Market Trends and Condition

The posturing and debate going on in Congress and at the White House over raising the debt limit is creating economic uncertainty. This uncertainty is causing changes and hesitation in the activities of investors and major corporations. If investors get spooked, interest rates could be driven upward. Not only that but home prices could be further depressed and the economy would take another negative shock.

You think it's bad now. Read this story and you will see that even banks are getting ready for a longer period of housing crisis.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/43913483

I'd rather be 3 months late to the party instead of 3 years too early. But that's just me.

This article was written by Marcie Geffner at Bankrate.com on May 12, 2011. It may be old news, but for some reason, I just saw it today.

Have too many foreclosed properties?

Why not give them away?

That's what Bank of America plans to do with as many as 150 vacant and abandoned properties in and around Chicago through a new "collaboration" with the city that's intended to address the problem of abandoned properties.

"Unfortunately," BofA said in a statement, "many homeowners faced with unemployment, underemployment and other economic hardships have transitioned to alternative housing situations, and in many cases, have walked away from their homes, leaving behind vacant and deteriorating properties that can cause neighborhood blight."

Here is the latest article on the housing market:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43892903/ns/business-real_estate/

Being that we are at the end of July and there has been no housing recovery, by opinion is that we will have another leg down this fall and winter. I project another 10 - 20% depending on the stability of your region. This doesn't mean you should sit back and relax as there are great bargains to be found way under the market.

But be smart and be careful. But if you don't know what you are doing or can't follow Dean's blueprint, then do something else that will make your family some money.

You know, there is a lot of reports about how bad the real estate market are and that this is one of the worst real estae markets. I've been in real estate for 30 years and i have seen 4 sizeable downturns and i have heard a lot of people lament not taking advantage of a bad market until it's to late and prices have escualted.

As a stock broker we had a saying, "Buy low, Sell high."

Let's face it, we can buy property today in many areas that are at bargain basement prices and there are a number of strategies that we can use to control these properties.

So, here is the question: Do you buy properties today at a low price or wait until we are in a recovery and lose out on the low prices because we waited for it to be popular to buy in a down market.

Think about it!

Because of the debt ceiling news coverage, this little news trinket escaped coverage: 1 in 5 working age males is now unemployed. That's a 20% figure.

now that the space shuttle program is complete. The space coast has now become the ghost coast. Lots of opportunity to pick up housing in these counties as people will certainly need to sell. But with a current unemployment in these counties of 11%, who are you going to find as buyers?

Opportunity? YES. Randomly? NO.

This story from CNBC.com:

Sales of previously owned homes fell in June, defying expectations for even a slight pickup after a lousy spring selling season.

The National Association of Realtors said sales fell 0.8 percent month over month to an annual rate of 4.77 million units, the lowest since November, as cancellations of pending contracts surged. May's sales were unrevised at a 4.81 million-unit rate.

Economists polled by Reuters had expected sales to rise 2.9 percent to a 4.90 million-unit pace. In the 12 months to June, sales dropped 8.8 percent.

After six months, sales are on pace to finish behind last year's 4.91 million homes sold — the weakest sales in 13 years. Sales have fallen in four of the past five years.

I WANT TO BUY IN OHIO...ANYONE FROM THERE?

Here's an excerpt of an article I read on the paper this morning that might be of interest to investors who are thinking of buying apartment buildings... or SFR.
Valerie

Per the L.A. Times on Sunday 7/17/2011 (Roger Vincent), Developers are investing in apartments as rents increase and homeownership loses its appeal. It states that getting financing is still a challenge for apartment developers today, but apartments are now the favored class of commercial real estate among buyers and builders. 'If you see a building under construction, it's most likely an apartment complex. Next decade is likely to be the most profitable for the industry (real estate developers) in the last 20 years'.