What about 2010?

Here is a very positive prediction for the 2010 housing market: Robert Hagar audio clip

Thanks to NPR

Should you wait for rates to fall before you buy?

Our friend Hannah Swihart, a Lafayette, IN colleague shared these thoughts:

So how do we answer the question... "I heard rates are going down to 4.5%?"

1. Every year there is always a forecast of how rates will be incredibly low. Usually this doesn't occur,  BUT now might be different.

2. Remember housing started the economic cycle and therefore housing WILL have to be the one item that pulls us out.

3. Yes, there is more talk than usual of having the Fed's help create lower mortgage rates.

4. Creating lower mortgage rates is difficult and will take very smart people to figure that out and the cost could be staggering.

In the meantime if you are a buyer hitting the brakes and saying "I'm waiting for my personal bailout with the 4.5% mortgage rates"

This might be a bad idea. Remember to look at all options.

1. IF rates fall to 4.5% - what happens... Demand will go up, FAST!

2. If demand goes up fast - what happens... Supply will go down, FAST!

3. What happens when the demand goes up fast and the supply goes down fast...Prices will rise!

So, what is the smart thing to do?

A.) You could buy a home now (American Real Estate for the first time has a was / now price just like a clearance sale at the mall...used to be $380,000 NOW only $245,000)

B.) Use the low rates we just inherited (mid 5% for many buyers)

This is the guarantee part - buy home now at low price with low rate!

Just remember we never really know when the bottom will hit but what goes down must go up and once it hits bottom it will rise faster than it went down.

Thanks, Hannah!

NAR fighting to reinvigorate housing market

NAR Urges Passage of 4-Point Housing Stimulus Plan and Return of Congress for Lame-Duck Session

WASHINGTON, October 15, 2008

The National Association of Realtors® will offer a four-point legislative plan to reinvigorate the housing market, calling on Congress to act during a lame-duck session. NAR believes the plan will give a boost to the economy and help to calm jittery potential homebuyers.

The plan features such consumer-driven provisions as eliminating the repayment of the first-time homebuyer tax credit and expanding it to all homebuyers, making higher mortgage loan limits permanent, pushing banks to extend credit to Main Street, and prohibiting banks from entering into real estate.

“Housing has always lifted the economy out of downturns, and it is imperative to get the housing market moving forward as quickly as possible,” said NAR President Richard F. Gaylord. “It is vital to the economy that Congress take specific actions to boost the confidence of potential homebuyers in the housing market and make it easier for qualified buyers to get safe and affordable mortgage loans. We are asking Congress to act right away.”

Gaylord, a broker with RE/MAX Real Estate Specialists in Long Beach, Calif., said NAR, as the leading advocate for homeownership and private property rights, believes it is important for Congress to address the concerns and fears of America’s families, much in the way it has addressed Wall Street turbulence. “Housing is and has always been a good, long-term investment and a family’s primary step towards accumulating wealth,” Gaylord said.

NAR recommends Congress pass new housing stimulus legislation that includes the following priorities:

1. Remove the requirement in the current law that first-time homebuyers repay the $7,500 tax credit, and expand the tax credit to apply not only to first-time buyers but also to all buyers of a primary residence.

2. Revise the FHA, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac 2008 stimulus loan limit increases to make them permanent. The Economic Stabilization Act, enacted in February, made loan limit increases temporary, and subsequent legislation reduced the loan limits and made them permanent. This has broad implication for homebuyers in high cost areas.

3. Urge the government to use a portion of the allotted $700 billion that was provided to purchase mortgage-backed securities from banks to provide price stabilization for housing. The Treasury department should be required to use the newly enacted Troubled Assets Relief Program to push banks to:

• Extend credit down to Main Street, making credit more available to consumers and small businesses;

• Expedite the process for short sales;

• Expedite the resolution of banks’ real estate owned (REOs) properties.

4. Make permanent the prohibition against banks entering real estate brokerage and management, further protecting consumers and the economy.

Gaylord said that NAR will strongly pursue those proposals and is calling on Congress to return to enact housing stimulus legislation in a lame-duck session after the national elections in November.

reprinted by permission of the National Association of Realtors

Is the housing market causing the slumping economy?

By: David Gibbons, Director of Community Relations, Zillow | September 30, 2008



FOX Business posed this question to Zillow’s CFO, Spencer Rascoff and Chip Cummings, Northwest Financial Group President. They also discuss the failed bailout and its intended impact on the housing market.

Who will buy your apple?

Here's what we see in a buyer's market, but to try to look at it objectively, let's get the discussion away from housing for a moment and think about apples. Let's say there's one store in town, and let's say that all it sells is apples. Red, yellow, green, Delicious, Granny Smith, Fuji, just apples.

Now group the red Delicious together, the Granny Smiths, the yellows. Put prices on individual apples. Stick with the reds for now: all the apples look more or less the same, but the price on each apple is different. $1.25, $1.05, .88, .49. Which apple would you buy, all other things being equal? So someone else buys the 49c apple and suddenly the price on the $1.25 apple (which is withering a little) is changed to $1.10. Will it sell next? (No.)

Replace the prices and apples with prices and homes. The principle is the same. If you want to sell your home without having to wait for all the other homes to sell first, price it properly. And price it right from the beginning. Consult with a professional and remember that the current market will ultimately dictate the selling price.