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Home Owner News Archive
Despite rumors to the contrary, first-time buyers are alive and kicking, buying houses at virtually the same pace as they were before the first-time homebuyers credit first stimulated demand two years ago.
For the first seven months of this year, the first-time buyer market share has been remarkably steady, ranging from 32 to 36 percent of existing home sales through the spring and summer buying season, according to the National Association of REALTORS® monthly survey of 1300 members.
The organizational benefits of downsizing can be very rewarding. You can save time, restore order, relieve stress, free up space, and perhaps most importantly, save money.
As temperatures dip and fall settles in with the promise of winter ahead, home owners need to pay extra attention to certain details in order to set themselves apart from the competition.
1. Maintain your landscape. Flowers aren't exactly flourishing this time of year but sellers should still make the most of what they have. Adding fall flowers like mums to your front porch or deck is always a nice touch. More importantly grass should be cut at least once per week and leaves should be cleared as much as possible.
Renters now spend five percent more of their household budgets on housing costs than do homeowners, and the difference is growing as rents rise.
Greg Rand (
@gsrand), CEO of
OwnAmerica, and host of Rand on Real Estate on 770 WABC, discusses concerns over negative equity on investment properties. Would a short sale be the best way to go?
A new survey of former homeowners who have walked away from their homes found that their credit was good enough after foreclosure for the vast majority to rent new housing and few were required to make a larger than normal deposit.
YouWalkAway.com, which counsels troubled buyers to strategically default, found that owners and managers of rental properties regard the influx of renters in the market due to the housing market meltdown as a boon, and many are willing to accept potential renters even if they do not have credit scores as high as landlords previously would have required.
Existing-home sales were down in September on the heels of a strong gain in August, but remain well above a year ago, according to the National Association of REALTORS®.
Total existing-home sales, which are completed transactions that include single-family, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops, declined 3.0 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.91 million in September from an upwardly revised 5.06 million in August, but are 11.3 percent above the 4.41 million unit pace in September 2010.
(MCT)—New residential construction surged 15 percent in September, turning in its best performance in 17 months, though economists warned that a housing recovery has yet to take hold.
While new construction is key to getting the economy going, much of the new building came from the apartment sector, which can be very volatile. Many economists also noted that permits pulled for new construction, also an important measure of builders’ plans for the future, declined in September.
Nevertheless, the news of the increase cheered investors on Wall Street as well as several housing analysts who follow the numbers closely.
With rents rising faster than last year, the picture for residential real estate investors is getting even better than it already was as a result of once-in-a-generation prices and low interest rates, according to the founder of a leading Internet platform for investors and real estate professionals.
REGIONAL SPOTLIGHT—Houston temperatures finally cooled a bit in September, but home sales remained hot. Sales of single-family homes climbed nearly 17 percent when compared to one year earlier and accounted for the fourth consecutive month of increased sales volume.
Eliminating or curtailing the mortgage interest deduction would have a disproportionate impact on younger, middle-class families, who would see their ability to become home owners significantly diminished, with sober implications for their longer term financial prospects, the National Association of Home Builders
(MCT)—The following editorial appeared in the San Jose Mercury News on Wednesday, Oct. 12:
The easiest and most effective economic stimulus the Obama administration could accomplish doesn’t require an act of Congress. Executive action could change the rules to allow responsible homeowners with underwater loans to refinance at today’s rock-bottom interest rates, stemming the tide of foreclosures that is crippling recovery across the country and hitting California harder than any other state except Nevada.
More and more people are in over their heads when it comes to their home. In this tough economy, many have fallen behind on their mortgages and don’t know where to begin to rid themselves of the property that they can no longer afford. Real estate agent and short sale trainer Mike Cuevas of Exit Realty and Agent Redefined has five things homeowners need to consider when their home is underwater.
Consumers don’t plan to buy homes anytime soon because they think prices will fall farther next year, mortgage rates will stay low for a long time and they’re very worried about their personal financial situation.
REGIONAL SPOTLIGHT—An analysis of the Washington, D.C. Metro Area housing market, prepared by RealEstate Business Intelligence (RBI), based on the September 2011 RBI Pending Home Sales Index™ was released recently.
