Real Estate Blog - Tracy, Ca: Tracy, ca Real Estate Market Report for March 3ed 2008

The following info is from the local MLS database, as of March 3th 2008, as compared to January 31st 2008 . If you are interested in a little more market information feel free to give me a call, I am always happy to talk about the market.

ACTIVE Status:
Total # of Residential properties for sale in the city of Tracy: 883 902

# of REO (foreclosures): 328 328
# of Short Sales: 251 221

Average # of days on market: 89 88
The Median price of all Homes for sale in Tracy: $349,900 $369,975
The Average price of all Homes for sale in Tracy: $375,854 $398,734

Lowest priced home: 1bd/1.00ba/502 sq.ft/$120,000
Highest priced home: 7bd/6ba/6500 sq.ft/$1,699,000

PENDING Status:
Number of properties currently under agreement: 171 111
# of REO: 122 76
# of Short Sales: 14 12
Average pending price: $335,102 $386,227

Avr. pending home is 4bd, 3ba, 2089 sq.ft at a price $329,450 and 49 days on the market.

SOLD Status:
Residential property sold over previous 30 days: 42 homes or 14,413,463 in sales; 46 homes or $16,666,252 in sales.

REO's Sold in last month: 34 33

Average sale price: $343,178 $362,310

Median sale price: $350,000 $356,557

High: 599K (5/5bd 3882 sq.ft home).
Low: 150K (440 sq.ft home)

Summary: What is obvious is that the REO's rule the market. There are 171 pending homes in Tracy and 122 of them are REO. What we are seeing here is a true foreclosure market. Its a market where the banks have no bottom line and regular sellers can not compete. Additionally it appears banks have found a price range where the buyers feel comfortable buying.

What it looks like from my prospective is in the last year the banks have been slowly testing the waters as they went lower and lower in price and now we have seemed to come to some sort of agreement between buyers and sellers on fair market for a home. Banks are putting prices slightly below market value and getting muli-offer situations. Its like buyers have been waiting for a good deal and the banks have caved to the market.

Right now we are going through a housing transition. What I mean is a lot of investment property as well as first time buyer homes have went into foreclosure and all will eventually be bought by either a smart investor or first time buyer. Its a great time to be in the business.

For a free consultation on how to buy a foreclosure right in this market give us a call or email.....

From the desk of Alex Alverez (National City Mortgage Banker) regarding interest rates:

Don't miss the boat. Mortgage bankers are always struggling with the mis conceptions of the media with respect to the mortgage rates. Bottom line is that the Federal government does NOT control our mortgage rates. When the Federal Reserve drops their rates they are dropping rates that they charge banks. Banks in turn drop their "prime" rate which immediately helps customers that have lines of credit, some credit card holders and business lines of credit and loans. The regular residential loans however drop, or increase, in reaction to what the Federal Reserve did. As of late there has been much volatility in our mortgage markets. My staff and I have found ourselves telling borrowers that rates are pushing UP while the media is telling them the rates are coming down.

Here is a scenario:

Three weeks ago a borrower was looking at a $300,000 loan at 5.375% P&I would be $1681.67. They really needed to bid up the price and take a loan of $330,000 to get the home they wanted. P&I would be $1821.67. They waited.

If they were to find that home today at the price they wanted they would get their $300,000 loan. Rates have moved up though. $300,000 at 6.375% is now $1873.06.

This means if they would have purchased that house 3 weeks ago and received a $330,000 loan they would have been better off than waiting! This is how the rates can come into play.

Now I believe rates will ease again. Not sure if they will reach the levels we had three weeks ago but the bottom line is this. We have great homes prices, we have low rates. The combination of the two is creating extraordinary opportunities for homebuyers. Beware though, if you wait for the perfect storm (low interest rates and low purchase prices) the boat will be history!! Get on that boat before the storm hits!!

Alex Alvarez
Branch Manager/ Mortgage Banker
Construction Mortgage Specialist
National City Mortgage, a division of National City Bank
2880 N Tracy Blvd Ste 2
Tracy, CA 95376
(209) 839-2880 Office
(209) 839-2889 Fax
(800) 399-1820 24 Hr Service
Alex.Alvarez@ncmc.com
www.TracyHomeLoans.com