All of us here in Dublin Ranch are looking for signs of where the economy is headed. Everywhere we look we run across good news and bad, and one begins to wonder at some point -- what is Dublin Ranch going to look like in the next five years?

Nationally, the Consumer Confidence Index in January rose for the third straight month. I actually didn’t know this (even though I hear about the Consumer Confidence Index quite a bit…), but the index is based on research done in a monthly phone survey done of 5000 households. It measures consumers short-term and long-term outlooks; it questions those surveyed on their impression of how the job market is doing, whether they see conditions for business improving or degrading, and how they expect what’s going on to effect their income personally.

We got some great news last week! Any owner of a Dublin Ranch home who is looking to sell, or any buyer interested in purchasing a condo, townhome, or single-family residence in Dublin Ranch will be interested to hear this. Ready? Drum roll please!

The Real Estate Team at Dublin Ranch Lifestyle was selected by the BayEast Association of Realtors to be part of their prestigious President’s Club! This award was given based on our production for 2009, and because of our high standards of professionalism in the marketplace. Here at Dublin Ranch Lifestyle, our real estate team really does go above and beyond to make sure your transaction is smooth, professional, and to allow our clients to be fully informed every step of the way. It appears to be working; we not only have happy clients, but professional trade organizations in our area are taking notice as well!

The Bay East Association of Realtors is our local association -- it’s part of the California Association of Realtors and, of course, the National Association of Realtors. The association serves Alameda and Contra Costa Counties, and it’s where Roger has a membership allowing him to sell real estate here in Dublin Ranch.

To view the award yourself, click here.

The number of Dublin Ranch detached homes on the market has decreased 69% since December of 2007! Even over just the past 6 months inventory has fallen by 48%. As the Dublin Ranch community remains in steady demand, asking prices will continue to climb. This is excellent news for Dublin Ranch homeowners, as home equity builds with the inclined market value.

Those of you who are a little more real estate savvy may wish to point out that the winter is historically slow and that a slow market will naturally reflect a decrease in inventory as less properties are put on the market to replace those that are closing escrow. While I can certainly appreciate your skepticism, I encourage you to check out the data linked below. I’m sure you’ll be quite intrigued.

Not interested in charts and graphs? No problem. In plain English: The steady decrease in Dublin Ranch homes for sale, coupled with the continued demand for those same homes, has presented homesellers with an advantageous situation. Just last month the median asking price was $599,450 but the median sold price was $630,000. We expect the sale prices to continue in moderate growth for the early part of the year. Be sure to stop by next month to see if I have to eat my words or not!

Cheers!

Download this month’s housing report for Dublin Ranch homes.

The value of Dublin Ranch homes, whether they be single-family homes, or condos and townhomes have stabilized for the time being. That’s good news. The concern is how long that change is going to be around…

It’s true, there are a LOT more loans that are in default right now than are actually being foreclosed. I remember reading recently that only about 5% of the loan modifications from the “Making Home Affordable” program are actually going through, and that’s not good. Last year, 4.75% of the total homes in California had a foreclosure filed against it. When you consider that a greater portion of those homes don’t even HAVE a mortgage against them, it’s a pretty staggering scenario!

So has Dublin Ranch hit bottom yet? Honestly, I really don’t know. Here’s what I do know: next week I’m attending an orientation for Vendor Resource Management (VRM) in Sacramento, CA. VRM is an asset management company based in Texas that I worked with when selling Freddie Mac REOs last year. They did one of these orientations in Oakland last month, and are supposed to be doing another in Los Angeles next month. After perusing their website today, I noticed that not only are they hiring real estate agents but they’re also hiring more asset managers (the people Realtors actually work for…). Their website says they have five open positions.

So, while supply of Dublin Ranch homes is currently limited, I’m wondering if that’s going to continue to be the case. Only time will tell. What I can tell you now is that your real estate team at Dublin Ranch Lifestyle is pursuing relationships with as many asset managers as possible to bring you the very best investment properties in the East Bay as they come available. We’re excited to help Dublin Ranch residents build wealth in their investment portfolios, and we’ll definitely keep you posted as things progress.