Malone Hodges Real Estate

Is it Harder to Get a Loan?

2008-08-26T20:04:00.000-07:00

The Federal Reserve recently published their quarterly survey of 84 banks. The survey asks each bank to summarize it's trends and lending standards and if each bank's lending guidelines are becoming more or less restrictive.

About 75% of the surveyed banks said their standards have tightened for residential mortgage loans. To quote the somewhat dry language of the report, "Large majorities of domestic respondents reported having tightened their lending standards...over the previous three months. About 80%...noted that they had tightened their lending standards...for revolving home equity lines of credit."

Based on what I hear from clients and friends on the banking side, the percentage will probably approach 90% next quarter.

Water Credits

2008-08-08T21:19:00.000-07:00

I recently updated my page on water credits, and their significance. If you find the concept a little confusing visit www.malonehodges.com/water for an overview.

Water credits are an important consideration in determining a Monterey Peninsula property's value.

Carmel...This Year Compared to Last

2008-08-08T20:22:00.000-07:00

Over the last few days I have had a discussion with several clients about how the market "feels" compared to last year.

I decided to run some comparisons and see what the numbers say:

It is pretty clear what a difference a year can make. The orange bar is the 90 day median price trend line from a year ago. The black line is this year.

If you crunch the data for median price per square foot we would expect to see a similar curve, and here it is:

And finally, again as one would expect, inventory for the greater Carmel area is well above levels of a year ago. There does seem to be a leveling off of inventory over the last several weeks.

Carmel Sales December 2007 Through 20 March 2008

2008-03-20T13:03:00.000-07:00

The link below will take you to the table of sales and new listings in Carmel since December 2007.

New Listings and Sales

If you have questions, give me a call or send an email. My new Private Client MLS allows you to search properties and for the first time received sales information and even search the last six months of sales. If you would like to know more, let me know.

Malone

Featured Listing Map

2007-12-20T18:59:00.000-08:00

As many of you know, Carmel by the Sea doesn't have standard addresses. This makes it difficult for people to find listed properties on Google Maps and similar programs. In fact, it makes it tough to find a house at all!

Addresses are from the nearest corner. For example, 3 SW Santa Fe and 8th Avenue describes the house that is the third house, on the west side of Santa Fe, 3 houses south of 8th Avenue.

To confuse you even more, 3 SW 8th and Santa Fe describes the house that is third house on the south side of 8th Avenue, West of Santa Fe.

In other words, the first street in the address is the street the home is on, and the second street in the address is the cross street. The cardinal directions tell you which side of the street the home is on, and which direction it is from the corner.

I have spent some time trying to figure out a way to show my clients where a home is on internet maps. I think I have succeeded.

Here is a map of my current listings. If you zoom in, you can see that I have placed the Carmel listings in the right place! If you click on a property icon you will be directed to additional information about the home.

Pebble Beach Market Update

2007-11-08T12:28:00.000-08:00

The median single family home price in Pebble Beach this week is $2,595,000. As with other Monterey Peninsula markets, Pebble Beach is firmly in the Buyer's zone. The increase in market activity we saw in the early summer seems to have faded.