Quote of the week ...Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.
~Harold R. McAlindon
Articles of Interest 7.2.07
Market Watch
The good news is that developers have been building homes in the Bay Area. The bad news is that not enough of those homes are affordable to moderate and low-income people, according to an annual housing report released Thursday. Overall, the Bay Area exceeded its target for above moderate-income units by 53 percent, but produced only 79 percent of its target for low-income units, 43 percent for very low-income units and 37 percent for moderate-income units.
Report: Bay Area Needs More Housing
Inside Bay Area
http://origin.insidebayarea.com/business/ci_6260013
<http://origin.insidebayarea.com/business/ci_6260013>
Scavenger hunts and concert sponsorships are just a couple of the more creative tools that marketing firms have recently unveiled to lure potential buyers to a sluggish new-home and condominium market. And while television advertising might not sound like radical marketing, some are finding success with TV, breaking the traditional mold for many homebuilders who consider the ads too scattershot to work.
Outside-the-Box Marketing Spurs Some New Home Sales Sacramento Business Journal http://sacramento.bizjournals.com/sacramento/stories/2007/07/02/story10.
html?f=et180&b=1183348800^1484831&hbx=e_vert
<http://sacramento.bizjournals.com/sacramento/stories/2007/07/02/story10
.html?f=et180&b=1183348800%5E1484831&hbx=e_vert>
Households with a net worth over $1 million increased by 10 percent nationwide, but dropped slightly in San Francisco and the surrounding area.
Report: Millionaire Households Up in U.S., Down in Bay Area San Jose Business Journal
http://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/stories/2007/06/25/daily41.html?f=et7
9&hbx=e_du
<http://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/stories/2007/06/25/daily41.html?f=et
79&hbx=e_du>
KB Home is discovering that less could be more when it comes to luring skittish buyers in a housing slump. In recent months, the company has rolled out a new line of smaller, more affordable homes that it hopes will jump-start sagging sales.
KB Home Thinks Small to Spur Sales
MSNBC
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19512847/
<http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19512847/>
Signs of a slowdown in the residential real estate market have builders revising blueprints to create commercial buildings with a residential touch. Local custom builders are constructing "home offices" -- or "office homes" -- in various parts of Houston.
Home Offices, Office Homes
Houston Business Journal
http://houston.bizjournals.com/houston/stories/2007/07/02/story1.html?b=
1183348800^1483989&hbx=e_abd
<http://houston.bizjournals.com/houston/stories/2007/07/02/story1.html?b
=1183348800%5E1483989&hbx=e_abd>
Nearly 25 percent of the 124 condos in the first downtown San Jose condominium high-rise are in escrow with sales expected to close in the next two weeks. Martin Menne, president of MCM Diversified, Barry Swenson's development partner on the City Heights project, says sales have gone better than anticipated and buyer interest had been good since they began marketing the project in November. The company has had permission from the state to actually close escrow on its units only since April 26.
Interest in Downtown San Jose High-Rise Living Shows in Deposits San Jose Business Journal http://sanjose.bizjournals.com/sanjose/stories/2007/07/02/story6.html?f=
et180&b=1183348800^1484061&hbx=e_vert
<http://sanjose.bizjournals.com/sanjose/stories/2007/07/02/story6.html?f
=et180&b=1183348800%5E1484061&hbx=e_vert>
Existing home sales may be down for the month of May, but sales of new, luxury homes in Vacaville don't seem to be slowing.
Luxury Still Leads
Vacaville Reporter
http://www.thereporter.com/business/ci_6270439
<http://www.thereporter.com/business/ci_6270439>
Neighbors contend KB Home misled them about what kind of community they were moving into - a now blighted neighborhood they say threatens to drag their home values even further down. They say the home-building giant promised to not sell to out-of-town investors - people who likely would not live in the homes or take close care of them.
Lodi Homeowners Find Dream neighborhood Not So Charming Lodi News-Sentinel http://www.lodinews.com/articles/2007/06/30/news/2_villas_070630.txt
<http://www.lodinews.com/articles/2007/06/30/news/2_villas_070630.txt>
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