The housing market in our "Townhomes of District A" in Addison it is not getting any better. The last two sales are under any expectations. The foreclosure on 15739 Spectrum Drive #87, which had been listed for $245,000, has been sold for $190,000, $106.00 per SqFt. and 5021 Parkview Place #124 has been sold for $255,000, $134.92 per SqFt.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Market update for "Townhomes of District A", Addison, TX
Saturday, January 30, 2010
K. Hovnanian Homes buys lots in McKinney for residential project
McKinney keep growing. It is good news for DFW economy, K. Hovnanian will open more jobs. Lets hope they will start building soon.
Builder K. Hovnanian Homes said Friday that it has agreed to buy 88 lots in McKinney for a new residential project.
The lots under contract are in the Craig Ranch community north of State Highway 121.
Hovnanian, which is based in New Jersey and builds in markets across the country, said many of the homes it plans to build in Craig Ranch will be aimed at older buyers who want to downsize.
Homebuilders hope boomers beat path to their door again
Baby boomer buyers fueled a big run-up in U.S. home construction and sales in the 1970s and 1980s. Now beleaguered homebuilders say they're hoping aging boomers, who are just entering retirement age, will once again give them robust housing sales. "We believe this segment of the market is going to lead the housing industry toward recovery as the market turns around," said Sharon Dworkin Bell, a senior staff vice president of the National Association of Home Builders. The 55-plus homebuyer is being targeted by builders all over the country and was a focus of the industry's annual conference last week in Las Vegas. The numbers are certainly there. By 2014, a quarter of the U.S. population – more than 85 million people – will be 55 or older. "The number of people in that age group is increasing, and there is a lot of promise out there," builders' association economist David Crowe said last week.
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Dallas-area home prices turn positive in S&P/Case- Shiller index
Dallas-area home prices turned positive for the first time in more than two years in the closely-watched Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller Home Price Index.
Residential values in the Dallas area were up 1.4 percent in November from a year earlier – the best performance of the 20 cities tracked in the monthly survey, which was released on Tuesday.
Prices were down 5.3 percent for all the cities in the index from a year ago.
“Looking at the annual figures, four markets – Dallas, Denver, San Diego and San Francisco – finally entered positive territory, something we haven’t really seen in at least two years,” Standard & Poor’s David M. Blitzer said Tuesday in the report.
Other major U.S. home markets weren’t so lucky. Charlotte, Las Vegas, Seattle and Tampa all hit new low points in the survey.
And Dallas-area home prices fell by 0.6 percent on a monthly basis in November from October, Case-Shiller said.
Monday, January 25, 2010
Great opportunity! Short sale!
Do not miss the opportunity for $8,500 Firs time Home Buyer Tax credit. The house could be qualified for $6,500 tax credit as well. Nice property in great neighborhood. Open floor plane. Kitchen opens to the large living room with a kitchen nook, observing a sparkling pool in the back yard. Ceramic tile in the kitchen and bathrooms. Hardwood in the office. This home has a lot of potential and need a little handyman work. This is a short sale and the contract is a subject of lender's approval.
December ExistingHome Sales Down but Prices Rise; 2009 Sales Up
After a rising surge from September through November, existing-home sales fell as expected in December after first-time buyers rushed to complete sales before the original November deadline for the tax credit. However, prices rose from December 2008 and annual sales improved in 2009, according to the National Association of Realtors®.
Existing-home sales -- including single-family, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops -- fell 16.7 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate(1) of 5.45 million units in December from 6.54 million in November, but remain 15.0 percent above the 4.74 million-unit level in December 2008.
For all of 2009 there were 5,156,000 existing-home sales, which was 4.9 percent higher than the 4,913,000 transactions recorded in 2008; it was the first annual sales gain since 2005.
Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said there were no surprises in the data. "It's significant that home sales remain above year-ago levels, but the market is going through a period of swings driven by the tax credit," he said. "We'll likely have another surge in the spring as home buyers take advantage of the extended and expanded tax credit. By early summer the overall market should benefit from more balanced inventory, and sales are on track to rise again in 2010. However, the job market remains a concern and could dampen the housing recovery -- job creation is key to a continued recovery in the second half of the year."
An NAR practitioner survey(2) shows first-time buyers purchased 43 percent of homes in December, down from 51 percent in November. Repeat buyers rose to 42 percent of transactions in December from 37 percent in November; the remaining sales were to investors.
The national median existing-home price(3) for all housing types was $178,300 in December, which is 1.5 percent higher than December 2008. "The median price rose because of an increased number of mid- to upper-priced homes in the sales mix," Yun said. It was the first year-over-year gain in median price since August 2007.
Read more here>
Friday, January 22, 2010
2009 was a long, strange trip in the Dallas-area home market
How you look at the Dallas-area housing market has a lot to do with what neighborhood you're in.
In 2009, median home sales prices were up in Westlake, Richardson, Garland and Duncanville. But in the Park Cities, North Dallas and Lancaster, there were more double-digit price declines. And while home sales were flat for the year in Frisco, down the road in Plano the number sold through the Realtors' Multiple Listing Service fell 16 percent.
"2009 was perhaps the strangest in my 32 years in the business," said sales agent Barry Hoffer of Ebby Halliday Realtors. "It was hard to really read any trends at all.
"With most of the emphasis on the negative side of the business news, many qualified buyers were just reluctant to make a move at all – and that despite discounted home prices, negotiable sellers and very attractive interest rates," he said. "I sense more calmness in the market now, and, hopefully, 2010 will be a decent year."
Sunday, January 17, 2010
HUD TAKES ACTION TO SPEED RESALE OF FORECLOSED PROPERTIES TO NEW OWNERS
Great news for the real estate market! Finally HUD has shown common sense. Effective February 1st, 2010, investors will be granted and exemption to the 90 day seller seasoning rule, known as a anti - flip rule. HUD determined that properties take less than 90 days to rehab and making buyers wait increases holding costs thus making the properties less affordable and increasing the chance of vandalism due to vacancy.
The waiver expires in one year!
WASHINGTON - In an effort to stabilize home values and improve conditions in communities where foreclosure activity is high, HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan today announced a temporary policy that will expand access to FHA mortgage insurance and allow for the quick resale of foreclosed properties. The announcement is part of the Obama administration commitment to addressing foreclosure. Just yesterday, Secretary Donovan announced $2 billion in Neighborhood Stabilization Program grants to local communities and nonprofit housing developers to combat the effects of vacant and abandoned homes.
Dallas-Fort Worth home foreclosure filings ease slightly over last year
Home foreclosure filings have eased slightly in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
Lenders posted 4,695 homes for forced sale next month – 4 percent less than a year ago.
And foreclosure filings in the four-county area were 20 percent lower than the almost 6,000 postings recorded last month, according to Foreclosure Listing Service.
“This is a very good sign that we could be leveling off,” George Roddy, CEO of the Addison-based foreclosure tracking firm said Thursday. “But you can’t get too excited because any decline from last month looks good.
“And one month does not make a trend,” he said. “We will just have to wait to see what happens next month.”
Still, it was the first time monthly foreclosure filings in the D-FW area were down on a year-to-year basis since October 2007.
And it was the lowest foreclosure total for a February sale in three years.
Collin County had the largest foreclosure filing decline – down 9 percent from a year ago. And foreclosure postings in Dallas County were 7 percent lower.
Friday, January 15, 2010
Record 3 million households hit with foreclosure in 2009
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Almost 3 million homeowners received at least one foreclosure filing during 2009, setting a new record for the number of people falling behind on their mortgage payments.
RealtyTrac, the online marketer of foreclosed homes, reported that one in 45 households -- or 2,824,674 properties nationwide -- were in default last year. That's 21% more than in 2008, and more than double 2007's total.
The dramatic, sustained increase occurred despite efforts, such as President Obama's Home Affordable Modification Program, to reduce foreclosure filings.
"As bad as the 2009 numbers are, they probably would have been worse if not for legislative and industry-related delays in processing delinquent loans," said RealtyTrac CEO James Saccacio in a prepared statement.
There was at least one bright spot in the report: In spite of a 21% increase in filings, the number of homes actually repossessed was 871,086 -- up just 1.1% above 2008's total.
Analyst: Housing a Good Investment in 2010
Forbes housing reporter and analyst Francesca Levy makes some thought-provoking predictions in the latest issue of the magazine.
She predicts:
Source: Forbes, Francesca Levy (12/28/2009)
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Washington Report: REO Discontent
Mortgage giant Fannie Mae is unhappy about the mounting thousands of REO houses it's stuck with, but now it's moving to sell off that inventory faster than it has in the past, potentially opening up some interesting opportunities for home buyers and their agents.
In a new policy announcement, Fannie says it will now accept purchase offers for its REO immediately after listing, without notifying lenders or mortgage servicers whose loan files are under review.
Under its previous policy, Fannie gave lenders and servicers fifteen days to find a better purchase offer for new REO they sent to the company following foreclosure.
That policy affected all repossessions where Fannie demanded the loan file on the house - potentially exposing errors in underwriting or servicing, and requiring reimbursement for losses by the lender.
But that policy also had a negative impact on Fannie's ability to move its REO out the door quickly. The fifteen day time-out slowed down the works - and sometimes kept properties out of reach of ready and willing buyers.
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Dallas-Fort Worth home sales swing to negative territory
After two months of solid gains, North Texas home sales fell back into the negative in December – down 1 percent from a year earlier. The best news in the monthly report on pre-owned home sales was that median prices were up 2 percent from December 2008. Pre-owned home sales in North Texas fell below the 5,000 mark last month for the first time since February, according to figures released Thursday by the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University and the North Texas Real Estate Information System. The number of pending sales in the area was also down last month by 7 percent to the lowest level in more than three years.
Friday, January 8, 2010
Fannie Mae to Ease Financing for Condos
Fannie Mae announced Thursday that it will make exceptions to its tough condo-funding rules for some Florida condominium projects in an effort to stabilize this hard-hit market.
Fannie says it will reassess hundreds of Florida condo projects to see if they are “sufficiently stable” for buyers to qualify for loans, even if the projects don’t meet current requirements.
Rules that prevent government-backed financing include: requiring a building to be at least 51 percent owner-occupied, have a maximum 20 percent of nonresidential space, and hold a 10 percent reserve in its projects budget. Buildings that don’t meet these requirements can’t be Fannie Mae-approved so buyers won’t qualify for government financing, including FHA loans.
Source: Reuters News, Al Yoon (01/07/2010)
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