Long Beach Real Estate-Long Beach Condos

Last week, I reported that Long Beach mortgage rates were under 5% while the average was 5.1%.  Today, rates are higher; I'm offering 5.25%.

Jumbo mortgage rates are much higher:

Super Jumbo:  $1,000,000 to $3,000,000- 7.125%
Jumbo:  $730,000- $1,000,000- 6.5%
Agency Jumbo:  $417,000-$729,750- 5.5%
Conforming:  $417,000 and under- 5.25%

Are you holding out for prices of Long Beach homes to drop before you make an offer?  You aren't alone.  I spoke with Spencer Raskoff of Zillow.com, before he spoke on CNBC last week:

Homebuyers have to feel confident that we're at or near a bottom. Zillow's research shows that a striking 70% of American homeowners think their home will increase in value or stay flat over the next 6 months. But buyers aren't walking the walk. Credit goes to Brian Brady for calling my attention to this point today. Too many buyers are sitting on the sidelines, not making offers because they don't want to buy too early. We're not going to have a housing market turnaround until those buyers start to make offers, and they're not going to make offers until they feel that we've already hit a bottom.

We both agreed that these horrific reports were actually good news because it demonstrates that we are awfully close to the bottom.  Waiting won't help you unless you have tons of money.  While housing prices were dropping, lenders have been requiring higher and higher down payments.  Let's face it; bankers are pretty stupid.  When California real estate was skyrocketing, they let people buy homes with no money down and no income verification while the collateral was getting risky.  Now, as collateral becomes much safer, the bankers are asking for even HIGHER down payments.  What this means to you, the Long Beach home buyer, is that even if you wait, you WILL NOT have the means to buy a home.

Is it any wonder we have to bail out these bozos?

Unfortunately, we need these bozos to finance your home.  While you may not catch the ABSOLUTE bottom, you can still get a loan with as little as 3.5% down payment...today.  Laurie Manny  can point you to some terrific deals being offered by the bozos. Call her and we'll get you all set up.