Back in February I wrote a blog about how the credit card companies are killing their golden goose - us.

Here’s a link to that article:

http://www.marinrealtygroup.com/insight-to-marin-real-estate/hey-credit-card-companies-ever-hear-of-the-golden-goose/?preview=true&preview_id=161&preview_nonce=eb24a1a406

and here’ s a link to an article that shows the mounting debt, rising credit card interest rates and unemployment are making it impossible for many to continue paying their credit card debt. With the current behavior of greed and abuse by the credit card companies we can expect to see many more personal bankrupcies.

http://money.cnn.com/2009/07/07/pf/consumer_delinquencies/?postversion=2009070711

US Banks - America’s domestic terrorists. Ah, you say. What a bold statement.

As we approach the 4th of July holiday and honor the founding of America I contend that we have a new threat to America’s economic safety and recovery. That threat is the US banking system.

Being in real estate and working closely with banks regarding purchase loans for home buyers, short sales for homeowners that are underwater and REO’s (properties that have been foreclosed on and are now bank-owned)  I can tell you that the banking system is the #1 reason we are in a housing crisis and the #1 reason it is not recovering.

You don’t have to take my word for it, talk to any mortgage broker or real estate agent trying to negotiate a short-sale for a troubled homeowner. Let’s not even get into the sham that is called loan modification for which so many have applied and so many have been denied. It is such a certainty loans will not be modified that it can only be seen as pure lip service with no substance at all.

What about short sales? God forbid there is more than one loan with one bank. Otherwise the petty fighting and lack of cooperation between the banks would be comic if it weren’t, in reality, creating unbelievable stress for already distressed homeowners.

Is this the fault of the government or the banks themselves?

 Here’s an example of our government tryingto reign in the greed and scams perpertatrated on us by the banking system and the banking systems sleazy reaponse to it.   http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/01/credit-card-issuers-getti_n_223448.html

As an accomplice, whether willingly or not,  the government is coddling the banks and allowing them to run rampant on US citizens. It’s time to raise our unified bvoice and demand cooperation from the bansk to get us out of the very disaster they foisted on us. Strong words? Damn right! Just not strong or loud enough.

On this July 4th let’s make a combined and concerted effort to demand real changes to the way the banks are handling this crisis. Until we make ourselves heard we can expect no relief and no recovery.

Below is a table of average square foot prices of Single Family Homes sold in Marin County – calculated for both county as a whole and town-by-town. These prices are based on sales prices divided by the square footage of home. 2005 - 2008 reflect year-end prices and 2009 reflects prices through May 15. All info was compliled through Marin County Multiple Listing Service.y Multiple Listing Service.

San Rafael     536.91      523.35       535.42      493.22       415.64

Novato            423.18    420.51       405.92      361.48        290.44

Yearly Volume of Single Family Home Sales since 2005

(Covering Sales from January 1^st through April 30 of each year)

                Saus    MV       Belv     Tib   CMadera    Lark     SR       

 2005          22        115       14         39        31         26         149        

 2006          15        108         9         31        20          13        134        

2007           22        105        12        37        26         20         141         

2008           11          48         6        27         16         10          99        

2009            8          46          5        12         16         10         77          

              Nov       Kent      Ross       SA    Fairfax   Greenbrae

2005       179          26            6           60         19              15          

2006       146          17           11         50          16                7 

2007       122          23            8          44          25              26

2008       101          13            8          43          16               7

2009        87             4            7          24          14               5

It sure is interesting to watch Marin’s monthly real estate sales in  different price ranges. I break our market into 4 price ranges and calculate statistics for Single Family homes and Condos/Townhomes separately. The price ranges I use are $0 - $499,999, $500k - $999,999, $1M - 1,999,999, and over $2,000,000. The reason for that should be obvious. However, what doesn’t seem so obvious is the fact that the real estate market is different for Single Family homes than it is for Condos/Townhouses. Most of the statistics you read tend to lump the Single Family statistics with those for Condos/Townhouses which misrepresents both.

Looking  at Marin’s April sales of Single Family Homes we see a disparity in sales activity between the different price ranges (keep in mind that 1-3 months of inventory indicates a sellers’ market; 4-6 months of inventory indicates a balanced market; 7 months or more of inventory indicates a buyers’ market):

$0 - $499,999  price range currently has 41 Active listings. There were 16 sales in April (41/18 = 2.3 months of inventory). 2.3 months of inventory, based on April sales, indicates a sellers’ market. Unfortunately, most of the sales in this price range are either bank-owned properties (REO’s) or short sales (not enough money in the sale to pay off the loan).

$500,000 - $999,999 price range currently has 351 Active listings. There were 50 sales in April (351/53 = 6.62 months of inventory). This price range has improved and is teetering between buyers’ and sellers’ market. More improvement in this price range could bring stability to this price range in the next couple of months. 

$1,000,000 - $1,999,999 price range  303 Active listings. There were 12 sales in April (304/27 = 11.3 months of inventory). 11.3 months of inventory indicates a STRONG buyers’ market.

$2,000,000 and up price range currently has 223 Active listings. There were 9 sales in Apriln(223/9 = 24.8 months of inventory). 24.8 months of inventory indicates a STRONG buyers’ market.

I’ll continue to analyze the market and the small improvements we continue to see in certain sectors of our market.

There are many signs, albeit small ones, that clearly indicate a slowly recovering economy.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/05/business/economy/05turnaround.html?_r=1&hp

http://money.cnn.com/2009/05/05/news/economy/bernanke_jec/index.htm?postversion=2009050510