Home sales rise, but prices will be slow to follow

admin — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 02:57:36 +0000

Sales of existing homes increased 4.3% in January from December to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.57 million, the National Association of Realtors reported Wednesday.

While still weak, that was the highest level in 20 months, the third gain in four months and a 0.7% increase over January 2011.

A housing market turnaround “may finally be starting,” says Gus Faucher, senior economist at PNC Bank, noting that home builder confidence and new home construction are also up.

Falling inventories may be even more important than stronger sales, says Trulia economist Jed Kolko. In January, the unsold listed inventory was down almost 21% from a year earlier, NAR says.

As demand tightens, prices typically rise. Yet Kolko and others say that may be far off in many markets.

Almost 3.9 million homeowners are in foreclosure or more than 90 days late on their mortgages, says LPS Applied Analytics.

As those homes come to market, they’ll “keep prices down even as sales pick up and the economy improves,” Kolko says.

Getting rid of the excess supply will be a “drawn-out affair” that will take at least two more years, says IHS Global Insight economist Patrick Newport.

IHS predicts home prices will continue to fall this year on a national basis.

Markets without high numbers of foreclosures will see prices stabilize, if they haven’t already, Newport says.

Investors, who are buying homes to turn into rentals, drove 23% of January sales, NAR says.

In some markets, such as Phoenix and Las Vegas, demand for distressed homes is especially strong, says Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist.

He says the government’s plan to sell foreclosed homes it owns to investors to turn into rentals may not be needed in some markets: “If the market is working, maybe it should just be left alone.”

NAR revised down its December home sales rate to a pace of 4.4 million units. That means sales fell 0.5% instead of rising 5%.

The December numbers were adjusted more than normal as part of an annual recalculation of seasonal effects, such as stronger winter sales in recent years because investor-buyers are active all year.

Housing's Dilemma: There's Not Enough To Buy

admin — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 02:57:34 +0000

Last week I wrote about how fewer foreclosures up for sale in the housing market could actually mean lower overall home prices.

That may sound counter-intuitive, given that we always talk about how distressed sales deflate comparable home prices.

My reasoning is that foreclosures are in high demand right now, and organic, non-distressed sellers are still not coming back to the market. Without the foreclosures, there really is no competitive market.

I hate to say, “I told you so,” but … today the National Association of Realtors reported that inventories of homes for sale in January fell to 2.31 million, the lowest supply since March, 2005. Rather than pushing home prices higher, they are still down, 2 percent, from a year ago.

The Realtors noted that 35 percent of all home sales were distressed (either foreclosures or short sales). Investor demand is high, they say, even claiming that a recent program initiated to sell the foreclosures of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in bulk to investors is unnecessary.

“Based on the swiftness of how REO (bank-owned) properties are moving in the market, it may not be needed,” said NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun. He did admit that such a program would also take away thousands of potential listings from Realtors.

Banks are ramping up the repossessions, as the so-called “Robo-signing” foreclosure paperwork scandal is fading and a settlement with federal and state governments has been reached. But they are not going to flood the market with these properties, for fear of losing pricing power. That’s why we are now starting to see bidding wars in some of the hottest distressed markets.

Sales of existing homes in the West, which comprise the hardest hit states of Arizona, Nevada and California, jumped 8 percent in January month to month. More than half of sales out West are foreclosures and short sales. Demand is definitely rising, but only on the lower end.

If you look at sales distribution by price, 69.9 percent of homes sold in November were under $250,000. That moved up to 72.2 percent in January. Given that there is just a two month difference, seasonality, i.e, higher priced homes selling at different times of year, doesn’t apply.

As I wrote last week, organic, non-distressed sellers are making up less and less of the overall housing market. That does not a healthy housing market make. Without good, move-up homes available, the market cannot see real price appreciation.

“The main limit on sales volume now is willing sellers, not willing buyers,” says Glenn Kelman, CEO of Redfin, a real-estate brokerage.

Questions? Comments? RealtyCheck@cnbc.com And follow me on Twitter @Diana_Olick

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Real estate index brings good news for South Florida homeowners

admin — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 02:57:31 +0000

It may just be a blip, but South Florida homeowners will take good real estate news where they can get it.

A housing-price index that excludes foreclosure sales showed South Florida homes sold for 1.2 percent more in December than they did in November. The FNC Residential Price Index does not adjust for seasonal swings in the housing market, but it’s encouraging to note that December 2010 saw a 2 percent dip in the South Florida index. A gain for December 2011 hints at a possible turnaround in an historic collapse in prices. Whatever the cause, Miami was in the minority for December. Of the 30 metropolitan areas tracked by FNC, only seven saw higher prices than they did in November. Tampa joined Miami in beating the curve in December with a higher FNC reading, another good omen for real estate in the Sunshine State.

Or not. Similar indices — most notably the Case-Shiller index — have bounced off lows in the past, only to resume a general slide that began five years ago. The FNC index shows home prices are down 55 percent from their peaks. Case-Shiller mostly agrees, showing a 51 percent drop.

DOUGLAS HANKS

Home sales jumped in Jan. to fastest pace in almost 2 years

admin — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 20:56:06 +0000

By Bill Sikes, AP

A sign proclaims a residential home sale in Marborough, Mass. in November.

CW Financial Services Closes “The Crescent”

admin — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 20:56:05 +0000

BOSTON NEW YORK WASHINGTON–(BUSINESS WIRE)–

CW Financial Services (CW), a leading commercial real estate debt,
equity and investment management company, has announced the closing of
The Crescent, a multifaceted transaction that showcases the synergies of
the firm’s vertically integrated businesses lines and netted a full
recovery to the bondholders.

Developed in 2006, The Crescent is a Class A, mixed-use property located
in Beverly Hills. The property consists of 40,000 square feet of office
space and 88 luxury apartments and boasts a prime location, just one
block from the sunset strip and minutes from major highways, downtown
Los Angeles and LAX.

Rockwood Real Estate Advisors, a subsidiary of CW Financial Services,
was contracted to manage the marketing and sale of the property in June
of 2011. In September of 2011, the asset went under contract. The
purchaser was an institutional owner and client of Rockwood’s Capital
Markets team. The Capital Markets team was subsequently engaged by the
purchaser to arrange the debt for the acquisition and the transaction
closed in the first week of January 2012.

The 5-year fixed-rate loan was originated by Eric Baum, Managing
Director. Baum and his team executed the loan through CW’s life company
lending platform, which combines the expertise of CW’s multifamily
lending group, CWCapital, with that of Rockwood’s mortgage brokerage
group. Launched in late 2011, the platform has quickly established
relationships with 17 life companies and has already closed $83 million
in loans. The Crescent loan, originated on behalf of institutional
investors, is the largest loan the group has originated to date.

Charles Spetka, Chief Executive Officer of CW Financial Services,
commented on the transaction. “The Crescent transaction showcases the
opportunities that our integrated platform presents. The CW platforms
bring a very diverse mix of expertise encompassing all facets of the
real estate capital structure to the client. By harnessing those
resources, we are able to develop the most successful client and
property specific strategies and solutions – this differentiates CW from
the competition, and is what we want to convey to our clients and the
industry as a whole.”

About CW Financial Services

CW Financial Services LLC is a unique, vertically integrated commercial
real estate debt and equity platform. Offering a full range of products
and services including multifamily lending, servicing, gap equity
placement, special servicing, consulting, investment sales and
investment management, CW Financial Services employs approximately 460
professionals in 17 offices nationwide. For more information, visit www.cwcapital.com

CW Financial Services LLC
Elizabeth D Orcutt, 781-707-9334
Director of Marketing
eorcutt@cwcapital.com

Can't get a date? Buy a home

admin — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 20:56:01 +0000

Maybe it’s not because you drive a 1979 AMC Pacer. Maybe it isn’t your receding hairline, your bad breath or the way you snort when you laugh. Maybe the reason you can’t get a date is because you don’t own a home.

As unfair as it may make the universe seem, a recent poll conducted by Harris Interactive for real estate site Trulia.com found, as CNNMoney reports, more than a third of women and 18 percent of men prefer dating homeowners.

A measly 2 percent of women and 3 percent of men say they prefer a partner who rents.

And roommates?

Sixty-two percent said they prefer someone who lives alone.

But what about those young adults who went to college, graduated and then moved back in their parents’ home?

Fuhgeddaboudit.

The survey says only 5 percent of singles said they would even date such a person. “That’s a real deal-breaker,” said Michael Corbett, a spokesman for Trulia. “If you’re still living with your folks, you’re dead-on-arrival for dating.

But don’t give up hope. Five percent is still a lot of people. Another CNNMoney article points out there are about 18 million single women and about 14 million single men in the U.S.

A lot of these singles are living on their own — 28 percent of all households according to CNNMoney. A story on FoxCharlotte.com says single women are a fifth of home buyers. That leaves only about 10 percent of single men buying homes. “Maybe women just have it a little more together,” Realtor Frank Cantadore told FoxCharlotte.com. “Finding someone with a house that they own, that shows stability and maturity.”

And once a person has that house, that opens up dates that can be done at home. HealthyMarriage.org gives a list of home-dates (many of which are good for well-behaved singles) such as:

Make your favorite desserts

Chose a music CD and pretend you are going to a concert such as “An Evening with John Denver”

Recreate scenes from your favorite movies

Read the paper together (always a great date idea)

Play video or computer games together

Plant an indoor herb garden

Of course, ideas like these also work in rentals. They don’t work so well in a parent’s home — except with that special 5 percent who like that sort of thing.

This article uses aggregated content from CNNMoney, FoxCharlotte.com, and HealthyMarriage.org.

Some tips before you spring for that vacation rental home

admin — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 20:55:56 +0000

But we did find three appealing properties well located for a getaway from Washington that also hold the potential for cash from rentals. In North Carolina’s Outer Banks, we found a wood-shake beach cottage on Hatteras Island listed at $295,000 with four bedrooms, three bathrooms, a screened porch and an open air hot tub. On a peninsula jutting out into Deep Creek Lake, Md., we found a $269,000 three-bedroom log cabin minutes from the state park and a short drive to skiing and golf at Wisp Resort. If you’ve always wanted to swim with Virginia’s wild ponies, we found a charming beach house on Chincoteague Island with a water view, just blocks from Oyster Bay and listed at $339,000.

“A lot of people are not getting a great return on their money, whether it’s sitting in banks or the stock market, and are investing in real estate again,” said Chris Jett, a sales agent with Vantage Resort Realty in Ocean City.

Before jumping into a vacation investment, you should research the area and the rental history of the property itself or comparable properties. Just as with your primary residence, location is key. The closer the home is to the beach or other vacation attraction, the easier it will be to keep it full for the whole rental season. The view and ambience are also important.

Informed buyers wait for the perfect property to come on the market, sometimes taking a year or two to find the right opportunity, said Michael Davenport, a senior associate broker with Sun Realty, and president of the Outer Banks Association of Realtors. If your price target is around $300,000, you’ll need to make some compromises in location or size; you’re unlikely to get a big beachfront home in a prime vacation destination for that amount.

Look at how much you’ll spend on mortgage interest, maintenance and management fees, and calculate how much rental income you might receive to offset those costs. Be sure to consider the worst-case scenario: those recession years when people cut back on vacationing and your dream getaway sits empty for any part of those prime summer weeks from Memorial Day to Labor Day.

“The worst thing an investor has is a rental property that nobody wants to rent,” said Jonathan Hill, president of RealEstate Business Intelligence.

Chicago area home sales up, prices down in Jan.

admin — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 14:53:10 +0000

Existing-home sales in the Chicago area rose 15.7 percent in January, as home buyers continued to take advantage of attractive interest rates, but home prices continued to slide last month and additional declines are predicted.
The Illinois Association of Realtors reported Wednesday that 4,447 homes were sold in January in the nine counties surrounding Chicago, up from 3,844 a year earlier. However, the median price of $140,000 in January was down 11.4 percent from last January’s $158,000.

In Chicago, sales rose 5.7 percent, to 1,093 homes sold, while the median price of $149,000 was a decline of 0.7 percent from last year’s $150,000.

While sales of Chicago condos rose 10.5 percent, the median sales price fell 1.9 percent in January to $185,000. The pricing story on single-family homes in the city was a better one, as the median price rose to $125,500, up 5.8 percent. Sales volume was flat at 470 homes.

The uptick in sales volume was expected. For two months, real estate agents said they’d seen renewed interest in the housing market, spurred by record-low interest rates, mild temperatures and a perception that while home prices continue to fall, the size of the declines had moderated.

“Whether you’re a seller or a buyer, there are positives to this data, “said Loretta Alonzo, president of the Illinois Association of Realtors, said in a statement. “While sellers may not be getting all of the money they want for a house, they are getting traffic and interest at levels that haven’t been seen in several years.”

Pricing is expected to be an issue for much of this year, and the settlement announced this month by the federal government, state attorneys general and the top five servicers may exacerbate the declines as banks push foreclosures through the pipeline and move them onto the real estate market for resale at low prices. That will put more pressure on the pricing of traditional homes.

The state as a whole recorded its best January since 2007, several months after the housing market peaked.

mepodmolik@tribune.com | Twitter @mepodmolik

Miami Real Estate Tips for a Proper Home Selection

admin — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 14:53:08 +0000

There are thousands of residential properties that are available for homebuyers in Miami real estate. These homebuyers might experience a lot of problems as they look around the city for their ideal home. Here are some of the easy tips that will ensure a proper home selection for your purchase in Miami.
Visit Real Estate Firms in the City

Instead of visiting random locations in Miami just to find your ideal home to purchase, you might want to go directly to the source by checking out real estate firms to help you out. Normally these businesses have assorted selections of residential properties in the city and can offer different homes within the range of your specification and budget.

While checking these real estate businesses one by one, you might want to inquire about the prices of their residential properties, mortgage loans that they usually offer to their clients, as well as the payment terms that are involved so that you will be able to avoid problem later one once you close the deal.

Home Search through the Internet

The internet is a home of thousands of real estate sites that usually offers wide array of home in Miami real estate. One of the advantages that you can get in using this method is the convenient search feature that will only allow you to pick a home according to categories such as, available homes such as new residences, for sale homes and foreclosed units. You can also do the search according to the type of home like condos, apartments, single family homes, townhouses and so on. You can also start your search by checking the number of rooms, location and home price.

The mini-search engine feature of real estate sites allows a homebuyer to skim through the thousands of homes with those that fit their needs. This help you saves a lot of time and effort by searching through the selections one-by-one.

Hiring the Service of a Real Estate Agent

If you need additional help for your home search in Miami real estate, then there is nothing better than hiring the service of licensed real estate agents in the city.

These real estate experts know every single property that is being sold in the city. But if not, still they know where to look to ensure that you will get enough home selections that you can consider.

The advantage of hiring a real estate agent for your home acquisition project in Miami real estate market is their service to help their client to close the deal. They usually give their expertise in the market to prepare the documents, fix up legalities and permits, as well as negotiating with the seller within your best interest.

Ella Ayson
Miami Real Estate

How foreclosures affect buyers and sellers

admin — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 14:53:06 +0000

“Investors are interested in neighborhoods that were beat up by foreclosures and that have other redeeming features that they then believe will be the first to bounce back,” he says.

Those redeeming features might include easy access to public transportation, well-regarded schools, attractive shopping centers and other positive infrastructure elements. Neighborhoods that have such amenities can be “really interesting pockets, where there could be some very good values,” Israel says.

Condition

Foreclosure and short sale homes are often, though not always, in worse shape than other homes on the market. That’s especially problematic for buyers if a home has been vacant a long time because neglect can result in problems in plumbing, heating, cooling, electrical and other systems.

“There is a big difference,” Israel says, “between a property that has been vacant a few weeks and one that has been vacant a year or more.”

A home that’s in poor shape might not be a bad buy if the buyer understands the risks, he adds.

Sometimes, though, those risks can be difficult to assess if the term of vacancy isn’t known or the water, sewer, electricity and gas have been shut off. The utilities not being in service is “an interesting part of this equation that people miss all the time,” Israel says.

Buy or sell

The bottom line for buyers is that they need to “buy smart,” to use Israel’s term, researching neighborhoods and being aware of a home’s actual condition beyond its cosmetic appearance.

The bottom line for sellers, Cammarosano says, is that they need to get serious about pricing, cleaning, decluttering, staging and improving the value and desirability of their home.

“That’s getting real,” he says. “And if that’s not what you want, don’t sell it.”