Mortgage Matters

Keeping you updated on the market! For the week of  April 22, 2013 MARKET RECAP A Mild Case of Schizophrenia For the past year, we've been saying that housing will become an important variable in economic growth. The trend in housing starts is proving that's the case. Starts were exceptionally strong in March, moving ahead 7.3% to an annualized rate of 1.036 million units. Looking year over year, total starts are up 46.7%.The multi-family component has been exceptionally strong, driven by increased investor demand. That said, the single-family component has also posted a robust gain, rising 28.7% year over year. Housing construction is now running at a rate unseen since 2008. Looking ahead, considerable upside still exists. Over the past two years, annual housing starts have increased to one million from 600,000. Despite the strong surge in starts, they remain 50% below the historical norm of 1.5 million annualized unit. In other words, housing is far from running the course. In the interim, though, there are a few concerns. Permits declined 3.9% in March, falling to an annual rate of 902,000 units. The decline points to a slow down in building activity over the next month or two. Builder sentiment also suggests something might be amiss in the short term. The National Home Builders Association sentiment index dropped two points this month to 42. This is the second-consecutive monthly drop, which pushes sentiment down to a six-month low. Builders are citing a litany of issues for their souring outlook: low inventory (which more starts should rectify), falling buyer traffic, rising construction costs, and still restrictive lending (particularly construction lending). We can't quarrel with the builders' complaints, but on a positive note we could be seeing a loosening of the purse strings on the lending front. We see mortgage lending becoming more inclusive. We particularly like what is occurring in purchase lending. This past week, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported that the mortgage purchase index increased 4%, posting its highest activity level since May 2010. What's more, conventional purchase activity is up to levels unseen since October 2009. More lenders are also showing a willingness to extend credit on lower down payments. It's especially encouraging to see more lenders willing to extend conventional mortgages with 5% to 10% down payments. The positive trend in conventional loans tells us that regulatory concerns are receding and that lenders are becoming less risk adverse. This is good news, because we've been saying for some time now that we need a more diverse, more accommodating lending market. In other words, we need a more normalized market. This appears to be the direction the mortgage market is taking.   Economic  Indicator Release  Date and Time Consensus  Estimate Analysis Existing Home Sales (March) Mon., April 22, 10:00 am, ET 5.02 Million (Annualized) Important. Rising home prices are prompting more owners to list their home, which will help alleviate inventory shortages. New Home Sales (March) Tues., April 23, 10:00 am, ET 420,000 (Annualized) Important. Sales are rising, but are also being held in check by historically low inventory. Mortgage Applications Wed., April 24, 7:00 am, ET None Important. Rising purchase activity points to more own-occupied buyers. Gross Domestic Product  (1st Quarter 2013) Fri., April 26, 8:30 am, ET 3.0% (Increase) Important. If economic growth is stronger than expected, interest rates will be pressured to move higher.   What is Gold Telling Us? Gold sold off big this past week, posting its largest two-day dollar drop ever, and its biggest percentage drop since 1980. Okay, but what does gold have to do with mortgage lending and housing? Gold is considered a haven asset. Gold is an asset investors flock to when they are fearful, particularly if they are fearful over slow economic growth and inflation. When investors are fearful money flows to gold. But the recent sell off points to money flowing out of gold. This tells us that investors are becoming less fearful and that more money will be flowing into other asset classes. This also tells us that more investors are expecting more economic growth – which is good news for housing and mortgage lending. When more people expect more economic growth, interest in housing rises and financing becomes easier to come by. We mention gold because assets markets are interconnected: money flows from one asset class to another. Money flowing out of gold means more money will likely flow into stocks, real estate, and capital investment, which should help the economy and increase job opportunities and wages. In other words, investors today are becoming more interested in growing wealth than preserving it. This is good news for the economy in general, and for large-item goods (like housing) in particular.     If you do not wish to receive this valuable email, please let me know. EQUAL HOUSING LENDER This Newsletter is for informational purposes only. Th

Could we hear any more good news about the Mortgage and Real Estate Market??   Jim Belote's Mortgage Matters again talks about the improving market...this has been the trend for the past 6 month.   No doubt that many home owners and renters should be very confident that their investment in present real estate or buying in the future will be a smart move.

With the rally in the stock market in the past three months, the investment community continues to vote its confidence that we have turned a corner in the broader market.   Greece and Spain seem past the cliff as well as fears over China's economy slowng...then there is the America Consumer Market power reasserting its unabated desire to buy.


Kee this up and we will hear that buyers are struggling to find a home as buyers will out strip sellers.   Will it be the next 6 months or in 2014????

Time will tell

Keeping you updated on the market! For the week of  January 28, 2013 MARKET RECAP 2012 was the year of the price increase. Indeed, the median price for existing homes rose to $180,800 in December, an 11.5% gain over the median price a year ago. Prices rose steadily through 2012 on increased demand and reduced supply, which has fallen to 4.4 months at the current sales rate. Low supply, though great for buttressing prices, is impeding sales-volume growth. Existing home sales posted at 4.94 million units on an annualized rate in December, which was below the consensus estimate for 5.09 million units. That said, rising homes prices are still an overall benefit. Rising prices are shifting more home owners to a positive-equity position. This should help spur inventory growth, as more owners interested in selling won't be constrained by the prospect of bringing money to the table. This rising equity offers an additional benefit: It raises the “wealth effect.” Home owners naturally feel more optimistic when they're not burdened by being underwater on their most important asset – their home. A rising wealth effect spurs additional spending and investing, which leads to more economic growth. Additional investment is particularly important. Many economists focus on consumer spending, believing it's the key driver of economic growth. Spending is important, to be sure, but investment is the real driver, because production must precede consumption. In other words, you must produce to consume. We see a lot of potential in residential investment, especially in the important single-family home sector. Over the past 50 years, single-family residential investment has averaged 2.5% of gross domestic product. We are far below that level today. This suggests to us that the market can support much higher levels of investment. We are further encouraged by the trend in sales composition. Many markets across the country have seen double-digit year-over-year drops in distressed sales as a percentage of total sales: Phoenix has seen a 32% drop; Colorado, a 29% drop; South Florida, a 14% drop; and Las Vegas (possibly the hardest hit bubble market), a 24% drop. If this trend continues, and we expect it will, residential real estate investment will move closer to regaining its rightful position as a primary economic driver. As for mortgage rates, they haven't been trending lower or higher. The way financial markets have been performing lately, we don't see much impetus for rates to go lower. The economy is expected to pick up pace this year, and this is reflected in the higher yield on the 10-year Treasury note. We might sound like a broken record on this point, but it's worth repeating: We simply see little reward (and more risk) in waiting to buy or refinance a home in this stage of the recovery. Economic Indicator Release Date and Time Consensus Estimate Analysis Pending Home Sales Index (December) Mon., Jan. 28, 10:00 am, ET 1.0% (Increase) Important. Low housing inventory continues to impede higher sales growth. Mortgage Applications Wed., Jan. 30, 7:00 am, ET None Important. Purchase application volume hit a 2.5-year high, which points to stronger home sales. Federal Reserve FOMC Meeting Wed., Jan. 30, 2:15 pm, ET Fed Funds Rate: 0.0% to 0.25% Important. Improving economic growth could persuade more Fed governors to reconsider the Fed's low-rate policies. Employment Situation (January) Fri., Feb. 1, 8:30 am, ET Unemployment Rate: 7.8% Payrolls: 168,000 (Increase) Very Important. Rising job growth will pressure interest rates to move higher. Construction Spending (December) Fri., Feb. 1, 10:00 am, ET 0.6% (Increase) Important. Residential spending is becoming an important variable in economic growth. Don't Fear Higher Rates We appear to hold the minority opinion on mortgage rates: Most market watchers believe they remain an important variable in sustaining both the housing and the economic recovery. A few years ago, lower rates were an indispensable variable. Many households had mortgages three or four percentage points above today's rates. The savings realized by refinancing or purchasing a home at a lower rate could amount to hundreds of dollars each month. This was especially important to household cash flow at a time when the economy was mired in a recession. But the fact is that most everyone will have taken advantage of today's historically low rates by the end of the year. After each refinance, the marginal economic benefit drops. In other words, the impact of lower rates has diminished. Here's another consideration: Rising rates will likely be accompanied by greater economic growth. When we go back to the 1990s, mortgage rates were 300 or 400 hundred basis points higher than they are today, and the housing market performed fine. The key distinction is the 1990s were marked by strong economic growth, which meant more people were able to service a higher borrowing rate and a higher home price. The point we want to emphasize is that higher mortgage rates won't stall the housing recovery if they are accompanied with economic growth, and that will likely be the only way rates will rise. This is why we say higher mortgage rates are nothing to fear, and if they are accompanied by higher economic growth, should actually be embraced. If you do not wish to receive this valuable email, please let me know. EQUAL HOUSING

After reading, Jim's Mortgage Matters below, you might think
my key observation that we again are hearing about how the fiscal cliff will really hit our pocket book.  Yet, this has gotten to be well stated(just hope they get it resolved).

Yet the message to be noted is:

In short, we don't see mortgage financing becoming meaningfully cheaper, even though rates have eased a few basis points each week for the past month. In fact, mortgages could become more expensive in 2013.

This statement comes after a lengthy dialogue on housing market and controls on mortgage financing.  Though the housing market improves monthly, it may not be long that mortgage rates will begin to make "housing more expensive".  Yet,  I don't expect that to dampen the pent up demand for homes that has formed over the past six years of caution among home buyers and sellers.

But again, the fiscal cliff's resulting higher taxes could no doubt take the "marginal" buyer out of the market due to tighter finances.

Thoughts????  What are your plans in 2013?

Keeping you updated on the market! For the week of  December 10, 2012 MARKET RECAP New-home sales inspired some recent consternation after it was reported that both volume and prices declined in October. A few commentators opined that one month could turn into two, and possibly more. Color us skeptical; new-home sales remain far below their historical pace, while pricing remains robust in many local markets. And when looking at the aggregate national trend, pricing for both new and existing homes is decidedly up. On pricing, CoreLogic's latest data show prices, which include distressed properties, rose 6.3% year over year in October. This marks the largest increase since June 2006 and the eighth-consecutive year-over-year increase in 2012. Arizona was the standout market in CoreLogic's data, with prices rising 21.3% year over year. But guess which market is catching up? Nevada, where prices are up 12.4%. When prices were continually dropping in Nevada ( Las Vegas, in particular), we continually mentioned that it was a matter of time before they would reach a point where markets would clear and prices would rise. When Las Vegas finally showed signs of recovery, we also posited that the real estate recovery would likely have become a country-wide phenomenon. This appears the case today. The housing market is trending positively, to state the obvious, and it would likely trend even better if we could get more financing to more buyers. Mortgage purchase applications have been trending higher in recent weeks, but they still have a lot of room for improvement. Unfortunately, we are still mired in a risk-averse lending market. That said, we are seeing a pick up in private participation. In the private-label residential mortgage-backed security (RMBS) market, issuance is up to $6 billion this year. That's not much, but it's more than double the $2.8 billion issued last year. Looking to next year, the market is expected to expand to $15 billion. Discussing RMBSs might seem like delving into the arcane, but RMBSs matter because they're an indicator of private investor interest in the mortgage market. We've stated many times that more participation in mortgage lending is better than less participation. But more participation means mortgages could get more expensive. In order to contract Fannie Mae's and Freddie Mac's presence in the mortgage market, as well as encourage the return of private capital investment, the FHFA aims to increase G-fees by 30 to 50 basis points to match recent private-label execution. In short, we don't see mortgage financing becoming meaningfully cheaper, even though rates have eased a few basis points each week for the past month. In fact, mortgages could become more expensive in 2013.   Economic  Indicator Release  Date and Time Consensus  Estimate Analysis Mortgage Applications Wed., Dec. 12, 7:00 am, ET None Important. The trend in purchase applications suggests underlying strength for home sales. Import Prices (November) Wed., Dec. 12, 8:30 am, ET 0.3% (Decrease) Moderately Important. A slightly stronger dollar reflects lower import prices and lower inflation. Retail Sales (November) Thurs., Dec. 13, 8:30 am, ET 0.2%  (Increase) Moderately Important. Sales are tacking higher with the economy. Consumer Price Index (November) Fri., Dec. 14, 8:30 am, ET All Goods: 0.3% (Decrease) Core: 0.2% (Increase) Important. Consumer prices remain non-inflationary, which means no increase in interest rates any time soon.   The Rise of Uncertainty More than a few housing-market observers are concerned the fiscal cliff – the impending array of tax increases and spending cuts due January 1 – could derail the housing recovery. These concerns aren't unfounded. If nothing is done between now and the end of the year, income tax rates will rise, and not just for the rich. The lowest marginal income tax rate, at 10%, will increase 50%, to 15%. Everyone in every tax bracket will have fewer dollars to spend and invest. Tightened personal budgets could force many marginal home buyers out of the market. The greater concern, at least from an immediate perspective, is the expiration of the Mortgage Debt Relief Act of 2007. The act allows borrowers to exclude certain canceled debt on their principal residence as income. If the act isn't extended, many short sellers could be hit with a big tax bill for forgiven debt. This would be a serious impediment to the short-sale market, which has contributed mightily to the housing recovery. The good news is that it appears likely the Mortgage Debt Relief Act will be extended. The bad news is that we continue to barrel toward the fiscal cliff, with no resolution in sight. The remaining weeks heading into January will be interesting, to say the least, and could be very impacting on the housing and mortgage markets.

Have You Missed the Housing Recovery???

As always, Jim Beloit's Mortgage Matters will get you thinking!!    A matter that has been discussed
fully in my blog, news reports and other platform is tightness in financial markets.   Qualified buyers without out hefty down payments or slightly less than stellar credit(guessing Jim is talking under 660 as that seems to be the magic credit score now needed) are being left out of the market.

He restate a National Assoc. of Realtor study that shows only 32% vs typical 45% of first time home buyers have a shot at buying a home right now.  And this is the best time ever to buy a home.

Prices  have improve but aren't in most parts of the country and specifically here in Hampton Roads have not recovered to pre-2008 levels.  So bargains are plenty.  Add historically low 3.5% mortgage money, we should have a very robust housing market.  But as noted the banks aren't in an environment which
encourages them to lend as broadly as they might to qualified buyers that just fall outside the 'stellar buyer' profile.

Read the comments on the silver lining from Sandy!!  Love to hear your thoughts...especially if you live in New York/New Jersey or have family there!

Keeping you updated on the market! For the week of  November 5, 2012 MARKET RECAP “Dog bites man” has been a leading theme as we head toward 2013. By that, we mean we continually report on improving home prices; to the point where home prices are almost no longer longer news. We say “almost,” because after years of reporting on falling prices, we still have a ways to go on the upside to balance the scales. The latest price data from S&P/Case-Shiller added more weight to the rising-price side. Case-Shiller's data show home prices edged up 0.9% month-over-month in August for 19 of the 20 cities it follows. Case-Shiller's data continue to affirm the positive price-trend data issued by other popular pricing providers, such as Zillow, Fiserv, and CoreLogic. Speaking of CoreLogic, its latest data release shows continued improvement in distressed properties. CoreLogic reports that completed foreclosures posted at 57,000 in September, down from 83,000 a year earlier and slightly lower than the 59,000 foreclosures reported in August. Improved pricing and greater demand, which have enabled more short sales, are allowing more underwater borrowers to escape their obligation without foreclosure. The downward trend in foreclosures, along with a gradual clearing of the shadow inventory and rising home price, leave little doubt that we are in the midst of wide-spread housing recovery. Of course, ulta-low mortgage lending rates have aided the recovery in no small measure. Rates today continue to hold their lows (though they haven't been setting new lows lately). Today, the concern, if not the lament, among housing-market participants is credit availability. Last week, we reported on the Mortgage Bankers Association lament that too many qualified borrowers are not getting their loan. Overly strict lending standards, in short, are retarding the speed of the housing recovery. Most of us know that credit availability is a chief concern among first-time home buyers, many of whom lack strong credit scores or large down payments. This segment usually constitutes 45% of the overall home-buying market, but today it's down to 32%, according to the National Association of Realtors. There is still too much uncertainty in the market for lenders to venture farther out on the risk curve. Impending new regulations have lenders understandably nervous. The new regulations will determine risk held by lenders, as well as down payment required for borrowers. To be sure, we need to balance regulation with access to credit, but that's a fine balancing act. What's more, it's not a constant act. The system must be sufficiently flexible to meet market demand.  The good news is that the purse strings show signs of loosening. A recent survey by the Federal Reserve shows that banks, on net, are reporting easing lending standards. (The survey encompasses all forms of credit, not just mortgage.) We think we will see a less restrictive mortgage market in 2013. Economic growth and job creation are expected to improve next year. An improving economy leads to more liberal lending policies and more accommodating regulation. Economic Indicator Release Date and Time Consensus Estimate Analysis Mortgage Applications Wed., Nov. 7, 7:00 am, et None Important. The trend in purchase applications continues to point to higher home sales. Consumer Credit (September) Wed., Nov. 7, 3:00 pm, et $10 Billion (Increase) Important.Rising credit use is reflective of rising consumer confidence. International Trade (September) Thurs., Nov. 8, 10:00 am, et $45.1 Billion (Deficit) Moderately Important. A slight uptick in domestic demand for foreign goods is reflective of economic growth. Import Prices (October) Fri., Nov. 9, 8:30 am, et 0.5% (Increase) Moderately Important. Prices remain subdued and non-inflationary. Uncreative Destruction Hurricane Sandy swept through 12 U.S. states this past week, causing wide-spread flooding and an estimated $10 billion to $20 billion in potential losses, according to research firm Capital Economics. That means a lot of money will be earmarked toward home repairs and new-home construction. Some commentators have viewed this as a silver lining. To be sure, more money spent on housing will help the housing sector, but there is an unseen and a frequently neglected opportunity cost: Money spent on housing is money that could have been spent elsewhere. A natural disaster means money must be spent to replace what already existed; that's money that could have been spent on other goods or services or investments. This lost opportunity to spend elsewhere is what the 19 th century French economist Frederic Bastiat referred to as “the unseen.” Yes, we can see more money being spent on housing, but we can't see where it would have been spent had there been no hurricane. In other words, Hurricane Sandy will provide a boost to housing, which is our gain, but that doesn't translate into a boost to the overall economy because of the lost opportunity to spend elsewhere. The point we want to emphasis is that it's always worth considering Bastiat's the unseen. The seen in housing is improving sales and pricing, but the unseen is what the housing recovery could be if it were unhampered by the exclusion of unfunded qualified borrowers. This unseen is our loss.

Mortgage Matters: Builders Positive...Rates Going Lower????

Intriguing Mortgage Matter Update by Jim Belote with Union Mortgage!!!


Final sentence of 1st Paragragh reads: 


 " Looking ahead, the expectation is that sales will continue
     to improve over the next six months."


Discussing the news on new homes and resale homes, improving prices, the logical counter balance that occurs is well stated.  Though it could seem, there is some "negative news", read carefully.  It is all positive.


Jim closes with discussion of interest rates in the macro environment of a "sluggish" economy.  Note the summary: 
Interest Rates could hold until 2013 and perhaps go lower!!!
Now isn't that exciting!!!


Comments?? Questions???   Let me know!

Keeping you updated on the market! For the week of  July 23, 2012 MARKET RECAP Are the home builders foreshadowing the future of the housing market? We sure hope so, because builder sentiment suggests better days ahead. We say that because the home builder sentiment index surged a whopping six points to 35 in July. The monthly improvement is the largest in nearly 10 years, and it lifts the index up to where it was in March 2007. What's more, the posting wasn't skewed by a few bullish outliers. All regions reported gains. Looking ahead, the expectation is that sales will continue to improve over the next six months. When you parse the trend in housing starts over 2012, it's easy to why home builders are more optimistic. The uptrend in new home sales is finally working its way into new construction. Housing starts in June improved 6.9 percent over May. Gains were prevalent in both the single-family and multifamily components. The more-important single-family component saw starts increase 4.7 percent, while the volatile multifamily component rebounded 12.8 percent, following a 19.3-percent drop in May. The news on existing homes was less rosy, proving again the housing market is a heterogeneous market. Sales for June dropped a surprising 5.4 percent to a 4.37-million annualized rate. The lower sales pace was reflected in inventory, which rise to a 6.6-month supply from 6.4 months in May. There were still some positive takeaways. The national median sales price for an existing home rose to $189,400, a 5-percent increase over May and a 7.9-percent increase over June 2011. Higher prices might be discouraging sales on the low end of the market, but the price rise, which has been confirmed in other data sources, is good news for homeowners struggling with negative equity. We've been reporting for months now that the housing market is on the mend. More important, it's on the mend in more local markets. After all, local markets are what matter most; few of us conduct business nationally. It's reassuring to have our anecdotal evidence reaffirmed by official data. The Federal Reserve, in its latest Beige Book release, reports that the trend remains largely positive. The Fed notes that most districts reported declines in home inventories, while stabilizing and home price were becoming more of the norm. That said, many pundits and market watchers continue to worry aloud about shadow inventory. To us, though, the state of the U.S. economy is the much bigger concern. Job growth has been anemic in recent months. The latest quarterly data show that hiring by companies is the weakest it has been in two years. Unfortunately, the contraction has been equal opportunity: growth in both consumer spending and business investment have slowed. An economy that is marred by reduced spending and investing will also be marred by less hiring. Slow economic growth could spur the Fed to pump even more money into the economy. The rationale is that more money will induce more spending and investing, because there is less incentive to hold cash due to the reduced value of each note. Concurrently, more money will keep lending rates low because there is more money to lend. This sounds good in theory, but there a few issues with the Fed's easy money policy, which we'll explicate below. Economic Indicator Release Date and Time Consensus Estimate Analysis Mortgage Applications Wed., July 25, 7:00 am, et None Important. Low rates and HARP have reignited refinances, but the purchase trend remains positive. New Home Sales (June) Wed., July 25, 10:00 am, et 375,000 (Annualized) Important. Rising new home construction and sales could spur economic growth in coming months. Pending Home Sales Index (June) Thurs., July 26, 10:00 am, et 99 Index Important. The drop in existing homes sales will be reflected in a lower index reading. Gross Domestic Product (2nd Quarter) Fri., July 27, 8:30 am, et 1.3% (Annualized Growth) Very Important. Low GDP growth will incentive the Federal Reserve to continue to drive interest rates lower. Two Sides of the Same Coin Each week, mortgage rates establish a new all-time low. Is this a good thing? Many lenders and economists think so. After all, fewer dollar tied up in housing expenses means more dollars to spend and invest elsewhere. The Federal Reserve's policy of purchasing long-term bonds means mortgage lending rates will likely stay low through 2013. If the Fed injects more money into the economy by purchasing these long-term bonds with new money, rates could go even lower. The push for more money and lower interest rates is seductive, but there is another side to the coin: private capital. If investors and savers are getting paid little for tying up their money, they won't tie up their money. That means the market becomes even more dependent on government sources of financing. This, in turn, means a less diverse market. The problem with a less diverse market is that we see a lot more recycling, meaning the same people refinancing repeatedly. Granted, the latest HARP has brought new refinances into the market, but we'd like to see the market promote more borrowing driven by new buyers. We think more private capital would do that. But private capital, unlike public capital, demands a positive rate of return. Today's low rates don't provide that.

Interest Rates Drive Market...Are You in Driver's Seat?

Time to talk interest rates...Again!!!


With the frequent mention of the stablized but not accelerating Real Estate sales nationwide, so much misinformation or at least misinterpretation of the "true nature of today's market" is too common.


The facts are very simple in most markets:


     Home prices are steady to rising slowly


     Short Sales and Foreclosure are still a meaningful 
         part of the market


    Banks will be required to reply to buyer contracts on Short Sales 
         and Foreclosures in under 30 days beginning July 1, 2012


    Qualified buyers are getting mortgages...just extra paperwork            
         required


    Interest rates are the lowest in history...last week's average
         30 year mortgage    3.75%
         15 year mortgage    2.25%


All these factors should motivate individuals and families needing a new place and investors looking to get in while the getting is good to "jump in" while the water is great.


Take interest rate benefit:


    The difference in Principal and Interest payment between 3.75% 
      mortgage(today) and a historical 'good' of 7% mortgage is as 
      follows:


                                        3.75%               7%          Monthly
      Mortgage                Payment          Payment     Savings


    $100,000                    $463                $665           $202 
   
    $200,000                    $926             $1330            $404


    $300,000                  $1347             $1996            $649


    $400,000                  $1796             $2661            $935


  To realize the real value of these rates, simply note that
  a buyer can buy a home with $400,000 mortgage for $200 per
  month less than Principal and Interest Payment on a $300,000
  mortgage at 7%.


  Now that is saving big dollars by striking when the fire is hot!!!


   And is it ever HOT!!!

Is the Housing Crash Over???

A Kindred Spirit...Herb Johnson, Realtor in Florence, Ky  sees the facts as I have been laying them out.  It's a quick read!

Is The Housing Crash Over?

This year may be the end of the housing crash, according to The Wall Street Journal. Seems that housing is again affordable and the bad news isn't so terrible anymore. The current mantra is homes are a good deal. Mood's Analytic's, where income and housing prices are studied, claim houses are more affordable than ever.

Experts are pointing out that housing has dropped so much that the debate of renting versus owning is clear towards homeownership. Timing the real estate market is iffy at best. But when you take a good look at the signs you can see that home buying is becoming more attractive. Home prices have dropped 30% from their high in 2006 based on the S&PCase-Shiller national composite home-price index.

If you have put off buying a home because you were waiting for the best deal now may be the time to launch your search. No matter how affordable prices are remember that buying a home is still likely your largest financial investment. New tightened credit rules may insist on a larger cash payment and insulate you from a possible dip in housing prices.

Even if you've been tracking the real estate market and watching the drops in your neighbor's house that's been on the market for a seemingly endless period of time, call your Realtor. Why? Because he or she will have the inside scoop on your neighbor's house and other deals in the community where you're looking for a home. It's simply a good idea to consult with and use an expert when you're investing a lot of money, time and effort.

Know what's important in your housing needs. Know how much you can really afford to buy. Know your likes and dislikes. You'll probably make some compromises. Keep track of what's important to you by writing down what you hope to find in your next home. Keep the list handy, review  and adjust it then be sure to share your detailed list with your Realtor to ensure you're all on the same page.

Questions???  Need to talk it over?  Give me a call
          (757) 580-6546