Long Beach Real Estate-Long Beach Condos

Long Beach California Real Estate Sales Update

January - April 2008

 

The real estate market in Long Beach has begun to shift. We have witnessed a steady rise in homes and condos for sale in Long Beach since the beginning of the year, as is witnessed by the chart provided. Buyers who have been waiting out the real estate market hoping to get that incredible deal are now buying those Long Beach homes and condos they have been wanting.

 

Interest rates are still great, although lenders are tightening up on lending standards. It is getting more difficult to procure a home loan unless your income and credit scores are high, your credit history is good and your debt ratio is low. As we progress into the summer months lending standards will become even more stringent.

 

• Long Beach Mortgage Rates Reports

If you are one of the consumers who has been sitting on the sidelines waiting for Long Beach real estate prices to drop before you begin your buying process, you might want to speak to a mortgage lender pretty soon. Run your credit, find out if you qualify for a home loan sufficient to make that purchase. You may also decide to go ahead and buy now while Long Beach prices are low, some concessions are still being granted and home loans are still available to consumers with less than pristine credit.

 

• Long Beach Homes & Condos-7 Steps to Pre-Home Purchase Preparedness
• Buying Your Long Beach Home - Getting Started
• Long Beach Home Search-Where do I start?
• New FHA Loan Limit For Long Beach Homes
  
• Long Beach Homes - To Buy or Not To Buy?
• Long Beach Homes and Condos - Negotiating Your Offer
• Long Beach Home Ownership - 1st Time Home Buyers and The American Dream

 

 

Real Estate Sales in Long Beach California - 2008 - Year to Date

2008	HOMES	CONDOS	LOFTS	CO-OPs	OYOs	2-4 UNITS	5+ UNITS	TOTAL
JAN	72	40	2	1	0	9	6	130
FEB	94	32	2	1	1	17	6	153
MAR	107	48	2	1	0	17	4	179
1/4	273	120	6	3	1	43	16	462
APR	134	51	1	3	0	17	6	212
MAY
JUN
2/4
subttl	407	171	7	6	1	60	22	674
JUL
AUG
SEP
3/4
subttl
OCT
NOV
DEC
TOTAL

 

• Long Beach Homes and Condos Market Report-Jan-Dec Home Sales 2007
• Long Beach Income Property Market Report-January-December 2007-Including Signal Hill
• Downtown Long Beach Stock Co-operatives

 

 

There are many REO (Real Estate Owned) or bank owned homes and condos on the market in Long Beach. There is a huge demand for these homes, especially the nicer ones, and many are receiving multiple offers and selling quickly. When a bank, or a seller, receives multiple offers, they generally are not willing to grant much, if anything, in the way of concessions, which means the buyer is paying a higher NET price.

 

Recently many home sales have been at or near full price with minimal contribution, if any, toward closing costs. Some bank owned properties, which have sat on the market, have been successfully negotiated at considerably lower prices. Most of these have been purchased by contractors or other professionals who know how to make the necessary repairs and upgrades at minimal cost. First Time Buyers do not have the after purchase cash to bring these homes up to standard.

 

• Who is Negotiating YOUR Long Beach Home Purchase or Sale

 

All cash buyers are shopping and closing deals, and thier money is making waves here in Long Beach. A seller of a Long Beach home or a bank will gladly accept a cash offer. For them a cash offer means they dont have to worry about a loan program disappearing or a lender closing its doors in the middle of their transaction. They dont have to worry about a buyers credit position changing during the course of the transaction or the lenders guidlines changing and precluding the buyer from the loan program midstream. They know that an all cash purchase has an excellent chance of actually closing escrow. Many escrows have not been successfully closing here in Long Beach, especially those with 100% financing programs involved, which makes the all cash buyer - or the buyer with a large down payment very attractive to a seller. Sometimes a seller will accept a slightly lesser offer for the assurances an all cash deal can provide. Money talks¦

Home sales in Long Beach are on the incline, prices are down, interest rates are still great; now is a good time to buy.

 

 

• Home Buyer Tips - Dont Make Any Major Purchases
• Home Buyer Tips - Changing Jobs Affects Your Ability to Purchase a Home
• Home Buyer Tips - Things to Avoid Before Purchasing a Home

 

Learn About Long Beach California:

 

• Relocating to Long Beach California-Resource Guide

 

 

Call Laurie today to begin your home buying process.

 

 

Long Beach Homes For Sale

 

• Long Beach Homes For Sale $300000 to $400000
• Long Beach Homes For Sale $400000 to $500000
• Long Beach Homes For Sale $500000 to $700000
• Long Beach Homes For Sale $700000 to $900000
• Long Beach Homes For Sale $900000 to $1200000
• Long Beach Luxury Homes For Sale $1200000 to $2500000
• Luxury Homes For Sale in Long Beach California $2.5 Million and up

 

 

Long Beach Condos For Sale

 

• Long Beach Condos For Sale $1,500,000 and higher
• Long Beach Condos For Sale $1,000,000 to $1,500,000
• Long Beach Condos For Sale $900,000 to $1,000,000
• Long Beach Condos For Sale $800,000 to $900,000
• Long Beach Condos For Sale $700,000 to $800,000
• Long Beach Condos For Sale $600,000 to $700,000
• Long Beach Condos For Sale $500,000 to $600,000
• Long Beach Condos For Sale $400,000 to $500,000
• Long Beach Condos For Sale $300,000 to $400,000
• Long Beach Condos For Sale Under $300,000

 

 

Long Beach Income Properties For Sale

 

• Income Property For Sale in Long Beach California-5+ Units
• 2 to 4 Units For Sale in Long Beach California
• Triplexes For Sale in Long Beach California
• Duplexes For Sale in Long Beach California

 

 

http://www.longbeachrealestatehome.com/00934A

  Not All Property Searchs Are Created Equal!

 


So youve decided it might be a good time to purchase a Long Beach Home or Condo.  Where do you start?  Well if you are a healthy red blooded American you are probably in the over 80% of buyers who start their home search on the internet. 

Do you start with the sites like Zillow, Trulia and Yahoo?  Do you think they have ALL the available listings in your market?  Nope!  They have cut deals with a few of the larger brokers like Remax, Prudential and ERA to feed the broker listings to their site.  What about the other listings on your market?  How will you find them?  Will you be satisfied only having access to a limited selection of the available listings?  I wouldnt! 

While there is a lot of inventory on the market, lets face it; there are a lot of dogs on the market right now.  Its still hard to find the right home, in good condition.  Do you want to be deprived of the ability to search ALL available Southern California properties for one of the largest purchases of your life? 

Did you know the local MLS we REALTORS® use only allows a very select few companies to sell full MLS feeds to REALTORS® for use on their sites?  Zillow, Trulia and Yahoo are not in the business of selling real estate and do not qualify for the full listing feeds to their sites.  They are in the business of selling advertising, leads and assorted services to REALTORS® in the hopes of enticing them to place their listings on their sites, which we sometimes do - if it is in our clients best interest. 


We at LongBeachRealEstateHome.com have a FULL Free Southern California MLS search, the very best one available in the business.  Thats right!  When you search for your next home or condo, and use our home search, you will find ALL available homes, pictures and details. We provide this home search to you free, at our expense.  The service, provided by www.1parkplace.com  is the premier licensed provider in the industry.   We believe in providing the best customer experience on our site and encourage you to treat yourself to the free service.

You will also have access to our VIP service which allows you to set up custom searches and have automatic email sent to you whenever a new property comes onto the market that meets your specifications.  You also have the ability to save favorite properties which will be easily available for your viewing on your next visit. 

We hope that you enjoy the service so much that you will contact us to assist you in your next Long Beach Home Purchase.

 

http://www.longbeachrealestatehome.com/00909D

http://www.longbeachrealestatehome.com/009077

LONG BEACH REAL ESTATE

 

Selling YOUR Long Beach Home?

 It's TOUGH out there!

Are YOU ready for this Real Estate Market?

 

 
Today's Long Beach Real Estate market is demanding an entirely new approach when selling your Long Beach Homes or Condos.  If your home is on the market you already know just how tough it can be to just get showings.  You have probably reduced your price at least once and are wondering how low you will have to go to actually make that elusive sale.  

 

PRICING YOUR LONG BEACH HOMES OR CONDOS

 

The worst mistake a seller can make is to overprice their Long Beach Home.  The first two to three weeks on the market are critical when you enter the market.  Thinking that you can test the market and lower the price later is never a good idea.  The goal should be to price your Long Beach homes to sell quickly while they are generating the most interest - as a new listing.  There are many homes and condos in Long Beach on the market, too many of which are not priced to sell.  When a buyer sees a property that is overpriced they just pass it by.  Buyers are always looking for new listings just coming onto the real estate market, because much of what is already listed is just not all that desirable and often overpriced.  Another terrible mistake any seller can make is to believe their home or condo is still worth what homes in their Long Beach Neighborhoods were commanding months ago. 

 

• Read: My Long Beach Home Won't Sell - Are YOU Chasing the Market Down?

 

If your home is overpriced it is time to take a giant leap and get ahead of the curve.  Pricing your home under today's market price usually means that by the time it actually closes you will be at market price.  Yes, prices seem to be dropping that quickly.  Why not?  They rose that quickly when it was a hot sellers market. Home sales in Long Beach are traditionally slower through the winter months making selling your Long Beach home or condo that much more difficult during these months.  If you do not need to sell your Long Beach home at this time, this is not the time to be on the market.  Speculating in this market is futile. 

 

HOME STAGING YOUR LONG BEACH HOMES OR CONDOS

 

There are no guarantees on today's real estate market.  You can do everything right and still not sell.  Home Staging is a great way to freshen up and depersonalize your Long Beach home.  De-cluttering and removing family pictures and any other deeply personal items allow a buyer to envision their own possessions in the space. Show your home as the home the buyer will want to call their home. Remember, it is not luck that will sell your home, it is prepping and staging that will help make that elusive sale a reality. 

 

• Read:  Why Stage Your Long Beach Homes or Condos
• Home Staging Can Sell Long Beach Homes Faster
• Seller Tips - Preparing Your Long Beach Home For Sale
• Curb Appeal on a Budget

 

 

 MARKETING YOUR LONG BEACH HOMES OR CONDOS

 

Traditional marketing and advertising utilized by Realtors for many years, no longer works. 

 

• Signs - only work if consumers are driving around looking for them.  They are not. 
• Print Advertising - only works if consumers are actually reading the periodicals.  They are not. 
• Direct Mail - only works if the consumer looks at it before tossing it into the trash.  They are not. 
• Open Houses - why would a consumer run around for a few hours on somebody else's schedule if they can view all available properties on the internet, from the comfort of their own home, see multiple pictures, slide shows and videos of properties and carefully select those which they are interested in? 

 

• Read: Open Houses - Do They Sell Your Long Beach Home?

 

So what does work?   Internet marketing works.  Blogging works.  Placing your property on the Internet and sending it to the top of the engines where it is visible by the shopping consumer works.  While many agents have websites and are trying their hand at blogging, only a select few have the technical knowledge to market your home online successfully.  Most Realtors do not know what SEO means.  Do you?  SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization, it is quite simple actually.  SEO is the optimization of a web or blog site for optimum placement on the search engines.  Why is that necessary?  So that your home will be found by the shopping consumer.  What is the point in placing information on the internet if it is never going to be found? 

 

How many actual Realtor websites do you find when you place realistic search terms into a Google or Yahoo search engine?  The answer is few.  What you will find are tons of directory sites and large sites trying to get your contact information to sell it to Realtors who cannot generate leads for themselves.  You will also find sites with big names offering property searches.  Look closer, few of them claim to have ALL available properties in any area.  Do you want to know why?  Because they do not have ALL available properties in any area.  They have agreements with just a couple of the larger brokerages and display their listings only.  Few sites actually offer a complete MLS search.   The Long Beach Real Estate Home site offers a top notch Free full SoCalMLS Search, updated regularly, at great expense to us - we deliver only the best. 

 

• Read:  Selling Your Long Beach California Home? Its a Whole New Game!
  
• Marketing Your Long Beach CA Real Estate For All That it is Worth!
• Long Beach Homes and Condos - Negotiating Your Offer

 

 

You found this article on the internet, on my highly ranked web-blog site.  Need I say more?

 

Call Laurie today for your Free Market Consultation

 

 

http://www.longbeachrealestatehome.com/009060

Long Beach Real Estate & Home Loans

Long Beach Homes & Condos

 

7 Steps to Pre-Home Purchase Preparedness

1 - Choose a Lender

 

No it is not smart to just gift your business to a friend or family member, lender or Realtor. It is time to shop for the right lender for the job. My suggestion is to shop for a direct lender/loan originator. Removing the middle man from the transaction reduces your home loan costs. Direct lenders generally have a larger array of product available to them to shop from on your behalf and have built trust relationships with the wholesale lenders which you will benefit from greatly. Discuss your long range plan with your lender, have them explain the benefits of the loan programs available and decide which suit you best. Lenders have been closing up shop and discontinuing loan programs often recently; inquire if your lender plans on double app-ing your loan for your safety, a good one will. 
 
 
 
2 - Checking Credit Scores Prior to Starting the Purchase

 

Your lender can pull your credit report for you. Many credit reports contain errors which can be costly to you. Finding and correcting these errors, prior to searching for your new home will reduce your stress levels.  This will grant you the time to repair the problems which would otherwise result in higher interest payments due to the higher risk you would appear to pose. You may find that you have been the victim of identity theft and decide to put your purchase on hold temporarily until you can clean it up. 

3 - Be  Pre-approved Prior to Searching

 

What a shame it would be to find your Long Beach dream home only to discover that your credit is tarnished and will require several months of repair, or that you qualify for less than you need to purchase it. How are you going to submit an offer without a pre-approval in todays market? What Long Beach seller would consider that offer? How do you even know what loan amount you will qualify for? Why spin your wheels? Be smart, get pre-approved prior to searching. 
 
  
 
4 - Have A Solid Financial Plan

 

Smart buyers start their search knowing how long they plan on owning the property. Armed with this information it is time to shop for a home loan that fits your plan. If you use this approach you will find more opportunities for lower cost home loans will present themselves. For instance, if you plan on owning your Long Beach home or condo for about 5 years (a smart plan in todays market) a really good lender may suggest a less expensive interest only ARM (adjustable rate mortgage) for 7 years, payments fixed for a term long enough to sustain your plan. With so many advising to purchase fixed loans these days, it is smart to educate yourself as to other viable options. Why pay a higher interest rate for a shorter term investment if you dont have to? 
 
 
 
5 - *Insist on a Lock-In Letter

 

Demanding a Lock in letter assures the BUYER that there will be no surprises when signing Loan Documents, the interest rate promised to them will be the same they sign for at the end of the escrow. 
 
 
 
6 - *Demand a Loan Commitment

 

Assures the BUYER the home loan they were promised will be the home loan they will receive; the terms will be as promised. 

 

*LONG BEACH BUYERS BEWARE:  If your lender hesitates in providing a Lock In Letter and a Loan Commitment, this usually means they have not secured the home loan as promised, and are likely still shopping the loan with the hope of finding one close to what was promised you.  There is no guarantee the lender will be successful in this endeavor.  A reputable lender should be able to provide you with both within 2 to 3 days of your request at no additional cost.  If your lender dances, find a new lender immediately.
 
 
 
7 - Waiting to Sell Your Home

 

With so many properties on the market and so few buyers, there is no guarantee that YOUR home will sell, or will sell in a timely enough fashion to meet the terms of any contract you write. This is true on todays market even if you price your home below market and it is in impeccable condition. It is true that you can acquire a bridge loan or use your equity line of credit to purchase, but what if your home does not sell?  Could you handle the payments?  Could you rent it and cover the elevated expenses?  Todays buyers are taking their time and are not settling for anything less than exactly what they want. Few sellers will risk removing their Long Beach Homes from the market to wait for your contingent sale, even in todays market. If you need to move, put your home on the market, price it right and sell it. Then shop. 

 

http://www.longbeachrealestatehome.com/00914D