The Week in Review

.....your Wilmington ConnWilection

January 24, 2010

Back to normal temperatures around these parts.  No wonder all kinds of home buyers: real estate investors, retirees and families relocating are still interested in this area. Mainly due to its growing economy, temperate climate, popular university, and beautiful coastline and one of the more affordable coastal towns that has a flare.

Wilmington NC Real Estate

The first quarter of the year enjoys the return of full real estate market as all attention resumes to a more normal pace. The corporate transfer market can intensify as new goals are implemented for the new year. Locational factors can affect activity due to inclement weather conditions impairing the air and car travel.

As the Spring season develops, homes seem to have nicer curb appeal and encourages more "drive-by" traffic. Many leases come due as the rental real estate market turns over, often encouraging first-time home buyers to re-evaluate their housing situations.

This week in Wilmington there are 2225 homes on the market a slight increase. Currently there are 213 homes under contract and 460 homes sold in the last 3 months.  Many are wondering what will happen with the real estate market this year.  One thing we do know for sure is the first quarter will be dominated by people trying to take advantage of the tax credit that is set to expire April 30th (deadline to have a home under contract).  After the incentive is gone, one can only ponder. There most definatley has been some positive signs, but only time will tell for certain.  Thinking of buying a home well now is one of the best times as any, low interest rates, tax credit and extremely low home prices.  Email and let me know if you have questions.

FHA Changes

FHA announced changes in the following areas:

The upfront mortgage insurance premium (UFMIP) will increase to 2.25 percent up from 1.75 percent. Contrary to reports, FHA will continue to allow the financing of the UFMIP.

Borrowers with a credit score below 580 will be required to have at least a 10 percent down payment. The minimum down payment will remain at 3.5 percent for all other borrowers.

FHA will seek legislative authority to increase the annual premium (currently capped at .55 percent). Over time, increasing the annual premium may allow FHA to reduce the upfront premium.

Seller concessions will be reduced to 3 percent from 6 percent.

For more information on these changes, as well as information on when the changes are expected to take place, follow the link below.
http://www.realtor.org/government_affairs/fha_resources

 .......until next week in The Week in Review

                                 Tina

The Week in Review

....your Wilmington Connection

January 17, 2010

The ice cold Wilmington weather has taken a break, thank goodness.  This week we are looking at high 50's and 60's. I trust everyone had a relaxing weekend. 

Wilmington NC Real Estate

This week in Wilmington there has been a surge of phone calls looking to relocate to the area.  I think many people have confirmed what a great place Wilmington is and what it has to offer. I can only validate the great feedback on the area.  Let me know if you are thinking of moving this way.

Currently there are 1890 homes on the market thats about a 100 drop from last weeks inventory. Better news for sellers. With 185 homes under contract two of those are above a million and 37 of those homes are priced between $300,00 to $600,000.  446 homes closed in the last 3 months and 5 of those homes were priced above $1,000,000 and 84 of those homes were priced between $300,000 to $600,000.

My thoughts the housing market has some good movement still going on.

Sellers not cutting home prices, for now

Trulia reports a decline in the number of home sellers lowering their asking prices at least once to 21 percent as of Jan. 1 from 22 percent in December and 25.6 percent in November, marking the lowest level since April. The average discount held steady at 11 percent.

Trulia reports a 50 percent drop in cities with price reductions of 30 percent or more on average, with only seven major cities reporting such cuts at the beginning of the month. Regionally, 20 percent of listings in the South and 22 percent of listings in the West, Midwest, and Northeast experienced price cuts.

Builders, better times on the Horizon

Lots of signs point to a recovery in the construction industry.

With help from a federal tax break, both Lennar Corp. and KB Home posted fourth-quarter profits - the first time since 2007 that either has been in the black.

KB Home CEO Jeffrey Mezger said in a statement: "There are indications that housing market conditions may be stabilizing in some regions, reflecting, among other things, relatively high levels of affordability."

Other signs that things are getting better:

Residential investment increased 18.9 percent in the third quarter on a seasonally adjusted basis compared with the second quarter, according to the U.S. Commerce Department's Bureau of Economic Analysis. It was the first increase in residential investment since the fourth quarter of 2005, the government said. north carolina association of realtors

....until next week in The Week in Review

       Tina

The Week in Review

....your Wilmington Connection

December 20, 2009

May every gift, every hope of the season be yours. May this season be a very joyful one for you and your family. Happy Holidays!!

Have a Happy and Healthy Holiday Season!

A bit chilly here in Wilmington.  It appears Winter has finally decided to take its toll on sunny Wilmington. Temperatures in the low 40's.  

Well the store parking lots are full plenty of shoppers out there, does this mean consumers are feeling more confident? We will soon find out. The real esate market continues with a bit of slower momentum during the holidays. Serious buyers are still on the lookout so be prepared if your home is on the market. Have quesetions?  drop me an email.

Wilmington NC Real Estate

November home sale prices

(November 2008 in parentheses)

Average price of homes closed: $223,697 ($250,546)

Median price of homes closed: $179,900 ($191,823)

- Wilm. Regional Realtors

FHA loan still top pick

39 percent of recent buyers purchased a home with a Federal Housing Administration-insured loan. Realtors® who took part in the November survey also reported that the number of first-time home buyers continued to climb to 51 percent.

"FHA helps provide affordable mortgage financing to homeowners, particularly first-time home buyers who are so important in drawing down inventory to help stabilize the current housing market

Distressed Sales

The RCI results also indicated that distressed sales increased to 33 percent of all home sales last month, and that both investors and first-time home buyers are competing for these properties. The preponderance of distressed properties on the market has also influenced buyers' perceptions of other homes for sale. Realtors® report that many buyers have pricing expectations that treat every property as if it were in foreclosure. The RCI is a key indicator of housing market strength based on a monthly survey of more than 50,000 Realtors®

Mortgage rates

Average, Dec. 17

(Week earlier in parentheses)

30-year fixed: 4.94 (4.81%)*

15-year fixed: 4.38% (4.32%)+

5-year ARM: 4.37% (4.26%)+

1-year ARM: 4.34% (4.24%)-

* Plus 0.7 point

+ Plus 0.6 point

- Plus 0.5 point

- Freddie Mac

....until next week in The Week in Review

                            Tina

The Week in Review

....your Wilmington Connection

December 6, 2009

The Christmas lights are up in Wilmington, and the stores are seeing a surge in shoppers. Did you get your tree up this wekend?  I know we did, the kids of course wanted to buy a tree taller than our celings. 12ft was not going to work, I explained no point in buying and then chopping. Anyway i hope your weekend went well.  We saw some really cool temps (well for us) last night in the low 30's.  Still showing property, good time to buy before then end of the year.  Thinking of selling your home? Let's plan it out.  Drop me an email.

Wilmington Real Estate

Currently there are 2217 homes on the market 271 homes are under contract and its no surprise that is less than the previous months. 543 homes have been sold in the last 3 months. There are still some great deals to be had. This is the time to buy, thats for sure. We are all preparing for the market to pick up even more in the new year. Dont miss out!

 Commercial Real Estate still feeling pain

Many of the same forces that put the housing market into a down turn have been at work in the commercial sector, and they are still feeling it.

Deteriorating employment conditions and falling home prices have prompted a massive pullback in discretionary spending, which has hurt the neighborhood and community shopping centers," said Brian Eckel, partner at Cape Fear Commercial in Wilmington.

The entire commercial real estate market in Wilmington has suffered from the recent economic downturn. Office absorption is down with mounting job losses in financial, professional and business services. However there are some definate signs of a slow recover.  Luckily commerical real estate locally was not as overbuilt as its residential counterpart.

 2010 Sales to Rise 15 Percent

Home sales will increase 15 percent to about 5.7 million units and REALTOR® income will be up 20 percent in 2010, NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun recently told a packed room of REALTORS® in a residential economic update at the 2009 NAR Conference & Expo.

The tightening inventory at all price points will help improve market performance by bringing supply into better balance with demand, but the added sales, particularly on the higher end, will also increase the number and quality of the market comparables used by appraisers to assign valuations. Once appraisals improve, foreclosures will ease, blunting their drag on the market and making it less likely that Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and even FHA will need help from the taxpayer.

Then we'll be set for a durable economic expansion!

...until next week in The Week in Review

The Week in Review

....your Wilmington Connection

November 15, 2009

What a beautiful day here in Wilmington.  Much needed after the onslaught of rain we had this week.  Back to sunshine and smiles, and here is your Week in Review.

Wilmington NC Real Estate

Real estate continues to level out.  Its great to see first time home buyers out there looking and knowing they can take advantage of the tax credit, without the rush. Currently there are 2269 homes on the market 197 under contract and in the last 3 months there have been 540 solds and 356 of those homes were priced $250,000 and under.  Predominantly due to the prior deadline of the first time home buyer tax credit. 46 homes between $500,000 to $1,000,00 sold.  Not a bad indication at all.

Pending Home Sales rise again

Pending home sales rose again, marking eight consecutive monthly gains - the longest streak since measurement began in 2001, according to the National Association of Realtors®.

The Pending Home Sales Index, a forward-looking indicator based on contracts signed in September, rose 6.1 percent to 110.1 from a reading of 103.8 in August, and is 21.2 percent higher than September 2008 when it stood at 90.9. The gain from a year ago is the largest annual increase on record, and the index is at the highest level since December 2006 when it was 112.8.

Outlook for 2010

Realogy CEO Richard Smith told us that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac estimate that 2010 numbers of sales will be in the 5.4 to 5.5 million in closed sales. Currently the estimate for 2009 is 5 million. If all continues we will see a slight incline in home purchases.  

until next week in The Week in Review

    Tina

The Week in Review

....your Wilmington Connection

November 8, 2009

Wilmington saw some lovely weather this weekend.  Nice temperatures up to 75.  Maybe we didnt miss fall after all! This week in Wilmington was the Beach to Battleship Iron Man race.  Those athletes started at 7am and some were still going at 10pm.  Hands up to you all who competed and completed!

Wilmington NC Real Estate

Contracts are still coming in.  This is normal when you are with the  Number one real esate company in Wilmington. Currently in Wilmington there is 12 months worth of inventory  that is a far cry compared to 8 months ago.  When we were looking at some price ranges having 36 months worth of inventory out there. Prices are still correcting themselves.  Mainly due to the shortsales and foreclosures out there. My hunch is in the coming months we will start seeing more confidence with consumer spending. 

There are 2293 homes on the market, with 316 currently under contract two thirds of those homes are priced at under $250,000. Over the last 3 months there have been 346 homes sold in the last 3 months....since August thats more than 10%.

  until next week in The Week in Review

Tina

The Week in Review

....your Wilmington Connection

November 1, 2009

Whew! a warm wet week in Wilmington...quite unusual for Wilmington this time of year.  Today was the half marathon at the Battleship, we were all looking forward to the 13.1 mile run...until we saw how hot it was going to be...we then knew.  It would be a race to remember. November 1st.....if you are thinking of buying a home before the tax cedit finishes you better jump on board quick 29 days left. Some lenders may sitll be able to make it happen.

 Wilmington NC Real Estate

This week in Wilmingon its that price range $250,000 and under that is still seeing the majority of the activity.  Currentlly there are 2310 homes on the market. There are 345 homes that are currently under contract. Just to confirm homes are still selling there were 501 homes sold, and 325 of those homes sold at $250,000 and under.

Status of the Extention of the Tax Credit

Although the Senate was not able to reach a procedural agreement to schedule a vote on the Unemployment Insurance extension, the Dodd-Lieberman-Isakson Amendment to extend and expand the Tax Credit is contained in the bill.

The Senate is expected to vote Monday evening for a "Motion to Invoke Cloture". If 60 Senators vote yes on the cloture motion, the Senate will then be able to schedule a vote on the bill that contains the Dodd-Lieberman-Isakson Amendment.

Once the Senate acts, the tax credit must still go to the House of Representatives for action. NAR will continue to provide us with updates on the tax credit as events warrant.

National Housing Inventory

 A change in the inventory. The Total housing inventory at the end of September was down7.5 percent to 3.63 million existing homes available for sale, which shows an 7.8-month supply at the current sales time frame, down from an 9.3-month supply in August. Unsold inventory totals are 15.0 percent below a year ago.

"The current housing supply is the lowest we've seen in two and a half years," Yun said. "If we could continue to absorb inventory at this pace, home prices would return to normal, modest appreciation patterns next year.

2009 National Association of Realtors® Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, shows that first-time home buyers accounted for more than 45 percent of home sales during the past year. This does not come as a shocking surprise with the first time home buyer tax credit out there. A separate practitioner survey shows that distressed  (short sales, foreclosures) homes accounted for 29 percent of transactions in September. Movement in the first time buyer range allows for tmore opportunites for those sellers who want to move up to their next home.  All in favor to continue the housing tax credit say Ay!

....until next week in The Week in Review    Tina