The new California Dream for All program offers a unique opportunity for California residents to partner with the state in an equity share down payment assistance program.

For qualified buyers, the state will contribute up to 20% of the downpayment needed towards the purchase of a home. Leaving the home buyer to finance the remaining 80%, oftentimes without private mortgage insurance because of the assistance.


The combination of only having to make a payment based on 80% of the home’s value, combined with the possible removal or lowering of the private mortgage insurance, will allow buyers to have payments considerably lower than traditional low or no downpayment loan programs.

When the home is sold in the future, the initial 20% of the downpayment…

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As interest rates have risen over the past year, it has become progressively more difficult for home buyers to qualify to purchase homes in the same price range that they could afford at lower interest rates.

Fortunately for veterans, VA loans offer a great way to help offset this rise in rates by allowing them to assume the loan of another veteran at that loan's existing rate.

What is Loan Assumption?

Loan assumption is a process where a new borrower takes over an existing loan, including all the terms and obligations associated with it. In the case of a VA loan, loan assumption can be a great option for individuals who want to buy a home but may not qualify for their own VA loan at current rates, or for someone who would just like the lower…

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The changes in the weather have been crazy this year, but so have the changes in the real estate market.

We went from a red-hot market a year ago, firmly in home sellers’ hands, to a market at the end of 2022 that had rising inventory and buyers capable of negotiating price reductions and credits from home sellers.

Those changes lasted for a few months, but now we face a new type of market.

Demand from home buyers is now lower than last year due to their purchasing power being diminished by higher rates, but we also have had an equal if not greater decline in supply due to fewer listings being added to the market compared to last year, possibly due to the same increase in interest rates.

There were 42% fewer new listings added to the market…

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We have seen some large changes in the real estate market here in Placer County since the beginning of the year.

As of today, we have 597 homes for sale and 447 homes pending sale.

Those two numbers combined, leave us with 1. 3 months of inventory, which is down considerably from the 3 months of inventory that we averaged during the 4th quarter of 2022.

This is due to multiple factors, including, but not limited to:

1) Interest rates peaked in October and trending lower since then.

2) Sellers of the existing listing inventory were willing to price at or reduce their price to the market rate and then were willing to negotiate for discounts and closing cost credits.

3) Buyer demand building up during the second half of the year before…

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For most currently listed homes, buyers are firmly in the driver’s seat during negotiations.

While there are limits to what is possible, it is common for us to be able to negotiate with sellers on both the asking price and terms.

The home in this video is an example of that.

We were not only able to negotiate a reduction in the sale price, but we were also able to negotiate a considerable seller credit towards my client's closing costs, which they will use to do a 2-1 buydown of the interest rate on their loan.

This buydown will lower their interest rate by 2% in the first year and 1% in the second year. In the third year, the competitive fixed rate will kick in for the remaining term of the loan.

There are other buydown options available for…

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The real estate market here in Placer County has been a roller coaster in 2022.

During the first third of the year, the vast majority of homes were sold in weeks, rather than months, their asking prices were bid up, multiple offers were the norm, and home buyers were forced to accept terms that often left them with no appraisal contingency, no opportunity to request that items be repaired after inspections, and no control on how the process unfolded.

Many buyers that had homes to sell of their own, or that had unconventional or less appealing finance requirements, were often unable to compete on the most sought-after homes and in many cases were left without a home after many, many offers.

The middle third of the year was a period where the ball…

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While completing the inspection day for a home I just put in contract here in Shelborne in Granite Bay, I was reminded that market shifts are not always bad. In fact, they often provide positive changes for one side of the transaction or the other,  and sometimes for both sides.

During the past few years, it had become common for it to be necessary for home buyers to agree to risky terms in order to be competitive against large numbers of offers from other buyers.

One of those common concessions was that buyers would be required to accept a seller’s inspections or have no inspection period at all. Often the buyers deposit would have to be put on the line from the moment when a contract was accepted.

While we would still in many cases inspect these…

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1) The median price for Placer County homes has remained stable over the past 3 months starting at $649,000 in August and then staying at $645,000 for both September and October, which is actually the same median price as October of last year.

2) The number of new listings added to the market and the number of homes sold over the past 3 months have been offsetting each other by both falling, which has had the effect of keeping the inventory level stable at around 2.5 months. Had either of those stats risen or fallen without the other, we would have seen a change in that number and a change in market conditions.

3) Interest rates dropped last week due to better than expected inflation numbers after rising consistently for months. The Federal Reserve…

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We have known anecdotally for a while that the market has been slowing, but now the data reflects that change.

We are at 1.9 months of inventory, which is triple the .6 months in March.

Pending sales are down 23.6% compared to last June.

The median sales price was down 2% compared to May after climbing every month since last October.

These changes mean that buyers with little to nothing down can now compete a little easier, that there will be fewer multiple offer situations, and that the potential for people to make an offer with a home sale contingency may return soon too.

It also means that sellers have to price to the market and that they need a strong agent with great marketing skills. Pricing higher than the last sale may actually lose you money if…

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We love living here and truly feel blessed to be able to help so many people make Placer County their home too. It is truly a wonderful place to call home.       THIS IS PLACER

 

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