September 2020
In Terms of Home Buying or Selling
New remote work opportunities have some people reconsidering their living situation. Many buyers choose a location with their commute in mind, but now that people can work remotely they are looking to move to places where they can get more square footage for less, set up their own workspaces, and get more yard for their pets.
The hottest commodity of 2020 is the home office. According to a new REALTOR.com survey, 45% of 2,000 potential home shoppers said that they converted an existing room into a home office and over 20% cited a home office as their next house's must-have feature.
Next in desirability was a garage, and an updated kitchen, followed by an open concept floor plan and a larger yard. In other words, expect new builds to boom in the coming months and years.
There's also evidence to suggest that some remote workers are looking to make their vacation spots their full-time digs. Many are asking the reason for the uptick in sales, could this be it??
Warren Buffet advises you to refinance
If you are a homeowner, have you refinanced your mortgage lately, to slash your interest rate and monthly payment? Maybe you have been thinking you need to refi and take advantage of historically low mortgage rates, but you have been putting it off and putting it off.
Well, none other than investing sage Warren Buffett, who turned 90 on Sunday, would probably tell you to stop procrastinating. Rates on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages have been dirt-cheap in 2020 and are currently averaging just 2.91%, according to the nearly 50-year-old survey from mortgage giant Freddie Mac. That is close to the all-time low of 2.88%, reached in early August.
"This is a very good time to borrow money, which means it may not be such a great time to lend money, but it's good for the country that it's a good time to borrow money," billionaire Buffett said recently during his company's annual shareholders meeting, held online.
Read the entire article on Yahoo News here
Listing prices grow the fastest since January 2018
The U.S. median listing price grew 10.1% over last year, the fastest pace of growth since January 2018, according to Realtor.com's Weekly Recovery Report for the week ending Aug. 15. The sustained price increases are a result of fierce competition for record low levels of inventory and unwavering demand from pent up buyers. Meanwhile, new listings remain on the right trajectory, but growth is still variable on a week to week basis, and consistent improvement will be key in the weeks to come.
"With supply and demand moving in opposite directions, sellers are clearly gaining the upper hand in the market as buyer competition builds up and prices gain momentum going into the fall," said Javier Vivas, director of economic research for realtor.com. "Buyers hoping to close on a home this year should expect some hot competition, especially if they are looking at more affordable or entry-level housing."
Weekly listings data findings:
Governor Newsom Signs Eviction Protection Legislation
California state lawmakers voted in favor of AB 3088, a plan to protect tenants from eviction through January as long as starting with the month of September they pay 25 percent of the rent due. This minimum of 25 percent of the rent can be paid each month, or it can be paid in delayed payments as long as all of it is paid by January 31, 2021.
Governor Newsom signed the legislation August 31st. Tenants are still responsible for paying unpaid amounts to landlords, but other than the 25 percent of the rent due beginning in September, any rent unpaid between March 1, 2020 and January 31, 2021 because of a COVID-19 related inability to pay cannot be the basis for an eviction. Landlords will be able to recover this debt in court, however, beginning March 1, 2021, and small claims court jurisdiction will be temporarily expanded to allow landlords to recover these amounts.
The law also includes some additional protections for small landlord who may have trouble making payments on their mortgage due to the eviction moratorium.
For the complete bill click here.
Tax Measures aplenty on Local Ballots
The California Taxpayer's Association reports that California voters will face 236 local tax and bond measures this November. Among others, they will consider San Francisco's Gross Receipts Tax-Proposition F; San Francisco's CEO Tax-Proposition L; Richmond's Gross Receipts Tax-Measure U; Union City's Video Streaming Tax-Measure WW and more.
Voters will also decide $12.8 billion in local school construction bonds and $1.9 billion in other local bonds.
For more information about your specific area, click here.
What a difference a year makes!
August Comparisons for Bay Area, Central Coast & Santa Cruz Counties
Comments: 1,450 total sales in 2019 for all three counties as compared to 1,022 in 2020. Santa Clara county had the most loss in sales year over year but this did not affect prices one bit. Overall prices were up almost everywhere as well as listing price vs selling price. Same ole reasons; low inventory and high demand!Display of MLS data is deemed reliable but is not guaranteed accurate by the MLS.
