Steve

I’m glad to hear such optimism from the eye of the storm from the tipping point mid-’09 when fortune starts to fall back in our favor.

I look forward to the return of safe, steady growth in housing and construction, as do I imagine the nearly 3 million in the construction industry.

Great site, and thanks for all the informative links! Looking forward to working with Brookfield once again after the storm has passed.

Spread the word! Confidence is contagious!

Steve

Steve

Nice to hear from you. We are seeing more motivated and qualified buyers at the upper end. Those in good financial shape are making buying decisions today. They understand the market is at the bottom and the want to take advantage of the California Tax Credit, today’s great rates and pricing.

I believe the trend will continue and the upper end buyer will be back to quality communities in strong markets, much quicker than some others might think. As the new home market settles in, you will see interest rates climb, not to prohibitive levels, but I predict 100 basis points or so by year end. So, work with your buyers to get them to understand the strength they have today, before the market takes it away from them.

Good luck,
Steve

I used to work for you and Lora at Americana in Scripps Ranch.

For the past year and half at my current project, which is in San Diego,
I have seen largely relocation buyers. Some have been intrastate but most are interstate. Obviously, they are very motivated since they have to start work here and get their families relocated. In the past couple of months I have been seeing more and more renters looking. While they don’t seem similarly motivated yet, they are out looking. Ours is not a first-time homebuyer community. Are you seeing this trend in your move-up markets and if so, what do you think will finally motivate them?

Thanks for the blog, Steve. This is helpful to everyone.

Lorene

I saw the same article. Potential problem, but the first batch of these “new foreclosures” did not create the tidal wave of inventory we feared. It appears the mortgage programs put in place by the federal government are working.

I don’t have the exact numbers, but as I recall, less than 1/3 of the home owners receiving foreclosure notices actually lost their homes from this first batch. Foreclosure is a three step process (for accounting and legal purposes). First, the lender files the notice of foreclosure. These are the big numbers and they are the ones that get reported. Second, the lender files a notice of Trustee Sale. This means the house will be sold in a certain time frame. And, third, the house is sold (or taken back by the lender) and the home buyer is out.

The percentage of sub-prime buyers going from step one thru step three was over 50%. The recent figures on the new foreclosures (all types) show less than 1/3 going from step one thru step three. This is the good news. Refinancings, short sales and loan modifications are helping more home owners today stay in their homes.

On the flip side, we are seeing more buyers at our new communities. The tax credits, low prices and low mortgage rates are bringing people out to new home communities. This is also good news.

I’m not saying the recession becomes a boom period any time soon. I am simply saying we have seen the bottom and now is the time to start turning this economy back upwards.

Take care,
Steve

I read this tonight and last night I read this – http://tinyurl.com/q3bsvy, hopefully last nights post was just more noise.

Are sales picking up in your communities?