Daily Archives: October 23, 2007

Breaking The Californian Diesel Wall, Long Beach

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One thing that always amazes me is how popular diesel engines are in Europe and how little market share they gained here.

I’ve driven small car with Turbo diesels that really thrilled me; VolksWagen Golf, Peugeot 205. These cars were fast, had an incredible amount of torque and you didn’t need to shift nearly as much, for good or bad. It’s too bad they never made it here. One advantage diesel has in Europe that we don’t have is that it’s cheaper at the pump. Diesel is more expensive here, strangely enough for petroleum less refined than gasoline.

It seems Mercedes is out to woo us Californians into diesel. California has stringent emission codes that have influenced neighboring states. The German, and mostly BMW have made great strides in improving diesel engines. Less pollution, more power, Audi’s win at Le Mans with a diesel engine, etc.

With Mercedes’ MB E320 BLUETEC, the company wants to make us think twice about diesel. This could start a new trend here.

DataQuick Numbers Down Again, Long Beach

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Nothing really new with the September numbers from DataQuick, it was abysmal.

Here are a few numbers that struck me:

5,014 new and resale houses and condos sold in the nine-county Bay Area for September. It’s down 31.3 percent from 7,299 in August, down 40.1 percent from 8,374 for September 2006. The strongest September was in 2004 when sales totaled 12,868.

Last month was the slowest September in DataQuick’s statistics, which go back to 1988.

To go back to my post of a few days ago saying how many lenders are telling us to go out there and get it:

“”A lot of escrows just didn’t close in September because the buyers couldn’t get financing. Some of those sales might close this month or next, but many of the deals are going to be put on hold or die on the vine. Jumbo financing has become more available the last few weeks, but lenders are being more cautious than before, and the loans cost more,” said Marshall Prentice, DataQuick president.”

The typical monthly mortgage payment that Bay Area buyers committed themselves to paying was $2,973 last month, down from $3,171 the previous month. It was up from a year ago, however.

Well, there you go folks. How about making sure those homes are priced to sale? And even then, how about finding serious lenders that will back you up until the last day of escrow? I still like this period. It’s a redefining moment.

Thanks DataQuick.