The Children’s Splash Pad at Rancho Simi Community Park (AKA Lemon Park) is a great and a Free Activity to do with the kids. There is still time left this week as the Park district turns off the water after Labor day so get over there and check it out. As well as the Splash Pad to cool things off there is a picnic area, lots of shade trees and playground equipment. Please enjoy the video below.

The Children’s Splash Zone is located at 3700 Avenida Simi, Simi Valley CAlifornia 93063. West of Tapo Canyon Road. If you are on Cochran, go north on Lemon and West on Avenida Simi.

Short Sale Buyer Contract deal points can make or break a short sale.  In this video blog I go over the Short Sale Addendum for a quick overview of the form and some commentary on how it can help protect the buyer in the transaction.

Thanks for reading Simi Valley’s Premiere Real Estate Blog!

Author – Ted Mackel Simi Valley Real Estate Agent – Keller Williams Realty

Ted Mackel is a top producer at Keller Williams Realty Simi Valley,

specializing in Simi Valley Real Estate

(805) 432-7705

Below are tables representing Simi Valley Indian Hills Ridge Home Sales History. The Indian Hills Ridge Tract is located off Flanagan east of Yosemite. This is a quick snapshot at how the Indian Hills Ridge Tract has reacted to the changing market.

Click on this Chart to see a larger copy

Thanks for reading Simi Valley’s Premiere Real Estate Blog!

Author – Ted Mackel Simi Valley Real Estate Agent – Keller Williams Realty

Ted Mackel is a top producer at Keller Williams Realty Simi Valley,

specializing in Simi Valley Real Estate

(805) 432-7705

Simi Valley Home Buyers, if you are out shopping for a home and are going to use FHA financing it is important to make sure you get your FHA case number before October 4th, 2010 as the FHA Premium goes up after this date. John Yang independent mortgage broker and author of the Mortgage Video Blog explains how the increases will affect your monthly mortgage payment in this video.

Other articles on Lending:  Understanding the GFE Statement

Thanks for reading Simi Valley’s Premiere Real Estate Blog!

Author – Ted Mackel Simi Valley Real Estate Agent – Keller Williams Realty

Ted Mackel is a top producer at Keller Williams Realty Simi Valley, specializing in Simi Valley Real Estate

(805) 432-7705

The announcement from Farmers Insurance yesterday that they were packing up their employees and leaving town came as a surprise to many. Farmers Insurance occupies Simi Valley’s key landmark building in the center of town and was the largest employer. The loss of this company is a sad occasion and one especially for my family.

My father was in his early 40s when he went out and secured Farmers Insurance commitment to build their Western Regional Headquarters in Simi Valley in what would be probably the biggest moment in any real estate broker’s career. My family has had great pride in the developments they brought to Simi Valley, most notably at the Sycamore and Cochran business district, but the course of city government over the last decade has put this business district in severe jeopardy of becoming a blighted area of town.

The Mervyn’s store is not the fault of Simi Valley as the company failed, which caused it to close that location.  Farmers Insurance decision to bail out on Simi Valley has a lot of interesting components which if turn out to be true, will mean that the city of Simi Valley could have taken some fairly simple steps to keep it’s largest employer from moving out of town.

Looming in the future is the opening of the brand-new Target Superstore at the corner of Los Angeles Ave. and Madera. While some believe Target will continually operate two stores in Simi Valley; the possibility of  the older store on Cochran closing it’s doors in the future cannot be ignored.

Our city has a very big task in front of itself to deal with their current local business conditions. The health of our local businesses and the attitude of our local employers will impact the desirability for people who want to move to and live in Simi Valley.

I try not to talk on this blog about politics, but this is an election season where we have two City Council seats up for vote and the Mayor’s seat up for vote. This issue facing our city is the most important. If we cannot stabilize the business climate and the economic vitality of Simi Valley, than all the other projects and programs will mean nothing.

It’s time now for the citizens to become involved, voice their opinion and not just assume our elected officials are looking after our best interest. The changes we are seeing in the business community and Simi Valley are not all economically related. With the advent of the Internet impacting shopping habits, the changing dynamics of small business operations, the unfriendly business climate across the state of California towards large employers, Simi Valley cannot afford any more miscues with our local businesses.

I still believe in Simi Valley, I love living in Simi Valley and Simi Valley has been a great place to raise my family. This may be the most difficult time this city will go through in it’s history, but I know many of the talented and great people who live here who can help us rebuild Simi Valley into a greater place.  I urge all my friends and fellow Simi Valley citizens to get out and vote this November and carefully consider the candidates for City Council and Mayor as it will take extraordinary ideas and extraordinary people to help move us forward.

I want to ask a big favor of all my friends and fellow citizens of Simi Valley; the loss of the employment base at the corner of Sycamore and Cochran will have a significant effect at the local businesses there.  Today I had lunch at Sharky’s and by 12:15 the restaurant was packed with Farmers employees.  When the move out is complete, the businesses in the area will see significant declines in revenues and any support you can give by visiting those retailers is a way we can band together and help keep the remaining businesses strong.

Thank you for your consideration and readership

]]> http://homebuysblog.com/2010/08/12/simi-valleys-largest-employer-farmers-insurance-is-leaving-town/feed/ 1 http://homebuysblog.com/2010/08/10/simi-valley-home-sales-report-for-july-2010/ http://homebuysblog.com/2010/08/10/simi-valley-home-sales-report-for-july-2010/#comments Wed, 11 Aug 2010 05:43:50 +0000 Ted Mackel http://homebuysblog.com/?p=2146

The  number of single-family detached homes sold in Simi Valley for the month of July 2010 pulled back from a robust June market. There really is no significance in the decline for the following reasons.

1. The federal tax credits expired June 30, there was a rush to close escrow’s to qualify for the tax credit. If you look closely at the chart below, June 2010 pretty much didn’t do any better than June 2009.  So with this huge tax incentive for home buyers,  bit State and Federally, all that really happened is we held our ground in June.
2. Those that participated in Simi Valley home purchases to gain the tax credit, did not stimulate the market at the levels the government hoped for.

Essentially, if you look at the charts below you can see the average Simi Valley sales year-over-year and while 2009 and 2010 look better, this is more stabilization  than any type of recovery.

There are still significant numbers of homeowners struggling to modify their loans or participate in a short sale to get out from under their loan. This number is large and will take several years to deplete out of our inventories before we can look forward to any type recovery.

This first Chart is useful to see how many single family detached homes sell each month in Simi Valley.  There really has been no significant change from 2008 and this includes the tax credits.

Th following Chart breaks out the Simi Valley home Sales that occurred in July 2010 by price range. The trend continues with the most activity in the $300k to $400k range.

The chart below is a graphic display of the data in the table just above.

]]> http://homebuysblog.com/2010/08/10/simi-valley-home-sales-report-for-july-2010/feed/ 0 http://homebuysblog.com/2010/08/08/looks-like-the-california-1st-time-home-buyer-tax-credit-has-been-exhausted/ http://homebuysblog.com/2010/08/08/looks-like-the-california-1st-time-home-buyer-tax-credit-has-been-exhausted/#comments Mon, 09 Aug 2010 06:00:16 +0000 Ted Mackel http://homebuysblog.com/?p=2137

(Aug 6th) From the Franchise Tax Board’s Website – California 1st time home buyers are being notified that the hundred million dollars allocated for tax credits is most likely already exhausted. The plan was to accept some 28,000 applications before the cutoff. There been over 31,000 applications submitted and the Franchise Tax Board has determined that it will continue to accept applications up through August 15, 2010. It is most likely that those who apply between now and August 15 will have a very slim chance of qualifying for the tax credit. The concern was that in the initial applications received there were many duplicates and inaccurate applications. Also any applications submitted 14 or more days after close escrow were being rejected.

]]> http://homebuysblog.com/2010/08/08/looks-like-the-california-1st-time-home-buyer-tax-credit-has-been-exhausted/feed/ 0 http://homebuysblog.com/2010/07/30/20-yoga-nook-video-blog-365-things-to-do-is-simi-valley/ http://homebuysblog.com/2010/07/30/20-yoga-nook-video-blog-365-things-to-do-is-simi-valley/#comments Sat, 31 Jul 2010 02:01:39 +0000 Ted Mackel http://homebuysblog.com/?p=2116

(Video below) Simi Valley’s Yoga Nook is located at 2472 Stearns Street just off the the south side of the 118 freeway.  The Studio is 7 years old, owned and operated by Jeni Winterburn, long time Yoga instructor and Simi Valley resident.  I happened to visit on a Monday evening and class was full of enthusiastic yoga participants.  The Studio is well thought-out and very nice inside.  This is a Simi Valley must see.  There are a variety of classes for all levels and as well as a school to help train new instructors.  Jeni is well regarded in her field and I can see why so many of her students wanted me to come visit.  For more information about the Yogo Nook, please visit http://www.YogaNook.net

]]> http://homebuysblog.com/2010/07/30/20-yoga-nook-video-blog-365-things-to-do-is-simi-valley/feed/ 1 http://homebuysblog.com/2010/07/28/19-simi-valley-boys-girls-club-annual-poker-tournament-365-things-to-do-in-simi-valley/ http://homebuysblog.com/2010/07/28/19-simi-valley-boys-girls-club-annual-poker-tournament-365-things-to-do-in-simi-valley/#comments Wed, 28 Jul 2010 20:33:34 +0000 Ted Mackel http://homebuysblog.com/?p=2104

(Video Below) Some people asked me if 365 things to do in Simi Valley would revolve around eating. While restaurants will definitely get coverage, activities in Simi Valley are very diverse. The Boys and Girls Club of Simi Valley has been a big part of this community for over 36 years. The valuable service the Boys and Girls Club has provided Simi Valley is greatly appreciated through the support of the community and business owners involved in events like the Boys and Girls Club Annual Poker Tournament.

This one night event is one of the better fundraisers I have attended in Simi Valley. Tournament Poker is very popular on TV and online. This event gives poker fans an opportunity to come out, compete against other poker players and possibly win a prize if they can make it to the last table of the evening. Even for those like myself who are not poker players, I had a great time to sit down and learn the game while supporting one of Simi Valley’s top organizations. If you’ve ever wondered what a charity poker tournament is like, please check out the video below and I hope to see you at the tables next year.  For more information about the Boys and Girls Club of Simi Valley please visit http://www.bgcsimi.com

]]> http://homebuysblog.com/2010/07/28/19-simi-valley-boys-girls-club-annual-poker-tournament-365-things-to-do-in-simi-valley/feed/ 1 http://homebuysblog.com/2010/07/26/altos-research-ceo-michael-simonsen-on-the-fox-business-network-discussing-the-future-of-the-us-housing-market/ http://homebuysblog.com/2010/07/26/altos-research-ceo-michael-simonsen-on-the-fox-business-network-discussing-the-future-of-the-us-housing-market/#comments Tue, 27 Jul 2010 00:49:36 +0000 Ted Mackel http://homebuysblog.com/?p=2097

Altos Research CEO Michael Simonsen on the Fox Business Network discussing the future of the US housing market

I met Mike a couple years ago at Real Estate Bar Camp.  Mike’s Company provides very robust Real Estate statistical data.  Altos Research.  Great to see him on Fox News.  Congratulations Mike!

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