St Louis Real Estate News - Page 72 of 110 - Daily St. Louis real estate news, market analysis, home prices, and mortgage rate updates from local industry professionals.

New Home Sales On The Rise While Inventory is Low

By Dennis Norman, on April 23rd, 2013

New home sales continued the upward trend in March with new homes in the US selling at a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 417,000 homes, an increase of 1.5 percent from the month before and an 18.5 percent increase from a year ago, according to the US Census Bureau and HUD.

New home sale prices declined in March to a median price of $247,000, down 6.7 percent from February’s median new home price of $264,900 but up 3 percent from a year ago when the median new home sales price was $239,800. The inventory of new homes for sale remained steady Continue Reading →

St Louis Home Sales Up 11.7 Percent From Year Ago

By Dennis Norman, on April 22nd, 2013

St Louis Home sales rose in March to 2,397 homes sold, up from 1,817 homes sold in February and up 11.7 percent from a year ago when there were 2,145 homes sold. St Louis’ year-over-year increase in home sales in March actually topped the increase in US home sales for the month which rose 10.3 percent from the year before.

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Survey Shows Bankers Feeling Better About Housing Market

By Dennis Norman, on April 19th, 2013

FICO Survey Shows Bankers Are More Optimistic About Housing Market

Most bankers surveyed (83.7 percent) in FICO’s first quarter 2013 survey, said they felt mortgage delinquencies would decline, or at worst stay the same, during the next 6 months. Additionally, 70.8 percent of the bankers feel home prices are rising at a sustainable pace.

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Housing Boom Era Home Buying Strategies Returning

By Tyler Frank NMLS # 942420, on April 19th, 2013

Tyler Frank,Paramount MortgageNMLS ID 942420

Housing Boom Era Type Home Buying Tactics Reappearing in St Louis Real Estate Market

During the home buying frenzy of the housing boom, which peaked in 2006, it was common to see home buyers, in an effort to beat out other buyers fighting for the same home, include price escalation clauses in their offers and make “naked” (contingency-free) offers. It was also common for a seller to purposely price their home low in an effort to rein in multiple buyers and pit them against each other in a bidding war. We are Continue Reading →

Home ownership remains important to 96 percent of Americans

By Dennis Norman, on April 18th, 2013

Home ownership has not lost its luster

Survey results just released by Prudential Real Estate reveal that, in spite of the collapse of the real estate market and the challenges faced by many home owners the past few years, 96 percent of Americans still feel that home ownership is important.

The survey also showed that consumers remain pretty optimistic about the future of the real estate market with 77 percent of respondents indicating that they feel the real estate market and property values will recover. This is up from 73 percent that felt this way at the end of Continue Reading →

What To Look Out For To Avoid A Dishonest Mover

By Dennis Norman, on April 17th, 2013

The thrill of buying or selling a home can quickly come to an end when you have a bad moving experience or, worse yet, get ripped off by a dishonest moving company. How do you avoid a dishonest mover? The U.S. Department of Transportation has published 8 “red flags” to be on the lookout for to avoid getting ripped off:

“RED FLAGS” to be on the lookout for:

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St Louis Residential Construction On The Rise

By Dennis Norman, on April 16th, 2013

St Louis Residential Construction Gets Boost From Apartment Construction

St Louis residential construction activity is on the rise with building permits increasing by almost 75 percent in the past year in the immediate St Louis area. As the table below shows, the largest increase in residential building permits came in multi-families with a 154 percent increase in permits in the area in the past year. During the same period, single family permits in St Louis were up just over 50 percent.

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Home Prices Set To Rise, Thanks To The Fed

By Tyler Frank NMLS # 942420, on April 15th, 2013

Tyler Frank,Paramount MortgageNMLS ID 942420

Home Prices Nationwide Shooting Up Faster Than Anyone Thought Possible Not Long Ago

The US housing market has broken out of a deep slump, and prices are shooting up faster than anyone thought possible a year ago.

Prices of existing homes rose 10% in February nationally from a year ago. What is causing this increase?

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Washington DC And 3 California Cities Most Likely To See Housing Bubble

By Dennis Norman, on April 12th, 2013

“Nationwide, we’re not in a bubble,” says Glenn Kelman, CEO of online real estate company Redfin, however Washington D.C., Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Diego may be headed that direction, according to Redfin’s data. Redfin is not in St Louis so our city was not on their list but in the coming weeks I plan to do an analysis of the St Louis market in the same manner they did of other markets and will publish what I find at that time. In the meantime, here’s the info from Redfin.

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St Louis Real Estate Market Update -April 2013 – VIDEO

By Dennis Norman, on April 12th, 2013

St Louis Real Estate Market Turns Into Seller’s Market!

The St Louis Real Estate Market has become a seller’s market, according to the latest market data from MORE, REALTORS. The inventory of homes for sale is on the decline while buying activity is up which makes for a competitive market for buyers.

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.

To get the latest St Louis Real Estate Stats and the latest, best and most comprehensive St Louis Real Estate Data, check out our 5-minute Continue Reading →

St Louis Foreclosures Down Almost 12 Percent From Year Ago

By Dennis Norman, on April 11th, 2013

St Louis Foreclosures on 4,252 Properties During 1st Quarter 2013

St Louis Foreclosures declined 11.96 percent during the first quarter of 2013 from a year ago, according to a newly released report by RealtyTrac. According to the report, 4,252 properties in St Louis received a foreclosure filing (default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions) during the first quarter of 2013 which is a decline of 9.88 percent from the 4th quarter of 2012 and a 11.96 decline from the 1st quarter of 2012.

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St Louis New Home Construction – Current Permit Activity

By Dennis Norman, on April 2nd, 2013

St Louis new home construction has suffered like pretty much the rest of the country has over the past 5 years or so as a result of the real estate bubble burst. The news lately has been better as we have seen new home construction in St Louis increase, in some areas significantly, but, as I often remind readers, it is all relative. The increases we are seeing now are increases from historically low numbers in the recent past and have a long way to go to get back to a “normal” level. The chart below (which is “live” and Continue Reading →

Is It A Sellers Market In St Louis?

By Dennis Norman, on April 1st, 2013

Has St Louis Become A Sellers Market?

As the news about the St Louis real estate market becomes more optimistic, the question being asked has become “Is It A Sellers Market In St Louis?”. To answer that question, I put together some market data from that last couple of years to show how the market is changing in the St. Louis area and produced our latest infographic illustrating what I found.

To find out if it is a sellers market in St Louis check out the infographic by clicking here.

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Free Credit Scores As A Result of New Act

By Tyler Frank NMLS # 942420, on March 29th, 2013

Tyler Frank,Paramount MortgageNMLS ID 942420

Free Credit Scores are Not Part of the Free Annual Credit Report Consumers Currently Receive

Consumers currently have the right to request their free credit report once a year, but a credit report does not include free credit scores. These two items are often confused to be the same, which they are not.

You generally must pay to see your credit score. It’s a three-digit grade that predicts how risky you are to a lender.

Earlier this month, bills were introduced in the House and Senate to allow all consumers Continue Reading →

St Louis Foreclosures Down Slightly From Year Ago

By Dennis Norman, on March 28th, 2013

St Louis Foreclosures Are On The Decline

The inventory of St Louis foreclosures in February was down 0.5 percent from February 2012, according to a report from Corelogic. The decline is modest, but is still good news for our St. Louis market. There were 10,733 St Louis foreclosures completed in the 12 month period ending February 2013, the 12th highest number of the major metro areas in the U.S. covered by the Corelogic report, as shown in the table below.

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Inventory of Homes For Sale In St Louis Down Over 8 Percent

By Dennis Norman, on March 27th, 2013

Barely over 3 month supply of homes for sale in St Louis

Home sales in the U.S. fell slightly in February from the month before, according to the National Association of REALTORS’ pending home sales index. The index slid to 104.8* in February from 105.2 in January however was still 8.4 percent higher than a year ago and at the second highest level in nearly three-year. Lawrence Yun, chief economist for NAR, said “limited inventory is holding back the market in many areas” and that “only new home construction can genuinely help relieve the inventory shortage…”

As the Continue Reading →

New Home Sales In Midwest Increase In February

By Dennis Norman, on March 26th, 2013

New Home Sales In Midwest Outperform The National Market!

New home sales in the Midwest were at an adjusted annual rate of 58,000 homes in February, an increase of 13.7 percent from January’s rate of 51,000 homes, according to data released this morning by the Census Bureau. The Midwest was the only region in February with an increase in new home sales from January and the Midwest and West region were the only two regions with an increase in new home sales from a year ago.

New home sale prices rose in February to $246,800 from $239,600 the month before, Continue Reading →

Real Estate Terms Defined

By Diana Davis, on March 21st, 2013

Making Sense of Confusing Real Estate Terms

If you are buying, selling or refinancing a home you will come across real estate terms and industry lingo that may sound foreign to you. To help address this issue, below you will find definitions for the most common real estate terms that you are likely to come across when buying, selling or refinancing a home. If you have other questions about title insurance, or the role of the title company in these transactions, please contact me and I’ll be happy to help.

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What are important features to home buyers

By Dennis Norman, on March 20th, 2013

Does your house have the features that are important to home buyers?

Every year the National Association of REALTORS conducts an extensive survey of recent home buyers to gain an understanding into what are important features to home buyers. The results of the 2013 survey have now been released revealing what home buyers are looking for today. So what did the typical buyer buy? According to the survey, the typical buyer bought an 1,860 square foot, 3 bedroom home with two baths that was built-in 1996. So there you have it, if that describes your home, take comfort in knowing Continue Reading →

St. Louis County Home Values Declined 7 Percent According to Assessor Jake Zimmerman

By Dennis Norman, on March 20th, 2013

St. Louis County Home Values Dropped In 22 of 23 School Districts

St. Louis County Home Values declined seven (7) percent from 2011 to 2013 according to the preliminary report issued by St. Louis County Assessor, Jake Zimmerman who said “while some individual properties and neighborhoods have seen value increases, most of St. Louis County real estate has continued to experience declines.” The school district with the largest decline in property values was the Riverview Gardens school district where home values fell 23.90 percent from 2011-2013, followed by the Normandy-Wellston school district with a 15.4 Continue Reading →

St. Louis New Home Construction Up Over Fifty Percent From Year Ago

By Dennis Norman, on March 19th, 2013

St. Louis New Home Construction Heating Up!

St. Louis new home construction activity continues to increase and is off to a good start for the year. There were 240 new home building permits issued in February in the St. Louis area*, just slightly ahead of January’s 239 permits. Year to date permits issued for 2013 is up 53 percent from the same time last year, according to the latest permit data available from the Home Builders Association of St. Louis and Eastern Missouri. For complete permit data click the link below:

St. Louis New Home Construction Permit Data February Continue Reading →

St. Louis Real Estate Market Update Video-March 2013

By Dennis Norman, on March 15th, 2013

St. Louis Real Estate Market Gaining Steam!

The St. Louis Real Estate Market is getting close to becoming a seller’s market in many neighborhoods. The inventory of St Louis homes for sale is down from a year ago while sales are increasing paving the way for what could be a somewhat robust selling market this spring.

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.

To get the latest St Louis Real Estate Stats and the latest, best and most comprehensive St Louis Real Estate Continue Reading →

First time home buyers bought almost half the homes sold last year

By Dennis Norman, on March 15th, 2013

Of the 6.8 million homes sold during the past two years, almost half of them (46 percent) were sold to first-time home buyers according the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB). This is up significantly from 2005 and 2007 when only 35 percent of the homes sold were bought by first-time buyers and is even higher than in 2009, the middle of the home buyer tax credit period, when first time buyers made up 41 percent of the market. Continue Reading →

Free Foreclosure Avoidance Help Is Available In St Louis

By Dennis Norman, on March 14th, 2013

What to do if you are facing foreclosure and losing your home. Continue Reading →

Kiplinger Predicts Home Sales To Hit 5 Million Mark in 2013

By Dennis Norman, on March 13th, 2013

Existing home sales are expected to hit the 5 million mark in 2013, according to Kiplinger’s Economic Outlook published yesterday. Kiplinger is predicting a 7.5 percent increase in existing home sales in 2013 over last years 4.65 million home sales. Continue Reading →

McMansions Not Appealing To Babyboomers Kids

By Dennis Norman, on March 12th, 2013

“McMansions”, which Wikipedia defines as “a large, new house in a sub-division of similarly large houses, which all seem mass produced and lacking distinguishing characteristics” and became popular in the 80’s and 90’s, are not appealing to today’s younger home buyer, according to a survey conducted by Better Homes and Gardens® Real Estate. According to the survey, “Millennial’s” which, for the sake of this survey was considered to be people between the ages 18 and 35, are looking for a home that is distinctly different than that of their parents generation which, for many of them, are the baby boomers. This group of young home buyers are not looking for stereotypical and prototypical luxury homes (ie: McMansion) but instead want homes that are different and suit their personal lifestyle. Continue Reading →

Attorney General Koster sues businesses that had promised foreclosure modifications and debt relief

By News Desk, on March 12th, 2013

Attorney General Chris Koster today filed a lawsuit against two related businesses that purported to provide loan modification and mortgage relief to desperate homeowners. Koster’s suit is against Legal Helpers Debt Resolution, LLC and Mortgage Law Group, LLC, as well as the companies’ managing partner, Jason Edward Searns; senior partner, Thomas Macey; and senior partner, Jeffery Aleman. Continue Reading →

Eighty Four Percent of Real Estate Professionals Feel 2013 Will Bring More Sales and Higher Prices

By Dennis Norman, on March 11th, 2013

Real estate professionals are definitely showing more confidence in the housing market today, with over eighty percent (84 percent) of them thinking that 2013 will bring more home sales and higher prices than 2012, according to the results of a survey by Market Leader (FWIW I agree). This represents a 28 percent increase in confidence in the market from a year ago when a similar survey was conducted. Continue Reading →

St Louis’ Biggest Foreclosure Buyers

By Dennis Norman, on March 7th, 2013

St. Louis had 8 different companies that purchased 10 or more foreclosures in the St Louis area during 2012, according to the “Bulk Foreclosure Buyer” report that was just released by RealtyTrac. At the top of the list was Hfr Capital Assets LLC, with 24 purchases. Greg Daney appears to be a principal in this company and is also the CEO of loanSum.com, a local hard money lender, so my guess is most of these “purchases” were actually the result of his company foreclosing on loans his company made that the borrowers defaulted on. Continue Reading →

St. Louis Borrowers in a Rush for Low Mortgage Interest Rates and Fees

By Dennis Norman, on March 7th, 2013

Nationwide 30-year fixed mortgage rates have climbed to their highest level of the last five weeks according to last week’s rate survey conducted by Bankrate.com. Continue Reading →