Real Estate Directory

Sarasota showing positive growth

The Sarasota Association of Realtors  reported a 14% spike in October 2007 sales over Septembers numbers.  264 homes and 120 condos sold in October.   

Prices up for the 6th straight month

What city in the U.S. has a 3 month listing inventroy, even though listings are up 77%? The average price is $762,882-up 4.36% year over year. This the 6th straight month of appreciation. Realty Ttimes says the reason is that business is good as jobs have swelled in the area. Washington DC.

California Mortgage Freeze

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger announced a deal Tuesday with Countrywide Financial Corp., GMAC Mortgage, Litton Loan Servicing and HomeEq Servicing to freeze adjustable interest rates for some of the state's highest-ri k borrowers. This in an effort to stave off what is believed to be an impending glut of repossessed homes all over California.

This deal covers over 25% of Cali's subprime mortgage loans.  "To lose your home, as probably everyone knows, through a foreclosure is an emotional crash and it sometimes takes years to recuperate from," Schwarzenegger said.

Apartment Construction

The Commerce Department reported Tuesday that total housing construction rose by 3 percent in October to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.229 million units. Most of this growth was in Apartment construction. Interestingly in areas like Orange County California rents have increased during the homes sale slowdown.

H.R. 3648, the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act of 2007

From Nations Bulding News:

Ongoing efforts in the housing finance industry to keep home owners from losing their homes, limit the amount of inventory returning to the market and help check further housing price declines are being hampered by federal tax law that legislators on Capitol Hill are attempting to change, according to NAHB economist Robert Dietz.

“The Internal Revenue Service treats all debt amounts that are reduced, forgiven or eliminated as part of a mortgage restructuring or foreclosure as taxable income,” Dietz writes in a special study for NAHB Housing Economics.

“For home owners struggling to make their regular mortgage payments, this phantom income taxation creates a disincentive against restructuring an existing mortgage to ensure continued payment and avoid foreclosure,” he says. “To prevent this tax from applying to home owners and lenders seeking to restructure existing mortgages, Congress must modify the nation’s tax code.”

H.R. 3648, the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act of 2007, which would eliminate the tax consequences associated with debt forgiveness, has been approved by the House of Representatives.

McCallen Texas

McCallen Texas Real Estate

The Jewel in the Valley Crown

The Rio Grande Valley includes the 4 most Southern Counties in Tx. This area is called the Rioplex and includes Starr COunty, Hidlago County , Starr County and Willacy County Texas. ONce a rural area, now this geography is a one of the most rapidly growing areas in the U.S.

The primary cities in the Rioplex include McAllen, Brownsville and Harlingen

In fact, McAllen has been rated as the fastest growing metro in the State of Texas. With a 4 percent population growth rate, the area ranks:
# 1 in Job Growth in the United States
# 2 Lowest Cost Area to Live in
# 4 in Nation for Job Creation and Retention
# 8 Fastest Growing Metro in the United States

The Orange County numbers.

I caught this off an Orange County online business magazine. It said the OC was way off. However get this.

The median price of an Orange County homes was flat in October from September and down from a year earlier as sales continued to plunge.

At $573,750, the median price of a home here was up 0.7% from September and down 8.2% from a year earlier, according to La Jolla-based DataQuick Information Systems, a unit of Canada’s MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates.

So it is made to look like more doom and gloom whee really nothing happened month over month.

Realtor Marketing

Realtor Marketing

Real Estate SEO Services

"Let's Make it Harder For Your To Get A Loan"

Cramer says Cuomo is making it harder for you to get a loan

Cramer says he will shut down the mortgage market. "Listen Washington Mutual stop lending!"

AG  Cuomo announced November 7 he was expanding his probe into the mortgage industry by sending subpoenas to Freddie Mac (NYSE:FRE) and Fannie Mae (NYSE:FNM) and urging them to conduct a total review of all Washington Mutual Inc. (NYSE:WM) appraisals and mortgages they purchased.

     “Why doesn’t he just destroy any opportunity we have to move the $1.25 trillion in houses that are just sitting on the market right now?...  Last week, Cuomo filed a suit against First American Corp. (NYSE:FAF) and its “eAppraiseIT” unit for “allegedly colluding with Washington Mutual to use a list of preferred appraisers to artificially inflate mortgage appraisals.”

Home Buying Assistance

The biggest gripe about the real estate market is affordability.

In fact, in conversations I have had with the "bubblistas", they say the market's problem is that it is not affordable.