An unusually active January kept sales above average for the month. The following information, compiled by the Sacramento Association of REALTORS^®,

^{is collected from the MetroList® multiple listing services and covers Sacramento County and the City of West Sacramento. January closed with 1,542 single family home sales, the most ever recorded by the Association during the month of January. Month-to-month, this figure represents a 20.2% decrease from December’s 1,932 sales, but a 108% increase over the 739 sales of January 2008. Of the 1,542 sales recorded this month, 1,168 were listed as REO properties. This accounts for over 75% of all sales.}

The large number of distressed property sales in the area is continuing to pull down the Sacramento median sales price. January recorded a median price of $169,000, a figure 6.1% below the $180,000 median price last month. Compared to the median price of January 2008, $255,000, the current figure marks a 44.1% drop. According to SAR historical data, this is the lowest median sales price since May 2001, when the median sales price was $169,718. New listings increase month-to-month, recording 1,998, 9.3% over December’s 1,819. Total listings for the month decreased from 6,462 in December to 5,935, an 8.2% change. Compared year-to-year, the current figure is 33.8% below the 8,963 listings recorded in January 2008. The Housing Market Supply figure remains low at 3.8 months, but marks a 15.2% increase over December’s figure of 3.3 months. This figure represents the amount of time – in months – it would take to deplete the total listing inventory given the current rate of sales.

Sacramento continues to be one of the more active markets in the state, but the recent streak of increased sales may subside. Oscar Wei, C.A.R. Senior Research Analyst, published the recent 2008 Housing Market Wrap-Up. This report noted the state-wide increase in sales and stated that “with the economy deteriorating and the financial system struggling to stay above water, distressed properties with deeply-discounted prices will continue to affect the market.” This report, on par with the conditions of the Sacramento market, concludes that “home prices may not show clear signs of stability until the mid of 2009.” The graph below reflects the drastic change in January sales from year-to-year.

John J Hayes

RE/MAX Gold

Sacramento REO Specialist

530-306-3316

DRE#01709600

http://www.johnhayesrealestate.com

Fifty-Fifty Vodka Martini Recipe

4 parts vodka 4 parts dry vermouth Cocktail olive Combine liquid ingredients in a cocktail shaker with cracked ice and shake well. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass and garnish with olive.

Total listing inventory in Sacramento Ca remains stable, pending escrows rise

As the winter season continues, the Sacramento residential resale market refuses to lay dormant, showing a steady amount of activity through the notoriously slow month of January. This information, compiled by the Sacramento Association of REALTORS®, is collected from the MetroList® multiple listing service and includes data covering Sacramento County and the City of West Sacramento.

Closed escrows decreased slightly to 739, showing a 8.2% drop from last month’s 805 homes sold. When compared to the same month last year, January 2008 showed a slight decrease of sales, remaining 1.6% below the 751 homes sold in January 2007.

The median price for a single family home continued to drop, settling at $255,000, 8.9% below December’s $280,000. When compared with 2007, Sacramento’s median home sale price shows a 28.2% decrease, staying well below the $355,000 median price of a year ago. New listings in January 2008 totaled 3,138, an increase of 45.7% from last month’s 2,154. The total listing inventory barely budged, dropping a fraction of a percent from December’s 8,965 to 8,963.

As some prospective buyers wait for the market to “bottom out,” others are making great financial investments. “Those who make the well-advised decision to buy and who can qualify for loans are taking advantage of a market that offers record-low rates and an inventory that can please even the pickiest buyer,” says newly elected 2008 Association President Alan Wagner. “Sellers who are market savvy are pricing their homes aggressively to increase the likelihood of offers being made. Realistic pricing will keep prospective buyers circling, while an overpriced property will often sit on the market and forego drastic cuts in price to better compete with similar listings. Unrealistic pricing usually leads to nothing more than wasted time. Seasoned REALTORS® need to help sellers to avoid these mistakes and increase the probability of finding the right buyer. This soft market,” continues Wagner, ” calls for increased REALTOR® activity.”
The month-end housing market supply figure – the active listing inventory divided by the rate of completed sales – increased for the month of January, up 9% to 12.1 months, compared to 11.1 months in December.

Condominium Resale Market
The condominium market inventory of 729 in January showed a slight decrease of 1.2% when compared with December’s 738. New listings published were up 37.3% to 232 in January compared with 169 in December. Closed condominium escrows showed a considerable, but expected, drop in activity for the month of January, ending with 36 closed escrows, a 36.8% decrease when compared with the 57 closed escrows in December. The 36 closed escrows in January 2008 remain 31% below January 2007’s 52 closed escrows. The median sales price of a Sacramento condominium in January was $143,000, a figure down 24.7% from the median price of $190,000 in December. This $143,000 median price is 34.4% lower than the $239,607 median price of January 2007.  Info from the SAR..Sacramento Association of Realtors

John J Hayes

RE/MAX Gold

530-306-3316

DRE#01709600

http://www.johnhayesrealestate.com

Buckeye Martini Recipe

6 parts gin 1 part dry vermouth Black olive Combine liquid ingredients in a cocktail shaker with cracked ice and shake well. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass and garnish with black olive.

If you are looking to buy a home in 2009 now is the time to buy a home and get paid for it.

http://www.federalhousingtaxcredit.com/2009/home2.html

Merry Berry Martini Recipe

The berry? Raspberry of course . . . or is it Razberi. 2 oz. Stoli Razberi 1 oz. Chambord ½ oz. Sloe gin ½ oz. Lemon juice Combine ingredients in a shaker. Add ice, stir to chill and strain into your Swank Martini Glass.

]]> http://realestatemartini.com/2009/02/22/first-time-home-buyer-tax-credit-2009/feed/ 0 http://realestatemartini.com/2009/02/22/first-time-home-buyer-tax-credit-2009/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/realestatemartini/JohnHayes/~3/L0LtLQ-HZes/ http://realestatemartini.com/2009/02/22/testimonial-from-sold-real-estate-in-elk-grove-ca/#comments Sun, 22 Feb 2009 20:26:05 +0000 johnhayes http://realestatemartini.com/?p=281 I love it when these e-mail come up in my computer. This makes me, as an agent, understand why I do what I do for a living..

Hi John!

John..working with you was great, so great that I have referred quite a few people to you so that you could help them find and purchase their homes. I think one of the best things about you is that your ALWAYS reachable. There were many, many times that I needed to talk to you and you always answered the phone or called back in a matter of minutes. That’s really important to me because it shows me that you care and that your not just there for the sale, your with us the entire way through. Buying a home is very stressful at times, dealing with the banks on a foreclosed property and the lenders asking you for proof of everything but your blood type can really drive you nuts. You know your stuff. You give us your advice with an added “trust me” and sure enough you were always right. I would also like to add that you have remained in contact to this day offering your assistance in many different ways. You have a list of people that you have referred us to to help with many misc. repairs for our home (at really low prices), you have even kept us in mind when interest rates have dropped to a lower rate so we can re-fi and lower our payment. Your service doesn’t stop with the SOLD sign, you continue to work for us long after the sale and that really means a lot to us. Good luck with everything and we’ll keep those referrals coming! Jennifer Hill Elk Grove, CA.

John Hayes

RE/MAX Gold

www.johnhayesrealestate.com

www.realestatemartini.com

Mexican Martini recipe

2 oz 1800® Tequila
1 1/2 oz Cointreau® orange liqueur
2 oz sweet and sour mix
1 oz lime juice
2 oz orange juice
1 splash Sprite® soda
2 olives

 Summary Price Information

John Hayes

RE/MAX Gold

www.johnhayesrealestate.com

Apricot Mango Martini*

2 measures gin ½ measure apricot brandy ½ measure simple syrup ¾ measure fresh lemon juice 1 slice of fresh mango In the bottom of a glass half of the boston shaker muddle together the mango, the syrup, and the lemon juice, add the apricot brandy and the gin and shake well with ice. Strain into a chilled martini glass. Garnish with a lemon peel.

The median existing home price in December 2008 was down 15.3% to $175,400 from December 2007. It was the biggest year-over-year drop since recordkeeping began in 1968.

The Conference Board said its leading indicators of future economic activity rose 0.3%, a better reading than the 0.3% drop economists had expected. The index indicates the direction of the economy over the next three to six months and the reading was the first gain in six months.

On Tuesday, the Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller 20-city housing price index dropped a record 18.2% from November 2007 to November 2008. Since August 2006, the 20-city index has declined every month.

Consumer confidence hit a record low in January. The Conference Board reported that its consumer confidence index fell to 37.7 in January from a revised 38.6 in December. In January 2007, the index was at 87.3.

The Commerce Department said Thursday that new home sales fell 14.7% in December to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 331,000. It was the slowest monthly pace on records dating back to 1963.

Orders for durable goods fell for a fifth consecutive month. The Commerce Department said orders dropped by 2.6%, worse than the 2% decline economists had expected.

Gross domestic product — the total output of goods and services produced in the United States — decreased at an annual rate of 3.8% in the fourth quarter of 2008, the Commerce Department announced Friday. It was the lowest pace since the first quarter of 1982, when output contracted 6.4%. Economists had expected a much worse 5.5% contraction.

Upcoming on the economic calendar are reports on pending home sales on February 3 and factory orders on February 5.

Lyman King

Senior Loan Consultant Metro Gold Financial 5252 Sunrise Blvd.,Ste. 6 Fairoaks , CA 95628 Office: (916) 961-0858 Fax: (866) 811-2302 lking@metrocitiesmtg.com

John Hayes

RE/MAX Gold

www.johnhayesrealestate.com

Pomegranate Martini Ingredients

1 oz vodka (or citrus vodka, if you have it)
1/2 oz Cointreau orange liqueur
3 oz pomegranate juice*
chopped ice
1/4 teaspoon lemon juice, for garnish
lemon slice, for garnish
sugar, for garnish

John Hayes

RE/MAX Gold

530-306-3316

www.johnhayesrealestate.com

Lemon Drop Martini

1 1/2 ounces vodka
1/2 ounce Triple Sec
1 teaspoon superfine sugar
3/4 ounce freshly squeezed lemon juice
Ice cubes
Superfine sugar for dipping
Twisted peel of lemon

Mix the vodka, Triple Sec, sugar, and lemon juice in a cocktail shaker half-filled with ice; shake well (supposedly the cocktail is to be shaken 40 times to make sure the sugar is well blended). Pour strained liquor into sugar-rimmed martini glass and garnish with a twisted peel of lemon.

NOTE: To create a sugar-rimmed glass, take a lemon wedge and rub the drinking surface of the glass so it is barely moist. Dip the edge of the glass into sugar

Sacramento association of Realtors Press release!

After a bout of increased sales driven by the abundant REO properties in recent months, the Sacramento Housing Market recorded a moderate decline in sales for the month of November. The following information, compiled by the Sacramento Association of REALTORS®, is collected from the MetroList® multiple listing services and covers Sacramento County and the City of West Sacramento.
November ended with 1,716 total closed escrows, an 18.4% decrease from the 2,103 sales recorded for October. Although down month-to-month, November 2008 sales reflect a 110.8% increase over the 814 closed escrows of the same month one year ago.
Continuing a year-long trend, November had the lowest median sales price in the Sacramento region since February 2002. The median sales price of a Sacramento area home dropped to $184,944, a 5.2% decrease from October’s $195,100 median price. When compared to last year, the current figure is 38.2% below the $299,450 of November 2007. The 1,715 new listings in November are an 18.4% decrease from the 2,058 new listings in October. The total listing inventory for November was 6,643, a 9% decrease from October’s 7,304 total listings. This figure is down 33.4% from the 9,967 total listings of November 2007. The lowered total listing inventory and the relatively high number of closed escrows produces a great housing market supply figure. This figure represents the amount of time – in months – it would take to deplete the total listing inventory given the current rate of sales. November’s figure of 3.9 months is up slightly over October’s figure of 3.5 months. This month’s figure, however, is still 68% below the 12.2 months of November 2007
The combination of a low median price and lowered mortgage rates give Sacramento a favorable Housing Affordability Index. C.A.R. Trends in California Real Estate reports that Sacramento County has “set or tied record high affordability readings in the third quarter (of 2008).” Each quarter, C.A.R. calculates the state’s Housing Affordability Index for First-Time Buyers, or HAI-FTB. This method “measures the share of all households that can afford an entry-level home” and reports that Sacramento County holds a HAI-FTB of 71 – one of the highest in the state. Alan Wagner, 2008 SAR President, responds: “This is just more evidence solidifying the state of our market. Yes, the median prices are down – way down – but the affordability index figure should push fence-sitters to the other side. The upside of this downturn is that area homes are ripe for the picking. Prices are at six-year lows and mortgage loans, although with stricter standards, are still showing incredibly low rates. If you have the assets, you might want to make a move.”
Condominium Resale Market
The Sacramento Condo market remains active, but shows signs of slowing for the winter months. November had a total of 97 closed condominium escrows, a 28.7% decrease from October’s 136 escrows. Compared to the same month in 2007, this figure represents a 64% increase in sales from the 56 condo units sold last November. The median sales price of a Sacramento condominium showed a similar trend: a decrease from $114,500 in October to $107,000 this month reflects a 6.6% negative change. Compare this to the $222,500 median price of November 2007, a figure 52% above the current median price.

John Hayes

RE/MAX Gold

530-306-3316

www.johnhayesrealestate.com

Absolute Martini Recipe

5 parts vodka 1 part triple sec 2 parts fresh lemon juice 1 dash orange bitters Combine all ingredients in a cocktail shaker with cracked ice and shake well. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass

]]> http://realestatemartini.com/2009/01/06/november-show-decreased-sales-median-price/feed/ 0 http://realestatemartini.com/2009/01/06/november-show-decreased-sales-median-price/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/realestatemartini/JohnHayes/~3/6sGhD-qflRg/ http://realestatemartini.com/2008/12/28/car-forecast-calls-for-prices-to-level-out-and-sales-to-rise-in-2009/#comments Sun, 28 Dec 2008 17:13:58 +0000 johnhayes http://realestatemartini.com/?p=230 I thought I would share with the martini lovers.. Info from C.A.R.

                                                        

“The current uncertainty about the financial system and economy is likely to persist over the next several weeks, and could extend into next year,” said C.A.R. President William E. Brown. “Our forecast assumes that the financial system will begin to show signs of stabilization late in 2008 and into early 2009.”

The median home price in California will decline 6 percent to $358,000 in 2009 compared with a projected median of $381,000 this year, according to the forecast. Sales for 2009 are projected to increase 12.5 percent to 445,000 units, compared with 395,600 units (projected) in 2008.

“Sales in 2008 will be ahead of last year by 12 percent, with a further increase of 12.5 percent expected in 2009,” said C.A.R. Chief Economist Leslie Appleton-Young. “However, the next couple of quarters in late 2008 and early 2009 will be marked by seasonal decreases in activity, with a pickup expected by the second quarter of next year.”

The 2009 California Housing Market Forecast is now available on car.org at http://www.car.org/media/pdf/econpdf/10-15-08EXPOForecast-Final.pdf.

John Hayes

RE/MAX Gold

www.johnhayesrealestate.com

Ingredients

• 50ml vodka
• 25ml lychee liqueur, (Kwai Feh is a good-quality brand)
• dash lychee juice, available in cartons
• 1 lychee , for decoration

Half fill a cocktail shaker with ice. Add the vodka, lychee liqueur and lychee juice. Shake thoroughly and strain into a martini glass. Make a cut into the side of a lychee and sit it on the rim of the glass