Wednesdays are Glendale’s broker’s caravan day and the Americana had another broker’s open house.  Although  my Realtor gal pal, Chris Zastrow and I have been there several times we thought it would be educational for Lisa, my new buyer’s agent to view a few of their units.  Our consensus is that they are nice; the gym, the pool and the convenience of the movie theaters, restaurants and shopping could be fun.  We looked at two units:

*2 + 2  ½ - 1700 sq ft, with a lot of light, priced in the mid 800’s
*2 + 2 ½ - 1890 sq ft, with Americana views priced over $2,000,000

   

In April 2008, 69% of my blog readers decided that the initial asking prices were too high.  In April 2009, the units were reduced but apparently it was too little too late.  I asked the sales staff if they would be closing the units currently in escrow in time to meet the first time buyer’s tax credit deadline and was told that it’s doubtful, but they are hoping to start closing by the end of the year.

So what’s the hold up?  Buyers can’t obtain loans until a certain percentage of the units are sold: If a new project, the number of units that must be under contract has increased from 51 percent to 70 percent.  - 70% of the units need to be in escrow before lenders selling loans to FNMA will close.