Yet another reason to relocate to Redding California

Posted on August 24, 2011 by Skip@RHB

It’s not polite to gloat. But those of you easterners who claim to fear earthquakes have less reason to feel secure today. Then too, this brief video displays yet another anxiety raising natural hazard factor that we don’t have to worry about in Redding. Fascinating and scary all at once. Hello Irene!

Then watch this video of the whole hurricane season last year. Alarming. From NOAA:

“The 2010 Hurricane Season tied with 1887 and 1995 having the third highest storm count on record with 19 named storms.”

Check out “Igor” at 2:37. You dodged a bullet there.

Where to find local foreclosure deals?

Posted on August 23, 2011 by Skip@RHB

The Record Searchlight had a great article today about local people investing in foreclosures. Where would you go to see local foreclosure homes for sale listed all in one place? We humbly suggest the link below:

Stock market squeezing your retirement? Flee to real estate.

Posted on August 18, 2011 by Skip@RHB

Today we feature good news and bad news. The bad news is stocks are being hammered today.

So what’s the good news? Redding area real estate prices are a bargain. Rates are lower than they have been in years. And there exists a way for you to use a Self-Directed IRA to invest your retirement savings into a hard asset, real estate. We may not be at the market bottom, whatever that means, but foreclosure home prices are surely lower than replacement costs. Move your money out of the stockmarket casino, and into something that lasts.

We’ve helped others accomplish this. Read here about one local investor who used FDotD FTW!
See the before and after images!

It’s cheaper to buy a home than rent in Redding -and most of the US.

Posted on August 17, 2011 by Skip@RHB

For us, much of this year has been filled with working for first time homebuyers who did the math. Low prices coupled with extremely low mortgage rates equals an unbeatable value. And it was better to buy than rent in 74% of the top 50 cities surveyed by Trulia.

The greener the bubble, the better the ratio for buyers. According to Trulia’s methodology, a ratio under 15 was a clear Buy signal. In San Francisco, it remains better to rent at 21, while Sacramento was much better to buy at 8. So what would our ratio be?

According to redding.com the median price for a home in Shasta County was $155,000 in June (although that number felt high to us). It seems to us that renting a nice home around here is about $1200.

$155,000 / $1200 X 12 = 10.7

Not as good a ratio as Sacramento perhaps, but still clearly it is better to buy around here than rent. Factor in that rents go up over time, but mortgage payments remain fixed for years, and it gets even better.

Of course many factors make this an individual equation. If you don’t plan on living in the house for several years, and have no savings, you should remain a renter. If your personal circumstances fit, the time has seldom been better to buy. And that’s true in lots of places in the US, not just around here.

New HUD site maps most all local government owned homes for sale

Posted on August 15, 2011 by Skip@RHB

HUD has published a new map based website that shows all the local government owned homes for sale from Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and HUD. All in one place. It seems to have some bugs today, but it has great promise. We applaud the effort to make it easier for the buyer to locate government owned homes for sale. As always, you can find the latest REO, Bank Owned, and Short Sale listings at this website: http://ReddingForeclosures.info

11.9 Cottonwood acres with manufactured home $110,000

Posted on August 13, 2011 by Skip@RHB

Here’s a terrific deal on a place to live with great privacy. It’s located in the Quail Ridge Ranches development, off a paved road. Behind the gate, and out of sight, up the long gravel driveway, is the 1995 model manufactured home, not on a permanent foundation. There are also a few other potential building sites on this rolling and oak studded 11.94 acres, so you could live in the current home while building your dream home on a bluff with mountain views. There is a lot of natural beauty here. And did we mention privacy? You can call us for more details, or have your Shasta or Tehama County Realtor show it. There are a few more images of this Cottonwood home at the link, and here’s a short video we did about the property.

View Larger Map

Local foreclosure rate up. Nationwide foreclosures down.

Posted on August 12, 2011 by Skip@RHB

Like a Tale of Two Cities. Our region is seeing increased foreclosure activity, up from an already breathtaking rate. But meanwhile, nationwide, the REO fever seems to have subsided. What’s happening here?
Nothing a few thousand more local jobs wouldn’t fix. Until then…

Mortgage loan interest rates below record lows

Posted on August 10, 2011 by Skip@RHB

It seems counter intuitive to me, but although S&P downgraded the nation’s credit rating, mortgage rates didn’t go up. They continue to drop. This morning I got this note from Matt Haywood over at US Bank:

These are the lowest rates I’ve seen in my 11 years as a mortgage loan officer!
Great time to buy or refi!

So according to the flyer below, if your mortgage payments are around $950 per month for a $200,000 home (not counting taxes and insurance), what does $200K buy around here? Here’s a link to 63 Redding California area homes for sale that are in that price range. Some nice ones.

We’ve worked with Matt in the past, and he’s a good resource. Check it out:

A modest proposal for sanity on a tough day at the market.

Posted on August 8, 2011 by Skip@RHB

The first lesson is: when you don’t reinvent institutions at a time of systemic failure, the problem doesn’t just magically disappear.
The second lesson is: when you prop up the institutions causing the crisis, instead of reinventing them, the crisis will deepen.
The third lesson is: when dysfunctional institutions prop one another up, prosperity’s a house of cards. Crisis becomes stagnation.
The fourth lesson is: when propping up failed institutions has drained your resources, you’ve turned a crisis into a catastrophe.
The fifth lesson is: the longer it takes you to see a crisis for what it truly is, the disproportionately worse it’s likely to get.
The sixth lesson is: when people who are prisoners of the paradigm that caused the crisis are in charge of fixing it, bet on…more crisis.

I’m not the author of those hard lessons. I ran into a blogger who resonates at Harvard Business Review, Umair Haque. Worth your attention.

And while you certainly don’t need another “I told you so” post from some blogger today, maybe this is actually the best day to be Captain Obvious.

Umair’s 6 Lessons apply especially well to Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. Hardly limited to them however…

Mortgage interest rates drop to 3.66% -USA Today

Posted on August 5, 2011 by Skip@RHB

A typical rate on a 15-year fixed mortgage has fallen to its lowest level in memory, according to USA Today. The rate for 15 year option dropped to 3.54% this week from 3.66% last week.

We have always recommended the 15 year mortgage if you can afford a bit higher monthly payment. You’ll save a ton of money over the 30 year loan. That’s the one we pick.

In this scenario, the buyer saved $107,457 in interest payments over the course of the loan! Plus, enjoying 15 more years mortgage free. Here’s a link to that 15 year versus 30 year mortgage calculator, so you can try your own scenario. Everybody’s circumstances are different, and maybe the 30 year mortgage means you get the house you want, and 15 isn’t an option. But you should know the cost.

Redding Homes Blog

Hyperlocal real estate in and around Redding California

Monthly Archives: August 2011