With the very hot summer days here in Long Beach, expect my posts to be a wee bit shorter as I indulge in more yoga and swimming at the sea.

Even though June was up 3.8 percent from May and it was down 20.7 percent from June 2005 statewide.

Calculated Risk gives us some interesting graphs of monthly sales in California for the last 3 years (Source: DataQuick)

All in all, sales are down 15.7% this year.   And I am excited to have had my first head hunter call today from a well known real estate company.  As interesting as the promises sound I love Robert Weil Associates too much to move.  The team spirit we have here, the cooperation and camaraderie is not something I could find elsewhere that easily.

Read the original article here.

By Nick Zart,

The Wall Street Journal wrote about the housing market slowing throughout the country while inventories of unsold homes rise and some sellers cut their asking price.  Even though the sale pace is slowing there is no sign of a crashing market.  It is just returning to a more normal level after years of inflation.  Yet, clearly, there are more homes on the market than a year ago. 

The Journal gathered interesting data on home for sale inventories from a variety of local sources, considering amongst other employment an important factor in determining demand for housing.  The metro areas showing large increases of homes for sale and relatively weak employment growth included Los Angeles.  The strongest markets were in Houston, Dallas-Fort Worth and Seattle. All three areas benefit from healthy job markets with modest home prices drawing investors and new residents.

In the meantime there will always be people who must buy houses because of changes in their lives, such as a new job or unforeseen events.

Here is more on the subject at the Real Estate Journal.

By Nick Zart,

It’s always sad when a local shop with fun products is forced to close doors.  It also invites bigger faceless companies to pay the high rents.  It mostly changes the charm of a wonderful neighborhood that prides itself on its community feel.  Think about it, what is the biggest thing missing on 2nd street in Belmont Shore?  A book place that serves coffee.  Guess what?  There used to be one but they went out of business.

The problem is that rents are going up and forcing the little guys out, opening the door to mall types of companies.  What would 2nd street look if we only had Starbucks, Seattle’s Best and Pete’s Coffee instead of Polly’s Coffee place?  If we had, say Hooters and other bar/food chain stores instead of Taco Surf?  Bland mall chain retail stores selling mass produced artisanal products and clothes instead of Fern’s, Toto’s Revenge and Body ‘O Soul?  Well, it is happening slowly.

It’s sad to hear merchants complain about rents going so high they are having a hard time keeping up with it.  We are looking at a wonderful piece of Long Beach history that could be over run with bland nation chain stores.  We could be yet another strip found anywhere in the country.

My wife and I support our local stores as much as possible.  Fern’s make for great presents.  Polly’s coffee is still the best place to hang out on the Shore.  And Legends?  Well Legends is gone but there is still Lucille’s and Panama Jones.

By Nick Zart,

Most of us think that our home equity is our retirement but we need to remember that markets go up and down and that what worked for the baby boomers might not apply to us anymore. In fact, what goes up, must come down most of the time.  A better way to look at a home equity is as a cushion for the future.

A home is a necessity, a place to live but it is not always a replacement for stocks or ETFs.  The recent years have skyrocketed the net worth of many people.  The flip side of thinking of your home as a retirement was brought to light by a recent Securities Industry Association retirement study that found people had less of a need to save.  When interest payments and energy prices rose, many slacked off when it came to lining their retirement nest egg.  To prove the point, less households hold a retirement account such a 401(k) since 2001 while nearly half are not saving at all.  This is a recipe for a disaster.

A smarter move would be to downsize or purchase a smaller home than previously expected while placing some money into more liquid investments.  But that still has its risks as smaller homes are not always cheaper than the current one owned. 

It always boils down to not putting all your eggs in one basket.

Here is the article I based this post on at the Real Estate Journal.

By Nick Zart,

Ironically enough, Southern California home prices climbed but at slower pace than it experienced in the past six years.  Judging from our Office numbers at Robert Weil Associates, we have plenty of listing, plenty of sales and even multiple offers.  Go figure!

Apparently I am not the only one scratching my head over the fact that prices continue to rise and set records but sales are slowing.  Hope this doesn’t spell what happened to San Diego when prices last month finally fell after years of going up.

Calculated Risk shows an interesting graph on what happened in San Diego here.