Friday, December 09, 2005

Real Estate News for Friday, December 9th, 2005

Sorry about the missed post yesterday! Here is today's post though!

Golden State real estate gets more costly. Housing affordability in California dropped several notches from October 2004 to October 2005, the California Association of Realtors reported Thursday. The percentage of households in California able to afford a median-priced home stood at 15 percent in October, a 4 percentage-point decrease compared to October 2005. This October Housing Affordability Index was unchanged from September, when it also stood at 15 percent, the state Realtor group also reported. CAR's monthly housing affordability index measures the percentage of households that can afford to purchase a median-priced home in California. CAR also reports housing affordability indexes for regions and select counties within the state. Click here to read more.

10 Most Influential Real Estate People of 2005. Perspective: Leaders, luminaries and notorious names we won't forget. Inman News this year compiled a list of the 100 most influential people in real estate, reflecting the industry's best and brightest, as well as outside figures whose actions influence the home buying and selling business. Erin Toll, Alan Greenspan, Mike Long, Mark Lesswing, Joshua Sharfman, Alphonso Jackson, Lauris Janik, Angelo Mozilo, U.S. Justice Department's Antitrust Division officials, and Stuart Wolff and Peter Tafeen, former Homestore executives. Click here to read more.

Will the notoriously cyclical real estate industry ever go bust? Not very soon. Last week, the National Association of REITs reported that shares of property-owning REITs (Real Estate Investment Trusts) have returned 12.4% this year, including dividends. If things stay on track in December, this will be the sixth straight year that NAREIT's bricks-and-mortar index will have outrun the S&P 500, which is up just 4.4% for the year. (If you add in the meager dividends paid by the stocks in the S&P 500 index, they returned 6.1%.) Click here to read more.

Knowledge is power for first-time home buyers. What is a mortgage? Most people can't hand over a $500,000 check to purchase a home. They must borrow from someone who'll want collateral. The mortgage is a written document that creates a lien on real estate as security for the payment of a specified debt. (In California, this is referred to as a Deed of Trust.) This is accompanied by a separate document called a mortgage note, which is a written agreement to repay a loan. The note states the actual amount of the debt that the mortgage secures and the manner in which it shall be paid. Click here to read more.

~Tina Jan~
Coldwell Banker Kivett-Teeters
1655 E. Sixth St.
Beaumont, CA 92223
Work: 951-845-5520 Ext. 105
Fax: 951-845-4916
Cell: 909-446-2666
Toll-Free: 1-877-TINAJAN
tina.jan@coldwellbanker.com
www.tinajan.com

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