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More 'Hot Markets' outside California

By Inman News, Tuesday, October 27, 2009.

A "Hot Market" list compiled by ZipRealty spotlighting ZIP codes where homes are selling for the greatest premium above list price shows increasing diversity outside of California.

California landed four markets on the third-quarter Hot Market list, with two Arizona markets -- Glendale and Phoenix -- making the list for the first time, ZipRealty said in releasing its Third Quarter 2009 Home Hunter Report. By comparison, California had eight of the top 10 markets in ZipRealty's second-quarter Hot Market list.  more...

Reporter relives housing nightmare

By Tara-Nicholle Nelson, Tuesday, October 27, 2009.
Image courtesy of <a href="http://books.wwnorton.com/books/detail.aspx?ID=12158" target=blank>W.W. Norton & Co.</a>

Mea culpa.

So, in essence, begins "Busted: Life Inside the Great Mortgage Meltdown," by New York Times economics reporter Edmund Andrews. The entire book is succinctly summed up by its first sentence: "If there is anybody who should have avoided the mortgage catastrophe, it is me." Andrews goes on to inform the reader that he has covered the economy journalistically, including the Asian and Russian recession of the 1990s, the dot-com bomb of 2000, and the goings on at the Federal Reserve since 2003 -- yet in 2004 "joined millions of otherwise sane Americans in what we now know was a catastrophic binge on overpriced real estate and reckless mortgages."  more...

Home prices slowed descent in August

By Inman News, Tuesday, October 27, 2009.

The annual rate of price declines slowed from July to August in 19 of 20 metro areas tracked by the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices, marking seven months of improved readings, Standard & Poor's said today in releasing the latest numbers.

The 20-city composite was down 11.3 percent in August compared to a year ago, with price drops in individual metro areas ranging from a high of 29.9 percent in Las Vegas to a low of 1.2 percent in Dallas.  more...

Your own real estate 'best practices' Premium Content

By Gahlord Dewald, Tuesday, October 27, 2009.
Flickr photo by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aeu04117/2572084141/" target=blank>aeu04117</a>.

The Web is awash in articles and blog posts with headlines like "The Five Best Practices of Twitter," "Seven Facebook Page Dos and Don'ts," "25 iPhone Apps You Just Can't Do Without!" and "10 Things You Need to Do Right Now If You Want to Eat Lunch at the Cool Kids' Table."

If you read enough of them, they start looping back on themselves and you notice that items listed in one person's "15 Most Awesome Techniques for Converting Leads via Twitter" is listed in another person's "12 Examples of Horrible Social Media Backwardness."

What do we do with all that? Well here's what I do. I don't believe in "best practices." That's right. No best practices for me.  more...

Calif. resale price rises for 7th month Premium Content

By Inman News, Tuesday, October 27, 2009.

The statewide median resale home price rose for the seventh straight month in September, while the pace of single-family sales of previously owned homes was up 0.6 percent from the prior month and up 2.1 percent compared to the same month last year, the California Association of Realtors trade group reported Monday.

The median price of resale homes in the state was up 1.1 percent in September, to $296,090, while falling 7.3 percent compared to September 2008, CAR also reported. The year-over-year statewide median price had dropped in double-digitpercentages for 22 consecutive months before the single-digit percentage decline in September, the group noted.

The statewide median price compares to a national median resale price of $174,900 in September -- the national median price dropped 8.1 percent compared to September 2008.  more...