Despite the credit freeze of 2008, borrowers have not changed the amount of time they spend researching a home loan, according to a Zillow Mortgage Marketplace survey. The survey found that borrowers who obtained a home loan in the past five years typically spent five hours researching their options, unchanged from March 2008. Nearly one-third (31 percent) spent two hours or less. This is on par with the typical time spent researching a vacation or computer purchase, and half the time consumers typically allocate to research a car purchase.

In the past five years, 16 percent of U.S. adults report they have obtained or refinanced a home loan and two-thirds (65 percent) of those admit they want to do things differently when shopping for their next home loan, according to the survey.

Vacancy rates nationwide for rental housing increased 0.5 percentage points to 10.6 percent  in the first quarter of 2010.

Most homes to begin building positive equity by late 2015
The typical U.S. homeowner in a negative equity position will begin to build positive home equity by late 2015 or early 2016, according to a forecast by First American CoreLogic. In some depressed markets, typical borrowers with negative equity may not experience positive equity until 2020 or later, according to the report.  Research conducted by First American CoreLogic indicates more than 11.3 million, or 24 percent, of all residential properties with mortgages, had negative equity at the end of the fourth quarter of 2009.

As of January 2010, the median home price in California was $287,440.

Lowest median price is in high desert, $124,480

Highest median price is in Santa Barbara at $760,000

In the State of California 47 percent of home sales went to first time home buyers.  This is the highest percentage since 1995.

Slightly more than half of the home sales were distressed properties- foreclosures and homes that are upside down. (short sales)

Famous real estate web site Zillow, know for their user friendly interface and an excellent source of real estate information has changed their posting policy.  Originally, real estate agents were allowed to post their listings on Zillow free of charge.  Now Zillow.com charges a fee to allow properties to be posted by agents.  Zillow users searching for homes will no longer find comprehensive search results on Zillow.com.

On the other hand, Trulia.com allows agents and home owners to list their properties free of charge.

Trulia.com provides users with more comprehensive search results.

If you are a selling your home….. here are a few things to consider if you have decided to list your property. The factors below determine the volume of buyers that are able to purchase properties in a given price range.