August 31, 2009
There is a new marketing technique sweeping the real estate industry; virtual home staging! Traditional home staging consists of hired professionals who will come into your home and physically arrange your furniture and accessories to make the rooms within the home appear more appealing to a potential homebuyer. The practice of virtual home staging consists of digitally altering a photo of a vacant room that is located in a home for sale, with furniture and different accessories to make the room appear ‘lived in’.
This practice has received much controversial feedback. Some professionals believe that virtual home staging can leave prospective homebuyers feeling as if they have been deceived. That it could be possible that the photographs may misrepresent the dimensions of a certain room, for example, scaling down the size of the furniture to make the room appear larger.
Other professionals believe that virtual staging presents less of a risk than traditional staging, as it informs the potential homebuyer that the items within the room, do not come with house. According to attorney David Alexander from the law firm Racine Olson Nye Budge and Bailey located in Idaho, “In traditional staging, the furniture is actually in the house at the time it’s being shown, so it’s more likely a buyer could be misled and think that the furniture or window treatments go with the house, but if it’s a picture followed up with a visit to the house, where the buyer sees there is no furniture, no window treatments, it’s going to be hard for a buyer to claim he thought the window treatments went with the house.”
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August 28, 2009
Mortgage rates increased slightly this week to 5.14%, however according to polled experts by Bankrate.com, the rates are expected to either drop over the next month or stay the same.
Some experts believe that the rates will continue an upward trend making it difficult for some to qualify for a mortgage. Currently, lenders have tightened their belts and only those Americans with the solid credit can achieve the lowest rates.
The rates still remain near the record low of 4.78% and remain attractive to potential homebuyers! Purchasing a home before the end of 2009, could be the best long term investment that you could ever make!
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August 27, 2009
With all the positive signs of stabilization in the real estate market, one fear still remains – the rising unemployment. According to Reuters, subprime mortgage delinquencies has risen to 39.48% which is, indeed lower than the percentage was in the early part of the year, yet outrageous just the same! The climbing unemployment rate remains to be the largest factor in foreclosure filings, as stated by Dann Adams, president of the U.S. Information Systems for Equifax, “Until unemployment starts to flatten out and begin to return to hiring, these numbers will probably continue to push up.”
The rapidly rising unemployment rate is affecting all areas of the economy; bankruptcy filings are up 35%, auto loan delinquencies are up 13% and student loan delinquencies are also rising. While Americans are defaulting on all types of loans, the credit card bills appear to be getting paid! Bank cards at least 60 days behind in payment continued to decline for the 4th consecutive month.
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August 26, 2009
According to CNN, home prices may very well be stabilizing nationally. After a very long three years of price drops, home prices rose in the second quarter, 2.9% in a quarter over quarter comparison, according to the last S&P/Case-Shiller report.
“This is great news – prices may be starting to grow again” Pat Newport, a real estate analyst for IHS Global Insight, stated, “Three independent sources, the National Association of Realtors, the Federal Housing Finance Agency and Case Shiller are showing price improvement.”
There are many factors to take into consideration that may be causing the stability in the real estate market; low home prices, government programs and low interest rates are among the top on the list. With a rebound in the market, potential homebuyers may feel the urgency to purchase a new home out of fear of missing out on the great deals that are out there, if this is case, we may see some more positive activity in the near future.
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August 25, 2009
According to a HomeGain survey taken by over a thousand real estate agents across the nation, 46% believe that the home prices will remain the same over the next 6 months, 31% believe that the home prices will decrease and 23% believe that the market has hit “bottom” and home prices will slowly begin to increase.
Louis Cammarosano, the GM of HomeGain believes that “buyers continue to believe that homes are overpriced” and are looking for bargains, while in the meantime, sellers believe that their homes should be priced higher than their real estate professionals are recommending.
Real estate agents that responded to the survey are convinced that a decrease in the inventory will help the home prices stabilize, although existing home sales in Florida show a big increase on a yearly comparison, the month to month comparison, while rising, is not rising fast enough.
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August 24, 2009
July marks the 11th consecutive month that Florida’s existing homes sales activity has increased. Sales have jumped 37% in a yearly comparison, according to the Florida Association of Realtors (FAR) housing data report, and .2% on a monthly comparison. Florida’s median sales price of existing single-family homes in July was $147,600, showing a 24% decrease compared to last years median prices as this time.
Existing condominium sales are also on the rise, showing a 48% increase in a yearly statewide sales comparison. Florida’s median sales price of existing condominiums was $108,400, showing a 36% decrease compared to July of 2008.
According to the University of Florida’s Bergstrom Center for Real Estate Studies director, Timothy Becker, “I think we’re on the road to recovery and even though most markets report they’ve seen the bottom, it’s going to be a long climb.”
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August 21, 2009
A new website geared towards keeping consumers, builders and homeowners updated on the investigation into the defective imported Chinese Drywall is up and running! Created by the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), the new CPSC drywall website will keep you up to date on details of the investigation, including air samples, tracking and any updates on the health effects.
To date it has been determined that imported Chinese Drywall contains 10 times the amount of strontium than what is found in U.S. drywall. Strontium is a highly chemically reactive metallic element. Other ingredients that were found in Chinese Drywall and not in U.S. drywall include sulfur and two other organic compounds that are found in acrylic paint.
If you believe that your home was constructed using the tainted drywall, visit the new CPSC drywall website for guidance throughout the process.
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August 20, 2009
According to the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), a family making $64,000 a year, the nation’s median income, could afford to purchase 72.3% of all the homes sold in the nation during the second quarter of 2009. This is the first time in nearly 20 years that homes have been this affordable! The definition of ‘affordable’, in this case, would mean that a potential homebuyer would devote no more than 28% of their income towards their housing costs.
While this is excellent news for potential homebuyers, the news is ‘not so hot’ for those who are trying to sell their home. According to the Zillow website, over 30% of all the homes that sold during the last quarter were sold for less than what the seller originally paid for the home. Many of the other homes that sold were foreclosures. During the month of July alone, 87,000 homes were repossessed, which is three times the amount of repossessions during the same month, two years ago.
It’s this high number of foreclosures that are bringing the real estate prices down to level a that are enticing to first-time home buyers and investors. Foreclosures often become listed at low prices in an effort to ensure that they sell quickly, however lenders are beginning to list their properties at a price that is comparable to the price that they are coming in at.
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August 19, 2009
There are two types of active homebuyers recently; first time homebuyers, drawn in by the tax incentives, and investors, drawn in by the amount of foreclosed properties on the market. Sales of existing homes in the Tampa Bay, Hillsborough County, Florida area, jumped 24% this past quarter, according to the Florida Association of Realtors (FAR).
With the low home prices and government programs, it is believed that more people should be buying houses, although many are held back by fear. Fear that the unemployment rate will continue to rise, as well as the fear that the home prices may continue to drop and they could be left “underwater” on their mortgage.
According to Chris Lafakis, an economist who covers the Tampa Bay area for Moody’s Economy.com, “Given the prices, more people should be buying,” Lafakis said. “Consumers expect home prices to go down more, so many won’t buy.”
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August 18, 2009
The second quarter of 2009 showed that the delinquency rates on the mortgage loans across the nation are at the highest rate ever recorded. According to TransUnion, a credit reporting agency, the ratio of homeowners that are at least 60 days behind on their mortgage payments have increased to 5.81% for the three month period that ended in June. This reflects a 65% jump in comparison to the data recorded at this time, last year.
Although, the rates are at the highest level they have ever been, they are indeed slowing down, which could be a good sign that the foreclosure crisis may be making a turn for the better. Florida is still coming in at number 2 as one of the five top states with the highest delinquency rates.
“Nevertheless, it’s going to take about a year before the rates start to fall across most of the country”, according to FJ Guarrera, vice president of TransUnion’s financial services division, “and it will be quite some time before the national rate returns to its historic norm between 1.5 percent and 2 percent. Forecasts are telling us that the recovery will be slow.”
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