Right now in the Sacramento real estate market, the banks are running the show.  Write a contract and, if it’s accepted, you’ll get back a lengthy disclosure/counter offer from the bank with a litany of items not included in the normal California Association of Realtors contracts and much redundant information you’ve already signed.

It will seem as if you don’t have any choice in the matter of what you must agree to in order to buy a home.  One of the conditions of every bank owned transaction I’ve particiapted in is that the buyer doesn’t have a choice as to what title company will be used.  If the buyer is committed to the home, I don’t care what title company is used as long as the transaction closes and my buyer gets the home.

Because banks are working with so many homes, they have created relationships with title companies in exchange for a volume break on prices or they have a stake of some sort in the company.  They steer the transaction, XYZ title company gets the business.

This can cause some issues especially when the title company is another state or region of the same state.  I’ve got an escrow now and the title company is in Fresno.  The communication started out terrible but has improved and I think we’ll close on time but I’ve had to ride them pretty hard to get what I need to do my job.  As my son says, “sometimes that happens”.  At 4, that’s a pretty advanced philosophy.  I encourage that.

RESPA

Here’s the benefit to the buyer for allowing the bank to steer where the escrow will be serviced.  The law states that if the seller selects the title company, they can’t force the buyer to pay for the title insurance.  The seller can’t require it as a condition of sale of 1 to 4 residential properties.  The law is called RESPA or the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act.  (Click here to find many resources for RESPA.)

If the seller is found to have forced the buyer to purchase title insurance from a specific title company as a condition of sale, they can be liable for up to 3 times the amount of the insurance as well as other penalties.  While for most banks this isn’t a lot of money and not many people are jumping up and down at HUD for violations, it is a nice piece of information to have should the subject come up.

If you feel this has happened in your transaction, click here to file a complaint with the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

This could save you some money getting into your new home.  It’s the good part of my job, saving people money where I can.

The family and I went to Strikes again this Sunday for the Sunday morning before 11am special.  I had thought, as the ad said, that they were discontinuing this special as of 12/21/08 but they carried it forward making it a great value for a Sunday morning time out.  The playoff games were on as well, that was a bonus.

Here are some more specials I got while I was there:

Family Night Special - Monday through Wednesday from 3pm to 6pm.  An hour and a half of bowling and shoe rental for up to 6 people, one 16″ cheese pizza, one pitcher of soda and one $5 arcade card good toward the Rock Wall, Laser Tag or arcade games just $39.95.

Early Bird Special - Saturday and Sunday 9am to 11am.  $1.50 per game and $1.50 shoe rental.

Late Nights - Sunday through Thursday after 930pm.  $2.50 per game, $3 shoe rental or $12.50 for unlimited games and shoe rental.

Great place to go for family entertainment and sports.  There are flat screens every where.  It’s awesome.

I’m going to start tracking inventory levels in the two counties that I predominantly work in  as well as providing the information for the average home listed in each county.

With the moratoriums that have been placed on foreclosures over the last quarter of 2008, it will be interesting to see where we were before they were lifted.  From all indications, there may be a lot of inventory coming on the market in the coming months but we won’t know until we get there.  Overall, at this point, inventory levels are down from the summer of 2008, that is to be expected given the moratoriums.

How many homes there are for sale combined with the pace of sales (are the sales keeping pace with homes coming on the market, reducing the inventory or is the inventory increasing despite the sales volume) all weigh in to ultimately what values will do.  This is simple economics of supply and demand.

The inventory levels stated here should be deemed accurate but not exact as there are sales that occur outside of the multiple listing service where this information is derived.

Sacramento County Active Listings

As of today at 9:45am, and it changes every hour, the total active listings for Sacramento county is 6540 single family homes for sale in all statuses.  This is the bulk of the market and fluctuates so it’s only completely relevant the moment it’s taken.

The average home for sale in the County looks like this:

3 bedrooms, 2.29 baths, 1773 square feet priced at $262,563.  This average home has been on the market for a combined 122 days.

A home like this is clearly over priced as a properly priced home should sell much more quickly but it serves as an indication of where the market is for Sacramento county.

Placer County Active Listings

Placer county, as most know, is much more rural and less populated than Sacramento county.  The average prices in Placer county are higher than in Sacramento county.

As of today at 9:50am, there were 1980 active listings in Placer county.  Of these listings, the average home for sale looks like this:

4 bedrooms, 2.93 baths, 2571 square feet priced at $551,340 and has been on the market for a combined days of 149.

Throughout the year, every month, I’ll post a new article about active listings in each county.  Again this will be great information as we begin to come out of this crisis into a normal market.  Honestly, having said that, I don’t know if we’ve had a normal market since I’ve been in the industry.  What the heck is a normal market anyway?

May this year be better than last year.  I was considering doing a peice on last year but I thought I’d leave “the dead to the dead”, so to speak.

Some Changes

You may have noticed a few changes on my site over the last couple weeks.  Since ceasing working on CapitolCityForeclosures, I’ve been working toward making this site better for all who visit.

With that goal in mind, if you have any suggestions as to what you’d like to see that would make your experience here better, provide more resources for you  or any suggestion at all, please feel free to comment on this article.  Any comments are appreciated.

Once again, Happy New Year to you and yours.

Rob Saxe

I’ve been to the Horseshoe Bar and Grill many times and it’s always been the place to go in Loomis.  That said, Loomis isn’t teeming with night life but the ” ‘Shoe” gives the downtown area new life especially with a special menu for New Years Eve.

On New Years Eve, they are offering a special, 4 course meal at $50 per person.  The regular menu will not be available but no matter what they are serving, it will be worth the time and money.  The food here is very good.

The meal begins with Butternut Squash Raviolis in a sweet and sour pear emulsion. Then they throw Ahi Tuna Lollipops at you followed by a Coriander Crusted Lamb Loin. That’s just course #1.

For reservations, and I recommend that you make them, call 916-652-4100.  Ask for Brandee, she’ll do her best to take care of you.

Click here to find out more.