Realtors for Ventura | Oxnard | Camarillo

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

With multiple offers and over bidding now the norm, some buyers have asked me if we’re in a new housing “bubble”.  These frustrated buyers, after losing out multiple times, want to throw in the towel and give up.

Yesterday’s Wall Street Journal had this chart from the just released Case-Shiller study.  It shows where current price points are in relation to the high water mark of a few years ago.

Looking at the LA region, even though price points are currently rocketing up, there’s still a long ways to go before reaching previous price point levels.  And with interest rates so incredibly low, many buyers (and investors) believe today’s prices are still “cheap”.

With an extremely limited inventory for entry level homes, competition and heavy over bidding will still be the norm I believe through the summer months.

The LA Times recently ran this article stating that homeowners who have received a loan mod are still vulnerable to defaulting on their loan.

Specifically, the article stated that “at the end of the first quarter of 2013, the (Treasury Department’s TARP Program) report found, nearly half the oldest of the HAMP modifications, from the third and fourth quarters of 2009, were going back into default.” The article goes on to give specific statistics of these “re-defaults”.

We’re coming up on the middle of 2013. What many homeowners are facing – and maybe don’t know – is that the benefits of the 2007 Mortgage Debt Relief act were extended only to the end of this year under the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012. If and unless Congress extends it (doubtful I think at this time), homeowners doing a short sale (or losing their home in foreclosure) in 2014 will be 1099’d without the benefit of the current IRS debt forgiveness.

If you’re struggling to keep up with your loan mod payments, consult your tax adviser sooner vice later to see what tax implications you may be facing next year – if worse comes to worst.

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

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

Even though there’s been an increase in home sales in April, there’s still a lack of inventory in entry level homes. That continues the trend of multiple offers for homes that are priced competitively. Distressed home sales (short sales and bank owned) are thinning out, which is adding to less inventory for sale. However, certain segments (like beach homes in Oxnard) have good inventory levels and aren’t seeing the intense bidding that’s occurring for more modest priced homes.

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

Ventura – 18%      Oxnard – 29%     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.