A growing number of the 7 million former home owners who lost their home either to foreclosure or short sales can’t shake the homeownership bug, Now that the housing sector is recovering, many of these “Boomerang Buyers” are back in the market but many are failing to get financing. Read More »

The median age of Realtors now is the same as the median age of members of the current US House of Representatives, according to the latest member profile from the National Association of Realtors. Read More »

Two years ago, to the delight of investors and the anguish of homeowners, foreclosures regularly sold for 30 percent or more below the price of “normal” homes. How times have change! Now the foreclosure discount is less than half that amount and still headed south. Read More »

Pending home sales rose in May to the highest level since late 2006, possibly driven by buyer fears that mortgage rates will rise further. Read More »

The boomlet in foreign purchase of US residential property is apparently over. Purchases by international buyers fell 17 percent last year, down approximately $14 billion from the previous Read More »

Have real estate investments peaked? After years of growth during the Foreclosure Eva, investment purchases declined slightly last year after surging 64.5 percent in 2011. With the cost and competition to buy distress sales growing and prices for normal homes rising, will investors pull back and start cashing in their assets? Read More »

The low prices that make foreclosures attractive to investors also make foreclosures toxic to communities and homeowners. The discount between “normal” priced homes and the prices paid for properties than have been through the foreclosure process can spell the difference between profit and loss to an investor at the same time that they drive real estate values into the ground. Read More »

How long has it been since you heard the words “sold at a premium over asking price?” For the past six years, sales prices ended up somewhere south od list prices by at least five percent. Now, in the markets where the recovery is hottest, sellers are increasingly experiencing multiple bid scenarios and buyers are pre-empting the competition with offers over list price that stir up memories of the boom years. Read More »

How far can inventories fall? The latest existing home data suggests we have yet to find out because they are still in freefall just two months before the spring buying season nears. Will sellers warm up in time to populate the MLSs with enough listings to get buyers excited? Or will the inventory drought drive buyers away at the most important time of the year for housing markets? Read More »

Once the hottest trend in real estate, single homebuyers find themselves trapped between soaring rents and stiff underwriting standards that make it tough for a single income-earner to qualify for mortgages that buy homes that will cost more tomorrow than they do today. Read More »