Our June newsletter covers the current real estate trends we’ve been seeing this summer but also covers the transition Don and I are in the process of starting for next year!

As part of that transition, we’ve begun teaching ESL (English as a Second Language) to adult students at the Adult Center on Ventura Avenue on Wednesday evenings.

We also talk about the crazy market where we “only” had about a dozen offers on a recent open house!

Listed below are the May real estate charts for sold prices and the number of homes sold.

This data is taken from the Ventura, Oxnard and Camarillo MLS.

The percentage of single family homes that were distressed sales in the month of May are:

Ventura – 27%      Oxnard – 33%     Camarillo – 16%

Sold prices – Single family homes in Ventura, Oxnard, Camarillo:

• 12 month graph

Sold prices – Condos in Ventura, Oxnard, Camarillo:

• 12 month graph

Numbers sold – Single family homes in Ventura, Oxnard, Camarillo:

• 12 month graph

All data is taken from the Ventura, Oxnard and Camarillo MLS.

Last night (Wednesday) was the ESL (English as a Second Language) class Don and I’ve been teaching for a couple of months or so now.

We’d gotten into a good rhythm with our “regular” adult students when 4 young men were brought to our class by a woman who asked if they could join the class. Of course they could – it’s just that they were absolute beginners of English and our other students could read, speak and write basic English.

Take a look at our lesson we’d plan for last night on the white board – all that went away! We erased it all and literally started with putting the ABC’s up on the board and starting out scratch with them – while having our “regular” students helping out with teaching.

And it worked great! One “regular” student is studying for his citizenship and he did a great job on the white board helping the “newbies” with pronunciation.

So last night was a great night to get us out of our planned and organized routine and force us to change direction on the fly. Challenging – but fun!

Last Sunday we held our first open house for a lovely home on Via Marina in Oxnard and buyers came out in droves. A steady stream all afternoon from 1 pm until well after 4 pm.

The first offer was delivered to us at the open house – fast!

The balance of offers came in within the next 72 hours or so. Needless to say, offers came in over asking price.

What’s driving this craziness? Four main reasons:

• Lack of inventory
• Super low interest rates
• Short sales and bank foreclosures have dried up
• Lots of buyers