Before our nation’s housing crisis began in 2007, the rent-vs.-buy question wasn’t really a question at all. Because the answer was: If you can afford it and you’re going to stay put long enough to recoup the transaction costs, you buy. Simple.
That’s because, for the generations leading up to the Great Recession, buying was always superior to renting for two reasons – one societal and one financial.
Click Here to Read: Which is Better: Renting or Buying a Home?...
Showing posts with label "The Market". Show all posts
Showing posts with label "The Market". Show all posts
Why House Prices Will Keep Falling
Tuesday's release of the monthly Case-Shiller U.S. house price index shows a 3.1% year-over-year decline for January. The index of 20 big U.S. cities fell to 140, just a point and change above its spring 2009 low in the wake of the financial meltdown.
The "dismal" showing included 11 cities hitting postbubble lows and "no real hope in sight for the near future," according to S&P's David Blitzer. Robert Shiller, the Yale professor who started the index along with Karl Case of Wellesley, said this month that "there's a substantial risk of home prices falling another 15%, 20% or 25%."
The latest declines have some wags declaring now the time to buy a house. They see a recovering economy boosting incomes, the collapse of the homebuilding industry trimming oversupply and low interest rates making property more affordable than ever.
Click Here to Read: Why House Prices Will Keep Falling...
The "dismal" showing included 11 cities hitting postbubble lows and "no real hope in sight for the near future," according to S&P's David Blitzer. Robert Shiller, the Yale professor who started the index along with Karl Case of Wellesley, said this month that "there's a substantial risk of home prices falling another 15%, 20% or 25%."
The latest declines have some wags declaring now the time to buy a house. They see a recovering economy boosting incomes, the collapse of the homebuilding industry trimming oversupply and low interest rates making property more affordable than ever.
Click Here to Read: Why House Prices Will Keep Falling...
Top 6 Cities Where Buying Is Better Than Renting
Cities that had been hard-hit by the housing market crash now offer some of the best buys in real estate and where it makes much more sense to buy than rent, according to a new report from Deutsche Bank. The bank’s study measures affordability by the share of income that Americans are paying to own a home as well as the cost of owning vs. renting.
Here are six of the cities that topped Deutsche Bank’s list.
Click Here to Read: Top 6 Cities Where Buying Is Better Than Renting...
Here are six of the cities that topped Deutsche Bank’s list.
Click Here to Read: Top 6 Cities Where Buying Is Better Than Renting...
For Real Estate, A Giant Spring Clearance Sale
In suburban Chicago, it's paradise to be a homebuyer.
At the Millbrook Pointe development in quaint and pristine Wheeling, a $269,000, brick-and-stone townhouse comes with $25,000 in free upgrades, including wood-burning fireplaces, all-stainless steel kitchens and marbled bathrooms tricked out with double-bowl vanities and whirlpool soaker tubs.
Down the highway at the Patriot Place golf course villas in Bolingbrook, buyers are lavished with lawns sodded to perfection, absurdly low seller financing and a year of free insurance that will pay the mortgage if you lose your job.
At the Sunset Ridge estates, the amenity bonanza gets even more surreal: Buy a customizable colonial for as little as $170,000 and get a brand new, $17,000 Chevy Cruze. The 2011 model. For free.
Click Here to Read: For Real Estate, A Giant Spring Clearance Sale...
At the Millbrook Pointe development in quaint and pristine Wheeling, a $269,000, brick-and-stone townhouse comes with $25,000 in free upgrades, including wood-burning fireplaces, all-stainless steel kitchens and marbled bathrooms tricked out with double-bowl vanities and whirlpool soaker tubs.
Down the highway at the Patriot Place golf course villas in Bolingbrook, buyers are lavished with lawns sodded to perfection, absurdly low seller financing and a year of free insurance that will pay the mortgage if you lose your job.
At the Sunset Ridge estates, the amenity bonanza gets even more surreal: Buy a customizable colonial for as little as $170,000 and get a brand new, $17,000 Chevy Cruze. The 2011 model. For free.
Click Here to Read: For Real Estate, A Giant Spring Clearance Sale...
A Tidal Wave Of FHA Foreclosures Are About To Hit The Market
Last month I reviewed an interesting article on The Wall Street Journal website. The article stated that mortgage default rates were dipping for nearly all loan types with the one exception being FHA types of financing. Those default rates had actually amplified over the past year. Why you may ask? Well, when the market crashed the government enacted tax incentives for first time home buyers and plenty of potential new buyers inundated the market. Most of those consumers were cash strapped therefore most were encouraged to use Federal Housing Administration financing for the low down payment opportunities. And, in plenty of states, if a buyer used this financing there were incentives for $100 down payments. Many states still make available this program while others have abandoned it. My mind began to rattle when I began to think about what actually has transpired over the past several years.
Click Here to Read: A Tidal Wave Of FHA Foreclosures Are About To Hit The Market...
Click Here to Read: A Tidal Wave Of FHA Foreclosures Are About To Hit The Market...
The Worst Cities For Foreclosures In 2010
The good news is foreclosure activity is down in the U.S. cities hardest hit by the housing market crisis. The bad news? Foreclosures in general have increased in 72% of all the other major cities across the country.
At least, that was the case in 2010, according to RealtyTrac’s “2010 MSA U.S. Foreclosure Market Report.” As a year-end re-cap, the online foreclosure marketplace leader crunched default data for America’s 206 largest Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs), as defined by the U.S. Census Bureau. They counted the total number of properties with at least one foreclosure filing entered into RealtyTrac’s database during the 2010 calendar year. If a property received more than one filing during the year, only the most recent was counted.
Click Here to Read: The Worst Cities For Foreclosures In 2010...
At least, that was the case in 2010, according to RealtyTrac’s “2010 MSA U.S. Foreclosure Market Report.” As a year-end re-cap, the online foreclosure marketplace leader crunched default data for America’s 206 largest Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs), as defined by the U.S. Census Bureau. They counted the total number of properties with at least one foreclosure filing entered into RealtyTrac’s database during the 2010 calendar year. If a property received more than one filing during the year, only the most recent was counted.
Click Here to Read: The Worst Cities For Foreclosures In 2010...
Housing Recovery Stalls
A new bout of declining home prices is threatening to hamper the U.S. recovery, just as consumers and the overall economy have been showing signs of healing.
Home prices across 20 major metropolitan areas fell 1.3% in October from September, the third straight month-over-month drop, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller home-price index released Tuesday. Many economists expect the declines to continue into at least next spring, erasing most of the gains made since prices bottomed out in early 2009.
Click Here to Read: Housing Recovery Stalls...
Home prices across 20 major metropolitan areas fell 1.3% in October from September, the third straight month-over-month drop, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller home-price index released Tuesday. Many economists expect the declines to continue into at least next spring, erasing most of the gains made since prices bottomed out in early 2009.
Click Here to Read: Housing Recovery Stalls...
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
0
comments
|
Labels:
"The Market",
Buyers,
Foreclosure,
Home For Sale,
Sellers,
Short Sales
Home Prices Decline in Nearly Half of Metropolitan Areas
Home prices fell in nearly half of U.S. metropolitan areas in the third quarter, indicating that the market is losing steam without government tax credits, according to an industry report.
The median price for home resales fell compared with last year in 76 out of 155 areas tracked by the National Association of Realtors, the trade group said Thursday. Prices rose in 77 areas and were unchanged in two.
In the second quarter of the year, prices rose in nearly two-thirds of U.S. cities.
Click Here to Read: Home Prices Decline in Nearly Half of Metropolitan Areas...
The median price for home resales fell compared with last year in 76 out of 155 areas tracked by the National Association of Realtors, the trade group said Thursday. Prices rose in 77 areas and were unchanged in two.
In the second quarter of the year, prices rose in nearly two-thirds of U.S. cities.
Click Here to Read: Home Prices Decline in Nearly Half of Metropolitan Areas...
3 Signs the Mortgage Market Has Hit Bottom
After more than two years of misery in the housing market, the worst may finally be over.
A handful of recent developments in the mortgage market all point to an easing of lending standards, which have been onerously high since 2008. Private lenders and the federal government have reinvigorated the jumbo mortgage market, making bigger loans more available to more borrowers. And in general, would-be homeowners can now qualify for a loan with a lower credit score and make a smaller down payment – in some cases, as low as 5%. Those moves, taken together, mean that more borrowers have access to mortgages, a necessary precondition for housing to rebound.
“When you see those moves on the upswing, it gives you a hint of what’s coming later on,” says Chip Cummings, president of Northwind Financial, a consulting company for mortgage and realtor firms.
Read Here: 3 Signs the Mortgage Market Has Hit Bottom...
A handful of recent developments in the mortgage market all point to an easing of lending standards, which have been onerously high since 2008. Private lenders and the federal government have reinvigorated the jumbo mortgage market, making bigger loans more available to more borrowers. And in general, would-be homeowners can now qualify for a loan with a lower credit score and make a smaller down payment – in some cases, as low as 5%. Those moves, taken together, mean that more borrowers have access to mortgages, a necessary precondition for housing to rebound.
“When you see those moves on the upswing, it gives you a hint of what’s coming later on,” says Chip Cummings, president of Northwind Financial, a consulting company for mortgage and realtor firms.
Read Here: 3 Signs the Mortgage Market Has Hit Bottom...
Slumping Resort Real Estate Means Bargains For Rich
America’s “Great Recession” has provided a great lesson for resort real estate markets.
Economic slowdowns hit even the wealthy, and this latest one has dealt a serious blow to markets in places such as Aspen, Vail and Telluride, where home prices often are measured in millions of dollars.
Last year was a year to remember, or possibly better off to forget, as transactions and dollar volumes in many resort areas continued a sharp decline also experienced in 2008.
Click Here to Read: Slumping Resort Real Estate Means Bargains For Rich...
Economic slowdowns hit even the wealthy, and this latest one has dealt a serious blow to markets in places such as Aspen, Vail and Telluride, where home prices often are measured in millions of dollars.
Last year was a year to remember, or possibly better off to forget, as transactions and dollar volumes in many resort areas continued a sharp decline also experienced in 2008.
Click Here to Read: Slumping Resort Real Estate Means Bargains For Rich...
Despite Freezes, Foreclosures March On In Utah And Beyond
For most Americans at risk of losing their homes —especially those in Utah — the brutal business of foreclosure goes on.
Bank of America halted foreclosures across the country to address banks’ use of flawed foreclosure paperwork, but three other banks did so only in 23 states where judges have to review foreclosures— and Utah wasn’t one of them. And other banks holding millions of mortgages have not suspended any foreclosures.
As with all real estate matters, location is everything. So what does the industry’s moratorium mean for states such as Utah, Arizona, California and Nevada that typically have no judicial review of foreclosure cases (except when homeowners sue a bank)?
For now, “It’s probably going to have little — if any — effect in Utah,” said Rick Sharga, senior vice president of RealtyTrac cq , a company that tracks foreclosures nationally.
Click Here to Read: Despite Freezes, Foreclosures March On In Utah And Beyond...
Israel Unlikely Champ In Global Real Estate
Israel, despite perennial fears of war, has emerged as one of the hottest - and least likely - property markets in the world: Since real estate collapsed around the globe in 2008, at least one industry watchdog lists it as the fastest-rising property market on earth.
But with global economic meltdown - and the subprime mortgage fiasco that precipitated it - still fresh in people's minds, officials are stepping up efforts to rein in its overheated property sector. The fear is that a property bubble could shake confidence in an economy that withstood the worst of the world's financial crisis.
But with global economic meltdown - and the subprime mortgage fiasco that precipitated it - still fresh in people's minds, officials are stepping up efforts to rein in its overheated property sector. The fear is that a property bubble could shake confidence in an economy that withstood the worst of the world's financial crisis.
Bank Foreclosure Fiasco: What It Means To The Housing Market
In the last two weeks the housing market has been shaken by the fiasco that has managed to infect the entire nation. Bank of America (BAC, Fortune 500), JPMorgan Chase (JPM, Fortune 500) and Ally Financial have all imposed moratoriums on their foreclosures in at least 23 states, and BOA has issued an edict to stop the foreclosure processes in all 50 states. This has collected the attention of congressional leaders, and the President. Leaders have requested investigations, asked loan servicing companies to stop filings, and the President even vetoed a bill easing the process in courts, a bill of his conception.
Click Here to Read: Bank Foreclosure Fiasco: What It Means To The Housing Market...
Click Here to Read: Bank Foreclosure Fiasco: What It Means To The Housing Market...
The Housing Market: Is It Time to Rent or to Buy?
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
0
comments
|
Labels:
"The Market",
Buyers,
Home Buyers,
Housing Market,
Mortgage Rates,
Renting
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
