I was in my insurance agent’s office yesterday and in casual conversation he asked where the interest rate was.

Good question, because mortgage interest rates have been volatile over the past number of weeks, but those reasons are for another post.

I told Mike there was no easy answer because it’s a matrix of things that revolve around the specific homebuyer. For example, credit scores, down payment (or loan to value – LTV), back end ratios, loan amount, points paid – the list goes on.

But with a little bit of homework, a serious homebuyer can get a good handle of what rate they should be getting. Take a look at a rate sheet.

Intimidating? A little bit, but Google “how to read a rate sheet” and you’ll quickly figure it out!

We knew we’d need to do something with our office.  We’ve owned our office condo for many years, the country’s been in a deep recession but seems to be slowly coming back, so should we sell or lease it?

Initially we thought we’d sell but a number of other building owners encouraged us to lease.  There were pros and cons to both scenarios, but ultimately we leased it last summer to a great attorney – who coincidentally, we’ve known for a long time through various local organizations.

This was our first taste of our transition…

We had all our paper files from all of our real estate transactions going back unpteen years, our computer network with all that data…

So everything got moved back to our home where we set up a home office for the next several months, than began scanning all our flies and ultimately shredding all the paperwork. There were many trips of shredded paper back to the office dumpster!

I’ve loved our office, overlooking the bike path and trees.  Initially I thought I’d miss it, but after we’d turned it over I realized I was now looking ahead and not back.  The years spent working there were great, but new things await!

A lot of good memories of meeting great friends and clients in our former office!

Listed below are the June 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 June are:

Ventura – 20%      Oxnard – 36%     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.