Stephen Beard’s Blog

Some anecdotal evidence that all is not “doom and gloom” in our local housing market.  I’ve been showing property in Hayward recently.  Early last week, my clients identified 8 properties on sale for less than $300K they wanted to see…all foreclosures.   By the end of the week, at least 4 of them were already PENDING!   They wrote up an offer for one of the others and discovered that there were 20 (yes, twenty!!) other offers already submitted.  

Now, it was a nice home, in relatively good condition…and it did have a huge lot (about 7500 sq ft.), but it had its drawbacks too and it was not particularly fancy in any specific respect.

All of this speaks to a huge amount of buyer interest for entry level property, and I believe it shows two things.  First, there are definitely people out there buying houses…and second, people are seeing great value in entry level homes in Hayward priced under $300K.    Statistically, we are seeing the # of pending homes rising each month in many Bay Area markets, and some statistics showing that although prices are way done, sales are up. 

All of this is worthy of consideration in these gloomy economic times.

Today I learned that the State is blaming the suspension of the HomeChoice loan on the problems on Wall Street.   The implication is that once capital markets stabilize, the HomeChoice loan will come back….so we’ll see.

In the meantime, there are lots of other options out there that might work for our clients, so I’m not too discouraged.

Yikes!

Yesterday morning (Tuesday) the State “suspended” the HomeChoice loan.   Whether it was because of the budget crisis or the craziness on Wall Street, this is bad news for people in the disability community here in California.   And it underscores the lack of commitment from the State to the disability community here.

Fortunately for our clients, prices have come down and there are other loans out there that will allow most of them to still get their first homes…but it is still disappointing.

Stephen

Hi,

 This is the first ever entry in my blog…it took me a bit longer to get here than I wanted…but I’m glad to be hear.

 This blog is designed to allow me to a way to share thoughts, ideas, and news in a fast way to visitors to my website.   I hope you find my ramblings useful to you.

 Thanks,

Stephen Beard

Welcome to Stephen Beard’s Blog! This blog will provide you with valuable information, tips, and general insight into the real estate market in Oakland.