News & Notes

Wednesday May 16, 2007
From El Dorado Hills Village Life - Housing market on “spring break”
From The Folsom & El Dorado Hills Telegraphs – Staged to sell in a soft real estate market

From the Wall Street Journal,
May 14, 2007
--Mortgage Woes Force Banks to Take Hit to Sell Homes (Sacramento was shown in the graphic with over 2000 default notices in Q1 2007).
--Home Down-Payment Gifts May Cease (lists Nehemiah Corp. of Sacramento, and suggests these gifts inflate the sales price of the house)

Anecdotal note: When inquiring “any offers,” it seems there is always an investor offer (some that have been disclosed do not seem particularly low). Are investors really still purchasing homes in this market? In several cases, they are the only offers that have been made. I must not understand the industry well enough, because I thought the object of an investment was to make money.

EDH note - The same issue of the Telgraph had a front page article about a lawyer who represented some homeowners that tried to paint their house back to the original color. Apparently neighbors complained and the Community Services District got involved ruling against the homeowners...eventually the situation went to court. It was rather incredulous reading the article....but I guess this is why communities like Serrano have gained such popularity.