Real Estate - Homes for Sale - Houses.

News about Real Estate in America.

Foreclosures everywhere

From RealtyTrac:"WASHINGTON – More than 2.3 million American homeowners faced foreclosure proceedings last year, an 81 percent increase from 2007, with the worst yet to come as consumers grapple with layoffs, shrinking investment portfolios and falling home prices." More is indeed coming but congress is putting a bill to its members that will make buying a home easier. Read below about the alt-a loans that are about to reset.

Nationwide, more than 1,905,356 have been foreclosed on nationwide, according to RealtyTrac, a foreclosure listing firm based in Irvine, CA., which compiled the figures. The average foreclosure sale price - $173,087!

WHAT ARE INTEREST RATES NOW

They're great! Interest rates are back in the 5's again. Not everywhere but in many places because in the last few days (couple weeks really) the rates have jumped up to the highest we've seen in 7 months --- around 5.59%. So for those of you who are buying, this is still cheap money if you can qualify. And qualify is the important task you have. Qualify for a loan, a conventional loan, and the interest rate could be very low. Conventional loan? That's where you have a 20% down payment, good credit, a job you can prove you have and the list goes on. Without these you'll be talking about higher rates albeit today, still low.

Housing market up or down where you live?

We are realist at the Real Estate of America. We look at the data and talk about it like it is. Not like someone wants it to be. If we were real estate agents, or builders or someone else who makes their money selling or buying real estate we'd have a different way of characterizing the state of the housing economy. We see everyday in blogs, articles from home owners associations and so many others how the decline is less than expected, or business is picking up here and there and the list goes on. The case of recovery can be made in some areas of the country and there are a handfull that are not "suffering", but by in large a reported 10% drop in sales from a year ago is not encouraging. This is the largest decline in 20 years. OK ... but since the rise in the last 20 years has also been historic, does it mean everything is in the toilet? No. But the results of sales, reposessions, delinquencies tells us there is something smelly in the industry. The smelly part is simple. Mostly greed and speculation! On the part of nearly everybody that could participate. After all it's the American way ... get what you can when you can and get out of town. I want it all and I want it now! Does it make you wonder why there's so much regulation from the Feds? Well, there you have it. Now there's a whole lot of folks that took mortgages that now can't afford them because of the belief real estate always goes up. Obviously not. Nevertheless, folks need help. And now maybe we need more regulations! I hate that part as it slims down options ... lessens our choices.

Who qualifies for help from the Feds on mortgages?

HUD will make some headway in getting help to those who qualify for federal help when variable rate loans or ARMS reset in the coming months. Who qualifies?

That depends when the government is involved. But there's real good news for some. "An estimated 240,000 families can avoid foreclosure by refinancing their mortgages using the new FHASecure plan. FHA will allow families with strong credit histories who had been making timely mortgage payments before their loans reset-but are now in default-to qualify for refinancing." says HUD (http://www.hud.gov/news/release.cfm?content=pr07-175.cfm). Strong credit history refers to the fact qualifiers have been paying their mortgage but with the rise in rates, those new payments are beyond their means now. There'll be controversy over this because some will say borrowers proved they could afford the loan earlier, now they have to prove they can't pay for it.

From the Commerce Department

Housing Starts and Building Permits

"Privately-owned housing starts in April were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 458,000. This is 12.8 percent (±13.0%)* below the revised March estimate of 525,000 and is 54.2 percent (±6.0%) below the revised April 2008 rate of 1,001,000.

Single-family housing starts in April were at a rate of 368,000; this is 2.8 percent (±16.3%)* above the revised March figure of 358,000. The April rate for units in buildings with five units or more was 78,000.

What does this tell us? Housing starts and permits are down largely from the overbuilding we saw in the last 10 years or so. And the building of new homes is not going to accelerate upward in the forseable future. We will continue to see inventory rise, prices will fall, and with interest rates still low, we'll see a buying opportunity not seen in 25 years. Be patient. Actually the prices are looking pretty good today! What caused the overbuilding/buying? The Fair Housing Act likely.

Housing Completions

Privately-owned housing completions in April were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 874,000. This is 4.9 percent (±16.6%)* above the revised March estimate of 833,000, but is 15.0 percent (±13.6%) below the revised April 2008 rate of 1,028,000.

Single-family housing completions in April were at a rate of 549,000; this is 0.2 percent (±14.9%)* above the revised March figure of 548,000. The April rate for units in buildings with five units or more was 313,000.

New Home Sales

The Census Bureau says:

"Sales of new one-family houses in April 2009 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 352,000, according to estimates released jointly today by the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. This is 0.3 percent (±14.5%)* above the revised March rate of 351,000, but is 34.0 percent (±11.0%) below the April 2008 estimate of 533,000."

"The median sales price of new houses sold in April 2009 was $209,700; the average sales price was $254,000. The seasonally adjusted estimate of new houses for sale at the end of April was 297,000. This represents a supply of 10.1 months at the current sales rate."

Existing Home Sales

From the Census Bureau ... "existing home sales were down 13% in 2008 from the previous year."

From the National Association of Realtors, "Existing-home sales – including single-family, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops – rose 2.4 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate1 of 4.77 million units in May from a downwardly revised level of 4.66 million units in April, but remained 3.6 percent below the 4.95 million-unit pace in May 2008."

Sometimes when we look at two different sources of data we don't come up with the same answer. It's understandable as the information gathered may be from different time periods not to mention different agendas and other reasons.

Nothing from MarketWatch at this time.

More good news for BUYERS!

Foreclosure Rates

”GLUT OF HOMES” are sweet words to buyers. Not so for sellers.

Delinquencies rose and continue to rise for all loan types but were largest for subprime adjustable-rate loans that reset at higher interest rates, the industry trade group said in its quarterly National Delinquency Survey. Now the next hurdle, that being alt-a loans. The impact will be big, HUGE actually. These resets are going to occur in the next 18 months (mid 2009 - end of 2010) and will impact everything in the economy!

Ramblings and Observations

Why not buy now? Several good ones. First the jobless rate continues to increase. And two the price of homes are continuing to fall. 3. The sale is going to be on for a while. 4. You might be moving where you find work. 5. You might be wise to conserve cash reserves.

This hasn't changed at all ... more affordable real estate is coming this way no doubt ... at least more affordable than recent transactions. More softening is seen and more on the side of buyers ... that might be an understatement. Is it time to sell overpriced property? Prices continue to fall in areas of greatest speculation and appreciation particularly in California, Nevada (Vegas and Reno), Arizona, Florida, and some of New England. Inventory continues spiraling up ... no ... leaping up in some places ... in overbuilt areas, delinquencies are up in every state over this period last year. Louisiana and Mississippi are particularly hit hard. Texas is fourth on the list behind Alabama. And there's speculation about a "real estate bubble" these days. DUH! SPECULATION? There is indeed regionalized over-bought conditions in real estate as evidenced by deliquencies, reposessions and inventory. More and more data is coming in regarding inventory. Remember inventory is represented by the homes that are for sale at any given time. Until changes are seen, we will keep this position.

We continually see large builders reducing their inventory, mostly of unbuilt lots. All builders are still shrinking. Remember as inventory rises, builders generally either slow production or lower prices or both and both are being experienced today! So, is it a buyers market ... you should make the judgement. Rates are moderating (<5%+- in most areas).

Mixed signals? Not at all ... this is a complicated circumstance. But it is puzzling that interest rates are still very low, home prices are not rising now (falling actually) and INVENTORY is up. Foreclosures as we said are at all time highs. You can see the bending ... it is afterall a transition period from seller to a buyer market. Actually ... it is a buyers market. Yes ... indeed it is but if you can wait, it might be even better with inventories rising and foreclosures in huge numbers!

Remember about the worm? The worm continues turning meaning it is a buyers market, there's more. It might get better! So for sellers ... and if the market does collapse further and with the alt-a resets emminent ... selling is still a real option. If you're underwater already, it might get worse before it gets better. For buyers ... if the market collapses ... waiting for the bottom ... where ever that may be ... is the ticket if you're clever enought to recognize it. Collapse? Home builders associations say not, but what else would you expect? But others, bankers, lenders of all sorts, say special financing in the past will likely catch up to the unwary. ARMS, interest only loans and the like face a day of reckoning and we've seen subprime borrowers go under or default, with the alt-a resets, more houses will be on the market. Lots more! Look folks, the feds are pumping money into the housing market like crazy ... does that tell you something? And with the likelyhood of the FEDS making it easy for many recent home buyers to get out of a real pickle, it would appear ... well ... things could stabilize some, it will happen, but when is the question. The opposite side of this is the fact the CDOs will continue to suffer because of resets of rates by lenders. Actually we know this is not the real problem ... but borrowers that bought more than they could afford is likely the real culprit. That's really sad because many poor folks need good housing and were "helped along" by unscrupulous lenders in some cases and their agents, not to mention the Fair Housing Act. Wonder why we have more regulations coming down the pipe?

There's plenty of real estate for sale in America and more is likely to come. Yes prices are still in the downward direction. Many still are suggesting a "deflating" of prices rather than a bust ... nevertheless builders, suppliers, bankers (lenders) ... others will continued to be affected negatively as we've seen.

You must do your very best to determine if the property you are interested in is worth the selling price. Never buy on instinct, whim or because you're afraid of missing out on a good deal, your family wants you to "settle down", etc. Value is where your mind should be in purchasing a home. Home is the keyword here as most looking for a home are not interested in an "investment" primarily, although for many of us our home will be our biggest investment. There's plenty out there, just do your homework to find your dream!

Real estate for sale in America is an understatement. Now even cheaper with very low interest rates, remaining so for many many months. The innovative methods of financing have all but dried up and foreclosures are the talk of the day but boy are the houses of dreams available everywhere!

The purpose of this web site is to bring together the parties (agent and client) required to buy and sell real estate. We give you choices of realty companies. Our focus is providing you, buyers and sellers, options not found on "company" sites. Owning property in America is something everyone (well nearly everybody) can do. Facilitating selling and buying properties for clients is the function of the agencies found on these pages. Use these pages to your advantage.

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