The news of the day is obviously the bankruptcy filing of Lehman Brothers Holdings and Bank of America’s acquiring Merrill Lynch. I am sure you will be hearing and reading plenty on these two events over the next several weeks. What effect this is going to have on the local, high-end real estate market is still somewhat unclear. We have already struggled through a very slow summer and are headed into an uncertain 4th quarter. My hope is that this financial crisis will be settled down somewhat by the time our season starts in November when, after the Presidential election , there will be a more positive take on the economy.

Real Estate sales in Riverside County, as well as most of California, are being driven by foreclosures. Even though this is terrible for the people who are losing their property, it has presented a great opportunity for investors, as well as for another round of 1st time homebuyers. FHA and VA financing have become very favorable forms of financing.

Even the higher end market is experiencing some problems. I just sold a home in Palm Springs for more than $1.6 million that was a ‘short sale.’ The 2 lenders involved wrote off almost $1 million in loan balance to avoid foreclosure. There was a recent ‘short sale’ in Rancho Mirage at $1.55 million. There are bank owned properties for sale at Monterey CC, Palm Valley CC and Desert Horizons CC. These are all properties that were bought near the top of the market and over financed.

But, these are the exceptions to the rule in the desert's high-end market. As we head towards the season, today’s sellers are more open to offers and many homes are priced very aggressively. This is a great time to be buying a 2nd or 3rd home or an investment property in our area. We will probably be looking back 5 years from now, saying ‘I wish I had bought real estate in 2008/2009'.

Included this month are several items you might find interesting:

•	An article from Forbes.com on the Bank of America acquisition of Merrill Lynch takes a look at BofA after earlier acquiring Countrywide Financial.
•	It's time to be amazed: A very interesting look at the short time the internet has been around, and how we don't often think about how most of us are impacted by it.
•	From the LA Times, a look at a variety of home security systems.
•	A recently released study showing the 10 cities with the most expensive home prices and the 10 cities with the least expensive home prices in both the U.S. and the International Markets.
•	The 10 Most Expensive Desert Homes Sold in August 2008, according to the Desert Area MLS: There were very few high-end closings in August, which is not surprising. Mission Ranch in the Clancy Lane area tops the list. Indian Wells CC had 3 homes on the list, 2 were in Palm Springs and The Enclave in La Quinta, Indian Ridge, Desert Falls and PGA West each made the list.
•	Mortgage Interest Rates as of 9/15/08.

If you have any real estate related needs or questions, please don't hesitate to give me a call, or send me an email at Bruce@BruceBlomgren.com. I would love to hear from you. If you know of anyone else who might like to receive my monthly e-newsletter, please let me know.

Sincerely,
Bruce