Homes For Sale In Mesa – Work With An Agent To Prevent Kissing Frogs

October 5, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Recent reports from from the National Association of Realtors points to Pending Home Sales Index a rebounding national real estate market. For the the second straight month Pending Homes Sales are going up. This seems to indicate that there are more deals in the works. I still hold my breath a little bit about this as the Phoenix and Mesa housing markets still seem a bit soft. What this does mean though is that there are some great home buying opportunities if you are willing to keep looking.

One thing I recently heard from a friend of mine who has been looking at homes is that they are tired of looking at homes on the Internet and then going to look at the homes in real time only to find that they are not the same home. Many homes on the market today have been abandoned, foreclosed, or just left to deteriorate while the owner waits to get kicked out due to a pending foreclosure.

If you are willing to be patient and work with an agent to help you with your home search versus spending a ton of time searching through the MLS online you may just find that your agent can save you time, effort and your whits. Agents know their markets, just like I know my market – Mesa AZ – so catch me early, or start working with an agent early in your house hunting so that you can avoid spending time kissing frogs while you can be looking at princes.

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Falling Pending Home Sales Index Means Home Buyers Can Negotiate

August 10, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Pending Home Sales Dec 2008 to June 2010The Pending Home Sales Index failed to rebound from a cliff-dive in May, falling by another 3 percent more in June.  The index remains at record-low levels.

A “pending home sale” is a home under contract to sell, but not yet closed. The data is culled from local real estate associations and large brokers and accounts for 20 percent of all purchase transactions in a given month nationwide.

The Pending Home Sales Index is a future indicator for the housing market; there is a high correlation between the PHSI and the monthly Existing Home Sales report.  This is because of the relatively large sample set used for the PHSI, and because 80 percent of homes under contract close within 60 days, according to the National Association of Realtors.

June’s Pending Home Sales Index is weak by most measures, but if you’re a home buyer in Tempe , the headlines aren’t so bad. Fewer home sales can push negotiation leverage to the buy-side of a transaction.

Plus, there’s other positives in the market for today’s buyers:

  • Home supplies are up, which creates competition among sellers
  • Builder confidence is down, which leads to “free” upgrades and incentives
  • Mortgage rates are low, which increases cash flow and disposable income

All things equal, the current home buying conditions haven’t been this favorable in years.

The falling figures in June’s Pending Home Sales Index hint that home sales will be down through the rest of the summer and into early-Fall. However, mortgage rates may not and higher mortgage rates can do more to change a monthly payment that a small reduction in home price.

If you’re planning to buy a home later this year, consider moving up your time frame.

It’s an excellent time to be a buyer in Las Sendas.

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Pending Home Sales Report Looks Bad But Might Be Great For Buyers

July 13, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Pending Home Sales Nov 2008 to May 2010The Pending Home Sales Index plunged in May 2010, just one month after the expiration of the federal home buyer tax credit program.

The Pending Home Sales Index is now at a record-low level.

A “pending home sale” is an existing home under contract to sell, but not yet closed. According to the National Association of Realtors®, 80 percent of homes under contract close within 60 days.

Because of this timeline, we can expect the summer’s Existing Home Sales to be weak, too. With fewer homes going under contract, fewer homes can close.

On the surface, May’s Pending Home Sales Index looks like terrible news for housing. And, if you’re a seller, it just might be. But, if you’re a buyer, the story reads differently.  Just consider the market conditions.

A broad look at the housing market shows:

  1. Home supplies are rising in most markets
  2. Home sales are falling in most markets
  3. Mortgage rates are at all-time lows

In other words, in most markets, more sellers are competing for fewer buyers, and the “winning” buyers are financing their homes at the lowest rates in history.

It’s an excellent time to be a home buyer in Tempe.

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Existing Home Sales Strengthen, Home Buying Opportunities Expand

May 28, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Existing Home Sales Apr 2009-Apr 2010Sales of existing homes rose in April, buoyed by an expiring home buyer tax credit and exceptionally low mortgage rates.

As compared to March, April’s Existing Home Sales rose by 410,000 units nationwide — the second straight month of large gains. An “existing home” is a home resold by a prior owner (i.e. not new construction).

It’s a solid report for housing overall, with rising sales suggesting that the real estate market’s recovery is ongoing. However, the data presented a mixed message.

According to the National Association of Realtors®, although the number of homes sold ticked higher in April,  so did the supply of existing homes for sale, too.

Sellers are now listing homes faster than buyers can buy them.

After adding another 0.3 months of supply in April, resale home supply is nearly two full months larger than at November 2009′s low-point. This put downward pressure on home prices.

Furthermore, because 49% of April’s buyers were first-time buyers and the tax credit has since ended, we can expect that sellers will continue to outweigh buyers in the months ahead.

It presents an interesting opportunity for June’s home buyers. Mortgage rates are still at their lowest levels of the year — despite expert predictions to the contrary — and homes remain affordable. Plus, in a lot of markets, home values have started to creep higher.

There’s good values and good rates but neither should last long. For the next few weeks, real estate may be in its 2010 sweet spot.

If you were thinking of moving in September of this year or later, consider moving up your timeframe.

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New Housing Starts Rise In April, Home Prices Drop

May 26, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Housing starts May 2008 - April 2010

Single-family Housing Starts rose by 55,000 last month, suggesting ample housing stock from which Tempe can choose this summer.

The report is a slightly larger read than what economists had expected.

Furthermore, for the first time since June 2009, Housing Starts appears to have broken away from its half-million unit plateau. 593,000 new homes were started in April.

Ordinarily, both Wall Street and Main Street would celebrate a strong housing sector report like this, but the Department of Commerce’s press release also held two cautionary notes.

The first point of caution is a mathematical one.  Although single-family starts increased by 10.2 percent, the survey had a Margin of Error of 10.7 percent. This means that Housing Starts may have fallen by 0.5 percent and the report is statistically worthless.

The second point of caution is tied to Building Permits, a complementary data point in the same Department of Commerce report.  In April, Building Permits fell by almost 11 percent with a tiny Margin of Error of less than 2%.  This tells us that builders are pulling back — a sign of low housing market confidence.

According to the Census Bureau, 82% of homes start construction within 60 days of permit-issuance. Housing Starts, therefore, should ease though June and July.

Home prices are based on housing’s supply and demand.  For the next few months, supply should elevate, helping prices remain suppressed, after which, supply should dwindle.

The best time to buy a home, therefore, may be now.  As the summer months come to close, we may find that buyers vastly outweigh sellers.

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