While there are glimmers of hope that the real estate market is nearing a bottom, homeowners longing to get the For Sale sign off their front lawn still need to brace themselves for a rough road ahead.
Houses continue to flood the market and prices are still declining (although at a slower pace). Sales of existing homes, fell 3% during March (year over year, the decline was 7.1%), according to the most recent data from the National Association of Realtors. Meanwhile, the latest S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index indicated that home prices in 20 major cities dropped 18.6% year over year in February.
Tack on near-record-low mortgage rates and more generous tax incentives, and home buyers clearly have the upper hand. While that may mean sellers will need to make some concessions — like covering a percentage of buyers’ closing costs or their first few mortgage payments — they aren’t completely hamstrung. Sellers just need to know what it takes to stand out in a crowded market and how to appeal to buyers without sacrificing too much financially, says Tara-Nicholle Nelson, a real estate broker in Oakland, Calif.
To get the best deal when selling your home, try to avoid these all-too common mistakes.
See the link below to see the 10 common mistakes home sellers make
Read more via 10 Common Mistakes Home Sellers Make at SmartMoney.com.
“Nothing happens by accident in a supermarket. Everything is designed to sell.”
And that, says Consumer Reports retail expert Tod Marks, is the key thing to keep in mind as you go up and down the aisles of your local store. Knowing how to shop is vital.
Supermarkets “are in the real estate business,” Marks pointed out to Early Show consumer correspondent Susan Koeppen Monday in the first of her three-part series, “Supermarket Secrets.”
Read more via How Supermarkets Lure You To Buy More – CBS News.
When Warren Buffett speaks, it’s usually worth paying attention. This time, the Oracle of Omaha is voicing concerns about the ability of some battered local and state governments to pay off their debts. The idea of cities and states facing insolvency is alarming for sure, and Buffett isn’t alone. Moody’s recently assigned a “negative outlook” to the creditworthiness of all the nation’s local governments. The agency has rarely made such a sweeping generalization but said the magnitude of this recession warranted the move. The comments are the latest to have shaken the once-staid world of municipal bond investing.
Traditionally, muni bonds offered lower yields — usually about 20% less — than Treasury bonds, since their income isn’t taxed. But the group was crushed last year, sending prices down and yields up. Now bargain hunters have started to emerge, attracted by yields that are as much as 70 basis points, or 0.7%, more than similar 10-year Treasurys, for example. As a result, the S&P Muni index has climbed 7% this year, compared with the nearly 6% decline in the broader stock market. Continue reading “Could Municipal Bonds Really Default?” »
Listen to the April 21 WJCW radio interview with Valerie Joh who is seeking re-election as Alderman on the Kingsport Board of Mayor and Alderman
Click here for interview
In this interview, Valerie Joh discussed the Aquatic Center. She stated that Meadowview is the center of the population for all kids in Kingsport. Simply put, Valerie Joh wants the Aquatic Center located at Meadowview!!
A recent Kingsport Times-News article below gives additional information on Valerie Joh.
Joh, a six-year incumbent on the BMA, is the owner of Blue Ridge Properties of Kingsport. Joh said she knows her way around a budget and has a vested interest in Kingsport — three children and six grandchildren.
“I think our biggest challenge is to try and keep a positive outlook. We have got Kingsport on a roll, we’re looking positively at things that are going on, and I think we need to find a way to keep that atmosphere here,” Joh said. “In over 38 years of selling real estate, I have never once ran into a family who said I’m going to live here because your taxes are lower than Johnson City’s or Bristol’s. That’s not the biggest issue we deal with.
“I want to keep your property values high because that’s your biggest investment you make. To do that we have to keep Kingsport positive.”
When Joh ran for re-election four years ago, she said her main issue was downtown revitalization. This time around, she said Kingsport should work to develop more places to live and shop downtown and to do more to improve the Kingsport Public Library.
“It is behind the times when compared to the libraries of our sister cities,” Joh said.
The bailout may be coming to your local mall.
The credit crunch has thus far focused on the residential mortgage mess. But with $1.3 trillion in loans to shopping centers and other commercial properties coming due between now and 2013, another time bomb is ticking.
Read more via The Looming Crisis in Commercial Real Estate – TIME.
MARYVILLE, Tenn. — Clayton Homes has announced it will aid its buyers with three months’ payment if homeowners lose their jobs.
The Payment Protection Program will include homeowners’ mortgage, insurance and property taxes.
Read more via Clayton Homes pays mortgage if buyer loses job : Business : Knoxville News Sentinel.
What an amazing statistic, 1 in 9 homes across the United States are sitting empty. That my friends is the housing glut, and until those numbers come down, housing prices are going to have a very hard time coming up.
Read more via One in Nine Homes Are Vacant in the United States : The Real Estate Bloggers.
At the height of the U.S. housing boom, when building materials were in short supply, American construction companies used millions of pounds of Chinese-made drywall because it was abundant and cheap.
Now that decision is haunting hundreds of homeowners and apartment dwellers who are concerned that the wallboard gives off fumes that can corrode copper pipes, blacken jewelry and silverware, and possibly sicken people.
Read more via AP: Chinese drywall poses potential risks – Real estate- msnbc.com.
With U.S. housing prices lower and a tradition of wealthy Chinese putting a high proportion of assets in real estate, is this the start of a trend?
At the end of February, 40 wealthy Chinese embarked on a housing tour of the US. The trip, run by Soufun Holdings, one of China’s largest real estate companies, kicked off in Boston and continued on to San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York. For a fee of US$3,600 apiece, tour group members perused homes in the US$500,000 to US$1 million range.
Read more via Chinese Investors Are Buying U.S. Homes – BusinessWeek.
The Congressional Quarterly Press has released it’s most dangerous city list for 2008 and New Orleans has taken the lead. Last year Detroit was the leader of the pack, but now New Orleans is the most dangerous city.
Camden, New Jersey is second followed by Detroit, St. Louis, and Oakland. Camden had the lead in 2006 so they are climbing the charts again.
Top 10 Most Dangerous Cities in America 2008
- New Orleans
- Camden, NJ
- Detroit
- St. Louis
- Oakland
- Flint, Mich.
- Gary, Ind.
- Birmingham, Ala.
- Richmond, Calif.
- North Charleston, SC
via The Real Estate Bloggers