Currently in the Santa Clarita real estate market, we stand at about 155 short sale "active" listings. Based on prior levels, and the increase to todays date, I am projecting that by December 2007, there will be closer to 300 Short Sales on the market in Santa Clarita, likely to be in the upper 200's. The increase will be more pronounced during the fall/winter of 2007 mainly due to the sluggish real estate market, and the fact that fall and winter are historically slow months for real estate sales activity. More than that however, no matter what month it is, owners with adjustable rate mortgages, no equity, or even negative equity, will increasingly need to sell their home, and in many cases for a loss by way of Short Sale, in order to avoid a foreclosure. In order to perform a Short Sa... 08/14/2007

Searching for a home in Santa Clarita? Please feel free to utilize the same "Multiple Listing Service" that is utilized by Realtors® in this area, by accessing our website. No obligations, no hassles, no talking to a Realtor®, no handing out your information. Absolutely FREE! Our website allows you to search through 1000's of homes, discretely. It also allows you to sign up for automatic alerts when a home meets your criteria, should you choose too. SEARCH the MLShttp://www.staceyandbob.com/ Please feel free to contact us, we would be happy to show you any home you may be interested in. Stacey and Bob HawsRealtors®Keller Williams Realty661-297-3725 Office661-713-4550 DirectStaceyandBob@sbcglobal.net Cities we service: Acton, Anaverde, Aqua Dulce, Canyon Country, Castaic, Lake Los Angele... 08/11/2007

I went to bed tonight at midnight knowing I had to finish some unfinished paperwork, but I was tired and beat I had a rough day nearly losing my laptop today and off to bed I went.  I reasoned hey I can get up early and get this work done tomorrow.  I am now sleeping with my laptop between my wife and I  (I almost lost her today ) Not my wife , my laptop!! and next thing you know it's 1:05 A.M. and I am banging out this blog WIDE AWAKE!. Why you ask?, why the sudden turn around? WE HAD A 4.5 EARTHQUAKE here in Santa Clarita!! It occurred at 12:58 A.M. centered in Chatsworth, Ca. a town a few miles way from us.   I told all my girls to stay calm and go back to sleep. Of course they are all sleeping and now I am here wide awake banging this out before I get to the other work I set aside f... 08/08/2007

I have been quite busy doing home repairs and other small jobs here in the Santa Clarita area and much of that is because I am here on Active Rain. I haven't kept track of the numbers but about one third of all of my calls come from people who find me on the internet through my Active Rain posts. I am very grateful and surprised.I do not intend to just sit around and wait for people to find me here, but I do enjoy the added benefit of being a part of Active Rain. 08/05/2007

Why is Santa Clarita one of the safest cities in this country. It is people like Rick Patterson of Owen Patterson and Owen and Anthony Zinnanti two local attorneys here in Santa Clarita who filed a restraining order to bar Jack Mcclellan from being within 10 yards of a minor child. Rick and Anthony are our most recent heroes. This restraining order not only applies to Santa Clarita but to the entire state of California!  This predator has been in other neighboring cities taunting local officials and others with no recourse.   He recently made the mistake of visiting Santa Clarita and posting a few locations in our city on his website and that he would be returning again to list more.  You may or may not have heard about Jack McClellan recently for those of you who do not know who this m... 08/03/2007

This week in Santa Clarita Short Sales (Short Pays)...the Santa Clarita Valley inventory of these types of sales is rising. In total, as of today, there are 140 Santa Clarita Short Sale listings. The 140 homes for sale in Santa Clarita that are short sales (short pays) are broken down by area below:ACTON - 1AGUA DULCE - 3CANYON COUNTRY - 46NEWHALL - 14SAUGUS - 23STEVENSON RANCH - 3VALENCIA - 34Valencia and Canyon Country have the largest inventory of Santa Clarita short sales. Stevenson Ranch, showing why its such as hot place to live, has the lowest amount of Santa Clarita Short Sale activity. To learn more about short sales, also know as short pays, please visit the #1 team in Santa Clarita prepared to assist you with this type of sale or purchase - www.TeamShortSales.com of Vintage S... 08/02/2007

I have a new Short Sale (Short pay) listing that will hit the Santa Clarita MLS very soon, and be available to everyone. You don't have to wait for this amazing deal! You can call Robert if you feel this is the right home for you, and at the right price. This is a Santa Clarita Short Sale. So what that means is the owner owes more money, than they can sell it for in todays real estate market. In this case, the lender will have to approve the lower sales price, essentially forgiving a debt to the owner of the home. The sales price and sale itself will be subject to lender's approval. Contact Robert Mickalson regarding any questions about this Santa Clarita Short Sale @ 661-373-2374. This condo, located at 28118 Robin Saugus, Ca is PRICED TO SELL. It is a 2 bedroom 1 bath condo, with abou... 08/02/2007

Any momentum that existed, has certainly stalled out with regards to the community of Castaic getting its own high school. There were high hopes for construction to begin on the new school by early 2008, and possibly be finished in 2010, just as other schools Valencia and West Ranch would be bursting at their seams with students from not only their local area - but Castaic resident students as well...but the item altogether has been removed from the agenda of the LA Planning Commission. Citing issues with traffic studies, environmental issues, and discrepancies between the original approved plan, and a revised plan, it seems much work will need to be done before it is brought back before the commission. Castaic high school students currently are going to either West Ranch and Valencia H... 07/30/2007

New figures just released yesterday show that new home sale in the western portion of the country were down in June by 22.5% versus figures in June 2006. That is pretty much in-line with the rest of the country, where new home sales fell 27 percent in the Northeast, and by 17 percent in the Midwest. Where "its at" apparently is in the south! They saw in increase in new home sales by 7% year over year. Can you say Texas!? Overall the decline was a huge 6+% drop from May 2007, and was triple the amount expected. This fed into a sharp decline at the NYSE stock market, where big gains from weeks past, are quickly being erased. Along with this negative news however comes the good news that interest rates, which are key to home buyers, have dropped to 6.69% from 6.73% over the past week. A gr... 07/27/2007

Team Short Sales.com has just launched! It is a partnership of several very successful Realtors set out on a mission to assist home sellers in need by educating them about the Short Sale process. Performing a short sale, is simply put, a better option for most sellers than foreclosure. As Santa Clarita Notice of Defaults, and full foreclosures are on the rise, so are short sales. There is however a large segment of the general public that has never heard of a short sale. Its time to learn, as its a great tool to avoid foreclosure!In order to do a short sale, an owner of a home must get the approval from the lender(s) who hold the deed of trust. A short sale takes place when you sell your home for less that what is owed to the lenders. In a market where home values have dropped, many hom... 07/27/2007

The time has come finally for Valle Di Oro located in Santa Clarita, they just announced that in August 2007 there will be the release of their phase 1 product. Also in August, in conjunction with the presales...the models will be opening!Call Robert to get on the interest list, and to accompany you on your first visit so that you may have FREE Realtor representation. Remember...when buying or selling Santa Clarita real estate, call me 1st. Robert Mickalson, RealtorVintage Sotheby's International Realty661.219.2260 or 661.373.2374Search the Santa Clarita MLS like a pro @ www.TheScvAgent.comSearch the UP-To-Date Santa Clarita Tract Directory! Go to www.TractDirectory.com  07/26/2007

Rolling out features left and right to the Santa Clarita home buyers!Robert has put together the Santa Clarita Valley's ONLY Source to find ALL Santa Clarita Short Sales. These homes are sometimes MUCH better deals than a bank owned foreclosure that we see so many of these days. The reason is once the bank has their foreclosed home listed, often times that try to get top dollar first - then they come to their senses when its already too late. Short sales are often discounted below market values from DAY 1. This Santa Clarita Short Sale listing website is AUTOMATICALLY updated every hour of every day. You will see ALL PHOTOS available, maps, descriptions, HOA fees, and eveyrthing else necessary for you to know. Contact Robert Mickalson to tour some of these Santa Clarita Short Sale listi... 07/25/2007

One of the latest clouds to hit the Santa Clarita real estate market, and others markets across the nation are Short Sales. But wait! Sometimes even these clouds have silver linings!What is a Short Sale you ask? Well a short sale (sometimes called a short pay) occurs when a buyer can no longer make the payments on his or her home, and is going through some sort of life hardship. The borrowers home is worth less than what they owe. So the borrower seeks to sell the home, often times with the help of a real estate professional, and submit their "Short Sale" request to the lender once an acceptable offer comes in. The borrower owes more than the house is worth, so the lender will have to analyze whether or not to approve the debt to be forgiven or not. Whatever debt amount is forgiven by t... 07/25/2007

I have been posting to my blog and my website blog for a little over a month now. The results are great and people can find me on the internet. But when I was reading Christine Ethridge's post it made me think about article writing. Connie Ragen Green does some marketing for me, and when she wrote an article about homeowner's insurance in Santa Clarita and published it on one of the article directories, that article became #1 on Google. She also insists on "pinging" all of her posts, even though others here on ActiveRain told her that didn't do any good. I think she knows something about what she is talking about.   Connie also writes on ActiveRain and SmallBusinessUnMarketing.com 07/25/2007

People always want to know how to save money on their homeowner's insurance. I have put together some tips on that here. For the complete report go to Insurance Santa Clarita.Before you purchase a home, look closely at the building materials, quality of construction and age of the home.Look at your valuable possessions annually to see if you still need to insure certain items separately in a floater policy. These items would include expensive jewelry, furs, silver and fine art.Purchase your homeowner's insurance and auto insurance from the same company to receive a discount.Maintain a good credit record so that you can receive the lowest possible premium.Raise your deductibles to $500 or $1000 to save about 25% on your premiums.Remember that the service you receive from your agent is al... 07/25/2007

As promised, the JUNE 2007 market statistics for our Santa Clarita area have been released...and I am here to share them with you. Please be a diligent home buyer and compare these to my prior posting with the May 2007 stats. Click here for May 2007 Santa Clarita Real Estate Market Report. Something interesting to note in these Santa Clarita real estate market report statistics is how many homes sell at their actual list price. Its usually below 30% of the time that sellers have to take a lower offer, or negotiate a price below their asking amount. But we know thats part of the deal, and how buying and selling real estate works - but the 30% figure is interesting. I guess one out of every 3 sellers getting their asking price isnt too bad though, eh?Here goes: JUNE 2007 Santa Clarita Rea... 07/23/2007

                                                  If you like really good Mexican fast food then you have to visit Nicholas Ortiz at the Valencia marketplace and try his restaurant "Cabo Cabana" Baja Grill here in Valencia California. Cabo Cabana is located across from Michael's off of the Old Road here in the Santa Clarita valley. By the way Cabo Cabana Baja Grill is located in the Valencia Marketplace which has it's own outdoor concerts with different musical acts and styles during the summer.   Click on Valencia marketplace for dates and showtimes.  Just as an FYI go to their site as they often have discount coupons for stores in the marketplace as well.If you have not already noticed by now, food is a favorite topic of mine.  I learned about Cabo Cabana Baja Grill a few years back f... 07/22/2007

This is a bit late, as we are in July, but June's full stats aren't even fully out yet, so I thought it would be good to get more details out about Santa Clarita's real estate market report card for May 2007 performance. Here goes:Santa Clarita real estate sales in May 2007 were down 23.5% from may 2006 - however prices remained pretty flat, or showed only modest declines 179 Santa Clarita single family homes closed escrow in May 2007, again 23.5 % below the pace of May 2006 90 Santa Clarita condos closed escrow in May 2007, which is 26.8% lower than May 2006, but up 18.4% from the month prior April 2007.  Listing inventory was only up 7.2% from a year ago, and only 3.7% higher than April 2007.  The inventory we have now of homes for sale, represents an 8.3 month supply, which is based ... 07/21/2007

For those interested in our Valencia Town Center Mall expansion details, I have the dirt here for you. Last Tuesday, the Santa Clarita Planning Commission voted unanimously 4-0 in favor of the beginning phases of expansion. This vote gives Westfield, the owner of the Town Center the green light to expand by nearly 260,500 sq ft, the predominance of this expansion will take place on the east side of the mall near Red Robin, and on the South side of the mall facing Valencia Blvd. There will be close to 40 new retail stores, and Westfield is also in talks with up to 10 restaurants, in the hopes of bring newer upscale shopping and dining to the area, putting it high up on the list of premier shopping/dining destinations in Los Angeles County, and even Southern California. Some of the new st... 07/21/2007

THIS POST IS AN ATTEMPT TO ANSWER THE AGE OLD QUESTION: "SHOULD I BUY?" Of course, we are talking about real estate. I was first introduced to a concept called Dollar Cost Averaging when I was just a wee lad learning whether to buy stocks. It was taught to me by a financial planner who also taught me the Rule of 72. Let's first look at Dollar Cost Averaging. Dollar cost averaging refers to a financial principle that shows how to spread your earnings over time in an attempt to look at true earnings. It was taught to me using an analogy of a cow farmer, so that is how I will present it to you. Let's say that you are a cow farmer. MMMMMmmmmmmmmmmm, steak. Wait, different post. Ok, back to cow farming. You get into the cow market when cows cost $100 each. You commit to spending $100 a month... 07/16/2007