Don't let family, clutter ruin your chances of selling

Thursday, November 30, 2006

By Ilyce R. Glink
Inman News

It's December, and the winter holiday decorations have been up for weeks.

But if you're selling your home during the holiday season, you've got to be careful. Not everyone celebrates Christmas, Hanukkah or Kwanzaa. If you over-decorate for the holidays, you might turn off prospective buyers.

While the winter holiday season of Thanksgiving to Superbowl Sunday used to be dead for real estate, real estate industry observers now say sales drop only slightly. What slows down are the showings, which means that the serious shoppers are out and about.

If you're a seller, it's time to capitalize on the traffic. In the ever-changing and slowing real estate market, you want to be in the best position to have your home ready for sale. Here are some things to keep in mind as you prepare for the winter holidays:

1. It's hard to keep your house clean during winter. Whether you live in the north or south, every part of the country has less stable weather this time of year. That means you have to deal with rain and mud getting tracked all over your clean floors.

The solution: You can't always mop between showings, but you can ask buyers to remove their boots and shoes and leave them at the front door. Be sure to lay out a plastic tub or pan (less than $10 at Target or the Container Store) and think about providing booties.

2. Keep things neat and organized. When kids come home for the holidays, messes start to accumulate in certain spots. Add in extra laundry, dirty dishes and the stack of presents that may need to be wrapped, and you'll find that getting ready for a showing is a lot of extra, hard work.

The solution: Showings can happen at a moment's notice, so ask your kids to make their beds and pick up their rooms every morning. They need to be up, washed and dressed so that if someone calls for a showing, at least they can get out of the house in a reasonable time period. Keep a large, flat, plastic box handy and use it as a catchall for household junk, unopened mail, catalogs and other paperwork. When it comes time for the showing, stow it under your bed.

3. Don't over-decorate for the holidays. Houses can look their best during the holidays. The best dishes are out, everything seems to sparkle in candlelight, and the soft glow of the fireplace warms up the living room. Adding a few decorations here and there can add to the charm of the holidays. But if you overdo it, even if you have the best of taste, you run the risk that a prospective buyer will look only at the decorations and not your home.

The solution: No matter what holidays you celebrate, everyone can appreciate a basket of beautiful flowers tied with a festive bow. Wreaths and boughs of fresh pine add a winterlike feel and a fresh smell without overpowering holiday cheer. If you have a tree, keep it on the smaller side to avoid having a room seem crowded, and make sure it is extremely stable, so that a buyer doesn't accidentally knock it over during a showing. And, toss it out as soon as the holidays are over. Cleaning up dried-out pine needles is a never-ending job.

4. Make your house available for showings. Winter is the time for nesting at home with your family. While prospective buyers don't want to feel as though they're intruding on your family time, they want to see your home on their timetable -- not yours. If you don't allow buyers access, they won't make an offer.

The solution: Decide when you're going to have your family gatherings and tell your agent that your home is unavailable during those few times. Then, talk to your family about how high selling the home is on your list of priorities. If your family understands that you must sell, they'll be more willing to pitch in and help. Remember, if three houses are available and seven are not, a buyer will see the three and may make a decision. If you don't suit up, you can't play ball.

Contact Ilyce through her Web site, www.thinkglink.com.

Labels: Corona, Foreclosure, Home Prices, Inland Empire, Loan Modification, Moreno Valley, Murrieta, Real Estate, Riverside, Short Sales, Statistics, Temecula

To save time and money, probe buyer before accepting offer

Monday, November 27, 2006

By Dian Hymer
Inman News

Recently, a Los Angeles home seller thought his sale was a sure thing. Mere days later, his house was back on the market. What went wrong? The buyer didn't qualify for financing.

In most cases, this sort of fallout can be avoided. One positive byproduct of the recent fast seller's market is that lenders are prepared to preapprove buyers for financing in a day or two. It doesn't make sense for either the buyer or seller to enter into a transaction that the buyer can't complete financially.

To avoid disappointment, buyers should find out for sure what they can afford before making an offer. Buyers are in a better bargaining position with the seller if they can accompany their offer with a bona fide preapproval letter.

HOUSE-HUNTING TIP: There's a big difference between prequalification and preapproval. A prequalification letter merely states that the buyer might be qualified for a mortgage if the credit report and pertinent financial documentation pans out. A preapproval letter from a lender is a letter that says the buyer is approved for a mortgage subject to a ratified purchase contract, a property appraisal and an acceptable preliminary title report.

Sellers who receive a preapproval letter from a mortgage broker rather than from the lender who will make the loan should ask for permission to call the mortgage broker to find out if there's any reason at all why the buyer's loan shouldn't be approved. Your listing agent can make the call for you.

Every once in a while, someone who's not actively looking to buy a home walks into an open house and decides to buy the property. Sellers who receive an offer from an enthusiastic buyer who hasn't had the time to be preapproved should issue a counteroffer that includes a provision for the buyer to be preapproved by acceptance.

If you give the buyer a day or two to accept the counteroffer, he should be able to provide a preapproval letter in that time frame. Or, if not, within the time frame it takes to negotiate the contract.

Some deals fall apart because the buyers discover something about the house or the neighborhood that makes them rethink their decision. It's best for sellers to get all the news about property and neighborhood conditions -- especially if it's bad news -- out in the open upfront. This lessens the chance that the deal will fall apart.

Buyers appreciate a complete disclosure package on a property, including presale inspections reports, so that they can make an informed decision about whether to buy the property. Sellers, however, often fear that the bad news will dissuade buyers or that inspections cost too much.

A failed transaction costs time, and sometimes money. Also, a property that goes back on the market can carry a stigma. It's far better to deal with issues upfront.

Another reason deals fall apart is "buyer's remorse." That is, a buyer has second thoughts about going through with the purchase soon after the sellers accept his/her offer. Sellers should find out as much as they can about a buyer before accepting an offer.

For instance, why are they buying? Have they outgrown their present home? Have they been transferred into the area? How long have they been looking? Have they made offers on other houses? Why weren't their offers successful? Did they back out of other deals?

THE CLOSING: As tempting as it might be to accept an offer and be done with the marketing process, it does little good if you're back on the market shortly after acceptance. It takes committed buyers and sellers to close a real estate transaction.

Hymer is author of "House Hunting, The Take-Along Workbook for Home Buyers" and "Starting Out, The Complete Home Buyer's Guide," Chronicle Books.

Labels: Corona, Foreclosure, Home Prices, Inland Empire, Loan Modification, Moreno Valley, Murrieta, Real Estate, Riverside, Short Sales, Statistics, Temecula

Holiday season is the greatest gift for home shopping

Friday, November 17, 2006

By Robert J. Bruss
Inman News

During the slow home sales holiday season between Thanksgiving and New Year's Day, even extending through Super Bowl Sunday in many communities, few people think of buying a house or condominium. However, if you want to purchase a home and can drag yourself away from holiday festivities, this is the absolute best time of the entire year to be a home buyer.

Why is that, you ask? The answer has two parts:

1. Only serious motivated sellers have their houses and condominiums listed for sale during this slowest season of the year for home sales.

Competition from other prospective home buyers is at its lowest now so your purchase offer will be extremely welcome and seriously considered by a motivated home seller.

There is an additional reason 2006 year-end is an especially good time to be a home buyer.

That reason is it is a "buyer's market" in most cities, meaning there are more homes listed for sale today than there are qualified buyers in the market so sellers (and their listing agents) are extremely anxious.

It's a great time to be a home buyer. But not such a good time to be a home seller.

Before Shopping For A Home, Shop For A Mortgage

However, before rushing out to buy a house or condo, smart home buyers first get approved in writing for a home mortgage. This is a slow time of year for mortgage lenders so they welcome your loan application.

Although mortgage brokers can arrange mortgage pre-approvals, the letter or certificate must come from an actual lender, such as a bank or mortgage banker. Most home mortgage pre-approvals are valid for 60 to 90 days.

Don't even consider a mortgage "pre-qualification," which means only, "We looked at your loan application and you appear to qualify but we haven't actually verified your credit and income." In other words, a mortgage pre-qualification is worthless.

However, home buyers should understand a lender's mortgage pre-approval is subject to (a) the lender's appraisal of the home you decide to buy, and (b) reverification of your credit and income (don't apply for additional credit or go out and buy a new car before you complete your home purchase).

Work With An Experienced Buyer's Agent

After obtaining a written mortgage pre-approval from a lender, the next step to buying a home during this best time of the year to purchase is to work with an experienced buyer's agent who understands the market in the vicinity where you want to buy.

Ask friends, relatives and business associates for recommendations of buyer's agents. Although any licensed agent can be your buyer's agent, many agents prefer to list homes for sale rather than working with home buyers who are often "time wasters."

A buyer's agent costs nothing extra. The reason is the listing agent of the house or condo you purchase will split the sales commission with your buyer's agent. Only in the rare event you buy a "for sale by owner" (FSBO) home and the seller refuses to compensate your buyer's agent would you owe any sales commission.

Expect Your Buyer's Agent To Prepare A "CMA" Before Making Your Purchase Offer

When you find "the house" or "the condo" you want to buy, before making a purchase offer ask your buyer's agent to prepare a written CMA (comparative market analysis). This CMA is the same form the listing agent prepared for the seller when the house or condo was listed for sale.

However, your CMA will be up to date, whereas the seller's CMA might be several months old. The CMA shows (a) recent sales prices of comparable nearby residences within the last few months (never older than six months); (b) current asking prices of similar neighborhood homes now on the market for sale; and (c) asking prices of recently expired comparable listings (usually overpriced).

As a savvy home buyer, you probably will have inspected many of the homes on your CMA. With the help of your buyer's agent, you can use the CMA information to arrive at a fair purchase-price offer.

Many buyer's agents recommend making a purchase offer based on a per-square-foot basis. For example, if nearby homes of comparable quality construction recently sold for $150 per square foot, you might want to make your purchase offer based on $150 per square foot.

Be sure to attach a reasonable good faith deposit check to your purchase offer. If you are making an especially low offer far under the seller's asking price, a substantial deposit accompanying your offer will often convince the seller you are a serious buyer.

You can be sure your buyer's agent will use the CMA prepared for your use to show to the home seller and the listing agent to justify your purchase offer as being reasonable.

However, if the seller doesn't accept your purchase offer, a luxury of buying during this slow season is there are few other home buyers in the market. The result is you usually need not be in a rush to respond to a counteroffer or make a new purchase offer.

Waiting a few days to respond, presuming you still want to buy the residence, will often make the seller think, "That was a pretty good offer. Maybe I should have accepted it."

Keep Your Purchase Offer Simple

As experienced buyer's agents will tell you, it's best to keep your purchase offer as simple as possible. "A confused mind usually says no" is a very true motto. For this reason, it is best to include only a few contingency clauses in your purchase offer. Typical contingencies are:

1. LENDER'S APPRAISAL CONTINGENCY. Presuming you need a mortgage to finance your purchase, be sure to include a mortgage lender's appraisal contingency clause in the purchase offer. If the home doesn't appraise for at least the amount of your purchase offer that was accepted by the seller, then you don't have to complete the purchase and can get your good faith deposit fully refunded.

2. PROFESSIONAL HOME INSPECTION CONTINGENCY. Smart buyers make their home-purchase offers contingent on their approval of a professional home inspector's report to be obtained by the buyer after the seller accepts the purchase offer.

The cost is usually around $300. Buyers should always accompany their inspector for the two- to three-hour inspection because it is a good way to become familiar with the home and to discuss any unexpected material defects that are discovered.

A good source of experienced professional home inspectors is to hire a member of the American Society of Home Inspectors (ASHI). To find local ASHI inspectors, go to www.ashi.org or phone 1-800-743-2744.

If the professional inspection report reveals serious undisclosed home defects, as the buyer you can (a) cancel the purchase and obtain refund of your good faith deposit, (b) reopen negotiations with the seller to obtain a repair credit, or (c) if the seller refuses to renegotiate, go ahead with the purchase anyway (presuming you badly want the home).

3. SALE OF YOUR CURRENT HOME CONTINGENCY. During the last few years of a home "seller's market" in most cities, this contingency fell out of favor with home sellers and real estate agents. But during a buyer's market where any purchase offer is very welcome, many home sellers will accept a purchase offer that is contingent on the buyer's sale of their current home.

However, to be fair to the seller, most sellers will insist on keeping their homes listed on the market for sale while the buyer tries to sell his/her current home. In addition, most realty agents suggest a 48-hour or 72-hour contingency-release clause. That means if another buyer produces an offer acceptable to the seller, the first buyer then has 48 or 72 hours to remove his/her contingency clause for sale of their current residence.

SUMMARY: The season between Thanksgiving and New Year's Day, even extending to Super Bowl Sunday in many communities, is the slowest time of the year for home sales so it is an especially good time to be a home buyer.

Labels: Corona, Foreclosure, Home Prices, Inland Empire, Loan Modification, Moreno Valley, Murrieta, Real Estate, Riverside, Short Sales, Statistics, Temecula

Nice and quiet area of Norwalk- property nestled north of Imperial Hwy and west of the 605- she is a fixer with built in equity. Seller will look at all offers.

Bedrooms: 3. Baths: 1. Home size: 1,490. Lot size: 0.11

Year built: 1951. Pool: No Garage: 2-car. List Price: $479,900

Your home could be next. To get a free market analysis, or for other local real estate information call Scott Chappell's & Brian Bean's 24-hour hotline at (800) 941-1900. It's a community service offered by one of Riverside's leading real estate teams.

Ask about Scott & Brian's 100% satisfaction Guarantee program. If you aren't satisfied they'll refund their commission.

Labels: Corona, Foreclosure, Home Prices, Inland Empire, Loan Modification, Moreno Valley, Murrieta, Real Estate, Riverside, Short Sales, Statistics, Temecula

A little fix-up work is all that's required of sellers

Monday, November 13, 2006

By Dian Hymer
Inman News

Staging a house for sale is a concept foreign to many home sellers. But, it has been immensely popular in the San Francisco Bay Area where sellers have reaped huge benefits from their efforts.

You don't have to fix up your home before selling. A home can be sold in virtually any condition, if it's priced right. There are basically two reasons why sellers go to the effort and expense to prepare their homes for sale. One is that it helps to bring a higher price. The other is that it usually results in a quicker sale.

It's imperative to make cost-effective cosmetic improvements in order to realize an increase in profit when you sell. Major renovations made just before selling -- such as completely remodeling kitchens and bathrooms -- are not cost-effective. Although they improve the appeal of the home, you aren't likely to recoup the full amount of your investment on a quick turnaround.

But other cosmetic improvements such as refinishing hardwood floors, replacing outdated floor coverings, removing old window coverings (and leaving them off, in most cases), replacing outmoded light fixtures and painting are worth the money. The reason such fix-ups tend to bring a higher price is that most people have difficulty imagining what a house will look like fixed up. You do the fix-up work so that you don't leave the sale of the house to chance.

Fixer-uppers appeal only to certain buyers who usually want a break on the price to compensate for the condition of the property. By sprucing the property up for sale, you appeal to a much broader audience. The more interest there is, the more chance there is for a sale at a higher price.

The goal of fixing up a house for sale is to get it into move-in condition. Let's say your home has an older, dated kitchen. In its present condition, it's a turnoff to buyers who haven't the time and resources to remodel it. By painting outdated cabinets, painting the walls in a trendy decorator color, changing cabinet knobs, updating light fixtures, changing the floor and adding stainless-steel appliances, your kitchen won't be new. But, it will appear fresh and inviting.

You make cosmetic improvements to overcome buyers' objections. If you sold your home with a dismal kitchen, most buyers would discount the house because they couldn't live with the kitchen.

You open your home up to a larger pool of buyers by doing the improvements mentioned above. Rather than rejecting the house, buyers feel they can move right in without first having to a lot of work. And, you accomplish this without major remodeling; just sprucing the home up to an acceptable level.

HOME SELLER TIP: Sellers often resist spending money on a property they're selling. This is particularly so in the current market, where they may have less chance of receiving multiple offers and a generous price. However, properly preparing your home for sale can give you an advantage in today's challenging market.

Buyers are pickier than they were a year ago when home prices were rising quickly. Currently, appreciation is flat, at best. Many buyers are concerned that prices are falling. So, their enthusiasm for paying huge prices regardless of the condition of the property has waned. Buyers are looking for value.

Getting a house fixed up for sale takes time and money. A good real estate agent can be an invaluable ally in this endeavor. In fact, you should consult with your agent before embarking on any projects to ensure that you make value-enhancing improvements.

THE CLOSING: Resist the temptation to show your home before it's ready. You could lose a prospective buyer who can't visualize how your house will look after the improvements are done.

Hymer is author of "House Hunting, The Take-Along Workbook for Home Buyers" and "Starting Out, The Complete Home Buyer's Guide," Chronicle Books.

Labels: Corona, Foreclosure, Home Prices, Inland Empire, Loan Modification, Moreno Valley, Murrieta, Real Estate, Riverside, Short Sales, Statistics, Temecula

Great location for this majestic two story beauty located in South Corona. Situated close to the 91 freeway as well as schools and shopping. The brick walkway to the the double doors in the entrance is accentuated by the mature queen palm trees lined in the front yard with brick flowers beds. Ceramic tile in the open foyer provides an open airy bright feeling in the formal living room. The large master bedroom suite is a perfect sanctuary to relax in. Neutral colors throughout the home make this a turn key home. Pride of ownership shines through.

Bedrooms: 4. Baths: 3. Home size: 3,266. Lot size: .17

Year built: 1998. Pool: No. Garage: 3-car. List price: $699,900

For 24-hour recorded information about this home call (800) 941-1900. ext 879

Your home could be next. To get a free market analysis, or for other local real estate imformation call Scott Chappell's & Brian Bean's 24-hour hotline at (800) 941-1900. It's a community service offered by one of Riverside's leading real estate teams.

Ask about Scott & Brian's 100% satisfaction Guarantee program. If you aren't satisfied, they'll refund thier commission

Labels: Corona, Foreclosure, Home Prices, Inland Empire, Loan Modification, Moreno Valley, Murrieta, Real Estate, Riverside, Short Sales, Statistics, Temecula

Extra points paid by sellers can provide same cost savings as reducing home's list price

Thursday, November 02, 2006

By Matt Carter
Inman News

With housing inventories in many markets on the rise, it's not unusual for sellers to offer buyers incentives ranging from paying their closing costs or homeowners association dues to free gardening and pool-cleaning services.
Many buyers aren't swayed by such offers. What they are looking for is a reduction in asking price.

So sellers are dusting off an old tool from the days of high interest rates that can give buyers a break on their mortgage payments: the interest-rate buy-down.

By agreeing to pay lenders extra points up front, sellers can secure thousands of dollars in savings for buyers, equivalent to a much larger reduction in asking price.

For about $18,000, a seller can permanently buy down the interest rate of a $450,000, 30-year loan a full percentage point, shaving $289 a month off the buyer's mortgage payments, said Joe Carroll, of Metrocities Mortgage.

That assumes a 10 percent down payment on a $500,000 home, with a 6.5 percent interest rate before the buy-down. In order to give the buyer the equivalent savings through a price reduction, the seller would have to cut his/her price by $45,800, Carroll said.

"As a rule of thumb, you basically need twice the price reduction to equal the buy-down's advantage," said Carroll, Metrocities' Southern California region first vice president.

Once fairly commonplace, buy-downs all but disappeared during the boom years in the housing market, when interest rates were falling, prices were climbing, and sellers in many regions could count on receiving multiple offers.

"If you mention buy-downs to a group of Realtors or loan officers, half of them won't know what you're talking about," Carroll said. "It's something we've had to dust off because the market dictates it. Now that the buyers are more in control, we use it as a tool prior to a price reduction."

Loan consultant Jillie Diane of Cal Metro Mortgage Services in Palm Desert, recently used an interest-rate buy-down on the sale of a $309,000 home. The seller paid 2 points -- about $5,000 -- for a 75 basis-point interest-rate reduction on a 30-year fixed-rate loan that will save the buyer $121 a month, she said. Cal Metro is a joint venture of Metrocities and Windermere Real Estate.

"I think this is the best tool out there for agents and sellers, because it's costing the seller less money to do a buy-down than it would for a price reduction, and it can make a huge difference for the buyer," Diane said. "The buyer can buy more house, because it moves the buyer into a higher price range."

Realtor Michael Weitzel of Windermere Real Estate represented the buyer. Weitzel said he'd never used a buy-down as a negotiating tool.

"I wrote it into the contract and they (the sellers) didn't even blink an eye or ask about it," Weitzel said. "I was surprised they went ahead and did it without a problem," especially because the seller also agreed to connect the house to the local sewer system at a cost of about $15,000.

"It was a bit of a stretch for my buyer to get into the house, so it was good for him to get a buy-down," Weitzel said.

Quicken Loans, which claims to be the nation's largest online lender, is among a number of other lenders marketing interest-rate buy-downs.

"Sellers' concessions of this variety are something we have been recommending to people since the housing pendulum began swinging from the seller's to the buyer's market," said Quicken spokesman Michael J. Dunklee. "It is a win-win situation."

But interest-rate buy-downs can be difficult to explain, said Anthony Marguleas, the broker-owner of Los Angeles-based Amalfi Estates and Amalfi Mortgage.

"Most lenders probably won't go for it," Marguleas said. "Of those who have offered it, who has actually done it? It's too difficult a concept for most people to grasp, whether agents, buyers or sellers."

It's hard to explain an interest-rate buy-down in an MLS listing, Marguleas said, noting that agents will instantly see a reduction in asking price, but only those already interested in buying a property will notice an offer of an interest-rate buy-down as an incentive.

A seller's offer to consider an interest-rate buy-down smacks of "desperation … similar to offering a free Hawaii vacation or a bonus to the buyer or their agent if the home sells by a certain date," Marguleas said. The concept has to be explained to individual buyers at settings like open houses, he said.

Carroll and Diane acknowledged they do have to educate buyers, sellers and agents, but said the interest-rate buy-down is not a difficult concept for most people to grasp.

Metrocities produces brochures for distribution at open houses and provides agents with riders for yard signs that inform buyers that special financing is available, Carroll said.

"For the last few months, I've been educating agents I work with about buy-downs," Diane said. "In this case, the agent educated the buyer on how a buy-down works, then wrote it into the offer to the seller."

A good time to raise the issue of buy-downs is when prequalifying buyers, Diane said, when loan consultants can "show not only the agent but the buyer the difference this might make to them."

Interest-rate buy-downs can be permanent or temporary (a buy-down that's phased out over three years is common). Diane said she doesn't believe in temporary buy-downs because they require buyers to "bank on unknowns."

For now, interest-rate buy-downs are used on less than 5 percent of the loans Metrocities and its partners make, Carroll said.

"You can count the number of buy-downs going through the shop right now on two hands," Carroll said. "But the astute agent is using them to keep more money in the seller's pocket, and get something for the buyer when they don't think the seller is ready to make a heavy price reduction."

American Home Bank has a number of mortgage lending joint ventures with builders who have been using temporary 3-2-1 and 2-1 interest-rate buy-downs as incentives. In a 3-2-1 buy-down, the interest rate is reduced by 3 percent the first year, 2 percent the second year, and 1 percent the third year. A 2-1 buy-down lasts for two years, with a 2 percent reduction the first year and a 1 percent the second.

"The lower rate really sparked in interest and helped our builders sell a lot of homes" in Virginia, Delaware, Pennsylvania and Maryland, said Paul Fazzini, vice president of joint venture development at American Home Bank. The builders purchased a "forward," a block of money that's used to secure multiple buy-downs at a discounted rate, Fazzini said.

"It was extremely popular when first offered in July, and has tapered off a little bit," Fazzini said. But interest-rate buy-downs remain a good tool for builders or any seller looking for ways to help their properties stand apart from similar listings, he said.

Labels: Corona, Foreclosure, Home Prices, Inland Empire, Loan Modification, Moreno Valley, Murrieta, Real Estate, Riverside, Short Sales, Statistics, Temecula

Slowdown greatest in Riverside, Sacramento, San Diego regions; but there is a silver lining

Monday, October 30, 2006

Inman News

The number of residential building permits issued in California in September dropped to the lowest level for that month since 1996, the Construction Industry Research Board reported, and fell 46.6 percent compared with September 2005.

The number of single-family building permits issued in the state dropped 56.7 percent in September compared with September 2005 and was down 15 percent compared with August. For the first nine months of the year, the number of single-family building permits issued has dropped 28.7 percent compared with the first nine months of 2005.

Meanwhile, the number of multifamily permits issued in the state fell 21.2 percent in September compared with September 2005, dropped 9.7 percent compared with August, and rose 4.1 percent in the first nine months of the year compared with the first nine months of 2005.

What's the good news? Depends on your perspective. Right now, it's a great time to be a buyer because of a high supply and low demand in comparison with last year. Builders are among the best buys right now because of all the incentives they are offering. But when the builders finally sell all their current inventory, they will be less likely to offer all the great incentives and interest-rate buydowns, and they will become less competition for resale-home sellers. That's good news for sellers.

There were 11,590 total single-family and multifamily building permits issued in September, down 12.9 percent compared with August and down 20.5 percent for the first nine months of 2006 compared with the first nine months of 2005.

Alan Nevin, chief economist for the California Building Industry Association trade group, said in a statement that new-home construction in the state is expected to continue cooling off for the remainder of 2006.

"Permit activity through September indicates that California will achieve our forecasted level of 180,000 units permitted in 2006," Nevin said.

"As expected, the single-family sector remains challenged as home builders work toward reducing their year-end inventory. Almost half of the decline in single-family units permitted was in the Riverside-San Bernardino, Sacramento and San Diego areas. "Most of the balance of the state has seen significantly fewer declines. In other words, the other 55 counties in California evidenced a decline of single-family permits averaging 20 percent," Nevin added.

He also said that multifamily construction starts are expected to total between 45,000 to 55,000 units this year, which is roughly even with last year's levels, while single-family starts are expected to reach a level of 125,000 to 135,000, down from 155,000 last year.

Wes Keusder, 2007 CBIA chairman and a Southern California home builder, said in a statement, "We have definitely been experiencing a cooling off this year. Last year we had a waiting list of buyers interested in our homes before they were even built. This year, however, it seems as though we're the ones who are waiting."

The California Building Industry Association is a statewide trade association representing about 6,700 businesses, including home builders, remodelers, subcontractors, architects, engineers, designers, and other industry professionals.

The Construction Industry Research Board (CIRB) is a nonprofit research center established in 1974 to provide statistical information on the California building and construction industry. More information is available on the CIRB Web site, www.cirbdata.com.

Labels: Corona, Foreclosure, Home Prices, Inland Empire, Loan Modification, Moreno Valley, Murrieta, Real Estate, Riverside, Short Sales, Statistics, Temecula