International buyers are accounting for the smallest share of California home sales in at least eight years as prices climb and investors from China, the biggest source of foreign purchases, slow buying, according to the state’s Realtors group. The share of international buyers fell this year to less than 4 percent, compared with a peak of 8 percent in 2013, the California Association of Realtors said in a report Thursday. The findings are based on a survey conducted in June of about 1,000 real estate agents. Since 2008, the first year agents were surveyed on the subject, results have shown foreigners representing at least 5 percent of transactions. An influx of foreign money has contributed to soaring real estate prices in the largest U.S. state, particularly in coastal areas where demand is high and new inventory is limited. Buyers from mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan made up 43 percent... Read more →
November 05, 2015
March 28, 2015
Real Estate Market Trends
, sellers Whether you’re buying or selling, here are the trends you need to know about. 1: Home prices are rising, even hitting record levels in some places. Home prices nationwide rose by 5.7 percent in January, compared to a year ago, with prices hitting record highs in Colorado, Texas, Wyoming, and New York,according to CoreLogic. Prices are so high in certain areas that some economists are starting to worry about localized bubbles. In most markets across the country, however, gains of around 5 percent are seen as stable, sustainable growth, a welcome change after years of roller coaster changes. 2: Mortgage rates are still low … for now. At less than 3.7 percent, mortgage rates are haven’t been this favorable to consumers since 2013. “Even though rates are expected to rise as the year progresses, for now these rates are really at very low levels,” says Greg McBride, chief... Read more →
December 09, 2013
Buying or Selling Real Estate Winter 2014
Are you thinking of Buying or Selling Real Estate this winter? Is it better to wait or be in the market now. As with many things related to housing, "it depends". Traditionally, sales slow after Thanksgiving and start to pick up again after the Super Bowl and gain full momentum when March Madness is over. Historically, a ton of activity is logged during the Spring and Summer with the market starting to slow again as we go into the Fall months. Or, as I heard one agent say, the weather cools and so do sales. Let's throw all the above out the window and look at what we might see over the next 6 months and please take this with some degree of skepticism because I do not have a crystal ball. During 2013 we saw sharply rising prices due to extraordinarily low interest rates and severely depressed inventory in... Read more →
July 04, 2012
If you want to Sell Real Estate, Don't Make These Mistakes
If you want to sell your home, the very good news is that we are in a hot seller's market. Buying Real Estate has not been this competitive in a long time and many buyers are surprised at how quickly the market has shifted. But, getting into escrow and having a buyer just puts you closer to the finish line and there are a number of terms and conditions you want to make sure that your agent is monitoring during the escrow period and before you accept an offer. For more tips and information on how to sell your condo, townhouse, or single family home in Redondo Beach, Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach, Torrance, Palos Verdes or elswhere in the South Bay or on the Westside call local Realtor Ellis Posner at 310 975 5139. Read more →
September 04, 2011
Rent vs Own Ratio: Is it Better to Buy or Lease Real Estate?
Much of the Real Estate activity over the last few years has been driven by first time home buyers. Today, many renters with stable job situations and adequate savings and reserves have come to the conclusion that at current prices and interest rates, it makes a whole lot of economic sense to buy a home rather than rent. This blog post will discuss one common metric: the rent versus buy formula and how Los Angeles are Real Estate compares to the US in general. Here's a simple calculation you can quickly do to decide whether it is better to rent or buy real estate. Dived the purchase price of any property by the annual rent. That's it. Pretty simple and straight forward. As an example, currently you can buy a fairly new townhouse in North Redondo Beach for about $575,000. The same units are renting for about $3,000 per month... Read more →
June 04, 2011
Foreclosure Activity Declines: Short Sale and REO MLS Foreclosure Listings
Both new foreclosure actions and completed foreclosure sales took a dive in April after rising sharply the month before, according to industry data. Foreclosure starts nationwide were approximately 163,000 in April, down 25 percent from 217,000 the prior month, reports the industry alliance HOPE NOW. An earlier assessment by the nonprofit group showed that new foreclosures had increased 21 percent over the February-to-March period. Finalized foreclosure sales dropped to 73,000 for April, compared with 85,000 in March, representing a decrease of 14 percent. HOPE NOW’s last monthly report pointed to a 35 percent increase in completed foreclosures between February and March. Loan modification stats showed the same give-and-take. For the month of April, mortgage servicers completed 57,000 permanent proprietary modifications, down 26 percent from 77,000 in March. From February to March, proprietary mods were up 26 percent. HOPE NOW’s proprietary modification numbers include loans restructured through the private mod programs... Read more →
February 20, 2011
Foreclosure Update: Shadow Inventory, Auctions, Discounts, MLS Search
There has been a lot of talk about foreclosure inventory and speculation regarding how this "shadow inventory" of bank owned REO foreclosures will affect the market. Buyers like to believe that the banks will place all of their REO foreclosure inventory on the market at the same time forcing inventories down (not going to happen). Sellers would like to believe that the banks will allow them to stay in their homes indefinitely or reset their mortgages to current market values (also not going to happen). Here's some graphs and charts that tell the real story followed by some quick searches for bank owned foreclosure inventory in a number of Los Angeles Westside and South Bay neighborhoods and cities. 06037 - Foreclosure Inventories Foreclosure Inventories: Pre-foreclosure inventory is an estimate of the number of properties that have had a Notice of Default filed against the property, but have not yet been... Read more →
November 09, 2010
When it's time to Buy or Sell Real Estate use a top South Bay Agent.
Socalupdates.com is presented by Ellis Posner (DRE # 01416970). Ellis Posner is a local South Bay Real Estate agent who specializes in CA Beach Cities and South Bay Realty. Ellis Posner can help you buy or sell a home, acquire investment income property or rent or lease a condo, townhouse or single family home. Experience counts. Call Ellis Posner for "straight talk" on Los Angeles area Real Estate and to buy, sell, or lease a residential or investment property. Buyers: You may be eligible to receive cash back at closing when you use Ellis Posner as your agent to buy real estate. Click here to find out more. Home owners: Save money on real estate commissions when you sell a home. Follow this link to find out how. Buyers - to "Search like an Agent" click here to sign up for Listingbook. If you want to buy or sell South... Read more →