Welcome 2010 !

It's a new decade, and it seems strange to be moving into 2010. When I was young(er) making it to 2000 sounded like forever, and I never imagined that I would look and feel so good when this year came.
I'm so grateful for all the things that life has brought me. Good friends, a loving family who are doing well, and this life with work that I love and can still do.

Wishing you a Healthy and Happy New Year.

Bobbie

Check Out Your Neighborhood

A friend sent me a link to this site, and I thought that I'd share it with my readers. There are a few communities that do not subscribe, but most are on the list, and I found it much more comprehensive than Megan's List for researching neighborhood safety. It is also useful if you are thinking of moving...Check it out. Crimereports.com.

A Real Estate Christmas Gift

Santa isn't dead. Not much of a present for struggling homeowners, but better than nothing. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are suspending foreclosure evictions from Dec. 19, 2009 through Jan. 3, 2010. The temporary moratorium was created to help families over the holidays.
Fannie Mae is suspending all foreclosure evictions on owner-occupants and tenants living in foreclosed properties the company holds. Freddie Mac also will suspend all evictions involving foreclosed, occupied, single family, and 2-4 unit properties with Freddie Mac-owned mortgages.
In a similar move, Citigroup Inc. also announced it will suspend foreclosure sales and evictions for 30 days through Jan. 17, 2010 for loans it owns. Citigroup’s foreclosure moratorium; however, does not extend to loans it services on behalf of other investors.
Scrooge isn't knocking at their doors...yet.

Want to Feel Younger? Live in the West

I just have to look around the Sunnyvale Senior Center to see so-called "Senior Citizens" in the weight room, stretching in yoga class, or dancing with my Zumba instructor. Many of my Realtor friends over sixty (and into their 80's!) are selling homes full time.
The highest concentration of older adults in the United States who don't think of themselves as old. Fully 78% of adults ages 65 and older who live in the West say they don't feel old, compared with 67% of older adults who live in the rest of the country, according to a Pew Research Center Social & Demographic Trends survey.
Asked how old they feel, two-thirds of Westerners ages 65 and older say they feel younger than their chronological years, compared with 57% of older Americans in other regions. Among older Westerners, half say they feel 10 or more years younger than their actual age and one-in-five say they feel 20 or more years younger.
Older folks living in the West also feel healthier than older folks elsewhere. Among adults ages 65 and older, some 72% of those living in the West say they are in excellent or good health, compared with 63% of those living in other regions of the country.
This is mainly because older Westerners also get more exercise. Some 77% of Westerners ages 65 and older report they get some kind of physical exercise on a typical day, compared with 69% of those in the rest of the country.
For older Americans, being in excellent health, feeling very confident that they have enough money and assets to last through their retirement years and being highly satisfied with the number of friends they have are the strongest predictors of happiness.
But it is also clear that among older adults, feeling young is strongly correlated with overall happiness, so if you want to be among a lot of older folks who feel young and happy, the West looks like your best bet.

Nesting vs Flipping

In real estate, nesting is the new flipping. Many homeowners are deciding to stay put and invest in properties they already have. My sister and her husband had talked about moving to a newer home than the one they own in Lake Worth, Florida. Instead, they had the house painted, and added new carpeting and kitchen flooring.
A bigger share of the home construction dollar -- 20% more during the first three quarters of 2009 compared with the same period last year -- now goes to home improvements. If people like their houses, schools and neighborhoods, but just need more space, it might make sense to stay put and remodel.
An added incentive spurring remodeling is the $1,500 federal tax credit for home improvements that raise energy efficiency. Jobs involving replacement windows and doors, heating and air conditioning systems, new roofs and adding insulation all can qualify.
Nester-remodeling might be even stronger if home improvement loans were easier to come by. Perhaps because of that, more people are remodeling their homes in phases.
As I've mentioned in earlier posts, I have trusted referrals for all kinds of home repairs and remodeling if you need them.

Farewell, Sunny Florida

Tomorrow morning, I'm headed back to the Bay Area, and the weather reports indicate that I'd better have an umbrella handy. We've needed this rain so I don't mind, and besides, it's still pretty pleasant next to sections of the country with windchill factors way below zero.
Real estate news from the Sunshine State is not good. Florida has replaced California, ranking #2 nationally in the rate of foreclosures, with one in every 165 homes in danger of being bank owned. (Nevada still holds the dubious honor of being #1.) It has bucked the national trend which has recorded four months of foreclosure decreases. Statewide, Florida foreclosures have increased 8 percent in the past year. In Palm Beach County, where my sister lives, there has been a 26 percent increase in foreclosure filings compared to this time in 2008.
Loan modifications will help some homeowners, but in over half the cases it's a temporary fix...only delaying the inevitable.

FHA Rules That Will Help the Condo Market....

...back home in California, but even more so here in Florida.
South Florida's stalled condo market Should get a boost from new FHA guidelines that went into effect this week. Most banks here have shied away from condo lending because they considered the units high risk. Those that were still lending required 20 to 30 percent down, eliminating the average buyer.
The new guidelines extend the 'spot approval' process until February 1, allowing individual units to qualify rather than requiring an entire complex to earn approval.
They temporarily increase the number of units in a complex that can be financed with FHA loans from 30% to 50%.
They require 50 percent of the units to be owner occupied, but temporarily exclude vacant, bank owned or rented units to be be excluded from the calculation.
They will now allow for a condo board approval (right of first refusal) of the buyer, unless it violates the Fair Housing Act...a permanent change.
One new change is that FHA can bar approval of a complex if it has more than 15% of the units delinquent in association fees.

Busman's Holiday

As usual, I check out local real estate activity when I'm traveling. This weekend, I explored an extremely upscale neighborhood in North Palm beach called Old Point Cove. Built on 60 acres along the water, the spectacular views are of MacArthur State park, Lake Worth Lagoon and the ocean.
Association fees are not cheap, but they cover a lot. Everyone gets 24 hour security, and depending on the building, can cover landscaping, insurance, cable, water sewer and trash. The fees can range from $298 for three months to $5000 at the high end Lake Point Tower.There is no golf, but the boating is top notch...and yes, Tiger Woods docks his boat there.
Currently units are selling from $137,000 for a short sale to about $850,000. Of the 1153 condos in the development, 109 are listed for sale.
At the market's high point in 2005, the median price here was $461,000...with a high of $1,250,000. In 2009, the median was $260,000, with a high of $750,000.

Back in Florida

If you've been reading this blog for a while, you know that I visit my sister and her family every winter for a week or so. (summers here are impossible for this Northern California gal.) I am always curious about the local real estate market here.
Florida has been one of the earliest and hardest hit markets, because of both the general economic situation, and overbuilding, especially of condos in the beach areas.
I had been reading about 'packaged" purchases of large numbers of these properties by foreign investors, and I wondered if it was impacting local values.
My sister's attractive suburban single family home in Lake Worth (3 bedrooms, two baths, "Florida " room, and large lot with a pool) had reached a high of $400,000 three years ago, and is now worth about $175,000.
I'll be writing about local real estate for the next week...some contrast to the Bay area!