Property Management Corner

Can you bank on not having your vacation home professionally managed? Contact Homes Run today on how to save money on your monthly expenses as well as generate revenue when you are not in residence.

In today’s market, being partnered with a property care and revenue generation company helps take the guess work out of doing it yourself. From the best insurance company for your buck, to the best available vendors, give Homes Run a try, we’ve got the bases covered.

For more information contact your Homes Run Concierge or Property Manager at 760-320-1058.

Featured Luxury Vacation Rental-Russell House

The Russell House is a luxury home listed on our luxury division’s web site, Beau Monde Villas. This beautiful getaway which is nestled in the foothills of down town Palm Springs was designed by one of the most influential architects of the modernism era, Albert Frey. This home was completed in 1959 and extensively restored back to it’s original state in the fall of 2007. The “Russell House” soars above Palm Springs with unobstructed-panoramic views of the Coachella Valley.

The home is completed in steel and wood frame construction which are common to the era, walls of glass, and one of the most beautiful infinity pools (one of the first ever built and introduced here in the Coachella Valley). The home is complete with all original mid-century classic furnishings, state of the art kitchen appliances and all the latest in modern amenities. This home includes a regulation tennis court that floats above the city of Palm Springs. This home is the essence of the coveted Palm Springs Lifestyle. Let it be yours too, come relax with us! For more detailed information on this luxury vacation rental, visit Beau Monde Villas here ; for reservations visit this page or call 760.320.1058.

The Capitis Group is Expanding

In today’s uncertain market environment, we at The Capitis Group continue to see growth in our luxury Real Estate and Rental market segments. We are expanding our Real Estate sales office to an additional building in the corridor shops which will be known as Building #B. This expansion will take place at the end of September. We will be keeping our main office Building #C which will house our Homes Run property management, Beau Monde Villas our short term luxury rental division, and Realty Rental Palm Springs, our affordable rental division. We invite you in to see the new office and meet our team of various professionals with many years of experience. They are here to provide you with a variety of information on sales or homes available that meet your needs. Drop in and say hi.

Real Estate Update

Sales of existing homes and condos continue to power the real estate market, in some areas they’re up by double digits, and despite all the negative headlines about foreclosures, even prices are rising in many places as well. Sales in the second quarter ending June 30 jumped by nearly 4 percent countrywide, according to the National Association of Realtors. Second quarter sales in 39 states were higher than the first quarter, as they were in 129 out of the 155 largest markets.

New York saw an impressive 22 percent increase for the quarter, as did Wisconsin. California, Michigan and Minnesota all registered double-digit sales gains compared with the second quarter of 2008. Prices were still flat or down in markets where large percentages of sales are bank-owned REO. But in relatively healthy metro areas like Beaumont and Port Arthur, Texas, they were up significantly, by 11 percent over the second quarter of 2008. In the Denver area during June, home prices were 6 percent higher than May, and re-sales increased by an eye-popping 32 percent, according to MDA Data Quick researchers.

Several of the national home price indexes also continue to point to more than a mere bottoming out — they’re documenting real turnarounds in key areas. The Integrated Asset Services (IAS) 360 index reported a 1.2 percent average increase in its thousands of data-gathering submarkets and neighborhoods for June. Average prices in Boston gained 2.9 percent for the month, according to IAS. In Chicago they were up 1.3 percent, Los Angeles 2.2 percent, San Francisco 1.7 percent, and San Diego 1.4 percent.

Meanwhile, mortgages continued their modest but steady gains, with new loan applications to buy houses up last week by about one percent over the previous week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. Rates jumped slightly, however, with 30 year fixed conventional loans going for an average 5.4 percent, and fifteen year rates at 4.7 percent. Conditions in the overall economy were more mixed than in the housing arena, but the big picture still has most economists, and even the Federal Reserve, encouraged that the recession will be over this year.

Fewer jobs were lost last month than expected and unemployment fell to 9.4 percent. But let’s face it: losing a quarter of a million jobs in the span of a month is still a serious drag on the economy – and is certainly no plus for housing. On the other hand, is there anybody out there who wants to trade today’s mixed outlook with last fall’s horror show scenario, when we were all tottering on the edge of a global financial disaster?

Is the Real Estate Down Turn Over?

The real leading indicators may be in real estate. David Berson, chief economist at California Mortgage Insurer PMI Group, has tracked real estate market recoveries in relation to the seven American recessions since 1960. He has concluded that all of these recoveries were characterized by – or drive by – gains in housing starts and home sales.

On average, his findings indicate that residential re-sales start improving for months prior to the end of a recession. In the average recovery, single-family housing starts improved for seven months in a row, and new home sales improved for eight straight months.

Here in Late August, new and existing home sales have both increased for four straight months, and single-family housing starts have improved for the last five months. As Zip Realty’s Patrick Lashinsky told Voice of America, “Affordability is an all-time high.You have home prices that have dropped 25-30%. You have interest rates at very low amounts and you have consumers who have been waiting to buy. Combine that with the $8,000 tax credit you get if you’re a first-time buyer, and it’s creating a solid demand.” Here’s hoping that demand brings about a great and prompt economic recovery.