Berkeley Program to Help Elderly and Disabled: Berkeley Real Estate Resources

Hi, I thought this might be of interest to my Berkeley Neighbors.  Please pass on thisinfo to anyone you know who may be in need.
Rebuilding Together has just announced that they have money avaialbe to help the elderly and disabled with minor home repairs.  Please read below and email the link at the bottom for more information
Bill Fletcher, Your East Bay Realtor

From:John Stevens

Subject: New Minor repair funding

We have just received a grant that is specifically directed at making year-round minor repairs for low-income elderly and disabled homeowners in Berkeley. This will include minor plumbing, electrical, and carpentry, and other safety repairs such as repairing hand rails and banisters, replacing defective ovens and ranges and vent-a-hoods, repairing improper and broken door and window locking mechanisms, and more.
It is my hope that this will expand our ability to reach not only more citizens, but the Berkeley citizens most in need.
When we make these repairs it will be an entrée to view the individuals' homes and determine if there are greater issues at hand thatwe will be able to help them with through our City of Berkeley funded Safe Homes program. If you become aware of homeowners in need of such repairs and funding is not otherwise available, please check with us to see if we can help.

John Stevens
Executive Director
Rebuilding Together - ABE
3318 Adeline ST.
Berkeley, CA 94703
Bus: 510-644-8979
Fax: 510-644-6213
john@rebuildingtogetherabe.org

Need a Loan Modification for your home? Try NACA

An article in today's SF Gate tells of a huge event coming to the Bay Area in Richmond on October 16 to the 20th.  They expect to attract 500,000 home owners who need a loan modification in order to stay in their homes.  NACA or The Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America has launced its "Save the Dream Tour."  A complete story is available on the SF Gate website: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/09/27/BU7819S899.DTL. This is something to tell your friends about!

East Bay Real Estate, Open Homes listed for 9/27/09

For a complete list of East Bay Open Homes (Berkeley, Oakland, Albany, San Leandro, Richmond, Emeryville, El Cerrito Real Estate) for Sunday 9/27/09, please visit my website http://www.billfletcherhomes.com/  and click on 'Sunday Open Houses.'

For a complete list of REO's, Short Sales, and more please visit my website http://www.billfletcherhomes.com/ .  For a confidential consultation or home valuation plese call me 510-292-2029 or email bill@redoakrealty.com

Rockridge Street Fair Sunday 9/27/09 11-6

The Rockridge Out and About Street Fair begins at 11AM and runds until 6PM on sunday.  College Ave will be closed from Claremont to Manilla and there will be lots of food, entertainment and stuff to do.  Get a complete schedule at http://www.rockridgeoutandabout.com/

Please visit my website:  http://www.billfletcherhomes.com/
For a confidential consultaion or home valuation please email bill@redoakrealty.com

East Bay Real Estate Statistics: Piedmont Real Estate, August 2009

-------------------------August 2008-----------------August 2009
Average Days on Market-----42--------------------------33
Average Active Listings------14---------------------------22
Average Sales Price------$1,148,593-----------------$1,394,909

For more information please visit my website at http://www.billfletcherhomes.com/.
For a confidential consultation or home valuation please call or email.

East Bay Real Estate Statistics for San Leandro August 2009

San Leandro Realtor:  Home Sales
-------------------------August 2008-------------August 2009
Average days on Market--85------------------------72
Average Active Listings---378----------------------126
Average Sales Price-----$379,356---------------$341,641

Please visit my website at http://www.billfletcherhomes.com/ for more information.  Call or email me for a confidential consultation or home valuation.

Berkeley Real Estate Statistics for Home Sales August 2009

Berkeley Real Estate Stats for :
------------------------August 08-------------August 09
Days on Market---------------56-----------------49
Average Active Listings--------94-----------------80
Average Sales Price--------$674,315---------$686,451

Berkeley News from your East Bay Realtor

The City of Berkeley is going to be selling the BOSS house.  You may remember this is the one that was leased to a non profit and turned into a meth lab, right next to a preschool. In preparation for a sale, the city has finished cleaning up toxic residue left by a drug operation at the former transitional housing site which was run by Building Opportunities for Self Sufficiency. The city has set a hearing to hear any protests to the sale.  You can read more about it here: http://www.insidebayarea.com/my-town/ci_13395832.

And there are ART CARS coming to Berkeley.  GO to Amoeba Records on telegraph Ave on Sunday and you'dd see about 50 of these works of art driving down the street.  You can read more about this here:
http://www.insidebayarea.com/my-town/ci_13395401.  There will also be live entertainment between Bancrof and durant where Telegraph will be shut down.

Oakland Real Estate Market Update: Months Supply of Houses

Wow! Look at this chart! this represents an 84% decline in inventory from August 2007  tthough August 2009.  Oakland went from 11 months worth of houses to 7 weeks.  If you've been trying to purchase a house and keep getting beat up here is one of the reasons.  Lots of competition for available inventory,

Please visit my website at http://www.billfletcherhomes.com/ for more information about East Bay Real Estate. Please call or email me at bill@redoakrealty.com for a confidential consultation, home valuation or other real estate related need.

East Bay Real Estate Market Update: Berkeley Homes Inventory

Here is a snap shot of months supply of housing inventory in the city of Berkeley from August 2007 to August 2009.  It shows a 40% decline in months supply of houses.  This is one of the main reasons that prices in Berkeley have held their value.

Please visit my website at http://www.billfletcherhomes.com/ for more information about East Bay Real Estate.  Please call or email me at bill@redoakrealty.com for a confidential consultation, home valuation or other real estate related need. 

East Bay Realtor: Another Reason to Live in the East Bay! The Arts!

Berkeley, Oakland, Emeryville and Richmond are coming together to launch a special Art based Initiative.  The East Bay of California offers much in the way of the Arts, among them being one of the highest per capita percentage of artists.  To find out about what these cities are doing follow this link.  Pretty neat stuff.
http://www.artdaily.org/index.asp?int_sec=2&int_new=33255

Please visit my website http://www.billfletcherhomes.com/ for complete information about buying or selling real estate in the East bay communities of Oakland, Berekeley, El Cerrito, Albany, Emeryville, and beyond.  Fro a confidential consultation please call me at 510-368-2854 or bill@redoakrealty.com.

East Bay Real Estate Update: More Foreclosures Coming!

Here's the latest scoop.  I've heard that Wacovia/Wells Fargo has many many many foreclosures coming to fruition because there have been programs etc causing delays in the normal process and these properties have been held back from coming on the market.  These will be hitting the market late in the year and into the first quarter of next year.  Those of you who have been bidding against all cash offersand getting beaten up regularly, like many of my clients will have a much better chance of getting your bid accepted as these properties will be plentiful and will greatly affect the profit margins of the home flippers. 
There won't or at least there shouldn't be as many all cash offers to compete against.

Wachovia said that quite frankly they would always take an all cash offer even if it were 10-15% below the highest offer.  Its a purely business decision and better meets their needs.  So my readers, my friends,  don't fret, don't get discouraged.  There are plenty of homes coming on the market in the not too distant future.  We may not have the tax credit at that time, though NAR is lobbying to get it extended.  We may not have as good interest rates but we will have cheap inventory and plenty of it for the next 6 months or so. But keep in mind this will not last forever, and there wil be no better time to buy. 
For more information on East Bay Real Estate please visit my website http://www.billfletcherhomes.com/
For a confidential consultation please call me 510-368-2854.

Emeryville Real Estate Market Update: August 2008 vs. August 2009

Here are the stats for Emeryville.  Not as uplifting as Berkeley.
August 2008
DOM----Median Sold-----Max Sold------Min Sold
54-------419K------------820K----------295K
August 2009
52-------329K-----------580K----------167.9K

For more information on East Bay Real Estate please visit my website http://www.billfletcherhomes.com/

Berkeley Real Estate Market Update: August 2009 vs August 2008

I thought I'd give some stats for the City of Berkeley.  These might be useful to you
August 2008
DOM----Median Price -----Max Price-------Min Price
38-------$629,589--------$1,350,000-------$279,000
August 2009
24------$645,817---------$1,350,000-------$274,000

For more information on East Bay Real Estate please visit my website http://www.billfletcherhomes.com/

East Bay, Berkeley, Oakland, Emeryville,Real Estate Update: Mortgage Rates

My Lenders tell me that rates got marginally worse today in light of slightly better than expected unemployment figures, and at the front end of a three-day weekend. Rates often get slightly worse before long weekends.
Plese visit my website: http://www.billfletcherhomes.com/

Berkeley Real Estate Update August 09 for Zip code 94702

This chart is for median price of  detached homes (no condos, no income properties) from August 2008 to August 2009.  There is a 1% increase in the median sales price over this time.  The market is changing.  If you are looking for a bargain real estate property in Berkeley, you are a day late.   I am sorry that the chart is hard to read.  This is the best I can do for now. The main numbers are 617K in August 2008 and 621K in August 2009 or almost a 1% increase in price.

On another note. I saw yesterday that a duplex I was watching on Grant road in Berkeley that was listed at 575K which was a bit on the low side, I thought but not that low ended up selling for 705K!  Wow!and only on the market for 14 days.  This is indicative of the phenonmenon I keep mentioning that there are plenty of buyers and not enough inventory on the market.