Note: Some of the links below may take you to a blank page with the verbiage, “The content of this email link is no longer available.” These links have expired from the Ventura MLS and are no longer accessible. Ojai MLS links are not affected in this way.
Friday, August 30th, 2024
11:15 a.m.
There are three new or “coming soon” listings on the market:
250 N. Donna Street – $875,000
105 Foothill Road – $2,890,000 (coming soon, 9/5)
The Open House and Things to Do in Ojai pages have been updated! Have a great three-day weekend!
Pic of the Day
Thursday, August 29, 2024
12:00 p.m.
There is a new listing on the market:
1111 Mariano Drive – $1,195,000
Pic of the Day
Wednesday, August 28, 2024
12:35 p.m.
There are no new listings on the market for today. Here’s a quick mortgage rate update (down another .21% since August 15th):
30-yr fixed: 6.37%
15-yr fixed: 5.92%
30-yr Jumbo: 6.60%
30-yr FHA: 5.75%
30-yr VA: 5.74%
Pic of the Day
Tuesday, August 27, 2024
11:10 a.m.
One new listing has come to the market since last Friday:
126-128 N. Arnaz Street – $1,800,000
Over this past weekend I was engaged in a group text conversation with my brother and sister. When my sister mentioned a TV show that she felt I should watch, I asked where I could find it. “Hulu” she said. I then went on a short “Old Man Yells At Cloud” (OMYAC) rant wherein I stated I was tired of everything being a monthly subscription. “Yeah, but it’s only $7.99 per month” I was told. I said it was the principle of the thing, not the money. Minutes later, my brother responded with the following….and thus…our “Pic of the Day:”
Pic of the Day
Friday, August 23, 2024
11:00 a.m.
There are no new listings today, but the Open House and Things to Do in Ojai pages have been updated! Have a wonderful weekend…
Pic of the Day
Thursday, August 22, 2024
10:20 a.m.
There are eight new listings on the market:
103 Bristol Road #A – $899,000
210 W. Santa Ana Street – $1,395,000
9699 Ojai Santa Paula Road – $3,500,000
2238 Los Encinos Road – $1,795,000
2100 Valley Meadow Drive – $1,450,000
407 Bryant Circle #A – $1,299,000
700 W. Villanova Road #22 – $200,000
NOTE: There are currently 79 active residential listings on the market in Ojai and Oak View. This is the most we’ve seen on the market in a long time…at least 3 or 4 years!
Pic of the Day
Tuesday, August 20, 2024
2:10 p.m.
There are five new or “coming soon” listings on the market:
12661 Highwinds Road – $895,000
20 Del Valle Street – $1,550,000
950 Woodland Avenue #80 – $379,000
410 Church Road #34 – $950,000 (coming soon, 8/22)
Recently cancelled, withdrawn, or expired listings – back on the market as “new:”
- 283 Burnham Road – $795,000 (this recently expired on 8/15).
- 12200 Ojai Santa Paula Road – $697,500 (this recently expired on 8/1).
New Realtor Regulations, effective 8/17/24 – JUST the Basics
As you’ve likely heard over the last year or so, the changes to how we do business took effect on August 17th. I’ll do my best to give you a relatively “short” breakdown on the most pertinent aspects of the new regulations. (Note: My initial attempt at a short breakdown was three pages long, so you may have questions beyond what is addressed below):
Open house visitation
Prospective buyers – if not accompanied by an agent representing them – are now required to fill in a form, titled OHNA-SI (Open House Non-Agency Sign In), before touring a home for sale. If you’re not working with an agent, this should be the only form a listing agent has you fill out when entering a home. If you feel comfortable having that agent represent you further in the possible purchase of the home, they may then ask you to fill out forms “PSRA” or “BRBC.”
Working with A Buyer’s Agent
In order to show you property or work on your behalf, realtors are now required to have you sign one of two forms before doing so:
~ PSRA (Property Showing and Representation Agreement): This form is used in the short-term to indicate that the buyer is working with a specific agent for a specific set of properties (up to 3), and only for a period of 30 days. This is a Non-Exclusive agreement, meaning that there must be agent involvement on the specified properties for the agent to be compensated. For the record, agent involvement means, 1) Buyer physically entered and was shown the property by the agent, 2) Agent submitted a signed, written offer to obtain the property on behalf of the buyer, or 3) Agent performed a market analysis related to the property or reviewed property specific documents. (An agent who simply sends you listings via email is technically NOT working for you until one of these three criteria has been met.) The PSRA is commonly referred to as the “dating form” – it’s a short-term commitment to the agent.
~ BRBC (Buyer Representation and Broker Compensation Agreement): This is a longer-term agreement with a time limit of 90 days. However, it can be extended by agreement between the buyer and agent for an additional 90 days – for a total of 180 days. After 180 days, a new form must be filled out by the buyer and their agent. This agreement can be Non-Exclusive (as mentioned above), or Exclusive. If the agreement is exclusive, the agent is entitled to compensation if the buyer acquires any property during the representation period – even if another agent is also entitled to be paid for representing the buyer. In other words, make sure you don’t sign two BRBC agreements with two different agents that overlap each other. Either that or grab a bag of popcorn and watch the fight. A buyer may cancel this contract with written notice within 5 days of receipt by the agent if the agreement is Non-Exclusive, but if it’s an Exclusive agreement the cancellation takes effect after 30 days. The BRBC is commonly referred to as the “marriage form” – it’s a longer-term commitment to the agent.
Buyer’s Agent Commission – Who Pays?
~ The buyer’s agent’s commission is negotiable and is initially set between the buyer and their agent, per a signed agreement using either the PSRA or BRBC forms. This occurs before any offer is made to purchase property.
~ A buyer can choose to pay their agent directly per either of the above two agreements – or – within the BRBC form there is a check box to indicate that the buyer either doesn’t have sufficient funds to pay their agent, or that the buyer is using a loan product that doesn’t allow for a buyer to pay compensation to their agent. This is then submitted along with any offers to purchase property.
~ If the buyer doesn’t have the funds to pay their agent, they can request a concession in an offer to the seller of a property in order to cover their agent’s commission. However, if a seller does offer a concession for this – it is negotiable and cannot be more than, or in addition to, what the buyer and their agent have already agreed to in the BRBC form. Thus, if the buyer and their agent negotiated a 2.5% commission, but a seller only offers 2% concession towards the buyer’s agent, the buyer is responsible for paying their agent out of their own pocket to cover the .5% difference.
~ Seller concessions to pay the buyer’s agent are negotiable and a contingency to the sales contract. If a buyer and seller can’t agree, it is possible for the buyer to ask their agent to renegotiate their commission to make the deal go through.
Likely Outcomes
It will probably take a year or more to see where this all ends up, but we expect that most sellers will choose to offer concessions to pay for or offset buyer’s agent’s commissions. This is mainly because offering to pay the buyer’s agent commission is an inducement to have the seller’s property shown by other agents. A seller who doesn’t offer concessions may end up get far fewer showings or offers as a result. (Not saying this is “right” – but it’s the likely outcome.)
~ Offers submitted by buyers who are willing to pay their agents out of pocket may be more likely to get their offers accepted in a multiple-offer situation.
~ Sellers who aren’t considering offering concessions may simply respond to any offers that request concessions by counter-offering a higher sales price to offset the buyer’s agent’s commission – even upon receipt of a full-price offer.
~ Alternatively, buyers may end up lowering their offers automatically by the percentage owed and agreed to with their agent in the BRBC or PSRA forms.
~ There will be some interesting conversations between buyers and their agents. In order for the buyer’s agent to receive a commission, they MUST have an agreement with the buyer where that commission is spelled out. If the buyer submits an offer on a property where the seller doesn’t offer concessions, yet the buyer decides they don’t want to pay their agent out of their own pocket (essentially asking their agent to work for free) – this could lead to a lot of cancelled deals and animosity between agents and their clients.
In the end, these changes – while complicated – are better for the buying public, as it brings the buyer’s agent’s commissions to the forefront. Buyers can now negotiate their agent’s commission (rather than it automatically being paid for by the seller) – so the value of a buyer’s agent needs to be more transparent and obvious going forward. Agents who go the extra mile will be paid better, while agents who do the bare minimum will receive less. Just the way it should be!
If you have any further questions about these new rules, feel free to give us a call – we’ll be happy to explain further.
Pic of the Day
Friday, August 16, 2024
10:40 a.m.
There are two new listings on the market:
1314 Meadowbrook Road – $1,250,000
124 S. Padre Juan Avenue – $865,000
The Open House and Things to Do in Ojai pages have been updated. Check out the Queen tribute band at Libbey Bowl this evening; I saw them last year and they were quite good. Have a great weekend!
Pic of the Day
Thursday, August 15, 2024
10:25 a.m.
There are no new listings on the market. But here’s a prior “coming soon” listing that is now actively on the market and available to see:
Here’s a quick check-in on current mortgage rates:
30-yr fixed: 6.58%
(Down .29% from a couple weeks ago)
15-yr fixed: 6.15%
30-yr Jumbo: 6.74%
30-yr FHA: 6.12%
30-yr VA: 6.14%
Pic of the Day
Wednesday, August 14, 2024
2:10 p.m.
There are no new listings for today, but here is a prior “coming soon” listing, now on the market:
Pic of the Day
Tuesday, August 13, 2024
12:25 p.m.
Two new listings have come to the market since last Friday:
1202 Loma Drive #106 – $409,000
1225 S. Rice Road #23 – $359,900
Pic of the Day
Friday, August 9, 2024
12:20 p.m.
There are two new listings on the market:
409 Oriole Street – $1,350,000
405 Vallerio Avenue – $899,500
Prior “coming soon” listings now on the market:
The Open House and Things to do in Ojai pages have been updated! Have a great weekend…
Pic of the Day
Thursday, August 8, 2024
11:50 a.m.
There are two new listings on the market:
311 W. Summer Street #C – $1,095,000
Prior “coming soon” listings now on the market:
Recently cancelled, withdrawn, or expired listings – back on the market as “new:”
- 7205 Rose Valley Road – $1,200,000 (this had recently expired on 7/1).
Pic of the Day
Wednesday, August 7, 2024
11:20 a.m.
There is a new listing on the market:
474 N. Arnaz Street #9 – $159,000
In case you weren’t aware, we had an earthquake last night at around 9:10 p.m. I felt it, as I was sitting on the couch while watching the Olympics. That first one was out of Lamont, CA (according to the USGS). Since that time – and up to 11:17 a.m. this morning – the general area around Lamont has received 60 aftershocks, ranging from 2.5 to 4.6 on the scale (most of them have been under 4.0). I wonder if anyone in that area got any sleep last night?
Pic of the Day
Tuesday, August 6, 2024
10:25 a.m.
There are two new or “coming soon” listings on the market:
10331 Sulphur Mountain Road – $800,000
120 S. La Luna Avenue – $1,295,000 (coming soon, 8/9)
Prior “coming soon” listings, now on the market:
Following the Jobs Report from last Friday, mortgage rates went down again. The past few weeks have put a bit of an exclamation point on the shift with inflation data leading the charge. With Friday’s “Food for Thought” jobs data, mortgage rates dropped again to the lowest levels in almost a year in anticipation of the Federal Reserve cutting interest rates by 25 basis points in September.
With the recent drop in rates, the difference in just a few months is stark when it comes to affordability. In April, a buyer looking to purchase an $800,000 home with 20% down would have been facing a monthly payment of about $4,500, not including insurance and property taxes. Today, that monthly payment would be about $4,000, or less.
30-yr fixed: 6.52%
15-yr fixed: 5.93%
30-yr Jumbo: 6.68%
30-yr FHA: 6.12%
30-yr VA: 6.13%
Pic of the Day
Friday, August 2, 2024
11:35 a.m.
There are two new or “coming soon” listings on the market:
1207 N. Signal Street – $3,250,000
411 Buena Vista Drive – $1,340,000 (coming soon, 8/8)
The Open House and Things to do in Ojai pages have been updated! Have a great weekend…
Pic of the Day
Thursday, August 1, 2024
12:35 p.m.
There are four new or “coming soon” listings on the market:
1273 S. Rice Road #39 – $325,000
410 Bryant Circle #A – $995,000
410 Bryant Circle #K – $650,000
11951 Morgan Street – $889,000 (coming soon, 8/15)
Pic of the Day
