I'm More Of A Purist...
... I prefer the *sniff* method - or maybe even a dab on the tongue. But for those of you without a since of adventure, there's the:
Table of Condiments
(That Periodically Go Bad)
« January 2008 | Main | March 2008 »
February 28, 2008
February 26, 2008
California January 2008 Home Sales
Found in DQNews (re: CA Home Sales)
A total of 19,145 new and resale houses and condos were sold statewide last month. That's the lowest number for any month in DataQuick's records, which go back to 1988. It was 25.2 percent lower than December's 25,585 and 41.0 percent lower than 32,425 for January last year.The median price paid for a home last month was $383,000, down 4.7 percent from $402,000 for the month before, and down 17.1 percent from $462,000 for January a year ago. The median peaked last March/April/May at $484,000.
Much of the drop in median is due shifts in the types of homes selling, and how those homes are financed. Last month 17.6 percent of the state's financed home purchases were purchased with "jumbo" loans over $417,000. A year ago it was 36.2 percent.
The typical mortgage payment that home buyers committed themselves to paying last month was $1,743. That was down from $1,878 in December, and down from $2,155 for January a year ago. Adjusted for inflation, mortgage payments are 18.2 percent below the spring 1989 peak of the prior real estate cycle. They are 29.3 percent below the current cycle's peak in June 2006.
In reading the last paragraph one could be easy fooled into thinking that home prices have dropped 30%, and that buying a home now is more affordable than it's been in 20+ years. In fact, the paragraph preceeding the last qualifies this drop in mortgage payments as a shift in the types of homes that are being purchased. Don't be fooled my friends, there is still a lot of blood to be shed. The homes we desire have not seen this magnatude of depreciation... yet.
February 24, 2008
Just Ram It!
February 18, 2008
The SubPrime Screw Up - EXPOSED
Click on the sketch below to see how It all went down:
... what a mess.
February 13, 2008
4-Year Low!
County's median house prices hit 4-year low
By Roger Showley
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
11:29 a.m. February 12, 2008
San Diego County median home prices dipped $1,000 from December to January to a four-year-low of $429,000, DataQuick Information Systems reported Tuesday. Sales activity of 1,826 transactions was the second lowest for any month on record.The overall median was down 17.1 percent from the peak set in November 2005 of $517,500, while the monthly sales count was off 72.4 percent from the monthly peak of 6,605 set in August 2003.
Steep declines were concentrated in the resale house category, whose median dropped $19,500 from December to $451,500, the lowest since February 2004, and down 16.4 percent from the year-ago level of $540,000. The 995 sales recorded in January were the lowest since DataQuick began keeping records in 1988.
Resale condos also showed a decline. The median price stood at $300,000, compared with $311,000 in December and $380,000 a year ago, a 30 percent slide. Sales totaled 443, down from 521 in December and 633 a year ago.
February 11, 2008
Umm... I wouldn't say their burritos are the best...
... but their menu sign should have been my first clue.