Posts Tagged ‘Cirios Trends’The State of the Markets – 9/15/2010This post first appeared in the September edition of: Cirios Trends: In Search of Real Estate Opportunities In a financial landscape marred with uncertainty, there is one constant, one thing that “everyone” knows: Housing is in trouble. And while the bears certainly have ammunition to support their pessimistic case, history tells us that when everyone [...] Cirios Trends: Getting to the Bottom of the Housing Market – November 2009In this month’s issue, check out: The State of the Markets – 11/3/2009 Opportunity abounds as banks pare back on risk. Editorial: Regulators Delay Bursting of Commercial Real Estate Bubble Reality forestalled as lenders kick the can down the road, again. Zip Code Spotlight: 94040 – Mountain View Deciphering the Google Effect. First Time Homebuyer [...] Cirios Trends: Getting to the Bottom of the Housing Market – September 2009In this month’s issue, check out: The State of the Markets – 9/1/2009 Housing inventory set to rise. The culprit? Seasonality. Ciriosly Green: Why Energy Efficiency Matters Your home has hidden value just waiting to be unlocked. Zip Code Spotlight: El Cerrito – 94530 Is Berkeley’s neighbor to the north heating up? Feature: The Future [...] The State of the Markets – 9/1/2009This post first appeared in the September edition of Cirios Trends: Getting to the Bottom of the Housing Market If history has its way, housing inventory is set to rise. And for all the potentially complex and controversial explanations for this coming bump in homes listed for sale, Occam’s razor will likely hold: The simplest [...] Ciriosly Green: Why Energy Efficiency MattersThis post first appeared in the September edition of Cirios Trends: Getting to the Bottom of the Housing Market Improving your home’s energy efficiency doesn’t just help the environment — it allows you to unlock hidden value just waiting to be tapped. Ask most homeowners, or anyone for that matter, what pops into their mind [...] Zip Code Spotlight – 94530 – El CerritoThis post first appeared in the September edition of Cirios Trends: Getting to the Bottom of the Housing Market This month’s zip code spotlight shines on 94530, in El Cerrito, CA, located about 5 minutes north of Berkeley. Schools are excellent and crime is low, especially when compared to El Cerrito’s neighbor to the north, [...] Feature: The Future of the First Time Homebuyer Tax CreditThis post first appeared in the September edition of Cirios Trends: Getting to the Bottom of the Housing Market For all you first time homebuyers rushing out to buy a home before the current $8,000 federal tax credit disappears in December, perhaps now is the time to stop, breathe deeply and assess your financial situation [...] First Time Homebuyer Spotlight: Which Lender is Right For You?This post first appeared in the September edition of Cirios Trends: Getting to the Bottom of the Housing Market One question almost every first time homebuyer asks us is: “Who should I talk to about getting a mortgage?” The easy answer is: “Whoever gives you the best rate and terms.” While this answer does have [...] Zip Code Spotlight: San Bruno – 94066This post first Appeared in the August edition of Doing Your Real Estate Homework: The New York Times Rent vs. Buy CalculatorThis post first Appeared in the August edition of State of the Markets – 8/3/2009This post first Appeared in the August edition of Cirios Trends: Getting to the Bottom of the Housing Market If there is a single trend we have been focused on here at Cirios throughout 2009, it’s the divergence between high-end real estate markets and broad measures of home prices. That is, even as recent housing [...] House of the Month: Huge House – Tough LocationThis post first Appeared in the August edition of Cirios Trends: Getting to the Bottom of the Housing Market The expression “Real Estate is about location, location, location,” is well known. However, there is always a point where people will sacrifice a desirable location for an amazing home. This House of the Month tests the [...] By The Numbers – Absolute SupplyThis post first Appeared in the August edition of Cirios Trends: Getting to the Bottom of the Housing Market – August 2009In this month’s issue, check out: The State of the Markets – 8/3/09 High-end markets buck stabilization trend. By The Numbers: Absolute Supply A simple way to gauge future home price trends. Zip Code Spotlight: San Bruno – 94066 Hidden affordability on the Peninsula. House of the Month: Huge House – Tough Location Like-new mansion [...] Housing Perspective: May Pending Home SalesDespite markedly higher interest rates and problematic new appraisal guidelines, homebuyers are still stepping back into the market. The National Association of Realtors said yesterday that pending home sales, which measure new purchase contracts signed, rose in May for the fourth consecutive month. According to Bloomberg, the 0.1% gain from the prior month barely edged [...] Cirios Trends: Getting to the Bottom of the Housing Market – July 2009In this month’s issue, check out: The State of the Markets – 7/1/09 Rising interest rates, flawed appraisals derail hopes for a speedy housing recovery. By The Numbers: The Bottom The “bottom” is an elusive concept that holds no true meaning. Zip Code Spotlight: San Leandro – 94577 Affordability with a convenient commute to San [...] Doing Your Real Estate Homework: Mortgage CalculatorsThis post first appeared in the July edition of Cirios Trends: Getting to the Bottom of the Housing Market One of the first steps in any home buying search is figuring out how much you can afford. This means determining what your monthly income can support in terms of mortgage expenses, taxes, insurance and upkeep, [...] House of the Month: Posh Living in the CastroThis post first appeared in the July edition of Cirios Trends: Getting to the Bottom of the Housing Market As jumbo mortgages continue to be extremely difficult to get, we at Cirios keep asking ourselves: Is it a buyer’s market for borrowers who manage to qualify for a jumbo loan? To answer that question, we [...] Zip Code Spotlight – San Leandro – 94577This post first appeared in the July edition of Cirios Trends: Getting to the Bottom of the Housing Market This month’s spotlight shines on an oft-forgotten portion of the East Bay, San Leandro. While San Leandro lacks the famous name of an Oakland and the semi-swankitude of a Castro Valley, its central location and amazing [...] By the Numbers – The BottomThis post first appeared in the July edition of Cirios Trends: Getting to the Bottom of the Housing Market It’s everywhere these days: In the news, on the streets. The “bottom” is coming. We have toiled long and hard through the dark days of this “Great Recession” and are now coming to the bottom of [...] The State of the Markets 7/1/09This post first Appeared in the July edition of Cirios Trends: Getting to the Bottom of the Housing Market As the infamous summer buying season heats up, hopeful housing market participants are looking for a respite from nearly four years of woe. Reality, however, is throwing a wrench in their plans. Two trends have recently [...] House of the Month: The Town the FHA Saved – Brentwood, CA.No, we’re not talking about the upper class neighborhood in Santa Monica. We are talking about a city 52 miles northeast of San Francisco, a farming town that epitomized the housing boom and bust. Of late, sales activity has leapt in Brentwood, almost exclusively due to the prevalence of the FHA loan program. (NOTE: in [...] The State of the Markets – 5/1/2009Optimism is riding high in the financial markets, even as the world tries to get a collective grasp on what a widespread pandemic could mean for, among other things, the world economy. That the stock market can rally, and real estate “experts” can loudly avow that the worst is behind us against this backdrop is [...] Zip Code Spotlight: 94618 – Oakland, CAEach month we examine a single zip code, identifying micro-trends within the area to try and figure out how close (or far) that market could be from a bottom. This month, we focus our zip code spotlight on 94618, an area on the Oakland-Berkeley border that centers on the Rockridge neighborhood of Oakland. This area [...] |