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HomeRun Homes is a centralized marketplace which helps people Find or Sell a Rent to Own Home, both Nationwide and Globally to the thriving Rent to Own Market. http://www.lease2buy.com
Showing posts with label residential sales. Show all posts
Showing posts with label residential sales. Show all posts

February 27, 2012

January 2012 Home Sales - New vs. Existing

Hi Folks,
   Welcome Back !

   In a report this week from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (The "HUD"), sales of new single-family homes from December to January were down almost 1% (3.5% above January 2011), and during the same period of time, Existing Home Sales were up 4.3%, which marked 3 gains in the past 4 months, per the National Association of Realtors (or, "NAR").

   Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, attributed the strong gains in recent contract activity to buyers that are responding to "very favorable market conditions". Yun said that the "uptrend in home sales is in line with all of the underlying fundamentals", and Yun names a few of them, such as "pent-up household formation, record-low mortgage interest rates, bargain home prices, sustained job creation and rising rents.”

   Taking a deeper look at the figures for Existing-home sales, the West jumped 8.8% during the short term, and Distressed homes, which includes "foreclosures and short sales which sell at deep discounts", were at 35% in January, up from 32% in December.

   A conversation on Housing would be incomplete without discussing inventory. According to the NAR, inventories continued to improve, and more specifically, total unsold listed inventory has trended down from a 2007 record, and is down a 20.6% below a year ago. (NRS) The report just released for the New Residential Sales, the HUD listed a supply of 5.6 months at the current sales rate.


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Have a Great Week, and Happy Rent-to-Owning !
Regards,
Rob Eisenstein
HomeRun Homes Blog: http://blogging.lease2buy.com
HomeRun Homes Websites: http://www.lease2buy.com and http://www.homerunhomes.com

TAGS: #HUD #NAR #singlefamilyhouses #Realtors #householdformation #mortgageinterestrates #homeprices #risingrents #residentialsales #inventories #existinghomesales

January 20, 2012

Good Ones Up, Bad Ones Down, Thumbs Up

Hi Folks,
   Hope you've stayed warm this mid-January week.

   Some important numbers were released this week, which we like to condense for you, since we know it's hard for you to read through all of the Economic Indicator Press Releases and funky jargon that some of them contain.

   For starters, some good indicators were up. The release of New Residential Construction figures for December showed us that both Single-family housing starts in December were 4.4% above November, and also that Privately-owned housing completions in December were up 9.2% above November. Additionally, the National Association of Realtors, or NAR, released their figures on Existing Home Sales for December, which were up for a third consecutive month, at 5.0% above November (Nationwide). Regionally, the biggest gainer in Existing Homes Sales was the Northeast, where the figures jumped 10.7% from November. These very positive increases led to a statement from NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun, who said that we might be seeing signs of a sustained recovery.

   Excess Housing inventory is not good...it's Bad. Why? Simple Supply and Demand Economics...more homes means lower prices. That being said, the NAR release also pointed to a 9.2% drop (less inventory), putting the available inventory at the lowest level since March 2005.

   These figures do not represent the entire puzzle, as there are still many areas still struggling, and additionally, other important figures will be released next week (Pending Home Sales Index, FHFA Monthly House Price Index, and New Residential Sales). Stay tuned for details.

   Thoughts and Opinions are always welcome...


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Regards,
Rob Eisenstein
HomeRun Homes Blog: http://blogging.lease2buy.com
HomeRun Homes Websites: http://www.lease2buy.com and http://www.homerunhomes.com

TAGS: #NewResidentialConstruction #Singlefamily #housingstarts #housingcompletions #Realtors #NAR #ExistingHomeSales #recovery #Housinginventory #ResidentialSales

September 29, 2011

A Week Full Of Housing Numbers

Good Morning,

   As we see another work-week come to a close, we would like to reflect on some important Housing Numbers that were released this past week; S&P/Case-Shiller Home Prices, New Residential Sales, and Pending Home Sales.

   With the Standard and Poors/Case-Shiller Home Prices (Prices Through July 2011), we saw the fourth consecutive month of increases in the City Composites (the 10 and 20 City Composites). Over the June to July period, 17 of 20 of the Metro Areas (MSAs) were up, with the two drops being registered by Las Vegas and Phoenix (and Denver was unchanged).

   However, over a year, the reverse happened, with only two MSAs showing positive gains - Detroit and Washington DC (Surprising news for Detroit, especially). The worst performing of the remaining cities was Minneapolis (a 9.1% decline, however, better than the double-digit declines that it was posting for multiple consecutive months).

   Recapping these figures, David M. Blitzer, Chairman of the Index Committee at Standard and Poors Indices, said that “While we have now seen four consecutive months of generally increasing prices, we do know that we are still far from a sustained recovery.", but adds that "Continued increases in home prices through the end of the year and better annual results must materialize before we can confirm a housing market recovery."

   Let's Move on to the sales figures:

   New Residential Sales for August dropped 2.3% from July, but rose 6.1% from August 2010 through August 2011. Pending Homes Sales for August ("a forward-looking indicator based on contract signings", per the National Association of Realtors® (NAR)), dropped 1.2% from July to August, but increased 7.7% from August 2010 to August 2011. Over the July-August period, the best-performing region was the South, which was up 2.6%, and over the one-year period, the best-performing region was the West, which was up 10.5%.in August but is 10.5 percent above a year ago.

   Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said the decline reflects an "uneven market", and that a reason for elevated levels of contact failures is that "financially qualified home buyers, willing to stay well within their means, are being denied credit". These "unnecessarily restrictive mortgage underwriting standards", as Yun calls them, are "road blocks to the housing recovery for people who are trying to take advantage of excellent affordability conditions".

   Yun also said that based on the "improving fundamentals of population growth, some job additions, rent increases and higher stock market wealth", that we should be seeing existing-home sales closer to 5.5 million, but are expecting just over 4.9 million this year.

   My two cent commentary: New Residential Sales and Pending Home Sales were up over the past year, however, home prices dropped over the past year. Read that line over and think about it. Shouldn't prices be going up with sales? Am I wrong? What are your thoughts?

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Have a Great Week, and Happy Rent-to-Owning !
Regards,
Rob Eisenstein
HomeRun Homes Blog: http://blogging.lease2buy.com
HomeRun Homes Websites: http://www.lease2buy.com and http://www.homerunhomes.com

TAGS: #ResidentialSales #PendingSales #NAR #contractfailures #mortgage #underwriting

July 26, 2011

Prices and Sales were Virtually "Boring"

Hi Folks,

   Welcome back.

   The figures just rolled out for the S-P/Case-Shiller Home Prices, which showed "a second consecutive month of increase in prices for the 10- and 20-City Composites" through May, and on an annual basis, the release stated that "Washington DC was the only MSA with a positive rate of change, up 1.3%.", and that "Minneapolis fared the worst posting a double-digit decline of 11.7%".

   Additionally, the New Residential Sales figures for June were released, and these pegged the market at 1% below May, but 1.6% above June 2010.

   Overall, the numbers didn't express anything more than perhaps a seasonal increase in the numbers and pricing. The Pending Home Sales will be released this Thursday, so hopefully, they will be a little more exciting than these figures.

Stay Tuned !


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Have a Great Week, and Happy Rent-to-Owning !
Regards,
Rob Eisenstein
HomeRun Homes Blog: http://blogging.lease2buy.com
HomeRun Homes Websites: http://www.lease2buy.com and http://www.homerunhomes.com

TAGS: #homeprices #residentialsales #Washington #Minneapolis

May 24, 2011

Low Housing Inventory As A Common Denominator

Morning Folks,

   Glad to have you here with me.

   This morning, the New Residential Sales figures were released for this past April, and there has been a nice bump over the past month in the sales of new one-family homes, specifically 7.3% above March. Over the longer term (since April 2010), there was a drop of over 23%. Does this come as a shock?

   According to 3 separate sources, not really, as they all cite low inventory as the common denominator.

   Barry Goodhart, a Property Manager, says that there is "less inventory for buyers to choose from", and thus, "The decrease in new houses coming on the market should help support".

   Ken Pozek, a residential real estate agent in Suburban Metro Detroit, says that they are having an "Amazing" sales year, and that, "low inventory is making this a crazy market!"

   Finally, Ken Koenen, LLM Attorney at Law, says that he has, "little faith in the numbers provided.", and that, "too much inventory is owned by the banks", and that, "they are controlling the market place at their whim."

   What are your thoughts? Were you happy about the increase over last month? Concerned over the big drop from last year? We'd love to hear from you.

Have a Great Week, and Happy Rent-to-Owning !
Regards,
Rob Eisenstein
HomeRun Homes Blog http://blogging.lease2buy.com
HomeRun Homes Website http://www.lease2buy.com

TAGS: #residential #homes #propertymanager

January 24, 2011

Running Out of Homebuyers? Are We Really?

Hi Everyone,

   Welcome back and hope you had a great weekend. This is a pretty big week, with four major housing indicators that are due to be released, which are as follows:

* 1/25 (Tuesday) 9:00 AM: S&P/Case-Shiller Home Prices
* 1/25 (Tuesday) 10:00 AM: FHFA Monthly House Price Index
* 1/26 (Wednesday) 10:00 AM: New Residential Sales
* 1/27 (Thursday) 10:00 AM: Pending Home Sales Index

   We'd like to thank everyone for their fantastic feedback regarding our Blog Post from Friday January 21st, titled, "A Funny Thing Happened on The Way to a Real Estate Deal". As we have mentioned to several of you, we will be planning a new edition of that story line with all new "Funny Real Estate Stories" (we are accepting submissions via E-mail)

   I came across a very interesting story to share with you, and the title really grabbed my attention; "The Eight States Running Out of Homebuyers". In this 24/7 Wall St article (written by Douglas A. McIntyre, Michael B. Sauter and Charles B. Stockdale), the authors state that, "The devastation in some regions will never be repaired.", and they point to population desertion, jobless rates, and the eventual possibility that, "Some homes will be torn down in these pockets of high foreclosures in the hopes that reducing supplies will boost prices."

   The states listed in this article were Michigan, Nevada, Arizona, California, Illinois, Georgia, Oregon, and Florida, and in the article, the full breakdown of each state along with the sources for the data are provided.

   This is indeed a very frightening and an eye-opening story. It is also a sad story to hear of towns literally "dying".

   Do you live in any of the states mentioned? If so, what is your take on this story? We'd love to hear an inside scoop from Realtors, investors, homeowners, and home buyers.

Have a Great Week, and Happy Rent-to-Owning !
Regards,
Rob Eisenstein
HomeRun Homes Blog http://blogging.lease2buy.com
HomeRun Homes Website http://www.lease2buy.com


TAGS: #homeprices #realestate #realtor

November 22, 2010

Turkey vs. Home Sales ?

Hi All,


   Hope you all had a great weekend, and welcome back to the "Short Week" for most of you.

   It boggles the mind when you realize that there will be 3 major data releases in the next 2 days leading up to the Thanksgiving Holiday weekend, but the wheels of the Economy must chug ahead and chrun out the figures.

Here is what is due out this week:
Tues Morning - NAR Existing Home Sales
Weds Morning - FHFA Quarterly Index And New Residential Sales

   Of course, we will recap any of the numbers, should they be eventful. Other than that, we will keep our posts this week short and to the point, since the choice between the thought of turkey and reading my blog posts is a battle that I do not want to get involved with.

   As a reminder, we are still offering our, "Important News for Sellers":

   To Recap the offer: We are offering 30 Free Seller Ads (2-Month Ad duration) - so you can list your home for sale or Rent to Own (a $9.99 value). No catch involved - just Holiday Spirit.

   How do you nail down that free Ad? CLICK HERE to send us the E-mail address that you will use to create your ad. We will then send you a username, password, and the link to log in and place your Ad, add images, etc. This is rare, so jump on this before the remaining slots are gone.

Have a Great Week, and Happy Rent-to-Owning !
HomeRun Homes Blog http://blogging.lease2buy.com
HomeRun Homes Website http://www.lease2buy.com/

September 20, 2010

4 Years Until a Housing Bottom ?

Hi Folks,
   I hope you had a great weekend, and welcome back. I'd like to thank all of our contest winners from Friday, and be sure to watch for new contests coming up very soon.

   "The Case for a Housing Bottom in 2013-14" - does that stun you? How about the following analysis; "Bubbles tend to rise and fall in symmetry, meaning that a bubble that took seven years to reach its apex typically takes about the same period to time to retrace to its starting point.". These are just a few of the points mentioned in an article on DailyFinance.com by Charles Hugh Smith. The article is worth a read, and for those who own multiple properties, take something for your stomach acid before reading the article.

   On a similar note, there are some important housing numbers being released this week:

   Tue 9/21 - Loan Performance Housing Price Index (MORE INFO HERE)
   Tue 9/21 - New Residential Construction (MORE INFO HERE)
   Wed 9/22 - FHFA House Price Index (MORE INFO HERE)
   Thu 9/23 - NAR Existing Home Sales (MORE INFO HERE)
   Fri 9/24 - New Residential Sales (MORE INFO HERE)

   It's worth it to take a look at these numbers as they come out. There are a million theories out there regarding the economy and the housing market. Is the sky falling? Well, for a lot of folks, it already has.

   I like to look at it as follows: The "Chicken Little" is someone who runs around claiming that the sky will fall, the "Optimist" is one who has the intestinal fortitude and cash reserves to stay the course and stay positive. The remainder are those who have lost their jobs and their homes. It is a sad mix, with a disproportionate amount of people falling into the remainder category.

   You know what? We are a strong country that has been through many hardships before. With a little optimism in the darkest days, the days of prosperity will return...they just have to. Everyone knows this. The questions is..."WHEN?".

Stay Strong !

Have a Great Week, and Happy Rent-to-Owning !!

June 21, 2010

Dad's Day, Secrets Winner, and Big Housing Numbers...

Happy Monday to All,

A Happy Belated Father's Day to all of you Dads out there. Our son is not at the "tie-buying" age, yet, but he is still in the "make-a-present-for-daddy" stage, which is absolutely wonderful. The walls of my office are decorated with his masterpieces and it adds color to every day. I know you're too young to read this Blog, but thanks buddy !

Now, on Friday, we announced our contest question; "What city did we begin investing in when we first started our business?". To all of the people who answered correctly and won their free copy of, "Secrets of Rent to Own", Thank You! Now, for the answer to that question, the winners of the contest checked out the "About Us" section (http://www.lease2buy.com/rent-to-own-homes.php), and you found out that the answer was Orlando, Florida.

We officially opened the doors of HomeRun Homes/Lease2Buy.com on June 8, 2002, so we are now officially into our 9th Year. We will continue on with more contests and giveaways, so make sure to tune in here. Want to make life even easier for yourself? Choose one of the "Follow" options on the right-hand side of the page !

This is going to be a very big week in terms of Housing Market data. Today, the Loan Performance Housing Price Index numbers will be released. On Tuesday, some hefty data will be released: NAR Existing Home Sales and the FHFA Monthly House Price Index. As if these major factors weren't enough, New Residential Sales will be released on Wednesday. This is quite a contrast to last week, which was a lot quieter in terms of Housing.

We will check back with you on Wednesday to take a look at what these numbers were, what they mean for you and I, and to take a look at how they can or will impact the Rent to Own Homes market.


Have a Great Week, and Happy Rent-to-Owning !