The Frys.com Open Tournament will be held October 3-9, 2011 at CordeValle in San Martin, California. Proceeds from the tournament will benefit several charities like the American Institute of Mathematics, the American Cancer Society and The First Tee of San Jose.

“I am pleased to be involved in this tournament supporting such causes like The First Tee of San Jose,” said Pastorino. “I have become passionate about the game of golf over the past few years and think it is a gift that they work to make the game of golf accessible to all youth, regardless of their background.”

This will be Pastorino’s first time volunteering for the tournament, though she says it will not be her last. Her role as Marshall of hole #6 will be to ensure that the observers are respectful, quiet, and honor the rules of golf.

Pastorino’s passion for golf began only a few years ago after she had turned down several offers to participate in private tournaments, and decided she wanted to learn how to play the game after all.

“On July 15, 2009 I asked my father to teach me to play for a tournament in October 2009 and he was quite apprehensive,” she said. “All I wanted was to not hurt anyone, and not embarrass myself. We began working together for a few hours every night. Not knowing if I would enjoy this game of golf, I opted to use my fathers Ping clubs which were over 30 years old. Well, I played that tournament and have not stopped playing since. Although I have changed the grips, I have yet to change my clubs; they are now my tradition, my history and they have sentimental value.”

In 2004 Pastorino founded Pertria, a firm representing residential and commercial real estate sales, investment analysis and property management strategically aligned with like-minded financial professionals including certified financial planners, tax advisers, insurance specialists and specialized legal counsel collectively providing clients with well-grounded strategies focused on maximizing opportunities and mitigating risk.

Firm Facts: Licensed real estate brokers who have passed the Series 65 exam; Experienced in charitable remainder trusts; IRC§ 121, REO and short sales; divorce; probate and relocation; reverse exchanges, and IRC§1031-1033; Real property management portfolio exceeds $202 million in value; Real property management portfolio rent revenues of $9.2 million annually; Integration of technology providing increased capacity to efficiently process client; financial reporting and resident management; Establishment of rigorous 26 week Real Estate Investment Advisory education course featuring speakers from disciplines ranging from Legal Counsel, Financial Services, Insurance, Commercial, Exchange Coordinators, TIC, Trusts, IRA.

For more information on Pertria and Helen Pastorino, please visit www.pertria.com

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Article source: http://www.pr.com/press-release/359659

After posting a strong month-to-month sales gain in June, the Bay Area housing market took a breather in July as potential buyers and sellers watched the strange political show in Washington D.C. and pondered a rising tide of dreary economic reports.

Sales fell more than usual from June – especially for homes above $500,000 – but edged higher than July last year, which was 2010′s first month to lose the full force of homebuyer tax credits, a real estate information service reported.

A total of 6,887 new and resale houses and condos sold in the nine-county Bay Area last month. That was down 13.9% from 7,998 in June and up 1.7% from 6,773 in July 2010, according to San Diego-based DataQuick.

A decline from June to July is normal for the season, with that dip averaging 6.8% since 1988, when DataQuick’s statistics begin. July sales have varied from a low of 6,666 in July 1995 to 14,258 in 2004. Last month’s sales were the third-lowest on record for a July, behind July last year and in 1995, and fell 26.8% below the average July sale tally.

“Last year’s tax credits were by and large gone by July, so last month’s year-over-year comparison is pretty much apples and apples. We’re still looking at a dysfunctional market. Distribution curves are lopsided, bottom-feeding is still prevalent and the lending market is just plain weird. We’re off bottom by all metrics, but far from anything resembling normal,” said John Walsh, DataQuick president.

Last month’s sales fell harder in the higher price ranges: The number of $500,000-plus homes sold dropped 25.4% month-to-month and 19.2% year-over-year, while sales below $500,000 fell 17.1% month-to-month and increased 3.5% from a year ago.

“There’s certainly a lot more discretionary buying in the higher price ranges,” Walsh said. “A lot of those buyers have the option to just take it or leave it and, lately, it looks like more have been leaving it. There was a lot of uncertainty out there over the economy, home prices and the nation’s future. And that was before the stock market turbulence hit in early August.”

The median price paid for all new and resale houses and condos sold in the Bay Area last month was $374,000, down 1.0% from $377,750 in June and down 7.0% from $402,000 in July 2010. The June median was the highest this year, while the July median was the second-highest.

The median’s low point during the current real estate cycle was $290,000 in March 2009. The peak was $665,000 in June/July 2007. Around half of the median’s peak-to-trough drop was the result of a decline in home values, while the other half reflects a shift in the sales mix.

Foreclosure resales – homes that had been foreclosed on in the prior 12 months – accounted for 26.6% of resales in July. Last month’s figure was up slightly from a revised 26.1% in June and up from 25.3% a year ago. Foreclosure resales peaked at 52.0% in February 2009. The monthly average for foreclosure resales over the past 15 years is about 9%.

Short sales – transactions where the sale price fell short of what was owed on the property – made up an estimated 18.8% of Bay Area resales last month. That was up from an estimated 17.9% in June, 17.2% a year earlier, and 14.4% two years ago.

Last month 35.3% of Bay Area sales were for $500,000 or more, down from 37.7% in June and down from 41.1% in July 2010. The all-time low for the current cycle was in January 2009, when just 22.7% of sales crossed the $500,000 threshold. Over the past 10 years, a monthly average of 47.3% of homes sold for $500,000-plus.

Fueling many lower-end transactions are low-down-payment, government-insured FHA home purchase loans, a popular choice among first-time buyers. They accounted for 22.4% of all Bay Area home purchase mortgages in July, up from 20.6% in June and down from 23.1% a year earlier.

One indicator of mortgage availability that has seen improvement this year dropped in July. Last month 14.2% of the Bay Area’s home purchase loans were adjustable-rate mortgages, a drop from June’s 16.8, which was the highest portion since 20.7% in August 2008. The average monthly ARM rate over the past 10 years is 45.3%. ARMs hit a low of 3.0% in January 2009.

Jumbo loans, mortgages above the old conforming limit of $417,000, remain relatively hard to get but accounted for 32.7% of last month’s purchase lending, down from 36.8% in June and 36.4% a year ago. Jumbo use hit a low for this cycle of 17.1% in January 2009. Before the credit crunch struck in August 2007, jumbos accounted for nearly 60% of the Bay Area purchase loan market.

Last month absentee buyers – mostly investors – purchased 21.2% of all Bay Area homes sold, up from 20.0% in June and 17.4% a year ago. The peak was 23.4% in February this year, while the monthly average since 2000 is 13.8%. Absentee buyers paid a median $236,000 in July, up from $235,000 in June but down from $269,250 a year ago.

Buyers who appeared to have paid all cash – meaning no corresponding purchase loan was found in the public record – accounted for 26.3% of sales in July, up from 26.0% in June and up from 25.1% a year ago. The record was 30.5% this February, while the monthly average is 11.9% since 1988. Cash buyers paid a median $230,000 in July, down from $248,000 in June and $270,000 a year earlier.

San Diego-based DataQuick monitors real estate activity nationwide and provides information to consumers, educational institutions, public agencies, lending institutions, title companies and industry analysts. Because of late data availability, sales were estimated in Alameda and San Mateo counties.

The typical monthly mortgage payment that Bay Area buyers committed themselves to paying last month was $1,525, up from $1,533 in June and down from $1,641 a year ago. Adjusted for inflation, last month’s payment was 44.7% below the typical payment in spring 1989, the peak of the prior real estate cycle. It was 59.1% below the current cycle’s peak in July 2007.

Indicators of market distress continue to move in different directions. Foreclosure activity remains high by historical standards but below peak levels reached over the last three years. Financing with multiple mortgages is low, down payment sizes are stable, and non-owner occupied buying is above average, DataQuick reported.

This article was republished with permission from The Street.

Article source: http://www.nuwireinvestor.com/articles/bay-area-sales-see-summer-slip-57651.aspx

Real estate sales in San Francisco reached a one-year high in June, driven by a combination of factors that pushed turnover to 14.5% over May sales. Analysts note a larger demand in lower-priced properties (below $300,000) in the nine-county area, lower interest rates, lower prices and a glut of distressed properties in the market as reasons for the sharp gain. Foreclosures and short sales draw down the value of new homes, making all more appealing to local buyer as well as absentee investors. The area also boasts many buyers in industries that have not been hit as hard during the economic crisis, like high-tech, which observers may feel contributed an additional boost. For more on this continue reading the following article from The Street.

Home sales in the San Francisco Bay area rose sharply last month from May to the highest level for any month since June 2010, when outgoing homebuyer tax credits gave housing demand a final boost. The median price rose slightly from May but remained below the year-ago level for the ninth consecutive month amid a sluggish move-up market and a higher share of sub-$300,000 transactions, a real estate information service reported.

A total of 7,998 new and resale houses and condos sold in the nine-county Bay Area last month. That was up 14.5% from 6,988 in May but down 4.5% from 8,373 in June 2010, according to San Diego-based DataQuick. .

On average, Bay Area sales have risen 4.9% between May and June since 1988, when DataQuick’s statistics begin.

Last month’s sales were the lowest for the month of June since 2008, when 7,178 homes sold. June sales have ranged from a low of 7,118 in 1993 to a high of 15,735 in 2004, while the average is 10,129. Sales last month fell 21.0% below the June average. June is normally a strong month and, among all months, it’s had the highest number of sales most often – seven of the past 23 years.

In June last year – the peak month for 2010 – sales were bolstered by state and federal efforts to stimulate the housing market via homebuyer tax credits. Those credits had expired or been largely depleted by July 2010, when sales plunged 19% from the month before and 23% from the previous July.

While the 14.5% jump in sales last month from May was nearly triple the normal increase, higher May-to-June gains were recorded as recently as 2008 and 2009, which logged 15.5% and 16.1% gains, respectively.

“It’s difficult to point to one specific thing that caused last month’s sales to jump more than usual from May. It wasn’t just in the Bay Area – we saw it across much of the state. June likely benefitted from a combination of factors, such as price reductions, low mortgage rates and perhaps a batch of short sale transactions from spring that took months to close. Bargain hunters, mainly investors and first-time buyers, remain very active,” said John Walsh, DataQuick president.

“While overall consumer confidence remains low, folks in certain industries such as high-tech are feeling more confident,” he continued. “Let’s keep in mind, however, that last month was not a particularly strong June, historically speaking, and one month’s increase in sales from the prior month doesn’t constitute a trend.”

The median price paid for all new and resale houses and condos sold in the Bay Area last month was $377,750, up 1.5% from May but down 7.9% from $410,000 in June 2010. Last month’s median was the highest since it was $380,000 last November.

Last month’s median was 30.3% higher than the low point for the current real estate cycle – $290,000 in March 2009. However, the June median was 43.2% below the peak $665,000 median reached in June/July 2007. Around half of the median’s peak-to-trough drop was the result of a decline in home values, while the other half reflects a shift in the sales mix toward lower-cost homes, especially inland foreclosures.

Today’s median is suppressed somewhat by abnormally low sales of newly built homes, which typically sell for more than resale homes, and abnormally high levels of foreclosure resales, which are among the most aggressively priced.

Last month 399 newly built houses and condos sold in the Bay Area, down 43.8% from a year earlier and the second-lowest for a June in DataQuick’s records, behind 360 new-home sales in 1993.

Foreclosure resales – homes that had been foreclosed on in the prior 12 months – accounted for 26.2% of resales in June. Last month’s figure was down slightly from 26.5% in May and up from 25.6% a year ago. Foreclosure resales peaked at 52.0% in February 2009. The monthly average for foreclosure resales over the past 15 years is about 9%.

Short sales – transactions where the sale price fell short of what was owed on the property – made up an estimated 18.3% of Bay Area resales last month. That compares with an estimated 18.2% in May, 18.9% a year earlier, and 14.0% two years ago.

Last month 37.0% of Bay Area sales were for $500,000 or more, up from 36.3% in May but down from 40.7% in June 2010. The all-time low for the current cycle was January 2009, when just 22.7% of sales crossed the $500,000 threshold. Over the past 10 years, a monthly average of 47.2% of homes sold for $500,000-plus.

However, an alternative method of tracking activity in higher-end areas suggests that those neighborhoods now account for a fairly normal level of sales relative to overall regional activity.

Sales in zip codes representing the top one-third of the market, based on historical prices, accounted for 38.4% of all sales in June. That was up from 37.7% in May and 37.0% a year ago. The 10-year monthly average is about 36%. Those higher-end areas’ contribution to regional sales had dropped to as low as just 18.0% in January 2009, while their peak market share was 44.7% of sales in July 2007.

When viewed by several major price segments, it’s clear that the middle of the Bay Area market, roughly defined as $400,000 to $800,000, has taken the biggest hit over the past year. Sales in that price range accounted for 30.0% of all transactions last month, down from 30.9% in May and 37.6% a year ago, when homebuyer tax credits helped spur more move-up activity in that price range. Last month sales below $300,000 made up 38.9% of all transactions, up from 37.9 in May and 30.9% a year ago. Sales above $800,000 represented 17.0% of last month’s sales, up from 16.5% in May and 15.8% a year earlier.

Fueling many lower-end transactions are low-down-payment, government-insured FHA home purchase loans, a popular choice among first-time buyers. They accounted for 20.8% of all Bay Area home purchase mortgages in June, down from 21.3% in May and 24.7% a year earlier.

While sales of higher-cost homes continue to suffer from the credit crunch that struck in August 2007, one indicator of mortgage availability continued to improve slightly. In June, 17.3% of the Bay Area’s home purchase loans were adjustable-rate mortgages, the highest portion since 20.7% in August 2008. June’s figure was up from 16.1% in May and 12.2% a year earlier. ARMs are nothing unusual in the Bay Area, where the average monthly ARM rate over the last 10 years is 46%. ARMs hit a low of 3.0% in January 2009.

Jumbo loans, mortgages above the old conforming limit of $417,000, remain relatively hard to get but accounted for 35.2% of last month’s purchase lending, up from 32.6% in May and 34.5% a year ago. The post-housing-boom low was 17.1% in January 2009. Before the credit crunch struck in August 2007, jumbos accounted for nearly 60% of the Bay Area purchase loan market.

Last month absentee buyers – mostly investors – purchased 21.7% of all Bay Area homes sold, up from 21.3% in May and 16.3% a year ago. The peak was 23.4% in February this year, while the monthly average since 2000 is 13.7%. Absentee buyers paid a median $226,500 in June, down from $245,000 in May and $280,000 a year ago.

Buyers who appeared to have paid all cash – meaning no corresponding purchase loan was found in the public record – accounted for 25.4% of sales in June, down from 27.4% in May and up from 21.6% a year ago. The record was 30.5% this February, while the monthly average is 11.8% since 1988. Cash buyers paid a median $235,000 in June, down from $250,000 in May and $281,750 a year earlier.

San Diego-based DataQuick monitors real estate activity nationwide and provides information to consumers, educational institutions, public agencies, lending institutions, title companies and industry analysts. Because of late data availability, sales were estimated in Alameda and San Mateo counties.

The typical monthly mortgage payment that Bay Area buyers committed themselves to paying last month was $1,533, the same as in May and down 10.3% from $1,709 a year ago. Adjusted for inflation, last month’s payment was 44.5% below the typical payment in spring 1989, the peak of the prior real estate cycle. It was 59.0% below the current cycle’s peak in July 2007.

Indicators of market distress continue to move in different directions. Foreclosure activity remains high by historical standards but below peak levels reached over the last three years. Financing with multiple mortgages is low, down payment sizes are stable, and non-owner occupied buying is above average, DataQuick reported.

This article was republished with permission from The Street.

Article source: http://www.nuwireinvestor.com/articles/bay-area-home-sales-jump-in-june-57527.aspx