News you can use:  February Newsletter is here and it is, as always, full of useful tips and information that you can use. 

Topics included in this month’s Newsletter: 

• How to repair your home without damaging your wallet
• Exterior remodeling proves best bang for your buck
• Homebuyer tax credit boosts economy
• Understanding the buyers mindset
• View current mortgage rates 
• January round up: mortgage rate trends

If you have any ideas or tips on topics for next month please share it with me; I would be glad to research it and publish it.

Following are the statistics for the month of January, 2010: 

• Actively listed properties: 207

             Almost the same as it was in December 2009 (208) 

• Homes that went “Pending Sale” for the last week of January:  34

             This is just a bit lower than it was for the same period in December (27)

• Number of homes “Sold” in the month of December: 92

              This is a significant drop compared to the previous month when

              the number of sold home was 148 

• The Average Days on the market of the Sold Properties: 46

             In December last year this number was 62.  

• Average Listing Price: $296,75 
• Average Sale Price: $244,573

 The charts below reflecting these numbers as well:

If you would like to have detailed statistics for other areas of the Central Valley, please feel free to call or email me – I would be glad to provide it for you.

Here is your chance to check your knowledge about your neighborhood: I would like to know if you could guess how much this home has been sold for recently:

Address: 597 Whintey Court, Tracy Ca 95377

Listing price: $260,000, Short Sale

4 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, 2 story house with a 3 car garage,

built in 1999, features an inground, fenced-in swimming pool.

Sold date: January 20, 2010

Give it your best shot and send me your guess for this home’s SOLD price!…

In Tracy and surrounding areas we have sold 139 homes in the Month of October.  These sold homes were an average of 43 days on the market before selling.  The average listing price was $236,718 and the average sales price was $243,393.  As we see multiple offers on many of the homes listed, the offers coming in were over the asking price. 

As most homes are selling for more than they were listed for, it seems that the appraisers have their hands full with appraising the homes for the value. This is mostly do to the fact that the appraisers’ evaluation is based on homes that have been sold recently in the same neighborhood.  Many deals fell through because the value could not be justified by the recent sales on record.  As a result, many buyers are asked to pay out of pocket to make up the difference. 

Those buyers, who have been qualified for an FHA loan, have little chance to a fair shot to get an acceptance on their offer.  Many buyers are coming in with cash at hand.  Others are frustrated with this market and giving up on buying all together.  In general, this is a buyers market, home prices are favorable, interest rates are still low, many people who are ready to buy homes…. but we don’t have enough homes to sell. Go figure.

Click here to see a daily interest rate lock advisory.

Take a look at the statistics:

As of October 7, we have a 192 active listings.

From September 27th to October 3rd, the number of homes changed status to “Sale Pending” was 48.

Since October 1st we have 18 homes Sold in and around Tracy.  See chart below.