The main reason the current mortgage market is like the diamond trade is because the Fed’s current policy has been to create the market for mortgage backed securities.  The Fed agreed to spend $ 1.25 trillion through the first quarter of 2010 to purchase mortgage bonds, thereby keeping interest rates low and stimulating the housing […]

The 2010 real estate market has started out all over the place, both nationally and locally.  On a national level, the lousy weather has had a negative effect on the new home segment, with construction on new homes and apartments falling 4% overall in December (construction rose in the South by over 3%).  Applications for […]

Now that the residential real estate market appears to have stabilized, investors are starting to look at U.S properties as potential investments.  According to Kevin Brass of the Wall Street Journal, groups of investors from Mainland China are still touring properties in the U.S. With the decrease in real estate prices and the drop in […]

Third quarter commercial sales decreased 70% across the board from last year’s third quarter sales.  The price per square foot fell 12% for office 14% for multi-family 23% for industrial and 9% for retail.

According to the National Association of Realtors third quarter report, sales are up throughout most of the country.  The biggest increase in sales was in Florida at 36.8%.  This is no surprise considering that we are also the state with the highest number (9 out of the top 15) of metro area price decreases in […]

The following were all topics in the news last week and all of them have an effect on our real estate market: South Florida home sales surge, prices plunge, mortgage rates fall to lowest levels since May, Florida’s unemployment rate is up, Florida foreclosures are up and may be increasing, another condo developer files for […]

In the current real estate market, a lot of attention has been given to staging a home to help it sell.   I am a big fan of staging, but think curb appeal is even more important.  After all, it doesn’t matter how nice your home looks on the inside if buyers drive up, take a […]

In the current real estate market, a lot of attention has been given to staging a home to help it sell.   I am a big fan of staging, but think curb appeal is even more important.  After all, it doesn’t matter how nice your home looks on the inside if buyers drive up, take a […]

Two sentences in today’s Wall Street Journal article by Brett Arends sums up all of the often conflicting real estate news these days.  “A real-estate purchase needs to make sense on its own terms.  And measure it on cash flow today, not the hope for capital gains tomorrow.” This advice makes sense in any real […]