February 2010
Received this from a friend recently... enjoy! The economy is so bad... I got a pre-declined credit card in the mail. I went to my bank the other day and the teller handed me a note saying, "This is a robbery!" …My ATM gave me an IOU! If the bank returns your check marked "Insufficient Funds," you call them and ask if they meant you or them. The economy is so bad I saw a man in Costco buying one roll of toilet paper. I ordered a burger at McDonald's and the kid behind the counter asked, "Can you afford fries with that?" The economy is so bad that I saw a van full of legal immigrants illegally crossing the border to Mexico. A picture is now only worth 200 words. The economy is so bad, I saw the CEO of Wal-Mart shopping at Wal-Mart. Exxon-Mobil laid off 25 Congressmen. I was so depressed last night thinking about the economy, wars, jobs, my savings, Social Security, retirement funds, etc., I called the Suicide Lifeline. I got a call center in Pakistan, and when I told them I was suicidal, they got all excited, and asked if I could drive a truck. Short Sales & Foreclosure Bargains On the other hand, if you – or anyone you know – are considering the "short sale" of your home, and would like some confidential advice and help, we are well qualified to assist you in handling these complex situations. As always, please keep us in mind with all your Real Estate needs (don’t forget to refer your friends to us). We are always looking for new buyers and sellers, so if you know of anyone planning to buy or sell a home, please point them our way!
In this edition: · Some Housing Markets (like Phoenix!) Hot Again · Phoenix housing market gains strength according to 2009 stats · 2010 Could Be the Year of the ‘Short Sale’ · Home Sizes Fall as Builders, Buyers Embrace Economic Reality · Valley foreclosure prices may have hit bottom · Pending home sales, prices on the rise · Top 10 Must-Have Features in Today’s New Homes Some Housing Markets Hot Again, According to ZipRealty RISMEDIA, January 29, 2010—While some of the “hottest” real estate markets in the country- those where homes are selling most above their list prices- continue to be distressed areas dominated by heavily discounted prices, Q4 2009 revealed some notable exceptions. In two higher priced zip codes in California’s Berkeley and the Los Angeles suburb of Tarzana, and three zip codes in the greater Dallas-Fort Worth area not dominated by distressed listings, homes sold on average well above asking price in Q4, according to ZipRealty’s quarterly Home Hunter Report. · Phoenix was 2009’s most popular city in the country for online home hunters, according to the volume of the total number of home searches on www.ZipRealty.com throughout the year. Click here for complete article. Phoenix housing market gains strength according to 2009 stats Despite continuing foreclosures, Phoenix shows strength going into 2010 January 5, 2010 - “2009 is in position to be the 3rd best year in the last decade for Phoenix homes for sale,” states Phoenix Area Foreclosure Experts. “The housing market forecast in the Phoenix area is looking very promising going into 2010. We can clearly signal the end of the buyer’s market on the lower end of the housing market in the Phoenix area.” Fewer foreclosure notices are resulting in trustee sales, and according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR): active listings are down; new listings are down; monthly inventory is down; “days on market” is down; and the number of sold properties is up. Click here for complete article. 2010 Could Be the Year of the ‘Short Sale’ January 27, 2010 / The Wall Street Journal – If 2009 was the year of the foreclosure (and loan modification), then 2010 may be shaping up as the year of the short sale. In the Phoenix metro area, the number of completed short sales, where lenders allow a home to sell for less than the value of the mortgage, increased by 60% in the last three months of 2009, according to Fidelity National Title Insurance Co. In December and January, sales of bank-owned homes fell by 25% from one year ago, while short sales increased by 16% and traditional sales rose by 9%. Click here for complete article. Home Sizes Fall as Builders, Buyers Embrace Economic Reality RISMEDIA, January 28, 2010—(MCT)—New-home buyers responded to the tough times in 2009 by opting for smaller houses, driving down the average size of a house built in the United States for the first time in 27 years. Click here for complete article. Valley foreclosure prices may have hit bottom January 27, 2010 -- The Phoenix-area housing market may level off this spring, and the prices of foreclosed-on homes in the Valley may have hit bottom already. That’s according to a new report from the W. P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University. Click here for complete article. Pending home sales, prices on the rise January 26, 2010 – Phoenix Business Journal: January’s rise in pending home sales is a critical recovery indicator for Arizona’s real estate market, says Mesa analyst Michael Orr. While that indicates prices are likely to increase, the recovery is expected to be shallow and slow, said the author of the Cromford Report, an online subscription-based resource on the metro Phoenix residential resale market. Click here for complete article. Job losses push back housing recovery in Phoenix Jan. 22, 2010 - The Arizona Republic - Metropolitan Phoenix's housing market is not expected to recover until 2014, two years later than experts had previously predicted. The biggest obstacle to a real-estate rebound in the Valley is a lack of jobs, according to analysts and economists speaking at Urban Land Institute Arizona's annual forecast conference on Thursday. Without new jobs to draw more residents to fill almost 80,000 area homes left empty by the recession, home prices will remain depressed. But the state is not likely to see pre-recession job levels for another four to five years. Click here for complete article. Analysts: 2010 housing rebound unlikely Metropolitan Phoenix's housing market and economy will make little progress toward a recovery in 2010. …more jobs must be created that will attract more residents before the region's housing market can stabilize. Foreclosures must be reduced and the almost 80,000 empty homes across the Phoenix-area must be filled. Click here for complete article. Top 10 Must-Have Features in Today’s New Homes RISMEDIA, January 25, 2010—(MCT)—Americans want smaller houses and they are willing to strip some of yesterday’s most popular rooms—such as home theaters—from them in order to accommodate changing lifestyles, consumer experts told audiences at the International Builders Show. Click here for complete article.
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