A friend of mine recently asked, “Is real estate still a good investment?”
I paused for a moment, and then we had a long discussion about it.
On the surface, without thinking too deeply, real estate is always a good investment.
Yes, that’s what the interested parties, like real estate agents and mortgage bankers, always say and want [...]
Everyone seems to be interested in real estate, mainly because you can make a lot of money without too much education.
In other words, you can make the same money doctors and lawyers make without going to school for a decade.
But “do real estate agents make good money?”
Some would argue yes and some would say no, [...]
You know it’s bad news when the home builders are pessimistic…
Sales of newly built, single-family homes declined less a percent to a seasonally adjusted 342,000 units last month, but were off more than 30 percent from a year ago, according to the Commerce Department.
That’s obviously not good news, but even worse given the fact that [...]
Having a super expensive home is generally viewed as a good thing, but the priciest homes in the nation may also take the longest time to recover.
A pair of JPMorgan Chase analysts believe homes priced over $1 million won’t find a bottom until 2012, largely because the supply of such homes is increasing thanks to [...]
New York metro area home prices are expected to fall another 40.6 percent from the first quarter of 2009, according to Deutsche Bank.
It’s actually an improvement from an earlier prediction, when home prices were slated to fall 47.4 percent, but it’s certainly not good news for New York residents, at least those that currently own [...]
The housing outlook, which seemed to be on the up and up thanks to record low interest rates and a more promising homebuyer tax credit, took a step backwards in the latest home builder survey.
“The outlook for home sales has improved somewhat in recent months, due largely to implementation of the first-time home buyer tax [...]
Nearly one in four homes currently listed for sale in the United States have had their listing price slashed, totaling a whopping $27.4 billion in reductions, according to Trulia.
On average, listed homes have seen price reductions of 10.6 percent, though certain metropolitan areas have experienced much larger price cuts.
Detroit homeowners have slashed prices by an [...]
Here’s a sliver of good news, though it needs to be taken with a big grain of salt, or perhaps some sawdust.
New home inventory slipped to its lowest point since May 2001, according to government figures highlighted by the National Association of Homebuilders.
The inventory of new houses for sale declined 4.2 percent to 297,000 units [...]
Nearly one in four homeowners (24 percent) don’t have any savings to cover expenses such as their monthly mortgage payment should they lose their jobs, according to a survey conducted by Wells Fargo.
At the same time, job stability worries increased from 21 percent to 29 percent, with respondents indicating it their number one concern.
The good [...]
So-called shadow inventory, which is essentially the stock of homes that would come onto the market assuming things turn around, could keep home prices down a lot longer.
Supply is already a concern, given the lack of buyers and the number of homes currently on the market, but if banks and individual homeowners begin unloading their [...]