Archive for May, 2007

LA County: Prices Up, Sales Down

Thursday, May 31st, 2007

Los Angeles County is seeing its average home price increase, but home sales decrease. According to information from the California Realtors Association (CAR), the median home price showed an annual gain of more than 5% in April. The county’s median price for April was $596,310. Home sales were down 18.8% from a […]

Long Recovery For Home Construction Expected

Wednesday, May 30th, 2007

Those directly involved in the home construction industry do not expect it to recover to last year’s levels until 2011. That’s according to David Seiders, chief economist for the National Association of Home Builders. At the peak of the five year housing boom (Jan. 2006), construction started on 2.29 million homes. In […]

The Lure of Non-Existent Real Estate

Tuesday, May 29th, 2007

Sometimes you have to wonder how people come up with these truly whacky ideas. Take for example, the idea of selling non-existent real estate. Yep, no joke. How would you feel about buying a piece of an underwater volcano that will probably break through as a solid land mass in say, oh, […]

Phoenix: Home Prices Drop

Friday, May 25th, 2007

The National Association of Realtors has reported that home prices in the Phoenix area have dropped 2.2% over last year. That’s higher than the average median rate of 1.8%. The median home price fell in the Phoenix area to $262,500 during the past year, down from $268,300. Nationally, home prices fell from […]

SC Coastal Market Hit Hard

Thursday, May 24th, 2007

Sky rocketing insurance costs continue to take its toll on the real estate market in coastal South Carolina, particularly in the area of ocean front condo sales. In fact, every coastal region in S.C. showed a drop in home sales for April and an increase in number of days homes are staying on the […]

NABE Weighs In

Wednesday, May 23rd, 2007

The National Association for Business Economics Outlook (NABE) recently presented a survey of 48 professional forecaster which covered various aspects of the economy for 2007 and 2008. The survey was taken from April 19 to May 8, 2007. Here’s what the group had to say about the residential real estate […]

Own Your Own Castle

Tuesday, May 22nd, 2007

As many have probably heard, the Searles Castle in Great Barrington, MA is on the market. Ever dream of owning your own castle? Well, here’s your chance. For only $15M you too can own this beautiful piece of American history. Who wouldn’t want a luxurious 40 room, 60,000 square foot castle […]

A New Way to Buy a Home

Monday, May 21st, 2007

There’s a new player in the real estate game and they may pose a serious challenge to real estate agents and brokers across the country. The company called Redfin is offering a combination of MLS listing information (homes for sale) with historical sales data (homes already sold) into a single map. Sure, Trulia […]

MD: Queen City is Queen of Price

Friday, May 18th, 2007

The Queen City area holds a new distinction. From the period of 2006 to 2007, it enjoyed the largest single-family home price increase, according to the National Association of Realtors. The Cumberland area, in Maryland and West Virginia, saw an increase in housing prices of 17% from the first quarter of 2006 […]

CA: No Longer in Good Hands

Thursday, May 17th, 2007

In California, Allstate Insurance is the third-largest home insurer. However, because of a combination of high housing costs and frequent natural disasters, Allstate has decided it doesn’t want to write new homeowner policies in the state any longer. Allstate has already taken similar steps in other states classified as “catastrophe-proned” like Florida, […]