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        <title>Highrises.com Condo Blog</title>
        <link>http://www.highrises.com/blog/</link>
        <description>The Highrises.com Condo Blog has news and reviews about the condo market in cities across the country.  Check back often as our blog is updated regularly.</description>
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            <guid>http://www.highrises.com/blog/can-you-waive-real-estate-disclosures.html</guid>
            <link>http://www.highrises.com/blog/can-you-waive-real-estate-disclosures.html</link>
            <author>LasVegasHighrises@gmail.com (Bill Zinsser)</author>
            <title>Can you waive Real Estate disclosures ?</title>
            <description> <![CDATA[ 
What’s Waivable?


Disclosures in a resale transaction is one of those important topics that needs to be discussed. 


The Real Estate Division's Residential Disclosure Guide  RDG goes a long way in informing both sellers and buyers of the various disclosures that are required in a real estate transaction by federal, state and local law. 


The elimination of the waiver of the SRPD form in 2011 was not so far-fetched when you consider all of the other non-waivable disclosures in federal and state law. (Note: the waiver of the buyer's remedies in NRS 113.150(6) is still intact, but the form cannot be waived.)


No other current disclosure is waivable, including: lead-based paint disclosure; construction defect disclosure (NRS 40); and the CIC resale package (NRS 116). If the disclosure applies to the home, the disclosure must be made, regardless of the type of transaction or the type of seller (traditional, flipper, asset manager).


As for the resale package required by NRS 116.4109, NRS 116 does not lend itself easily to waivers or bending the rules by agreement. NRS 116.1104 is very specific: "except as expressly provided in this chapter, its provisions may not be varied by agreement, and rights conferred by it may not be waived."


 
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            <pubDate>Tue, 15 May 2012 12:28:00 -0500</pubDate>
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            <guid>http://www.highrises.com/blog/weekly-mortgage-update-3875-30yr-fixed-and-3125-15yr-fixed.html</guid>
            <link>http://www.highrises.com/blog/weekly-mortgage-update-3875-30yr-fixed-and-3125-15yr-fixed.html</link>
            <author>dallashighrises@gmail.com (Emily Ray-Porter)</author>
            <title>Weekly Mortgage Update:  3.875% 30yr Fixed and 3.125% 15yr Fixed</title>
            <description> <![CDATA[ 
This week saw increasing uncertainty in Europe, leading to lower stock prices and strong demand for the US Treasury auctions. Ordinarily, these factors would result in improved mortgage rates, but mortgage rates ended the week nearly unchanged from last week.In closely watched elections on Sunday, voters in France and Greece strongly favored the candidates who opposed austerity measures. The results confirmed that political opposition to austerity is strong in many countries, and there is growing disagreement about the best approach to solve Europe's problems. In Greece, the government struggled to reach a consensus, leaving in question the future of required austerity measures. EU officials threatened to withhold their next aid payment, and the possibility that Greece could leave the European Union has increased.The high level of uncertainty in Europe caused investors to worry about the pace of global economic growth. During the week, investors moved away from risky assets in general, sending US stock markets lower. US bond markets are normally a beneficiary of such a flight to safety, but neither Treasuries nor mortgage-backed securities (MBS) posted gains this week. With rates near record lows, investors appeared to be reluctant to purchase bonds at lower yields. Next week, Retail Sales and CPI will be released on Tuesday. Retail Sales account for about 70% of economic activity. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is the most closely watched monthly inflation report. CPI looks at the price change for those finished goods which are sold to consumers. 
 ]]> </description>
            <pubDate>Mon, 14 May 2012 08:35:33 -0500</pubDate>
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            <guid>http://www.highrises.com/blog/weekly-update-30yr-fixed-3875-15yr-fixed-325.html</guid>
            <link>http://www.highrises.com/blog/weekly-update-30yr-fixed-3875-15yr-fixed-325.html</link>
            <author>dallashighrises@gmail.com (Emily Ray-Porter)</author>
            <title>Weekly Update: 30yr Fixed - 3.875%; 15yr Fixed - 3.25%</title>
            <description> <![CDATA[ 
Increased concerns about the troubles in Europe had the biggest influence on mortgage rates this week. As usual, investors reacted by shifting to relatively safer assets including US mortgage-backed securities (MBS), and mortgage rates again ended the week a little lower.Spain has been the focus in Europe recently, but issues emerged this week from more surprising sources. The President of France is behind after the first round of voting in his bid to be reelected, and his opponent is not a supporter of austerity measures. In addition, budget talks broke down in the Netherlands after seven weeks, without an agreement on cutting spending. With weak economic data coming from nearly every euro zone country except for Germany, many people are questioning whether austerity plans are the correct remedy for the troubles in the region. Investors are reluctant to invest in the region amid the uncertainty, raising bond yields (and government borrowing costs). In stark contrast to the Fed statement released in March, Wednesday's Fed statement caused almost no reaction. The content was little changed from the prior statement. In recent weeks, Fed officials have repeatedly expressed that current monetary policy is appropriate for the existing economic conditions. The statement and press conference provided no reason to change the consensus view that there is a high hurdle for Fed officials to either provide additional easing or to begin tightening in the near future. Unexpected events such as sustained weakness in the labor market or severe troubles in Europe might prompt the Fed to ease further, while a surge in inflation could lead to early tightening. The biggest economic report next week will be the important Employment data on Friday. As usual, this data on the number of jobs, the Unemployment Rate, and wage inflation will be the most highly anticipated economic data of the month. 
 ]]> </description>
            <pubDate>Mon, 07 May 2012 09:17:04 -0500</pubDate>
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            <guid>http://www.highrises.com/blog/weekly-mortgage-update-30yr-fixed-3875-and-15yr-fixed-3251.html</guid>
            <link>http://www.highrises.com/blog/weekly-mortgage-update-30yr-fixed-3875-and-15yr-fixed-3251.html</link>
            <author>dallashighrises@gmail.com (Emily Ray-Porter)</author>
            <title>Weekly Mortgage Update: 30yr Fixed 3.875% and 15yr Fixed 3.25%</title>
            <description> <![CDATA[ 
Increased concerns about the troubles in Europe had the biggest influence on mortgage rates this week. As usual, investors reacted by shifting to relatively safer assets including US mortgage-backed securities (MBS), and mortgage rates again ended the week a little lower.Spain has been the focus in Europe recently, but issues emerged this week from more surprising sources. The President of France is behind after the first round of voting in his bid to be reelected, and his opponent is not a supporter of austerity measures. In addition, budget talks broke down in the Netherlands after seven weeks, without an agreement on cutting spending. With weak economic data coming from nearly every euro zone country except for Germany, many people are questioning whether austerity plans are the correct remedy for the troubles in the region. Investors are reluctant to invest in the region amid the uncertainty, raising bond yields (and government borrowing costs). In stark contrast to the Fed statement released in March, Wednesday's Fed statement caused almost no reaction. The content was little changed from the prior statement. In recent weeks, Fed officials have repeatedly expressed that current monetary policy is appropriate for the existing economic conditions. The statement and press conference provided no reason to change the consensus view that there is a high hurdle for Fed officials to either provide additional easing or to begin tightening in the near future. Unexpected events such as sustained weakness in the labor market or severe troubles in Europe might prompt the Fed to ease further, while a surge in inflation could lead to early tightening. The biggest economic report next week will be the important Employment data on Friday. As usual, this data on the number of jobs, the Unemployment Rate, and wage inflation will be the most highly anticipated economic data of the month. 
 ]]> </description>
            <pubDate>Mon, 30 Apr 2012 10:04:13 -0500</pubDate>
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            <guid>http://www.highrises.com/blog/stunned-home-buyers-find-the-bidding-wars-are-back.html</guid>
            <link>http://www.highrises.com/blog/stunned-home-buyers-find-the-bidding-wars-are-back.html</link>
            <author>dallashighrises@gmail.com (Emily Ray-Porter)</author>
            <title>Stunned Home Buyers Find the Bidding Wars Are Back </title>
            <description> <![CDATA[ 
A new development is catching home buyers off guard as the spring sales season gets under way: Bidding wars are back.


From California to Florida, many buyers are increasingly competing for the same house. Unlike the bidding wars that typified the go-go years and largely reflected surging sales, today's are a result of supply shortages.


Debbie and Bill Wetherell received multiple offers for their home.


"It's a little surprising because we thought bidding wars were done with," said Andy Aley, who is looking to buy his first home in Seattle's Beacon Hill neighborhood. The 31-year-old attorney was outbid this year when he offered up to $23,000 above the $357,000 listing price and agreed to waive inspections and other closing conditions. 


Competitive bidding in the current environment isn't producing huge price increases or leaving sellers with hefty profits, as occurred during the housing boom. Still, the bidding wars caused by tight inventory provide the latest evidence that housing demand is starting to pick up after a six-year-long slump. 


An index that measures the number of contracts signed to purchase previously owned homes rose in March to its highest level in nearly two years, up 12.8% from a year ago and 4.1% from February, the National Association of Realtors reported on Thursday. 


"We very much believe we've hit bottom," said Ivy Zelman, chief executive of a research firm, who was among the first to warn of a downturn seven years ago. Earlier this week, she raised her home-price forecast for the year, calling for a 1% annual gain, up from a 1% decline.


The Wall Street Journal's quarterly survey found that the inventory of homes listed for sale declined sharply in all 28 markets tracked. Real-estate agents consider a market balanced when there is a six-month supply of homes for sale. At the height of the housing crisis, in 2008, there was an 11.1-months' supply. In March, there was a 6.3-months' supply. 


Inventory levels in many markets were at the lowest level in years. At the current pace of sales, it would take just 1.5 months to sell all the homes listed in Sacramento, Calif., and 2.4 months to sell all the homes listed in Phoenix. San Francisco and Washington, D.C., each have 3.4 months of supply, while Miami has 4.1 months of supply. 


Other markets have plenty of homes. Chicago, for example, has 9.4 months of supply, while New York's Long Island has 16.1 months of supply. Even in those markets, the number of houses for sale is edging down.


Increased competition is frustrating buyers and their agents. "We're writing a record number of offers, but we're not seeing a record number of closings and that's because it's so competitive," said Glenn Kelman, chief executive of real-estate brokerage Redfin Corp. in Seattle with offices in 14 states. 


Nearly 83% of offers that Redfin agents have made on behalf of clients in the San Francisco Bay area this year and 71% in Southern California have had competing bids. Redfin represented a buyer that made the winning bid on a Gaithersburg, Md., home earlier this month after agreeing to adopt the dog of the seller, who was relocating and looking to find a new home for "Buddy," a white toy poodle. 


Inventories are declining for a number of reasons. Some sellers, unwilling to accept prices that are still down from their peak by one-third, are taking their homes off the market in anticipation of higher prices down the road. Meanwhile, investors have been outmaneuvering consumers for the best properties, often making cash offers that are quickly accepted by sellers. 


In addition, some economists say that inventory levels are being held artificially low because Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the nation's biggest banks have been slow to list for sale hundreds of thousands of foreclosed homes they currently own. The lenders slowed down foreclosure sales and repossessions after record-keeping abuses surfaced 18 months ago.


Banks and other mortgage investors owned nearly 450,000 foreclosed properties at the end of March, and another two million mortgages were in some stage of foreclosure. 


Inventories could rise, putting more pressure on prices, if the banks and other lenders step up their efforts to sell their properties. Real-estate agents say they aren't concerned. "There's an enormous appetite for foreclosures. Release the inventory. It will sell," said Richard Smith, chief executive of Realogy Corp., which owns the Coldwell Banker and Century 21 real-estate brands.


The declining inventory of older homes is spurring sales of new homes. New home sales are up 16% so far this year, compared with a year ago, while inventories of new homes fell in March to their lowest level since record keeping began in 1963.


Meritage Homes Corp., a builder based in Scottsdale, Ariz., reported Thursday a 36% increase in orders for the quarter ending in March versus the previous-year period.


Even though bidding wars are pushing prices higher, many homes are still selling for prices far lower than a few years ago. Increased demand is "entirely affordability driven, which tells me there will be strong resistance to price increases" by buyers, says Jeffrey Otteau, president of Otteau Valuation Group, an East Brunswick, N.J., appraisal firm.


Rents are rising at a time when mortgage rates have fallen to very low levels. The result is that the monthly mortgage payment on a median-priced home is lower than any time since the 1990s. Freddie Mac reported on Thursday that mortgage rates fell to 3.88% for the average 30-year fixed rate mortgage, near its lowest recorded level.


Rates are "so low that we can afford a house that was out of our price range before," said Aarthi Srinivasan, who is looking with her husband for a home around Palo Alto, Calif., one of the country's hottest real-estate markets. 


Ms. Srinivasan says she fears that prices are being bid up too quickly. She says she had her "aha moment" earlier this year while touring a 50-year-old house that needed extensive remodeling. The home, listed at $1.1 million, received nearly 10 offers and eventually went under contract for more than $1.3 million to a buyer who hadn't even viewed the property. 


"There are only so many buyers who are going to be in such a hurry, so we're hoping it'll top off soon," she says. On Monday, they offered to pay more than the $1.2 million list price for a four-bedroom, bank-owned foreclosure. They haven't found out if they made the top bid. 


On the other side of those transactions are sellers like Debbie and Bill Wetherell, who had 17 offers in four days for their four-bedroom home in Danville, Calif. "I was floored. It was so fast, it was surreal," says Ms. Wetherell. The home sold on Wednesday for $796,000, more than $50,000 above the asking price.


Still, the sale is for nearly $180,000 less than what they paid for the house in 2005. Ms. Wetherell's husband has commuted to Reno, Nev., for five years and they have decided to relocate. 


Housing markets face other headwinds. More than 11 million homeowners owe more than their home is worth. It is a big reason that the "trade-up" market has been stalled. These homeowners can't sell their current homes, let alone come up with the down payment for their next home.


Mortgage-lending standards remain tough. Real-estate agents say an unusually high share of deals are falling apart because homes won't appraise at the price that buyers have agreed to pay sellers. 


Still, borrowers with stable jobs are looking to make deals. Kelly Pajela-Fu and her husband offered to pay the asking price of $600,000 for a four-bedroom home in Marblehead, Mass., within a day of the property hitting the market. 


"We just knew this house would go quickly," says Ms. Pajela-Fu, a 31-year-old doctor who had lost out on an earlier offer. Their strategy to avoid a bidding war paid off: The sellers accepted their offer before having an open house.


Source
 ]]> </description>
            <pubDate>Fri, 27 Apr 2012 17:29:27 -0500</pubDate>
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            <guid>http://www.highrises.com/blog/real-estate-outlook-affordability-high.html</guid>
            <link>http://www.highrises.com/blog/real-estate-outlook-affordability-high.html</link>
            <author>dallashighrises@gmail.com (Emily Ray-Porter)</author>
            <title>Real Estate Outlook: Affordability High</title>
            <description> <![CDATA[ 
By Carla Hill


Housing affordability is still at a record high, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR). It is at the highest level since record keeping began in 1970. This is based on the relationship between median home price, median family income and average mortgage interest rate. 


 


NAR President Moe Veissi, broker-owner of Veissi &amp; Associates Inc., in Miami, said this latest data underscores buyer opportunities in today’s market. "This is the first time the housing affordability index has broken the two hundred mark, meaning the typical family has roughly double the income needed to purchase a median-priced home," he said. "For buyers who can qualify for a mortgage, now is a very good time to become a homeowner." 


Projections for the remainder of 2012 indicate that this affordability high will continue and rates will remain low. "Housing inventory levels have declined to a point where conditions are becoming much more balanced in much of the country," Veissi said. "If access to credit improves, we could see a much more meaningful increase in home sales and broader stabilization in home prices with modest gains in areas with stronger job growth." 


Despite these incredible buyer opportunities, builder confidence is down. The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) reports that builder confidence for newly built, single-family homes declined for the first time in seven months. 


"What we’re seeing is essentially a pause in what had been a fairly rapid build-up in builder confidence that started last September," said NAHB Chief Economist David Crowe. "This is partly because interest expressed by buyers in the past few months has yet to translate into expected sales activity, but is also reflective of the ongoing challenges that are slowing the housing recovery - particularly tight credit conditions for builders and buyers, competition from foreclosures and problems with obtaining accurate appraisals." 


This has been an ongoing concern for many market activists. While housing affordability is at an all-time high, gaining access to credit is a tough road for many would-be buyers. Additionally, some would-be buyers are still wary of the market and are waiting on the sidelines for the economy to improve or market conditions to stabilize. 


Regionally, results varied. The Northeast was the only region to see a gain in builder confidence, posting a 4 point gain on the HMI scale. The West remained unchanged, but both the West and South posted declines. Single-family home production held steady for the month. The multi-family sector saw a double digit decline, according to the U.S. Commerce Department. 


Barry Rutenberg, chairman of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and a home builder from Gainesville, FL, reported, "While more consumers appear to be seriously considering a new-home purchase, builders remain very cautious about starting new projects until they see more actual sales materializing. 


Source
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            <pubDate>Wed, 25 Apr 2012 11:18:40 -0500</pubDate>
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            <guid>http://www.highrises.com/blog/weekly-mortgage-update-30yr-fixed-3875-and-15yr-fixed-325.html</guid>
            <link>http://www.highrises.com/blog/weekly-mortgage-update-30yr-fixed-3875-and-15yr-fixed-325.html</link>
            <author>dallashighrises@gmail.com (Emily Ray-Porter)</author>
            <title>Weekly Mortgage Update:  30yr Fixed 3.875% and 15yr Fixed 3.25%</title>
            <description> <![CDATA[ 
Weaker than expected Employment data and increased concerns about Europe helped mortgage rates this week, and they ended lower than where they were before the March Employment report.While slower employment growth is painful for the country in nearly every way, this generally bad news is actually favorable for mortgage rates. Against a consensus forecast of 200K, the economy added just 120K jobs in March. The Unemployment Rate dropped to 8.2%, the lowest level since January 2009, but the decline was due to people leaving the labor force rather than finding jobs. Average Hourly Earnings, a proxy for wage growth, increased at a 2.1% annual rate. Lower than expected job gains combined with tame wage increases helped mortgage rates move lower following the data.European economic data released this week caused investors to question whether weaker European countries will be able to successfully grow their economies while putting in place required austerity programs. Spain has become the primary cause for concern. With the fourth largest economy in Europe, economic troubles in Spain have the potential to spread across the region. Investors reacted by selling bonds in weaker countries and shifting funds to relatively safer assets, including US mortgage-backed securities (MBS). The trend reversed somewhat on Wednesday, however, when an ECB official suggested that the ECB may start purchasing the bonds of troubled nations again. 
 ]]> </description>
            <pubDate>Mon, 23 Apr 2012 09:02:18 -0500</pubDate>
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            <guid>http://www.highrises.com/blog/spring-housing-market-starts-with-a-rush.html</guid>
            <link>http://www.highrises.com/blog/spring-housing-market-starts-with-a-rush.html</link>
            <author>dallashighrises@gmail.com (Emily Ray-Porter)</author>
            <title>Spring housing market starts with a rush</title>
            <description> <![CDATA[ 
Steve Brown-Dallas News


This year is shaping up to be the best for the local housing market since before the recession. 


Home sales are up in all but a handful of Dallas-area residential districts. And in almost a dozen areas, home purchases are running more than a quarter higher than last year.


Home sales prices are also rising slowly in more than half the neighborhoods that The Dallas Morning News tracks each quarter.


“The broad-based increase in North Texas home sales suggests that buyers have become more confident about the economic environment,” said D’Ann Petersen, an economist with the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas.


“Current conditions including a pickup in job growth, low interest rates and relatively affordable home prices are likely spurring purchases,” she said.


“The supply of inventory in the North Texas housing market continues to shrink,” Petersen said. “If the trend toward rising sales and falling inventory levels continues, we could see prices tick up in 2012.”


Through the first three months of 2012, the biggest increases in pre-owned home sales from a year ago have come in Colleyville (up 64 percent), northwest Dallas (59 percent), McKinney (39 percent) and East Dallas (36 percent).


Overall, pre-owned home sales in North Texas are about 16 percent ahead of where they were at this time in 2011, according to statistics from the Real Estate Center at Texas A&amp;M University and the North Texas Real Estate Information Systems.


“It is great to see the increases spreading across most of the region,” said David Brown, who heads the Dallas office of housing analyst MetroStudy Inc. “It is looking more like this recovery is sustainable and not just a short uptick like in 2010.”


While there is a widespread gain in the number of home sales, prices in the Dallas area are rebounding much more slowly. Overall, prices are up about 5 percent this year.


But median single-family home sales prices were still falling in the first quarter in more than a dozen residential districts.


In affluent North Dallas neighborhoods where sales are 27 percent higher so far in 2012, prices are down 11 percent for first quarter 2011.


“The sellers are finally taking low prices, after they sat there with the property for two years,” said top Dallas-area residential agent Allie Beth Allman. “In the upper end, the prices are just not increasing.”


Allman said buyers in the market are taking advantage of both bargain home buys and near record low financing rates.


“They are making very good purchases,” she said.


With the jump in home sales, Ebby Halliday Realtors CEO Mary Frances Burleson is optimistic that prices will ultimately turn higher.


“The market is the best I’ve seen in five years,” Burleson said. “Right now we have a lack of inventory in some neighborhoods.


“Last Friday one of our offices listed a house for $320,000, and they had 12 showings in the first day and four offers,” she said. “I was stunned.”


The number of pre-owned homes on the market in North Texas this year is 23 percent below the number of listings in the first quarter of 2011. And the inventory of homes for sale is about 30 percent below 2010 levels.


“We start getting the supply down, and the demand is there,” said Robbie Briggs, CEO of Briggs Freeman Sotheby’s International Real Estate. “Demand in certain neighborhoods is exceeding supply.


“We are not a sellers market,” he said. “But the buyers can’t come in and beat the seller up.”


After some previous false starts to the housing recovery, sales agents are understandably wary of this year’s market — even with all the good news so far.


“The spring market was really good last year, too,” Allman said. “The key is, will this last through the summer?


“Last year it stopped.”
 ]]> </description>
            <pubDate>Fri, 20 Apr 2012 11:39:55 -0500</pubDate>
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            <guid>http://www.highrises.com/blog/whats-happening-with-foreclosures.html</guid>
            <link>http://www.highrises.com/blog/whats-happening-with-foreclosures.html</link>
            <author>LasVegasHighrises@gmail.com (Bill Zinsser)</author>
            <title>What's  Happening with Foreclosures ? </title>
            <description> <![CDATA[ 
The number of foreclosure properties sold at auction, or trustee sales, dropped steeply for the second straight month, a March report from online listing service ForeclosureRadar.com shows.


Notices of default, the first step in the foreclosure process, decreased 77 percent to 1,136, and notices of trustee sale decreased 74.3 percent to 1,550. Average time to foreclose increased 22.4 percent to 404 days


 


It's easy to see why some analysts continue to predict a wave of foreclosures.


That won't happen because of financial regulations that were changed in 2008 to help banks remain solvent.  Before the Troubled Asset Relief Program, a government program to purchase assets and equity from financial institutions, the lender had to take a loss on the nonperforming loan when it went into foreclosure.


Under TARP, banks don't take the loss until they actually foreclose on the loan. This essentially stalled the foreclosure activity as lenders started to use foreclosures as balance sheet management.  It's in their best interest to delay foreclosures through whatever means necessary.


"Clearly we still have far too many homeowners in trouble, and with the recent attorney general settlement over robo-signing and other issues, it seems completely logical that a wave of foreclosures would follow. It won't. 


 "To reach the conclusion that there will be a wave of foreclosures, you have to assume that the banks either want to foreclose - they don't - or will be forced to foreclose - they won't. 


I don't see that changing anytime soon."
 ]]> </description>
            <pubDate>Thu, 19 Apr 2012 10:29:15 -0500</pubDate>
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            <guid>http://www.highrises.com/blog/spring-home-buying-season-signals-recovery.html</guid>
            <link>http://www.highrises.com/blog/spring-home-buying-season-signals-recovery.html</link>
            <author>dallashighrises@gmail.com (Emily Ray-Porter)</author>
            <title>Spring home-buying season signals recovery </title>
            <description> <![CDATA[ 
DEREK KRAVITZ and ALEX VEIGA 


The Associated Press 


Washington-Five years after the U.S. housing bust sent sales and prices plunging, the spring home-buying season is pointing to a long-awaited recovery. 


Reduced prices, record-low mortgage rates, higher rents and an improving job market appear to be emboldening many would-be buyers. Open houses are drawing crowds. A wave of foreclosures is leading investors to grab bargain-priced homes.


And many people seem to have concluded that prices won’t drop much further. In some areas, prices have begun to tick up.


Interviews with more than two dozen potential buyers, sellers, brokers, agents and economists suggest that confidence is up and sales will move slowly but steadily higher.


“The biggest challenge that we’ve had over the past four years is fear — fear that the economy is collapsing, that property values are collapsing, that the world is coming to an end,” says Mark Prather, a broker at ERA Buy America Real Estate in La Palma, Calif. “The fear factor is all but gone.”


Prather says the number of prospective buyers who contacted his company last month was about 35 percent more than a year ago.


The spring buying season got an early liftoff from an uncommonly warm January and February — a winter that was the best for sales of previously occupied homes in five years. Permits to build houses and apartments rose in February to their highest level since 2008.


“People feel much more confident,” said Steve Brown, co-owner of real estate company Irongate Inc. of Dayton, Ohio, who says sales jumped more than 16 percent for the first two months of 2012 over the same period last year. “There’s no question there’s a good feeling in the marketplace.”


Some analysts detected a slight uptick in prices for February and March. CoreLogic, a real estate data firm, says prices for homes not at risk of foreclosure — about two thirds of the market — rose 0.7 percent in February. It was the first increase in four years. Price gains occurred both in some hard-hit areas, such as Phoenix, and some still-thriving areas like New York and Washington.


More mortgages


Earnings reports Friday from two big banks suggested that more people are taking out mortgages. JPMorgan Chase issued 6 percent more mortgages from January through March than it did a year ago and got 33 percent more applications. Wells Fargo issued 54 percent more mortgages and received 84 percent more applications.


Still, few think the housing industry is nearing a return to full health. For that to happen, a robust job market would be needed. More hiring would give more people the money and job security to buy. That would help boost sales and prices.


Such areas as Atlanta, suburban Las Vegas and central California show few signs of recovery. And in some others — from Seattle to Cleveland — home prices have continued to slip. The average has dropped 9 percent in Seattle over the past 12 months and 7 percent in Cleveland.


But in many parts of the country, including thriving areas of Boston, Dallas and Seattle, confidence is rising along with prices. Among the reasons:


Hiring has strengthened. Each month from January through March generated a solid average of 212,000 jobs. Unemployment has sunk from 9.1 percent in August to 8.2 percent. More job security tends to embolden more people to invest in a home.


Loans remain cheap. The average rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage is 3.88 percent. That’s just above the 3.87 percent reached in February — the lowest since long-term mortgages were first offered in the 1950s.


Homes are more affordable. Nationwide, home prices are down 34 percent since 2006.


Americans are more confident. The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan’s survey of consumer confidence rose in March for a seventh straight month to its highest level in 13 months.


Stable home values


Also fueling interest are signs that home values are finally stabilizing. One factor that had slowed purchases after the housing boom ended in late 2006 was fear that a home would lose value soon after its purchase.


But the price declines slowed toward the end of 2011, according to the Wells Fargo/Case-Shiller home price index. And CoreLogic says the average price nationally rose slightly in January and February.


“Unless prices went down, I don’t think we would have ever been able to afford a home,” said John Henschel, 37, an information technology consultant who will move with his family into a five-bedroom house in Wheaton, Ill., in May. “But we feel like prices aren’t going to go back down. We’re confident. So why not?”


On a rainy Saturday this month in long-struggling Riverside, Calif., 12 families visited a three-bedroom house priced at $199,999. Ten others stopped by in the first hour of the next day’s open house. By the end of the weekend, two buyers had made offers.


“We’re seeing more buyer activity this spring than we’ve seen in probably four years,” said Liane Thomas, the broker who was showing the house.


In suburban Washington, D.C., Rory Obletz and his wife have been saving to buy after renting for six years. Obletz, 27, failed in two previous bids for single-family homes. He’s hoping a third bid — about $10,000 above the asking price of $399,000 for a home in Silver Spring, Md. — will succeed this month.


“One home we went to, it was under contract by the time we walked out of the house,” Obletz said. “If you really want to get something, you don’t have a lot of time to think about it.”
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