Trick or Treat?

There are not that many Buyers out there these days. With all the news about the economy and lack of funding, buyers are waiting this market out as they have been for several years now. My personal opinion is that if you are looking for a home now you might lose a little value in the next year. However, it will not be as significant as the loss was for those that purchased in 2005.

Timing the real estate market is notoriously difficult. Generally the peaks and valleys are known 3-6 months after they have occurred. If you want to buy a home and you have the cash, now is the time to look. However, don't just settle for anything, find the good deal.

I was poking around on the MLS and decided to look for the best deal I could find. To make it easy and a bit less subjective, I am using the Price per Square foot as the yard stick. Certainly this does not a deal make, but serves as a good benchmark.

So using the using the bang for the buck theory, what can you find in North Fontana? I did a search for homes in the 92336 area code that were within the Etiwanda School District boundaries. I found only 2 homes that are under the $100/sq. ft. price range. One of them was an REO and the other was a short-sale. Since the majority of short-sales never happen, I am going to have to give the title to the REO.

At just $95/sq. ft. this 3683 sqft home is the best value. It has been on the market for over 408 days as of this writing. The previous owner paid $405,500 for this home and then took more than $450,000 out of the home. The bank took it over for $448,510.

While the price per sqft is a good deal, the sticker price can be difficult for some buyers to look at. The bank has owned this home since April of 2007. The home was first listed at $504,900. Amazingly it did not sell. (That is sarcasm).

---

Search the Inland Empire are MLS no registration required!

What is your home is worth? No registration required.

DataQuick: June 2008 Sales by City

Median Sales prices from DataQuick for June 2008.

County/City/Area

# Sold

June 2008

June 2007

% Chg Yr-to-Yr

CHINO	78	$360,409	$500,000	-27.92%
CHINO HILLS	64	$446,500	$630,000	-29.13%
FONTANA	252	$289,000	$435,000	-33.56%
ONTARIO	96	$290,000	$411,000	-29.44%
RANCHO CUCAMONGA	163	$385,000	$523,500	-26.46%
SAN BERNARDINO	170	$168,500	$287,000	-41.29%
UPLAND	55	$375,000	$555,000	-32.43%

---

Search the Inland Empire are MLS no registration required!

What is your home is worth? No registration required.

California Leads Starbucks List

Starbucks has released its full list of store closures. During the quest to have a Starbucks on each corner many were opened in areas that showed large growth in residential homes. I suspect that the areas being closed had large numbers of building permits during the real estate boom. Starbucks probably used the number of permits as a gauge for the amount of growth in population expected. As we all know now, many of these numbers were deceptive. Much of the homes were actually vacant and being purchased by speculators (notice I did not say investors) and flipped for profit to more speculators. Homes that were being flipped to other speculators often were never lived in. This occurred a lot booming areas such as Temecula and other Inland Empire cities which are now suffering most of the real estate slump.

Click on graph for larger image

A total of 617 stores are on the list with California closing the most followed by Florida and Texas. 88 (14%) stores in California, 59 (10%) in Florida and 57 (9%) in Texas.

Visit the full list of store closures and to see if your favorite store is being decaffeinated.

Some of the local cities that are getting store closures are:

CORONA

2

FONTANA

2

ONTARIO

3

RANCHO CUCAMONGA

1

RIVERSIDE

2

UPLAND

1

The list includes stores near the neighborhoods of Sierra Lakes in Fontana and Dos Lagos in Corona.

---

Search the Inland Empire are MLS no registration required!

What is your home is worth? No registration required.

Weekly Median Asking Price June 30, 2008

The median asking price according to HousingTracker.net continues to fall at an average rate of $3k per week. This weeks decline was only $100 which is only a -0.04% change. This is in contrast to last weeks decline of $5k, a change of -1.8%. Inventory levels are down to 45,947, a change of -3.3%.

I wouldn't get too excited about this weeks apparent slow down in price declines. The weekly average has been pretty consistent. Until inventories take a significant decline, price declines will continue. With the coming wave of loan resets I expect thave inventories may rise. It all depends on how quickly the banks can unload their current properties.

The area being tracked includes the major cities of Corona, Fontana, Moreno Valley, Ontario, Palm Desert, Palm Springs, Rancho Cucamonga, Riverside, San Bernardino, Temecula and many others.

Trend	06/30/2008	1 month	3 month	6 month	12 month
Median Price	$269,900	-5.3%	-12.9%	-22.9%	-32.5%
Inventory	45,947	-2.6%	-5.2%	-7.9%	-11.4%

Date	Inventory (SFH + Condo)	25th Percentile	50th Percentile (Median)	75th Percentile
06/30/2008	45,947	$194,900	$269,900	$387,500
06/23/2008	47,519	$195,225	$270,000	$389,000
06/16/2008	46,962	$199,000	$275,000	$395,000
06/09/2008	47,297	$199,900	$279,000	$399,000
06/02/2008	46,949	$200,000	$280,000	$399,000
05/26/2008	47,187	$200,000	$285,000	$399,000
05/19/2008	46,779	$208,900	$289,000	$399,900
05/12/2008	47,403	$210,000	$292,500	$402,500
05/05/2008	47,960	$215,000	$299,000	$410,000
04/28/2008	48,253	$219,900	$299,000	$415,000

Morningside Real Estate Sales

Homes in the Morningside neighborhood in North Fontana continue to have an average sell price that is higher than the average list price. From June 9, 2008 through June 30, 2008 homes sold have had an average listing of $297,500. For the same period, the average selling price has been for $308,000.

For those of you in the Morningside neighborhood this number might sound very low. It is low compared to your August 2005 value. These recent sales reflect the sale of REO homes and a short sale. These are distress sales and they generally sale for less. Since the majority of listings are REO or short sale listings that then become REO, the value of homes are declining rapidly. If you do not need to sell your home, I suggest you wait until the record high inventory of foreclosures at least stops rising. Until this happens, you will not get what you want.

To find out what your home is really worth, visit our website at www.iejustlisted.net or www.iehomevalues.net.

Weekly Median Asking Price June 16, 2008

The median asking price according to HousingTracker.net continues to fall for the Riverside-San Bernardino area. The cities tracked include the cities of Corona, Fontana, Rancho Cucamonga, Ontario, and others. The median asking price fell by $4k this week and averages about $3k per week over the last 10 weeks. The weekly median asking price fell -1.4% to $275,000. The weekly inventory dropped -0.7% to a total of 46,962 units. This is only slightly higher than it was two weeks ago.

Trend	06/16/2008	1 month	3 month	6 month	12 month
Median Price	$275,000	-4.8%	-13.9%	-21.4%	-31.2%
Inventory	46,962	+0.4%	-4.4%	-7.5%	-7.8%

Date	Inventory (SFH + Condo)	25th Percentile	50th Percentile (Median)	75th Percentile
06/16/2008	46,962	$199,000	$275,000	$395,000
06/09/2008	47,297	$199,900	$279,000	$399,000
06/02/2008	46,949	$200,000	$280,000	$399,000
05/26/2008	47,187	$200,000	$285,000	$399,000
05/19/2008	46,779	$208,900	$289,000	$399,900
05/12/2008	47,403	$210,000	$292,500	$402,500
05/05/2008	47,960	$215,000	$299,000	$410,000
04/28/2008	48,253	$219,900	$299,000	$415,000
04/21/2008	47,920	$224,000	$299,900	$419,999
04/14/2008	48,625	$225,000	$299,999	$423,990

Weekly Median Asking Price

The median asking price according to HousingTracker.net continues to fall for the Riverside-San Bernardino area, but at a slower pace this week. The cities tracked include the cities of Corona, Fontana, Rancho Cucamonga, Ontario, and others. The weekly median asking price fell -0.4% to $279,000. This week, the weekly inventory also increase dropped +0.7% to a total of 47,297 units.

Trend	06/09/2008	1 month	3 month	6 month	12 month
Median Price	$279,000	-4.6%	-12.8%	-21.6%	-30.9%
Inventory	47,297	-0.2%	-3.9%	-9.9%	-6.4%

Date	Inventory (SFH + Condo)	25th Percentile	50th Percentile (Median)	75th Percentile
06/09/2008	47,297	$199,900	$279,000	$399,000
06/02/2008	46,949	$200,000	$280,000	$399,000
05/26/2008	47,187	$200,000	$285,000	$399,000
05/19/2008	46,779	$208,900	$289,000	$399,900
05/12/2008	47,403	$210,000	$292,500	$402,500
05/05/2008	47,960	$215,000	$299,000	$410,000
04/28/2008	48,253	$219,900	$299,000	$415,000
04/21/2008	47,920	$224,000	$299,900	$419,999
04/14/2008	48,625	$225,000	$299,999	$423,990
04/07/2008	49,226	$229,000	$304,900	$425,000