Monthly Archives: February 2006

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 →

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 →

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 →

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 →

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 →

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 →

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 →

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 →

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 →

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 →

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 →

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 →

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 →

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 →

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 →