If someone you know is struggling to make their mortgage payments each month, how will they know what their options are if they can no longer make the minimum mortgage payment?  How will you know that the information you are hearing is accurate and true?  Scam artists are everywhere in the mortgage and real estate business.  Here is a helpful Website put out by Fannie Mae to help protect people and to help them navigate through their options if they are in danger of losing their home, http://knowyouroptions.com./ 

This site is very user friendly and it has information and videos about what to do or consider if you are behind on your payments and upside down on your mortgage.  You can find helpful hints about your credit score and information on short sales or deeds in lieu and other foreclosure alternatives. 

The Chief Economist for the California Association of Realtors, Leslie Appleton-Young, has come out with a report for real estate sales in June, 2010.  She reports that over the past 22 months, June was only one of two months that reported fewer home sales than 500,000 in California.  She believes that people who would have normally purchased homes in June, bought them in May due to the federal tax credit.  The average home sales price in CA during the month of June was $311,950.  Here are some of the quick facts comparing June, 2009 with June, 2010:

• Existing, single-family home sales decreased 4.2 percent in June to a seasonally adjusted rate of 492,800 units on an annualized basis compared with June 2009.
• The statewide median price of an existing single-family home increased 13.6 percent in June to $311,950 compared with June 2009.
• C.A.R.’s Unsold Inventory Index rose to 4.8 months in June compared with 4.2 months in June 2009.

Visit the following video link to get her full market update for June 2010.

http://videos.car.org/mediavault.html?menuID=1&flvID=8

One of the housing communities in our local market that is drawing attention from prospective buyers is the Wathen-Castanos built homes found in the gated communities of the European Quarters and European Parc.  Having been built during the last boom years, many of these homes are now distressed properties that have been foreclosed or are in the short sale process.  These communities can be found between Teague and Shepherd, just East of Willow in Clovis, CA.  These are communities that have security gates and green areas maintained by a HOA for $58 a month.  Wathen-Castanos homes have been leading in energy efficiency locally.  Some will find that one of the negative attributes of these homes is the small lot size.  Most of them are on lots that range from 3,000-4,000 sq. ft.  Often times the grass in some of the backyards is no more than the width of a sidewalk, around the back or sides of the homes.  Another noticeable negative feature is the close proximity of the home to the curb.  However, the great location, safe feeling of a gated community, modern designs, and energy efficiency outshinine the few negative features.  Homeowners within this housing community also benefit from the Clovis Old Town Trail which provides citizens with miles of paved paths to run, walk, or bike on.  In searching 90 days prior to today, 7 homes have sold in these communities.  Sales have been of homes ranging from 1,271-1,979 sq. ft.  Prices have ranged from $101-$153 per. sq. ft., with a low of $170,000 and a high of $199,900.  This variation in pricing is due to the wide range in house size and the various types of sales we have currently, foreclosures, shorts sales or traditional sales.  There are presently 10 homes in the process of being sold, whether listed as Active, Pending or Backup status in the MLS.  Prices of these homes range from $114-$145 per sq. ft., with the low being $175,000 and the high being $225,000.  As it seems with many housing communities in our local market, the homes still on the market in these neighborhoods may still have some room to come down in price, based upon the homes that have sold in the past 90 days.