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Single-family starts, permits fall in November

The pace of groundbreaking for home construction in the U.S. fell in November after rebounding for the first time in four months in October, while building permits slid to the lowest level in 14 1/2 years.

Housing starts declined 3.7 percent to a seasonally adjusted 1.187 million annual rate in November, after rising 4.2 percent in the previous month to 1.232 million, the Commerce Department said this week. Year-to-year, housing starts during November were 24.2 percent below the level of construction in the same month of 2006.

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Existing home sales could hit 5-year low

Realtors forecast for year sees the outlook worsening in 2008

WASHINGTON – Sales of existing homes in the U.S. are forecast to decline to a five-year low in 2007, a trade group for real estate agents said Tuesday, and the outlook for 2008 is worsening.

The ninth-straight downwardly revised monthly forecast from the National Association of Realtors calls for U.S. existing home sales to fall 12.7 percent this year to 5.66 million, down from 6.48 million last year.

Last month, the association predicted a 10.8 percent drop from a year ago.

This year’s sales would be the lowest since 2002, when sales hit 5.63 million. The Realtors group forecasts sales will rise slightly next year to 5.69 million, but that is down from last month’s prediction of 6.12 million.

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Florida: Increased Market for Townhouses

The market for townhouses has increased throughout the state. This is because single family home prices have gone up.

Townhouse is a cross between a condo and a single-family home and offers the best criteria of both worlds. These units are detached with private entrance or gate and the owner need not worry taking care of a landscaping.

This type of units is not viewed same with the condo boom, but seen as a substitute to higher land and construction costs of a single houses.

Townhouses production has increasingly grown for the past five or six years in south Florida. Because of this boom and low prices, more family are buying or moving into townhouses.

(image source : brownstoner.com

Banks: Foreclosure Increases , Sales Decreases

Now days, foreclosure is alarmingly increasing in higher rate and because of this, lenders are acquiring homes faster than selling them off.

About 2% of home loans were foreclosed by the end of last year, and was noted as the highest foreclosure rate since the Mortgage Bankers Association started collecting data.

It was also mentioned that the heaviest concentrations of foreclosed loans are in Florida, Nevada, Ohio, Michigan & Indiana. Rallying in the foreclosure are California, Arizona & Georgia. And because of this increase, it is expected that about two-thirds of homeowners will lose their homes.

And some of these houses in foreclosure state will not totally be owned by banks. Because borrower will go into deals with the lenders on easing the loan terms and allowing them to catch up on payments.

(image source : howstuffworks.com

Dos & Dont’s : Perk Up Tips Before Selling Part II

Here are some more guides in making our homes more inviting and sellable to prospect buyers

1. Reduce Odors – do everything to minimize the odor in our homes caused by smoking, pets or cooking. People who walk in our homes never forget the smell.

2. Do minor repairs – Always take a good look around your home and view it in a buyer’s perspective, so try to oil doors fix handrails and other others

3. Change outdated light fixtures – using a new light fixtures help brighten the once boring old-fashioned overhead fixture, like a new wall sconces or pendant light

4. Clean the Carpeting – to avoid extra cost of replacing an old carpet, just have clean, sometimes buyers prefer their own carpet style.

5. Garage and Basement – clear away all the stuff stashed in that area, its ok if your not selling the place, but having it clean is a bonus points for a quick selling

(image source : rdblack.com)

Dos & Dont’s : Perk Up tips before Selling

Showing you homes to prospect buyers is not an easy task, we want them to see our homes to be at its best. Here are some guides:

1. Front Entrance – Be sure to make your front-door area looks nice and inviting because prospect buyers usually drive by before wanting to see the inside of the house.

2. Clear Away the clutters – Put away anything that will distract buyers from looking or concentrating on the house, like personal photos, boxes, and other stuff.

3.Thoroughly Clean the house – Have a schedule time to make the important areas of the home clean like the bathrooms, wash the windows, kitchen and light fixtures

4. Freshen up the rooms – try to repaint the much-used rooms in neutral colors to make them look fresh and clean. This help makes the house more sellable.

5.Arrange Furniture – try to rearrange the position of the furniture’s to make it look more spacious and remove extra pieces that could clutter the way.

(image source : dirtcheaprepairs.ne)

Canada: Housing Market Drops

According to some evidence, Canada’s housing market is been dropping for four consecutive months, at least 15% below than last summer. In the first quarter of 2008, the average resale of home prices declined. And the demand for new residential building and single-family home permit has sharply dropped, and unsold new homes are trending higher. Another factor for the housing decrease, is the inhospitable weather and home renovation expenses are beginning to cost higher.

Canada is making a risk in doing an eventual price correction for its real estate market. While inventories of unsold houses are getting high, market for this is not overbuilt, wherein new houses built are regulated. Also, Canadian lenders have maintained a conservative loan qualifying criteria and sometimes an adjustable mortgage rate, to help lessen foreclosure.

(image source : nationalpost.com)

Home Prices Rise – A Bit

Home prices are on the rise but industry analysts still say they are at so low levels it’s still prime time to buy properties and other forms of real estates while they are still cheap. But with no end in sight to the economic crunch, there’s no telling when the market would ever recover. Some people in the industry forecasting the end to the current crisis to come by 2012, nobody knows how the industry would survive. But for the mean time, people who could afford to purchase property should take advantage of the low prices, just be sure to do ample homework on the property so you don’t put all your eggs in one empty box.

Mortgage Rates at their lowest – And People Know About It

The rise in mortgage loans are on the rise and people couldn’t be happier for they couldn’t afford these financial assistance packages if the market was still in its prime. Many real estate industry analysts are noticing the rise but they say it won’t last long for the market s still experiencing a default rate of over 50%. This translates to that much people who are defaulting or are so late in their monthly payments they are facing foreclosures. Jobs are still being shed by companies and with it comes the ability of these very people to pay up their mortgages. With no way to finance their homes, and their job assistance checks barely able to sustain their lives, it seems that only a miracle can take this recession away.

Real Estate – Is It Gonna Get Worse?

Well, as if it couldn’t get any worse, the real estate industry was hoping that the economic figures last year in their corner of the woods have been leveling out, it wasn’t. For the industry as a whole is till doing bad with prices continuing to slide ever lower and mortgages still defaulting. People who loved the new administration with their new view into the industry as a whole have been re-thinking their overall grading of the government which has done little to stem the worsening economic conditions. Hailed as the “trillion dollar economic blunder”, it seems that even the economists who promoted the President’s move to open the Federal Government’s coffers are having second thoughts, saying ti may have warranted more study before it should have been allowed to pass. Read the rest…