Market Trends and Condition

Spring buying pushed home prices up for a third straight month in most major U.S. cities in June. But the housing market remains shaky, and further price declines are expected this year.

You can read the whole story here:

http://www.cnbc.com/id/44325906

Pending sales of existing U.S. homes fell in July from June in the latest sign of weakness in the housing industry, data from a real estate trade group showed on Monday.

The National Association of Realtors Pending Home Sales Index, based on contracts signed in July, was down 1.3 percent to 89.7 from 90.9 in June.

Read the whole article here:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44313408/ns/business-real_estate/

A fellow DGer asked me about Days on Market and how it worked. I explained the theoretic process that each day the house is on the market until it sells is a DOM (Days on Market)The shorter the period should mean a quicker sales cycle.

However, some real estate agents are gaming the system. When a home listing gets too old on the MLS, some "smart" real estate agents are delisting the home for a couple weeks and then relisting it as a "new" listing. This resets the counter to zero. Therefore, as time progresses, the DOM marker starts to be meaningless. Now, to be fair, during normal real estate markets DOM was pretty accurate as there was no need to game the system.

I sure do and I hope you do too! We spend more and more time STUCK to our computers as we look for and evaluate offers and data. It is no wonder that REI is overrun with ANALYSTS!! The internet is the worlds largest library right at our fingertips. It is easy to dig and dig and get sidetracked. I may look at 50 properties a day on-line, but there is nothing about getting off my rear end and going out to actually look at a real live property. I see the neighborhood, the street, the landscaping. Do yourself a favor and go out and look at a few homes today. Remember, you really won't KNOW your marketplace until you view many, many properties. You will see trends, similarities, common ailments or benefits to your areas.
PROPERTY ACQUISITION IS A SCIENCE!!!

In today's market you need to do your due dilligence to find properties that will give you positive cash flow...

Here's link to the article; you can also download a spreadsheet to calculate your costs and see if your deal is a good deal.

http://www.zillow.com/blog/2011-08-08/investing-in-real-estate-what-is-a...

wishing everyone success,
Valerie

U.S. home mortgage applications for purchases fell to a nearly 15-year low last week as resurgent worries about the strength of the economy kept buyers at bay, an industry group said on Wednesday.

Read the whole story here:

http://www.cnbc.com/id/44254211

There are many reports beginning to filter through that the depressive state of the nation is so bad that it has formed a new internal nation. A nation of renters, whose sole survival is trended towards the rental market and avoiding the purchase of a home. This is certainly good news in two major ways: Buy and Hold is a great method to work for any of our DG Family members as the depression lifts in several years - selling the property can produce major funds. Now remember, I am a novice and learning the trends by reading Dean's books.

The number of people who bought new homes fell for the third straight month in July, putting sales on track to finish this year as the worst on records dating back half a century.

Read the whole story here:

http://www.cnbc.com/id/44241150

Here in Sacramento and El Dorado County's new home construction has began again. Veronica and I were driving around looking at some houses for sale and we noticed a lot of new construction going on at sites that had no new construction for about two years.

So that tells me here in California things are going to be turning around here soon. So now is the time to buy as many houses as you can at the very bottom because it will be going back up here soon.

For a lot of buyers it has been 2-3 years since they lost their homes and are ready to buy again.

Is there new home construction in anyone else's area ?

Steve.

Trulia.com just released its Summer 2011 Rent vs. Buy Index. It compares the costs of buying or renting a two bedroom condominium, apartment or townhouse in America’s 50 largest cities based on population.
Based on current market conditions, buying a home is cheaper than renting in 74% of major U.S. cities. It isn’t totally a black and white decision, as many areas are on the edge, and tax bracket or other consumer situations can influence which is best.

Here are the top five cities where buying beats renting:

1. Las Vegas
2. Detroit
3. Mesa
4. Fresno
5. Arlington

Here are the top five cities where renting beats buying:

1. New York
2. Fort Worth
3. Omaha
4. Seattle
5. San Francisco