Here is a quick update on the Santa Clarita Valley real estate short sale market. Short sales make up 40% of the current active real estate inventory for the Santa Clarita Valley. These areas include Canyon Country, Saugus, Newhall, Valencia, Stevenson Ranch, and Castaic, but exclude Acton and Agua Dulce. There are 255 active short sales for sale with 163 being single family residences and 92 being condo's or town homes. Currently, there are 681 Santa Clarita short salesthat have an accepted offer and are being negotiated with the bank for short sale approval. Year to date, 112 Santa Clarita short sale listings have actually successfully closed escrow and transferred ownership. Santa clarita Valley short sales are not going away anytime soon. More and more homeowners are getting notice of defaults filed against their homes every single day. The majority of these homeowners that are behind in payments also owe a significant amount more on their home then it is worth in today's market. Thus, forcing them to make a decision. Most likely, a short sale!

Here are the current active real estate stats for the Santa Clarita Valley. These areas include Canyon Country, Saugus, Valencia, Castaic, Stevenson Ranch, and Newhall, but exclude Acton and Agua Dulce.

We currently have a total of 661 homes that are for sale.

475 detached residences

186 attached residences

47% of our market is actually a standard sale (310 total)

39% are short sales (259 total)

10% are bank owned (64 total)

4% other (28 total)

Attention Santa Clarita Real Estate Buyers - President Obama has signed legislation to extend the Homebuyer Tax Credit. Passage of the bill was widely anticipated to further spur economic recovery in the housing sector, as more buyers are now eligible for tax breaks under the new law. The $8,000 first-time homebuyer tax credit was originally set to expire on November 30.

In addition to offering the $8,000 first-time homebuyer tax credit, the new law also allows a $6,500 credit for repeat or move-up homebuyers who have lived in their primary residence for five years or more.

The tax credits are available to buyers who sign purchase agreements on a new or existing primary residence between December 1, 2009, and April 30, 2010. Buyers would have until June 30 to close on their new homes.

There is an $800,000 price limit on all homes eligible for the credit. The income limits for all buyers are now $125,000 per year for individuals and $225,000 for married couples. Under the old program, the limits were $75,000 and $150,000 respectively. The first-time homebuyer credit is also available to those who have not owned a home in the previous three years. The credit does not have to be repaid unless the home is sold or ceases to be the primary residence within three years.

If you are currently looking for a home in the Santa Clarita real estate market please feel free to contact Matt Gregory of Keller Williams VIP Properties with any questions regarding this tax credit. Matt Gregory can be reached at 661-713-4799.

When buying a home in Santa Clarita, it’s important to think carefully about your offering price, but also your offering terms. Most purchase offers define both. And in some cases, terms and conditions can represent thousands of dollars in additional value for buyers or additional costs.

Terms may include inspections, requests for specific property repairs, or timing considerations.

Determining a Price

Some buyers mistakenly believe there is a predetermined formula for offers—that offering prices should be X percent lower than the seller’s asking price or the amount they are really willing to pay.

In reality, your offer price actually depends more upon the basic laws of supply and demand. If many buyers are competing for homes, then sellers will likely get full-price offers and more likely even over the asking price. If demand is weak, then offers below the asking price may be in order. Right now, the Santa Clarita real estate market has a very low supply and a very high number of demand. This is causing multiple offers on homes often pushing the purchase price above the listing price.

How to make an offer

In most cases, you complete an offer that your buyer representative presents on your behalf. The owner, in turn, may accept the offer, reject it or make a counter-offer.

Because counter-offers are common (any change in terms can be considered a “counter-offer”), it’s important that you remain in close contact with your buyer representative during the negotiation process so that any proposed changes can be quickly reviewed.

Inspections

Inspections are common in Santa Clarita real estate transactions. Depending on your needs and where you live, they may include:

• physical home inspections
• “green” issues, including energy efficiency and eco-friendliness
• surveys to determine boundaries
• appraisals to determine value for lenders
• title reviews
• termite inspections

Physical home inspections are particularly important. During these inspections, an inspector evaluates the property for any material physical defects and whether expensive repairs and replacements are likely to be required in the next few years.

For a single-family home, these inspections often require two or three hours. You should plan to attend too. This is an important opportunity to examine the property’s mechanics (plumbing, wiring, etc.) and structure, ask the inspector questions and learn far more about the property than is possible with an informal walk-through

Many homeowners are avoiding foreclosure in the Santa Clarita Valley by trying to short sale their home. There are currently 186 active Santa Clarita short sales on the market ranging in price from $72,000 to $1,999,000. With the number of short sales in the Santa Clarita real estate market continuing to grow, many buyers and sellers are asking a very important question. What is a short sale?

A short sale is a sale of real estate in which the proceeds from the sale do not cover the balance owed on a loan or loans on a property. Lenders accept a discounted payoff on the loan and allow the sale to close escrow. The lender will agree to discount the loan due to an economic hardship on the part of the mortgagor, and the homeowner will sell the mortgaged property for less than the outstanding balance of the loan, turn over the proceeds to the lender, most often in full satisfaction of the debt. A short sale is accomplished through negotiation with a bank's loss mitigation or workout department on the part of the real estate professional, but the lender has the right to approve or disapprove any proposed sale. Main factors contributing to the lender's decision are the borrower's financial situation and the current state of the real estate market.

A short sale, in short is a lender taking a loss to avoid larger costs. It is neither the lender doing the homeowner a favor nor an easy way out for the homeowner, but a process enabled by a real estate professional and homeowner when they are committed to avoiding foreclosure.