Located on the tax-free Nevada side of Lake Tahoe, this 210-acre property has a 20,000-square-foot main house, a 3,500-bottle wine cellar, an indoor swimming pool and atrium, and a 19-seat movie theater. Price tag: $100 million. This year, the country's priciest properties include William Randolph Hearst's $165 million Beverly Hills, Calif., mansion; a $135 million Aspen, Colo., ranch; and a $125 million Versailles-inspired estate in Beverly Hills, Calif. Why such price acceleration in the top-flight market? The simple answer: A good mega-mansion is hard to find. Click here to read more from
USA Today.
According to a
recent article from CNNMoney, for those in the real estate industry and for those looking to buy or sell a home, it could take until 2009 to catch a break. That's the forecast from Doug Duncan, chief economist for the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), who will present his outlook to an auditorium full of real estate professionals on Wednesday morning. There's one group of home buyers, home sellers and loan originators who will have an easier time of it than everyone else: those dealing with "anything that's conventional and conforming," Duncan said. In other words, 30-year fixed rate mortgages for borrowers with good credit under the "jumbo" cutoff of $417,000. His forecast for long-term mortgage rates: an increase from 6.4 percent currently to 6.6 percent by early 2008.
Southern California home sales plummeted in September to the lowest level in two decades, with economists predicting Tuesday the market could stagger even more as skittish lenders balk at financing homes. A total of 12,455 new and resale houses and condos were sold in September in Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego, Ventura, San Bernardino and Orange counties, according to DataQuick Information Systems. It was the slowest month since the firm began keeping records in 1988, DataQuick said. The previous low was in February 1995 when 12,459 homes sold. Click here to read more from The
San Jose Mercury News.
For those of you in the real estate industry, here is a
reassuring article. Sometimes all you need is a little unbiased encouragement! There are also some fundamental ideas that hold true no matter what the market condition is like,
click here to read more.
Looks like homebuilders are bummed out too. Homebuilders are getting gloomier about the slumping housing market, as a 22-year-old index that tracks their sentiment set a new record low Tuesday. The National Association of Home Builders said its housing market index, which tracks builders' perceptions of conditions and expectations for home sales over the next six months, fell two points to 18 in October, the lowest level since the index began in Jan. 1985. It was the eighth straight monthly decline. Seiders projected that sales will stabilize in the next six months and show "significant improvement" in the second half of next year. Tighter lending standards, rising defaults among borrowers with weak credit and falling prices for existing homes have meant fewer buyers for struggling homebuilders such as D.R. Horton Inc., Lennar Corp., Centex Corp. and Toll Brothers Inc.
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
