Real Estate Directory

From Local to Regional to Statewide MLS

The California Realtors have somehow managed to combine 61 MLSs out of the total of 71 in the State into one giant mega MLS.

It has been said that this move is historic. The real question is how beneficial will this new system be? Will it be like taking the DMV and turning it into a much larger DMV? I do not think that is what the members would want. But that is the risk when dealing with a large bureacratic organization that this could certainly become. Hopefully it will become a shining becon for the rest of the COunty to follow because of it razor sharp efficiency and true representation of its memebers. Achem!

The return of the low down

Starting June 1, 2008, Fannie Mae will accept up to 97 percent loan-to-value ratios for conventional, conforming mortgages processed through its Desktop Underwriter® (DU®) automated underwriting system, and 95 percent loan-to-value ratios for loans underwritten outside of DU, in all geographic locations in the United States. The new national down payment policy will supersede the policy the company adopted in December 2007 that required higher down payments in markets where home prices are declining.

Invasion of the Housing Snatchers!

Invasion of the Housing Snatchers!real estate may be cooling for us domestics, but when you mix falling home prices and the weak dollar, you are bound to attract foreigners who know a deal when they see one.

Foreign buyers love the weakened dollar and lower pricing. But it is taking the Realtors awhile to get the opportunity. Only one in five, or 18% of agents surveyed by the National Association of REALTORS® last year said they sold homes to international clients between April 2006 and April 2007.

Foreign buyers also seem more optimistic about the long-term health of the U.S. market, says David Michonski, a certified international property specialist and chief executive of Coldwell Banker Hunt Kennedy in New York. "The foreign buyer has an unbridled confidence in the U.S. market that is lacking in the domestic purchaser today.  They view this as the bargain of a lifetime and are terribly excited about it," he said. (The Wall Street Journal)

Seattle home prices

Seattle area homes was worth 2.8% more in this 1st quarter of 2008 than it was in the first 3 of 2007, but 0.4% less than in the final quarter of last year, according to a new report.

The annual increase put the area to 93rd among 292 metropolitan areas. 

maui homes a great investment

Maui real estate is the object of desire the world over. Long a favorite for the Japanese to visit and then own, Maui homes are a favorite asset in luxury home buyers the world over.

There is plenty to do in Maui such as shopping in Lahaina, a ride along the Road to Hana and much more. From surfing sunning and windsurfing, Maui is great for the sportsman. Oh, and lets not forget golf and new home developments like Hokulani Golf Villas, offer lie on the green.

WSJ Has housing bottomed?

Has real estate bottomed?

Is it time to start house hunting? Cyril Moulle-Bertaux opined that April 2008 marked the bottom of the U.S. housing market.

And in his R.O.I. column WSJ’s Brett Arends makes a similar argument. He looks at the data on housing starts since 1972, which shows that new housing starts slumped below the one million mark in March. Every time that has happened in the last 50 years, Mr. Arends writes, it proved to be the bottom of a recession.

“It’s bottom-fishing time, I think,” says Wellesley College Prof. Karl E. Case in the column. Mr. Arends says that he is one of the leading experts on the housing market in the country. “There’s got to be bargains in Florida, Arizona and Nevada.”

Warren Buffett

What does the worlds richest person say about the economy on Wall Street? Warren Buffett told Bloomberg:

``The worst of the crisis in Wall Street is over,'' Buffett said today on Bloomberg Television. ``In terms of people with individual mortgages, there's a lot of pain left to come.'' Buffett was interviewed before the Omaha, Nebraska-based company's annual meeting, attended by about 31,000 people.

He said the bail out of Bear Stearns helped save others from crashing, and that indeed he tried to make a play for the failing firm but wasn't liquid enough."It averted a very chaotic situation".

Things are looking up

"This economy is going to come on," Bush said Friday. "I'm confident it will."

Hmmm. Presidential Spin or true?

..the stock market is up — almost 11 percent in the last few weeks. Junk bonds, those risky corporate IOUs, are rallying. The value of financial shares, bank loans, tricky credit derivatives — up, up, up. Many on Wall Street, the epicenter of the credit mess, seems to think that the worst is over. For the first time in months, analysts and executives sound upbeat again. Many of them see a broad, sustained recovery in both the economy and the financial markets coming in second half of this year, a prediction some market strategists call hopeful at best.

From the AP-The Dow Jones industrials cross 13,000 as dollar soars and optimism rises about economy...jobless rate falls.

From Realty Times-Resales were actually UP in large parts of the country -- sales in the Northeast states, for example, jumped by 2.3 percent, and in the Western states they were up by 2.2 percent...Condominiums, which saw a 3.6 percent jump in sales. That was on top of a 3.7 percent increase the month before. Home prices.

From The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight- reported a six tenths of a percent GAIN in average home values.

Getting Real About this Housing Market

By Robert Sheridan

      The surprise these days isn’t the steady drumbeats of doom and gloom emanating from the financial and housing markets. The surprise is that many people who should know better are still being surprised. Whether it’s mounting foreclosure numbers, bleak home sales reports or another sub-prime victim in the banking industry, the media, analysts and lenders gasp in astonishment every time we break a new rung on the way to the bottom of the financial ladder. This ought to stop.