Two encouraging bits of real estate news brightened my morning today.

First, pending home sales, based on contracts signed in August, jumped unexpectedly to the highest level since June 2007. According to Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the National Association of Realtors, this improvement was a result of improved affordability and lower interest rates.

In addition, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported that mortgage applications increased 2.2 percent last week due to lower home loan rates.

More pending home sales and loan applications mean more closed business. Paired with the expectation of freer credit moving forward and the $7,500 buyer tax credit, this is all promising news for the real estate industry.

"It pays to ask" and it also pays to tell. Pick up the phone and share this news with your prospects and clients. Let them know that now is the time to buy.

Let's move this market, 

Credit Update!

Do not believe everything you hear on the NEWS! You are witnessing a POLITICAL tug of war right now.

I have had several of my business partners (Agents) call and ask me if it is getting harder to lend money…here is the bottom-line, you can pass this information off to your clients & prospects if you wish.

FHA is financing 97% of the purchase price. SunTrust is STILL financing 95% second home. The Mortgage Insurance companies have put higher credit score requirements in place, but the biggest challenge would be on 2^nd home and investor properties with most of what I have been seeing for second homes credit scores being over 680…NO PROBLEM… otherwise we FHA for lower scores on primary home, and get a better rate anyway.

THE SKY IS NOT FALLING!

• USDA & VA is lending 100%. For information on Rural Development, feel free to call me. You will be surprised to know how much of our area qualifies for that product.

• Fannie & Freddie…Like I said, we still do 95% financing on both Primary & Second homes.

• Jumbo Money…Still available and strong.

I saw a report the other day that showed that the national sale price had only dropped 2.2% over the last couple months. (CNBC) That is great news, and shows a potential bottom.

courtesy of ed bucchino

Before you read the article let me give you a snap shot on what they are saying in my opinion.  The online search websites out there are not as accurate as a true brokerage house that is a member of a local mls board.  They do not have as much information or the complete inventory of what i available.  If you want to get the most accurate information the best bet is to contact a local professional realtor.

Quantity, quality vary at real estate search sites

Study: Some sites serve up stale, inaccurate property info

By Inman News, Wednesday, August 27, 2008.

A report commissioned by property search company Roost found that property information can vary widely in volume and accuracy among online sites, with some sites showing a small fraction of the for-sale properties in a given market area.

Prepared by WAV Group, a real estate consulting company, the report found that some online sites are missing a majority of the properties that real estate professionals have listed for sale in industry-operated multiple listing services, and that property information at some online sites is far less accurate or current than broker-shared property data derived from area MLSs.

The study focuses on a range of online sites that offer property search tools for consumers, including Google, Roost, Trulia, Yahoo and Zillow. Site comparisons in the study are based on searches conducted for single-family resale homes with exactly three bedrooms and two bathrooms in three market areas: Dallas, Miami and San Diego.

Additionally, different price points were selected in each of the market areas in an effort to equalize sample sizes of search results within each market area to about 100 homes. Searches were performed on each site on the same day within "as short amount of time as possible," WAV Group reported.

"The data here clearly show, as they did in a national study we conducted earlier this year, that a site based on information from a local MLS will give consumes a more accurate picture of what's available in a local market," said Victor Lund, founding partner of WAV Group, in a statement.

Sites based on MLS data have upper hand

The study concludes that third-party sites that do not rely on MLS listings or Internet Data Exchange (IDX) sharing agreements among brokers "are still struggling to collect a comparable, comprehensive data set of accurately displayed listings."

That conclusion is perhaps not surprising, given that the report is promoted by Roost, which operates a search site powered by IDX information from numerous market areas.

"Until now, very little research has been done on listing accuracy - a key demand of today's online shopper," the report states. "Understanding that Web sites get their listing information from a variety of sources, we were interested in knowing the differences."

The most accurate source of listing information is the local MLS, the report concluded, though not all MLSs offer a publicly accessible search site for properties listed for sale in the MLS.

Realtor-affiliated MLSs do allow member brokers to set up publicly accessible IDX sites through which they can share property information with one another.

"WAV Group research established that searchable housing information on IDX-powered Web sites is the most accurate public home search available - usually 96 percent to 98 percent accurate," the report states.

While some brokerage companies and MLSs choose to share property information with a variety of third-party sites, others are guarded about such distribution agreements.

Third-party sites face 'awesome challenge'

WAV Group reported that in Dallas, Google displayed about 69 percent of the for-sale listings that could be found in the local MLS, with other third-party sites, like Trulia, Yahoo and Zillow, carrying a smaller percentage.

In Dallas, the local MLS and Roost and an IDX-based Century 21 brokerage site ranked among the most accurate and comprehensive search sites. In Miami it was a similar story, with sites based on MLS data and broker-to-broker sharing agreements ranking the highest and third-party sites ranking lower, with fewer for-sale listings.

"Clearly brokers and agents are looking to promote seller listings online in the best possible way to reach as many buyers as possible. Unfortunately the process in place today for getting accurate and complete listing information to third-party Web sites is an awesome challenge," the report states.

While many real estate Web sites refresh their data each day, just as IDX sites typically update within 24 hours, many of those sites "underperformed the IDX-powered Web sites," the report states, by displaying a fraction of the for-sale properties listed in the MLS.

Searching in San Francisco

Inman News on Tuesday afternoon conducted searches for San Francisco homes at a variety of real estate search sites to compare the results.

The search queries sought to obtain a list of active, for-sale homes in San Francisco. No property criteria were selected to narrow the list of for-sale homes, unless cited.

The individual properties in the search results have not been tested against the local MLS data of for-sale properties, so it is possible that some of the properties are no longer for sale or that they may not be listed in the MLS or may be duplicate listings, etc.

Here are the results from the comparative searches of for-sale homes in San Francisco:

San Francisco Multiple Listing Service: 2,420 properties - search included single-family properties and condo, co-op, loft and tenants-in-common properties.

C21.com: 270 properties.

Estately: 1,699 properties. The company reported 237,100 total properties for sale.

FrontDoor: 2,239 properties. The company reports a total of about 3 million properties at the site.

Google Base (Google's online classified site): 2,454 properties. The site lists 2.91 million total for-sale properties.

Intero, a Silicon Valley-area brokerage company: 2,620 properties.

Realtor.com: 2,166 properties. The company reported 4.6 million for-sale and rental properties.

Redfin: 1,661 properties.

RE/MAX (remax.com): 2,162 properties from multiple associations/MLSs. The company reported over 4 million for-sale properties.

Roost: 1,935 properties. The company reported a total of 1.36 million properties at the site.

Trulia: 2,592 properties. The company reported 3.5 million total for-sale listings.

Vast: 2,526 properties, from 162 sites.

Yahoo Real Estate: 1,010 homes for sale. The site advertises over 3 million homes for sale and for rent.

Zillow: 1,200 properties, not including "Make Me Move" properties. The company reported 3.11 million total for-sale properties listed.

By Jessica Foster

People aren't buying Myrtle Beach real estate at the rate they once did, but they are looking.

Myrtle Beach recently made Realtor.com's list of markets across the nation with the fastest-growing search activity, likely because people are readying to snag a deal when the market bottoms, and they're looking in areas with the steepest price declines, experts said.

Of the 135 markets with the biggest uptick in Web traffic, Myrtle Beach was 42nd, with a 24.6 percent increase in search activity on the home selling site for the National Association of Realtors. The survey compared search activity in July to July 2007.

Topping the list was Stockton-Lodi, Calif., with a 140.9 percent increase, and at the bottom was Roanoke, Va., with a 1 percent increase.

Other markets in the Carolinas that made the cut include the Greenville-Spartanburg-Anderson area (up 12.2 percent), Columbia (up 2.2 percent) and Wilmington, N.C. (up 1.1 percent).

Many markets on the list, and all of the top 10 markets, are in the states hardest hit by the housing slump, such as California, Florida and Nevada.

"As prices are adjusting down, interest is adjusting up," said Realtor.com spokeswoman Julie Reynolds.

The Grand Strand has also seen price declines in recent months, more so than most areas of the state.

The median price of homes sold on the Grand Strand dropped 7 percent for single-family houses to $202,497 and 20 percent for condos to $165,000 during the first half of 2008 compared with the same period last year, according to the Coastal Carolinas Association of Realtors. The median price is where half sell for more and half sell for less.

Statewide, the median-price decline for all homes was 3.4 percent to $154,000, according to the S.C. Association of Realtors.

"We've got some units here that are back to their original selling prices," said CCAR's market analyst Tom Maeser. "In some cases with new homes, they're below what it was selling for when it was built new."

Skyrocketing prices during the housing boom that started in 2004 and tapered off in 2006 spurred the correction.

"Annual average appreciation, it was just going out of control," Maeser said. "We couldn't have kept that pace by any stretch. Now, there is some settling down and some lowering of prices."

Late this spring, local Realtors really started to see foot traffic, inquiries and Web searches pick up for the first time since 2006, Maeser said.

Experts are confident that the pent-up demand will translate into sales, it's just a matter of when. Despite the falling prices, Grand Strand home sales this year have been down from 2007 levels every month.

There are still hurdles to overcome, including tight credit markets that have made financing a home more difficult, and some potential buyers could be holding off to see the results of the upcoming presidential election, Maeser said.

Still, the uptick in interest is encouraging, Reynolds said.

"There are some markets where interest is picking up, whether it's for investment opportunities or perhaps for families looking to trade up," she said.

"We hope that leads to sales sooner than later."

Contact JESSICA FOSTER at 626-0351.

This is the type of information that shows we are either going throught the bottom of the market or it is at the point where things are going to start moving up.  Don't miss the right time to buy.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Sales of existing homes rose in July, according to the latest reading on the battered housing market by an industry trade group released Monday.

The National Association of Realtors reported that sales by homeowners in July increased to an annual pace of 5 million, up from the revised June reading of 4.85 million.

That's better than the annual pace of 4.9 million that economists surveyed by Briefing.com expected, and it's the highest pace since February. Still, July sales were down 13.2% from a year earlier.

Home sales were helped by falling prices. The median price of all single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops sold during the month fell 7.1% to $212,400 from $228,600 a year ago. Before the start of the current housing slump, it had been 11 years since prices fell compared to a year earlier.

At the same time, the single-family home median price fell 7.7% from a year ago to $210,900. The trade group has tracked those sales prices going back to 1989.

"Home prices generally follow sales trends after a few months of lag time," said Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist. "Still, inventory remains high in many parts of the country and will require time to fully absorb."

Even as sales picked, up, the excess supply of homes on the market still rose in July. Realtors estimated that there are now 4.67 million homes available for sale, which represents an 11.2 month supply.

That is up from the 11.1-month supply in June, though NAR said the rise in inventories was due to a sharp jump in the number of condominiums on the market. Inventory of single family homes declined slightly, falling to a 10.6 month supply from 11 months in June.

"We expect more balanced conditions in 2009, and will eventually return to normal long-term appreciation patterns," added Yun.

As a result of a battered market, President Bush signed the Housing and Economic Recovery Act late last month. The bill includes a temporary tax credit of up to $7,500 for first-time home buyers who haven't purchased a home in three years.

Qualified buyers must earn less than $75,000 - or $150,000 for a couple - after which point the tax credit begins to phase out. The Senate Finance Committee estimates that about 1.6 million people will use the credit.

"We hope the new tools in the hands of home buyers from the recently enacted housing stimulus package will spark a sustained sales uptrend in the months ahead," said NAR President Richard Gaylord. "Buyers who've been on the sidelines should take a closer look at what's available to them now in terms of financing and incentives." 

The internet is a big part of the real estate search for people looking to see where they may want to live.  It does a great job in eliminating the places they do not want to live.  But it will never replace the need for real estate agents.  It has helped us and hurt us in many ways but for the most part I believe it has made it easier.  When people find you or your property on the internet and want to visit the property they are generally interested, remember they have done a lot of looking around (google, zillow, trulia, and all the national real estate companies).  So if the computer, leads management, or internet blogging  is not in your thing you may want to kick it up a few notches but rest assured the buyers and sellers are still wanting to use Realtors.  I have included a great article I recently received, so check it out.

Real estate search's final hour … has not arrived.

Not by a long shot.

Here's why:

Think about who actually engineered search for real estate. Programmers -- guys and gals with 180 IQs -- guided by folks who get their kicks from Excel.

There is not enough input from the people who really matter: Brokers, agents, consumers.

Everyone ought to stop for a second and ponder this:

·         Humans don't search by ZIP code.

·         Humans don't search homes from space. Or on maps filled with little blue markers.

·         Human don't analyze comprehensive Census data that pop off listings like a Crayola box of colored graphs, charts and heat maps.

·         Humans don't understand the difference between a "hybrid," "satellite" or "list" view.

·         Humans don't sift through 12,000 listings that "match my criteria."

·         Humans don't "save searches."

·         Humans don't want to view only eight crappy pictures of a home.

·         Humans don't want their search experience cluttered with advertising.

·         Human don't benefit from poorly executed applications that include home-value estimates that can never be accurate, no matter how many Ph.D.s are thrown at them.

All of this ... stuff. I applaud it for what it is. But it's not great. Because in the end it's very different from how humans actually search for homes.

"I am human and I need to be loved"

·         Humans drive around neighborhoods.

·         Humans meet neighbors.

·         Humans ask lots of questions.

·         Humans like to talk to the seller.

·         Humans spend time getting a feel for the neighborhood.

·         Humans test-drive the commute from prospective home to work.

·         Humans like to look at six homes that match their criteria, to a tee.

·         Humans require affirmation. They like to be gently nudged and influenced.

And most of all, humans like to converse.
They like to tell their agent who they are.
And technology has been making all this harder and harder to do.

If I could set the stage for what search should be, it would be a way to take this next paragraph and turn it into a search experience:

"Hi Barb. This is Marc. My wife and I are hoping you can help us find a home. See, she is an artist. An illustrator to be exact. Works for Disney. Me, well, I can't draw a straight line to save my life. But I love to cook. It relaxes me.

"Anyway, we've been renting and now want to buy. We're planning to start a family. Actually, we've already been trying. What would be ideal is a home with an Arts and Crafts feel rather than the standard split-level. But it has to have a cook's kitchen. And a nice backyard. One where I can plant basil, garlic and tomatoes because I make a mean marinara.

"We want to be as close to things like mass transit and city life as we can but just far enough away to see the stars at night, sit on the porch and hear crickets. Oh yeah, we want two bedrooms -- at the least. Three is better. And enough room to entertain.

"And finally, a space where my wife and I can work from home and be inspired."

Innovation

Programmers: Want to be innovative? Create a natural search paradigm that gets us moving toward this.

Agents: You want leads? Imagine if you could actually describe homes in a manner that reflects how people think. Imagine being able to tag every key word inside the following description:

"Beautiful Arts and Crafts house, close enough to the city but far enough away to enjoy crickets. Or a starlight night. A home perfect for a young family, empty nester and anyone inspired by decor. With a great flow. And a backyard perfect for planting. Sunning. And gathering your thoughts."

Imagine posting 50 pictures. That are clear. With a description of what every picture is and what the room evokes.

Imagine incorporating local data and writing about it. Explaining what a "3" means when describing a school or a test score. Or what a "66" means when describing a housing trend.

You may point out at this point that we can't even make RETS, a standard for real estate data exchange, work across the country.

That agents don't take pictures.

That the multiple listing service system is medieval.

I know.

But maybe, they've never been really inspired to change.
Or truly show how.

But those excuses are not going to make search's finest hour come any faster.

Keep pushing.

Marc Davison is a partner at 1000watt Consulting. He can be reached at marc@1000wattconsulting.com.

As expected, the President today signed the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 in to law. Thanks to our leadership on this issue, I am please to report that this bill includes the tax credit we lobbied hard to make a reality.

The passing of this legislation is great news not only for us as real estate professionals but also for the homebuyers and sellers we serve. This new law will help bolster the housing market and keep us on the path to recovery by providing:

·         A homebuyer tax credit for first-time buyers;

·         Permanently increased loan limits;

·         Assistance for more than 400,000 homeowners at risk of foreclosure;

·         The addition of a standard deduction for real property taxes;

·         Financial backing for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac

As I told you several weeks ago, I remain convinced that we have reached the bottom of the market and will begin to see gradual improvement. Today’s passing of the new housing bill only strengthens my confidence that we are turning a corner.

Tell anyone that will listen that it’s a great time to buy real estate.

You may have heard that a new housing bill was passed by the House of Representatives and is expected to be passed by the Senate and signed in to law by the President early next week.

Included in this housing bill is a tax credit for homebuyers. Back on January 9, Jim Weichert told us then that an incentive to buyers was needed to stimulate the market and we started the ball rolling to make it happen. It looks like our hard work is about to pay off.

I am seeing this almost everywhere.  It seems like everyone is looking for the bottom.  Maybe when the time to buy is, or maybe what to do to get their property sold.  This is what the public is being programed from the media and their own perception.

Too many people are just sitting on the fence waiting.  Waiting for WHAT?  If you try and just survive and not take any steps forward it is as good as just taking a step backwords.  YOU NEED TO THRIVE!

The moves that should be made right now are the exact opposite of what everyone thinks.  Let me explain, it is the best time to buy NOW.  Incentives, great interest rates, negotiating in your favor, etc.  So what do we do, go out there and put an offer in on that property, if your waitng for it to go down then offer what your waiting for it to go down to.  Its that simpe.  If your selling then lower the price, we are selling properties now and they are the ones that are the best value.  Remember your going to have to buy something when you sell and its going to be a good deal so its a wash, right. 

Are you looking for some concrete evidence, I have plenty of it.  A very close friend of mine whom I respect highly and have know for 25 years just purchased a $2,500,000 run down hotel.  He said the reason why is because you will never find a deal like this in a few years.  Even if I don't make a penny on the property for 2-3 years I am ok with that because it will make me so much money in the future because I bought it right TODAY.  He is now negotiating on a townhome project, a shopping center and a few other parcels.  He finished by saying 2 things.  This low point and the way the media is beating up on the market is his signal to buy and it will be a very long time before another opportunity comes up like this again.  Secondly he said the same for cars and luxury items. 

I followed his advice, I have always wanted a boat so I searched for a month to find the best deal and did just that, bought a brand new center console fishing boat to enjoy with my son.  My small sports car was not capable of pulling the boat so I did what any normal person would have done.  Bought a 2008 small suv that gets decent gas milage, nothing worse than the sports car.  Between the boat and the SUV I saved over $27,000 because its a buyers market.

I encourage everyone to go out and spend a bunch of money on something, housing, property, investments etc.  is the safest but if you want the toys like I did then GO FOR IT! 

J.D. MacNair

DON'T LET ME TRY AND BRING UP THE ECONOMY ALONE - I DID MY PART..........

This is exactly the type of information we need to be studying.  A big keynote here is that the housing starts have dropped below 1,000,000 and this is exactly what we need to move in the right direction.

               Government mortgage banks Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are on   

               the edge of implosion. California mortgage bank IndyMac,      

               despite $18 billion in assets, is unable to withstand         

               mortgage-related losses and has failed.                       

               Through the gloom, at least one expert thinks the housing     

               market is bottoming.                                          

               Karl Case, co-creator of the Case-Shiller Home Price Index,   

               told Bloomberg in a recent interview that he felt there was   

               more positive than negative news in recent reports on the     

               state of the housing market.                                  

               "I'm beginning to hope that there are going to be some        

               surprises in the next few months that would indicate we are at

               or near a bottom in probably a third to half the country,"    

               Case said.                                                     

               Case points to the fact that new housing starts fell to       

               975,000 in April from a peak rate of more than 2.2 million in 

               January 2006.                                                 

               In the past 35 years, only three other times have starts      

               fallen from more than 2 million to less than 1 million.       

               That's a clear signal, says Case.                             

               "Every time this has happened before, housing-market activity 

               has rebounded within a quarter and caught experts by          

               surprise," he says.                                           

               "In many areas, particularly outside the overbuilt markets of 

               Arizona, Florida, and Nevada, and the huge bubble market of   

               California, home prices may well stabilize."                  

               Sales of existing homes, by far the largest component of the  

               housing market, also look like they have put in a bottom.     

               These sales peaked at an annual rate of 7.25 million in the   

               fall of 2005 and fell to 4.89 million in January.             

               Editor’s Note: Video: Jim Rogers: Washington is Making        

               "Mistake After Mistake"                                       

               By May, sales have shown a slight improvement and are now on  

               an annual pace of 5 million.                                  

               Home prices are more problematic. The S&P/Case-Shiller index  

               for 20 metropolitan areas was down 15.3 percent in the year   

               ended in April, a record annual rate of decline.              

               But the Case-Shiller monthly figures show prices rising in    

               eight of the 20 metropolitan areas in April, and the index's  

               overall month-to-month decline was 1.4 percent, slower than   

               the 2.2 percent recorded in the previous month.               

               This time, however, things might be different, Case cautions. 

               The decline has been caused by speculation and lax lending    

               standards, not just slowing economic growth. That makes it    

               more difficult to forecast the exact bottom, he warns.        

                                                    By: Karl Case