August 25th, 2009
Home prices going back up
Yes. According to the latest Case-Shiller Index released today which shows that home prices showed the first quarterly increased first increase in three years.
The Seattle Times reports on the index,
Home prices are at levels not seen since early 2003. Prices have fallen 30 percent from the peak in the second quarter of 2006.”
But wait. Didn’t we just post last week that 1 out of 4 homes on the market are having their prices slashed by an average of 10%?
Sold prices are ticking up, but listing prices may still be too high in some cases.
August 17th, 2009
Price reduced
Trulia reports that as of August 1, 25% of homes listed in the U.S. have cut their original asking price at least once from the original asking price.
So how much is being cut? Currently, the average percent off the original asking price is approximately 10%.
Read more on Trulia’s blog.
August 17th, 2009
Affordability for California homes?
The California Association of Realtors has recently published it’s latest First-time Buyer Housing Affordability Index. The index attempts to calculate the percentage of households that can afford to purchase an entry-level home in California. According to the report, 67% of households can afford make such a purchase in the state during the second quarter of 2009. This percentage is up from 49% of households during the same, quarter of 2008, but down from 69% during the first quarter of 2009.
You can view the full report here to get an affordability breakdown by region and county.
via Inman News
August 6th, 2009
Comparison shop for closing costs
How much does it really cost to buy a home? Closing costs are sometimes over-looked when calculating how much home you can afford especially if you are scraping together every penny for your down payment.
A new calculator on Closing.com uses actual fees and quotes from providers in your area to calculate closing costs. It takes a few minutes to click through each screen, but in the end, Closing.com states that,
buyers can see their estimated monthly payments (including mortgage, home insurance and property taxes), their closing costs and the total amount of cash they will need to close their transaction. Sellers can estimate sale proceeds while homeowners can calculate the cost to refinance their home.”
You can get pretty detailed with the calculator. I tried it using to estimate the closing costs for a little starter-home beauty in Ballard, WA priced at 424,000. With 20% down and a 30 year mortgage, the caclulator estimated that my closing costs alone would be about $6,898 - good to know!
Before I started working in real estate, I had no idea of the amount of various closing costs - do you really have to pay a $350 fee just for the mortgage application? I appreciate Closing.com’s efforts to shine a little light on the closing process and provide a way for consumers to comparison shop.
August 6th, 2009
Do you live on the world’s most expensive street?
Check out this CNBC slideshow of world’s most expensive streets.
The top 3:
3. Fifth Avenue, New York
Cost: $72,000 per sq/m
2. Chemin de Saint-Hospice, Cap Ferrat
Cost: $100,000 per sq/m
1. Avenue Princesse Grace, Monaco
Cost: $120,000 per sq/m
August 5th, 2009
Is it a sign? Home sales climb in King County
The Seattle Times is reporting that July home sales in King County increased to their highest levels in two years. Specifically, July 2009 closed sales were 10.6 percent higher than July 2008 (according to statistics from the Northwest Mulitple Listing Service). The full report will be published here.
While sales are up, prices are down notes the paper,
The median price of a house that sold in July in King County was $384,000, down from $395,000 in June and $445,000 in July 2008 — a 13.7 percent decline year-over-year.”
What does this mean for those looking to buy or sell right now? It depends who you ask; some will continue their never-ending “it’s a great time to buy” chant while others will say we haven’t hit bottom yet.
What does it mean for you?