Monthly Archives: February 2006

Weekend Open Discussion

Open Discussion for this weekend Observations about your local areas, comments on news stories or the New Jersey housing bubble, Open House reports, etc. If you have any questions you wanted to ask earlier in the week but never posted … Continue reading

Posted in General | 89 Comments

Lowball! 2/8-2/18

Lowball! takes a look at home sales over the past week from a very different perspective. For those new to Lowball!, a lowball offer is when a buyer offers a significantly lower bid than asking in hopes that the seller … Continue reading

Posted in General | 23 Comments

Thorns and Bubbles and Crashes.. Oh My!

Some more ‘required’ reading to keep you busy over the weekend. This piece comes from Will Carless at the Voice of San Diego. Thorns Aren’t Good for Bubbles Highlights: Buy a house, just don’t expect to make any money on … Continue reading

Posted in General | 38 Comments

Running on Debt

From Yahoo Finance: Americans’ Debt: Worse Than You Think? Highlights: You’ve probably heard that the American savings rate for 2005 was negative 0.5 percent, the lowest since the Great Depression. The annual savings rate has been negative only twice — … Continue reading

Posted in General | 26 Comments

Canaries of Real Estate?

The NY Times has a new piece on Condo speculation today: Farewell, Condo Cash-Outs Over the last few years, real estate speculators looking to make a quick gain also snapped up preconstruction condos in Chicago, Miami and San Diego. With … Continue reading

Posted in General | 19 Comments

Slippery Starts and Conflicting Data

You may have heard the news on housing starts and permits today, or maybe you haven’t. The news is housing starts and permits were up, but not only up, they were “through the roof” and “explosive”. Housing Starts Explode January … Continue reading

Posted in General | 25 Comments

Risky Loans, Down Payments, and Skin in the Game

Great article in the Voice of San Diego today by Rich Toscano of Piggington fame. The article focuses on some SD statistics, but is almost universally applicable. No Skin in the Game Here are some highlights: Not so long ago, … Continue reading

Posted in General | 2 Comments

Star-Ledger Comments On Median Home Price Survey

From today’s Star-Ledger: Recent home-price report has ups, downs by Sam Ali Quarterly survey has fuel for optimists, pessimists For the “glass is half full” crowd, the quarterly, home-price report released yesterday by the National Association of Realtors was impressive. … Continue reading

Posted in General | 26 Comments

Weekly Mortgage Rates Increase

Mortgage rates on the rise again. Treasury yields pushed higher yet this week, likely putting further pressure on mortgage rates to increase next week as well.. Weekly Home Mortgage Rates 30-Year Fixed Feb. 15 Prev. Wk percent+points New York 6.34 … Continue reading

Posted in General | 15 Comments

New Jersey Fourth Quarter Median Home Prices

The NAR released their 2005 Q4 median home price data today: Median Sales Price of Existing Single-Family Homes as well as the following press release: HOME-PRICE APPRECIATION STAYS HOT ACROSS COUNTRY NorthEast 2005:I 246.2 2005:II 243.1 2005:III 249.2 2005:IV 240.3 … Continue reading

Posted in General | 6 Comments

Northern NJ Weekly Residential Inventory Update

GSMLS Single Family, Condo, Coop (Bergen, Essex, Hudson, Morris, Passaic, Somerset, Sussex, Union, Warren Counties) 2/8 – 12,233 2/15 – 12,376 (1.2% Increase) NJMLS Single Family, Condo, Coop (Bergen, Essex, Hudson, Passaic Counties) 2/8 – 5,865 2/15 – 5,960 (1.6% … Continue reading

Posted in General | 18 Comments

Mortgage Rates Up, Applications Down

MBA: Mortgage applications down last week Index measuring home loan activity drops to its lowest level in two years, industry group says; third consecutive weekly decline. Mortgage applications fell for a third consecutive week as demand for loans to purchase … Continue reading

Posted in General | 15 Comments

Homeownership Propaganda Machine Running Full Steam Ahead

Looking for contrarian indicators of the housing bubble collapsing? Well here you go: Why Homeowners Get Rich and Renters Stay Poor Seems Wells Fargo has schemed up a new idea to bring in the next round of greater fools, and … Continue reading

Posted in General | 26 Comments

NJ Home Seller Finds Creative Way To Skirt Sign Restrictions

Ever wonder why some developments seem to be overflowing with For Sale signs, while others seem to be devoid of them? Well, it’s because some homeowner associations do not allow homeowners to post for sale signs to advertise their homes. … Continue reading

Posted in General | 5 Comments

Barrons looks at the lending side of the real estate bubble

Barrons takes a good look at the changes in lending that fed the real estate mania, and in my opinion, will be a factor the feeds the demise of it. Coming Home to Roost THE RED-HOT U.S. HOUSING MARKET MAY … Continue reading

Posted in General | 11 Comments