POSITIVE ANGELS, Talking points of the Real Estate Market
What are real estate professionals saying to homebuyers and sellers about current market conditions? The successful brokers and sales associates are talking about the strengths that exist in the market — not the negative media hype. Below are positive angles that appeared recently in the media and underscore why it is a good time to buy real estate.
Recent Quotes & Excerpts about the Positive Signs in the Real Estate Market:
How the Stimulus Plan Benefits Homebuyers
According to the National Association of Realtors® (NAR), the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 includes elements of NAR’s housing agenda, including:
Homebuyer Tax Credit: The bill provides for an $8,000 tax credit that would be available to first-time home buyers for the purchase of a principal residence on or after Jan. 1, 2009 and before Dec. 1, 2009. The credit does not require repayment.
FHA, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Loan Limits: The bill reinstates last year's 2008 loan limits for FHA, Freddie Mac, and Fannie Mae loans. These limits were equal to the greater of 125% of the 2008 local area median home price or $271,050 for FHA and $417,000 for Fannie and Freddie, with an overall maximum cap of $729,750.
For more information about what the bill means for the housing market, click
here.
-- “
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009,” Realtor.org, Feb. 17, 2009.
Game Changer in Housing Numbers
“Housing completions fell a record 24.2% to a record low 776k annualized rate, the first reading below 1.0 million since 1982. The is extremely important because until now builders were still completing homes at a pace too strong for current conditions, preventing inventory levels from falling more rapidly than they recently have. Now that fewer homes are hitting the market for sale, the growing U.S. population will have fewer homes to choose from. This will accelerate the recent decline in home inventories. Have no doubt: this is a game changer for inventories and prices.
“Inventories are already falling … Now that they have fallen; the decline in inventories will accelerate and with it change the dynamic on prices and the whole ball game, basically.”
-- Tony Crescenzi, chief bond market strategist at Miller Tabak & Co., LLC, “
Crescenzi: Game Changer In Housing Numbers,” CNBC.com, Feb. 18, 2009.
Affordability and Inventory Make 2009 a Great Time to Buy a Home
Ø According to the National Association of Realtors®
housing affordability index, homes were more affordable in December than at any other point since the group started the index in 1970.
Ø In many places it is taking months to sell a home, creating loads of inventory -- from new homes to existing homes to foreclosures. But if you put off a purchase until inventory shrinks substantially, you might not get as good a price. It's nearly impossible to time the exact bottom of the housing market.
-- “
Five Reasons to Buy a Home this Year,” by Amy Hoak, MarketWatch, Feb. 6, 2009.
Mortgage Applications Soar
Homeowners' applications to refinance existing loans jumped 64.3% on a week-to-week basis, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association's weekly survey. Applications for mortgages to purchase homes for the week ended Feb. 13 also rose, up a seasonally adjusted 9.1% from the prior week.
-- “
Mortgage Applications Rose 45.7% Last Week,” by Amy Hoak, MarketWatch, Feb. 18, 2009.
Foreclosures Eased in January
Foreclosure filings - default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions - were reported on 274,399 U.S. properties during January, down 10% from December, according to RealtyTrac, the online marketer of foreclosed homes. “The extensive foreclosure efforts on the part of lenders and government agencies appear to have impacted the January numbers.”
-- James Saccacio, RealtyTrac CEO, “
Foreclosures Eased in January,” by Les Christie, CNNMoney.com, Feb. 12, 2009.
Regional Update: Good News from Markets around the Nation
Flint, Mich.
Last year homes sales in the Flint (Michigan) area boomed 20% over 2007, according to The Flint Area Association of Realtors®. “We're having a lot of first-time home buyers. The investors are buying the properties and fixing them up. They're selling them after they're fixed up.”
-- Angie Ridley, president of the Flint Area Association of Realtors®, “
Local Realtors Say Housing Market in Flint is Up,” by Kelley Dickens, WJRT-TV ABC, Feb. 17, 2009.
Alexandria, Va.
Workers can rely on four Metro stations within Alexandria's city limits to ride trains to work, instead having to drive. And many Washington, D.C., employers subsidize Metro passes. Throw in that the metro area has the lowest unemployment rate among the country's top 15 metropolitan areas, and it's no wonder prices (down 5%) have not dipped as much as elsewhere. “We used to call ourselves ‘recession-proof.’ That's not true anymore, but we are not feeling what the rest of the country is feeling.”
-- Susan Mekenney, chairman of the Northern Virginia Association of Realtors®, “
Low Unemployment Pumps up Alexandria, Va., Home Market,” by Christine Dugas, USA Today, Feb. 13, 2009.
El Paso, Texas
El Paso, Texas, was designated as having the third best job growth in the country in 2008 by Forbes Magazine. Jobs have increased, home sales have been on the rise throughout 2008 and prices have held steady. Month to month, sales have increased throughout most of the year, demonstrating a trend line that the El Paso market is picking up steam. The biggest factor of this market growth will be the military personnel scheduled to arrive in the coming few years to Fort Bliss.
-- “
Hot Market: El Paso, TX Best in Job Growth, Stable in Real Estate,” by M. Anthony Carr, Realty Times, Feb. 6, 2009.
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