We consider it our job to keep our clients informed. That’s why we compile a S.B. County Real Estate statistics report every quarter. It’s an easy-to-read report. We think you’ll find the results very interesting.

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The last time I ran the market data regarding the number of months of inventory available, (approx. September, 2007), the $0-1 million price range had 10.9 months of inventory.

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All real estate is local! “South County” real estate is doing very nicely thank you! With only 40 foreclosures total on the South Coast in the whole of 2007, there is no tipping point here to bring values down any further. (Those foreclosures have, for the most part, been purchased, not sitting unsold as is happening in other locales.) Indeed, only 2 local areas have had downturns in their median prices over the past 3-4 years: Carpinteria and Goleta, both down around 15%. Santa Barbara’s median price has remained steady for 3 years at $1,015,000-$1,050,000 and Montecito has enjoyed a “non-downturn” adding around10% to its median price each year for the past 4 years.
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In today’s Buyers Market – overflowing with 11 months of home inventory - you cannot afford to list your property with an agent who isn’t willing or able to invest the time and money necessary to make your home stand out above the rest. You need a competitive edge, and an agent that can provide it through an aggressive marketing campaign.

Here are 10 simple questions that will help you pick the right agent for the job: (more…)

Dr. Lawrence Yun, Chief Economist for the National Association of Realtors recently said that “Commenting on the National Housing Market is like discussing the National Temperature…like the weather, all real estate is local.” This couldn’t be truer than in Santa Barbara where both our climate and real estate market are different than most parts of the country.

The news media paints a very bleak picture of the housing market with headlines talking about slumping sales, decreasing values, and a rampant escalation of foreclosures. However, it is important to consider the source of these headlines. The majority of television news media is targeted to a national audience and therefore is summarizing countrywide housing trends. Even local newspapers are primarily printing articles from wire services which again tout national statistics. Other media sources focus on California, but don’t generally provide relevance to the Santa Barbara real estate market which is behaving very differently than most other communities across the state. Sometimes you will hear or read reports about Santa Barbara County which can still be misleading because they include statistics that lump together Southern Santa Barbara County (Carpinteria through Goleta) with North County (Lompoc and Santa Maria). Even these two neighboring communities are currently experiencing very different real estate markets.

Here’s my take on the recent headlines as to how they apply to the Southern Santa Barbara County real estate market:

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