Home Equity Lines of Credit (HELOC) issued by Countrywide, Bank of America, Washington Mutual and Indymac are being frozen nationwide, targeting mainly cities where property values are declining. Major cities targeted include Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Chicago.

According to Bloomberg, about 600,000 home equity lines of credit have been frozen nationwide thus far. With $1.1 trillion in home equity loans outstanding, lenders are starting to lock down further withdrawals from HELOCs, regardless of the borrower's credit score or payment history.

Las Vegas is feeling the pain of this HELOC lock-down more than most. With Nevada being the highest foreclosure state in March and Las Vegas home prices falling by 23% in February, retailers are struggling to survive as homeowners pinch pennies to stay afloat. Retail sales in Clark County (which includes Las Vegas) dropped over 3% from the prior year's figures, with furniture stores reporting declines of 13%.

Now that Bank of America's purchase of Countrywide is at risk of being either abandoned or modified, it's anybody's guess how many more HELOCs will be frozen before this is over. According to the Los Angeles Times, Friedman, Billings, Ramsey & Co. reported that BofA "should completely walk away from the CFC deal" and predicted it would instead "renegotiate the transaction down to the $0 to $2 level." The impact on business owners is hard to measure, since many rely on funds from HELOCs to finance business operations and expansions.

Many of these HELOC lock-downs are not being discovered by borrowers until a check written against their HELOC account bounces. These lock-downs can either be in the form of a temporary suspension or a reduction in the overall line of credit. Many borrowers with excellent credit and payment histories are saying that they are being penalized for the bank's errors with other borrowers.

What can you do if your HELOC is frozen? According to Money Magazine, these are the steps you should take:

• Request a defrost: Most banks use automated systems to lock accounts. Ask why your account was suspended and how you can appeal the suspension.
• Check your home's value: If your home's value is still above your total mortgage and credit line, gather information to support this and ask the bank to review the freeze.
• Check your credit score: Some automated systems will lock down credit lines because of a change in a borrower's FICO score. If your score is still high, ask the lender to reinstate your credit line.
• Avoid a total freeze: Ask for a lower equity line rather than a total freeze.
• Shop around: If you have at least 10% equity in your home and a good credit score, you may be able to find another lender who will restore your credit line.

If your HELOC has not yet been frozen, now may be the time to draw funds from that account for costs such as college tuitions, remodeling, business expansion or medical costs. You'll pay interest on the funds you've drawn, so be sure to withdraw only what's needed and deposit those funds into an interest-bearing account until the actual bills are due.

Lennar Announces More SolarPLUS Homes

Lennar has announced the upcoming pre-sale of their new Classic and Vintage homes in the RiverVillage (River Village) development in the Valencia area of Santa Clarita.

The Classic and Vintage homes at RiverVillage will be part of Lennar's SolarPLUS series of homes, with solar power and additional energy efficient features. These homes will have similar features to the current Patina at West Creek solar homes, but with larger floorplans.

Classic homes will have 3,684-4,381 square feet, and Vintage homes will have 3,387-3,800 square feet. Pricing has not been announced yet, and likely will not be announced until the day they start pre-sales in mid-to late May.

Current pricing of the Heirloom homes at RiverVillage ranges from $772,000 to $777,000 for the 3,512 square foot model and from $742,000 to $747,000 for the 3,396 square foot model, so expect the new Classic and Vintage homes to be priced in a similar manner.

The Classic and Vintage homes at Valencia RiverVillage will be similar to all other Lennar homes in this area, with certain features included and not subject to change. This helps to create a higher quality product overall for the home buyer, and also keeps Lennar's costs down since they are able to purchase materials in bulk. Included features will be granite kitchen counters, GE appliances, Merillat/Quality cabinets and upgraded flooring as well as the energy efficient features that are part of the SolarPLUS program.

SolarPLUS features include Sun Power SunTile roof tiles that blend into the existing roof line, improved insulation, energy efficient windows, tankless water heaters, energy efficient lighting, online performance monitoring, and more.

It's really pretty cool to see the electric meter running backwards on these homes, which happens when your solar panels are producing more electricity than you're currently using. Current residents of the Patina development in West Creek have reported electric bills as low as $15 a month!

Don't Go There Alone, or You'll Miss Out on the Best Deals!

As always, Lennar requires all buyers to be accompanied by their Realtor on their very first visit to the RiverVillage models. Santa Clarita Realtor Linda Slocum specializes in assisting new home buyers in getting the best deal possible, and is available to help you get your best new home deal as well! Linda's services cost you nothing and can gain you a lot of advantages in builder incentives, and in making your new home buying experience a pleasant experience and a smooth transaction.

Be sure to read our Tips for Buying New Construction, and then either call Linda at 661.670.0349 or email her to set up an appointment to see these RiverVillage homes, or any other new construction that you may be interested in.

Santa Clarita's home sales are picking up somewhat, with more homes going into escrow than earlier this year. Many of these are short sales (pre-foreclosures) and REO's (bank owned) homes that have finally been approved by the banks.

Below is a table of closed escrows by area, including Canyon Country, Castaic, Newhall, Saugus, Stevenson Ranch and Valencia, on a month-by-month basis through April 30, 2008. While most areas have shown an increase in closed sales from January-February to the March-April timeframe, there is not an upwards trend overall from March to April. These numbers are per the MLS, and thus will exclude any new home sales as well as sales that have not yet been updated on the MLS with sales data.

	Single Family Homes Sold Jan 1 - Apr 30, 2008					Active as of May 2
Area	April	March	Feb	Jan	Total	SFR	Condos
Canyon Country	33	42	31	26	132	369	153
Castaic	15	13	8	13	49	173	10
Newhall	7	13	9	4	33	150	113
Saugus	29	20	18	14	81	268	63
Stevenson Ranch	10	6	8	6	30	95	30
Valencia	47	50	34	24	155	311	99
Totals	107	144	108	87	446	1382	471

On the short sale (pre-foreclosure) front, we're seeing more homes going into escrow than before. This is a good sign for a few reasons: It means that both owner-occupied buyers and investors are buying again; banks are finally approving these short sales; and it means that the inventory of pre-foreclosure homes is declining. Banks are learning to be more efficient at the short sale process, with some banks replacing low-trained task-oriented personnel (think DMV-type employees) with higher-trained personnel capable of making decisions.

Those who are hoping for a more "normal" real estate market to return should start seeing some light at the end of the tunnel as the distressed properties (short sales and REO's) continue to be sold. Statistics from Property Shark show that the number of new foreclosures, as measured by the number of homes auctioned at trustee sales each month, have been declining significantly throughout the Los Angeles County area.

Thinking of buying or selling a home in the Santa Clarita Valley? Statistics are one way to take a look at how the real estate market is doing. Looking at the number of homes available for sale per area (or active listings), both for single family homes and condos, gives an overall view of how many homes a buyer can choose from when searching for homes in that area. For sellers, this provides some insight into the competition in your area.

Statistics can also show how sales are trending in an area, so look for our post on May 1 for sales trending by area... I'll wait until April figures are complete before posting this data.

Will all of these homes be ones that you'd think of buying, after considering price, condition, location, size and floor plans? Likely not... In fact, many of these homes are short sales at come-on prices, which may or may not be accepted by the banks. If you are hoping to get a "deal" on a short sale, patience is a virtue... it can take months for the banks to approve offers and close the deal.

When comparing statistics for different areas, be sure to consider the overall characteristics of each area. For example, Castaic shows the fewest number of condos currently for sale, and Castaic also has very few condo developments as compared to other areas within the Santa Clarita Valley. To search for homes in any of these Santa Clarita areas, simply click on the town name in the table below.

Area	Single Family	Condo	Total
Canyon Country	366	152	518
Castaic	182	8	190
Newhall	155	117	272
Saugus	274	63	337
Stevenson Ranch	96	28	124
Valencia	309	103	412
Total	1,382	471	1,853

If you're thinking of buying or selling a home in the Santa Clarita area, click here to search all homes available for sale!

Real Estate Magazine's April 2008 edition features the 2008 Power Broker Report, which includes sales activity for Santa Clarita's local real estate companies. The 2008 Power Broker Report shows RE/MAX of Santa Clarita (Valencia) clearly on top in terms of total transactions (sales) per agent. This information is compiled from surveys submitted voluntarily by each office.

RE/MAX of Santa Clarita (Valencia) came out on top in the Number of Sales Per Agent at 8.66 sales per agent, which is the most important number to consider when selecting a Realtor to represent you on the sale or purchase of your home. Keller Williams VIP Properties came in the lowest at 1.96 sales per agent.

Realtors gain knowledge through experience just like professionals in any other industry, and the offices with fewer sales per agent will typically have a handful of agents who are experienced, with the bulk of their agents having little to no completed transactions during the year. While real estate is a person-to-person business where your relationship with your Realtor (agent) is more important than the office they work out of, having a Realtor who works out of a strong office with proven track record is definitely a plus in being able to provide top-quality service for all types of clients.

Interesting to note is that RE/MAX of Santa Clarita has the fewest agents of the offices reported, with the highest number of sales per agent. Quantity does not always equal quality in this case - the offices with the largest number of agents also had the lowest number of sales per agent. Experience counts!

Real Estate Office	Total Sales Volume	Average Sales Price	# of Agents	Average # of Sales Per Agent
RE/MAX of Santa Clarita (Valencia)	$  843,409,000	$572,968	170	8.66
Realty Executives	$1,007,900,000	$522,499	330	5.65
Keller Williams VIP Properties	$  266,141,000	$540,937	251	1.96

Nanny-cams, or web cams, have been in the spotlight recently as home buyers are discovering that they're on Candid Camera as they tour homes for sale.

While sellers will argue that the nanny-cams may help to prevent theft, buyers are concerned that being filmed without their knowledge could potentially reduce their negotiating power. It's certainly not illegal for sellers to set up nanny-cams to spy on potential buyers, but many people feel that it is a bit "creepy" to be videotaped without their knowledge.

What's a buyer to do? First of all, assume that there's a nanny-cam in every house, and keep your conversations inside the house to a minimum. Step outside to discuss what you like and dislike about the home, as well as talking with your Realtor about pricing and other issues.

Take a note pad with you and jot down issues that you'd like to discuss with your Realtor regarding the home so you don't forget anything. These notes will also be a helpful reminder of each home that you've visited, since often times the details get jumbled after you've seen a lot of homes.

Make sure that whatever is said inside the home are conversations that you wouldn't mind the seller hearing. Questions like "How big is this room?" and "Would our couch fit in here?" are valid questions that you can feel free to ask when you're inside the home. Questions like "What do you think this home is worth?" and comments like "That's ugly wallpaper!" aren't conversations that you'd want the seller to hear. Regardless of whether you agree or disagree with a home's decor, the home is the seller's castle and any negative comments could be considered to be insults.

Also, remember that you're in the seller's home as a prospective buyer of the home, not to evaluate their personal belongings or lifestyle. I've seen buyers who want to explore the contents of pantries, evaluate the seller's reading library and get overly involved in the seller's collection of family portraits. These activities are not ok under any circumstances, and they're even worse when you're being videotaped.

Smile, you're on Candid Camera!

Click here for our foreclosure & short sale investing library.

Santa Clarita continues the trend of having low foreclosure numbers compared to the rest of Los Angeles County for March 2008. Important to note is that the number of March 2008 trustee sales was 1.3% lower than the February 2008 trustee sales, which had declined 34.6% from the January numbers, showing a downward trend in the number of new foreclosures. Thankfully, none of the Santa Clarita zip codes are on the Top 20 list for trustee sales in Los Angeles County provided by Property Shark, which has been true since we first started reporting these numbers several months ago.

Palmdale and Lancaster once again retain the top positions on the Los Angeles County foreclosure list, with zip codes 93550 and 93535 showing the highest number of new Trustee Sales in Los Angeles County for March 2008 according to Property Shark with 91 and 96 Trustee Sales, respectively, and 348 and 338 Trustee Sales for the quarter. Next in line are Palmdale's zip codes 93551 and 93536 with 186 and 171 Trustee Sales for the quarter, respectively. Notice the big jump between the top two zip codes and the rest of the list.

The average owed per these foreclosure data sources can be misleading, since often this includes only the mortgage being foreclosured upon, while often there are large second mortgages and possibly third and fourth mortgages being written off as well. The average loan amount for single family homes, with 8,073 new single family trustee sales for the quarter, was $389,728, down slightly from the average as of the fourth quarter of 2007, which was $397,279.

There are no new additions to the Hot Zone list this month, and some areas have now stayed off the hit list for three consecutive quarters (zips 90220, 90011 and 90043). There are also some areas that re-appeared on the Hot Zone list after being absent for several months (zips 91766, 91744, 90221 and 90280). The trend in the number of new Trustee Sales reported monthly is finally starting to trend downwards each month after a big jump in the number of Trustee Sales during January 2008. Here are the numbers for Los Angeles County, including all types of properties (single family, multi-family and other residential).

Jul '07	Aug '07	Sep '07	Oct'07	Nov '07	Dec '07	Jan '08	Feb '08	Mar '08
1,715	1,897	1,709	2,154	2,443	2,029	3,857	2,527	2,493

Property Shark's Hot Zone report for the 1st quarter of 2008 (3 months) as well as the 4th quarter 2007 (3 months) and the 3rd quarter of 2007 (3 months) is below. These are the 20 zip codes in Los Angeles County with the highest number of foreclosure trustee sales for the reported time period.

The zip codes with NA instead of numbers on the table below did not make the Top 20 list for that time period.

Zip	City	1Q '08 # of Sales	1Q '08 Average $ Owed	4Q '07 # of Sales	4Q '07 Average $ Owed	3Q '07 # of Sales	3Q '07 Average $ Owed
93535	Lancaster	338	$245,515	217	$251,095	174	$241,143
93550	Palmdale	348	$268,445	211	$264,405	186	$255,429
93551	Palmdale	186	$378,021	125	$380,579	104	$394,169
93536	Quartz Hill	171	$304,108	139	$344,391	85	$322,525
90650	Norwalk	144	$456,094	104	$342,704	61	$339,693
91331	Pacoima	147	$365,830	103	$397,923	70	$347,487
93534	Lancaster	157	$252,595	131	$249,274	90	$256,124
91342	Sylmar	155	$440,574	112	$396,154	104	$351,873
93552	Palmdale	166	$310,208	124	$293,888	88	$293,189
90805	Long Beach	118	$363,199	96	$358,768	79	$365,642
91402	Panorama City	98	$345,540	NA	$NA	48	$343,777
91766	Pomona	87	$361,799	NA	$NA	NA	$NA
90044	Los Angeles	104	$333,404	76	$340,101	70	$325,596
90003	Los Angeles	97	$339,734	70	$320,128	64	$359,478
91744	La Puente	85	$335,303	NA	$NA	NA	$NA
90221	Compton	88	$294,513	NA	$NA	NA	$NA
90280	South Gate	86	$364,924	NA	$NA	NA	$NA
91335	Reseda	96	$406,712	93	$395,098	57	$393,023
90220	Compton	NA	$NA	NA	$NA	NA	$NA
91767	Pomona	NA	$NA	NA	$NA	52	$335,404
90011	Los Angeles	NA	$NA	NA	$NA	NA	$NA
90047	Westmont	104	$360,059	67	$332,986	50	$347,800
90002	Los Angeles	92	$319,418	68	$320,769	56	$298,677
91306	Los Angeles	NA	$NA	63	$436,470	NA	$NA
91344	Granada Hills	NA	$NA	61	$504,254	61	$476,310
91745	Hacienda Heights	NA	$NA	NA	$NA	53	$453,847
91367	Woodland Hills	NA	$NA	NA	$NA	49	$568,111
91343	North Hills	NA	$NA	61	$410,440	NA	$NA
90043	Los Angeles	NA	$NA	NA	$NA	NA	$NA