December 2016

WOW! For much of the Spring and Summer, the real estate market seemed to take a pause – perhaps as people wondered what direction the country would go on election night. Many seemed to be surprised by the election results. It was fascinating to see the over night reaction in the stock market, as the Dow futures dropped suddenly and dramatically at the news of a Trump victory. By the end of the next business day the stock market was up and the Dow Jones set a new high within days. The Dow and assorted indices have set fifteen new highs since the election. Talk about a fast flip!

So what does this mean for the real estate market? To be honest, we don’t know, but we sure wish we did. What we do know is interest rates are moving up.

On a positive note, some of the uncertainty is gone and maybe the pause that we experienced is over. We now know who the next President will be, and we can make some educated assumptions based on his policy platform.

The long awaited and oft times predicted interest rate rise seems to have begun. The Federal Reserve moved the Fed Funds Rate by the expected quarter point on December 14th. Since the election, 30 year fixed rate mortgage rates have risen by over a half point. Rates were near this level a year ago and have pushed up over 4% several times in recent years. The big question is will rates rise well above 4% on 30 year fixed rate loans and stay there.

November experienced a surge of new sales up 43.7% compared to November of 2015. It will be interesting to see how 2016 finishes.

We will keep you posted.

Highest Home Sale Nov. ’16
3284 Beach Club Rd
3 BD / 2 BA / $7.300.000

Lowest Home Sale Nov. ’16
1608 Castillo St
2 BD / 2 BA / $489.000

Thank you to our clients on these most recent sales! Thank you for your trust. It is always an honor to help.

1041 Mission Ridge Road
Classic & Modern
5 BD / 8 BA / $6.795.000

5213 Vallecito Ct
Spacious Carpinteria Home
4 BD / 3 BA / $1.125.000

1350 Limu Street
Updated & Open Carpinteria
3 BD / 2 BA / $781.000

1394 Limu Street
Versatile Carpinteria Home
3 BD / 2 BA / $716.000

Something Fun – Merry Christmas!

Hands down, this has to be one of the best times of year. It can be hectic getting ready, but other areas of life seem to slow down. We get a little more time to celebrate, spend time with friends and those we love.

To kick off the season, we had the opportunity to ride the Carpinteria Holiday Lights trolley with family and friends and take in the Christmas lights. It is silly how fun it is to drive around in a trolley and look at lights, you feel like a kid again.

We hope that everyone has a Merry Christmas and a Wonderful New Year!