Fremont Real Estate and Beyond

The City of San Leandro is forming a new advisory committee to help create a Transit-Oriented Development Plan for the area around the Bay Fair BART Station and Bayfair Center. This is a great opportunity for real estate professionals familiar with San Leandro to share their experience. City staff members anticipate the committee will meet four times beginning in January 2016. http://www.sanleandro.org/depts/cd/plan/bfflyer.asp

Lending Tree released interesting information about the down payments made nationally. The average down payment for conventional 30-year fixed rate purchase mortgage offers rose slightly in the third quarter to an average of 17.63 percent, up slightly from 17.34 percent in the prior quarter and 16.29 percent in Q3 2014. More info here-- https://www.lendingtree.com/press-release/us-down-payment-affordability-q3-2015

Google published a way to compare mortgages.  It's only for California, but will be expanding nationally if things go well. http://adwords.blogspot.com/2015/11/introducing-google-compare-for-us.html http://adwords.blogspot.com/2015/05/building-for-next-moment.html

NAR released some interesting statistics about the 2015 home buying trend--the need to purchase larger homes. http://economistsoutlook.blogs.realtor.org/2015/11/16/2015-home-buying-trend-purchasing-larger-homes/ One of the most fascinating is that in almost every region of the United States, we saw buyers trading up and buying bigger homes than last year. According to the new report, 42 percent of all buyers traded up in the size of their home, up from 40 percent in 2014. In the 2014 report, buyers reported that they were looking for homes similar in size at 31 percent compared to 29 percent in 2015. Regionally, the percentage of buyers looking for larger homes increased across the board.

NAR just released their profile of buyers in sellers in each subregion of the US. 2015 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers in Subregions

SEC released guidelines for crowdfunding real estate transactions.  NAR's "Voice of Real Estate"(really cheesy video, I know) explains.  More details can be found here-- http://www.forbes.com/sites/navathwal/2015/10/30/the-secs-final-verdict-on-crowdfunding-and-how-it-impacts-you/  

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) released a fantastic guide to getting a home loan as well as a quick and simplified checklist of things to do when you are in contract. Check it out! http://www.consumerfinance.gov/owning-a-home

Rent Control Update: A booming economy and lack of housing options has resulted in rising rents in many Bay Area communities and some East Bay cities are considering rent control ordinances. Last August, the City of Richmond adopted an ordinance limiting rent increases and the establishment of just-cause eviction. Late last week, in response to a petition from Richmond residents opposed to the new rent control policies, the City of Richmond repealed the ordinance. For more information please click here . Meanwhile, Fremont City Council member Vinnie Bacon has asked city staff to research rent control and just-cause eviction policies in Fremont. Fremont currently has a rent mediation ordinance similar to San Leandro's. Representatives from the Rental Housing Association and Bay East staff met with Fremont officials this week to discuss Council member Bacon's request and concerns from affordable housing advocates. Options may include beefing up the current mediation ordinance to

A really interesting article popped up in the Wall Street Journal citing that the number of first time home buyers in the market has fallen to 32% of all buyers.  This is a national analysis, so each region might see things differently. http://www.wsj.com/articles/number-of-first-time-home-buyers-falls-to-lowest-levels-in-three-decades-1446735604

I get a lot of inquiries and then complaints from buyers and sellers about inaccurate/old information posted on third party websites. The agreement between he National Association of Realtors and its wholly owned subsidiary, Realtors Property Resource, to sign a technology agreement with UPSTREAM aims to decrease/eliminate this issue.  UPSTREAM is a revolutionary industry-owned and controlled data management company which will develop a cross-industry, state-of-the-art platform for real estate data entry, collection, and distribution for real estate brokers. More info-- http://newsletter.rismedia.com/news/alert/21948/83234

I get asked all the time, where are all the bank owned properties (aka: REOs)? Unfortunately, banks knew they could recoup the bulk of their losses in California, but in other states it's not the same. http://www.realtytrac.com/news/foreclosure-trends/infographic-where-to-expect-an-influx-of-legacy-bank-owned-inventory/