that needs to happen before I jump up and scream "Hallelujah! The Market has recovered!" The first is that the foreclosure market has to stop hemorrhaging. The increase in the FHA guidelines has done little to prevent this from happening. Nor have I experienced any help in the recovery from FHA adding new buyers.

I am not well versed and may seem a little naïve however it appears to me that they (Congress & Senate) failed to realize is that it takes investors to buy the loans. Regardless of how they are backed if there is little confidence in the housing industry then few investors will be backing those notes, regardless of what guarantees they have. Am I missing something here?

Anywho ...Antioch is doing alright. I see the glass half full because while home sales have gone down the listing count for the same period has gone down also. So while fewer inventories are being sold there is less inventory coming on the market. So slowly but surely our plethora of homes are being reduced.

2007 showed a reduction in homes being listed a drop of approximately 300 homes from 2006. However, it is too soon to say if we will be deluged with more foreclosed and short sale listings in 2008. The charts show a slow downward trajectory.

Another insight is that I continue to see multiple offers on REO listings that have been cleaned up. It would do a bank well to spend a few thousand to make a home presentable before selling them. Wachovia Bank listings seem to be doing that and my present experience is that they are the ones to get the multiple offers which usually drive the price up.

BTW : The average home price for a home in Antioch is the same it was back in February of 2003.  

Nuff said...

Robert Moreno

The Antioch market is picking up and on many of the deals I am working there have been multiple offers. I also see the prices rising a bit as the foreclosure market gets flushed out with the bargain hunters.

I do expect some more foreclosures to hit the market each month as the ARM rates adjust and people start walking away from their homes. There has been much ballyhoo about the FED helping with the "Stimulus Package" that has gone through Congress/Senate but with the talk of recession many consumers have climbed back on the fence.

I suspect this will hurt what the Stimulus Package was suppose to do, which is open the market to new buyers with a good loans at good rates. Which brings us to the paradox of loan rates. The Fed keeps dropping the rates (short term rates) yet the rates go higher, what's up with that.

They say it is all about the BOND market but the BOND market rallies and the rates go higher. Or is it when the Bond Market tanks the rates go lower? They keep changing that. Makes one wonder....

No one knows for sure however I suspect that the banks are dropping the prices down quite a bit on the homes they are selling as foreclosures and now they want to make it back some way ...so what better way to recoup if your price has to be low ....raise the rates. Just my opinion, not substantiated.

Anywho .... when folks ask me ..."Is this a good time to buy?" I always ask ....how long do you expect to stay in your new home? If you are looking to speculate then I would say we need to do some very extensive homework and make sure you will get a return in a year or two. There are many areas that are still appreciating. We need to find a place that is. It may not be where you want to live but you will make a profit. Or if you plan on staying in your home for at least five years then I would say, " It is as good a time to buy as ever. Five years should be more than adequate for the housing market to recover if we were to look at historical trends. This town in California is as good as any."

Nuff said......Robert Moreno

Beyond the benefits of security and equity that most people associate with owning a home I would like you to consider some other financial benefits that many people do not really consider. While many people think about the debt and mortgage payment that comes with owning a home there are underlying tax benefits that we hope to make clear for you in this article.

For example:

If you rent a house for $1,000 a month payment it would cost you $12,000 a year to rent that property. $12,000 that you never would see again, plus you don't get credit from the IRS.

If you bought that same property for $100,000 and it cost you $1,200 a month to rent. On the surface it looks like it would cost you $200 extra a month which turns out to be $2,400 extra per year.

Let's look at the reality of this situation.

You are buying a property. When you have a mortgage on a property, you are eligible to take the mortgage interest, which typically will be close to $1,100 a month, as a tax deduction.

So you're looking at $12,000 a year as your interest deduction. That means you can reduce your taxable income by $12,000. If you are in a 35% tax bracket you are looking at about $4,000 of real dollar savings on your income tax just from owning that property.

So with a $4,000 savings... already your payments have dropped from $12,000 a year down to $8,000 a year.

Now let's look at the next piece, which is appreciation. If the house goes up the same as the national average, which is about 6% a year, the $100,000 property will go up to $106,000 in value.

Consequently, you've made $6,000 on your property in one year.

Let's subtract that $6,000 savings from what's left of your monthly payment, which is the $8,000 we mentioned above. Remember, you paid $12,000 for your monthly payment minus $4,000 in your tax saving, minus $6,000 in your appreciation.

Now you're down to $2,000 a year in the cost of purchasing your new home. This is how to assess buying property AND a great way to build a long-term assets.

For the majority of Americans, their home is their biggest asset. If you're renting all your life, you're never going to build that asset.

As of today there are 1216 residential homes/condos on the market in Antioch, California. Of this nunber, 1096 are single family detached homes. It is important to note the ratio of homes sold and homes on the market; 27 homes sold and 1216 homes on the market. In addition to this note also the average price of homes sold is $356,792. This indicates that homes buyers are looking for more and wanting to pay less now adays.

Not a good time to list your home but one heck of a time to buy! Unfortunately many home sellers sat on the fence waiting for that perfect time to sell and watched it go by.... now they are wishing they listed their home two years ago. 

Right now is the excellent time to buy. Unfortunately I am seeing many home buyers sitting on the fence still. When interest rates start to go up the they will all jump off the fence but by then they had better start running. The smart buyers/investors are acting now.

For smart buyers, one of the most updated websites for home listings in the Contra Costa, Alameda, San Joaquin, Stanislaus and Sacramento Counties is:

www.MorenoWorkGroup.com

For the month of September the following statistics apply for homes sales in the city of Antioch:

Status Class
  Sold

Type

RESIDENTIAL Detached

Price Range              # Listings      Dollar Volume      Avg Price     Median Price    Avg DOM 

$200,000 - $204,999    1               $200,000           $200,000      $200,000            50
$215,000 - $219,999    1               $215,000           $215,000      $215,000            40
$230,000 - $234,999    1               $230,000           $230,000      $230,000            84
$275,000 - $279,999    1               $275,000           $275,000      $275,000            31
$300,000 - $304,999    1               $300,000           $300,000      $300,000          119
$325,000 - $329,999    2               $656,000           $328,000      $328,000            29
$335,000 - $339,999    2               $674,500           $337,250      $337,250            54
$340,000 - $344,999    1               $340,000           $340,000      $340,000            34
$350,000 - $354,999    2               $702,500           $351,250      $351,250            92
$355,000 - $359,999    1               $355,000           $355,000      $355,000            14
$365,000 - $369,999    2               $731,900           $365,950      $365,950            92
$380,000 - $384,999    4               $1,523,250        $380,813      $380,000            65
$395,000 - $399,999    1               $395,000           $395,000      $395,000          218
$405,000 - $409,999    1               $409,000           $409,000      $409,000            43
$425,000 - $429,999    1               $425,000           $425,000      $425,000            14
$430,000 - $434,999    1               $431,350           $431,350      $431,350            82
$435,000 - $439,999    1               $435,000           $435,000      $435,000          111
$440,000 - $444,999    1               $444,000           $444,000      $444,000          111
$445,000 - $449,999    2               $890,900           $445,450      $445,450            84
  
Sub Total                     27            $9,633,400          $356,793      $365,000              71

Grand Totals                27            $9,633,400          $356,793      $365,000              71

Antioch, California  Housing Market As of July 23rd 2007

There are presently 1194 SFR Properties on the Antioch Market.  

Of these 1075 are detached Single family homes. As of this date for the month of July the median price of sold detached homes is $416,000. The average price is $415,663. Both these numbers have gone down since June 24^th 2007^t.

Since July 1^st there have been 23 sold homes or which 22 were detached single family residences and 36 properties have gone pending of which 31 were detached single family residences (entered into contract but not yet closed). In the previous month of June 2007 there were 42 homes sold in Antioch. As we enter into the last week of July the numbers have continued to decline from May.

It continues to be an excellent home buying market. For home buyers and investors that plan to hold onto the homes they purchase the time is NOW to buy. It would be prudent to have plans for a three to five year hold for home investors. For home buyers typically the average stay in a home is five years and this would make home buying a pretty safe investment. While I do not have a crystal ball housing trends going back to 1973 show that a five year hold for housing is a very safe bet.

Visit our website for investment information and 1031 exchange updates.

VISIT OUR WEBSITE AT http://www.morenoworkgroup.com/

Sold Residential Homes in Antioch as of  July 23^rd, 2007

Tracy, CA. State of the Market as of June 24^th 2007

There are presently 976 Single Family Residential Properties on the Tracy Market.

Of these 937 are detached Single Family Residential homes. The average price of a detached SFR is $571,867. For this median price range the home square footage size was 2190 square feet of living space.

Since June 1^st there have been 41 sold SFR of which 38 were detached single family residences. The average listing price of these homes was $523,936 and that same average home sold for $513,926 for which the average size was 2024 square feet of living space. The average time to sell a home was 75 days.

The median listing price of a sold home was $482,500 and sold for $470,000 for which the median size of a sold home was 2024 square feet of living space. The median time to sell a home was 51 days.

41 properties have also gone pending of which all were detached single family residences (entered into contract but not yet closed). In the previous month of May 2007 there were 45 homes sold in Tracy. As we enter into the last week of June there still is a good  possibility of passing last month numbers.

VISIT OUR WEBSITE AT http://www.morenoworkgroup.com/

As of June 24^th 2007

There are presently 1180 SFR Properties on the Antioch Market.   

Of these 1059 are detached Single family homes. As of this date for the month of June the median price of sold detached homes is $436,000. The average price is $457,892. Both these numbers have gone down since June 1^st.

Since June 1^st there have been 42 sold homes or which 32 were detached single family residences and 61 properties have gone pending of which 56 were detached single family residences (entered into contract but not yet closed). In the previous month of May 2007 there were 64 homes sold in Antioch. As we enter into the last week of June there still is the possibility of passing last month numbers.

VISIT OUR WEBSITE AT http://www.morenoworkgroup.com/

As of June 9^th 2007

There are presently 1139 SFR Properties On the Antioch Market. Of these 1020 are detached Single family Residences. For the month of June the median price of detached homes is $485,000. The average price is $505,494. Since June 1^st there have been 14 sold homes and 16 homes have gone pending (entered into contract but not yet closed). In the previous month of May 2007 there were 64 homes sold in Antioch.