Deadline Newsroom Feed 12/28/07 Special Edition

The housing market upheaval continues unabated; SF Bay Area market sales plummet to record lows; There's good and bad news from the second home market; Another journalist takes up the anti-media bashing bashing; America becomes the United Metros of America; And even renters are paying more just to feel at home.

Compiled by Broderick Perkins
© 2008 DeadlineNews.Com

Deadline Newsroom Feed – Here's what you may have missed: The housing market upheaval continues unabated (But we thought if the media wasn't around to tell you what's happening, it would all go away! Silly us! ); SF Bay Area market sales plummet to record lows; There's good and bad news from the second home market; Another journalist takes up the anti-media bashing bashing; America becomes the United Metros of America (Boy have you been away, way too long); And even renters are paying more just to feel at home.

On the finance side? Forget that meager tax benefit for those with forgiven debt. The same new federal law extends the mortgage insurance tax deduction for three more years! We tell you how to submit an honest mortgage application; How Americans are split on the subprime bailout; That homeowner insurance premiums should not get scorched because of the SoCal wildfires; And all about a YouTube foreclosure fraud prevention dramatization from staid Freddie Mac. The world IS changing! There's much, much more.

The Deadline Newsroom Feed offers an update of all the news that really hits home. At the top of the fold, it's DeadlineNews.Com's award winding coverage of everything that's residential real estate relevant, and then comes relevant realty news we choose from outside our newsroom. We've been away for a few weeks, so we've got a ton of our own home hitting news to share on this feed. We'll return to our regularly scheduled news-from-us-and-them in the coming weeks, but we've got enough of our own stuff and we want to make sure you haven't missed a word. So hold onto your door keysters.

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And now, back to the show.

FROM THE DEADLINE NEWSROOM

SF Bay Area Market's Deep Freeze
November 2007 was the slowest sales month in DataQuick's record books, which date back to 1988.

Maui Vacation Rentals Shuttered
It's getting tough to find homey vacation rentals on several Hawaiian islands.

Second Home Fire Sale For Foreigners
Weak dollar, falling prices = Blue Light Special.

Energy Saving Home Improvements
Home improvements that shore up lost equity and improve the home's value.

Media Bashing and the Real Estate Market
Dena Kouremetis bashes media bashing.

It's Not Winter Yet?
Killer storms suggest preparation is the name of the game.

United Metros of America
Washington fiddles as metropolitan areas put out the fires.

DeGeneres Dances Off With $4 Mil Profit
Who says you can't make a profit on real estate in the current market?

Smart Growth Awards Promote Smart Growth
Manhattan, Portland, Seattle, Vermont and Barnstable, MA make smart growth leader list.

Renters Pay More For 'Sense of Community'
Apparently it's worth as much as nearly $450 extra a month.

Holiday Security For High-Density Living
It's buying time. Buy into security too.

Historic Home Price Declines Shadow Housing Market
History-making home price declines were recently announced.

'Tis The Season, Defer Maintenance No Longer
Things get crazy around the holidays. Don't forget the chores.

FINANCE

Mortgage Insurance Tax Deduction Extended
Mortgage debt forgiveness tax relief law extends mortgage insurance tax benefits. (Say that fast five times.)

Submitting An Honest Mortgage Application
Lenders are keeping an eagle eye out for fraud. Don't lie.

Americans Split On Subprime Bailout
Borrowers, others nearly equally to blame for mortgage morass.

SoCal Wildfires Won't Scorch Insurance Premiums
SoCal wildfires not likely to boost homeowner insurance premiums. Yahoo!

YouTube Video Fights Foreclosure Fraud
Freddie Mac is using YouTube drama to get the word out about foreclosure fraud.

Burning Down The House
Homeowners illegally supply the fuel, we turn up the music.

Subprime Loans Can Work
Don't count subprime loans out.

Smoothing The Rough Refinancing Road
Lower rates offer financial buoyancy.

DeadlineNews.Com: 'Best Repurposing Of A Realty Journalist'
"Fun, credible, astute and up to date."

© 2008 DeadlineNews.Com

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News from elsewhere...

Come back next week...for news in these sectors outside the newsroom. Happy New Year!! Don't be a fool! Stay sober and cool!

CONSUMER

FINANCE

MARKETS

TRENDS/COMMENTARY

BUSINESS/COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE

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SF Bay Area's Deep Freeze

Lower prices in the San Francisco Bay Area may be having a warming effect on the sales freeze that's hit the area this year.

by Broderick Perkins
© 2007 DeadlineNews.Com

Deadline Newsroom - Lower prices in the San Francisco Bay Area may be having a warming effect on the sales freeze that's hit the area this year.

In November, home sales in the San Francisco Bay Area were at a two-decade low for the third month in a row, according to La Jolla, CA-based DataQuick, a real estate information company, tracks sales of single-family and condos in both the new and resale home market.

Home sales in the nine-county area where down more than 36 percent in November, compared to November last year. Home sales have decreased on a year-over-year basis for 34 consecutive months, DataQuick reported.

What's more, November 2007 was the slowest sales month in DataQuick's record books, which date back to 1988.

But the good news is that prices are holding. The median price paid for a San Francisco Bay Area home was $629,000 in November, up 1.5 percent from the median price a year ago.

Home prices continued to gain in Marin, Santa Clara (Silicon Valley), San Francisco, and San Mateo counties. Prices slipped in Alameda, Contra Costa, Napa, Solano and Sonoma counties.

However, in some areas, price declines appear to be generating more sales, especially in the new home market where buyers negotiate for bargains.

Hard hit Solano County, for example, suffered a median home price decline of nearly 15 percent in the past year, but new home sales are up nearly 19 percent in just one month, from October to November this year.

The high-cost San Francisco Bay Area market's major problem is its reliance upon jumbo-loan financing. The availability of jumbo loan financing has declined this year.

But there's also a silver lining in the jumbo loan market. DataQuick said the percentage of jumbo loan financing was up slightly for the first time since August. That's an indicator sales could tick up in more areas -- if the cost and availability of jumbo loans improve.

Jumbo loans are loans larger than the conforming loan rate of $417,000. Because of their larger size they can be more expensive and more difficult for which to qualify.

Read more DeadlineNews.Com coverage of the San Francisco Bay Area.

• Silicon Valley news that really hits home.
• California news that really hits home.
• Other market news that really hits home.

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© 2007 DeadlineNews.Com

Broderick Perkins, an award-winning consumer journalist of 30 years, is publisher and executive editor of San Jose, CA-based DeadlineNews.Com, a real estate news and consulting service, and the new Deadline Newsroom, DeadlineNews.Com's new backshop. In both cases, it's where all the news really hits home.

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Maui County Vacation Rentals Shuttered

by Broderick Perkins
© 2007 DeadlineNews.Com

Deadline Newsroom - It's getting tough for tourists to find homey vacation rentals on several Hawaiian islands -- and owners who operate the rentals say they are getting a raw deal.

Maui County officials earlier this year ordered hundreds of vacation home owners to shut down because they were operating without a permit.

Property owners complained that the order was an about face from the policies of previous county administrations, which allowed owners to operate vacation rentals while waiting out the permit approval process.

The order could also cost some shuttered vacation rentals as much as $100,000 a year.

To postpone the shut-down order, the Maui Vacation Rental Association sued Maui County in U.S. District Court, but to no avail.

U.S. District Court Judge J. Michael Seabright sympathized with the association, telling Maui County officials, "I'm going to apply the legal principles and the law, but I have to say, as a matter of fairness, it just doesn't seem fair."

The order instructs 900 of the 1,200 bed-and-breakfast and vacation home rental units on the islands of Maui, Molokai and Lanai to shut down by January 1, 2008.

County officials began the crack down, it said, because the growth in the number of vacation rentals brought noise and heavy traffic into neighborhoods.

Critics also blamed a boom in vacation rental purchases for contributing to rising real estate prices. Higher prices have made it difficult for residents to own a home in Hawaii.

Maui Vacation Rental Association president, David Dantes said the association does not plan further legal action before the county's deadline.

James Fosbinder, the association's attorney, said suits from property owners seeking damages could come later. Vacation rental owners each stand to lose as much as $100,000 a year.

Fosbinder also said the county is damaging the Islands' flat tourism economy by cutting into the segment offer a less expensive but more authentic, home-based Hawaiian vacation. Without the vacation home rentals, tourists are stuck with motels, hotels and mega resorts.

Visit our Second Home Center for all the second home, vacation rental and investment property news that really hits home!

See: Trulia's Maui Heat Map.

Advertise on DeadlineNews.Com
© 2007 DeadlineNews.Com
Broderick Perkins, an award-winning consumer journalist of 30 years, is publisher and executive editor of San Jose, CA-based DeadlineNews.Com, a real estate news and consulting service, and the new Deadline Newsroom, DeadlineNews.Com's new backshop. In both cases, it's where all the news really hits home.

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