By Dennis Norman, on October 6th, 2009 Dennis Norman
By: Dennis Norman
According to a report prepared by the Federation of Tax Administrators (FTA) in 2006, thirty-five states plus the District of Columbia impose a real estate transfer tax. What a transfer tax amounts to is when you sell or transfer a house (or other real property) you pay a tax to the state on the sale ranging from a low of 0.01 percent in Colorado to a high of 2.2 percent in the District of Columbia.
In addition, in some states (Delaware, Maryland, Michigan, New Hersey, Pennsylvania, Washington and West Virginia) some of Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on October 5th, 2009 Dennis Norman
By: Dennis Norman
Results have just been released of a study conducted by Rosen Consulting Group as to the effectiveness of the 2009 first-time-homebuyer tax credit and the potential need for an extension of the credits.
The Rosen Consulting Group was retained by Fix Housing First, a coalition that was originally working to convince Congress for a housing stimulus package that they feel would have a more significant then what was ultimately passed, and since has been working to get the tax credit extended beyond its current expiration date of November 30, 2009.
The study noted Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on October 2nd, 2009 Dennis Norman
By: Dennis Norman
The Homeowners Assistance Program (HAP)was established back in 1966 to give some monetary relief to eligible service members and federal employees who suffer financial loss on the sale of their primary residence when a base closure or realignment announcement cause a decline in the residential real estate market and they are not able to sell their homes under reasonable terms or conditions. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) temporarily expands the HAP program to assist service members and Department of Defense employees who are wounded, injured or become ill when deployed, Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on October 1st, 2009
By: Dennis Norman
Back in July I did a post about Freddie Macs “Smartbuy” sales promotion for owner-occupants buying Freddie Mac Homesteps(R) Homes. The special offer began July 17, 2009 and ends October 30, 2009 so there is less than a month to take advantage of it.
Under this promotion people buying a Freddie Mac home for their personal residence will receive at no cost:
A comprehensive two-year HomeProtect(R) Home Warranty Up to 3.5% payment by Freddie Mac towards buyers closing costs Homeprotect(R) Appliance discount (up to 30% savings on name brand appliances) Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on September 29th, 2009
By: Dennis Norman
According to the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices, home prices in July declined 12.8 percent from a year ago in their 10-city composite and 13.3 percent in their 20-city composite. On a positive note, all 20 metro areas showed an improvement in the annual rates of decline when comparing July to June.
Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on September 28th, 2009 Dennis Norman
By: Dennis Norman
I came across an interesting chart that I want to share. The chart below, courtesy of Chart of the Day, shows median home prices in the U.S. since 1970 (adjusted for inflation). As you can see from the chart, home prices trended upward from 1970 until peaking in the late 70’s (right around 1979 when I got into real estate, great timing on my part!) and then began dropping until the mid 80’s when prices began a rather rocky and unsteady climb upward.
As the chart illustrates, median home prices really started increasing, and Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on September 25th, 2009 Dennis Norman
By: Dennis Norman
This morning the U.S. Department of Commerce released a report showing the sale of New Homes here in the Midwest region in August were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 49,000 units, a 5.8 percent decrease from July’s revised annual rate of 52,000 units (originally reported as 61,000 in July) and is down 31.9 percent from a year ago.
The U.S. as a whole saw a slight 0.7 percent increase in new home sales in August over the month before and is down 3.4 percent from a year ago.
The report Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on September 24th, 2009 Dennis Norman
By: Dennis Norman
According to the latest report released today from the National Association of REALTORS(R), existing home sales for August in the Midwest dropped 6.6 percent to a seasonally adjusted rate of 1.14 million units down from a level of 1.22 million units in July. The August home sales rate of 1.14 million happens to be exactly what it was this time last year for the Midwest which is not as well as the US is doing as a whole. As a whole, the rate of existing home sales in August was up 3.4 percent from Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on September 22nd, 2009 Dennis Norman
By: Dennis Norman
Today the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) reported that U.S. home prices rose 0.3 percent on a seasonally-adjusted basis from June to July and are down 4.2 percent for the past year. Missouri is included by the FHFA in the West North Central division which was right on target with the US with an increase of 0.3 percent from June to July. Our region was only down 1.5 percent from last year according the report.
Many of the reports I’ve seen in the press on this are saying this is a sign of the Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on September 21st, 2009 Dennis Norman
By: Dennis Norman
Doing what all normal people do at 4:30 am on a Monday, I was scouring the Internet reading real estate news when I ran across an interesting article by Richard Stoyeck titled “Is Real Estate Coming Back Now?”
I’ll cut through the chase and give you Stoyeck’s answer to the question posed in the title of his story; “It will be in our opinion several years before we can get back to a vibrant real estate market.” If you have been reading this blog for a while then you know I have concerns Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on September 17th, 2009
By: Dennis Norman
This morning the US Census Bureau and US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) issued their report on New Residential Construction for August 2009 showing a slight decrease in new home construction activity from July in the US, but an increase in new home construction activity here in the Midwest.
The report shows the following for the Midwest Region:
Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on September 15th, 2009 Dennis Norman
Before the sub-prime mortgage implosion Karen Weaver warned of the coming crisis. Karen Weaver, the Global Head of Securitization Research for Deutsche Bank, said last month that she expected home prices to continue to drop through the 1st quarter of 2011. She also predicted that nearly half of the homeowners with mortgages would end up being underwater on their mortgages.
Yesterday Ms. Weaver said that in spite of the recent positive news on the housing market that she had not changed her position and is still predicting home prices to fall another 10 percent before finally reaching Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on September 5th, 2009 Dennis Norman
By: Dennis Norman
Over the past two days I published the first part and second part of my E-View TMwith Wendy Cromer, Vice-President of Marketing for Security Title Insurance Agency, LLC about title insurance, the new laws affecting it and things consumers should know.
Wendy Cromer, Vice-President of Marketing, Security Title Insurance Agency LLC
Today were going to do the final part of our E-View TM with Wendy:
Dennis-Wendy, title insurance seems to be one of those things that is a mystery to most homeowners. Can you please explain what title insurance is and Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on September 4th, 2009 Dennis Norman
By: Dennis Norman
Yesterday I published the first part of my E-View TM with Wendy Cromer, Vice-President of Marketing for Security Title Insurance Agency, LLC about title insurance, the new laws affecting it and things consumers should know.
Wendy Cromer, Vice-President of Marketing, Security Title Insurance Agency LLC
Today we’ll pick up where we left off yesterday in our E-View TM:
Dennis-Wendy, here in St. Louis we have “split-closings” which I think are viewed by many in the title insurance industry as a bad thing, and in fact the new laws we discussed yesterday Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on September 2nd, 2009 Dennis Norman
By: Dennis Norman
The National Association of REALTORS(R) and the St. Louis Association of REALTORS(R) have just released information on the St. Louis real estate market for July. Following are some highlights from the data which is for St Louis city and county.
Sales for July (existing homes-does not include new):
Single family homes – 1446 for the month 48 percent had 3 bedrooms Condos and Coops – 243 for the month 77 percent were 2 bedrooms or less Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on September 1st, 2009 Lawrence Yun, Chief Economist, NAR
By: Dennis Norman
Today the National Association of REALTORS(R) issued their Pending Home Sales Index Report for July showing pending sales in the U.S. were up for the sixth consecutive month, the best streak since NAR began the pending home sale index in 2001.
Here in the Midwest pending home sales for July were not as strong showing a 2.0 percent drop from June, however still 8.1% above a year ago. The only other region that saw a decline in month to month pending home sales in July was the Northeast with a Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on August 28th, 2009
Charles Hugh Smith, Of Two Minds
By: Charles Hugh Smith:
In February 2007 I suggested a 4% mortgage delinquency rate could trigger a decline in the entire housing market. Since that proved prescient, we should revisit the analytic tool behind that call: the Pareto Principle.
There is a whiff of euphoria in the housing market, a heavily touted confidence that “the bottom is in.” It’s all roaring back–rising sales, multiple bids by anxious buyers, 3.5% down payments, low mortgage rates and the bonus of an $8,000 first-time home buyer credit (a gift from U.S. taxpayers). Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on August 26th, 2009 Dennis Norman
This morning the U.S. Department of Commerce released a report showing the sale of New Homes here in the Midwest region in July were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 61,000 units, a 7.6 percent decrease from Junes annual rate of 66,000 units. The U.S. as a whole saw a 9.6 percent increase in new home sales in July over the month before with the Midwest beign the only region not to show an increase for the month.
New home sales in the Midwest for July 2009 lag 4.7 percent behind July 2008 new Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on August 24th, 2009 Dennis Norman
According to a report issued by First American CoreLogic national home price declines continue to improve citing that national housing prices fell 7.8 percent in June 2009 compared to June 2008 representing the small est year-over-year decline recorded to date in 2009. This was a 0.7 percent improvement over Mays decline of 8.5% from the prior year. St. Louis did not fare quite as well in the CoreLogic report. The report shows St Louis home prices decreased 11.34% in June, 2009 compared to June 2008 and, opposite the national trend, represented a 1.43% larger decline than Mays Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on August 22nd, 2009 Dennis Norman
By: Dennis Norman
All the news lately about the housing market, home sales in particular, has been encouraging and showing signs of stabilization in the real estate market and demonstrating that the real estate market may have seen the worst. Just when you think you may be through the storm though you see another dark cloud lurking in the distance. For the real estate market this dark cloud could very well be mortgage delinquencies and foreclosures.
At the end of this week the Mortgage Bankers Association reported that serious mortgage delinquencies (homeowners that are 90 or Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on August 21st, 2009 Dennis Norman
By: Dennis Norman
The St. Louis housing market is showing some signs of strength with St Louis home sales increasing in July to a seasonally adjusted rate of 21,038 homes, an increase of 6.8 percent from June’s seasonally adjusted rate of 19,691 homes. This increase for the month is very close to the increase in home sales in the U.S. according to the report released today from the National Association of REALTORS(R), existing home sales in July rose 7.2 percent to a seasonally adjusted rate of 5.24 million units up from a level of 4.89 million units Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on August 20th, 2009 Dennis Norman
According to the Housing Market Report that was issued this morning by Radarlogic, home prices increased in June from the previous month in 23 out of the 25 metropolitan areas tracked by their company. St. Louis was among the 23 metros that showed an increase in home prices in June over May.
Overall the composite for all 25 metros showed a 3 percent gain in price from May to June representing one of the largest monthly gains reported by RadarLogic since June 2000. St. Louis home prices increased 2.2 percent over May.
There has been a Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on August 18th, 2009
This morning the US Census Bureau and US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) issued a their report on New Residential Construction for July 2009 showing a slight increase in new home construction activity from June in the U.S.
For the Midwest region of the U.S. the report showed the following:
Building permits issued for single-family residences in July were at an annual rate of 77,000 which is a 5.5% increase over June, but still 18.9% below July 2008. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on August 17th, 2009 By: Dennis Norman
Lately the news on the real estate market has been a little more optimistic and almost encouraging at times. Most of the news and stats are national or regional and, as I and others have said many, many times, all real estate is local. So what’s going on in the St. Louis market and more specifically, what is selling here?
In putting together stats for this post I included data from the following areas:
St. Louis City St. Louis County St. Charles County Jefferson County Franklin County Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on August 13th, 2009 By: Dennis Norman
We’ll pick up where we left off after parts one and two of this series about selling a home in this market:
Question- Now for the $64 question, how should a seller properly price their home in this market?
Answer- In today’s market sellers are in fierce competition with one another for buyers. A seller can do everything right in presenting their home from maintenance and upkeep to staging, but if the price is not appropriate buyers will move on quickly. The simple truth is, there is another seller around the corner ready to set their Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on August 12th, 2009 By: Dennis Norman
We’ll pick up where we left off in part one of this series about selling a home in this market:
Question- How should a seller select an agent? What should they look for in an agent and what should a seller avoid?
Answer- Years of experience is not as important as it once was. Certainly, the seller needs an agent with market knowledge, but the fact is today’s market is new territory for all REALTORS(R). I believe a seller in today’s market needs to be certain their REALTOR(R) has a firm grasp of marketing a property to Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on August 11th, 2009 By: Dennis Norman
If you are a homeowner looking to sell your home today I don’t think I need to tell you it could be a challenge. In an effort to address some of the questions you may have about selling your home now as well as provide some useful tips and information
Now, lets find out what it takes to sell a home in this market:
Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on August 9th, 2009 Dennis Norman
By: Dennis Norman
Relocation.Comconducted a survey in June which shows that 50 percent of people who recently moved did so to improve their living situation, whether to move into a bigger home or move to a better neighborhood. The results of Relocation.Com’s most recent survey is a dramatic reversal from a similar Relocation.Com survey in March 2009 that found the recession played a much larger role in the decision to move.
As the primary reason for moving, No. 1 on the list was to live in a bigger/better home (26 percent), followed by living in a Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on August 7th, 2009 Dennis Norman
By: Dennis Norman
Earlier this week I did part one , and yesterday part two of my E-View with Carole Baras, CRS, GRI, ePRO, the 2009 President of the St. Louis Association of REALTORS(R) to get her take on the St. Louis real estate market.
Today I’ll pick up where I left off and complete my E-View with Carole:
Carole Baras, 2009 President, St. Louis Association of REALTORS(R)
Dennis – Carole, What do you feel are the best opportunities today for buyers in St. Louis?
Carole – Buyers that are looking to purchase a Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on August 6th, 2009 Dennis Norman
By: Dennis Norman
Yesterday I did part one of my E-View with Carole Baras, CRS, GRI, ePRO, the 2009 President of the St. Louis Association of REALTORS(R) to get her take on the St. Louis real estate market.
Today I’ll pick up where I left off and complete my E-View with Carole:
Carole Baras, 2009 President, St. Louis Association of REALTORS(R)
Dennis – Carole, obviously many things are affecting the real estate market at this time, many in a negative way unfortunately. What negative forces do you see working against the St. Louis real Continue Reading →
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