New Horizons

Copy for Real Estate Guide Column for 3-24-06  (445 words)

REAL ESTATE PATTERNS
By Ken DuVall

New Horizons

There are over 1 million $1,000,000 homes in the U.S. The world population is 6.5 billion. Our government spends $3 billion a day. Our trade deficit just topped $800 billion. The national debt ceiling moved to $9 trillion last week. I think we’re getting out of touch here. Let’s try to put it perspective. How much is a measly billion? A billion seconds ago it was the year 1959. A billion minutes ago the Romans were still throwing Christians to the lions! Feel any better now? A billion here, a billion there, pretty soon you’re talkin’ real money!

It’s called “VantageScore”, the new credit scoring system now consistent with all three consumer credit bureau’s- Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion- criteria making it easier for lenders to evaluate you. The system will rate you in a new 501 to 990 range; the higher your score, the lower your interest rate, and vice versa. Again, beware of credit and loan schemers out there. Deal only with our local lenders. Crooks were just busted last week in Sac for recording forged deeds to your house as if you had sold it to them, and then getting a loan on it. Hello! Jeopardy is more than just a TV show.

Check out www.zillow.com the brand new site providing anonymous, free “Zestimates” of home values from their 60 million U.S. homes database. Since debuting Feb 8th it’s rocketed to the 5th ranked real estate site. What’s neat about it are the satellite views and maps of your property. Just plug in your street address and go, although the local comps I’ve pulled up are far from reality. I wouldn’t sell my house for their estimate. You need local talent to get at true current value. Sellers should never substitute one of these online “guesstimators” for a Realtor’s advice, that is if you actually want to sell your home. You wouldn’t want to leave money on the table either. Zillow’s algorithms need some major tuning. But it’s fun.

Despite some nervous finger tapping about the housing market, I see it chugging along just fine. All the right indicators remain positive. The GDP is rebounding strongly. Employment was 2 million higher in February. The national average home price increase projected for 2006 is nearly 6%. Still, some local sellers insist on pricing their homes too high and are languishing in the cold wind of overpriced listings, as clearly shown in our Chico MLS database of list-to-sold prices and days on market. But buyers, hoping prices would drop are wrong; that’s not happening. Welcome to a whole new/old ballgame, folks. The market she’s a changin’. But change is what we can always count on, right?


Ken owns Ken DuVall & Associates, Realtors at 3rd Ave. & Mangrove in Chico.  Ken was the 2001 President of the Chico Assn. of Realtors and the 1995 Chico Realtor of the Year.  See Chico MLS listings at www.KenDuVall.com and call Ken at 345-3700 for all your real estate needs. Free consulting.