Realtors for Ventura | Oxnard | Camarillo

Many of you know I’m on emergency standby for FEMA disaster call-up and was recently down in New Orleans for Isaac. But on the Sunday before Sandy hit, I was on a plane to Washington, DC, not knowing where the storm would hit. Monday night I rode out the storm in a hotel and watched the driving wind and rain – just like you see on the Weather channel.

Wednesday, we were told “Drive to New York” (5 hours). Where in NY? Don’t know – just get there!

Wednesday afternoon in New Jersey, but with no electricity, gas, and essentials we take for granted, I tried getting into Manhattan. I discovered my smartphone didn’t work – and that meant no GPS. Driving through flooded streets in Hoboken, I got thoroughly lost trying to get to the George Washington bridge – all the tunnels into Manhattan were flooded.

I was concerned. All around me people were standing on the sidewalk in a daze, trying to see the damage of flooding. The intersections were all flooded and I didn’t think my rental car could safely get through – I’d wait for another car to see if it could make it, then follow.

By now the shadows were getting long and with each passing hour simply didn’t know if I’d be stuck sleeping in my car for the night. But helpful people gave directions and I made it over for a quick inspection, then got back to New Jersey.

Now to find a hotel – impossible! Most hotels were evacuated (no power) or were overbooked by displaced people. With spotty cell coverage, I called Leslie. A long story short, she spoke to her brother (who had pastored a church near Princeton University) and I spent the night in the home of an American Airlines pilot (who had the only electricity in the area).

Now after a week of doing inspections from Central Park down to the Battery (lowest point south – the Wall Street area) I’m driving like a NY cabbie! To me, the very narrow residential streets (all one way) down canyons of 10-30 story apartment buildings is a bit different than driving around Ventura County, but people are people and I’ve been given a lot of slack trying to get around.

Then the blizzard hit yesterday! Just what these folks needed…

But that’s for another post. I’m off to work again!

Listed below are the October results for the sold prices of homes, the number of homes sold and number of homes in escrow – a future indicator of homes sold.

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

To see the detailed charts for Ventura, Oxnard and Camarillo, please see the links below.

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

Ventura – 43%      Oxnard – 42%     Camarillo – 32%

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

Detailed data for single family homes sold in:

• Ventura
• Oxnard
• Camarillo

Detailed data for condos sold in:

• Ventura
• Oxnard
• Camarillo

Detailed monthly data for pendings (in escrow) – single family homes and condos:

• Ventura
• Oxnard
• Camarillo

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

…radio had an interview I listened to with a mortgage lender who said that of his last 13 transactions, 12 of those deals had appraisals that came in LESS than the agreed upon purchase price of the deal.

His advice to sellers? Only sell to a buyer with a large down payment and don’t have the deal contingent on an appraisal.

That is true advice. Appraisers look “backward” at closed transactions and the market place has moved smartly ahead because of very limited inventory, which is resulting in multiple offers for properties – often for all cash.

But enough about business.

On Saturday I was heading out to Camarillo airport to work on my long term Tiger Moth project, where I’m currently building the elevator.

I started adding the interior framework, then moved on to cutting out the little blocking pieces on the bandsaw. Because of curves on the backside of the elevator, all those blocks are a little different sized, making it impossible to mass produce them.

So after standing for almost four hours, walking around the table, bending over, always measuring, I got tired and said enough already.

But I was back on the job Sunday afternoon and continued cutting out more blocking pieces. Finally, it was time to mix up the epoxy and start the clamping of all those pieces together. Another well spent weekend at the airport!

Foreclosure statistics for month of September continue to show a downward trend for initial filings of foreclosure, but an upward tick for filings in the Notice of Trustee filings, whereby a time and date is set for the actual auction. However, many properties currently in foreclosure are now being delayed (loan mods) or cancelled (completed short sale or possible HARP refinancing).

Foreclosure stats for 3rd Quarter also show a downward trend. Many think the big lenders are waiting to see what the results of the election will be, how the new congress will be re-constituted and the effect the national mortgage settlement will have, plus the new California foreclosure rules going into effect January 1.

A study co-authored by Andrew Jakabovics of Enterprise, an advocacy group based in Washington, shows that the biggest recipient of $2.5 billion from the national mortgage settlement this summer is California – but that the money isn’t going to help homeowners, it’s going into the general pot to help cover California’s horrible budget mess.

Hmm – why am I not surprised?