Today’s employment numbers were disastrous. We are losing jobs when we should be gathering steam. Part of the problem is a general lack of confidence and part is a real systemic problem of having no job creation sector to lead us. The weak employment numbers suggest that real estate will have a long hard slog to get out of the slough it’s in. In variably, there will be calls for yet another homebuyer tax credit to stimulate the market. But should we have one?
I would argue that we’ve had enough …

Question:  Was the jump in existing home sales in September encouraging, misleading, or ho-hum?
The answer is yes. It is ho-hum because the pending sales index predicted the jump. So there is nothing new happening in the housing market. It was encouraging because it was more good news about a housing market that is in real recovery. The coming months will display a consistent positive movement in real estate. It was misleading because the additional sales were “borrowed” from 2010 because of the expiration deadline of the first time buyer tax credit. We will …

Let’s be completely honest… as a listing agent using the traditional method of doing a CMA, you can make the numbers say just about anything you want. I know that’s a pretty strong statement, so let me explain.
With the traditional CMA method, the agent selects three recently sold properties that closely represent the subject home (or the home being valued). In most markets, it’s easy to find three properties that sold high, three that sold low, and three that sold somewhere in the middle and still have many other comparables …

If the bottom of the market has been reached–and I think it has–that bottom has been generated by foreclosures and short sales, not by the efforts of real estate professionals. Harsh words, I know, but the reality of this market is that there are too many agents out there who have indulged, and continue to indulge, the pipe dreams of sellers. Before the foreclosure wave hit, real estate was becoming wildly overpriced. In fact, a great portion of foreclosures can be traced to exotic and irresponsible mortgage insturments invented to …

When the Baby Boomers were younger (1960-90), families with children made up more than 50% of all households. By the time we got to 2000 this figure had declined to 33% and by 2025 it is estimated to be around 25%.

As a result the suburban boom in housing prices that we experienced will in all likelihood slow down considerably and shift to a more urban environment. No one is predicting that suburban life is dying nor will it be replaced, but as less families continue to prefer bigger houses and …

As part of the annual Swanepoel TRENDS Report that is published every year during the first week of February, the research team wraps their four month study of the real estate industry by announcing the top 10 Newsmakers, Events and Trendsetters for the year.
The second list to be released is the top 10 events that during 2008 had the largest impact and influence on the real estate brokerage industry. Events are defined as those occurrences that transpired during the previous calendar year (2008) that made headlines and captured the …