SoldOnSantaCruz.com Blog

Investors are back in the market, and they’re paying all-cash, mostly for property under $500,000. The effect of this is to freeze out first-time home-buyers who have to get a loan. Banks are still chary about providing loans. About the only loans left for first-time buyers are FHA loans.So, whi...

  The U.S. House of Representatives  passed a bill extending and ex-  panding the Federal Tax Credit for  First-time Home Buyers on Novem-  ber 5th. The bill was passed in the  U.S. Senate the day before and will  now go to President Obama for his  signature, where it is expected to  be signed th...

Housing affordability inched downward throughout the state during the second quarter of 2009 as a result of incremental price increases and increased demand sparked by the state new-homebuyer tax credit, the California Building Industry Association said today. The quarterly National Association o...

Inventory of single-family, re-sale homes fell for the thirteenth month in a row in August, and it is now down 43.1% year-over-year. Pending sales, meanwhile, climbed 31.3% from July, and were up 100.5% compared to August 2008. The median price for singlefamily, re-sale homes lost 7.5% in August....

Santa Cruz County Home Prices Continued to Rise in May The median price for single-family,re-sale homes rose 4.7% from April.The median price was off 23.9%year-over-year. The averageprice fell 9% month-overmonth,and was down30.2% compared to lastMay.Sales of single-family, resalehomes were up, y...

The Basics: 2009 First-Time Home Buyer Tax Credit As part of its plan to stimulate theU.S. housing market and addressthe economic challenges facing ournation, Congress has passed legislationthat grants a tax credit of upto $8,000 to first-time home buyers.WHO QUALIFIES?First-time home buyers who...

Mortgage Rate Outlook May 29, 2009 -- Bond and mortgagemarkets spasmed this week, andthe corresponding sharp rise inrates over a two-day period servedas a reminder that even a batteredprivate market markets can be adangerous animal. It wasn't completelyclear what sparked the rout,but there was s...

Sales of single-family, re-sale homes were up, year-over-year, by 40.8% in March. Year-to-date, home sales are up 28.4%. The median price for homes fell 4.4% from February. The median price was down 36.5% year-over-year. The average price fell 6.9% month-over-month, and was off 34% compared to la...

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 reinstates last year's 2008 loan limits for FHA, Freddie Mac, and Fannie Mae loans. These limits were equal to the greater of 125% of the 2008 local area median home price or $271,050 for FHA and $417,000 for Fannie and Freddie, with an overall m...

Sales of single-family, re-sale homes were up, year-over-year, by 17.6% in February. We expect this momentum to continue as the market works its way through the glut of bankowned properties. The median price for homes fell 5.7% from January. The median price was down 37.1% year-over-year. Invento...