End of May.... Already?

As I get older I am starting to believe that time does fly.... Do you remember being in school and as you approached the first of May; did you start to count the days until school was out for the summer? I did and in a way still do... I love summer for many different reasons. First it gets warmer outside although today we have June gloom before June. Second it represented a time of anticipation... What kind of adventures will happen this summer, who exciting will I get to meet. Funny these things are still anticipated.

Sometimes as a real estate agent it is hard to find a balance between our professional lives and our personal lives. My goal is to always be of service yet I do believe in private time alone with my family and friends. Yesterday while having coffee with friends we started to talk about short mini trips we could take as a group this summer. With the economy as it is people still need time away, even if only for a day or so. The exiting part is we live so close to some incredible places.

Yesterday we talked about Zion National Park, the Grand Canyon, Palm Springs, Flagstaff Arizona, and many other places.

Yes we cannot forget those day outings even in our own city such as the Aquarium of the Pacific, The Museum of Latin American Art, (FYI there is a wine tasting event on the 5th of June) some new events happening downtown with revitalization of the art district and the list grows....

As the Long Beach Real Estate starts to heat up for summer... remember to take time to play.... it is healthy for all of us.

Enjoy your summer,

Jeff (still a kid at heart) - Picture from the second grade 1964

www.JeffHallRealtor.com

Jeff@JeffHallRealtor.com

Long Beach Home Solutions Inc.

A sign of the times....

Everyone talks about the housing market... it is a point of concern that effects everyone, for we all have to have a place to live.

What I love about this sign is the words "In Escrow" something we do not see all that often. In today's market where there are so many homes for sale and most of which are "Short Sales" the signs just hang around for ever....

There are a couple of things I learned this past winter. First is Short Sales can be sold.... if done right. Second going out on my own and opening my own brokerage was a good decision.

This home was not a "Short Sale" but a regular equity sale. It sold in about 24 days.... it had it's own website 2377Charlemagne.com you can even text it... I marketed this home right and it sold.

The Long Beach Real Estate market is heating up and homes are selling. Most of which are in the lower end but we are starting to see the higher end move a bit more as well. Where is the bottom going to end up... wish I knew... but the fact is none of us know. It is always a good time to buy a home. Remember you home is a place where you live... not a cash machine. People are always worried about loosing money on their home but will go out and buy a new car, where it drops thousands before you even leave the lot. Our market in time will appreciate again, but not at the rate it did before. But in hindsight that rate was not real... anyway. I personally feel if we had normal appreciation in the past and equity loans were not dangled in front of people like they were; we would not be in this mess. Let's hope we all learned for this and move on...

Have a great week,

Jeff

Long Beach Home Solutions Inc.
jeff@jeffhallrealtor.com

www.JeffHallRealtor.com

C.A.R. Green Tip of the Week: Check for leaky faucets

Here is a good tip I just read this morning in a blog I follow... from California Association of Realtors.

Leaky faucets that drip at the rate of one drip per second can waste more than 3,000 gallons of water each year. Not sure if you have a leak? Read your water meter before and after a two-hour period when no water is being used. If the meter does not read exactly the same, you probably have a leak. For more green real-estate-related tips and discussion, visit C.A.R.’s green blog and C.A.R.’s Green Web site.

Have a great day,

Jeff

Long Beach Home Solutions Inc.
www.JeffHallRealtor.com
Jeff@JeffHallRealtor.com

House hunting? It’s not a buyer’s market everywhere

Everyone wants a bargain...

These are words I hear almost every day... What I am seeing in parts of the Long Beach real estate market is exactly what this article from the LA Times talks about.

Buyers want a steal; but at what price? Many of the deals out there require a mountain of work once escrow is closed, and I am wondering how people will afford these repairs. In fact they will walk buy properties that are in move-in condition to get the better price, not realizing that repairs will cost them more in the long run...

Some potential home buyers, especially first-time buyers, may be misinformed about today’s market, believing that all sellers are desperate and will accept any offer. However, in many desirable, middle-class neighborhoods, bidding wars are prominent and buyers often have to make offers slightly above the asking price.

MAKING SENSE OF THE STORY FOR CONSUMERS

• Although California’s median home price – the price point where half of the homes sold for higher and half for lower -- was 39 percent lower in March than a year ago, many of the sales taking place are in areas, such as the Central Valley and the Inland Empire (Riverside and San Bernardino counties), which have higher foreclosure rates. These regions offer home buyers better opportunities to purchase homes at extremely low prices.
• The housing market is often characterized as having three pricing segments: under $500,000, $500,000 to $1 million, and more than $1 million. Homes in the under-$500,000 segment have accounted for the majority of the state’s price declines thus far.
• As real estate is local, a home in one neighborhood with the same square footage and amenities may not sell for the same price as a comparable home in a neighborhood one mile away. By working with a REALTOR® familiar with a specific area, home buyers should be able to submit reasonable offers that are more likely to receive seller approval.

To read the full story, Please Click Here

Enjoy your weekend,

Jeff Hall, Broker

Long Beach Home Solutions Inc.

jeff @Jeffhallrealtor.com

www.JeffHallRealtor.com

Cinco de Mayo

How many of us have know idea what Cinco de Mayo is... Most of us think of it as a day to hit the Mexican Restaurants... but it really has a history. Below is a little history Javier found for us:

Cinco de Mayo (Spanish for "fifth of May") is a regional holiday in Mexico, primarily celebrated in the state of Puebla, with some limited recognition in other parts of Mexico.[1][2] The holiday commemorates the Mexican army's unlikely defeat of French forces at the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862, under the leadership of Mexican General Ignacio Zaragoza Seguín.[3][4]
The outnumbered Mexicans defeated a much better-equipped French army that had known no defeat for almost 50 years.[5] However, Cinco de Mayo is not "an obligatory federal holiday" in Mexico, but rather a holiday that can be observed voluntarily.[6][7]
While Cinco de Mayo has limited significance nationwide in Mexico, the date is observed in the United States and other locations around the world as a celebration of Mexican heritage and pride.[8] However, a common misconception in the United States is that Cinco de Mayo is Mexico's Independence Day,[9] which actually is September 16 (dieciséis de septiembre in Spanish),[10] the most important national patriotic holiday in Mexico.[11]
Good for the Mexicans, they kicked the french's a…. out of there !!!!!

Have a great day,

Jeff

Jeff Hall
Long Beach Home Solutions Inc,

jeff@JeffHallRealtor.com

www.JeffHallRealtor.com