Michael's Blog

What is going on with the mortgage market????

Michael Tagliere (Vintage Sothebys International Realty) — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 12:28:04 -0500

Michael Tagliere works all over the Southern California area. Including Los Angeles, San Fernando Valley and the Santa Clarita Valley. The Santa Clarita Valley is the location of his office, Vintage Sotheby’s International Realty. The Santa Clarita Valley consists of several unincorporated areas: Valencia, Stevenson Ranch, Westridge, Saugus, Newhall, and Canyon Country.

Over the past couple of months several mortgage companies have been forced to close their doors. Now why is this happening? The major problem has been with subprime lending. Over the past several years buyers would apply for loans through what is called a stated income program. This means they would not have to show documentation as to their income. Obviously, this type of financing was abused by many people. They would obtain 100% financing consisting of an 80% first Trust Deed (TD) and a 20% second TD. These were generally interest only loans with a three to five year due date. In an appreciating market this type of financing will work because if the Santa Clarita Real Estate market is appreciating at a 10%-15% annual rate there would be adequate equity to refinance into a more conforming loan. But, to make things worse many of these loans had negative amortization. In other words, when the loan came due the borrower owed more on the property than when he started. Since values did not appreciate over the past year, and in many cases values declined, when these loans came due the buyers were unable to refinance. These properties could become either short pays, where the lender would accept less than what is owed, or foreclosures. Consequently, we are rapidly getting a glut of properties in that have gone into foreclosure. As a result, this has had a devastating affect upon the Real Estate market in The Santa Clarita Valley.

This week we were notified that most lenders are not offering 100%, stated loans. You will need at least 5%-10% down with full documentation. What a novel idea! They have decided to make loans to people that can actually afford the payments on the loan they are getting. What will they think of next???

I am told that about 1/3 of the first time buyers can actually qualify for a home loan. Not to be discouraged, there are several programs designed to help some of these first time buyers. Our in house lender, GMAC Mortgage, has programs that can help first time buyers with down payment assistance.

Michael V. Tagliere
Managing Partner/Broker
661.219.9110
www.theSCVrealtor.com

New Construction in the Santa Clarita Valley @ West Creek

Michael Tagliere (Vintage Sothebys International Realty) — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 15:17:36 -0500

I wanted to give an update on what's going with the Santa Clarita Valley's real estate market as it relates to new construction. I attended the VIP broker reception that Newhall Land had for the new West Creek development, which is located in North Valencia. West Creek is located just south of the Tesoro del Valle area of Valencia. It located close to the intersection of Copper Hill Dr and McBean Parkway. Valencia, West Creek, and Tesoro del Valle are communities within the Santa Clarita Valley.

At this time, Lennar, one of the leading residential developers in the USA, is releasing three residential developments in West Creek. They are: Artisan @ West Creek, Artenati @ West Creek, and Claridad @ West Creek.

Artisan @ West Creek offers three Townhomes from 1513 sq. ft. to 1997 sq. ft.

Artenati @ West Creek offers three Triplex Townhomes from 1384 sq. ft. to 1941 sq. ft.

Claridad @ West Creek offers four Townhomes from 1259 sq. ft. to 1512 sq. ft.

Homeowners Association Dues are approximately $250/month. In addition there is a Community Facilities District (CFD) of approximately $200 to $250/month. While, the neighborhoods are very nice as is throughout all of Valencia, in my opinion, these high assessments are beginning to have a detrimental effect on market value. The complete pricing package is not available at this time. The prices that are available do not seem unreasonable, however, when you add in these additional monthly assessments it gets the payment up there.

Michael V. Tagliere                                                         Flavio Castro, Jr
Managing Partner/Broker                                                Realtor®
office: 661.219.9110                                                      office: 661.219.9104
cell: 661.607.6464                                                         cell: 818.378.0899

http://www.thescvrealtor.com/

When is the right time to buy or sell your home?

Michael Tagliere (Vintage Sothebys International Realty) — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 23:05:29 -0500

We work all over the Southern California area, including Los Angeles, San Fernando Valley and the Santa Clarita Valley. The Santa Clarita Valley is the location of our office, Vintage Sotheby's International Realty. The Santa Clarita Valley consist of several unincorporated areas: Valencia, Stevenson Ranch, Westridge, Saugus, Newhall, and Canyon Country.

The question is often asked - Is this the right time to buy or sell a home in the Santa Clarita Valley? The simple answer is that you buy when you can afford to. If you are buying your personal residence and are in for the long term, then just buy. While, the real estate market could go down, historically it has rebounded and those long term investors have made money on their real estate investment. Now, is an ideal time to get into the real estate market. Over the last year the real estate market has slowed and has offered a second chance for a lot of people that just couldn't afford a home in the past. Real estate loans are still in the 6% range and there is a tremendous amount of available housing. A pre-approved buyer is in the driver's seat in this real estate market. There are buys to be made out there.

There are advantages to selling your home right now. This is a perfect time to take advantage of the opportunity to upgrade to a larger home while also keeping your property taxes at a more optimum rate. While you may not get as much for your home today that you would have a few years ago, you will be able to purchase your new home for less than you would have as well.

Give us a call and we will do a complete analysis of your situation. Also, if you know anybody considering buying or selling, please have them call us.

Looking forward to serving you,

Michael V. Tagliere
Managing Partner/Realtor
661.219.9110 Office
661.607.6464 Cell

Flavio A. Castro
Realtor
661.219.9104 Office
818.378.0899 Cell

http://www.thescvrealtor.com/