Just Some Observations

October 8, 2008

I certainly would not deny that the economic news is a bit scary - perhaps appropriate for the month of Halloween and "Trick or Treat". However, as I reflect on the housing data that I have just compiled from the IMRMLS, I see a trend toward "stability or "bottoming out". I do not want to draw too many conclusions from my data sampling, but here are few observations.

1) In most of the communities that I track, the number of "sold" properties in August was greater than in July. The number of "sold" properties in September was greater than in August.

2) The median price of the "sold" properties was less in August than in July, but remained much the same in September as it was in August.

3) The number of pending sales versus number of active listing was a higher percentage.

4) In the three communities that I checked out on the Southland Title web site, the number of Notices of Default (NOD) and the number of Notices of Trustee (NOT) sales declined fairly dramatically in September as compared to the numbers reported in August.

Moreno Valley.............September NOD/198.......August NOD/575

Redlands......................September NOD/19..........August NOD/40

Yucaipa........................September NOD/20..........August NOD/64



Moreno Valley............September NOT/275.........August NOT/437

Redlands.....................September NOT/55............August NOT/26

Yucaipa.......................September NOT/29............August NOT/67



Stay tuned for how the bailout and the stock market declines effect the October numbers. In the meantime, there are some fabulous properties for sale at prices not seen since early in this 21st century.