In yesterday’s Arizona Republic, they featured the "Investors Corner" with Mark Bosworth. (No link to current article available)  The following question was put to Mr. Boswell: I own four investment homes in the Valley and I have solid equity positions in each of them.  I am considering selling them and getting involved in commercial real estate.  What are the primary differences I need to know about before making a move? I read Boswell’s response and was appalled by such a high risk suggestion to a smaller investor.  I have a friend who used the strategy suggested by Boswell in Denver a…
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OK Wes- This one is for you— I was going to take Saturday off, but I received a link to the National Association of Realtor’s Blog from Wes W., who wondered what Housingdoomers thought.  It appears that Realtors are feeling a little insecure lately, and were discussing "Why the Internet hasn’t made buying homes more like buying an airline ticket."  Someone decided to have a little fun with it, and offered ten ways they differ:

I was excited to see that another real estate site, Trulia was trying to provide buyers with an estimate of property values. There are several features about Trulia that I like, for example, how Trulia lists FSBOs as well as MLS listings.  It has easy to navigate maps, which also show recently sold homes.  They have easy to find information on local schools, the community etc., so I thought I would put the site to the test.

In an effort to make Housingdoom more readable, and the format easier to follow- we are trying out a new "theme."  As of this writing, my IT person hadn’t enabled the tabs at the top, so the articles were way down on the bottom left- they are still there though- just scroll down. A review of the theme immediately sparked controversy in my household, with my family divided between "Keep it" and "Put it back." Assuming IT gets the site functional this morning- (He figures since I don’t pay him, my projects can move down his "To do" list- even if…
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In response to yesterday’s "Remembering the Real Estate Debaucle of the 1990′s" John McLeod offered an enlightening response.  He made a number of excellent points, but the one comment he made that particularly struck me was "Banks keep their risk down by reselling most of their mortgages into this market (Mortgage Backed Securities). This risk is then managed by housing Government Sponsored Enterprises (GSEs) including Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the Federal Home Loan Banks (FHLBs). GSEs use some of the world€™s smartest economists and most sophisticated computer modeling software products to manage their risk, but I am not totally convinced that they do this…
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How Vulnerable is the FDIC (and the US Taxpayer) Today? In a fascinating report "Focus This Quarter" for Winter 2004, the FDIC looked in their crystal ball and saw 2006.  It would have been comforting to see the FDIC accurately assess the difficulties, had they not appeared to encourage risky loan practices. The report specifically delt with HELOC concerns (Home Equity Line of Credit), but adressed concerns with the mortgage industry in general as well.  They began the report with: As a component of the mortgage lending business, home equity lending has traditionally been characterized by low credit losses. However, recent trends…
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Last year was an unbelievable year for home sales in the Phoenix area- no question.  When people in real estate say that you can’t just compare year-over-year – they are right.  When they say we are back to a "more normal market"  they are dead wrong.

Following shows how the “Efficiency Rating” for the Phoenix area home market. (Data from AZ MLS) Months with values near “1″ are efficient, higher values are less efficient. The Phoenix market is traditionally more efficient in the summer.

At the intersection of the San Tan and 101 Freeways in Chandler, AZ, is the Chandler Fashion Center.  The area has boomed in the last few years- the pride of Chandler- with a large mall, surrounded by restaurants and additional shopping- it’s located in a fast growing upscale area. The most prominent structure in the area is a massive project.  It consists of a 15 story condominium tower, a 10 story hotel/condo building, and a four story parking structure- and it has languished, an unfinished skeleton with no signs of activity, for nearly two months.

An article in the Wall Street Journal today highlighted the difficulty of proper pricing in today’s market.  In “The Price is Right- Maybe”  it states: “Now that the market has grown uncertain, homeowners are at more of a loss when deciding what price tag t put on their property.  So in an attempt to attract buyers, some sellers are experimenting with non-traditional strategies.”

On June 12th, I posted the “Sales vs Listings” chart, current as of April. Since I have obtained the May numbers from the Arizona MLS site, I have updated the chart:

Why You Can’t Just Go By The Median Price A look at four week gains in median price values for four Gilbert zip codes gave the following results:

A recent search showed that people were linking to Housingdoom from across the country, and overseas.  Here’s a sample of some of the links:

Reports that existing home sales are down 1.2% year over year somewhat temper yesterdays slight increase in new home sales.

Tired of reading rehashed economic reports? If you want to read the originals and make up your own mind: Census Bureau Economic Indicators