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Two-thirds of baby boomers say they want to help their children or grandchildren with a home down payment, according to a study of more than 1,000 baby boomers age 45 and up conducted by Meredith Research Solutions.

In fact, one in five boomers surveyed say they’ve already loaned their children money, cosigned a mortgage, or given a cash gift for a down payment on a home.

Even baby boomers not considered wealthy are willing to offer help on down payments. While baby boomers who make more than $75,000 a year were found to be the most willing to offer help, 46 percent of baby boomers who make less than $75,000 per year say they also plan to help their child with a future home purchase, according to the survey. 

So why are baby boomer parents so willing to help their children out with a home down payment? About 75 percent of boomers said they believe owning a home is a good investment for their children, and 58 percent said they think it’s still part of the American dream. 

Source: “Survey: Most Boomers Would Cover Kids’ Down Payment,” AOL Real Estate (Nov. 30, 2011)

Other information about the Sierra Foothills, El Dorado, Placer, Amador or Sacramento Counties of California at: www.sierraproperties.com or www.dougandbudzeller.com

The gold country now offers a multitude of colors. Trees, shrubs and native brush come alive with fall’s vivid palette. Highway 50 from Shingle Springs through Placerville to Camino is an excellent tour base, offering numerous side loops and historic sites.

Christmas season now add to the attractions. Holiday decorations accent the foothills region introduced by numerous Christmas Trees beside Highway 50 in Placerville. Take a stroll on “Main Street” to embrace the holiday themes of the local merchant shops.

Just to the east toward Camino are some of El Dorado County “Christmas Tree Farms” offering choose and cut your own tree benefits. Truly family fun, especially for the kids For information about some of  the growers or farms visit: www.ChooseandCut.com or refer to a map of the region at:  http://www.chooseandcut.com/map.html

 “Apple Hill” orchards, farms, ranches and their restaurants welcome visitors with bakeries and fall harvest treats are still open to add other family fun.

For a video tour and information about the Placerville, El Dorado County, California, region visit:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGPoK87artA

While most of the media attention is focused on the presidential election that is still a year away, many voters will make an equally important decision this month in their local elections.

According to the California Taxpayers Association, nearly fifty local tax proposals will appear on ballots this month throughout the state.  They include proposals for local school bonds, business license taxes, hotel taxes, parcel taxes, sales taxes and utility users taxes.  With 18 measures on local ballots, parcel taxes are the most common this election.

The high number of proposals is no doubt a reflection of the hard times most local governments are facing.  But the news is not all bad.  According to the Cal-Tax data, two cities, Modesto and South Pasadena, have placed proposals on their local ballots to reduce the existing utility users tax rate. El Dorado County has 3 on their ballots.

More information at: http://www.caltax.org/homepage/local_tax_elections.htm

“With rental demand rising and apartment economics improving, the multifamily sector is a positive signal for the U.S. housing industry,” writes Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac’s Chief Economist, in the October 2011 U.S. Economic and U.S. Economic. 

An increase of 1.4 million households moved into rental housing in the year ending June 2011–a 4 percent rise in the number of tenant households in one year alone, the Census Bureau reports. Meanwhile, the home ownership rate dropped about 1.5 percent over the past year. Data concurrent with general trends in Placerville, El Dorado County, CA.

“While home sales remain sluggish despite the most affordable purchase market in decades, households have turned to rental to meet their shelter needs,” Nothaft writes in the report. 

The increase in rental demand is due partially to some households who may have faced a short sale or foreclosure of a home they owned, Nothaft notes. However, he says most of the rental demand is coming from young and newly formed households, who are postponing home ownership. The home ownership rate for household heads under 30 years of age has fallen the sharpest in recent years.

As demand increases, vacancy rates are dropping and rents are rising. New construction for larger apartment buildings is also increasing, as property sales rise. Dollar-sales volume of apartment buildings was at its highest point in the second quarter since 2007, according to Real Capital Analytics. New construction starts of apartment buildings with at least 20 dwellings is also on the rise, posting its highest level since the end of 2008 in the second quarter too. 

 Source: Freddie Mac: October 2011 Economic Outlook

In just three weeks since its launch, Google+ has boasted 20 million unique visitors worldwide–more than 5 million in the United States alone–which has many saying that it’s poised to be Facebook’s biggest competitor. Google Inc.’s new social networking site has particularly impressed observers since access to it is still by invitation only, which means a current member has to send you an invitation in order for you to join. Google hasn’t yet unleashed Google+ to its more than 1 billion monthly visitors who use its search engine, Gmail, and other services.

Still, analysts acknowledge that Google+ has a long way to go before reaching Facebook’s 750 million users and even Twitter’s 200 million, but many are expecting it to give steep competition to both.

Google+ allows you to build a social “circle” of friends, easily separating out family and friends from work contacts, and then lets you share comments, articles, photos, and videos with your designated “circle” of friends or even the public. Google+ also boasts a “hangout” feature that lets you do video chats to several contacts simultaneously.

Google+ features will eventually be incorporated into services like YouTube and in Google’s suite of online software for businesses.

 Source: “Google+ Pulls in 20 Million in 3 Weeks,” The Wall Street Journal (July 22, 2011)

 Other articles relating to the Sacramento and Placerville, California regions at: www.sierraproperties.com

It’s not high interest rates preventing a housing recovery. The interest rates, currently around 4.25 percent, are historically low. What’s slowing down the housing market recovery is a weak economic recovery with little job creation. And according to the National Association of Realtors, NAR, the government agencies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are part of the problem in preventing a recovery. 

The California Association of Realtors has reported that nearly half of all opened escrows are failing to close. Lender turn-downs are primary reasons. The number has been so significant that “pending sales” are no longer considered an accurate indication of future closings.    

Golder sent a message from Realtors across the country, “The Federal Housing Administration, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, have a mission to provide mortgage liquidity to qualified home buyers, including low-and moderate-income families and first-time buyers. That mission is being impaired by unnecessarily restrictive limits on the availability of credit and these extremely tight policies are significantly delaying a housing market and economic recovery.”

Both the CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® (C.A.R.) and the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® (NAR) released monthly housing reports this week. However, each report told a different story about the housing market. Nationally, home sales declined but in California home sales rose 14.1 percent in May compared with April and 1.2 percent compared with April 2009.

KEEP THIS IN MIND

• The median price of existing single-family homes in California in May was $324,430, a 23.2 percent increase compared with a median price of $263,440 in May 2009, C.A.R. reported. The May 2010 median price increased 5.9 percent compared with April’s $306,230 median price.

• While home prices are rising month-over-month and year-over-year, affordability continues to remain at near-record highs. In the first quarter of 2010, 66 percent of first-time home buyers in California could afford to purchase an entry-level home in the state, according to C.A.R.’s First-time Buyer Housing Affordability Index.

• Many first-time home buyers timed the opening and closing of escrow to capitalize on both the federal and state tax credits, resulting in a rise in home sales in May. Although home sales rose, the number of home buyers signing sales contracts declined nearly 17 percent compared with April, which C.A.R. Chief Economist Leslie Appleton-Young attributes to the ending of the federal tax credit. “Although there may be a lessening of demand compared with the first half of this year, the number of escrows opened on a year-to-date basis is about the same as last year, and sales for all of 2010 will be on a par or slightly below last year,” said Appleton-Young.

• Despite the number of foreclosures listed for sale, the inventory of homes for sale still is below the long-run average of 7-months, according to C.A.R. In May, C.A.R.’s Unsold Inventory Index for existing, single-family detached homes was 4.6 months, unchanged from the same period a year ago. The index indicates the number of months needed to deplete the supply of homes on the market at the current sales rate.

To read the full story, please click here:

http://www.sgvtribune.com/ci_15353779#ixzz0rht9SqsU