Local Market Conditions

Lower Conforming Loan Limits Opens Up Deals to Patient Home Buyers

Home loan and mortgage limits

Living in and around San Jose, paying $1M for a well located single family home is just a way of life. Even with the current housing price correction, prices for homes in decent locations still stretch toward the $1M mark. As many home buyers have experienced this summer, the lack of inventory of quality homes [...]

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Reporters Discredit Themselves with Confusing Articles

Fearmongering reporters causes confusion about real estate

Five years after the housing bubble popped and three years after this century’s worst financial crisis, we’re still seeing the imbalances in our economy trying to sort themselves out.  Meanwhile, as we watch housing prices continue to weaken in most parts of the country, shoddy reporters continue to tease worried consumers with useful sounding headlines, only [...]

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Interest Free Loans for Qualified Buyers in San Jose

interest

As home prices have dropped sharply over the past 5 years, many willing buyers still face financing difficulties that prevent them from purchasing a home.  Fortunately, for prospective buyers in San Jose, there is a program available to assist your purchase with interest free (0% interest) and payment free loans (for the first 30 years or [...]

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Avoiding the Pitfalls of Expert Opinions

Whether you’re buying or selling a home or looking to invest in real estate, the most common question you’re likely to ask a real estate professional is “Will the market be going up or down?”  While that is a critical question, the answer requires knowledge of an unknowable future.  Most real estate professionals I know [...]

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Harvard sheds light on San Jose’s hot rental market

In my previous blogs, I talked about that San Jose rental market is getting tight and rents are expected to increase. Apparently, the folks at Harvard agree with me too. Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies just published their annual housing report The State of the Housing 2011. The report gives a comprehensive look of [...]

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Nervous Investors Are Piling Into US Debt

With the flood of economic news still coming out decisively negative, major investor groups continue to stockpile US Treasuries, driving yields back down towards recent record lows.  This may just be a reflection of the general nervous tension gripping markets around the world.  In uncertain times, US sovereign debt has been the safe haven of [...]

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Investing for 9% Returns in San Jose

Despite its dubious reputation for being the most expensive place to live in the country, San Jose still offers opportunities for informed real estate investors to earn 9% on their invested cash. The key is to find the right properties with the proper cash flow characteristics. At the moment, condos are offering some of the best [...]

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Homeowners Continue to Trade Up

An interesting trend I’m starting to see around my area is a segment of homeowners still trading up even in a declining market. While I find it rather unexpected, I believe the local conditions make such a move both feasible and favorable. First, by trading up, these homeowners are opting to sell their homes at [...]

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2011 Housing Market's Decoupling from Seasonal Trends Keeps Sellers Guessing

After an unusually strong start in January, home sales appear to have peaked in March and have sale viagra continued to soften.  Articles about national sale trends confirm what we’ve been seeing in the Bay Area, both from fellow industry professionals and first hand experience.  Going into the summer, listings and sales are expected to stay [...]

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What will the real estate market look like 5 years from now?

Aside from the obvious difficulties of forecasting a largely unknowable future, the real estate market is constantly evolving, making direct price and demand comparisons five to ten years from now difficult at best.  As many commentators have pointed out, it’s patently clear that we’re in the midst of a big demographic shift with the aging baby-boomers [...]

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