This Week in Real Estate 3-6-2015 - DST

DST doesn’t have to be a black Monday

The dreaded spring forward. But now with extra Daylight Savings Time (DST) we are springing forward when the in most of the country there is still feet of snow on the ground. WebMD.com has some good tips on surviving the time change.

Survival Tips

How to offset Monday-morning drag?

Prepare yourself! Make the time change incrementally beforehand. "Set your alarm clock 15 minutes earlier and earlier for five days or so," Sassower suggests. "It helps. When the time change hits, you're already there. It's the same advice I give to people who are traveling out of the country."

Indeed, daylight-saving time is much like jet lag -- "the older you are, the more difficulty you will have," says Dennis H. Nicholson, MD, director of Sleep Disorders Center at Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center in California. "It will take one to two days to reprogram."

On Saturday:

Around midday, get some vigorous exercise. "Exercise helps advance the body clock, just as bright light exposure does," says Glass.

Don't exercise too late in the day. "Exercise raises your body temperature," explains Nicholson. "People get sleepy as their body temperature goes down, not when it's elevated."

Sunday morning:

Get up at your regular time -- whether you had a good night's sleep or not. "Don't let yourself sleep in," says Nicholson. "If you stay in bed, your body will never adjust."

Spend an hour or more outside, preferably in the sunshine. "That's hard for folks to do, but it's very important," Glass says. "Sunlight is especially helpful in advancing your body clock."

Take a morning walk. After a short night, walking is an easy exercise that will help advance your body clock, says Glass.

Good "sleep hygiene" also helps:

Don't eat a heavy meal before bedtime.

Don't drink a lot of caffeine or alcohol.

Don't nap during the day, or at least keep it brief -- 10 to 15 minutes.

Stop working on any task an hour before bedtime to calm down.

Don't discuss emotional issues at bedtime.

Make sure your sleep environment is comfortable.

Don't turn lights on at night. Use a small night-light instead.

Tip of the week.

DST is also supposed to remind us to so many chores around the home.

1.      Change the batteries in your smoke detectors

2.      Change the batteries in your CO detectors

3.      Change the filters for your furnace/AC

4.      Clean your gutters

5.      Drain your water heater

6.      Flip your mattress

7.      Check your pantry and medicine cabinet for expired products

8.      Reverse the direction of your ceiling fans

-Kris

This Week in Real Estate - 2-27-2015 - Pending Sales Up

January Pending sales are up … a lot.

Pending home sales rose from December’s extreme lows and posted month-to-month and year-to-year increases in January, according to the CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® (C.A.R.). Additionally, California REALTORS® responding to C.A.R.’s January Market Pulse Survey saw more price reductions and an increase in open house traffic, compared to a year ago.

Making sense of the story

•          California pending home sales increased in January, with the Pending Home Sales Index (PHSI)* rising 26.7 percent from 70.9 in December to 89.8 in January, based on signed contracts.

•          The month-to-month increase was better than the long-run average increase of 16.3 percent observed in the last six years, and is attributed primarily to seasonal factors. 

•          California pending home sales were up 6 percent from the 84.7 index recorded in January 2014.  The yearly increase was the largest since May 2012.

•          The share of equity sales – or non-distressed property sales – fell for the third straight month in January.  Equity sales made up 88 percent of all sales in January, down from 89.8 percent recorded in December.

•          Equity sales have been more than 80 percent of total sales since July 2013 and have risen at or near 90 percent since mid-2014. Equity sales made up 84.3 percent of sales in January 2014.

•          Conversely, the combined share of all distressed property sales rose in January, up from 10.2 percent in December to 12 percent in January.  Distressed sales made up 15.7 percent of total sales a year ago.

•          Indicative of a less competitive buyers’ market, the percentage of homes selling above asking price has dropped from its peak of 40 percent in March 2014 to 16 percent in January.  The share is also down from 25 percent during the previous month and 27 percent a year ago.

-Kris

This Week in Real Estate - 2-20-2015 - Homeownership stable

Big Picture for homeownership.

The Census recently released their 2014 Homeownership Statistics, and many began to worry that Americans have taken a step back from the notion of homeownership.

The national homeownership rate peaked in 2004, representing a 69.2% of Americans who owned vs. rented their primary residence. Many have noticed a decline in rate since then and taken that as a bad sign.

However, if you look at the national rate over the last 30 years (1984-2014), you can see that the current homeownership rate has returned closer to the historic norm. 2014 ended the year with a rate of 64% just under the rate in 1984 and 1994.

The housing recession was a correction in the market.

We see this all the time with the stock market and commodities such as gold. But the significant downturn we faced with housing was unprecedented. The correction was too extreme and the pendulum has swung back to the positive over the last 3 years as well with double digit increases in the median home prices.

Again signs are point to the normalization and stabilization of the real estate market.

-Kris

Tip of the week.

Following up on the tip last week of housing inventory, this is from Trulia.

Nationally, the volume of home sales in June is typically 29% above the annual average, according to Trulia.  In July and August, inventory keeps climbing as some sellers miss the sales peak. Homebuyers begin their search in March and April, but they really get down to business after Memorial Day.  The peak in June and July sales reflects the fact that many people want to move in summer when school’s out and the weather’s good.  In fact, more buyers are ready to close deals in the summer than any other time of the year. 

So get your house ready and on the market now, and take advance of the surge in activity.

This Week in Real Estate - 2-13-15 - Foot Traffic is up

More proof that 2015 is looking good.

One of the predictors of future transactions is foot traffic. Nationwide December figures were up not down. As mentioned last week the 4^th quarter transactions were up from 2013 and now we have the January home trends report from our MLS and the data is strong. The number of pended transaction rose from December 2014 to January 2015 by 43% (645 to 921 combined for Napa, Somona and Solano counties) in that same time period last year the rise was only 16% (660 to 767)

-Kris

Tip of the week.

Where are the listings … coming soon.

We have been in a inventory shortage since last February. We are still currently at about 2.5-3 months of inventory. A “balanced” market is between 5-6 months of inventory. But there is reason to hope for good things to come.

History shows us that the 2^nd quarter is the when the most listings come on the market.

For the seller, we have buyers circling in the water with low inventory, get your properties out there early and priced correctly to take advantage of this pent up demand.

For the buyer, good news more properties are coming.