reportonbusiness.com: Signs of life in U.S. housing market

If you blinked you may have missed it. But on a day that featured another batch of dreadful U.S. economic data, there was a tiny sliver of light: U.S. mortgage applications rose last week.

Actually, soared is more like it. According to the Mortgage Bankers Association, its index of applications to refinance or take out new loans leaped 112 per cent from the previous week – the biggest increase on record – as borrowers rushed to lock in lower mortgage rates.

So does this mean the housing market is poised for recovery? Not likely. But it does show that the government’s efforts to stimulate consumer lending are having the desired effect. Besides, it’s about the only piece of positive news out there, so let’s dig a bit deeper and see what it means.

via reportonbusiness.com: Signs of life in U.S. housing market.

6 Key Facts About the First-Time Buyer Tax Credit

I’ve made my perspective very clear on a previous post about this “tax-credit”, but if you’re up to taking advantage of it, it’s all yours. Here’s a great article I came across thanks to Kimberly D. Mackey, MCSP, CMP, Realtor®.

The $7,500 home ownership tax credit that the federal government created earlier this year as part of the Housing and Economic Recovery Act (H.R. 3221) is another tool at your disposal to encourage potential buyers to jump off the fence and get into the real estate market.

When you combine the tax credit with today’s low interest rates, wide selection of for-sale inventory, and affordable home prices, many of the pieces are in place for your customers to buy now. But tax credits can be confusing. To help your clients understand how the credit works and why it would help them, you must learn the details.

Here are 6 things you should be able to explain to prospects and clients:

via First-time Buyer Tax Credit: REALTOR® Magazine

OBVIOUS: Florida homes not so expensive compared to western states

Is it just me, or is this not common knowledge? I’m all about putting out positive information, but they reference Ormond Beach and Key West in this article. Were they on vacation writing this stuff? There’s gotta be a nice, fat expense report on someone’s desk. I’m sure of it. To wrap up the article, the compare our home prices to Dubai and Ecuador. Huh?!

A lot may be said about home prices in Florida, but when Coldwell Banker decided to compare the state with the rest of the nation, Florida is pretty much in the middle of the pack.

The most affordable homes in Florida are located in Ormond Beach at $201,233, while the most expensive homes can be found in Key West, where an average price is $818,239.

Florida homes not so expensive compared to western states – Tampa Bay Business Journal:.

In Rescue to Stabilize Lending, U.S. Takes Over Mortgage Finance Titans – NYTimes.com

In Rescue to Stabilize Lending, U.S. Takes Over Mortgage Finance Titans – NYTimes.com.

Ok everyone, grab a shovel!

This space for rent.

Reuters- Fannie, Freddie shares dive on bailout fears, bonds up

In other news, today is Wednesday. (yawn)

Good News, Bad News

Oh, if it were only a figment of our imagination...

 This will more than likely be a topic I’ll be doing pretty frequently. Here are two articles from the same publication (St. Pete Times) that contradict each other.

First, let’s rip the band-aid. The bad news focuses on the builders, building starts and permits (nationally). Yes, they’ve slowed down, but we’re still building right? There’s quite a bit of comparisons to the 80’s and 90’s for such a short article, but then again isn’t that when things were “normal”? Robert Toll (Toll Brothers) makes a cameo in the article saying things are “dismal” and then using some odd metaphor. It’s no secret the luxury home builders are feeling the crunch more-so than most.

Happy Time! GTAR does a good job here of leaking every bit of positivity they can proclaiming a higher number (5% increase) of sales in Tampa Bay than the previous month. There’s no breakdown of exactly what types of homes are selling (short sales?) and just when we’re ready to jump on the “love train” the article manages to commit a major party foul by reminding us that “The top July for sales was 2,932 homes in 2005. This year’s showing is 54 percent below that peak.”

Yeah, we know. We were there. Thanks.

St. Pete Times: Home building activity, confidence drop in unison; Tampa area home sales post July rebound

Home Prices Start to Show Signs of a Turnaround

C? NoBody Cares.

I skimmed through this article about as quick as I usually flip past CNBC on my TV, but every piece of good news helps, right? They basically don’t say much that you wouldn’t already know, although the one thing that automatically discredits this article to me is the use of California as a national barometer. California might as well be located somewhere near Equatorial Guinea (thx Olympics!) in terms of real estate comparisons because the market there is much more tumultuous than the rest of the country. Every bit of light that you can shine at the end of the tunnel helps, so read the article and use at your own discretion.

Speaking of which, I couldn’t bring myself to click on the video of the guy who thinks he has the answer to fix the “housing mess”, but you might be a braver person than I.

 

CNBC: Home Prices Start to Show Signs of a Turnaround