A new study from the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University, “The State of the Nation’s Housing 2008,” finds the country poised to see an increase in housing demand over the next decade.

“The good news is that we still have a growing population,” said Nicolas Retsinas, director of the Joint Center for Housing Studies and one of the study’s authors. “As long as you have more households, more people are going to need places to live.”

Social trends - people getting married later and divorced more often - are making single-person households the fastest growing household type, the study finds. In addition, a long-term net in read more »
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Fortunately there are Realtors out there that want to do more than try out the Flip Video Camera or the Mixpo editing program and be lemmings for a veiled product placement marketing campaign…oh, you didn’t even realize you were being marketed to did you?

Thankfully, there are agents who actually respond to a call to action. They just aren’t on Active Rain. They must be too busy actually selling!

Take Denny Grimes in Cape Coral, here’s an agent who has not gotten the memo that it’s a down market and there aren’t any buyers. He missed it because he was out there selling 100 houses last week.

You won’t find Kurt Kinsey, a real estate read more »
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Growth:Blue Skies Ahead?
Existing home sales edge up 2 percent in May only second gain in past 10 months

Sales of existing homes edged up slightly in May although median home prices continued to fall. The National Association of Realtors reported that sales of existing single-family homes and condominiums rose by 2 percent to 4.99 million units last month.

This might be the start of something stable.

http://www.houseblogger.com/real_estate_blog_director/2008/06/growthblue-skie.html read more »
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Early this year the National Association of Realtors® (NAR) introduced the "Surround Sound" campaign, aiming to counteract the barrage of negative messages with an effort to "surround consumers with messages about the opportunities currently available to them in today's housing markets." At a state level the California Association of Realtors® (CAR), noting that "Consumers are flooded with negative stories and images on the airwaves, in newspapers, and on the Web," launched an initiative "to combat this onslaught". Since the beginning of the year CAR has provided its members with email advisories and a weekly "Market Matters" new read more »
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Even with the economy struggling and companies downsizing, some people are willing to risk buying a home because the California coastal market — with its proximity to urban areas, ideal climate and beautiful beaches — is guaranteed to rebound eventually. And the question is will homes ever be available in the $300,000 range again. read more »
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Top Sellers' Markets
1. Raleigh, NC
2. San Francisco, CA
3. Austin, TX
4. San Antonio, TX
5. St. Louis, MO
San Diego's is at 10 on the list of affordable cities. The cities that showed greater affordability increases include Boston, Mass., Orlando, Fla., Washington D.C., and Phoenix, Ariz.
Cities like San Diego or Tampa are improving in the housing affordability index because buying activity in the lower segment of the market has picked up. In a slow market, and especially one with tight credit, it's easier for first-time home buyers to purchase homes, and they're usually buying at the entry level. read more »
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Barron's [a paid publication]. Actually, there may be the start of a real estate recovery by the end of this year.

This is certainly a controversial stand. Keep in mind that inventory levels are stubbornly high (helped by foreclosures) and housing prices seem to fall further and further. What's more, the credit crunch is still here and there are serious problems with major real estate operators, such as with the implosion of IndyMac Bancorp (NYSE: IMB), as well as the deterioration of Fannie Mae (NYSE: FNM) and Freddie Mac (NYSE: FRE).

OK, so why the optimism? Well, if you peel back some of the recent housing data, it appears that th read more »
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Another Positive real estate site:
The 73 cities featured (with annual home sales of 1000 or more), include: Atlanta, GA; Austin, TX; Chicago, IL; Mesa, AR; Cincinnati, OH; Kansas City, MO; Boston, MA; Charlotte, NC, East Bay, CA; and Las Vegas, NV.

"What many brokers and agents don't realize," says d'Ancona, "is that they can have access to this kind of market intelligence on their computers all the time." d'Ancona is talking about REality(r), the service he's been providing to the North American residential real estate industry for more than 20 years. read more »
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Private equity investors like The Blackstone Group have been buying packages of properties from builders like Lennar and Syntex are buying homes at 30-40 cents on the dollar..... if you wait to hear that real estate is making a recovery then


you will already be too late. read more »
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Housing recovery prediction Santa Cruz Robert Kleinhenz, deputy chief economist for the California Association of Realtors, forecasts a turnaround next spring. read more »
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Sales and median prices of existing homes were up in 16 and unchanged in one among 58 counties that have Multiple Listing Services reporting to the state association of Realtors. Westchester and Putnam showed increased prices with lower sales volume. read more »
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Contrarian is the one making the money in real estate. read more »
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The American Dream is home ownership. ...there has never been a better opportunity to reach this dream than in the current housing market. Maine State Housing offers a loan program at 5.25%. There is another program that offers 100% financing and the opportunity to roll your closing costs into the loan. In addition, there are 3% down programs for 2-4 unit properties in which a non profit can gift the buyer their down payment!... prices have dropped as a result of over inventory, and interest rates are still at historic lows making our buying power better than it has been in the past 20 years! read more »
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Derica and Dusten Sonnon, both 36, recently took advantage of the economic climate to buy their first house on their own. Derica, an office manager for a photographer, and Dusten, a preschool teacher at an educational day care center, bought a foreclosed home from a bank. The property needed cosmetic repairs but was structurally in good shape.

"Most of it was just wear and tear," Derica Sonnon said. They bought the three-bedroom, two-bath house for $115,000 -- a price unheard of during the height of the real estate frenzy. read more »
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New Orleans is back! This is great news for a city so devasted just a few years ago. read more »
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Overstating the decreases:
36% decline in value in Sacramento, a 31% decline in Port St. Lucie, a 24% decline in Las Vegas, a 24% decline in Orange County, and a 20% decline in Tampa.All way overstated by the parrots in the media and bubblistas
Some of the reasons stated are that because less is selling, there is a smaller sample size.Most of the decreases are with distressed property which the studies do not represent.Also median prices today tend to be in less desireable areas of suburban areas. read more »
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