Enclosed is the update of
activity for December 1, 2009 through December 31, 2009, click here to view the updates. There were a total of 23 new listings. There were12 pending sales. Of the residential sales there were 6
sales between $200,000 and $600,000, 6 sales between $601,000 and $999,999, no
sales over $1,000,000. There were
16 sale completes. Their were 27
price decreases and no price increases.
The number of current listings are down slightly; however they are still
very high at 291 listings specific to the Santa Ynez Valley.
Rates continue to go up and
down on a daily basis. We are
checking daily with lenders and
trying to make sure our buyer have their loans locked in and for a long enough
period of time if they are dealing with the purchase of a short sale. Conforming 30 year fixed rates up to
$417,000 are at 4.6% at 1 point and Jumbo Conforming Loans which are loans up
to $729,750 are at 4.7% at 1 point and Super Jumbo Loans are at 5.5% at zero
points for origination. The conforming 5 year ARM Interest Only is at 4.2% at 1
point, the Jumbo 5 year ARM Interest Only is at 5.2% at zero points. The 11th District Cost of Funds index
(COFI) is up at 2.094 for the month of January. We are adding the 6 month LIBOR index to our update letter
as it is becoming the standard for many Adjustable Rate Mortgages. The 6 month
LIBOR rate is at 0.43; last month it was at 0.48; 12 months ago it was at 1.77.
There is a significant change
noted in the interest rate information above on the Cost of Funds Index (COFI).
The COFI is computed from data report by COFI Reporting Members of the Federal
Home Loan Bank of San Francisco.
For November 2009 25 eligible institutions reported COFI data. Effective November 1, 2009 Wachovia
Mortgage merged into Wells Fargo Bank which is not eligible to be a COFI Report
Member.. The impact of removals of COFI Report Members on the COFI index
depends entirely on the amount of interest expense and total funds of the
entity being removed. This merger changed the COFI, the basis for
many negative amortization adjustable rate mortgages from 1.259% in October
2009 to 2.094% in November. The
effect of that is adjustable rate mortgages will change almost imediately about
.8%. So if your adjustable rate
mortgage rate was based on the COFI plus a margin of 3.0; your interest rate
will change from 4.259% to 5.094% in one month. If you pay rate, the interest
rate at whiich your payment is recalculated was set for the 4%+ rate and your
interest rate is now in the 5% range, all of a sudden you will be accruing negative
interest to your principal balance at a time when most of the other indices are
dropping or remaining relatively stable. If you have an adjustable rate
mortgage and it is tied to the Cost of Funds Index, you should evaluate your payment amounts because this is not the
time to be adding to your principal balance. Call or email us for more information or if you have additional questions.
Other than the above change
the market appears to be stabilizing in the price ranges under 1 million which
is a good thing. There was
relatively consistent activity at least for us during the month of December as
showing occured and a few of our listings in this same range went into escrow.
Happy New Year and let's hope
2010 is a great year for all of us.
We may be reached during the day at our office 805-688-2969, and in the
evening at 805-688-2986. Our
toll-free number is 1-800-300-7977.
My cell phone is 805-689-4178 and Marlene's is 805-689-2738. So whether you need to buy or sell,
call us. We would like to show you what we can do! In the meantime we thank you again for your loyalty and
support in seeking us out when looking at properties in the Valley in 2009 and
for choosing in 2010 to get your information about Santa Ynez Valley real
estate from................
Your Real Estate
Professionals Providing
Old-Fashioned Service Using
Today's Technology
David Macbeth and Marlene Macbeth