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Bargain-Basement Home Prices Woo Investors, Vacationers
Tweet Share on Facebook March 30, 2012 CommentThough some experts billed 2011 as the worst year on record for the housing market, it seems one sliver of the market was a slice of paradise.
Consumers scooped up vacation and investment homes at bargain-basement prices, according to the National Association of Realtors, going on a buying binge not seen since the height of the housing bubble in 2005.
Investment home sales—primarily properties bought with the intention of renting to tenants—surged almost 65 percent in 2011, while vacation home sales rose about 7 percent, according to NAR.
Investors with cash played a big role in the spike, NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun said in a statement, adding that more than 40 percent of investment buyers purchased more than one property.
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Real Estate Recovery: Are We There Yet?
Tweet Share on Facebook March 28, 2012 CommentThe first few months of 2012 have seen some pretty encouraging stats, but after years of nothing but bad news about the housing market, it can be hard to gauge what "normal" is anymore.
According to new measure from real estate website Trulia, we're about a third of the way back to a normal housing market. The bad news? We've got a long way to go. Based on Trulia's calculations, the United States won't see a full housing market recovery until 2015.
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Study: Hispanics Poised to Be 'Mega-Force' in Housing
Tweet Share on Facebook March 28, 2012 Comment (3)Still saddled with a huge overhang of distressed properties and lackluster demand, it seems the housing market could really use a knight in shining armor to slay the metaphorical dragons choking its growth.
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Your New Landlord: Bank of America?
Tweet Share on Facebook March 23, 2012 Comment (4)Some homeowners facing foreclosure could get the option to stay in their homes as renters thanks to a new pilot program launched by Bank of America this week.
The "Mortgage to Lease" program, which targets hard-hit markets in Arizona, Nevada, and New York, allows participants to give up their home's deed to the bank, which will then wipe out the homeowners' remaining mortgage debt.
Customers can then rent their home from the bank for up to three years at or below the market rental rate. Participants' rent would be less than their mortgage payment and they would not have to pay for insurance or property taxes.
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Mortgage Rates Creep Upward
Tweet Share on Facebook March 22, 2012 CommentIt seems the temperature isn't the only thing that's rising this spring. Mortgage rates, which have hovered near historic lows for months, are creeping upward again.
The average rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage jumped above 4 percent for the first time since the end of October 2011, according to government mortgage giant Freddie Mac. Experts say the uptick is due to increasingly optimistic projections for economic growth and better-than-expected results in bank stress tests.
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Mixed Messages for Would-Be Buyers in Spring Housing Market
Tweet Share on Facebook March 20, 2012 CommentHome sales are up. Home values are down. Interest rates are rising. Inventories are falling.
Americans are facing an influx of information this spring home buying season, as the housing market continues to work out its kinks. Unfortunately, wading through all that information might seem like it requires an advanced degree in real estate.
"Consumers are going to be hearing a lot of mixed messages," says Stan Humphries, chief economist for real estate website Zillow. "They're going to be hearing how good home sales are but then they're going to hear that home values in, say, Tampa are still heading down and that can be confusing for them."
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Housing Starts Sink, But Bright Future Ahead
Tweet Share on Facebook March 20, 2012 Comment (1)Despite breaking ground on slightly fewer homes in February, builders are gearing up for what could be the most active spring home buying season since the housing market tanked several years ago.
New construction was down about 1 percent from January, according to the Commerce Department, but the report had a sliver of good news as well. Not only did the government revise January's figures upward, but building permits—a good indicator of future building activity—jumped more than 5 percent in February.
Looking back a year, housing starts were up almost 35 percent.
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Is There a Doctor in the House? For the Wealthy, Yes
Tweet Share on Facebook March 16, 2012 CommentIt's not uncommon for the über-wealthy to equip their mega-mansions with pricey private home theaters, spa-worthy washrooms, and palatial pools. Now an increasing number of the super-rich are setting aside space in their homes for another purpose: top-notch medical care.
According to Bloomberg, more well-off families are paying up to install at-home emergency rooms, which can cost upwards of $1 million, and forking over as much as $30,000 a year for "concierge care," which puts the best-of-the-best physicians at their disposal anytime, anywhere.
"Wealthy people want to have a little exclusivity and want better service than they can get at their normal healthcare facility, and they're willing to pay for it," Rick Flynn, principal and head of the Family Office Group with Rothstein Kass, told Bloomberg.
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Mortgage Under Water? Calculator Points the Way Back to Black
Tweet Share on Facebook March 16, 2012 CommentThanks to tanking housing prices across the nation, an estimated 11 million Americans owe more on their mortgages than their homes are worth.
Even if you qualify for government assistance programs such as HARP 2.0, the long and slow slog toward a housing recovery most likely means many Americans will be stuck under water for some time.
The question then becomes: How long before you're above water on your mortgage again? And what can you do to make that period shorter?
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Miami Condo Market on the Mend
Tweet Share on Facebook March 16, 2012 Comment (6)Once a poster child of the housing boom and bust, it seems Miami has done an about face since being branded one of the country's worst housing markets.
From being awash in unsold condos and foreclosures, Miami's downtown has morphed into a thriving mecca of bustling sales activity, a new report says, putting the South Florida town on the map among the nation's most active and lucrative housing markets.
"Downtown Miami continues to defy national trends in real estate economics," said Craig Werley of Focus Real Estate Advisors, the firm that conducted the study. "This is particularly remarkable considering the foreclosure crisis that continues to grip much of the rest of the region and state."
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