Pending home sales rise 5.3 percent? Hmmmm
By Tony English
Posted on August 7, 2008
Filed Under real estate news | Leave a Comment
Could this be the summer rush or a signal?
WASHINGTON — A measurement of pending home sales rose in June in a rare piece of positive news for the beleaguered market.
The National Association of Realtors’ seasonally adjusted index of pending sales for existing homes rose 5.3 percent to 89 from May’s reading, which was revised downward to 84.5 from an earlier reading of 84.7.
The June index was 12 percent below year-ago levels.
Home sales are considered pending when the seller has accepted an offer, but the deal has not yet closed. Typically there is a one- to two-month lag before a sale is completed.
Wall Street economists surveyed by Thomson/IFR had predicted the index would fall to 84.3. The index, which sunk to a record low of 83 in March, stood at 101.4 in June 2007. A reading of 100 is equal to the average level of sales activity in 2001, when the index started.
Last month, the Realtor group said completed sales of existing homes fell more sharply than expected in June, pushing activity down to the lowest level in more than a decade. Many analysts predict home prices will keep falling until at least next spring as tighter credit, a weaker job market and rising foreclosures scare potential buyers away.
Still, the NAR predicts a package of housing legislation signed by President Bush last week — particularly a $7,500 tax credit for first-time homebuyers — will aid a recovery.
“With a tax credit now available to first-time home buyers, increases in home sales could be sustained with the momentum carrying into 2009,” Lawrence Yun, the group’s chief economist, said in a statement.
Others are less optimistic about a market embroiled in its worst downturn in decades. Richard Syron, chief executive of mortgage finance company Freddie Mac said Wednesday he expects home prices nationwide to fall 18 percent from peak to trough, according to their measure, and that the market is only halfway through the descent.
By ALAN ZIBEL, AP Business Writer
$7,500 tax credit for first home buyers!
By Tony English
Posted on August 7, 2008
Filed Under Buyer Tips, Deals | Leave a Comment
YES!
Finally somebody thought it might be a good idea to help first time instead of burdening them with higher closing costs.
There is a new $7,500 tax credit for 1st time home buyers, this is a credit and not a deduction. You can read more about it here - http://www.federalhousingtaxcredit.com/index.html
The average cost of a home for a first time home buyer is about $200K, this roughly equates to a about 3% of the cost of their new home.
Now if we can fix this mortgage meltdown - the economy might get back on track.
Market Expected to Improve with New President
By Tony English
Posted on July 22, 2008
Filed Under real estate news | Leave a Comment
RISMedia reported today that nearly half of all home buyers (44%) believe the housing market will improve once the new President takes office in January, 2009, according to a new survey recently released conducted by Harris Interactive® and commissioned by Move, Inc., operator of Realtor.com®.Forty-eight percent of women and 41 percent of men who plan to buy a home in the current market said they think the housing market will get better once the new President is in office.
Really - You think so? I don’t mean to sound too cynical but that is a given - let me take a wild guess and publicly state that the new president will also promise to lower the price of gasoline and bring out troops home.
Stabilization in Denver’s housing market?
By Tony English
Posted on June 25, 2008
Filed Under Denver News, Denver Real Estate | Leave a Comment
If you have been reading my blog posts about Denver Real Estate, you would come to the conclusion that I am very bullish on Denver’s housing market.
The latest Latest S&P/Case-Shiller home price index shows most of the country’s real estate values falling - but Denver, Chicago and Cleveland were less severe than in the previous month.
Here is the link - http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25346624
This is great news considering thier data is 2 months behind on thier data.
Just call me Nostradamus of real estate!
By Tony English
Posted on April 13, 2008
Filed Under Buyer Tips, Deals, Denver News, Denver Real Estate | Leave a Comment
In the overwheling negitive real estate and forclosure news that has been reported over the last three months,I have been saying that we have “hit the bottom”. Look at our newspaper that we send out or read past articles in this blog about the Denver Real Estate market.
As it turns out out The Spring 2008 U.S. Market Risk Index released by the PMI Mortgage Insurance Co., reports that homes in the Denver/Aurora market hava a 1% chance of losing value 2 years from now. Thats a 99% chance of increasing in value!
Finally someone actually thought it might be a good idea to talk to the Realtors that are in the trenches and get the real story. All though I really like this report - I do have one major issue.
PMI is lumping Denver with Aurora. Now I know 2007 was not the greatest year for real estate in Denver. It was much much worse for Auroa than Denver. Now imagine how much better Denver really did when you take Aurora and Green Valley Ranch out of the Statistics.
Looking just at Denver’s states we actually did pretty good compared to the rest of the US.
John Rebchook just wrote a great article on PMI’S data, finally someone in the media is seeing the light!
Why now is a smart time to buy
By Tony English
Posted on March 29, 2008
Filed Under Denver Real Estate, real estate news | Leave a Comment
As anyone who knows me can tell you that I truly believe that we have hit bottom in our real estate market and are starting to see rising home prices for Denver real estate.
Seems like a very established well known company agrees with me - John L Scott released a PDF with the reasons that why now is a terrific time to buy a home:
FACT: The housing market is undergoing a natural cyclical correction.
FACT: Low mortgage rates give buyers more house for their dollar.
FACT: Heavy speculation and overbuilding result in an increase in
foreclosures when prices go down.
FACT: Subprime borrowers get a reality check.
FACT: Real Estate is localized and the Northwest is one of the strongest housing markets in the United States.
FACT: Over the long-term, Real Estate has always appreciated in value.
THE FACTS ADD UP: If you’re in the market to buy, now is the time to “Buy Smart”
Online real estate game
By Tony English
Posted on March 28, 2008
Filed Under real estate | Leave a Comment
The free “Price Me Now” game, created by real estate gaming company Realius, asks visitors to guess the sale price of for-sale homes. The game features photos and listing descriptions of actual for-sale homes, and awards points based on how a player’s guesses stack up against those of other players visitors to guess the price.
Realius also has plans to launch other real estate-related games. That company demonstrated its real estate games platform at last year’s TechCrunch40 Conference, which showcases new technologies by startup companies.
Will the homeowners and wesites benefit from the games, by growing site traffic and also drawing attention to for-sale properties? Only time will tell, right now it looks like a big waste of time.
Existing Home Sales Rise In February - What is ahead for Denver Real Estate?
By Tony English
Posted on March 27, 2008
Filed Under Buyer Tips, Denver Real Estate, Seller Tips | Leave a Comment
Sales of existing homes increased in February and remain within a fairly stable range, according to the National Association of Realtors.
This is great news for Denver Real Estate, considering that 16 of the 20 major real estate markets are substantially down. Denver proper (not Aurora or Montbello) has held up great despite what the rest of the country been experiencing.
I will say it again - we are going to see a great 2008!
Existing-home sales – including single-family, town-homes, condominiums and co-ops – rose 2.9 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate (1) of 5.03 million units in February from a pace of 4.89 million in January, but remain 23.8 percent below the 6.60 million-unit level in February 2007. The sales pace has been in a fairly narrow range since last September.
Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said the gain is encouraging. “We’re not expecting a notable gain in existing-home sales until the second half of this year, but the improvement is another sign that the market is stabilizing,” he said. “Buyers taking advantage of higher loan limits for both FHA and conventional mortgages will unleash some pent-up demand. As inventories are drawn down, prices in many markets should go positive later this year.”
The national median existing-home price (2) for all housing types was $195,900 in February, down 8.2 percent from a year earlier when the median was $213,500. Because the slowdown in sales from a year ago is greater in high-cost areas, there is a downward pull to the national median with relatively fewer sales in higher priced markets.
Home prices within metropolitan areas are more telling. The most recent data shows roughly half of the metro areas in the U.S. with price increases, with healthy gains in markets such as Oklahoma City and Trenton, N.J. “In other areas such as Sacramento, a rapid price decline has induced buyers to come into the market and sales are now rising,” Yun said. “The relationship between home prices, interest rates and income has improved to the point where buyers are more serious about making offers.”
10 BPOs this weekend
By Tony English
Posted on March 24, 2008
Filed Under Denver Real Estate, Foreclosure, REO | Leave a Comment
What a weekend!
I finally went to bed at 4:00 am on Sunday after doing 10 BPOs this weekend.
For those of you who do not know what a BPO is, BPO’s are know as a “broker price opinion”. They are used by lenders (Countrywide, Wells Fargo & ETC) to help determine the value of a home. Lenders could use websites like Zillow and Cyberhomes to determine market value, but they know that these websites are not even close to being accurate, hence the BPO.
Here is the interesting part - I have seen alot of new orders coming through my office - this means that alot of the foreclosed homes are getting offers and the lenders want to know what the home is worth at this moment in time.
What does this mean?
This is just more evidence that the market is starting to improve.
I am going to say it again - we are going to see major improvments to the market in 2008!
HUD’s Owner Occupant Incentive
By Tony English
Posted on March 20, 2008
Filed Under Buyer Tips, Denver News | Leave a Comment
HUD is currently offering a $100 Down payment initiative for owner occupants (Any individual who purchases a HUD home as their primary residence for at least 12 months after closing and who has not purchased a home from HUD as an owner occupant in the past twenty four months) purchasing a HUD Home with FHA financing, with full price offers. This incentive is also available to owner occupant purchasers who obtain an FHA Home Repair loan.
This is a great deal! Espeically in areas determined to be a ”declining market”.