Here are  variety of good news pieces about real estate. It's not all doom and gloom out there! This is taken from an e-mail I got called "Postive angles" 

Nov. 15, 2007                                                                                                                Issue No. 12

What are real estate professionals saying to homebuyers and sellers about current market conditions? The successful brokers and sales associates are talking about the strengths that exist in the market - not the negative media hype. Below are positive angles that appeared recently in the media and underscore why it is a good time to buy real estate.

Recent Quotes about the Positive Signs in the Real Estate Market:

NAR Housing Report: 2007 Ranks as the Fifth Best Year on Record

Ø       "Places like Houston, the Kansas City area, Indianapolis, and the vast middle section of the United States offer affordable prices and continued job growth. On either coast, Seattle and Raleigh, N.C., remain solid. And markets that experienced recent growth declines - like Boston, Denver, and Washington, D.C. - have already shown signs of recovery."

Ø       "For buyers who qualify for conventional financing, mortgages are available at favorable rates. Major FHA reform will also help first-time home buyers enter the market and will provide safer alternatives for many subprime buyers."

Ø       "Buying a home is not a quick-in, quick-out investment, like buying a stock. Homeownership builds wealth over the long-term."

-- Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the National Association of Realtors®, "NAR Puts Housing Market in Perspective: 2007 Will be the Fifth Best Year on Record," Realtor.org, Nov. 13, 2007.

Foreign Investment Could Lift the Housing Market

The weakening dollar may be providing the fuel for one unintended - and very welcome - benefit: a rally in the housing market driven by foreign investors.

-- "Foreign Investment Could Lift Housing Market," Associated Press, Nov. 11, 2007.

Selling in a Slow Market

"If there are 2,000 houses on the market and 200 houses sold last month, that means it's taking 10 months to sell a house. That's pretty simple math, but nobody ever does it. If you price your house like everybody else, it might take 10 months to sell it. Given the cost of carrying your home and the risk prices might fall further, would it be cheaper to slash your asking price? If you're going to lower your price, do it right away - or wait until early next year."

-- Chris Mayer, director of Columbia Business School's Milstein Center for Real Estate, "Dump this House: Unloading Your Property in a Slow Market," by Jonathan Clements, The Wall Street Journal, Nov. 8, 2007

 

 

 

 

 

Where Housing is Headed

"The key to housing is the employment rate. As long as the employment stays basically full - say, under 5.5% - I see no major crisis in the housing market. Yes, we have a subprime issue. Yes, we have a lot of investors who got hung out, but I don't see the crisis the way the media portray it. We're building a lot less houses now. For many years, we averaged about 1.6 million houses a year. And then in the last four years, we went to 2.1 million. We're regressing to the mean. So there will be a period of indigestion but no crisis. No meltdown in the housing market. That's ridiculous."

 

-- Sam Zell, chairman of Equity International, "The Human Barometer," Time Magazine, Nov. 8, 2007.

 

 

NAR Survey Results: Consumers Very Satisfied with Agent Performance

The survey shows that 79 percent of home buyers and sellers used a real estate professional, up from 77 percent over the past three years, and nearly nine out of 10 buyers were very satisfied with their agent's knowledge of the process. More than eight out of 10 sellers and nearly nine out of 10 buyers would definitely or probably use the same agent again or recommend him or her to others.  

 

-- "NAR Survey Shows Consumers Very Satisfied with Agent Performance," Realtor.org, Nov 13, 2007.

Regional Update: Good News from Several Markets Around the Nation

 

 

 

New Jersey Shore

"Home shoppers continue to stream in, even though the beach season is officially over. The number of sales we had was up 16 percent in Asbury Park this year in the period up to Labor Day, and so far, the fall open houses we hold every weekend are very well attended."

 

-- Gregory Demaras, a broker in Asbury Park, N.J., "Where Sales Are Buoyant," by Antoinette Martin, The New York Times (registration required), Nov. 4, 2007.

 

New York City

The average sales price for a Big Apple dwelling climbed to $782,000 in the third quarter of 2007, an increase of 20 percent over the same period a year earlier, according to a report released by the Real Estate Board of New York.

 

-- "Home Prices Skyrocketing in New York City," by David B. Caruso, Associated Press, Nov. 8, 2007.

 

Kentucky

"Healthy real estate markets in Kentucky and Midwestern states are being hurt by national news reports of problems in other areas. There is absolutely zero bubble in Central Kentucky, and the area's housing remains very affordable - maybe even undervalued."

 

-- Lawrence Yun, chief economist, National Association of Realtors®, "Kentucky Real Estate Holding Up," RISMedia, Nov. 6, 2007.

 

Arizona

"The housing market is correcting itself. The Federal Reserve cut interest rates two times. Major banks are changing and improving their guidelines as a way to encourage people to buy. There is talk about increasing Federal Housing Administration loan limits. There is so much growth in Arizona that I am optimistic change will continue as we approach 2008."

 

-- Ali Al-Asady, Realtor, West Valley, Ariz., "Housing Market Correcting Itself, Realtor says," by Erin Zlomek, Arizona Republic, Nov. 14, 2007.