Housing Upgrades That Aren’t Worth It

When upgrading, home owners often seek features that aren’t only desirable to them but also what will add value to the home when it comes time for resale. Certainly, the annual Cost vs. Value survey can be one of your biggest assets in helping to advise clients. The annual survey by Remodeling Magazine, in conjunction with REALTOR Magazine, reveals specific remodeling projects that offer the biggest returns at resale. Read more

Baby Boomers Seek Smaller, Affordable Homes

Baby boomers who plan to move for retirement are looking for smaller, affordable homes that are easily accessible to medical care and near their family, finds a new poll of more than 1,000 adults born between 1946 and 1964 conducted by Associated Press-LifeGoesStrong.com.

Baby boomers who make more than $100,000 a year are the most likely to say they plan to buy a new home during retirement. For boomers who plan to purchase a new home, the most Read more

First-time Home Buyers Haven’t Vanished

First-time home buyers are snagging up homes at much the same pace they were before the first-time home buyers tax credit created a buying frenzy two years ago. Indeed, for the first seven months of this year first-time home buyers have made up 32 to 36 percent of the market, according to NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® statistics.

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Weekly Economic Summary – November 17, 2011

(From Bank of America)

The volatility in Europe that has been lingering for 18 months continues to develop. Last week, Greece’s Prime Minister George Papandreou announced his resignation. Lucas Papademos was named as interim Prime Minister of Greece. During his eight years with Greece’s Central Bank, he helped the country achieve very strong economic growth rates. Greece continues to be a very volatile situation, and continued uncertainty could once again push investors back into the U.S. dollar and U.S. bonds, helping home loan rates in the process.

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Weekly Economic Summary – October 27, 2011

(From Bank of America)

Last week, the Fed made headlines when Fed Governor Daniel Tarullo called for it to engage in another round of mortgage bond purchases. In order to really have an impact on housing, the Fed would have to announce something significant to get people to buy a home. Why? Because even now, with rates at historically low levels the sales pace in housing is tepid, due to structural problems in the labor market, which the Fed can’t fix.

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10 Tips for Those Who Have Decided to Buy

Wanting to buy a home and deciding to buy a home are two different things. The first is a desire or a dream. The second is commitment to achieve the goal. Do you want to buy, or have you decided to buy?

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What Sells a House

In today’s market many sellers want to know the secret to selling their homes quickly. They want to know ways to hold on to the equity they’ve build over the past decade.

Unfortunately, there is no golden equation that equals the perfect sale. Yet, while there is no “sure thing” in the housing market these days, there are certain factors that affect how quickly and for how much your home sells.

Here are the top ten. Consider how these apply to your own home, how that affects marketing, as well as what aspects of your home you should “play up” to elicit a better response from buyers.

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Weekly Economic Summary – October 6, 2011

(Summary Written by Bank of America)

Some pessimism crept back into the markets late last week as China’s manufacturing PMI contracted for a third consecutive month. There is growing fear that a slowdown in China could affect the already fragile global economy. Also personal income was reported lower than expected.

On the optimistic side, several economic reports were better than expected. New home sales for August were up 6.1% from a year earlier and the Case-Shiller Home Price Index rose in July from June in the 10 and 20 city survey, and was the fourth monthly gain in a row.

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Weekly Economic Summary – September 28, 2011

(From Bank of America)

Last week in review
(September 19 – 23, 2011)

The week began with speculation that the Fed would announce “Operation Twist” after its two-day meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee. Essentially, Operation Twist is where the Fed sells its holdings of short-term securities and notes and then purchases longer-term notes and bonds in order to try to lower longer-term rates even further.

The Fed did announce Operation Twist, but with some key surprises:

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To Buy or Rent – Now’s the Time to Follow the American Dream

With home prices dropping, minimal interest rates and the cost of rental properties on the rise, now may be the time for renters to seriously consider buying a house, according to HouseSavvy, a premier real estate and relocation organization headquartered in Massachusetts.

When the housing bubble burst in 2006, the cost of buying a house was considerably higher than renting that same house in most areas. Today, the opposite is true in many states, particularly those hit hardest in the housing crash—namely Arizona, California, Florida and Nevada and right behind them, Illinois, New York and New Jersey.

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