Flat Fee MLS

A government report highlighted that the number of unsold new homes on sale across the country swelled to a record high of 566,000 last month.

That means a lot of homes are on the market with home sellers who are motivated to sell. That means bargains should be forthcoming.

On Friday, an International Monetary Fund report said that US property prices were “overvalued”, so prices may not have fallen yet, but the more property remains unsold, the lower prices will go.

A short time ago, there were not enough homes being built to meet the demand, now there is more than enough and supply of new homes outweighs the demand for them.

Some Builders and Developers have gone as far as to offer free cars, vacations, furniture, and appliances to new homebuyers.

Now is the time to be hunting for the best deal you can make. That even includes avoiding high commissions to brokers. Flat Fee MLS is becoming more and more popular.

See Also

• Don’t Pay High Commissions!
  Use Flat Fee MLS

Bookmark to:

January pace of housing starts tops forecasts

Incoming Federal Reserve Chairman Ted Bernanke told Congress on Wednesday that "a number of indicators point to a slowing in the housing market." And, "given the substantial gains in house prices and the high levels of home construction activity over the past several years, prices and construction could decelerate more rapidly than currently seems likely."

Most forecasters expect the housing market will avoid a catastrophic crash. Ed Leamer, director of the UCLA business forecast, said  "It’s going to be a buyer’s market not a seller’s market — possibly  for a long period of time,"

Despite Bernanke’s and Leamer’s remarks and widespread prognostications of a housing market slowdown, January saw the highest level of housing starts in over 32 years. The Census Bureau’s newest report showed that new homes construction is at an annual pace of 2.28 million homes.

See Also

• Census Bureau Reports New Homes Sales
  Current Press Release
• Federal Reserve Chairman - Bernanke
  Transcript: Ben Bernanke’s First Congressional Testimony as Fed Chair

Bookmark to:

InSight Realty offers online property data search to the Triad area

InSight Realty, an online real estate company offering flat fee MLS listing and discount real estate services throughout the Mid-Atlantic, announced today the addition to its website, www.InSight-Realty.com, of an online IDX property search engine for home buyers in the Greensboro, Highpoint, and Winston-Salem, North Carolina area. The company now offers home search capabilities of residential single family properties for sale from the MLS databases in 4 of its regional markets.

InSight’s search engine allows home buyers to search for homes listed in the Multiple Listing Service updated on a daily basis. Home buyers can also request showings of homes for sale using an online form and can request that new listings matching their criteria be emailed to them as soon as they come on the market.

In addition to the TRIAD MLS, InSight now offers IDX search capabilities for First MLS in Atlanta, GA, Triangle MLS in Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill, North Carolina and Central Virginia MLS in the Richmond, VA market.

See Also

• Internet Data Exchange IDX
  Realtor Internet Listing Display Policy

Bookmark to:

65 of top 299 real estate markets severely overpriced.

According to a study by National City Corp, a financial holding company in conjunction with Global InSight, a financial information provider entitled Housing Market Analysis for the 3rd quarter of 2005, the 65 metro areas that are 30% or more overvalued account for 38% of the U.S. housing market. The report stated, "These areas face a high risk of future price correction."

Naples, Florida is the most overvalued of all housing markets. In Naples a single-family media priced home sells for $329,970 or 84% more than it should cost according to the report. Other most overvalued areas include Medford, OR, Miami, FL, Barnstable, MA, Santa Anna, CA, Providence, RI/MA, and Grand Junction, CO.

And, In contrast, the best values to be found are in College Station, Texas where homes are undervalued by 23%. According to the report, areas where good buys can still be found include Alburqurque, NM, Spartansburg, SC, Sioux Falls, SD, Evansville, IN/KY, Oklahoma City, OK, Macon, GA, and Fort Smith, AR/OK.

See Also

• Housing Market Analysis
  3rd Quarter Report - 2005

Bookmark to:

Market peak may present time to cash out.

The Census Bureau reported Friday that the annumal pace of new homes sales has slipped to 1.25 million in November from the record high of 1.4 million in October. Still, it is relatively high by historic standards.

David Lereah, the National Association of Realtors (NARs)’s cheif economist said, "November’s numbers confirm that housing activity has peaked and is now slowing." Mortgage rates have continued to climb to 6.33% from 5.73% a year ago. Gradual rather than sharp increases have helped to keep the housing slowdown moderate. "This is not a scenario for a hard landing," Lereah said.

Edward Leamer, an economist at UCLA, says now may be a good time to sell. "If you’re choosing between selling now and selling in two or three years, do it now," he says.

Bookmark to: