Was I Right. Or, Was I Wrong? Read On...

If any of you noticed (you probably didn’t), I haven’t blogged in awhile. Why, you ask? Because I had a lot going on, what with an anniversary celebration in Yosemite with my sweetheart, Pat, and a family vacation to Twain Harte.

The second reason is that I was waiting for the market to settle out - to see if I could get a handle on the direction we are heading. My crystal ball, like many others, doesn’t always work like I would hope it would. My prediction at the end of last year was that we would see the market start bottoming out by July 2008. What did I mean by this prediction? I meant that the foreclosure mess would start diminishing (less properties being foreclosed), prices starting to hold steady, and some regular sale activity in the market (not just bank owned properties and short sales).

Well, I was wrong! Actually, there will be a steady batch of new bank owned properties coming on the market - for at least the next 6 to 7 months (and some predict even longer). Prices are continuing their downward trend, though not as dramatically. Short sales are happening, but they are still a pain, with lots of lenders still not being that helpful and last minutes disappointments still occurring as sales fall apart because of lack of lender participation.
The only bit of good news is that we are selling about twice as many properties (each month) than we did a year ago. The inventory is holding steady, and there are good deals to be had for those who are taking advantage of lower price and good interest rates.

My latest prediction (take it for what it’s worth), is that we won’t see a market with home appreciation and regular sellers not under duress marketing and selling their homes until mid or late 2009. So again, if you are not a "serious seller" who needs to sell, it is not a good time to "test" the market.

I wish all of you the very best summer, and if you have real estate needs, our company has the very best to offer because in my opinion, we have the most well trained, caring sales associates. Call on one of them, you’ll be glad you did.

Last, but not least, congratulations to our Benicia Sales office and sales associates, under the leadership of the manager, Vita Mangosing, which has been the number one real estate sales office in Solano County for the last three years in terms of number of units sold and dollar volume closed. Great job - Keep it up!