Posts Tagged ‘Reports’
Posted by tblefko on September 29, 2009
Another month – another positive sign! The Standard & Poor‘s/Case-Shiller home price index rose 1.2 percent from June to August which reflects a positive trend for the third month in a row.
Before we all go off the deep end and declare “happy days are here again”, we should probably temper our enthusiasm just a bit. David M. Blitzer, the committee chairman for the Case-Shiller index said, “We do need to be cautious in coming months to assess whether the housing market will weather the expiration of the federal first-time buyer’s tax credit in November, anticipated higher unemployment rates and a possible increase in foreclosures.”
Stay tuned – - -
Posted in Agents, Buyers, Consumers, Market Conditions, Sellers | Tagged: Business, Buyers, Case-Shiller index, David M. Blitzer, Media, Property Values, Real estate, Reports, S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices, Sellers, Standard & Poor, Statistics, Tax credit, U.S. Housing Market, Unemployment, Video | Leave a Comment »
Posted by tblefko on September 23, 2009
The term ‘Baby Boomer‘ gets thrown around a lot in the world of advertising. It seems like everyone is trying to sell to this segment of the population; including the real estate industry. Economic statistics show that baby boomers account for 28% of the population, but over 77% of all financial assets in the United States. This generation also accounts for more than 50% of all discretionary authority in private organizations as well as in government. But do REALTORS® and builders really know what baby boomers want in a home? Do they know what features they want? What locations are preferential? How much money they’re willing to spend? A new survey conducted by the MetLife Mature Market Institute and the National Association of Home Builders entitled 55+ Housing: Builders, Buyers and Beyond was just released that sheds some light on these very questions.
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Posted in Agents, Buyers, Construction, Consumers, Motivation, Technology | Tagged: 55+ Housing: Builders, Agents, Baby Boomers, Builders, Buyers and Beyond, Downsizing, Green Building, High-Speed Internet, Media, MetLife Mature Market Institute, National Association of Home Builders, Property Values, Real estate, Reports, Statistics | Leave a Comment »
Posted by tblefko on September 10, 2009
There are more and more positive signs that the fog is starting to clear in the residential real estate market. Gone are the dense, pea-soup like conditions from a couple of months ago that caused buyers and sellers to try and drive through it at 5 mph. It appears that they’ve put their collective feet on the accelerator and are now driving more confidently, albeit still with the headlights on.
Point2 Technologies, Inc., the largest independent provider of website and listing syndication solutions for the real estate industry, with users in over 100 countries on its platform, released its Real Estate Confidence Index (RECI) for August 2009 this past week. Over 3,000 real estate professionals covering every U.S. State, Puerto Rico and Guam contributed to this month’s report. Charts of their findings are shown below:
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Posted in Agents, Buyers, Consumers, Market Conditions, Sellers | Tagged: Buyers, Sellers, Statistics, Reports, Web Sites, Charts, Agents, U.S. Housing Market, Real estate, Saul Klein, Point2 Technologies, Real Estate Confidence Index (RECI) | Leave a Comment »
Posted by tblefko on September 4, 2009
The Central Penn Business Journal (CPBJ) just published its Fall “Construction & Real Estate” report. CPBJ claims it’s the beginning of the end after more than a year in recession for Central Pennsylvania. CPBJ focuses on why the construction and real estate industries are key economic indicators and what effect the federal government’s stimulus package has had on the mid-state. You’ll read about companies that got creative to weather the recession and the state of our region’s commercial, residential and rental real estate markets.
Lots of good ‘stuff.’
Posted in Construction, Consumers, Development, Lancaster, Market Conditions | Tagged: Agents, Buyers, Predictions, Property Values, Reports, Statistics | Leave a Comment »
Posted by tblefko on August 21, 2009
When was the last time you sat down with a customer or client and really listened to them? No – I mean really listened? Did you interact with them and delve deep into their inner thoughts and feelings or was it superficial? Worse yet, was it all ‘talk’ and no ‘listen’? Take a second and watch this video. Remind you of anyone?
A recent study conducted by Michigan State University researchers has identified what the sophisticated consumer is looking for in today’s competitive, challenging global economy. Essentially, they are looking for a “total experience.” Whether they are thinking about listing their property, talking with a financial consultant, shopping for a new dress or buying a cup of coffee, all consumers are looking for four major factors. They are, in order of importance:
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Posted in Agents, Buyers, Sellers | Tagged: Agents, Buyers, Competitive Advantage, Consumer, Listening, Michigan State University, Reports, Sellers, Video | Leave a Comment »
Posted by tblefko on August 9, 2009
Image courtesy of Flickr
Any good real estate agent will tell you that our jobs are fraught with times when we have to communicate bad news to clients and consumers. Unfortunately, in these trying economic times that we find ourselves in, the frequency of this type of communication has expanded exponentially. A small sampling of some scenarios that we have to deal with include:
- telling a seller that the amount that they owe on their home is more than its value
- looking that first-time home buyer in the eye and informing them that the lender won’t give them a mortgage because of more stringent guidelines imposed by the government
- informing a buyer of new construction that the builder is going to miss their projected completion date by thirty days and that interim housing needs to be secured
This small list could go on and on. Communicating these examples to the effected party is never easy; you could even say they’re stressful. But it has to be done. Unfortunately, many people and companies take this opportunity to glaze over the truth or fabricate the reasons why something unfortuante happened.
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Posted in Agents | Tagged: Agents, Honesty, Reports | Leave a Comment »
Posted by tblefko on July 28, 2009
Image courtesy of Flickr
Like it or not, one of the most pessimistic (some would argue realistic) housing economists of our generation, Robert Shiller, will probably always be associated with the worst housing downturn since the Great Depression. He was one of the first outspoken people to warn us of an impending ’housing bubble’ as far back as 2003. At that time, most economists scoffed at his assertions and at his newly created S&P/Case-Shiller home-price index. He was like that single, stray cloud that blocked your personal sun on the beach on an otherwise beautiful day. Annoying, but if you waited long enough, it would pass and the sun would return. One small problem - Shiller’s cloud grew into a full-fledged thunderstorm that very few people saw coming.
His S&P/Case-Shiller home-price index has been quoted far and wide as the definitive read on the housing market. For months, it hasn’t been a rosy picture, but today that sun returned to the beach. For the first time in three years, his index showed an increase in nationwide housing prices of .5% for the month of May.
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Posted in Market Conditions | Tagged: Great Depression, Karl Case, National Association of REALTORS, Property Values, Reports, Robert Shiller, S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index, Statistics, U.S. Housing Market, United States Department of Commerce | Leave a Comment »
Posted by tblefko on July 26, 2009
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The National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) reported on Thursday of this past week that existing home sales for the month of June increased for the third month in a row fueling speculation that the housing downturn is starting to reverse direction. Excerpts of NAR’s press release¹ follow:
Existing-home sales – including single-family, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops – increased 3.6 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.89 million units in June from a downwardly revised pace of 4.72 million in May, but are 0.2 percent lower than the 4.90 million-unit level in June 2008.
Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, is hopeful about the gain. “The increase in existing-home sales occurred in all major regions of the country,” he said. “We expect a gradual uptrend in sales to continue due to tax credit incentives and historically high affordability conditions . . . “
Much of the fuel for the fire of homes sales has occurred in the first-time homebuyer market which has accounted for 29 percent of transactions according to an NAR survey of its practitioners. With the $8,000 tax credit deadline of December 1, 2009 (4½ months away) fast approaching, it will be interesting to see if this segment continues to stoke sales numbers.
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Posted in Lancaster, Market Conditions | Tagged: Lancaster County, Lawrence Yun, National Association of REALTORS, Reports, Statistics, U.S. Housing Market | Leave a Comment »
Posted by tblefko on July 18, 2009
Image courtesy of Flickr
After months of continually taking it on the chin, construction of new homes nationwide is showing signs of landing a couple of jabs of their own. On Friday, the Commerce Department released new home and multi-family construction numbers for June which showed an increase of 3.6%. This number is particularly impressive because the construction of multi-family units actually fell over 26% for this period which means that the single family homes‘ component had to carry the load. Another positive sign is that applications for building permits, usually seen as a barometer of future activity, rose nearly 9%.
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Posted in Buyers, Development, Market Conditions | Tagged: Builders, David Crowe, National Association of Home Builders, Predictions, Reports, Single-family detached home, Stimulus Package, Tax credit, United States Department of Commerce | Leave a Comment »
Posted by tblefko on July 15, 2009
In a story that appeared in the Intelligencer Journal/Lancaster New Era today, the Lancaster City Council Finance Committee touted the city’s recent positive trends in real estate activity and growth:
Despite a significant decline in the real estate market nationally, the city saw only a 0.5 percent drop in real estate transfer taxes last year. That shows a strong interest in living in the city.
And, the transfer tax decrease comes from comparing 2008 to the previous three-year average. Those three comparison years, 2005-2007, happened to be the city’s best three years ever.
And the city experienced a 10-year high in the number of building permits issued, with $115 million in new construction activity in 2008. That level of investment is the third highest in city history, behind only 2006 and 2007.
New businesses are opening downtown, redevelopment is continuing in the northwestern quadrant of the city and the new Lancaster County Convention Center and Marriott Lancaster at Penn Square Hotel recently opened. ¹
This is great news and should be shared with all Lancastrians - – - so why did it appear on page B4 buried at the bottom of the page? The front page of the newspaper ran the following four stories:
- Jurors Hear 911 Call – Story about a local murder trial (negative slant).
- Good Man Who Got Greedy is Jailed – Story about a banker who swindled friends and customers (negative slant).
- Fumo Gets 55 Months in Prison – Story about sentencing of Pennsylvania lawmaker for corruption (negative slant).
- Welcome Back , Potter – Frivolous piece about the latest installment of J.K. Rowlings’s newest movie (fluffy slant).
Surely the powers that control which stories that are run on page one of the Intell/NE could have found a small corner of the front page to trumpet the accomplishments of its own city? I guess that’s the reason why I’m not working at LNP as a newspaper editor.
—————-
¹ Harris, Bernard. “City Audit Shows Positives and Negatives.” Intelligencer Journal/Lancaster New Era [Lancaster, PA] 15 July 2009, Metro Edition, Local Section : B4.
Posted in Lancaster, Market Conditions | Tagged: Media, Newspapers, Property Values, Reports, Statistics | Leave a Comment »
Posted by tblefko on July 12, 2009
Image courtesy of Flickr
The real estate industry has been operating under the new HVCC guidelines for a couple of weeks now and we are beginning to see the ugly results of this misguided set of government regulations. In a preliminary report issued this past week by the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR), it finds that the HVCC is having an adverse impact on housing markets.
Before I get into the actual results, let me spend a minute and tell you about what this new set of guidelines was supposed to do.
The HVCC was intended to promote independence in the appraisal process and, thus, help ensure that appraisers and the appraisal process may be relied upon as part of sound underwriting for financial institutions. What that actually means is that the loan officer who is working on your loan no longer orders the appraisal on your home. It is done through the lender who either has an in-house process for appraisal management issues or, more often, it is done through something called an Appraisal Management Company (AMC).
While this may not seem like a big change to you if you are buying a home, it can possibly be a much bigger change than you might think. Prior to May 1, loan officers, REALTORS® and appraisers all communicated as needed regarding your home and home financing and it wasn’t uncommon for everyone to be on the same conference call if needed. But now that the HVCC rules are in place, the only way the loan officer or REALTOR® will know who the appraiser is is if by chance the appraiser calls them. In other words, no one talks to anyone to clarify anything!
Now, on to the findings of NAR’s analysis:
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Posted in Agents, Buyers, Financing, Legislation, Sellers | Tagged: Agents, Appraisal, Appraiser, Buyers, Financing, HVCC, National Association of REALTORS, Property Values, Reports, Sellers, Statistics | Leave a Comment »
Posted by tblefko on July 6, 2009
Photo courtesy of Flickr
Picture if you will a typical business in Pennsylvania – it’s owner employs good people and sells a product or provides a quality service that people want. There are thousands of these types of businesses across our state; and for that matter, across our great country. These owners are constantly overseeing their revenue streams and expenses to make sure that at the end of the year they’re in the black. It’s a tough, day-to-day struggle which requires diligent oversight. In addition, in order to continue to make a profit (or at least break even), the owner needs to plan for the future. I won’t continue to bore you with my basic outline of Business 101 because I think, like most people, you get it. So if you can get it, why can’t our legislators and Governor Ed Rendell get it!
For some reason they seem to think that state government shouldn’t be run like a business. Their retort, “That’s because it isn’t.” My response, “Why not? Why shouldn’t our state government operate under the same basic rules of business that I operate under?”
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Posted in Buyers, Legislation, Market Conditions | Tagged: Business, Income tax, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Reports, Republican Party, Senate Republicans, Statistics, Taxes | Leave a Comment »
Posted by tblefko on April 6, 2009
Inman News, a leading source of independent real estate news, information and commentary, just published findings from an online survey* they conducted recently. The results indicate that three out of four respondents believe that the housing market in their area is improving or stabilizing and most say they have noticed the change within the last two months.
Of those that felt the market was improving, 70.6% cited ‘low interest rates’ as the number one reason for the improvement. Interest rates on conforming, conventional mortgages are at, or near, fifty year lows as shown on my Mortgage Info page. Following close behind this reason was ‘affordable prices’ at 67.8% and ‘good deals’ at 57.1%. (NOTE: Respondents were asked to cite all reasons that apply so totals add up to more than 100%.)
The survey also tried to gauge the attitudes of buyers and sellers. On the homebuyer side of the equation, agents are finding that 74.7% are still very ‘cautious’ when it comes to moving forward with purchasing a home. This percentage is extremely high and shows that purchasers are still in a wait and see mode when it comes to the market. More than likely, they are going to want to see some more positive news out of the financial markets and continued stabilization of interest rates for them to get off the fence.
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Posted in Agents, Buyers, Market Conditions, Sellers | Tagged: Agents, Buyers, Lancaster County, Property Values, Reports, Sellers, Statistics | 1 Comment »
Posted by tblefko on March 2, 2009
Image Courtesy of Flickr
Let’s here it for Lancaster County! We’re taking names and kickin’ some butt. YaaaHooo!
The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) just released their “All-Transactions Home-Price Index” which compares the fourth quarter of 2007 with the fourth quarter of 2008 and it shows that Lancaster County, Pennsylvania is faring better than most other real estate markets nationally. While the national appreciation rate dropped 4.5% for that period, Lancaster showed an increase of 1.6%. Their study is based upon purchase prices and refinancing appraisal amounts for the last quarter.
Before I get too caught up in myself, let’s take a step back and look at national home price surveys in general. It seems like every every government agency, financial institution, REALTOR® organization and corner coffeehouse has their own version of what real estate prices are doing. Let’s face it, if you crunch the numbers long enough and add a touch of this and a pinch of that, you can make statistics back-up anything you’re selling. In fact, my analysis of the the local data supplied by the Keystone MLS for the month of December actually showed Lancaster County’s prices taking a dip. But that’s not the point. Regardless of what formula or methodology is utilized by any of these entities, they are all basically showing the same thing: when you compare Lancaster County versus other areas of the state and country, we’re more than holding our own.
So the next time you hear a news report or read a newspaper about how home prices in Las Vegas are plummeting by the hour; remember, the old adage definitely applies, “All real estate is local.”
Posted in Lancaster, Market Conditions | Tagged: Federal Housing Finance Agency, Lancaster County, Property Values, Reports, Statistics | Leave a Comment »
Posted by tblefko on February 3, 2009
A recent survey by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) finds that the reason most often cited by people who aren’t moving forward with the purchase of a home is that they can’t sell their existing house. In fact the percentage is shockingly high at 91%. Why do I say ‘shockingly’? Because usually you can’t get 9 out of 10 people to agree on anything. If you couple this with the other top reasons cited, you have a real crisis in confidence.
I’m not telling you these negative perceptions by home buyers so that you can run away and hide and come out next spring when the real estate fairy has had a chance to wave her magic wand and make everything better. No – far from it. Because of the challenging market that we find ourselves in today, it is essential that a professional Realtor be consulted when one is thinking about buying or selling real estate. The days of sticking your home in the MLS, placing a sign in the front yard and getting three offers before sundown are over. If you place your home on the market today, it must be priced right and in tip-top shape. The only way to do this is to consult a professional Realtor who does this for a living and has seen your competition up close and personal. Not only do you need to consult a Realtor, but you need to actually listen to their advice. If they say to trim the shrubs – trim the shrubs. If they advise you to paint the purple bedroom off white - paint it. If they tell you that your home should be priced at $199,000 – list it at $199,000. No more, “I think I’ll try it at $225,500 for a couple of weeks to see if I get any nibbles” stuff. If you overprice in this market you will pay the price by having your home languish on the market and ultimately get passed over because real buyers will think you aren’t serious.
In today’s real estate market, only a professional Realtor is equipped to guide you through this sea of uncertainty and help you dock in a safe harbor.
Posted in Buyers, Market Conditions, Sellers | Tagged: Buyers, Charts, Moving, National Association of Home Builders, Reports, Sellers | Leave a Comment »
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