Real Estate Directory

The Net Beats Newspapers for Election Information

How Americans Are Searching For Election 2008 Information

Rob Garner mentioned in his newsletter that MediaPost released a study on: "How America Searches: Election 2008 Update". 

I mention politics here because it will be interesting to see the disconnect of what happens online, than what actually happens in the General election. Often I think online behavior is akin to us thinking about something, while our behavior acted out is different.

Prices Still Drop, But Sales Volume Up

The national real estate market saw an increase in sales volume by 2.9% in February, shocking economists. However, home prices or values continued its national averaged drop, especially in California and Florida.

"We're not expecting a notable gain in existing-home sales until the second half of this year, but the (February) improvement is nother sign that the market is stabilizing," Yun of the National Association of Realtors said.

Dollar Makes Canadian Invasion

Canadians account for more than half of all new home purchases in California, Texas and Florida? Our Dollar is weeeak and theirs is stable.

Add in some lower prices and our homes look like good deals to the Great Northerners.  A broker interviewed in Sarasota he get 20% of his calls  from Canadians lately

Bernanke:free mortgages for everyone

This is better than a Presidential Promise of "free mortgages for everyone".

I don't get this one. First we had wacky bail out plans by our Presidential candidates. Now the Shadow President himself is telling mortgage companies that maybe they should shave off a little off the top to help homeowners avoid foreclosure. Me thinks perhaps things are maybe worst than everyone thought. As I doubt the Fed cares much about homeowners, and is more concerned about the growing graveyard of financial institutions that the economy will have to somehow absorb.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke, battling the worst housing recession in a quarter century, urged lenders to forgive portions of mortgages held by homeowners at risk of defaulting.

``Efforts by both government and private-sector entities to reduce unnecessary foreclosures are helping, but more can, and should, be done,'' Bernanke said in a speech to bankers in Orlando, Florida, today. ``Principal reductions that restore some equity for the homeowner may be a relatively more effective means of avoiding delinquency and foreclosure.''

Hoime Improvements Rise

ServiceMagic.com reports that over 2/3  of Americans said they would complete a home improvement project in 2008. They found that 69 percent of those surveyed would improve their home this year, while 31 percent said they would likely go through with a home improvement after some careful consideration and possibly a delay.

The Economy: It was the best of times, it was the worst of times

   Larry Kudlow on the economy:

“If things are so bad, why are they so good?  With all the gloom coming out of Wall Street... a remarkable thing just happened: Real gross domestic product, the best summary report of the American economy, came in at a breathtaking 3.9 percent annual rate for the third quarter. In fact, following the 3.8 percent growth rate for the second quarter, the U.S. economy has posted its strongest quarterly growth in four years. The economy actually appears to be speeding up, following the relatively sluggish performance of the prior 18 months.

Continues.....

Prices Went Up?

The five cities where prices increased:

Seattle: 5.7
Charlotte: 5.6
Portland: 2.8
Atlanta: 0.8
Dallas: 0.5

Flight From the City?

City Livin' vs. Burbs

Is it time to move to the suburbs? Those of you crammed in fifth-floor walk-ups, take note: A new breed of bedroom community is giving your downtown a run for its money.

The City has lost its cool and the suburbs are the hot place to be. Are cities losing their edge?  Maybe the suburbs aren’t so bad after all...   The urbanites moving to the suburbs today are very different from the suburban families of a decade ago.  The new suburbanite is now often a work from home hipster, and you can find art houses and theatre groups that compete with those found in the large cities.  And cities are in many ways losing their edge and becoming more like suburbs with restaurant chains, cell phone carriers and a Whole Foods on every corner. 

Long Term Real Estate Growth

TheStreet.com picked 5 long term real estate markets to own.They looked at  future job growth, stability, and room to move.

• Austin, Texas (median home price, or MHP, $176,700; future job growth, or FJG, 28.1%)
• Bend, Ore. (MHP $229,000; FJG 30.8%)
• Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers, Ark. (MHP $168,400; FJG 32.9%)
• Fort Collins-Loveland, Colo. (MHP $237,000; FJG 22.9%)
• Raleigh-Cary, N.C. (MHP $207,700; FJG 20.3%)

Interesting. I think most of these are College towns.

The Drudge Report Asks

Real Estate on the Rebound? Mortgage Applications Index Rose 8.1% Last Week...

Mortgage aps increased last week. In fact it is the most since January. The reasoning is lower costs.

The Mortgage Bankers Association's index of applications to buy a home or refinance a loan jumped 8.1 percent to 656.5 from 607.1 the prior week. A great  labor market and lower home prices may support sales and eventually help reduce the glut of unsold properties, economists said.