July 27, 2010
Reuters (national) - May homes prices gained but no sustained recovery

July 25, 2010
CNN - 20% of Americans hit by major economic loss

June 18, 2010
Sonoma County Economic Development Board's 2010 Indicators

June 17, 2010
Sonoma County home sales increase for 4th consecutive month

June 11, 2010
Mortgage rates near all-time low

May 28, 2010
National Flood Insurance Program may lapse on May 31, 2010

May 28, 2010
Sonoma County - European Grapevine Moth update

May 27, 2010
Mortgage rate on 30-year loans fall to 4.78%

May 27, 2010
Thousands more in San Francisco seek property tax relief

May 21, 2010
Sonoma County homeowners defrauded in mortgage scam

May 18, 2010
Sonoma County 2009 Agricultural Crop Report

May 7, 2010
Napa valley growers start spraying grapevine moth

May 1, 2010
Grapevine moth found in Mendocino County

April 23, 2010
Grapevine moth found near Healdsburg
Sonoma County Agricultural Commissioner's press release

April 22, 2010
California home default cases plunge

April 22, 2010
National - Land prices jump as home builders move in

April 20, 2010
Mendocino County - 200 acres added to Montgomery Woods redwood park

April 14, 2010
Sonoma County - Apple Moth Quarantine Areas Map

April 13, 2010
No more taxation of forgiven debt for California borrowers

April 8, 2010
30-yr mortgage rates hit 8-month high at 5.21%

April 5, 2010
Hwy 101 soundwall proposed for Petaluma

April 2, 2010
First European grapevine moth discovered in Kenwood, Sonoma County

April 2, 2010
Battling crime in the vineyards

March 31, 2010
Mortgage rates up, along with new loan applications

March 31, 2010
Delinquent borrowers catch up on insured mortgages

March 31, 2010
Fannie, Freddie may fill void in mortgage market

March 25, 2010
Bank of America to reduce principal loan balance for some borrowers

March 25, 2010
Marin County Supervisors OK ban on camping at Bolinas Beach

March 18, 2010
Healdsburg Museum will open new exhibition "From Cabin to Craftsman, 100 years of Healdsburg's Architectural Heritage." Grand opening March 18 at 6:00pm and running from March 15 to June 13, 2010. 221 Matheson Street, Healdsburg (707)431-3325 Open Wed-Sun, 11:00am-4:00pm.

March 16, 2010
Red-legged frog gets protected habitat in Sonoma, Mendocino counties

March 16, 2010
Notice to Grape, Olive, and Fruit Growers, European Grapevine Moth meetings.

March 16, 2010
Fed holds rates at record lows to foster recovery

March 11, 2010
In 2009, almost half of U.S. homes sold were sold to first-time buyers.

March 8, 2010
Sonoma energy program gets State money but with new restrictions from last year, including home energy audits...

March 3, 2010
Hefty tax bill may hit those who lost home

February 27, 2010
Closed Sales by Area for January 2010 in Sonoma and Marin counties are now posted on the "Sales Statistics" page of this web site.

February 24, 2010
L.A. Times - Jumbo mortgage market beginning to thaw ...Two weeks ago, the average interest rate on 30-year fixed-rate jumbos dropped to 5.79%, a nearly five year low...

February 24, 2010
Bloomberg - U.S. New-home sales unexpectedly fell to record low in January...the foreclosure flow is robbing demand from the new-home sales market...

February 19, 2010
Sonoma County - Vacation rental company's closure stirs outrage in Bodega Bay

February 19, 2010
The Mortgage Bankers Association reports that during the 4th quarter of 2009, the percentage of borrowers who missed just one payment fell from 3.8 percent in the 3rd quarter to 3.6 percent; whereas, those who were at least three months behind increased from 4.4 to 5 percent during the same period. More than 15 percent of those late on payments were in foreclosure.

February 17, 2010
Kenwood - Santa Rosa group buys interest in Kunde Winery

February 17, 2010
Sonoma County's Restaurant Week. Combine your house hunting with Sonoma County's first ever "Restaurant Week", Feb 22-28, a celebration of Sonoma County's farm fresh food and premier wine. 3 course dinners for $19., $29., or $39. Reservations are suggested.

February 17, 2010
Sonoma Ag officials to set 7,000 traps to monitor European grapevine moth

February 12, 2010
California Association of REALTORS (Legal)
NONREFUNDABLE DEPOSIT DEEMED INVALID
An agreement for a "nonrefundable" escrow deposit is invalid and unenforceable, according to the recent California case of Kuish v. Smith (2010 WL 373225).  This case serves as a good reminder for REALTORS® that inserting a "nonrefundable deposit" provision into a real property purchase contract may be legally ineffective.

The Kuish case involved a $620,000 escrow deposit for the purchase of a $14 million oceanfront home in Laguna Beach.  Instead of using a liquidated damages provision, the buyer and sellers merely agreed in the purchase contract that the deposit would be "nonrefundable."  According to the trial court, both parties were "big boys," meaning that they were "sophisticated business people [who] understood all the ramifications of their actions in freely negotiating to make the [deposit] non-refundable."

The buyer eventually cancelled the agreement.  The sellers refused to return the deposit to the buyer, even though they sold the property to someone else for $1 million more.

The buyer sued to recover the $620,000 deposit, and won on appeal.  The court stated that "any provision by which money or property would be forfeited without regard to actual damage suffered would be an unenforceable penalty.  To construe the term 'nonrefundable' to establish [the sellers'] entitlement to the full deposit without regard to actual damages would essentially create a liquidated damages provision."  Yet, the parties in this case did not separately sign or initial a liquidated damages provision.

Under C.A.R.'s Residential Purchase Agreement, the sellers would have been entitled to the escrow deposit (not to exceed three percent of the purchase price), if the parties initialed the liquidated damages provision, and the buyer had no contingencies or had removed all his contingencies.  For more information about liquidated damages, C.A.R. has a legal article entitled Liquidated Damages and Deposit Forfeitures, which is available in English, Chinese, Korean, Spanish, and Vietnamese.

February 11, 2010
Home Buyer Tax Credit Update
There were major changes on November 6, 2009 to the homebuyer tax credit after passage of the federal Worker, Homeownership, and Business Assistance Act of 2009. This new law extended the homebuyer tax credit to a broader range of home purchasers and added new documentation requirements to deter fraud and ensure taxpayers properly claim the credit.  In particular, the first-time home buyer tax credit for $8,000 (or $4,000 if married and filing separately) maximum was extended to April 30, 2010.  In addition, the law provides a homebuyer tax credit of $6,500 ($3,250 if married and filing separately) maximum for current homeowners who had used the home sold or being sold as a principal residence consecutively for five of the previous eight years.  For all qualifying purchases in 2010, taxpayers have the option of claiming the credit on either their 2009 or 2010 tax returns...full story

February 11, 2010
Winter 2010 Sonoma PRMD Newsletter (Permit & Resource Management Dept) re "Green Building Ordinances", "Civil Penalty Amnesty Continues", and "New Water Efficient Landscape Ordinance."

February 9, 2010
Wall Street Journal. McLean, VA - When Charles E. Haldeman Jr. became Freddie Mac's chief executive officer in August, the ailing housing-finance giant had already consumed $51 billion of government money to stay afloat. It's likely to need even more.

Freddie's federal overseers nevertheless have instructed Mr. Haldeman to focus on something that isn't likely to make the bleak balance sheet look any better: carrying out the Obama administration plan to allow defaulted borrowers to hang onto their homes...

February 8, 2010
County of Sonoma buys 165 acre conservation easement across Hwy 12 from Oakmont

February 5, 2010
New laws affecting the Real Estate Industry for 2010

February 4, 2010
Proposed change to mortgage interest deduction (no link)
President Obama yesterday presented his proposed budget plan for fiscal year 2011.  Included in the proposed plan is a provision to reduce the mortgage interest deduction for those earning more than $250,000.  At this time, however, it does not appear that the change to mortgage interest deduction is included in any proposed legislation.  C.A.R. and NAR are strongly opposed to this provision, and C.A.R.’s leadership is meeting with Congressional representatives next week to urge lawmakers to oppose it as well. 
Source: California Association of REALTORS

California housing production reached new low in 2009
January 26, 2010  SACRAMENTO – California homebuilders put up the lowest number of homes for a single year in 2009, beating the previous low that was set in 2008, the California Building Industry Association announced today.

January 27, 2010 - Fed leaves rates unchanged
The Federal Reserve today announced it will maintain its target for the federal funds rate in the 0 percent to 0.25 percent range, and expects economic conditions to warrant exceptionally low levels of the federal funds rate for an extended period of time. “Information … suggests that economic activity continues to strengthen and that deterioration in the labor market is abating,” the Fed said in a prepared statement.

Conforming Loan purchase limits for 2010 unchanged from 2009
McLean, VA – Freddie Mac's (NYSE:FRE) conforming loan purchase limits for 2010 are unchanged from those in effect for 2009 for all areas of the United States, according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA).  The loan limits set the maximum original loan amounts allowed on single-family conventional mortgages Freddie Mac can purchase except in high cost areas.

January 28, 2010 California's Home Inventory Shrinks to 5-year Low - By Jim Carlton, The Wall Street Journal
SAN FRANCISCO—California's inventory of unsold, previously owned homes shrank to a five-year low in December, in another sign that the state may be coming out of its worst housing slump in decades.The supply of unsold single-family homes dropped to 3.8 months from 5.6 months a year ago and 16.6 months in January 2008, when inventories were at a peak, according to estimates released Friday by the California Association of Realtors. The inventory levels are now at their lowest level since 2005, resulting in frenzied sales with multiple offers in some cities.

    
                            Terri Alvillar, REALTOR - Klassic Key Properties
                                      6040 Commerce Blvd., Ste. 110
                                            Rohnert Park, CA 94928
                                   Office: 707-536-9290, Cell: 707-483-2884
                                            terri@alvillarhomes.com