From the WSJ:
Is This What a Housing Bottom Looks Like?
Another housing report shows that market activity is up considerably from one year ago but easing off of the levels set by a surge of transactions earlier this year.
A report Thursday by the National Association of Realtors showed the index of pending home sales, reflecting deals that have gone into contract but haven’t yet closed, fell in June by 1.4% from May, though activity was still above the level of one year ago by 9.5%.
The report is the latest indication of an uneven housing bottom — things aren’t getting better rapidly, but we’re also not in the “hold-your-hat” declines of 2010 or the “spring that never materialized” of 2011. The report is also a reminder that a recovery will have trouble taking hold without meaningful job and wage growth, which has slowed in recent months.
June’s reading is slightly below the level set in both March and May of this year. But it is better than any reading in 2011 and better than all but two months in 2010, when federal tax credits spurred a burst of sales activity. It was the highest level for the month of June since 2007.
…
After a strong start to 2012, other sales indicators have hinted at a slowdown in June. New-home sales fell by 8.4% from May, though they were still up by 15.1% from one year ago, according to a report Wednesday. Last week, the Realtors reported that sales of previously owned homes in June fell by 5.4% from May, though they were 4.5% the level of one year ago.Both Thursday’s pending sales report and earlier reports that builder confidence is at a five-year high don’t quite fit with the recent sales drops. The Realtors have increasingly blamed smaller sales volumes on the dearth of attractive inventory. For-sale inventories in June were down 24.4% from one year ago, the largest annual drop in at least 30 years.
The market faces other challenges: Many buyers can’t qualify for mortgages because they have too much debt. And many sellers can’t sell their house because they owe more than it is worth, depriving the market of all-important “trade-up” buyers. Both of these problems won’t be fixed overnight.
Prices are rising, however, because the number of homes for sale is down sharply from one year ago in many markets.
The market faces other challenges: Many buyers can’t qualify for mortgages because they have too much debt. And many sellers can’t sell their house because they owe more than it is worth, depriving the market of all-important “trade-up” buyers. Both of these problems won’t be fixed overnight.
Any questions? B1tch?
Is it usual to see high radon in Berkeley Heights? Is 5 considered high in the lower level ( living space – not crawl space ) of a split?
http://www.state.nj.us/dep/rpp/radon/radonin.htm
eddie (2)-
Like playing water polo with a bowling ball. This slow torture will continue for generations.
Housing is dead money for 50-100 years. Bring out your dead!
No hope. No recovery. No future.
We are the worst of Japan and Argentina, rolled into one big morass of fail.
“Boomer demographics and postponement of marriage on account of student debt and poor finances are two of the key reasons that I long-ago stated the housing recovery would be slow for a decade.
Declining birthrates now show that is indeed what is happening.”
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2012/07/housing-headwinds-us-birthrate-lowest.html#OeDMZe5hAPQxOpeb.99
I wasn’t going to report it but I guess it doesn’t really matter. My house is sold. Or, it’s in attorney review so I guess that means it’s sold. Technically, I have 90 days to find a house or the contract is void. It probably would get extended, though.
I’ve been visiting houses the past few weeks like a f*cking madman in a number of Bergen County towns and it’s been difficult. That’s all I’ll say for now because I don’t have the energy to expand. It’s gonna be tough.
7 –
Congrats?
2 – VB
The house we bought had a radon reading around that, and was completely mitigated by a pump system the seller installed.
Another house that we sold a few years back had a radon reading of 20+ in the basement, and long story short, it was also completely mitigated by the time we sold for a lot of sweat labor but little actual cost. Radon is a non-issue that can be remedied in most, if not all, cases.
Gary 7 goods news I guess, now to find one………… Let the fun begin!
Hey Gary come north buy cash drive a little, well not a little!
Clot I know I know but till zombies come gotta live somewhere.
PS highly defensible position water 2 sides, now if we set the claymores up along the front & dig a trench in a reverse slope position on the remaining all should be in order.
Home Buyer,
What did the level come down to from 5? Also, how much did it cost to install?
12 – VB
The level came down to almost zero in this case. The thing with Radon is its one of those hard to define dangers. For instance on
http://www.epa.gov/radon/risk_assessment.html
Note A of the table is “Assumes constant lifetime exposure in homes at these levels”.
Note B is a “Estimates are subject to uncertainties as discussed in Chapter VIII of the risk assessment”
I am not saying that I want to breathe in Radon, but I also don’t think it’s as problematic as its made out to be either.
I cannot speak to the price of what our sellers did, but I can say when we did the work on the last house, it was around $750-$1000 for parts and material (fan, pipe and concrete are the main items), and a few hours of laborious concrete smashing. A system averages between $1K and $3K baring major anomalies which prevent typical installations from occurring, or so a contractor told me.
Expanded on Post 13
Also my brief review of the documents a few years back told me that the data is based on the life styles of miners who were exposed to levels of radon which the average person would never see in their lifetime, and the data was extrapolated back to generate data points for the levels found in homes.
Flo and Eddie doing Lady Gaga on stage in Asbury Park. Now I’ve seen everything.
Ugly as sin, but the price is right and the location is good.
http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/668-Quackenbush-Ave_Wyckoff_NJ_07481_M62915-78479
Mug Shot of the day.
http://www.nj.com/bergen/index.ssf/2012/07/police_wyckoff_teen_lured_ex-boyfriend_to_park_for.html
thanks homebuyer
mikey (11)-
Can’t feel comfortable unless you have a turret with 360-degree views to unobstructed potential head shots. Also good to have 4-5 vicious pit bulls to take care of anyone who can infiltrate the first line of defense.
NJC,
Speaking of the Turtles, have you seen this?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdBGV86Vz6E
19.New Improved Meat says:
July 29, 2012 at 12:12 am
mikey (11)-
Can’t feel comfortable unless you have a turret with 360-degree views to unobstructed potential head shots. Also good to have 4-5 vicious pit bulls to take care of anyone who can infiltrate the first line of defense
I think the 360 turret should have a flame thrower. Easier to insinerate zombies then go for head shots. Also, the moat should be sulfuric acid, not water.
20. Shore
Wow I’ve never heard them explain it that way. I know that they’re pretty bitter about the music biz. Mark is a professor at some college and teaches a course that takes the students on tour with them. College tuition money going for kids to go on a tour bus and be free interns- genius.
Nice read, I just passed this onto a colleague who was doing some research on that. And he just bought me lunch because I found it for him smile Therefore let me rephrase that: Thanks for lunch!
I have been looking for a house in/around Monmouth County for 6 months now, and have just run into the latest of many multiple-offer situations. The first house I saw on Saturday (yesterday) is priced right and so, guess what, there are 5 (!) offers. There is little attractive inventory out there, so when something attractive is listed, AND is priced right, it goes, immediately with multiple offers.
Here is one house where I lost the bidding war (actually, I was the winning bidder, but the deal fell apart due to inspection issues):
http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/241-Riveredge-Rd-Tinton-Falls-NJ-07724/39375304_zpid/
Say what you want, but SOMEONE is getting mortgages. I have not yet run into a competing offer that is cash, like mine is. It is very tough to bid with cash against someone who is bidding with a mortgage, because they are bidding a monthly payment. Price increases to them are only a few dollars more/month. Very tough to bid against when you are assessing (or trying to assess) “real” value.
Thanks for your write-up. I also think laptop computers have grown to be more and more popular today, and now are usually the only kind of computer found in a household. It is because at the same time actually becoming more and more reasonably priced, their processing power keeps growing to the point where they’re as powerful as pc’s through just a few years ago.
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