Los Angeles Real Estate

Here's a recent article on why it's so hard to get loans for condos and townhouses. Tighter lending standards are coming down the pipeline and FHA is responding to all the bad loans they made in the past. It's not going to be a merry season in the first quarter of next year for first time home buyers. Hopefully they will ease up the lending conditions as the economy continues to recover from the recession. Here's the link...

http://www.dailybulletin.com/business/ci_13947662

I hope this helps to give you a better picture of what is going on in the Local Los Angeles and San Fernando Valley Housing Market.

Paul Aragon was voted one of the top two realtors in all of Los Angeles County by the 2008 Daily News Reader's Choice Awards.

He gladly gives free advice on real estate transactions, contracts, and lending. He can be reached a www.AragonEstates.com or at Paul@AragonEstates.com

New home buyers get a sigh of relief...the federal tax credit will be extended through April 30, 2010, with a 60-day extension if a binding contract is in place prior to the deadline. First-time home buyers will continue to be eligible for a tax credit of up to $8,000, while existing homeowners will be eligible for a reduced credit of up to $6,500.

To qualify for the $6,500 credit, existing homeowners must have lived in their current residences for at least five years. The bill also increases the qualifying income limits from $75,000 for single tax filers and $150,000 for joint filers to $125,000 and $225,000, respectively. The purchase price of the home is capped at $800,000 in both instances.

I hope this helps to give you a better picture of what is going on in the Local Los Angeles and San Fernando Valley Housing Market.

Paul Aragon was voted one of the top two realtors in all of Los Angeles County by the 2008 Daily News Reader's Choice Awards.

He gladly gives free advice on real estate transactions, contracts, and negotiating the best deal. He can be reached a www.AragonEstates.com or at Paul@AragonEstates.com

Real Estate Update...statistics support a change in the housing market towards a seller's market again. Even though new inventory is coming on the market, buyers are buying them up faster than they are arriving which is causing the inventory to drop. Escrows are up, inventory is going down and the prices of homes for most segments of the market have stabilized...for now. Here's a link with the facts...

Click Here

Paul Aragon was voted one of the top two realtors in all of Los Angeles County by the 2008 Daily News Reader's Choice Awards.

He gladly gives free advice on real estate transactions, contracts, and negotiating the best deal. He can be reached a www.AragonEstates.com or at Paul@AragonEstates.com

Take a day off your home searching and stop by a local Krispy Kreme or Dunkin Donuts for your free donut. The offer is only good for today, so hurry over there.

Krispy Kreme Link

Dunkin Donuts Link 

Paul Aragon was voted one of the top two realtors in all of Los Angeles County by the 2008 Daily News Reader's Choice Awards.

He gladly gives free advice on real estate transactions, contracts, and negotiating the best deal. He can be reached a www.AragonEstates.com or at Paul@AragonEstates.com

First time home buyes can now use the $8,000 tax credit towards their down payment, closing costs, or buying down their interest rate to yield lower monthly payments. Previously, home buyers could only realize the benefits on next year's taxes.

This is a great program to help first time home buyers get into the value properties that exist today. Although the program was recently approved, it still needs to be implemented to the public. You can email me or give me a call to keep you abreast of these great government home buying incentives.

Following is a link to more specific terms of the program

Click Here

Paul Aragon was voted one of the top two realtors in all of Los Angeles County by the 2008 Daily News Reader's Choice Awards.

He gladly gives free advice on real estate transactions, contracts, and negotiating the best deal. He can be reached a www.AragonEstates.com or at Paul@AragonEstates.com

Sales of existing single-family homes in the San Fernando Valley soared by 53.8 percent during March as buyers continued to take advantage of favorable resale prices, the Southland Regional Association of Realtors reported...

For the full article, click below

Click Here 

Paul Aragon was voted one of the top two realtors in all of Los Angeles County by the 2008 Daily News Reader's Choice Awards.

He gladly gives free advice on real estate transactions, contracts, and negotiating the best deal. He can be reached a www.AragonEstates.com or at Paul@AragonEstates.com

Many buyers are finding it difficult to purchase a home because they get outbid by numerous other buyers wanting the same home. This trend is increasing dramatically in Los Angeles below the $400,000 price range.

An article at the L.A. Times documents what many dismayed home buyers are experiencing which is opposite of what you hear in most of the major news stations- that the market is still on a downturn.

Being in this industry FULL time (100+ hours a week) allows me to truly immerse myself in the market statistics to reveal a more realistic picture for my clients. When they ask me if we can find a home at 50% off, I explain to them that most homes for sale are already 50% of what they were 4 years ago...then I show them the statistics to prove this point.

When looking for homes to purchase, your best strategy is to be realistic about MARKET CONDITIONS and MARKET COMPARABLES. This industry used to be driven by sellers about 4 years ago- now it's driven by APPRAISALS. If you want to purchase a home of your dreams, you NEED to know what it will appraise for so you

1) Can understand if the listing is below market value- at which point it will have multiple offers.

2) Can be sure that your offer doesn't go over appraised value- at which point your loan will not fund unless you bring in the monetary difference between what the appraisal stated and the asking price.

3) Keep your feet on the ground so you don't get caught in the hype of bidding wars.

Below is a link to the article in the L.A. Times.

I hope this article helps you get into the home you truly desire!

Click Here For Article 

Paul Aragon was voted one of the top two realtors in all of Los Angeles County by the 2008 Daily News Reader's Choice Awards.

He gladly gives free advice on real estate transactions, contracts, and negotiating the best deal. He can be reached a www.AragonEstates.com or at Paul@AragonEstates.com

To all you eco-warriors out there...I discovered that some Target stores have a collection bin for used batteries. Now you don't have to throw them in the trash and have their toxic elements leak into the ground. If you want to know other local places you can drop off your toxic waste, visit the link below...and tell your friends!

http://www.facebook.com/ext/share.php?sid=77244030949&h=G5cmV&u=eFad7&ref=mf

Here's a map that keeps track of the incidences of swine flu and the deaths associated with this flu. It might be good to keep this link for future reference.

http://www.aragonestates.com/swine-flu-map

I had known a client for 2 years and had shown him properties way back when the dinosaurs roamed the earth (pre-mortgage meltdown). Life took a turn and he decided not to buy at that time, but I kept in contact with him through emails and postcards.

After stepping out of his time capsule and the influences of the news media, he decided to go through the process again. We made offers on seven homes and lost out to the properties due to multiple offer situations (every offer was above asking price.) The eighth was a charm and we entered escrow 37 days ago.

Through the whole transaction, he kept asking, "When is the $h!t going to hit the fan. We've been moving smoothly and I have friends warning me that my realtor must be lying to me because every transaction has problems."

I told him that the reason we didn't get into the other 7 properties was simple- it was not meant to be...

- We had a budget we wouldn't go over

- We never countered with more than we could afford AND no more than the house would appraise at

- We had home specifications we absolutely needed

- We had neighborhood considerations we needed

- We had an FHA loan that wouldn't fund if there were items missing in the house

- We got DU approval on the loan BEFORE we made any of our offers

- We submitted ALL tax information, employment information (including phone number of human resources departments for verification of employment)

Plain and simple, we had all our ducks in a row. I told him, "It's because you trusted my judgement and direction which brings us to the close of our escrow today. You knew it would be a journey which required active participation on your part- I drilled that into you before we even stepped into the first house."

If you folllow these steps, you too can come to the same conclusion of your journey...a smooth and stress free closing.

I hope this helps to give you a better picture of what is going on in the Local Los Angeles and San Fernando Valley Housing Market.

Paul Aragon was voted one of the top two realtors in all of Los Angeles County by the 2008 Daily News Reader's Choice Awards.

He gladly gives free advice on real estate transactions, contracts, and negotiating the best deal. He can be reached a www.AragonEstates.com or at Paul@AragonEstates.com

Is the bottom of the real estate market near. Here are the local charts that show specific trends toward what everyone is waiting for.

http://www.srar.com/members/stats/charts/2009/february/SFVGraphs.pdf

Included is a link to some recent charts showing just how competitive the market is. Compared to last year in February versus this year in February...
the number of homes sold has INCREASED:
976% for single family homes below 250k
385% for homes between 250k to 350k
and is about the same for homes between 350k to 450k

These charts are hard evidence that the bottom has already hit in this region and the trends are such that home prices at these ranges have already shown stability and growth.


I hope this helps to give you a better picture of what is going on in the Local Los Angeles and San Fernando Valley Housing Market.

Paul Aragon was voted one of the top two realtors in all of Los Angeles County by the 2008 Daily News Reader's Choice Awards.

He gladly gives free advice on real estate transactions, contracts, and negotiating the best deal. He can be reached a www.AragonEstates.com or at Paul@AragonEstates.com

Yesterday, the U.S. Senate passed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

The new stimulus bill is slated to increase the first-time home buyer credit from $7,500 to $8,000, and also removes the requirement that the credit needs to be paid back if the buyer stays in the home for at least three years. It also extends the expiration date for the credit from July 1 to Dec. 1, 2009.  New homebuyers must have bought their home after Jan. 1, 2009, and before Dec. 1, 2009 for eligibility of the $8,000 credit.

If you 'd like to learn more on how to take advantage of this credit and other tax incentives for homeowners, please give me a call and I can refer you to some free information sources.

Paul Aragon was voted one of the top two realtors in all of Los Angeles County by the 2008 Daily News Reader's Choice Awards.

He gladly gives free advice on real estate transactions, contracts, and negotiating the best deal. He can be reached a www.AragonEstates.com or at Paul@AragonEstates.com

There are numerous fees that go into the term "Closing Costs" associated with a real estate tranaction. Many people feel that brokers, agents, or other parties can negotiate all these fees lower just like the purchase price is negotiated. This is far from the truth.

These fees are the accumulation of ALL the departments, entities, vendors, lenders, and licensed brokerages that interact toward helping close the transaction. There are numereous fees that are difficult to understand by just their title, so I've compiled a short glossary to help explain much of what you might see.

For The PDF File Of Closing Cost Items, Click Here

Paul Aragon was voted one of the top two realtors in all of Los Angeles County by the 2008 Daily News Reader's Choice Awards.

He gladly gives free advice on real estate transactions, contracts, and negotiating the best deal. He can be reached a www.AragonEstates.com or at Paul@AragonEstates.com