FRIDAY FACTS
February 11, 2011
Here’s a notable quote from Tracey Velt in a RealTrends blog, “I was in the market for a house in 2005. Unsure whom we wanted to use as our real estate professional, my husband and I called the listing agents for properties we would consider. We looked at 10 homes, 10 different listing agents. Only one prequalified us. Only one took our names and asked us what we were looking for. Only one found out that we had two houses to sell in addition to the home we were buying. Guess who got our business? Guess who we’ll call the next time?”
From DSNews.com: David Shulman, a senior economist with UCLA says, “Unfortunately, even with the job gains averaging 150,000/month in 2011 and 200,000/month in 2012, unemployment will remain above 9% through the 3rd quarter of 2012.”
From an article by Mary Ellen Podmolik in RISMedia: “Looming large over the mortgage market are provisions of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act that have yet to be finalized. Among them is a requirement that mortgage lenders maintain some ‘skin’ in the game on the mortgages they originate by holding at least 5% of the credit risk rather than bundling the loans and selling them off entirely.”
NAR projects sales of existing homes will rise 7.9% to 5.3 million in 2011, and that median price will rise .5% to $173,800.
Think about it. Teresa Boardman writes in Inman News, “I am working with a single father who wants to make sure there are children in the neighborhood for his son to play with. One simple thing parents can do is look for swing sets. If there are swing sets, there are probably children to go with them. If I encouraged him to live in a neighborhood with a large population of children, I would be guilty of steering”.
Friday, February 11, 2011
Friday, February 4, 2011
Friday Facts February 4, 2011
FRIDAY FACTS
February 4, 2011
An article in RISMedia, “Extended Families Come Together under One Roof to Make Ends Meet” offers the following statistics: The average home today has 2.59 people, the highest number in a decade, and just 357,000 new households were formed in the U.S. last year, the lowest number since at least 1947.
In the Bay State Realtor, Robert Kutner, Esquire writes on the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court’s recent ruling that every property owner now has a duty to use “reasonable care” for the protection of others from hazards arising from snow and ice. He suggests that every owner should:
Review insurance policies to be sure there is adequate coverage
Determine whether contractors or those hired to remove snow and ice have insurance
Be vigilant when there is newly fallen snow or when temperatures allow melting and re-freezing. If complete clearing is not possible, warning signs may be appropriate.
§ When representing buyers, keep in mind a statistic from Mary Umberger in Inman News that 45% of home owners association managers say their groups are facing “serious” problems as a result of the economic downturn, and 9% describe their situation as “severe”.
§ RISMedia notes that the 2010 census shows movement of people from the Northeast and the Midwest to the South and West. Texas was the big winner in the decade just ending. With its low home prices and pro-business, pro-growth policies, Texas felt relatively little effect from the housing melt down and has bounced back from the recession faster than other big states.
§ Zillow’s traffic in December exceeded 13 million unique users, up 77% from the previous December.
§ RealTrends reports that the annual consumer credit forecast from U.S. credit bureau TransUnion foretells a 20% drop in national mortgage loan delinquencies by the end of 2011.
February 4, 2011
An article in RISMedia, “Extended Families Come Together under One Roof to Make Ends Meet” offers the following statistics: The average home today has 2.59 people, the highest number in a decade, and just 357,000 new households were formed in the U.S. last year, the lowest number since at least 1947.
In the Bay State Realtor, Robert Kutner, Esquire writes on the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court’s recent ruling that every property owner now has a duty to use “reasonable care” for the protection of others from hazards arising from snow and ice. He suggests that every owner should:
Review insurance policies to be sure there is adequate coverage
Determine whether contractors or those hired to remove snow and ice have insurance
Be vigilant when there is newly fallen snow or when temperatures allow melting and re-freezing. If complete clearing is not possible, warning signs may be appropriate.
§ When representing buyers, keep in mind a statistic from Mary Umberger in Inman News that 45% of home owners association managers say their groups are facing “serious” problems as a result of the economic downturn, and 9% describe their situation as “severe”.
§ RISMedia notes that the 2010 census shows movement of people from the Northeast and the Midwest to the South and West. Texas was the big winner in the decade just ending. With its low home prices and pro-business, pro-growth policies, Texas felt relatively little effect from the housing melt down and has bounced back from the recession faster than other big states.
§ Zillow’s traffic in December exceeded 13 million unique users, up 77% from the previous December.
§ RealTrends reports that the annual consumer credit forecast from U.S. credit bureau TransUnion foretells a 20% drop in national mortgage loan delinquencies by the end of 2011.
Friday, January 28, 2011
Friday Facts January 28, 2011
FRIDAY FACTS
January 28, 2011
RISMedia has an article by Chip Poli on 4 Tips to Ensure a Smooth Real Estate Transaction:
1. Have your client check their credit score to make sure they meet minimum requirements. Don’t waste your time showing homes to someone who can’t buyer them.
2. Have your client obtain a pre-approval
3. Make sure your client has set aside enough cash for closing
4. Your client should be prepared to pay closing costs unless they qualify for a no points, no closing costs loan.
§ Here’s an interesting response from Tara-Nicholle Nelson in Inman News to a seller complaining that her agent didn’t show their home to her own buyers, just to other agents with their clients. “You seem to be operating under the impression that your agents primary job is to personally procure buyers and show them your home herself. In fact, your agent’s primary job is to market the property, not just or even primarily to buyers, but to buyer’s brokers.”
§ Carl White, Chief Strategist for MortgageMarketingAnimals.com offers a simple 10 work email that will revive dead deals from months past for real estate agents:
Subject Line: A quick question for you
Email Body: “Are you still looking to buy a home on Cape Cod?”
He says that you may be tempted to add to this email, but don’t. It has three things going for it: It’s short, it’s personalized, and it’s expecting a response.
Here’s something to think about from a RealTrends blog: Jim Rohn’s philosophy on wealth – if you make a sale, you make a living. If you make an investment of time and good service in a client, you can make a fortune.
A new columnist for Inman News, Ken Harney wrote an article noting that the Obama administration is working on an energy scoring program for houses. They will shortly begin pilot tests of energy rating disclosures in 10 real estate markets across the country. Home sellers in France must provide their energy consumption rating scores to any interested buyer and as of January 1st, have to include their ratings in all ads whether online or in print, and at the real estate office..
January 28, 2011
RISMedia has an article by Chip Poli on 4 Tips to Ensure a Smooth Real Estate Transaction:
1. Have your client check their credit score to make sure they meet minimum requirements. Don’t waste your time showing homes to someone who can’t buyer them.
2. Have your client obtain a pre-approval
3. Make sure your client has set aside enough cash for closing
4. Your client should be prepared to pay closing costs unless they qualify for a no points, no closing costs loan.
§ Here’s an interesting response from Tara-Nicholle Nelson in Inman News to a seller complaining that her agent didn’t show their home to her own buyers, just to other agents with their clients. “You seem to be operating under the impression that your agents primary job is to personally procure buyers and show them your home herself. In fact, your agent’s primary job is to market the property, not just or even primarily to buyers, but to buyer’s brokers.”
§ Carl White, Chief Strategist for MortgageMarketingAnimals.com offers a simple 10 work email that will revive dead deals from months past for real estate agents:
Subject Line: A quick question for you
Email Body: “Are you still looking to buy a home on Cape Cod?”
He says that you may be tempted to add to this email, but don’t. It has three things going for it: It’s short, it’s personalized, and it’s expecting a response.
Here’s something to think about from a RealTrends blog: Jim Rohn’s philosophy on wealth – if you make a sale, you make a living. If you make an investment of time and good service in a client, you can make a fortune.
A new columnist for Inman News, Ken Harney wrote an article noting that the Obama administration is working on an energy scoring program for houses. They will shortly begin pilot tests of energy rating disclosures in 10 real estate markets across the country. Home sellers in France must provide their energy consumption rating scores to any interested buyer and as of January 1st, have to include their ratings in all ads whether online or in print, and at the real estate office..
Friday, January 21, 2011
Friday facts 1-21-11
FRIDAY FACTS
January 21, 2011
In December, NAR estimated that the sales of existing homes in 2010 would be 4.8 million, down about 6% from 2009. Contributing factors were unemployment, tight credit and worries about further price declines.
From an Inman News story titled, “Real Estate Market to Hit Bottom in 2011?” Altos Research expects the housing recovery to start in about a year. From 2012 to 2014 or so, the company expects the market to stabilize and slowly improve, though high unemployment and high inventory will keep prices low even as transactions pick up over time.
Here’s a quote from Lou Barnes in Inman News: “Financial market people do all they can to ignore housing, hoping that one day it will just go away. On current trend, it might. This notion of consumer-based economic acceleration is fatally incompatible with all four home-price gauges reporting new declines (CoreLogic, Zillow, Federal Housing Finance Agency, Case-Shiller); and new declines in sales, with possibly no net absorption of inventory at all. A 1% increase in mortgage rates is not helpful.”
RealTrends reports that Freddie Mac’s servicers have been told to delay initiating foreclosures for at least nine months for financially troubled service members who are released from active duty through the end of 2011 and have Freddie Mac owned mortgages.
We’re doing better than many. CoreLogic reports that 15% of homes with mortgages in Massachusetts are worth less than the loan amount compared with 23% of homes nationwide
A holiday card sent by Inman News had a quote from Albert Einstein that we should internalize:
“Learn from yesterday
Live for today
Hope for tomorrow”
January 21, 2011
In December, NAR estimated that the sales of existing homes in 2010 would be 4.8 million, down about 6% from 2009. Contributing factors were unemployment, tight credit and worries about further price declines.
From an Inman News story titled, “Real Estate Market to Hit Bottom in 2011?” Altos Research expects the housing recovery to start in about a year. From 2012 to 2014 or so, the company expects the market to stabilize and slowly improve, though high unemployment and high inventory will keep prices low even as transactions pick up over time.
Here’s a quote from Lou Barnes in Inman News: “Financial market people do all they can to ignore housing, hoping that one day it will just go away. On current trend, it might. This notion of consumer-based economic acceleration is fatally incompatible with all four home-price gauges reporting new declines (CoreLogic, Zillow, Federal Housing Finance Agency, Case-Shiller); and new declines in sales, with possibly no net absorption of inventory at all. A 1% increase in mortgage rates is not helpful.”
RealTrends reports that Freddie Mac’s servicers have been told to delay initiating foreclosures for at least nine months for financially troubled service members who are released from active duty through the end of 2011 and have Freddie Mac owned mortgages.
We’re doing better than many. CoreLogic reports that 15% of homes with mortgages in Massachusetts are worth less than the loan amount compared with 23% of homes nationwide
A holiday card sent by Inman News had a quote from Albert Einstein that we should internalize:
“Learn from yesterday
Live for today
Hope for tomorrow”
Friday, January 14, 2011
Friday Facts January 14, 2011
Friday Facts
January 14, 2010
The CoreLogic report of 12/13/10 quotes their chief economist, Mark Fleming, “Negative equity is a primary factor holding back the housing market and broader economy. The good news is that negative equity is slowly declining but the bad news is that price declines are accelerating, which may put a stop to or reverse the recent improvement in negative equity.”
This same report notes the state where homeowners have the greatest positive equity: New York, 50%; Hawaii, 43%; Massachusetts, 40%; Rhode Island, 40% and Connecticut, 39%.
Inman News pulled “Tech Must-Haves for the New Year” from The Real Deal. They include:
QR codes – when scanned with the camera in a mobile phone, the user is given a message or website.
Docusign – allows contracts to be signed digitally
Mobile receipt – converts receipts into expense reports with the phone photo
Rulerphone – digitally measures objects after the phone’s camera takes a picture.
According to the Remodeling 2010-11 Cost vs. Value Report (www.costvsvalue.com), for mid-range remodeling projects, the following gave the greatest cost recoup upon sale in the Boston area:
1. 102.1% Steel entry door replacement
2. 72.8% Minor kitchen remodel tied with wood deck addition
3. 72.4% Vinyl siding replacement tied with wood window replacement
4. 72.2% Attic bedroom remodel
5. 71.6% Vinyl window replacement
· Inman News reports that the Congressional Oversight Panel overseeing TARP concluded that the Obama administrations Home Affordable Modification program will fall far short of its goals, and the Treasury Department’s failure to acknowledge this before it lost its authority to reallocate the $30 billion in TARP funds earmarked for the program means most of that money won’t be spent.
· From RealTrends: “Consumers today are expert comparison shoppers, always on the hunt for the best deal, but when it comes to their mortgage, borrowers often locked in their 1st home loan offer. According to a new Lending Tree survey, 96% of American consumers compare prices when shopping for anything but nearly 40% obtain just one loan quote.”
January 14, 2010
The CoreLogic report of 12/13/10 quotes their chief economist, Mark Fleming, “Negative equity is a primary factor holding back the housing market and broader economy. The good news is that negative equity is slowly declining but the bad news is that price declines are accelerating, which may put a stop to or reverse the recent improvement in negative equity.”
This same report notes the state where homeowners have the greatest positive equity: New York, 50%; Hawaii, 43%; Massachusetts, 40%; Rhode Island, 40% and Connecticut, 39%.
Inman News pulled “Tech Must-Haves for the New Year” from The Real Deal. They include:
QR codes – when scanned with the camera in a mobile phone, the user is given a message or website.
Docusign – allows contracts to be signed digitally
Mobile receipt – converts receipts into expense reports with the phone photo
Rulerphone – digitally measures objects after the phone’s camera takes a picture.
According to the Remodeling 2010-11 Cost vs. Value Report (www.costvsvalue.com), for mid-range remodeling projects, the following gave the greatest cost recoup upon sale in the Boston area:
1. 102.1% Steel entry door replacement
2. 72.8% Minor kitchen remodel tied with wood deck addition
3. 72.4% Vinyl siding replacement tied with wood window replacement
4. 72.2% Attic bedroom remodel
5. 71.6% Vinyl window replacement
· Inman News reports that the Congressional Oversight Panel overseeing TARP concluded that the Obama administrations Home Affordable Modification program will fall far short of its goals, and the Treasury Department’s failure to acknowledge this before it lost its authority to reallocate the $30 billion in TARP funds earmarked for the program means most of that money won’t be spent.
· From RealTrends: “Consumers today are expert comparison shoppers, always on the hunt for the best deal, but when it comes to their mortgage, borrowers often locked in their 1st home loan offer. According to a new Lending Tree survey, 96% of American consumers compare prices when shopping for anything but nearly 40% obtain just one loan quote.”
Friday, January 7, 2011
Friday Facts January 7, 2011
FRIDAY FACTS
January 7, 2011
Nick Lonegrove reveals a disconnect in his article in Inman News: “Ask any real estate agent what they want their real estate website to be about and they will tell you that it has to reflect their track record, their successes, communicating their area knowledge, their expertise and that certain “je ne sais quoi” that makes them special … Ask buyers and sellers what they are looking for, and they will tell you that it really boils down to two things: the actives and the solds.”
Here’s the bad and the good news from a recent Zillow report: Homes are expected to lose $1.7 trillion in value in 2010. The second half of the year saw the largest decline. The loss in 2009 was $1.1 trillion. Since market peak in June of 2006, homes have lost $9 trillion in value, and Inman News notes that is equivalent to the cost of 12 Iraq wars. The good news is that among the 20 largest markets, only 3 saw an increase, the highest being Boston.
Facebook has 500 million active viewers – 250 million in the US. U.S. Facebook.com generates almost 1 in 4 page views in the US, 4X that of second ranked YouTube. Facebook represented 10% of US Internet visits in mid-November compared with 7% for search engine Google.
Think Big Work Small reports that Freddie Mac had a calculator on their website that spit out the wrong answers when determining whether it was a better option for a consumer to rent or buy. Calculations were based on the assumption that real estate prices would never go down
January 7, 2011
Nick Lonegrove reveals a disconnect in his article in Inman News: “Ask any real estate agent what they want their real estate website to be about and they will tell you that it has to reflect their track record, their successes, communicating their area knowledge, their expertise and that certain “je ne sais quoi” that makes them special … Ask buyers and sellers what they are looking for, and they will tell you that it really boils down to two things: the actives and the solds.”
Here’s the bad and the good news from a recent Zillow report: Homes are expected to lose $1.7 trillion in value in 2010. The second half of the year saw the largest decline. The loss in 2009 was $1.1 trillion. Since market peak in June of 2006, homes have lost $9 trillion in value, and Inman News notes that is equivalent to the cost of 12 Iraq wars. The good news is that among the 20 largest markets, only 3 saw an increase, the highest being Boston.
Facebook has 500 million active viewers – 250 million in the US. U.S. Facebook.com generates almost 1 in 4 page views in the US, 4X that of second ranked YouTube. Facebook represented 10% of US Internet visits in mid-November compared with 7% for search engine Google.
Think Big Work Small reports that Freddie Mac had a calculator on their website that spit out the wrong answers when determining whether it was a better option for a consumer to rent or buy. Calculations were based on the assumption that real estate prices would never go down
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)