Market Trends and Condition

New single-family home sales unexpectedly fell in February to hit a record low, and prices were the lowest since December 2003, a government report showed on Wednesday, suggesting the housing market slide was deepening.

You can read more of this story at the following link:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42230083/ns/business-eye_on_the_economy/

I am posting this news article simply to make the newer investors aware of the economic climate that we are in. You can make money in these times, but you have to be smart about it. Read, study and do research. Don't just throw stuff on the wall and see what sticks. You will lose money by doing this.

Remember: Read, Study and do Research.

This short story from MSNBC.com. It shows that we may be heading back towards a double dip. Be careful out there.

Sales of previously owned U.S. homes fell unexpectedly sharply in February and prices fell to their lowest in nearly nine years, an industry group said Monday.

The National Association of Realtors said sales fell 9.6 percent month over month to an annual rate of 4.88 million units, snapping three straight months of gains. The percentage decline was the largest since July.

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The rental market is heating up.

Average U.S. apartment vacancy rates dropped to 6.6% last year from 8%, according to property-research firm Reis, while rents rose 2.3%. This has developers salivating over the potential for a multiyear rental boom. After all, the glut of foreclosed, single-family homes so far isn't proving much competition. Occupied apartments rose by about 58,000 in the fourth quarter, the biggest increase for that period in 10 years, according to Reis.
It is "very good to be in the apartment business today," David Neithercut, chief executive of Equity Residential, the biggest public U.S. real-estate investment trust, remarked at a recent conference.

Here is a great story about the problems that are occurring in Florida. FYI.

It's not always easy to feel sorry for sunny Florida. But they just got hit with another blow.

On Thursday, the Census Bureau revealed that 18% -- or 1.6 million -- of the Sunshine State's homes are sitting vacant. That's a rise of more than 63% over the past 10 years.

To read more go to:

http://money.cnn.com/2011/03/18/real_estate/florida_vacant_homes/index.h...

As promised, here is what I came up with. You can add to some of them, or use however you want. I will say the property Manager sheet works great.

I hope these help you.

Here is an article from CNBC.com that talks about the current real estate market out there. The link is:

http://www.cnbc.com/id/41391848

Or you can read it here:

The glimmer of hope that housing would stage a sustainable comeback this spring has melted with the winter snow.
Even as many await the traditional surge of buyers and sellers in the warmer months, analysts say it will be a year before there's any solid improvement in housing.
"We are going to be disappointed the rest of 2011," says Paul Dales, senior US economist at Capital Economics. "There's still weak demand, too many houses on the market. Things won't get better until 2012."

Here's an article I found interesting, and it makes sense. What do you think? (from Money Magazine)

_______________________

Just a few years ago you could count on getting the bulk of your money back for almost any home-improvement project you took on. Today merely replacing a toilet seat can feel like throwing caution, and cash, to the wind. According to a study from Remodeling magazine, the average return on value for an upgrade declined from 87% in 2005 to 64% in 2009. But these six new rules will help you maximize your return on your remodeling investment.

in Charlottesville/Albemarle county VA.

If you think YOUR market is bad,look where I live and deal with.

The Kluge House was listed 16 months ago for a record setting $100 million. !!!

Over 60 people attended the auction.

Mr. Donald Trump came here last week to bid on a foreclosure auction of the Kluge House in Albemarle county,(23,538 sq ft) on 98 acres loans against it at $22.8 million.(sold for $15.26 million) Kluge also own the adjacent property consisting of 217 acres, the mansion's former golf course along with and additional home is not for sale at this time.

Mr. Donald Trump is interested in ALL the Kluge property.

Median prices here are $350k and up...UVA college town

After another bad year of new home sales, the housing market is still in shambles. Yes, there are some places in the country currently unaffected by this mess, but if unemployment doesn't start decreasing, we are in for a double dip in our economy. This latest oil fiasco doesn't help us either in stabilizing our economy. Of course, we have no one to blame but ourselves.

New home story can be seen here:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41757771/ns/business-real_estate/