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In just three weeks since its launch, Google+ has boasted 20 million unique visitors worldwide–more than 5 million in the United States alone–which has many saying that it’s poised to be Facebook’s biggest competitor. Google Inc.’s new social networking site has particularly impressed observers since access to it is still by invitation only, which means a current member has to send you an invitation in order for you to join. Google hasn’t yet unleashed Google+ to its more than 1 billion monthly visitors who use its search engine, Gmail, and other services.

Still, analysts acknowledge that Google+ has a long way to go before reaching Facebook’s 750 million users and even Twitter’s 200 million, but many are expecting it to give steep competition to both.

Google+ allows you to build a social “circle” of friends, easily separating out family and friends from work contacts, and then lets you share comments, articles, photos, and videos with your designated “circle” of friends or even the public. Google+ also boasts a “hangout” feature that lets you do video chats to several contacts simultaneously.

Google+ features will eventually be incorporated into services like YouTube and in Google’s suite of online software for businesses.

 Source: “Google+ Pulls in 20 Million in 3 Weeks,” The Wall Street Journal (July 22, 2011)

 Other articles relating to the Sacramento and Placerville, California regions at: www.sierraproperties.com

It’s not high interest rates preventing a housing recovery. The interest rates, currently around 4.25 percent, are historically low. What’s slowing down the housing market recovery is a weak economic recovery with little job creation. And according to the National Association of Realtors, NAR, the government agencies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are part of the problem in preventing a recovery. 

The California Association of Realtors has reported that nearly half of all opened escrows are failing to close. Lender turn-downs are primary reasons. The number has been so significant that “pending sales” are no longer considered an accurate indication of future closings.    

Golder sent a message from Realtors across the country, “The Federal Housing Administration, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, have a mission to provide mortgage liquidity to qualified home buyers, including low-and moderate-income families and first-time buyers. That mission is being impaired by unnecessarily restrictive limits on the availability of credit and these extremely tight policies are significantly delaying a housing market and economic recovery.”

Both the CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® (C.A.R.) and the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® (NAR) released monthly housing reports this week. However, each report told a different story about the housing market. Nationally, home sales declined but in California home sales rose 14.1 percent in May compared with April and 1.2 percent compared with April 2009.

KEEP THIS IN MIND

• The median price of existing single-family homes in California in May was $324,430, a 23.2 percent increase compared with a median price of $263,440 in May 2009, C.A.R. reported. The May 2010 median price increased 5.9 percent compared with April’s $306,230 median price.

• While home prices are rising month-over-month and year-over-year, affordability continues to remain at near-record highs. In the first quarter of 2010, 66 percent of first-time home buyers in California could afford to purchase an entry-level home in the state, according to C.A.R.’s First-time Buyer Housing Affordability Index.

• Many first-time home buyers timed the opening and closing of escrow to capitalize on both the federal and state tax credits, resulting in a rise in home sales in May. Although home sales rose, the number of home buyers signing sales contracts declined nearly 17 percent compared with April, which C.A.R. Chief Economist Leslie Appleton-Young attributes to the ending of the federal tax credit. “Although there may be a lessening of demand compared with the first half of this year, the number of escrows opened on a year-to-date basis is about the same as last year, and sales for all of 2010 will be on a par or slightly below last year,” said Appleton-Young.

• Despite the number of foreclosures listed for sale, the inventory of homes for sale still is below the long-run average of 7-months, according to C.A.R. In May, C.A.R.’s Unsold Inventory Index for existing, single-family detached homes was 4.6 months, unchanged from the same period a year ago. The index indicates the number of months needed to deplete the supply of homes on the market at the current sales rate.

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http://www.sgvtribune.com/ci_15353779#ixzz0rht9SqsU