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California housing inventories shrink

By Inman News, Monday, July 27, 2009.

The supply of existing single-family homes for sale in California dropped to 4.1 months in June as sales grew 20.1 percent from a year ago to a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 514,110, the California Association of Realtors said.

A six-month supply of homes for sale is considered a healthy balance between buyers and sellers, with anything less considered a seller's market. At the same time a year ago, CAR's unsold inventory index stood at 7.6 months.  more...

Real estate multiples

By Tara-Nicholle Nelson, Monday, July 27, 2009.
Flickr photo by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/14863785@N03/3049226055/">sburke2478</a>.

Pop culture seems riddled with "multiples." Interestingly enough, they tend to reflect a hybrid of good stuff and bad stuff.

For example, you'd think that multiple personalities are bad. Unless, that is, you're watching Showtime's series, "The United States of Tara," in which case (I must say with admitted bias from the fact that the protagonist is my namesake) they make for tragic yet enthralling entertainment.  more...

Inventories of new homes shrinking

By Inman News, Monday, July 27, 2009.

Sales of newly-constructed single-family homes rebounded 11 percent from May to June, to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 384,000, the U.S. Census Bureau reported.

That's the fastest pace of new home sales since November, 2008, but represents a 21.3 percent decline from a year ago. At that rate, it would take 8.8 months for the 281,000 new homes on the market at the end of June to be sold, when six months of inventory is considered a more healthy balance between supply and demand.  more...

Does your Web site make the grade? Premium Content

By Bernice Ross, Monday, July 27, 2009.

Have you ever wondered how your Web site stacks up against those of your competitors? More importantly, have you ever wondered what additional steps you can take to improve your Web site standing? 

No matter how good your Web site is, there’s always room for improvement. Last week’s column looked at how to improve the layout and the content of your site. The next step is to determine how to make your Web site stand out from those of competitors.    more...

Charting interest rates' next move

By Dian Hymer, Monday, July 27, 2009.

On May 26, 2009, shock waves hit the mortgage market as interest rates shot up after dipping into the 4 percent range for 30-year fixed-rate conforming loans. On May 29, the bond market rallied, lowering mortgage rates by about half of the previous days' increase.

This was followed by another rate hike as investors demanded higher interest rates on long-term government debt. Interest rates on 30-year fixed-rate home mortgages are tied to the 10-year Treasury rate.  more...

Appraisal rules backfire in down market

By Jack Guttentag, Monday, July 27, 2009.
Flickr photo by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/wwworks/2963461192/">woodleywonderworks</a>.

Enacting rules to curb abuses arising during a housing bubble, which don't take effect until the succeeding financial crisis, can easily do more harm than good. This is the case with new rules requiring that property appraisals be insulated from pressures exerted by any of the parties with a financial interest in an appraised value: primarily lenders, mortgage brokers and Realtors.

Appraisals are informed judgments regarding the value of specific properties. They are not perfect because appraisers must work with incomplete information. Further, appraisers are subject to bias, and more so if less complete information is available to them.  more...

Scheming to save 'underwater' house

By Benny Kass, Monday, July 27, 2009.

DEAR BENNY: We're badly underwater in our house. Our business is hurting and we are struggling to make the house payment. We owe $340,000 on a house that would maybe sell in today's market for $200,000. We think the only way it makes sense to stay in our house would be if our mortgage holder would take a significant principal write-down, which they won't do.

Is it legal for us to let our house fall into foreclosure and have a friend of ours buy it for us at the foreclosure price? Then he sells it back to us using a private mortgage via Virgin Money or similar organization. We pay him a premium over the rate he is currently earning on his $200,000 so that he even makes a little money and we maybe "keep" our house. We realize that there is no guarantee our friend would be able to buy the house; someone else might beat him to it or the bank might set an unreasonable price, but we don't see any other choice except walking away completely. --Cathy  more...

Sowing the seeds of SEO

By Inman News, Monday, July 27, 2009.
John Erickson

A practitioner in the science of search, John Erickson will share his expertise on real estate search-engine optimization during the Real Estate Connect conference in San Francisco, which runs from Aug. 5-7, 2009.

Erickson is vice president of search-engine optimization at LeadQual LLC, a company that seeks to assist real estate professionals in generating, qualifying and converting online leads.  more...