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Since I occasionally publish a slideshow of St Louis’s most expensive homes for sale, it only seemed fair to do a slideshow of St Louis’ cheapest homes for sale as well. Would you believe that, at the time of publication, there are actually two homes for sale for the price of $1.00? That’s right, one buck! Granted, they don’t look like much (actually they look like you should be paid to take it) but what do you expect for $1.00?
So, here goes:
Nearly one of every five (18%) St Louis homes sold in the first half of October 2013 sold within the first two weeks of hitting the market, according to the latest data from MORE, REALTORS. Of the five counties included in the St Louis 5-county core market (see table below), Jefferson County, with 22 percent of it’s homes selling in the first two weeks of coming on the market, had the highest percentage and Franklin County, at 1 percent, the lowest percentage of homes sold in under two weeks.
(We work hard on this and sure would appreciate a “Like”)[iframe Continue Reading →
St Louis home building activity is on the rise throughout the St Louis area, according to the latest data from the Home Builders Association of St Louis and Eastern Missouri. Building permits issued through September 2013 for new homes in the five counties that make up the bulk of our new home market have increased from the same time period last year. Overall, as the table below shows, building permits have increased 29% for the five counties, with the city of St Louis seeing the largest increase at 100%. The lions share of new home construction continues to take place Continue Reading →
Cash Home Buyers in St Louis were responsible for 50 percent of the home sales in September 2013 in the St Louis Metro area, according to a new report just released today by RealtyTrac. The report showed that state-wide, cash buyers accounted for 48 percent of home sales in Missouri during the month. As the table below shows (a St Louis Real Estate News Exclusive), in the city of St Louis 69 percent of the home sales in September were cash sales.
Cash sales are often associated with investors and, as the table shows, there is no lack of investor Continue Reading →
A new Rasmussen Reports survey just released reveals that most Americans (51%) believe buying a home is a good investment. The results of this survey are in line with what similar survey’s by Rasmussen have revealed throughout 2012 and 2013, however is down from May 2009 when 67% of Americans Surveyed said it was a good time to buy, marking an all-time high.
Thinking of buying a home? Search St Louis homes for sale here.
House flipping in St Louis is on the rise according to the 3rd quarter house flipping report just released this morning by RealtyTrac, the foreclosure tracking gurus. What is “house flipping”? Well, back when I entered the real estate business (1979) and began buying and selling homes, a “flip” was referred to as a house we sold and would close the our purchase, as well as our resale, on the same day. Today, “flipping” is applied to a home that is bought and then resold within a short period, for the purposes of the RealtyTrac report, 6 months.
The RealtyTrac Continue Reading →
Thirteen of the 15 top sellers markets in St. Louis are found in St. Louis County, with the City of St Louis and Franklin County each having one neighborhood on the list. This list is produced by MORE, REALTORS, and is based upon their Market Action IndexTM which, among other things, looks at supply, demand and inventory for an area and then applies an index value to it.
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January 10, 2014 new QM rules (qualified mortgage) will go into effect and will most likely negatively impact the ability of some home buyers to obtain a mortgage. In terms of how many borrowers the new rules will affect, it is hard to say. There have been several analysis’ done of the percentage of home loans originated in 2012 would not have met the QM rules and the estimates vary from 12 percent to more than half. Personally, I think the lower estimates are probably closer to accurate, but it is still a significant number…potentially somewhere around 1 of every Continue Reading →
St Louis is a pretty modest place as a whole and is very affordable when it comes to housing costs. This doesn’t mean that you can’t find a multi-million dollar estate if you are in the market for one.
The proof is in the slideshow below…the most expensive homes currently on the market in the St Louis area:
Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the National Association of REALTORS (NAR), cautioned today that, given the fact the U.S. Government spends one dollar for every 75 -80 cents it takes in, if the debt ceiling isn’t raised, the government will have to decide where to cut its spending. Should the government choose not to pay its interest obligations, “we can expect interest rates on Treasury bonds to rise…and if that happens, mortgage rates will rise, because mortgage rates follow Treasury rates.”
Yun went on to say that if mortgage interest rates do rise we can expect home sales to drop Continue Reading →
It’s a fickle market…
The government shut-down and economy that is, at best, somewhat unstable, continues to keep home buyers somewhat timid. As the data shows in our just-released 5 minute market update, St Louis home prices and St Louis home sales have both increased in the past year, but the market is fairly fragile at this point.
Thinking of selling and want to know if your neighborhood is a seller’s market? Contact us and we’ll answer that question for you.
You can now subscribe to our ITUNES Podcast Channel to receive our updated market videos via podcast automatically Continue Reading →
As we enter the 7th day of the government shut down, concern grows among home buyers and sellers as to how this may affect the transactions here in St Louis. The short answer is that, fortunately, it appears the impact will be minimal for the most part. This morning at a meeting of the St Louis Industry Forum, which I chair, this topic was discussed and from the input of the real estate-related professions represented, it appears the impact of the government shutdown on real estate transactions here will be minimal.
Shelly Clark, President of Cardinal Surveying, said that there Continue Reading →
Agency relationships between a buyer or seller of a home and the real estate agent are probably one of the most confusing aspects of the real estate transaction for consumers and for many real estate agents as well for that matter. Dual agency takes the confusion to a whole new level though for the parties involved as the issue gets quite complex. At the very basic level, dual agency exists when the same real estate agent represents both the buyer and seller in the same real estate transaction (a bad idea in my humble opinion). At a more complicated Continue Reading →
Three of every 10 Americans don’t qualify for a home loan, according to the Zillow Mortgage Market Place Analysis. The analysis also showed that only borrowers with a credit score of at least 740 should expect to get the best mortgage rates offered due to tougher mortgage lending standards.
In doing their analysis, Zillow analyzed a total of 13 million loan quotes and over 225,000 purchase loan requests from September 2013. What was revealed was that borrowers with a credit score under 620 who requested a home mortgage for a 30-year fixed-rate loan, were unlikely to receive a loan. Continue Reading →
Daniela Spiridon, a 42 year-old woman from St. Charles, pled guilty yesterday to six felony counts of wire fraud related to a scheme she operated out of an office in Chesterfield, according to a report from the FBI. According to the indictment Spiridon was charged under, she operated her business out of an office at 18118a Chesterfield Airport Road, in Chesterfield, MO under several business names, including A&AD Investments, LLC; CDRS ESC Investments, a.k.a. CDRS ESC and CDRS LLC.
Just over 1 of every 4 (26%) St Louis home sales (5-county core area) in August 2013 were cash purchases, according to MORE, REALTORS. This is the highest rate of cash sales in St. Louis since April 2013 and is the highest number of total home sales for a one month period in over 4 years!
The average home price on cash sales in August was $116,724 and the average home price on all home sales for the month was $187,978.
On the national level, almost half of the homes sold (45%) in August 2013 were cash purchases, according Continue Reading →
St. Charles county is a “hidden gem” for real estate investors wishing to buy rental property, according to RealtyTrac’s newly published “List of Top 25 Hidden Gem Single Family Rental Markets“. St. Charles County was the only Missouri county that made the list and it came in at 21 on the list with a gross yield on rental property of 9.4 percent. The gross yield is determined by taking the annual median rent for a county and divide it by the median price of home in that county. In the case of St Charles county, the median Continue Reading →
St Louis has some top rated public school districts cranking out kids with high GPA’s but also has some districts facing real challenges, the most recent of which being the Normandy School District. I think most people agree that the quality of the schools has an impact on home values in that district as demand to be in the top districts is thought to help protect home values but to what extent?
St. Louis has school districts at the top, as well as the bottom, of the list.
The housing market continues to show signs of recovery, today with the report by S&P/Experian showing that their credit default index for first mortgages fell by 12 percent in the past year and by over 20 percent (20.8%) for second mortgages during the same period. While this may not be that exciting of a topic or seem like such a big deal to some, given the fact that mortgage delinquencies are a leading indicator of foreclosures and, over the past few years, foreclosures have pommelled some neighborhoods all but destroying home values, this is really huge from a big Continue Reading →
Eleven of the 12 fastest selling St. Louis neighborhoods are found in St. Louis County with the lone exception, which also happens to be #1 on the list, found in the city of St. Louis, according to the latest data available from MORE, REALTORS.
The fastest selling neighborhoods list is ranked based upon the median time current listings have been on the market. At the top of the list, with a median time on market of 25 days, is the 63101 zip area of the city of St Louis, followed by the 63040 zip area in Grover at 29 days. Continue Reading →
There were 59,709 St Louis homeowners with negative equity in the 2nd quarter of 2013, a 33 percent decline from the first quarter of this year when there were 89,690, according to a report released by CoreLogic. During the 2nd quarter just over 1 in 10 (10.6%) of all St Louis homeowners with a mortgage owed more on their home then the current value thereby putting them underwater, or in a negative equity position. The quarter before, about one in 6 (16%) St Louis homeowners with a mortgage were underwater.
The Missouri Supreme Court just handed down an opinion affirming a jury’s award of $1,950,000 to a an owner of property 1653 Creve Coeur Mill Road which was taken by eminent domain by St. Louis County for the Page/Olive connector as part of the Highway 141 extension.
The events leading up to this case began in December 2009 when St Louis County filed a condemnation suit against property owners to make way for part of the extension of highway 141 which included 1653 Creve Coeur Mill, at the time owned by descendants of Arthur and Stella Novel. According to Continue Reading →
In July 2013 just a little over 1 of every 5 (22 percent) St Louis homes* that were sold were cash purchases, marking the lowest rate of cash sales since June 2010, according to MORE, REALTORS. On the national level, 2 of every 5 (40 percent) homes sold during July were cash purchases, according to a report released this morning from RealtyTrac.
The total number of homes sold in St Louis* in July was 2,731, a slight increase from June’s 2,672 sales and a 17 percent increase from July 2012 when there were 2,326 homes sold in the St Continue Reading →
With all the talk lately about many St Louis neighborhoods going from the doldrums to a sellers market many would-be home buyers (and investors) are asking where are the buyers markets are in St Louis? The are looking for the areas where the opportunity still exists to negotiate a better deal and not have to worry about getting caught in a multiple offer situation like we are seeing in some of the hotter markets today. While the upside to a buyer’s market is less competition and perhaps a better price, the downside is there is a reason Continue Reading →
Lending Tree just released a list ranking the credit quality of perspective homebuyers by State based upon home loan applications during the 2nd quarter of 2013 and the report gives Missouri a score of 75.69 out of a possible 100, bringing our state in at 41st in the nation. In determining the credit quality of the borrower or “borrower health” in Lending Tree terms, they take into consideration three things on perspective homebuyer loan applications: weighted average of credit score, loan-to-value ratio [LTV] and overall lendability of mortgage-seekers to arrive at a score.
At the top of the list, Continue Reading →
Lenders Guarantee Title Company Manager, Elizabeth Glosemeyer, plead guilty yesterday to two counts of wire fraud stemming from her activities as manager of the title company. In an indictment issued in June, it as alleged that “profitability suffered” at Lenders Guarantee Title as a result of the financial crisis of 2008 leaving the company without sufficient cash flow to pay its bills and obligations causing Glosemeyer, as manager, to “take money from the Lenders escrow account to fund operations.” This ultimately left the escrow account for the title company short and as a result, according to the indictment, Lenders Continue Reading →
Today, RealtyTrac released its’ list of the “Top Housing Markets for Health and Wealth” with metro areas in the U.S. that scored the best in the health and wealth areas addressed by the report. The report examined lifestyle (including fast food restaurants per capita, adult activity rate and smoking rate), disease (including diabetes and obesity rate), environment (clean air days), economy (unemployment) and real estate (3 year appreciation rate). At the top of the list is Austin Texas with an 81 percent activity rate, 10 percent smoking rate, 5,8 percent unemployment and 27 percent real estate appreiciation in the Continue Reading →
This past week, Andy Van Slyke sold his Ladue Manse at 710 S. Price for $3,200,000 after being listed for sale for just 48 days, albeit at a sales price of just 80% of the asking price of $3,975,000. Andy and wife, Lauri built this french-inspired mansion in 2001 with with over 6,000 square feet of living area (with an additional 3,000 square feet in the lower level) situated on 1.8 acres of well-manicured grounds and including all the features you would expect in this price range such as exquisite architectural design, high-end finishes, a pool but also has features Continue Reading →
Bidding wars for homes in St Louis cooled in July as the number of home sales where the final sales price exceeded the list price at the time of sale was 14.7 percent of all home sales in the St Louis 5-county core area (City of St Louis and Counties of St Louis, St Charles, Jefferson and Franklin), according to the latest data from MORE, REALTORS. This is down 8.7 percent from June, when 16.1 percent of the homes sold in St Louis were sold at a price in excess of the list price. Nationally, in July almost half Continue Reading →
St Louis’ year-over-year inventory of homes for sale has declined from 18,740 active listings for sale in the core St Louis market (City of St Louis and Counties of St Louis, St Charles, Jefferson and Franklin) from 18,740 homes for sale in July 2012 to 16,888 homes for sale last month, a decline of 9.9 percent in the year-over-year inventory, according to MORE, REALTORS. This is nearly double the national rate of decline in the inventory of homes for sale which was 5.24 percent for the same period, according to the National Association of REALTORS.
During the Continue Reading →