A Declining Market:

Home prices fall in 100 major metro areas in first half

azammit — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 17:45:48 +0000

Home prices fall in 100 major metro areas in the first half of 2008.

Median national home prices down 7.7% in Q1 to $196,300.

Biggest Losers:

Sacramento, CA down 29.2%
Riverside, CA down 27.7%
Lansing,MI down 26.9%

Biggest Gainers:

Binghamton, NY up 11.8%
Peoria, IL up 10.4%
Spartanburg, SC up 10.1%

See the full video from CNBC.

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Could it be the Bottom Based on Past Statistics?

azammit — Fri, 09 May 2008 05:37:40 +0000

The Wall Street Jornal posted an article stating that we have hit a point where according to history it is time for the cycle to reverse. The graph shows housing starts (per thousand) versus time (in years) in correlation to a recession. Read the full story from the Wall Street Journal.

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A Graphical Depiction…

azammit — Sun, 04 May 2008 22:49:07 +0000

Some interesting graphs from various sources (referenced on graph).

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Foreclosures up 75% in 2007

azammit — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 05:07:16 +0000

As stated by MSN Money,

“More than 1% of all households slipped into foreclosure in 2007, as more borrowers failed to keep up on their mortgages. Nevada led the nation with the highest foreclosure rate, while California had the highest total number of foreclosures.”

Read the full story from MSN.com

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And the Award for “Largest Decrease in Home Values” goes to…

azammit — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 09:02:09 +0000

Here are the 10 top cities for decreasing property values (as compared to a year ago):

Sacramento, CA (-18.5%)
Las Vegas, Nev. (-17.2%)
San Diego, Calif. (-17.1%)
Tampa, Fla. (-11.7%)
Los Angeles, Calif. (-10.7%)
Miami, Fla. (-10.6%)
Phoenix, Ariz. (-9.5%)
Jacksonville, Fla. (-8.7%)
Detroit, Mich. (-7.7%)
Atlanta, GA (-7.1%)

Click here for the full slideshow from Forbes…

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More Signs of Recession - Stagflation

azammit — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 08:50:39 +0000

As of today, February 16, more are more signs are leading towards a further declining market:

U.S import prices went up by 1.7% which was driven by increased prices for oil
Export prices increased 1.2% which was the largest jump since 1989.
The Reuters/University of Michigan index of consumer sentiment dropped to 69.6 which was the lowest it has been since 1992. These numbers are representative of the recessions in the mid 70’s, 80’s, and early 90’s.
Stock prices fell due to concerns that there was a slowing in consumer spending. Dow Jones was down 28 points to 12,348.
Dollar once again slide against other foreign currencies

This all leads to a term called stagflation. Which is not a good scenario for our economy: slowed economic growth and increased inflation.

Click here for the full story from MSN Money… ____________________________________________

January Job Losses are the Highest in 4 years

azammit — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 03:21:02 +0000

It was reported that over 17,000 jobs were lost last month. Most of the jobs were lost in construction, the mortgage industry and in real estate (no surprise there!). This doesn’t even include all of the real estate agents who are still technically employed with a broker but are not seeing any income due to the drastic drop in sales.

Bush couldn’t have said it any better in this article, “There’s serious signs that … the economy is weakening”.

Click here for the full story from Yahoo! Finance…

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Emergency Meeting Called by the Fed: Interest Rate Cut

azammit — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 00:46:22 +0000

On January 22, the Fed cut the benchmark interest rate by 3/4 of a point (now at 3.5%). This meeting came a week or so early from the next board meeting on January 29th. This was partially due to the panic that swept the globe on Monday when all foreign stock markets took a plunge.

What is most concerning is that this is the largest cut ever. Typically we have not seen cuts more than .5% (especially in a spontaneous meeting like this one). I guess desparate times calls for desparate measures.

Click here for the full story from Economist.com

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Worldwide Stock Markets Plunge due to Bush’s “Stimulus Plan”

azammit — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 00:39:47 +0000

Not only are we skeptical of the government’s ability to stop our country from moving into a recession, but so is the rest of the world. Foriegn market stock indecies fell sharply today as a result of skeptism from foreign markets that President Bush’s stimulus is too little too late! This plan calls for a tax cut of approximately $145 billion dollars with the thought that this would promote spending and keep the economy going strong.

Click here for the full story from Yahoo! Finance…

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8 Tips for Selling Your Home

azammit — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 21:03:53 +0000

There are several tips for selling your home fast in a declining real estate market as outlined throughout TheDecliningMarket.com, however here is what MSN Money offers as advice:

Hire a top-notch sales agent
Price it right
Create an adjustable sales plan
Clear the clutter
Offer incentives
Don’t get distracted with “cash for homes” offers
Ask for help from your company
Rent it while it is on the market

Click here for full story from MSN Money…

My only qualm with this article is to be careful when it comes to an adjustable sales plan. Ensure that your starting price is not too high when you start out (just because you agreed to lower the price if the home does not sell). The longer the home is on the market, the more leverage the buyer will feel they have. It is important to ensure the home is priced right from the first time it is placed on the market.

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