Let the Fall Buying, Selling Season Begin

Let the Fall Buying, Selling Season Begin

The fall housing market isn’t known for being as robust as the spring market, but there are different motivations that tend to attract consumers during this season, experts say. 

"We've observed in seasonal household buyer patterns that there is a higher ratio of first-time buyers and childless couples in the fall," says Walter Molony, economic issues media manager at the National Association of REALTORS®. "Families with children time their purchase based on school-year considerations, so they peak in the spring and summer.”

According to a recent ERA Real Estate survey, based on 30,000 of its broker and agents, about 20 percent of buyers are emotionally driven in the fall to purchase a house so that they can be in a new home by the holidays. Ten percent are motivated by tax benefits. 

Sellers in the fall tend to be highly motivated too and face less competition with smaller inventories, says Shaun White, vice president for corporate communications for RE/MAX LLC in Denver, Colo.

"Some sellers will opt to lower their price in the fall because they're afraid of missing the boat and being stuck trying to sell during the holidays," says White. "Buyer traffic drops in the fall, too, so buyers may have less competition as well as better prices. You find motivated sellers and motivated buyers in the fall, especially as you get closer to the holidays.” 

In some areas of the country, such as in Arizona and Florida, the prime selling season doesn’t even begin until the fall as snowbirds come in from the cooler climates looking for new homes, White says. 

Source: “Homebuying: Fall Is the New Spring,” HSH.com (Sept. 26, 2012)

Home Prices Continue to Rise Over Last Year's Levels

Home Prices Continue to Rise Over Last Year's Levels

More housing reports released on Tuesday showed home prices on the rise. The Federal Housing Finance Agency reported that U.S. home prices increased 3.7 percent from a year ago in the 12-month period ending in July. 

FHFA’s home price index is now at about the same level it was in June 2004. However, it’s 16.4 percent below the peak reached in April 2007. To calculate its housing index, the FHFA uses purchase price data on mortgages owned or guaranteed by Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. 

Also on Tuesday, S&P/Case-Shiller released a report also showing home prices on the rise for the fourth consecutive month and at their highest level in nearly two years. S&P/Case-Shiller report measures home prices in 10-city and 20-city composite indices. In its 20-city index, S&P/Case-Shiller reported home prices up 1.2 percent compared to a year earlier. 

"The news on home prices in this report confirm recent good news about housing,” David M. Blitzer, chairman of the index committee at S&P Dow Jones Indices, told The Wall Street Journal. “Single family housing starts are well ahead of last year's pace, existing home sales are up, the inventory of homes for sale is down and foreclosure activity is slowing. All in all, we are more optimistic about housing." 

Last week, NAR reported that the median price on existing-homes rose 9.5 percent over year ago levels. The median home price in August is $187,400. 

The increase to the sales price in August was the strongest since January 2006 when median home prices had risen 10.2 percent higher than what they were a year ago. 

The National Association of REALTORS® will release its pending home sales report on Thursday.

Source: “FHFA Home Price Index Now Equals 2004 Levels,” HousingWire (Sept. 25, 2012) and “Case-Shiller Shows Home Prices Rise Sharply Again,” The Wall Street Journal (Sept. 25, 2012)

Read More

Home Sales, Prices Both Up in August

Fall is HERE!

www.haconst.com

Positive Signs from Daily Real Estate News~!

Positive Signs Abound for Housing

Positive Signs Abound for Housing


Daily Real Estate News
Thursday, May 17, 2012

The first quarter of 2012 was the best first quarter for real estate in five years, and pending contracts suggest that the second quarter of 2012 will be the best second quarter in five years, NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun said this morning at the Residential Economic Update during the NAR Midyear Legislative Meetings & Trade Expo.



Moreover, he said the second half of this year could be even better than the first, in part because of continued increases in rental costs and record affordability of homes. "Renters are getting squeezed, and they don't want to rent anymore," Yun explained. "This could be the year we see the release of pent-up demand."



Home prices have been skipping along the bottom for about a year now, Yun said, a trend that has drawn investors into the market. These investors have helped housing through a couple of difficult years and partly mitigated the dysfunctional mortgage market.



"Right now is the time to buy low," he said. "Investors are coming in to take advantage. Second homes started to recover nicely last year because of investors."



However, home values are poised for a rebound as more traditional buyers move back into the market, Yun said. In fact, this has already started to happen in areas such as Phoenix and Miami, which have seen year-over-year (March 2011 to March 2012) double-digit percentage increases in home prices.



As real estate improves, consumer psychology around home ownership will change, he added. Coupled with the recent — if relatively modest — job growth and stock market gains, conditions are right for a sustained housing recovery.



Future Challenges

Nonetheless, there are issues that could restrain a turnaround in housing. Mortgages are still too hard to come by, the shadow inventory — while declining — remains historically high, and price inflation is rising "above the Fed's comfort level," Yun said.



To address that last problem, the Federal Reserve will likely raise rates in 2013 and 2014. Yet Yun contends a modest rise in interest rates wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing for the housing market. That's because an increase in rates would cause financial institutions to focus their mortgage servicing departments on purchase loans instead of refis.



The biggest challenge, though, remains the murky political and regulatory environment, particularly the repeated threats from legislators and policymakers to alter or eliminate the mortgage interest deduction. Additionally, the country is racing toward a "fiscal cliff" on Jan. 1, 2013, the date by which a compromise federal budget must be approved. If this is delayed, there will be automatic government spending cuts, which would probably create a fallout effect in the financial markets.



U.S. Migration Patterns

In a presentation preceding Yun's, Fed Economist Raven Molloy went over data that showed migration within the United States had fallen across practically all demographic categories since the 1980s. This has significant implications for real estate, as a decline in the number of people moving around within the country can translate into a decline in home-purchase activity.



There were no sharp moves downward in internal migration during the recession, which suggests the trend is not connected to the housing market or macro-economic cycles, Molloy said. If this was the case, migration would likely increase in the next few years as the job market improves and household formation picks up. Instead, it could remain flat or fall as the economy recovers.



In his presentation, Yun said this trend, which doesn't have a clear source, is a problematic development.



"It’s troubling," he said. "We want to have a very dynamic society where people can move up and trade up."



— Brian Summerfield, REALTOR® Magazine

Foreclosure filings up in most markets

Foreclosure filings up in most markets



DAILY REAL ESTATE NEWS

April 27, 2012


Foreclosure filings up in most markets

RealtyTrac: distressed homes 'coming out of hibernation'
By Inman News
Inman News®

Share This
The number of homes hit with foreclosure-related filings picked up during the first three months of the year in more than half of markets tracked by public records aggregator RealtyTrac, "an early sign that long-dormant foreclosures are coming out of hibernation in many local markets," the company said. 

The number of homes subjected to some type of foreclosure filing increased in 114 of 212 markets with populations of 200,000 or more, compared to the fourth quarter of 2011. 

Foreclosure-related filings were up from quarter-to-quarter in 26 out of 50 of the nation's largest metropolitan areas, including Pittsburgh (up 49 percent), Indianapolis (up 37 percent), Philadelphia (up 30 percent), New York (up 24 percent), Raleigh, N.C. (up 23 percent), and Virginia Beach, Va. (up 22 percent).

Many industry analysts expect loan servicers to step up the pace of foreclosures in some markets as they put the "robo-signing" controversy behind them.

But foreclosure filings have dropped off dramatically in other markets. The total number of homes subjected to foreclosure-related filings nationwide fell 2.25 percent from the fourth quarter of 2011 to the first quarter of 2012, and 15.9 percent from the same time a year ago.

During the first quarter, a total of 572,928 housing units -- 1 in every 230 -- were subjected to a foreclosure-related filing, either a default notice, scheduled auction or bank repossession. That was the lowest total since the fourth quarter of 2007,  RealtyTrac said in a report earlier this month.

The biggest quarterly decreases in foreclosure activity among the 50 largest metro areas were in Portland, Ore. (down 28 percent), Las Vegas (down 26 percent), Providence, R.I. (down 24 percent), Salt Lake City (down 22 percent), Boston (down 21 percent), and San Jose, Calif. (down 21 percent).

Eight of the top 10 metros with the highest foreclosure rates during the first quarter were in California. Stockton and Modesto topped the list with foreclosure filing rates of 1 in 60 housing units each.

Stockton topped the list despite a 13.3 percent decline in the foreclosure rate from the previous quarter, and an 18.9 percent drop from a year ago. Modesto saw similar improvement, with an 8.14 percent drop in foreclosure activity for the quarter and a 21.48 percent plunge for the year.

Top 10 U.S. metros with highest foreclosure rates, first quarter 2012

Area Foreclosure rate (First Quarter 2012)
U.S. 1 in 230 housing units
Stockton, Calif. 1 in 60
Modesto, Calif. 1 in 60
Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, Calif. 1 in 62
Vallejo-Fairfield, Calif. 1 in 63
Merced, Calif. 1 in 72
Sacramento-Arden Arcade-Roseville, Calif. 1 in 77
Bakersfield, Calif. 1 in 81
Las Vegas-Paradise, Nev. 1 in 82
Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, Ariz. 1 in 87
Visalia-Porterville, Calif. 1 in 89
Source: RealtyTrac

Riverside-San Bernardino, Calif., topped RealtyTrac's list of foreclosure activity in the nation's 50 largest metros, with 1 in 62 of its housing units in some stage of foreclosure during the first quarter of 2012. 

Seven other metros among the nation's 50 largest had foreclosure rates more than twice the national average: Sacramento, Calif. (one in 77 housing units), Las Vegas (one in 82 housing units), Phoenix (one in 87 housing units), Atlanta (one in 90 housing units), Miami (one in 95 housing units), Orlando (one in 101 housing units), and Chicago (one in 107 housing units).

HouseLogic Announces Spring Cleaning Pinaway Pinterest Contest

HouseLogic Announces Spring Cleaning Pinaway Pinterest Contest

The arrival of spring often means spring cleaning, and to help, HouseLogic.com is holding a “Spring Cleaning Pinaway Pinterest” contest. Registered users of the award-winning site have a chance to win one of two iPod Touches™ by creating a Pinterest pin board featuring their favorite cleaning tips, images and articles from HouseLogic.com and other sources.

“Owning a home is an investment in your future, and maintaining your home is an important part of preserving that investment,” said National Association of REALTORS® President Moe Veissi, broker-owner of Veissi & Associates Inc., in Miami.“As NAR’s consumer-facing website, HouseLogic helps homeowners make informed decisions about enhancing and improving their homes. The Spring Cleaning Pinaway Pinterest contest encourages homeowners to share tips and resources as well as learn more about other resources HouseLogic has to offer.”

To get started, visit HouseLogic’s Spring Cleaning Pinterest Board and follow these four steps:

·         Create a Pinterest board titled “HouseLogic Spring Cleaning Pinaway” and categorize it under “Home Décor.”

·         Pin five favorite cleaning articles and photos. Three of the pins must be from HouseLogic.com and the rest can be anything that motivates or informs spring cleaning.

·         “Follow All” HouseLogic boards.

·         Copy and paste the link to their Pinterest board into the comment section of the HouseLogic Spring Cleaning Pinaway blog post within the contest period.

The contest begins today and ends on April 29, 2012, at 11:59 p.m. CT. Winners will be chosen at random and announced during the week of April 30. For questions or an invitation to Pinterest, email HouseLogic.Contest@gmail.com.

For more information on tips to make smart decisions and take responsible actions to maintain, protect and enhance the value of your home, visit www.houselogic.com.

www.EmilyLeeRealty.com

Mortgage Rates Inch Up for the Week

Mortgage Rates Inch Up for the Week



Mortgage Rates Inch Up for the Week

DAILY REAL ESTATE NEWS | FRIDAY, APRIL 20, 2012
After reaching or hovering near all-time lows last week, fixed-rate mortgages edged up slightly during the week, Freddie Mac reports in its weekly mortgage market survey. The 5-year adjustable-rate mortgage, however, hit a new all-time low of 2.78 percent this week. 

Here’s a closer look at average mortgage rates from Freddie Mac for the week ending April 19: 

30-year fixed-rate mortgages: averaged 3.90 percent, with an average 0.8 point, up slightly from last week’s 3.88 percent average. A year ago at this time, 30-year rates averaged 4.80 percent. 
15-year fixed-rate mortgages: averaged 3.13 percent, with an average 0.7 point, rising after last week’s all-time low of 3.11 percent. Last year at this time, 15-year rates averaged 4.02 percent.
5-year ARMs: averaged a new all-time low of 2.78 percent this week, with an average 0.7 point, dropping from last week’s 2.85 percent average. The 5-year ARMs previous record low was 2.80 percent, which was reached during the first week of February. Last year at this time, 5-year ARMs averaged 3.61 percent. 
1-year ARMs: averaged 2.81 percent, with an average 0.6 point, rising slightly from last week’s 2.80 percent average. A year ago at this time, 1-year ARMs averaged 3.16 percent. 
Source: Freddie Mac


www.EmilyLeeRealty.com