As the Category 4 Hurricane Earl steers toward the east coast, the real estate world was in a tailspin of its own after two short phrases spurred a lot of speculation: "Not off the table" and "Too soon to say.” The rumor mill started churning last Sunday when HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan uttered Continue Reading
Aug
06
2010
Week in Review: Things We Liked from the Week That Was
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President Obama, born August 4, 1961, celebrated his 49th birthday this week. The same year the President was born, the lobby group National Committee against Discrimination in Housing (NCDH) released a report which found that private mortgage lenders continued to “profit from Federal benefits, Continue Reading
Jul
02
2010
Week in Review: Things We Liked from the Week That Was
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As Hurricane Alex swirled around the Gulf producing ten-foot waves and 25 mph winds, 180,000 homebuyers got a lifebuoy that will save them from what could have been a perfect storm of their own. These homebuyers, who signed a purchase agreement by April 30, were likely going to miss the June 30th Continue Reading
Jun
28
2010
Tax Credit Extension or Not
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We prospect diligently to find qualified buyers. We work with them tireless to find the perfect home. We negotiate expertly on their behalf to get an accepted offer. But then the real work begins these days. As we try to hold it all together and actually get to a successful closing. NAR estimates Continue Reading
Jun
25
2010
Week in Review: Things We Liked from the Week That Was
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Even with a whirlwind of news this week -- from General McChrystal’s departure to the longest tennis match in the history of Wimbledon -- real estate remained a major focus. Sales of new single-family homes were down 32.7 percent to a record low. Sales of previously owned Continue Reading
Jun
11
2010
Week in Review: Things We Liked from the Week That Was
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On the foreclosure front this week, the pace of prime borrowers succumbing to foreclosure is accelerating with unemployment being the major driver. The good news, though, is that foreclosures in general leveled off in May, with numbers nearly flat from a year ago. This fluctuation and changes in Continue Reading
Jun
08
2010
Got Attitude?
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Economic forecasts are an interesting thing to consider. Exactly 3 weeks ago, I read several forecasts that stated that the market was indeed recovering and that the total annualized home sales volume was going to exceed approximately 5.7 million units. Today, I’ve read that May was down 25 Continue Reading
Jun
04
2010
Week in Review: Things We Liked from the Week That Was
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The government has played a large role in housing recovery. This week, the real-estate lobby asked Congress to extend the amount of time that potential home buyers have to complete transactions that qualify for tax credit (but, just in case this does not go through, look at these tips for hurrying Continue Reading
May
21
2010
Week in Review: Things We Liked from the Week That Was
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This week, we are starting to see the first inklings of what a post-tax credit real estate market looks like. Numbers out this week show that mortgage rates fell to the lowest level in months, mortgage applications fell to the lowest level in 13 years and new building permits were down 11.5 percent. Continue Reading
May
07
2010
Week in Review: Things We Liked from the Week That Was
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Of course, last Friday was the long anticipated deadline of the home buyer tax credits. While it did cause last minute deals to hurry in and reportedly boosted monthly sales 5.3 percent in March, the results were far less significant than many anticipated. We think this is good news, as it shows the Continue Reading
Week in Review: What We Liked From the Week That Was
Florida was one of the hardest hit markets during the real estate bust and troubles still remain, but towns along the Atlantic coast in the Sunshine State are starting to see signs of a recovery. Sales in some of the state’s beach resort areas are up over 30 percent over last year. The Lone Continue Reading