Make a child’s Holiday dreams come true for $25. Every year the Southland Regional Association of Realtors of-fers a memorable and happy experience to children from a San Fernando Valley school.

Individual donations along with support from the Association’s Charitable Foundation makes the event possible. More than 80 students will gather on Thurs-day, Dec. 3, to be treated to a sumptuous lunch, a visit from Santa Claus, and gifts they can share with their family. Tax deductible donations will help spread the holiday cheer and sponsor a child. Go to www.srar.com for a sponsorship form or request a form via email by writing to Oscar Sol at oscars@srar.com.

Difference Between Sellers, Appraisers NarrowsHome owners and appraisers are starting to see more eye-to-eye on a home’s value with average home appraisals during October 1.98 percent lower than what home owners expected.The difference between what home owners nationwide perceive their homes to be worth compared to what appraisers value homes at appears to be narrowing. This is the second consecu-tive month that the gap has narrowed.

“It’s too early to call it a trend, but it is encouraging to see the gap between the estimates home owners provide and the appraised values starting to narrow,” says Bob Walters, Quicken Loans chief economist, which conducted the study.

The more home owners are in line with appraisers, the easier it will be to refinance their mortgage and easier for those looking to buy a home. If the two are aligned, it eliminates one of the top stumbling blocks in the mortgage process.

2015 Profile of Buyers

First-Time Buyers Decline for 3rd Consecutive YearBy Gaye Rainey, President, and David R. Walker

Southland Regional Association The nationwide share of first–time home buyers declined for the third con-secutive year and remained at its lowest point in nearly three decades while the overall strengthening pace of home sales over the past year was driven more by repeat buyers with dual incomes.

The 2015 Profile of Home Buyers also found that nearly 90 percent of all respondents worked with a real estate agent to buy or sell a home, which pushed for–sale–by–owner transactions to their lowest share ever.

Findings of the survey conducted by the National Association of Realtors are representative of owner–occupants and do not include investors or vacation homes.

In this year’s survey, the share of first–time buyers declined by 1 percent from a year ago

ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT

‘The housing recovery’s missing link continues to be the absence of first-time buyers.’

Realtor® Gaye Rainey 2015 President, SRAR

REALTOR® is a federally registered collective membership mark which identifies a real estate professional who is a Member of the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® and subscribes to its strict Code of Ethics.

THE VOICE FOR REAL ESTATE IN THE SAN FERNANDO AND SANTA CLARITA VALLEYSwww.SRAR.com | Real Estate Questions? E-mail Gaye Rainey, SRAR 2015 President, c/o DavidW@SRAR.com

HomeBuyerFirst-Time

GrantsFor homes purchased in San Fernandoand Santa Clarita Valleys!

Southland Regional Association of REALTORS®, in partnership withthe California Association of REALTORS® Housing Affordability Fund,is currently offering $2,000 grants to qualified first-time home buyers.

Applicants must meet certain requirements, including income limitations.

For information on this program, including a full list of requirements,visit www.srar.com/grants or contact Joey Lewis - Director, Member &Community Relations at 818-947-2256 or via email at JoeyL@srar.com

HomeBuyerFirst-Time

GrantsFor homes purchased in San Fernandoand Santa Clarita Valleys!

Southland Regional Association of REALTORS®, in partnership withthe California Association of REALTORS® Housing Affordability Fund,is currently offering $2,000 grants to qualified first-time home buyers.

Applicants must meet certain requirements, including income limitations.

For information on this program, including a full list of requirements,visit www.srar.com/grants or contact Joey Lewis - Director, Member &Community Relations at 818-947-2256 or via email at JoeyL@srar.com

2015

For information on this program, including a full list of requirements,visit www.srar.com/grants or contact Michelle Gerhard at 818-947-2271or via email at michelleg@srar.com

SRAR’s Kids’ Holiday Party

For just $25, you could make a child’s Holiday dreams come true!Each year, with support of the SRAR Charitable Foundation, SRAR selects children from a local school in a low-incomearea of the San Fernando Valley to give them a memorable and happy Holiday experience.

On Thursday, December 3rd, up to 80 children will come to the SRAR office in Van Nuys where they will be treated to adelicious lunch, a visit from Santa Claus, and presented with gifts that they can share with their family.

You can help spread the Holiday cheer by sponsoring one of these children. Take a moment to sponsor a child today! Yoursponorship is tax deductible. SRAR Charitable Foundation 501c3 #95-4323748

Name:

Tel #: Email:

CC#: Expiration Date:

Name as it appears on card:

Signature to authorize charge:

Total Amt to be Charged:

Do you prefer to sponsor a child anonymously? YES NO

Do you prefer to sponsor a child in someone else’s name? YES NOIf yes, please provide the name:

# of Children to Sponsor at $25 each:

To sponsor by credit card, complete the information below. Checks may be made to ‘SRAR Foundation’ and sent toOscar Sol at 7232 Balboa Blvd. Van Nuys, CA 91406.

Completed forms with credit card information may be faxed to 818-786-4541. If sponsoring by check, please send form along with check by mail

Sponsor aChild in Need

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* A positive value represents appraiser opinions that are higher than homeowner perceptions. A negative value represents ap-praiser opinions that are lower than homeowner perceptions.

to 32 percent, which is the second–lowest share since the survey’s inception in 1981 and the lowest since 1987, which ended at 30 percent. Historically, the long–term average shows that nearly 40 percent of primary

purchases are from first–time home buyers.Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said

the housing recovery’s missing link continues to be the absence of first–time buyers.

“There are several reasons why there should be more first–time buyers reaching the market,” he said, “including persistently low mortgage rates, healthy job prospects for those college–educated, and the fact that renting is becoming more unaffordable in many areas.

“Unfortunately, there are just as many high hurdles slowing first–time buyers down,” Yun said, including “increasing rents and home prices are impeding their ability to save for a

down payment, there’s scarce inventory for new and existing–homes in their price range, and it’s still too difficult for some to get a mortgage.”

Yun said this year’s survey offers additional clues to why fewer first–time buyers are reaching the market.

“First–time buy-ers reported that all forms of debt

delayed saving for a down payment for a me-dian of three years, and among the 25 percent who said saving was the most difficult task, a majority said student loans delayed saving,” he said. “With a median amount of student loan debt for all buyers at $25,000, it’s likely some younger households with even higher levels of debt can’t save for an adequate down payment or have decided to delay buying until their debt is at more comfortable levels.”

With strong price growth in many markets and fewer first–time buyers, the results in this year’s national survey reveal a market with a higher share of married couples 67 percent — up from 65 percent last year — who have higher household income than previous

years. Married repeat buyers have the highest income among all buyers at $108,600, while the share of single female buyers decreased

from 16 percent to 15 percent and male buyers remained flat at 9 percent.

Similar to some of the ob-stacles facing first–time buyers, tighter credit conditions and having less purchasing power than households with dual in-comes likely led to the share of single–female buyers declining to its lowest since 2001.

The median age of first–time buyers was 31, unchanged for the last three years, and the median income was $69,400, up from $68,300 in 2014. The typical first–time buyer purchased a 1,620 sq. ft. home — up from 1,570 in 2014 — costing $170,000, while the typical repeat buyer was 53 years old and earned $98,700, up from $95,000 in 2014. Repeat buyers nationwide purchased a median 2,020 sq. ft. home costing $246,400, an

incredibly low price compared to California’s the San Fernando Valley’s real estate.

Unchanged from a year ago, 13 percent of survey respondents were multi–generational households, including adult children, parents and/or grandparents. Eighteen percent of buyers identified as military veterans, 8 percent as an unmarried couple and 3 percent as active–duty service members.

When asked about the primary reason for purchasing, 64 percent of first–time buyers in this year’s survey cited a desire to own their own home as the primary reason compared to 53 percent a year ago. For repeat buyers, desire to own a home of their own and wanting to own a larger home were both the top reason given, each at 13 percent. Nearly half of all buyers — 46 percent — said the timing was just right and they were ready to purchase a home.

According to the survey, buyers continue to view buying a home as a good financial investment. Up from last year when it was 79 percent, to 80 percent of recent buyers this year who said it was a good investment, and 43 percent believe it’s better than stocks.The Southland Regional Association of Realtors® is a local trade association with more than 9,100 members serving the San Fernando and Santa Clarita valleys.