Mark Wisterman's Paradise & Lake Oroville Real Estate Blog

 Here are the weekly sales numbers for the Lake Oroville real estate market. Not too much about which to comment this week. 

 It is good to see the sales volume for Oroville homes sold to break through the $1 million mark. Inventories are holding steady but remain at nearly a 2 year low.  Unfortunately, for Oroville sellers, bank-owned properties, as a percentage of total Lake Oroville listings, are still the highest they have been since I began tracking these numbers.

You can also access this weekly report at my facebook page: REALTYWORLD.CA

Well, well. well, has it been a very long time since I posted Lake Oroville real estate stats, or what? 

Don’t ask me why I haven’t done this for so long. Except for the fact that the market for Oroville home sales has not changed much since we last discussed this, I really have no reason, or even a lame excuse.

But, with Spring  just around the corner (I think), there is no better time than the present to start again. First you will notice that I am again posting monthly and yearly comparison stats in the right columns of this blog.  Here you can see how the sales of Oroville homes compare to Butte County as a whole. Remember the old saying that all ”all real estate is local”. So ignore the national stats because they have nothing to do with our local markets.  Oh, one more thing…. MY intent is to also post these stats on my facebook business page at www.facebook/RealtyWorld.CA so if you haven’t been there please stop by and “LIKE” my page to be sure that you see my posts there.

  

 

 

Great news, for the Lake Oroville real estate market, and beyond is just coming across the newswires.

The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) is extending the waiver to the onerous rules that prohibit FHA insured loans from being used for the purchase of homes that sold within 90 days of being acquired by the seller.

Under the rule, if a seller has owned the home for less than 90 days and the sales price is more than 20% higher than what the seller originally paid for it, then FHA would refuse to insure a loan for it.  Apparently FHA feels that it is “predatory” sales practice to make a profit on the sale of a property that you may have purchased at an opportune price.

With home sales sagging FHA decided last year to mostly waive the restriction on the practice of “flipping” through January 31, 2011. In other words, they decided that through January 31, 2011 they would allow the free market to work.

In a very smart move, with the expiration date of the waiver looming, FHA has extended the waiver for the balance of 2011. While there are still parts of the regulation which hinder the sales of flipped homes, the extension of the waiver is a wise decision and the FHA is to be applauded for its effort to free up the free market.

If the agency would prefer a standing ovation over simple applause, it should do the right thing by getting rid of the silly rule all together.

Related articles

• Relaxed FHA ‘flip’ rules prove no flop (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• Rehab Flips Making a Comeback During the Housing Bust? (seattlebubble.com)
• Doing Flips Without Falling Down (homeloans.org)

Another exciting development descends upon the downtown area of the Lake Oroville real estate market today with the opening of the office of Stifel, Nicolaus & Company, Incorporated.With its origins dating back to the 1890’s, the investment firm’s belief of “safeguarding the money of others as if it were your own” has guided them through portions of 3 centuries.

So why is this such a big deal?  Because,  the debut of the Stifel (pronounce it, Steeful) Nicolaus office marks the return of an investment company downtown that still operates, in many ways, as a “family” run business.  And, because my longtime friend, and even longertime ( I know, this is not a word) investment adviser, Jim Moll is going to be working there, and I want to help get the word out that his new office, which is actually his old office, is open for business.

Jim, along with fellow Vice President/Investments Kevin Zeitler, and Client Service Associate, Callie McBee, are pleased to welcome you to their new company at 1891 Robinson Street, Oroville Ca 95965.

The new phone number is 530-534-8021

The name on the door and the number on the telephones may have changed, but Jim’s, Kevin’s and Callie’s commitment of  “safeguarding the money of others as if it were your own” won’t.

Good Luck, Guys!!!!

 Voters in the Lake Oroville real estate market turned out at Municipal Auditoriumlast evening to get a first hand view of the candidates running for the positions of City Council member and Mayor of Oroville.

Although I do not reside within the city limits of  Oroville , and am unable to vote in the election, as the owner of business located within the boundaries of the city I felt it important to attend the Oroville Forum of Candidates, moderated by my good friend Jim Moll, to get an idea of what to expect from the soon to be elected council persons.

Unfortunately, the format and time constraints under which the forum was conducted did not provide much of a window into the “political souls” of the candidates.  With the video cameras rolling

 for future broadcast on our local public television station the candidates struggled to respond, within the time allotted,  to journalists questions about the future of our fine city. 

Audience members heard opinions regarding issues as diverse as the candidates themselves. From annexation and the challenges of infrastructure repair, to solutions on how to make City Hall more business friendly, each of the participants did their best to prove that they deserve the votes of those in attendance.

If you missed the event, it will soon be  available on our local public television station for all to see. If you were not in attendance and you either live or work in the city limits of the Lake Oroville real estate market, I urge you to view the forum and decide for yourself who you think is best suited to move this city into the future.

I have included a link to the pamphlet that was handed out at the forum last night which contain a short message from each of the candidates. Please read it and be sure that you are an informed voter before heading to the polls on November 2nd.

Candidate Pamphlet

Take advantage of this weekend’s awesome weather in the Lake Oroville real estate market and come on out to Oroville’s 16th Annual Salmon Festival, being held today and all day tomorrow.

The celebration kicks off with Salmon and Tri-tip BBQ at the Feather River Nature Center at 6:00pm tonight and continues tomorrow from 10am-4pm with tours of the Feather River Fish Hatchery, the Downtown Oroville Street Fair, and the 10K Salmon run.

Every September for the past 16 years, the streets of Oroville between Historic Downtown and the Feather River Fish Hatchery burst with fish-flavored activities during the Annual Salmon Festival, a day of fun, food, music and information.

On this special day Oroville celebrates the thousands of spawning salmon that annually make their way from the ocean back up the Feather River.  Environmental education, music, salmon tasting, tours of the hatchery, and fun for kids and adults highlight this free event.

The Historical Downtown Oroville comes alive with a pancake breakfast, certified farmer’s market, live music, craft fair, and Family Fun Day

At the Feather River Nature Center, guests can experience the Maidu Salmon Ceremony with live dancing by local Native Americans.

This year you can nosh at the Salmon Court where recipes featuring salmon will be featured, take a spin in a kayak on the beautiful Feather River or join the fun at the Family Circus near the Municipal Auditorium.

A free shuttle to transport people between events is available.

Click here or on the picture to see the entire flyer.

The game hunting world is all abuzz this morning as word spreads that Lake Oroville resident Pat Butler set a world record by bagging the largest Tule Elk while bow hunting on Grizzly Island  yesterday. 

According to reports from the hunting grounds, Butler, an owner of  the ever popular Wagon Wheel Market, here in the Lake Oroville real estate market,  took the 8 x 8 elk during the afternoon hunt. By late afternoon representatives from the Department of Fish and Game certifed it as the largest elk ever taken by hunting with bow and arrow, granting Pat world record status for his efforts.

I think there is elk jerky in my future!!!!!!!!

Congratulations Pat.

You knew it wouldn’t be long before I made it easier for you to utilize your smart phone to access this blog site, search for properties in the Lake Oroville, Paradise  and Chico California real estate markets, and get the latest in interest rates and other real estate news and advice.

Today I am announcing the launch of my very own iPhone app that is now available for download at the App Store. With this highly sophisticated, but easy to use, app you now have not only my contact information in the palm of your hand but you can now access all the services of my blog site with just the touch of a button. No more addresses to remember and no more passwords to forget. This is just another investment I am making for you in order to provide a service, that nobody else in the Lake Oroville real estate market will,  in order to make current and relevant real estate information readily available to you.

See my current listings, check out my latest blog post, or even find my Facebook, Twitter, and Linked-In pages. Spend as much, or a little time as your prefer because there is NO COST to you to download this App. Check back often, though because updates and come cool additions are coming soon.

And unlike many of today’s apps this app will be compatible with Blackberry and Droid users. Look for the rollout annoucement for these phones on the site sometime before Labor Day.

Download your app at the iTunes App store and search for AgentNTouch. After downloading, launch the app and in the Agent I.D. box enter 5303704691.

I would greatly appreciate your feedback and suggestions. My goal is to always be an AgentNTouch.

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Here are the numbers for last week’s Lake Oroville real estate market. This is the third week in a row that the number of Oroville home sales has been in single digits, and the 7th week out of the past 8 for this. With inventories still low, and a lot of that inventory in disrepair it is becoming more and more difficult to find properties for Oroville area buyers.  All of my team members have pools of buyers that they simply cannot find decent properties to show them.

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• Existing Home Sales Settling Down (seekingalpha.com)
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 Another ho-hum week for Lake Oroville real estate market as sales activity continues to under perform. But once again we find that the inventory of Oroville homes for sale has dropped to another low. 

If the current activity in the office of our Oroville market is any indication we may soon be seeing a change in these sales numbers. Our Oroville agents have been very busy this week showing property and writing offers. It is good to see that maybe the spring-like weather is bringing buyers out.

If you are thinking of selling, now might be the time to get your home on the market.