http://www.homegevity.com/blog Real Estate | Mortgage | Home Improvement Thu, 30 Oct 2008 19:23:51 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Across the USA, home buyers find the current "buyer's market" elusive and frustrating. Realtors say wait times for deals to close have gone up, causing buyers to walk away, even if they think its a good deal.The problem is that banks are in a state of chaos as they adjust ... http://www.homegevity.com/blog/mortgage-traffic-jam/ Shares of large U.S. homebuilders were down Tuesday after a closely watched index showed that home prices dropped by the sharpest annual rate ever in August. Lennar Corp., Centex Corp., KB Home and Hovnanian Enterprises Inc. all saw their shares fall after news that the Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller 20-city housing index ... http://www.homegevity.com/blog/homebuilders-stock-prices-fall-with-market/ WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- U.S. home builders took a big step in September toward reducing the gigantic oversupply of homes, boosting sales slightly, slashing prices and reducing the number of unsold homes at a record pace. Sales of new homes rose an estimated 2.7% in September to a seasonally adjusted annual rate ... http://www.homegevity.com/blog/new-home-sales-on-the-rise/ LOS ANGELES (AP) - Home sales in California surged 13.6 percent in August as a flood of foreclosures drove down prices. The figures released Thursday by MDA DataQuick showed 37,988 new and preowned homes were sold statewide last month, up 13.6 percent from August 2007 but down 3.8 percent from ... http://www.homegevity.com/blog/california-home-sales-up-13-year-to-year/ The Media Are Missing the Housing Bottom    Media reports painted a pessimistic picture of today’s release on existing home sales, which fell 15 percent from a year ago and recorded higher inventories. But inside the report was an awful lot of very good new news, which appear to be pointing to ... http://www.homegevity.com/blog/housing-market-bottom-is-near/ During periods of high inflation, investors inevitably look for safe, solid investments. Gold, collectibles, bonds and other instruments become more attractive. Real estate is ultimately the safest place one can put their money, because real estate has more inherent value than any of the other so called safe investments. The intrinsic ... http://www.homegevity.com/blog/real-estate-flight-to-quality/ The naysayers are disappointed again because the US Economy refuses to head into a recession. Overall economic growth was 1% in the first Qtr. and housing sales just posted a highly unexpected 2% increase. Median home prices are continuing to revalue lower and this recent increase rides on the heels of ... http://www.homegevity.com/blog/housing-sales-up-2-percent-in-may/ To prevent the rising number of "walkaways", people who just give up their homes, Fannie Mae is offering a series of new loans to help those close to foreclosure. While seen as counterintuitive by some in the mortgage industry, the bridging loans are intended to help homeowners weather rocky periods ... http://www.homegevity.com/blog/fannie-mae-offers-new-loans-to-prevent-foreclosures/ Home Sales Rose, Prices Fell in February After declining for 2 quarters, sales of existing homes increased in February which signals sellers willingness to adjust to market forces and lower prices.  The National Association of Realtors said that sales of existing homes rose by 2.9 percent in February to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.03 ... http://www.homegevity.com/blog/home-sales-rose-prices-fell-in-february/ Amid the doom and gloom hype by the media right now, all across the country there is a quiet real estate phenomenon going unnoticed. Neighborhoods close to dynamic city centers are maintaining their home values. There are a couple of reasons that having a home in an area close to ... http://www.homegevity.com/blog/city-circle-housing/