Stephanie Young's invitation is awaiting your response

Stephanie Young would like to connect on LinkedIn. How would you like to respond? Stephanie Young Realtor at Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage Confirm you know Stephanie You received an invitation to connect. LinkedIn will use your email address to make suggestions to our members in features like People You May Know. Unsubscribe If you need assistance or have questions, please contact LinkedIn Customer Service. © 2014, LinkedIn Corporation. 2029 Stierlin Ct. Mountain View, CA 94043, USA

Stephanie Young's invitation is awaiting your response

Stephanie Young would like to connect on LinkedIn. How would you like to respond? Stephanie Young Realtor at Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage Confirm you know Stephanie You received an invitation to connect. LinkedIn will use your email address to make suggestions to our members in features like People You May Know. Unsubscribe If you need assistance or have questions, please contact LinkedIn Customer Service. © 2014, LinkedIn Corporation. 2029 Stierlin Ct. Mountain View, CA 94043, USA

I'd like to add you to my professional network on LinkedIn

Stephanie Young Realtor at Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage Santa Barbara, California Area Hi Mtn, I'd like to add you to my professional network on LinkedIn. - Stephanie Confirm that you know Stephanie You received an invitation to connect. LinkedIn will use your email address to make suggestions to our members in features like People You May Know. Unsubscribe This email was intended for Mtn Post. Learn why we included this. If you need assistance or have questions, please contact LinkedIn Customer Service. © 2014, LinkedIn Corporation. 2029 Stierlin Ct. Mountain View, CA 94043, USA

HUD Defends Changes to FHA Insurance Policy

Early this month, the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development proposed a variety of changes to the Federal Housing Administration- backed home loans. In an attempt to boost the agency's cash reserves that have been depleted by the rise in foreclosures and defaults, HUD will soon be requiring the insured to pay higher insurance premiums and comply with higher credit-score requirements.

HUD assumes that by forcing borrowers to invest more money into their homes, they will be less likely to default their properties.

Although it seems that the agency has no choice in its huge loss of revenue but to raise its requirements, these changes seem like they might weed out hard working families, simply because they fall into a "risk" category. Hopefully changes to their policy won't be finalized until they can figure out a fair way to protect themselves from problematic borrowers without unfairly penalizing families simply because they fall into a low-income category.

Many Santa Barbara families rely on FHA-backed insurance to purchase their first homes. HUD needs to consider the repercussion of implementing these changes in terms of first-time buyer sales as a whole before changing any policy.

For more information please visit The Washington Post

Affordability Displayed in November Market Statistics

Santa Barbara's housing market seems to be taking a break as 2009 comes to a close. Although his can be due to the fact that housing sales are usually slow during the holidays, there is evidence that the buyer's market will continue well into 2010. Prices of homes sold in November averaged at $1,104,109 (median $785,000). This figure is over $700,000 less than the median listing price ($879,000).

Additionally, most homes that were listed on the market were sold at a much lesser value than their listing price. The median price of homes sold was over $100,00 less than the median listing price ($879,000).

What does this mean? Now is still a great time to buy! Homes are selling for over $100,000 less than their listing price and regional averages are still much lower than they were pre-2007. The beginning of 2010 shows promise to be a great time to buy that home you might not have been able to afford 2 or 3 years ago!

Holiday at the Ranch

Goleta Valley Historical Society Holiday is sponsoring the signature Holiday Open House at Rancho La Patera & Stow House December 12th and 13th. There will be tours of the beautifully decorated Stow House, crafts and cookie-baking for the kids, holiday hay rides and live music.

Date: Every day (Dec 12-Dec 13) from 11:00am to 4:00pm

Ages: All ages

Admission Fees: $2 for children, $5 for adults
Location: Rancho La Patera & Stow House, 304 North Los Carneros Rd., Goleta

Phone: (805) 681-7216
For more information please visit the La Patera Stow House Website