Mark Wisterman's Paradise & Lake Oroville Real Estate Blog

At least until July 1st, if you can. It is on this day that the sales tax rate in the State of California is reduced by 1 percentage point. In the Oroville, Paradise, and Chico areas this means that our sales tax goes from the current rate of 8.25% down to 7.25%.

The higher rate was imposed upon California by our legislature and Governor on April 1, 2009 in the hopes of helping close the budget gap caused by the out of control spending of our “state leaders.” As usual, raising taxes only made matters worse. But enough about politics.

With the expiration of the current increased tax rate only two weeks away (unless it is somehow extended) it is wise to consider putting of any non-essential purchase until the new rate takes effect. Consider the savings you will enjoy by putting off the purchase of that new car you are about to buy. By simply waiting a mere two weeks you can save yourself $200 in sales tax for a $20,000 car and $300 in taxes for a car that costs you $30,000. Heck, that is like getting a free tank of gas Speaking of cars, you can also save on registration fees if you put your purchase off until July 1st because vehicle registration fees are also being rolled back then.

The reduction in the sales tax is going to be good for the economy of a state struggling to get back on its economic feet by leaving consumers with more money in their pockets that will most likely be spent on other things. For example, the overall price on a gallon of gas will be reduced by the reduction in the sales tax. At today’s price of $3.77 per gallon at the corner AM/PM you will save almost 4cents per gallon with the new (or should I say old) rate.

If it is at all possible for you to put off that taxable purchase until July 1, then I say do it and keep more of YOUR money.

Related articles

• Calif. legislators OK online sales tax, and that means Amazon(bizjournals.com)
• California Democrats send budget to Brown(bendbulletin.com)
• California Lawmakers Pass No-Tax Budget as Deadline Looms(businessweek.com)

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Throughout my relatively short period of time on this earth I have witnessed many things. Some good, some not so good. Some funny, far too many, tragic.

One of those not so good things I am reminded of on nearly a daily basis as I watch and read the news, or I observe watching the overall behavior of our society in general, is the constant march toward the “it’s all about me” way of life. There is an incessant drive to care only about oneself and to heck with everything else.  I even see it at special times of the year like this when we have these national holidays. How often did you hear a response similar to this when you asked someone what they are doing for this Memorial Day weekend?: “Well, we are going to have some people over and have a Bar-B-Que and some beer and then maybe go out on the lake.” Or, ” We’re taking the family on a camping trip.”

Now, don’t get me wrong, I think these are fine things to do on a Memorial Day weekend. My point is that there seems to be only talk of ourselves and very rarely a mention of THEM. After all, this holiday was given to us, not for us, but to honor them. It’s all about them.

It’s all about the over 1.3 million people who have given their lives in the formation and defense of this country. It is about nearly 1.5 million people who have been wounded in preserving our freedom, securing our rights as human beings, and the ability to exercise those rights without fear of persecution. It is their bravery and sacrifice that allow you to have that BBQ, to be able to say what you want and go where you want.  Would it be too much to ask in light of the sacrifices made by so many if when asked what we are doing this Memorial Day weekend, part of answer includes something along the lines of : ” I am going to take some time to thank God for those paid the ultimate price so I can be free to do what I want this weekend.” Could it be that hard to drop the,  ”all about me attitude” for one weekend a year and take a moment to remember those who died or were wounded in defense of your right to be that way? I certainly hope not.

Please take a moment out of your busy schedules to remember not only those that have fallen or have been wounded in defending our freedoms but to also remember and pray for those who, this very minute, are putting their lives on the line, in some far way land, to do the same for us and for others.  Make this Memorial Day “All About Them.”

Related articles

• Happy Memorial Day Weekend (theconnection.wordpress.com)

One of  the great benefits of my association with Realty World of Northern California is the amount of technology and information they provide to me free.  Without their commitment to me and other Northern California Realty World broker’s and their associates, this blog site would not even exist.

To be perfectly candid, in a market such as this, and,  as a matter of fact, in any type of market,  it is pretty much an economic impossibility to have a website such as this one, pay for it myself, and still be able to subscribe to other online real estate tools that assist buyers, sellers, and others in the Lake Oroville real estate market and beyond, in quenching their thirst for information on market conditions, or in assisting them in determining the value of their Oroville, Chico, Paradise, or Yuba City home.  A simple comparison search of other agent’s personal websites, if they even have one, will bear me out on this.

The newest feature that I able to subscribe to is one that provides you the ability to do a FREE search for the status of properties in the foreclosure process. With just a couple clicks of your mouse you can search for, and request foreclosure information on, not just any Lake Oroville home, but of homes in the states of California, Arizona, Washington, Oregon, and Nevada that are facing foreclosure.  This new service is powered by ForeclosureRadar.com, which is the new leader in the gathering and disseminating of foreclosure information in the Western United States.

If you find a property about which you would like to know more, simply click on the link and complete the request form. The request form comes direct to my e-mail box and I can then provide the current status to you.  (Don’t worry, I am not going to spam you into oblivion with a bunch of worthless e-mails)

Accessing this free search service can be done by clicking the Foreclosure widget or the Foreclosure Search navigation link at the top of my site. Or click here to access the search screen.

Related articles

• Report: Foreclosure Activity Drops in April(blogs.wsj.com)
• Foreclosures vs. Delinquencies: It’s All About the Courts(blogs.wsj.com)
• Foreclosure Filings Fall To 40-Month Low(clewismortgage.wordpress.com)
• VA Foreclosures(vabenefitblog.com)

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As a long time (17 years and counting) real estate professional in the Lake Oroville real estate market,  I cannot count the number of times that I have people approach me and ask, “How’s the market?”

In the early, and inexperienced, years of my career I got somewhat caught up in the answer that every real estate “salesperson” used: “Oh, it’s great. I have lots of transactions going, and I am really busy!!” As I matured in the business (or just got too old to hype things anymore), I realized that the pat answer that everyone else was giving was not what inquiring minds wanted to know. People  wanted to know what market conditions really were. Not some pie-in-the-sky, feel good answer. Problem was, back in 1994,  there was no easy way (remember, Al Gore was just inventing the Internet in those days) to gather the data necessary to actually provide any reliable and timely reporting aboutOroville real estate market conditions.

Wow, how times have changed….or have they? I still hear people asking about the market and I still hear nearly all the real estate sales people using the same cliche’d responses. What  I have strived to do on this blog site over the past 2 years is to provide an opportunity for you to see for yourself  how the market is doing, in an unbiased, straightforward approach. Letting you see the stats for yourself.   The leaps and bounds that technology has taken now makes it possible for you to avoid the “opinions” about the market and allows you to draw your own conclusions. Afterall, the market is not driven by opinions, it is driven by the numbers.

My latest tool, that I am making available to you, is data that shows the latest and greatest information about the Oroville foreclosure market. The charts included in this posting show the trend of foreclosure filings over the past year for the Oroville real estate market areas of  zip codes 95965 and 95966, but I am also able to provide more indepth charts as I expand my foreclosure reporting to you.

I am holding myself back from giving my take on what these two charts might be telling us, because I would like to hear from youabout what you think. Click the comment button at the top of this post to chime in.

If you would like a bigger view of these charts, simply CLICK HERE or on one of the charts.

 Here are the weekly sales numbers for the Lake Oroville real estate market. Not too much about which to comment this week. 

 It is good to see the sales volume for Oroville homes sold to break through the $1 million mark. Inventories are holding steady but remain at nearly a 2 year low.  Unfortunately, for Oroville sellers, bank-owned properties, as a percentage of total Lake Oroville listings, are still the highest they have been since I began tracking these numbers.

You can also access this weekly report at my facebook page: REALTYWORLD.CA

Well, well. well, has it been a very long time since I posted Lake Oroville real estate stats, or what? 

Don’t ask me why I haven’t done this for so long. Except for the fact that the market for Oroville home sales has not changed much since we last discussed this, I really have no reason, or even a lame excuse.

But, with Spring  just around the corner (I think), there is no better time than the present to start again. First you will notice that I am again posting monthly and yearly comparison stats in the right columns of this blog.  Here you can see how the sales of Oroville homes compare to Butte County as a whole. Remember the old saying that all ”all real estate is local”. So ignore the national stats because they have nothing to do with our local markets.  Oh, one more thing…. MY intent is to also post these stats on my facebook business page at www.facebook/RealtyWorld.CA so if you haven’t been there please stop by and “LIKE” my page to be sure that you see my posts there.

  

 

 

Great news, for the Lake Oroville real estate market, and beyond is just coming across the newswires.

The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) is extending the waiver to the onerous rules that prohibit FHA insured loans from being used for the purchase of homes that sold within 90 days of being acquired by the seller.

Under the rule, if a seller has owned the home for less than 90 days and the sales price is more than 20% higher than what the seller originally paid for it, then FHA would refuse to insure a loan for it.  Apparently FHA feels that it is “predatory” sales practice to make a profit on the sale of a property that you may have purchased at an opportune price.

With home sales sagging FHA decided last year to mostly waive the restriction on the practice of “flipping” through January 31, 2011. In other words, they decided that through January 31, 2011 they would allow the free market to work.

In a very smart move, with the expiration date of the waiver looming, FHA has extended the waiver for the balance of 2011. While there are still parts of the regulation which hinder the sales of flipped homes, the extension of the waiver is a wise decision and the FHA is to be applauded for its effort to free up the free market.

If the agency would prefer a standing ovation over simple applause, it should do the right thing by getting rid of the silly rule all together.

Related articles

• Relaxed FHA ‘flip’ rules prove no flop (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• Rehab Flips Making a Comeback During the Housing Bust? (seattlebubble.com)
• Doing Flips Without Falling Down (homeloans.org)

Another exciting development descends upon the downtown area of the Lake Oroville real estate market today with the opening of the office of Stifel, Nicolaus & Company, Incorporated.With its origins dating back to the 1890′s, the investment firm’s belief of “safeguarding the money of others as if it were your own” has guided them through portions of 3 centuries.

So why is this such a big deal?  Because,  the debut of the Stifel (pronounce it, Steeful) Nicolaus office marks the return of an investment company downtown that still operates, in many ways, as a “family” run business.  And, because my longtime friend, and even longertime ( I know, this is not a word) investment adviser, Jim Moll is going to be working there, and I want to help get the word out that his new office, which is actually his old office, is open for business.

Jim, along with fellow Vice President/Investments Kevin Zeitler, and Client Service Associate, Callie McBee, are pleased to welcome you to their new company at 1891 Robinson Street, Oroville Ca 95965.

The new phone number is 530-534-8021

The name on the door and the number on the telephones may have changed, but Jim’s, Kevin’s and Callie’s commitment of  “safeguarding the money of others as if it were your own” won’t.

Good Luck, Guys!!!!

Just a quick heads up to all of you in the Lake Oroville real estate market and beyond to let you know that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has, as of today, implemented newly revised flood area maps that may require some buyers of homes in the greater Oroville area to purchase flood insurance as a condition of their purchase.

As part of the loan process lenders will require that a flood certification be done on the property. If the property is located in a high risk flood area (generally the 100 year flood zone), the lender will require flood insurance as a condition of providing the loan. The relative high cost of this insurance, which is added to the monthly payment of the buyer’s loan payment, can keep a buyer from qualifying for the loan that they need in order to purchase the home of their dreams.

Something important to keep in mind here, for those of you who currently are in the middle of a purchase transaction, is that this map revision is NOT grandfathered in. Meaning that if the home you are purchasing is now in a high risk flood zone you are going to be required to have flood insurance even though the home may not have been in a flood zone when your purchase contract was put into place.

Based on what I can decipher by looking at these maps there are not a whole lot of additional Oroville area properties that are affected by the new maps, but there are enough that some current transaction may be impacted.

You can look at the maps yourself by visiting the FEMA website. You can get to the Oroville maps by CLICKING HERE or on the picture of the map.

Related articles

• Forced Flood Insurance (homeownersinsurance.org)
• Floods send insurance claims into millions (news.theage.com.au)
• Determining Flood Risk for Insurance (brighthub.com)
• Senators push to delay flood insurance requirement (seattletimes.nwsource.com)

 Voters in the Lake Oroville real estate market turned out at Municipal Auditoriumlast evening to get a first hand view of the candidates running for the positions of City Council member and Mayor of Oroville.

Although I do not reside within the city limits of  Oroville , and am unable to vote in the election, as the owner of business located within the boundaries of the city I felt it important to attend the Oroville Forum of Candidates, moderated by my good friend Jim Moll, to get an idea of what to expect from the soon to be elected council persons.

Unfortunately, the format and time constraints under which the forum was conducted did not provide much of a window into the “political souls” of the candidates.  With the video cameras rolling

 for future broadcast on our local public television station the candidates struggled to respond, within the time allotted,  to journalists questions about the future of our fine city. 

Audience members heard opinions regarding issues as diverse as the candidates themselves. From annexation and the challenges of infrastructure repair, to solutions on how to make City Hall more business friendly, each of the participants did their best to prove that they deserve the votes of those in attendance.

If you missed the event, it will soon be  available on our local public television station for all to see. If you were not in attendance and you either live or work in the city limits of the Lake Oroville real estate market, I urge you to view the forum and decide for yourself who you think is best suited to move this city into the future.

I have included a link to the pamphlet that was handed out at the forum last night which contain a short message from each of the candidates. Please read it and be sure that you are an informed voter before heading to the polls on November 2nd.

Candidate Pamphlet