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NAR Revises 2007-2011 Sales Data Lower – Housing Bust to Look Worse With Sales Revised

The Wall Street Journal is reporting in 2 separate articles recently that the National Association of Realtors (NAR) revised their last 5 years of sales data downward to reflect, apparently, reality.

Imagine that.

The net effect is that the housing bust we have experienced so far is much worse than the NAR had originally reported:

“A [...]

The Great $26 Billion Real Estate Tax Credit Swindle?

The Wall Street Journal had an article  on Tuesday worth considering. It revisits the subject of the tax credits to home purchasers offered by the Government back in 2009 and 2010 and analyzes how that all worked out.

Apparently, for many, not too well:

“Zillow.com, the real estate information company, says the average price [...]

Baltimore-Area ‘Shadow Inventory’ Reported At 50,000 Homes

An article in the Baltimore Sun reported that, according to John Burns Real Estate Consulting, Baltimore’s “Shadow Inventory” of homes may be in the 50,000 range:

“Thousands of homes are on the market in the Baltimore region. But as the commercials say, wait — there’s more.

Tens of thousands of Baltimore-area homeowners are [...]

Surge In All-Cash Buying Signals The Demise Of The ‘Normal’ Housing Market

Business Insider has an excellent article, with strong analysis, commenting on the unprecedented cash buying trend we have seen since 2008. Just look at this stat:

“In July, Inside Mortgage Finance (or IMF) reported in its monthly Housing Pulse Survey report that 75% of investor purchases nationwide in June were all-cash transactions. These investors [...]

Housing Time Bomb Goes Tick Tock Tick Tock

An interesting and very detailed analysis was posted yesterday on the Wall Street Examiner Web Site regarding the state of the U.S. housing market. A few snippets:

“The actual, not seasonally adjusted, data suggests that the momentum of declining sales has leveled off. However, in order for the oversupply in distressed markets to be [...]

Investors Outdo Banks Offloading Distressed Properties

DSNews.com and ForeclosureRadar are reporting what many “on the ground” have observed for some time:

“Third-party investors are much faster at reselling foreclosures than banks…

‘Our statistics clearly show that real estate investors continue to far outperform banks in dealing with distressed properties,’ said Sean O’Toole, CEO and founder of ForeclosureRadar.”

“Outperform”?

As buyer agents [...]

Strategic Defaults Could Get Very Ugly: With Home Prices

There has been much written in the last couple of weeks about the latest National quarterly home value numbers. None of it good.  Many people are coming to realize that we may very well see even lower prices in the future.

But what does this mean for “strategic defaults”?

An excellent article addressing this question appeared recently [...]

Short Sale vs. Foreclosure Credit Score Damage? FICO Debunks Some Myths

The Baltimore Sun had an interesting article on Monday on the subject of the relative impact of foreclosures and short sales on credit scores:

“Homeowners who are falling behind on a mortgage often worry just how much they might be damaging their credit score.

How much will a score be dinged if a [...]

Worcester County Maryland Housing Statistics For Year 2010

I took a glance yesterday at the Maryland Association of REALTORS® published 2010 Year End stats for Worcester County and noticed a mixed bag.

On the issue of price, the numbers showed a decline, with Worcester County actually in the highe ranges compared to other Maryland jurisdictions showing a 8.7% and 9.1% decline in average and [...]

Ocean City Could Steer More Toward Tourism Or More Population growth… But Can It Do Both?

Ocean City Today posted the second in a three part series about growth in Ocean City Maryland and posed the question:

“… Ocean City at a crossroads of whether to choose a niche of either residential or tourism development.”

Some believe that condominiums favor a more tourist-oriented economy and future, and the relative number of [...]