Friday Facts April 29, 2011

FRIDAY FACTS
April 29, 2011

NAR reports that nationally, sales of existing homes rose 3.7% in March, but were down 6.3% from March 2010. First time buyers purchased 33% of homes this March compared with 44% of homes in March last year.

Also from NAR, existing home sales in the Northeast rose 3.9% in March, down 12.1% from March last year. The median price was 3$ lower at $232,900.

RISMedia notes that the average credit score to obtain a conventional mortgage has risen to 760 compared with 720 in 2007. For FHA loans, the average score is 700, up from 630 in 2007. All cash sales were at a record market share of 35% in March compared with 19% in March 2010.

An article in Inman News notes that the home ownership rate in Switzerland is only 31%.

From RISMedia: Expenses to Factor into a Home Buying Decision:
Utilities – heat, electric, water, sewer, phone, cable, Internet, cell phones, trash removal
Food and entertainment
Children – daycare, tuition, sports gear, lunch money, supplies
Health Costs – braces, glasses, medicine
Debt – credit cards, car/student loans
Maintenance, Repair and Décor
Job expenses – transportation, auto maintenance

Friday Facts April 22, 2011

FRIDAY FACTS
April 22, 2011

MLS STATS:
MARCH 2011 MARCH 2010

Residential # Change Median Change DOM # Median DOM
Active 3326 -3.34% 3441
Sold 210 -14.98% $315,016 -11.73% 165 247 $356,880 162
U/A 160 6.67%

Condos
Active 881 -7.94% 957
Sold 42 -20.75% $198,588 -14.24% 167 53 $231,566 187
U/A 53 70.97%

Inman News had three interesting tidbits:
Brazil has real estate fever that bears uncomfortable comparisons with what was seen in the U.S. a few years ago. Residential property values in Rio de Janeiro have risen 99% since 2008.
The number of real estate licenses issued in Florida has dropped 75% since the start of the market collapse and fell from 47,000 in 2005 to 11,700 in 2010.
The Maine Association of Realtors had a weeklong “clearance” event ending the first week of April advertising $10,000 off participating homes. 750 sellers participated.

From a video on RISMedia: 90% of all FISBO’s end up listing with an agent.

From an article at CNBC.com, “For Housing Rebound, Once Again It’s Wait Until Next Year”: Cash buyers and investors have driven 70% of the increase in existing home sales since last July, while first time buyers have been responsible for just 6%.

From Foxbusiness.com: The vacancy rate for U.S. apartments plunged to 6.2% in the first three months of this year, and rents crept higher by .5% on average.

Friday Facts April 15, 2011

FRIDAY FACTS April 15, 2011 From an article in the Wall Street Journal: “Memo to sellers: you’ve got more competition this spring. Price those homes accordingly”. Inman News cites the NAR report showing that nationwide, sales of homes over $1 million rose 3.9% in February. They represent 2% of all sales. Sales of homes between $100,000 and $250,000 fell 7% and represent 42% of all sales. RealTrends reports that second home purchases declined at the same rate (5.6%) as primary home purchases in 2010. Investment properties dropped 7.8%. They represent 17% of overall purchases and 59% paid cash. Vacation homes dropped 1.8%. They represent 10% of overall purchases and 36% paid cash. In the Wall Street Journal: “Federal regulators proposed far-reaching changes to lending rules that eventually could raise the cost of borrowing for most homeowners, kicking off what is likely to be a furious effort by the housing and banking industries to soften the proposal.” A prime mortgage would be one where a borrower has a down-payment of at least 20% At the end of 2010, approximately 46% of all homeowners with mortgages had less than 20% equity. · Inman News noted that Android-equipped smart phones outranked both the BlackBerry and the iPhone for the three month period ending in February. 33% of smart phone users over age 13 owned the Android-equipped phone, making it the most powerful platform.

Friday facts April 8, 2011

FRIDAY FACTS April 8, 2011 Inman News reports that Redfin says VOW’s can disclose agent comments under the DOJ-NAR settlement. Registered users of Redfin’s VOW can now see what the brokerage’s agents thought of listings they’ve toured. Those comments will automatically be emailed to the listing agent. From RealTrends Blog – The New Normal 5 Facts You Must Know by Donna Stott 1. Homeownership rates have dropped to 1988 levels – around 66%. 2. Home prices are falling again; the housing double dip is here. 3. From the peak in 2006, U.S. homes are expected to lose close to 36% in value nationwide. Compare this to the great depression when prices were down 25.9%. Since June 2006, we’re down 26% 4. In 2010 repossessed homes reached the 1 million mark. 5. 72% of major U.S. markets had increased foreclosures in 2010 over 2009. According to an article in RIS Media, real estate agents are having the same conversation with banks about their REO’s that they have with any seller. Sprucing up or repairing a foreclosure makes it sell faster and for more money. It also makes the home more financeable. From an article in RISMedia, “Body language is a mixture of movement, posture, and tone of voice … Top salespeople and the most successful real estate agents recognize the importance of non-verbal communication in the selling process and have learned to listen with their eyes. Inman News posted the top real estate site rankings for February from the web metrics firm, Experian Hitwise: 1. Yahoo 2. Realtor.com 3. Zillow 4. Front Door 5. Trulia

Friday Facts April 1, 2011

FRIDAY FACTS April 1, 2011 § Inman News reports that anjuke.com is China’s most popular portal for listings of existing homes for sale with 10 million unique visitors per month. Last year they launched a new-homes listing portal, aifang.com and rental site, haozu.com § Seattle based ValueAppeal charges $99 to create a custom report to mail to the Assessor’s office to appeal real estate tax assessments. The fee is refundable if the appeal is unsuccessful. § Inman News notes that membership in NAR peaked at 1.4 million in late 2006 and has fallen 20.5% to 1.09 million through August 2010. § Swanepoel Trends Report now includes a chapter on global real estate trends. They say that from a global view, overall 2010 was better than 2009 with stronger momentum in the first half rather than the second half. They note that the strongest countries were Australia, China and Canada while the weaker were South Africa, Italy and Japan. They additionally note that 2011 was predicted by many to be a better year, but that few are suggesting a worldwide strong recovery because of unemployment and financial debt. § According to an article in Inman News, the California Regional Multiple Listing Service has signed with RPR. Agreements are in place with 235 of the approximately 900 MLS’s in the U.S. This represents 38% (380,000) of NAR’s million members.