Here's a quick summary of statistics for the San Marino Real Estate market. The full post with commentary can be found on the San Marino California real estate site.

Here's what the San Marino Statistics for the last three months looked like - November 2008 through January 2009:

Data above compiled from ITEC (Pasadena Foothill Association of Realtors and Multiple Listing Service)

Read More: San Marino real estate statistics for December 2008

San Marino Real Estate - Five Years in Review

To see homes available for sale in San Marino, take a look at the list below:

January has seen a 31% increase in homes for sale in Altadena California. The inventory stands at 105 single family residences and 2 condos and townhomes. The number of Altadena foreclosures is on the rise 25 out of 105 houses for sale are either foreclosures or short sales, with 5 new foreclosures hitting the market in January.

This is not surprising since the banks are releasing their foreclosures after the first of the year and we expect to see that number rise over the next few months.

Price per square foot of sold homes is holding it's own in Altadena at $310 per sold sq. ft.

Los Angeles Times Dataquick service reports that Altadena ended 2008 with 356 sales at an average price of $509,500 which represents a 19.19% decrease in average sales price from 2007.

There are certainly Altadena home deals to be found for home buyers and a nice home can now be found in the $400,000 range.

Altadena Real Estate statistics for November 2008 through January 2009:

Data above is compiled from the Pasadena Foothill Association MLS (Multiple Listing Service)

Below is a list of all Altadena homes for sale in the Multiple Listing Service. To get notified of new Altadena listings as they come up on the market, please register for a free VIP account and set up your own Altadena home criteria and as many searches as you would like: To search Altadena foreclosures, as well as, foreclosures in Pasadena and surrounding cities, please see the list below:

I invite you to request Altadena's real estate market real time reports by clicking How's the Market button on my real estate blog. These reports are compiled by Altos Research and the analysis is emailed to you weekly. I also offer real estate market reports for San Gabriel, San Marino, South Pasadena, Pasadena, Arcadia, Altadena, Monterey Hills and more.

If you would like to search for homes in Altadena, please visit the free home search here on this real estate website.

For a private consultation about buying or selling your Alhambra home, or if you have other real estate related questions, I'd love to hear from you at 626.627.7107.

Posted by Irina Netchaev, real estate broker

In reviewing the market statistics for Alhambra real estate, it is clear that 2009 started strong with almost double the home sales and Alhambra homes that went under contract compared to the last several months of 2008.

It's interesting to note that 14 homes came up on the market for sale in Alhambra and only one of the 14 is a short sale. There were no new foreclosure homes.

READ MORE: Why foreclosure homes are not what you think they are!

Alhambra home sellers that listed their homes for sale in January were much more realistic in their pricing with the average price per square foot running at $354 vs. the homes that have been marketted prior to January averaging closer to $385 per sq.ft. Compare that to actual home sales at $322 per sq. ft. in January.

Interest rates were the lowest in 50 years hitting to below 5% which encouraged buyers to finalize their home purchase and take advantage of low prices as well as low monthly payments.

The highest priced home available for sale in Alhambra is at 1301 Hoeffer Drive listed for $1,890,000. It's a 5 bedroom home with 3,600 sq. ft. and was built in 2008.

The lowest priced home available for sale in Alhambra is at 1304 Milton Avenue and is offered for sale at $319,000. This home is 740 sq. ft. and has 2 bedrooms and 1 bath.

Alhambra condos had no sales at all in January. Although 9 Alhambra condos went under contract in January 2009 compared to only 2 in December 2008. The inventory is remaining pretty constant at 30 available units, but priced fairly high at $324 per sq. ft.

2 Alhambra townhomes closed escrow in January and only 1 townhome went under contract. 13 Alhambra townhomes are available for sale.

I anticipate condos and tonwhomes in Alhambra dropping in value pretty fast given the amount of inventory and the rate of sales. If everything remains constant, it'll take Alhambra condo sellers over a year and half to sell their homes! Alhambra home sellers need to realize that time is not their friend. Each day their home stays on the market, it will value less and less. Only sell your Alhambra home if you are serious and need to sell! Don't torture yourself with placing your home on the market at an unreasonable price.

Here's the Alhambra real estate data for the last three months for your review (November 2008 through January 2009):

If you are interested in seeing all current Alhambra homes for sale, see the list below.

Feel free to sign up for a VIP membership which will allow you to save home searches and be notified via email every time a new Alhambra home is listed with your saved criteria.

If you are interested in seeing all foreclosures in Alhambra and surrounding cities, see the list below:

Data compiled from ITEC (Pasadena Foothill Association Multiple Listing
Service)

I invite you to request
Alhambra's real estate market real time reports by clicking How's the
Market button on my real estate blog. These reports are compiled
by Altos Research and the analysis is
emailed to you weekly. I also offer real estate market reports for San Gabriel,
San Marino, South Pasadena, Pasadena, Arcadia, Altadena, Monterey Hills and
more.

If you would like to search
for homes in Alhambra, please visit the free
home search here on this real
estate website.

For a private consultation about buying or selling your Alhambra
home, or if you have other real estate related questions, I'd love to
hear from you at 626.627.7107.

Posted by Irina Netchaev, real estate broker

The Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 was signed by President Bush on July 30, 2008. While the primary intent of the Act was to improve confidence and stability in the housing market by providing mortgage relief by keeping American families in their homes, another area of the Act provides a huge tax break for first-time Pasadena home buyers.

First time home buyers (means any individual who had no present ownership interest in a principal residence during the 3-year period ending on the date of the purchase of the principal residence) may receive a tax credit up to $7,500, and for couples using the standard deduction to receive an additional $1,000 deduction for property taxes ($500 for individuals).

READ MORE: How are property taxes calculated on your Pasadena home?

In order to receive this tax credit, the home purchase must take place between April 9, 2008 and July 1, 2009.

This temporary Act was designed to get home buyers who were thinking of purchasing a home to act now to stimulate home purchases, and help home builders and real estate agents sell more homes.

Here are some key provisions of The Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008:

Who is Eligible?

• The $7,500 tax credit is available for first time home buyers only.
• The law defines first time home buyers as a buyer who has not owned a home during the past three years.
• All U.S. citizens who file taxes are eligible to participate in the program.
• All homes, whether single family, townhomes or condominiums apartments will qualify, as long as the home will be used as a principal residence.

Income Limits:

• Home buyers who file as single or head-of-household taxpayers can claim the full $7,500 credit if their adjusted gross income (AGI) is less than $75,000.
• For married couples filing a joint return, the income limit can not exceed $150,000 AGI
• Single or head-of-household taxpayers who earn between $75,000 and $95,000 AGI, are eligible to receive partial first time home buyer credit.
• Married couples who earn between $150,000 and $170,000 AGI are eligible to receive a partial first time home buyer tax credit.
• The tax credit is not available for single taxpayers whose AGI is greater than $95,000 and married couples with an AGI greater than $170,000

Tax Credit Refundable:

• A refundable credit means that if the taxpayer pays less than $7,500 in Federal income taxes, the government would write the taxpayer a check for the difference. (If the taxpayer owed $3,500 in taxes, he would pay nothing and receive a check for $4,000 from IRS.)
• If the taxpayer were to receive a $1,000 tax refund from the IRS, the refund would grow to $8,500 ($1,000 refund due, plus $7,500 from the home buyer tax credit).
• Home buyers may take the tax credit in their 2008 or 2009 tax return.
• If the purchase took lace in 2008, the tax credit would be taken in the 2008 tax return. If the purchase takes place in 2009, the tax credit can be taken in 2008 or 2009, at the home buyers' option.

Payback Provisions:

• The tax credit is essentially an interest-free loan to be repaid over 15 years.
• For example, a home buyer claiming $7,500 credit would repay the credit at $500 per year over 15 years. if the home owner sold the home then the remaining credit would come from the profit of the home sale. if there was insufficient profit from the sale of the home, the remaining credit payback would be forgiven.

Are you ready to take advantage of this Tax Break and buy your new Pasadena home or Pasadena condo? If so, here's how you can get a list of homes for sale in Pasadena for your review:

READ MORE:  Pasadena real estate update 2012 – see luxury home sales.

Irina is a Top Realtor and the founder and President of Pasadena Views Real Estate Team™. She is available to assist you in all of your Real Estate transactions. Email or call her today at (626)629-8439.

Are you relocating to Pasadena?  If so, take a look at our 365 Things To Do In Pasadena® .  Call us at 626-629-8439 to schedule a time for your free home buyer or home seller consultation!

Posted by Irina Netchaev, your Pasadena Real Estate Agent.

Information provided by Jeff Elias

If you are an LAUSD (Los Angeles Unified School District) employee, you may qualify for a special home loan through CalSTERS. This special home loan program is open to over 700,000 CalSTRS members including LAUSD employees and college educators.

To assist in purchasing your Pasadena home, CalSTRS offers an 80/17 loan program. Here is what it looks like:

• You need to have a 3% down payment. 2% of the down payment can be gift money, but not from selling property.
• 1st home loan (mortgage) will be 80% of the purchase price.
• 2nd home loan (mortgage) will be for 17% of the purchase price. BUT, payments on the 2nd mortgage are deferred for 5 years!
• There is no Mortgage Insurance
• There is no Pre-Payment penalty.

This special home loan is available for single family homes and Fannie Mae approved condos only.

So if you are thinking of buying your Pasadena home and work for LAUSD, don't forge to check into this CalSTERS loan.

Read More: Pasadena City Guide

South Pasadena City Guide

San Gabriel City Guide

San Marino City Guide

What a great opportunity!

The list of these homes is no longer available. You can search all homes for sale in Pasadena below:

Monterey Hills condos and townhomes are definitely feeling the downturn in the economy. Only 2 Monterey Hills condos and 1 townhome sold in December. The listing inventory is very low as well. Less than a dozen properties are available for sale. Take a look at the real estate statistics for the last quarter of 2008 below.

Monterey Hills Real Estate Statistics for October 2008 to December 2008:

Search for available Monterey Hills condos and townhomes:

Data taken from ITEC (Pasadena Foothills Association MLS service)

If you are interested in beginning your search
for a Monterey Hills condominium or townhouse, please click on the
search
home link.

For weekly updates on Monterey
Hills real estate market activity, please feel free to request
market analysis reports with detailed information by clicking
here. These reports are gathered and updated by Altos Research and
will be emailed to you with my compliments.

Posted by Irina
Netchaev, Monterey Hills Real Estate
Agent 626-627-7107

If I was a home seller and this was my house, I'd be pretty unhappy with my real estate agent. I don't know about you, but it pains me to look at this home listing's photo. This is the only home photo that is in the Multiple Listing Service.

The description of this home claims that this Arcadia home is a "nice and lovely 2 bedroom". The real estate agent goes on to say that "this property has great opportunity for all types of use" (misspellings corrected by yours truly) and that this Arcadia home has an "additional 2 bedroom and 1 bathroom without permit".
What exactly does "all types of use" mean? Real estate is zoned for a specific use. This is residential real estate zoned for a single family residence ONLY! There should be no additional illegal additions and advertised impications that this is okay. YIKES!
Now, this Arcadia home seller is in trouble. They are trying to sell this home as a short sale. This means that the home seller owes more money to the bank on this home than what it is worth. They are hoping that this real estate agent will be able to effectively negotiate with the bank or banks (depending on how many loans they have on this property) on their behalf to save their credit worthiness.
Would you hire a real estate agent that would market your home for sale like this? Most consumers do more research when they buy a computer or decide to sell their car.
It really, really saddens me to see this. What do you think?

READ MORE HOME SELLER ARTICLES:

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Formula for selling your home in 30 days or less - Part II

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