Hello Friends!! I have collected a number of both positive & informative articles for you to review and share!! If you have been paying attention to the national homebuilding trends, there seems to be some stabilization in housing prices, something that everyone has been waiting on for some time now. The price increases nationwide over the last few months is just a little icing on the cake!! (Info collected by DJ Dile & David Arocho! Thanks guys!!)
Columbus climbs ranking of cities’ jobs, tech strength. I found this article on BusinessFirst.com. Columbus ranks first in Ohio’s metro areas and continues to improve and move up the list each of the last 3 years.
Columbus continues to move up an annual ranking of 200 major metropolitan areas’ job market and technology muscle but the city fell just outside the top half of the list this year.
In its annual gauge of job growth, wage conditions and technological output, California’s Milken Institute ranked the Columbus area 108th out of 200 major metros. That’s up from 135th last year and 154th in the 2007 report.
Foreclosure Activity Slows for Third Straight Month: RealtyTrac
11/12/2009 By: Carrie Bay
Nearly all market indicators point to positive signs that housing conditions are beginning to moderate from the freefalling days of the past few years, and even foreclosure statistics now support that notion. The pace of foreclosures slowed again in October for the third month in a row, RealtyTrac reported Thursday.
According to the company’s October 2009 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report, foreclosure filings – including default notices, scheduled foreclosure auctions, and bank repossessions – were reported on 332,292 U.S. properties during the month. That number means one in every 385 homes received a filing.
Although the month-to-month tallies are showing improvement, the number of homeowners facing the loss of their home is still disconcerting and represents a 19 percent increase over October 2008.
“Three consecutive monthly declines is unprecedented for our report, and on first blush an indication that the foreclosure tide may be turning,” said James J. Saccacio, CEO of RealtyTrac.
Saccacio warns, though, that the fundamental forces driving foreclosure activity in this housing downturn – high-risk mortgages, negative equity, and unemployment – continue to loom over any nascent recovery, with foreclosure activity still substantially elevated in most states.
Nevada posted the nation’s highest state foreclosure rate in October, despite a 26 percent decrease in activity from the previous month and the state’s first year-over-year decrease since January 2006. A total of 13,842 Nevada properties received a foreclosure filing last month, representing one in every 80 homes. According to RealtyTrac, a new foreclosure mediation program implemented by state law in July may be slowing the inflow of distressed properties into the foreclosure pipeline.
With one in every 156 housing units receiving a filing in October, California posted the nation’s second highest state foreclosure rate for the second month in a row. A total of 85,420 California properties received a foreclosure filing during the month, a decrease of 1 percent from the previous month but nearly 50 percent above the total reported in October 2008. This time last year, though, lenders in California were in the midst of a three-month trough after a state law took effect mandating extra notification before initiating foreclosure, and this likely explains the big year-over-year increase.
Florida reported the third highest state foreclosure rate, with one in every 168 homes receiving a filing in October. A total of 51,911 Florida properties received a foreclosure filing during the month – down nearly 6 percent from the previous month and a decrease of 4 percent compared to October 2008. It was the first year-over-year decrease in overall Florida foreclosure activity since July 2006.
Other states with foreclosure rates ranking among the nation’s 10 highest were Arizona, Idaho, Illinois, Michigan, Georgia, Maryland, and Utah.
According to RealtyTrac’s market data, four states accounted for 52 percent of the nation’s total foreclosure activity in October: California, Florida, Illinois, and Michigan.
SURVEY'S SHOW: 5% of Americans aim to buy a home in 2010!!
The Associated Press, Published: Thursday, November 12, 2009 at 1:00 a.m.
One in 20 Americans say they plan to buy a home within the next year, and they are most likely to be 34 years old or younger and living in the South or West, according to a survey released Wednesday.
Roughly a quarter of potential buyers said the No. 1 reason they would buy now is because prices appear to have bottomed out. That reason topped bargain-priced foreclosures, worries about rising interest rates and a wide selection of homes.
The survey, conducted for Move.com, a real estate listings site, reveals how Americans are responding to a nascent and fragile housing recovery after three years of staggering price declines.
The percentage of buyers thinking of jumping into the market was down slightly from a March survey, but up about 1 point from a poll in June.
Home prices rebounded this summer at an annualized pace of almost 7 percent, according to the Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller home price index. But with high unemployment and foreclosures clouding the picture, economists debate whether prices will dip again.
Recent housing figures and home builder earnings support a stabilizing housing market, and concerns about the expiration of a federal homebuyer tax credit are moot after Congress last week extended and expanded the credit.
Buyers who have owned their current homes for at least five years are eligible for tax credits of up to $6,500, while first-time homebuyers -- or anyone who has not owned a home in the last three years -- would still get up to $8,000. To qualify, buyers have to sign a purchase agreement by April 30, 2010, and close by June 30.
The survey was conducted before the credit extension.
Those surveyed widely favored federal policies that kept interest rates low and helped troubled homeowners avoid foreclosure over those that helped first-time home buyers purchase a home. And, overall, 48 percent of those polled did not think the government was doing enough to stabilize the housing market, whereas 42 percent thought it was.
Forty-five percent of Americans worry that they or someone they know will face foreclosure in the next year. And almost 30 percent of those with a mortgage have contacted their lender in the past year to reduce their payments.
One of the survey participants, Joe Handley of Harrington, Del., called his lender last December to consolidate a second mortgage and cut his interest rate from 6.75 percent to 5.25 percent.
"We wanted to build up our savings for emergencies," the 37-year-old said.
His timing was prescient. In July, Handley, who works in the information technology department for the State of Delaware, took a pay cut and the $400 monthly savings from the new loan has helped cushion the blow.
Almost a quarter of Americans who refinanced their mortgages have used the savings for living expenses or paying down debt, the survey found. Less than 9 percent are putting the savings toward investment or retirement.
The telephone poll, which included about two-thirds homeowners and one-third renters, was conducted in October by market research firm GfK. It had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points!
Columbus climbs ranking of cities’ jobs, tech strength. I found this article on BusinessFirst.com. Columbus ranks first in Ohio’s metro areas and continues to improve and move up the list each of the last 3 years.
Columbus continues to move up an annual ranking of 200 major metropolitan areas’ job market and technology muscle but the city fell just outside the top half of the list this year.
In its annual gauge of job growth, wage conditions and technological output, California’s Milken Institute ranked the Columbus area 108th out of 200 major metros. That’s up from 135th last year and 154th in the 2007 report.
Foreclosure Activity Slows for Third Straight Month: RealtyTrac
11/12/2009 By: Carrie Bay
Nearly all market indicators point to positive signs that housing conditions are beginning to moderate from the freefalling days of the past few years, and even foreclosure statistics now support that notion. The pace of foreclosures slowed again in October for the third month in a row, RealtyTrac reported Thursday.
According to the company’s October 2009 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report, foreclosure filings – including default notices, scheduled foreclosure auctions, and bank repossessions – were reported on 332,292 U.S. properties during the month. That number means one in every 385 homes received a filing.
Although the month-to-month tallies are showing improvement, the number of homeowners facing the loss of their home is still disconcerting and represents a 19 percent increase over October 2008.
“Three consecutive monthly declines is unprecedented for our report, and on first blush an indication that the foreclosure tide may be turning,” said James J. Saccacio, CEO of RealtyTrac.
Saccacio warns, though, that the fundamental forces driving foreclosure activity in this housing downturn – high-risk mortgages, negative equity, and unemployment – continue to loom over any nascent recovery, with foreclosure activity still substantially elevated in most states.
Nevada posted the nation’s highest state foreclosure rate in October, despite a 26 percent decrease in activity from the previous month and the state’s first year-over-year decrease since January 2006. A total of 13,842 Nevada properties received a foreclosure filing last month, representing one in every 80 homes. According to RealtyTrac, a new foreclosure mediation program implemented by state law in July may be slowing the inflow of distressed properties into the foreclosure pipeline.
With one in every 156 housing units receiving a filing in October, California posted the nation’s second highest state foreclosure rate for the second month in a row. A total of 85,420 California properties received a foreclosure filing during the month, a decrease of 1 percent from the previous month but nearly 50 percent above the total reported in October 2008. This time last year, though, lenders in California were in the midst of a three-month trough after a state law took effect mandating extra notification before initiating foreclosure, and this likely explains the big year-over-year increase.
Florida reported the third highest state foreclosure rate, with one in every 168 homes receiving a filing in October. A total of 51,911 Florida properties received a foreclosure filing during the month – down nearly 6 percent from the previous month and a decrease of 4 percent compared to October 2008. It was the first year-over-year decrease in overall Florida foreclosure activity since July 2006.
Other states with foreclosure rates ranking among the nation’s 10 highest were Arizona, Idaho, Illinois, Michigan, Georgia, Maryland, and Utah.
According to RealtyTrac’s market data, four states accounted for 52 percent of the nation’s total foreclosure activity in October: California, Florida, Illinois, and Michigan.
SURVEY'S SHOW: 5% of Americans aim to buy a home in 2010!!
The Associated Press, Published: Thursday, November 12, 2009 at 1:00 a.m.
One in 20 Americans say they plan to buy a home within the next year, and they are most likely to be 34 years old or younger and living in the South or West, according to a survey released Wednesday.
Roughly a quarter of potential buyers said the No. 1 reason they would buy now is because prices appear to have bottomed out. That reason topped bargain-priced foreclosures, worries about rising interest rates and a wide selection of homes.
The survey, conducted for Move.com, a real estate listings site, reveals how Americans are responding to a nascent and fragile housing recovery after three years of staggering price declines.
The percentage of buyers thinking of jumping into the market was down slightly from a March survey, but up about 1 point from a poll in June.
Home prices rebounded this summer at an annualized pace of almost 7 percent, according to the Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller home price index. But with high unemployment and foreclosures clouding the picture, economists debate whether prices will dip again.
Recent housing figures and home builder earnings support a stabilizing housing market, and concerns about the expiration of a federal homebuyer tax credit are moot after Congress last week extended and expanded the credit.
Buyers who have owned their current homes for at least five years are eligible for tax credits of up to $6,500, while first-time homebuyers -- or anyone who has not owned a home in the last three years -- would still get up to $8,000. To qualify, buyers have to sign a purchase agreement by April 30, 2010, and close by June 30.
The survey was conducted before the credit extension.
Those surveyed widely favored federal policies that kept interest rates low and helped troubled homeowners avoid foreclosure over those that helped first-time home buyers purchase a home. And, overall, 48 percent of those polled did not think the government was doing enough to stabilize the housing market, whereas 42 percent thought it was.
Forty-five percent of Americans worry that they or someone they know will face foreclosure in the next year. And almost 30 percent of those with a mortgage have contacted their lender in the past year to reduce their payments.
One of the survey participants, Joe Handley of Harrington, Del., called his lender last December to consolidate a second mortgage and cut his interest rate from 6.75 percent to 5.25 percent.
"We wanted to build up our savings for emergencies," the 37-year-old said.
His timing was prescient. In July, Handley, who works in the information technology department for the State of Delaware, took a pay cut and the $400 monthly savings from the new loan has helped cushion the blow.
Almost a quarter of Americans who refinanced their mortgages have used the savings for living expenses or paying down debt, the survey found. Less than 9 percent are putting the savings toward investment or retirement.
The telephone poll, which included about two-thirds homeowners and one-third renters, was conducted in October by market research firm GfK. It had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points!
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