California Real Estate Recovery 2012

The National Association of Homebuilders just released a report listing US housing markets showing measurable and sustained improvement from their respective market troughs in housing permits, employment and house prices for at least six consecutive months. This latest report includes 73 metro areas that held their position on the list from last month as well as 11 new metro areas.

It’s speculated that the modest improvement in this improving market index indicates that individual housing market are regaining their footing despite some recent reports of weakening in the broader economy.

Now, for an inside take on this report, which I estimate the vast majority of news outlets won’t mention.

Think about it, or better yet do a search on Google for the National Association of Homebuilders Improving Market Index. I would bet the majority of the articles that you come across will only mention the fact that the index has improved and not go into detail by looking at the individual metro areas delineated in this report. It's somewhat sad that the majority of news, or what is called news, is just a republishing of press releases.

Where does one go to get a realistic view of the current national or local real estate trends? Usually, the national real estate industry outlets are always optimistic and in most cases overly so. Local real estate professional sites and blogs suffer from the same over optimism. Here's an interesting test you might want to try, find some local or national for that matter, real estate blogs that have been around at least since 2005. Most blogs have a calendar function on the right-hand side of the blog where you can go back to specific dates and see what blog post were published during that week month or year. The consensus opinion is that the California real estate market turned down by the summer of 2005. I would venture to guess, that one would be hard-pressed to find more than a dozen or so real estate agent professional blogs that raise any caution flag from the Summer of '05 till January '06!

But, I digress, so, back to a look at the individual markets noted in the National Association of Homebuilders Improving Market Index, of the 84 metro areas listed, just one is in California!

That one area in California is Hanford CA. Hanford is located south of Fresno California and it is an important commercial and cultural center in the south central San Joaquin Valley and is the county seat of Kings County, California.

So, with just one California Metro area listed in the improving market index, which state do you think came in with the most improving metro listings? Did I hear anybody say Texas? Well if you did, you are correct! Texas metro areas are the most prominent on the current National Association of Homebuilders current list. Texas metro areas came in with 11 listings of the 84 on the entire list!

Oh, by the way, do you know that Texas has no state income tax? Do you think that less taxes may just have something to do with improving economic conditions? What effect do you think the new you California tax proposal, up for a vote this November, if passed, will have on the California housing market?

My San Diego California real estate site provides full, unrestricted access to search the entire San Diego MLS . Also, if you want to see the actual current San Diego real estate sales activity and actual closed home prices, please visit San Diego California home sales

San Diego California real estate age

How to Let a City Centre Apartment

There are three ways that city centre apartments can be let. You can either use a letting agent, who can advertise the property and manage it for you. You can advertise it yourself and manage it yourself or you can use the letting agent to advertise the property and draw up the contract, whilst you manage the property and your tenants’ needs.

Letting Agent

Engaging a letting agent is the easiest way of getting your property into the marketplace. They will have knowledge of the letting market as well as knowledge of the local market. They will also be aware of any rival apartments in the same block, road or estate and will be best placed to establish a rental rate that is in keeping with the current market. They can advertise the property on their website and through local publications. But the real benefit comes from their presence on the high street, which attracts potential tenants to them.

Self-Letting

Managing the apartment’s let yourself can be the most cost effective way of renting the property. But as it takes up a lot of your time, it can also be a drain on your resources, if for you time really is money. This form of letting in a city centre can be difficult because you are setting yourself against estate agents who are established in the marketplace and have the resources. You may be able to offer a lower rent than rival properties on the same estate, but you won’t be able to advertise them as effectively as a letting agent. This form of letting works best if you know some potential tenants, but knowing your tenants has its own pitfalls, as they may expect your relationship to lead to lower rental rates or a quicker response to problems.

Self-Management

Self-management is a compromise between the two established methods, as there are benefits and drawbacks to each. Managing the property yourself will mean that you take the calls from your tenants when something goes wrong, so you will need to have plenty of time on your hands. You will also be responsible for engaging the services of a handyman, if work needs to be carried out, which can take up time. This sort of letting is best for landlords with new properties that are covered by a builder’s guarantee. That way, if the shower unit stops working or the boiler packs up, the responsibility for resolving the problem sits elsewhere.

Final Word

Letting agents in major cities need to make profits from their work, so their fees are not cheap. But if you are engaging the services of Manchester letting agents or agents in another city like London, you will have plenty to choose between. Using an agent also provides the landlord with a middleman who can shield them from tenants’ enquires and provide a buffer when negotiating renewals. They are also best place to deal with contracts and any other legal matters that might occur during the tenancy.