New School Scores are Out

Each year, every California school and district gets an Academic Performance Index (API) score ranging from 200 to 1,000 points, with 800 considered excellent because it reflects a high rate of proficiency on achievement tests taken the previous spring. Schools and districts with an API below 800 are also considered successful if they meet performance targets in the year to come. At this time each year, their target is set at 5 percent of the difference between their actual API and 800. (Results are reported in August.) Statewide rank (SR): To give an even clearer snapshot, schools are also ranked from a low of 1 to a high of 10. The "statewide" 1-10 ranking is derived from a school's API score when compared to every other API score in the state.
Similar schools rank (SSR): A second "similar schools" 1-10 ranking is derived from a school's API score when compared to 100 schools most similar to it demographically.
Check out your schools on the Great Schools site.

Finally, the Mortgage Relief Progaram is Growing...a Little

I wrote in an earlier post about the dismal bank response to the "Making Home Affordable" plan, which was launched with great fanfare in March. But now, as of last month, lenders had sent out more than 571,000 offers to reduce borrowers' monthly payments.
That's still only 19 percent of the nearly 3 million homeowners eligible for a loan modification under the plan, but it's an improvement from 15 percent at the end of July.
Of the modifications offered, about 360,000 borrowers, or 12 percent, have signed up for three-month trial modifications, which are supposed to be extended for five years if the homeowners make their payments on time. To increase pressure on the industry, lawmakers have threatened to revive a failed proposal to let bankruptcy judges rewrite the terms of a mortgage.
Consumer groups say that change is necessary, because getting a lender to do so voluntarily is still a bureaucratic nightmare. Mortgage executives say they are racing to implement the program, hiring thousands of workers to handle an unprecedented flood of calls.
But many lenders are still scheduling foreclosure sales, and charging borrowers fees for participating in the Obama plan.
We are still hearing horror stories in the Realtor community.
An agent in my office told me about a bank they are trying to work with on a sale due to close escrow at the end of the month. The house was also facing foreclosure on September 24, and the bank refused an extension for five days (even though it was the bank's own delay with documents that was holding up the close) and are proceeding with the foreclosure on the courthouse steps. Their final word to my colleague: "Have a nice day!"

Tired, But Happy

The Coldwell Banker offices are already four weeks into our Building Hope for Humanity fundraiser and have raised more than $15,000 for Habitat for Humanity!
But our work isn’t done yet; we still have four weeks left in our fundraiser to raise money so we can build hope for humanity in 2010!
Today we added more to the fund by preparing and serving a full breakfast to our Cupertino office. Lots of work...but lots of money raised, too.
We are also selling and purchasing raffle tickets, sponsoring an auction, and holding a tea party in November.
Our Coldwell Banker Blitz Build Week is almost here! Starting September 21, Coldwell Banker Managers, Agents, staff and executives from throughout our Northern California family will be participating in Habitat for Humanity builds throughout the 15 counties where we work. Together, we are truly making a difference for our neighbors, building stronger, more sustainable communities.

“Yes, the Housing Market has Rarely Looked Better.”

That was the headline in a September 2 Wall Street Journal article. This was a really interesting piece which looked at numbers from Standard & Poor’s and NAR. The following is an excerpt from the article:
“Last week, Standard & Poor's reported that its S&P/Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price index of real-estate values increased this past quarter over the first quarter of 2009, the first quarter-on-quarter increase in three years. Its index of 20 major cities also rose for the three months ended June 30 over the three months ended May 31, with only hard-hit Detroit and Las Vegas experiencing declines. The week before that, the National Association of Realtors reported that sales volume of existing homes was up 7.2% in July from June.
In short, the data suggest that real-estate prices hit a bottom some time during the second quarter, and have now begun to rise. There's no way to be certain that this marks the end of the long, painful correction that followed the real-estate bubble, but clearly prices are no longer in free-fall. That means if you've been sitting on the fence, it's time to act.
Ordinarily I'd never try to time the real-estate market, but I can understand why buyers have been cautious. Few want to buy in down markets, just as stock buyers avoid bear markets. And for most people, of course, buying a house is a much bigger decision than buying a stock. But with real-estate prices nationally now down about 30% from their 2006 peak and showing signs of turning up, the prices aren't likely to go much lower. Every real-estate market is local, and so there may be a few exceptions. Overall, though, I can't imagine a better time to buy than now.”
It's nice to hear someone from the media say that it’s a great time to buy.
For a local look at our past two weeks in real estate: Our Cupertino office reports that agents are working hard, but things seem a bit quieter. It is really tough holding some of these short sale and REO transactions together, and inventory in many areas is surprisingly low.

Is FHA in Trouble?

Will taxpayers have to bail out the FHA? Realtors and lenders have been relying on the FHA for the past year as the only source of financing for home buyers who have less than 20 percent down payments.
The Federal Housing Administration stepped up to guarantee low-down payment mortgages for riskier buyers after the mortgage market crashed. Now with many of them in default, the FHA’s losses have mounted, and it’s possible that its reserves will fall below the 2 percent level required by law. If that happens, taxpayers may have to bail out FHA.
Some housing analysts say that this will lead to even tighter restrictions on FHA mortgages, which could be disastrous for the housing market.
The 10 states with the most FHA-insured mortgages are: Texas, California, Florida, Georgia, Ohio, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Virginia and North Carolina.

Time is Running Out

...to claim the $8,000 first-time homebuyers tax credit. It ends on Dec. 1.
Because it often takes around 90 days to close on a house after a contract is signed, buyers have very little time left to act. What they will find may surprise them: Many of the prime properties have already been snapped up. Home sales have been on the upswing, and inventories are so depleted in hot markets that first-time buyers are struggling to find homes in their price range.
We are seeing fewer repossessed homes for sale. Those are easy to buy because there isn't a lot of red tape and the bank wants to get rid of them as quickly as possible. Instead, most of the properties are short sales, where the sellers have to convince their lender to let them sell the house for less than they owe....This can take as much as six months.
That means a first timer putting a bid on a short-sale might not get an answer from the bank until well after the Dec. 1 deadline for the tax credit. So when an actual repossession listing hits the markets, it creates a feeding frenzy of multiple bidders.
The National Association of Realtors attributes much of this activity to the first-time buyer tax credit. It estimates that 1.8 million buyers will file for the credit, and 350,000 of them wouldn't have been able to buy without it.
Of course, analysts worry that this frenzy will dry up once the tax credit expires. They argue that without the incentive, much of the pressure on homebuyers to act quickly will vanish, and the newborn housing recovery could slump.
In many ways the tax credit is similar to the Cash for Clunkers program that ended this week. Already, auto dealers are anticipating that car sales will evaporate after accelerating during the program.
Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., who is a former real estate broker, is pushing legislation to extend the tax credit through next year, increase it to $15,000, include non-first-time homebuyers, and remove income restrictions. The effort has drawn strong industry support.

Get Out of the Kitchen

The California Association of Realtors comes out with a "Green Tip of the Week" in their emails to us. This one read...
'Keep in mind this summer that your oven and stove generate a lot of heat, which causes your air-conditioning to turn on more frequently. Consider cooking outside on the grill or cook in a microwave.'
Certainly, many back yard barbecues will take place this Labor Day weekend, and I must admit that because I live alone, my microwave gets more than its share of use.
But except for creating a side dish to bring to a Labor Day Potluck, I've vowed to save on stove use and help the economy by adding one more tip to the list for this week: Eat Out More!