The real estate market is up. The real estate market is down.

It is both simultaneously. It’s a market that has never been seen before. It’s historic, it’s a hassle, it’s a conundrum, it’s a pain in the ass for many.

New home sales last week were down 68% from last year. Almost a dozen new home builders are banding together to auction off 150 homes in California projects.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the California Association of Realtors is reporting that existing home sales were up 97% in September, though prices were down 40%.

How’s the upper-end market in Danville, CA? Well, we can’t use this one example to build a trend, but one developer is auctioning off a 4000 square foot home that had been on the market for $2.4 million – it is now priced at $1.5 million.

Developers slashing prices and dumping homes is mixed news for existing home owners. Home prices are hammered down, but moving the inventory paves the way for the local market to settle and start coming back.

See the local MLS Trends

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The point we were making the other day in our post San Ramon Housing Market Loses Buyers seems to be backed up by today’s Saturday Homes special advertising section in the CC Times.

On the front page of the section, you have Centex advertising their “One Day Sale.” They go into great detail about how fantastic the sale will be for buyers, but if you read the entire page, you find one mention of price = Save up to $200,000 on selected Bay Area homes.

Has any one other than me seen these types of come-ons before? How many homes in all of their developments do you think they are discounting $200K? I’ll bet that $200K is off the original price set two years ago when the project launched and before the decline in the housing market and the subprime loan meltdown. If this is the case, what we probably have is a home that is already valued $175K below what Centex originally hoped to get for it. But telling folks you are going to reduce a home another 1% to 2% doesn’t motivate them much to come by on a holiday weekend.

All of this is speculation on my part because the ad doesn’t give any real figures. Most of the copy is spent telling us how great Centex is.

On page E2, we find Copper Ridge, a condo conversion project in San Ramon, offering furnishings to all escrows that close before Oct. 31 this year, Of course, there is no mention of what they mean by furnishing or the extent of the furnishings. Maybe you’ll get a new chandelier and a hat rack.

I like Copper Ridge. My 25 year old nephew bought one of the units, He also likes it, says it’s quiet and convenient.

On page E3, we find Shapell announcing buyer incentives. The incentives include no payments for the first 6 months, one full year of homeowner’s association dues paid, temporary and permanent loan buy downs and non-recurring closing costs.

If you’re considering buying, read these two posts first:

• Move-Up Buyers are Today’s Power Buyers
• Sellers Grasping to Get a Grip

 Know the market! I think with the proper knowledge you can beat any deal offerred in the home section.