Monthly Archives: June 2015

Pending Home Sales Hits Post-Recession Highs

Posted on June 30, 2015 by grim

From the WSJ: U.S. Pending Home Sales at Highest Level in Nine Years A forward-looking indicator of home sales rose to its highest level in more than nine years in May, a sign the housing market is gaining traction after … Continue reading →

Posted in Housing Recovery, National Real Estate | 86 Comments

Home prices setting new records in April

Posted on June 29, 2015 by grim

From HousingWire: Black Knight: Home prices rise 1% in April from March U.S. home prices were up 1% for the month, rising 4.9% on a year-over-year basis, according to Black Knight’s latest Home Price Index report, based on April 2015 … Continue reading →

Posted in Demographics, Economics, Housing Recovery, National Real Estate | 87 Comments

Peek into the Lower Hudson Valley Market

Posted on June 28, 2015 by grim

From Lohud.com: The slump is over: real estate is back Looks like very good news for homeowners across the Lower Hudson Valley — experts are saying that the multi-year real estate slump is finally over. “It’s the best market we’ve … Continue reading →

Posted in Housing Recovery, NYC | 30 Comments

Getting ahead in the new normal

Posted on June 26, 2015 by grim

From the NYT: More Americans Are Renting, and Paying More, as Homeownership Falls To Johnnie McDowell, the house on Livingston Street seems to taunt him every time he walks by. It’s nothing special: The two-story home is a bit shabby, … Continue reading →

Posted in Demographics, Economics, Housing Recovery, New Jersey Real Estate | 94 Comments

Hipsters hate Yuppies

Posted on June 25, 2015 by grim

You are fooling nobody bud, you are clearly a hipster in a yuppie disguise. Also, be it noted, white men can’t tag. From the Jersey Journal: Photos show alleged vandal behind ‘Go home yuppie scum’ graffiti in Jersey City Police … Continue reading →

Posted in Humor, New Development, Unrest | 116 Comments

Stalker or elaborate sham to sue?

Posted on June 24, 2015 by grim

From the NY Daily News: New Jersey couple sues over dream home that came with creepy, threatening letters from ‘The Watcher’ A New Jersey couple who thought they were buying their dream home are suing its previous owners, claiming the … Continue reading →

Posted in New Jersey Real Estate, Unrest | 90 Comments

First time buyers back in the market?

Posted on June 23, 2015 by grim

From the WSJ: U.S. Existing-Home Sales Increase 5.1% in May Sales of previously owned homes surged in May, buoyed in part by the return of younger buyers who had long struggled to find a path into the market. The pace … Continue reading →

Posted in Demographics, Economics, Housing Recovery, National Real Estate | 70 Comments

Subprime wasn’t the problem?

Posted on June 22, 2015 by grim

From Fortune: The subprime mortgage crisis wasn’t about subprime mortgages In the years following the financial crisis, a cottage industry arose that tried to explain just what happened to the American economy and the financial system. Early on in the … Continue reading →

Posted in Foreclosures, Housing Bubble, Risky Lending | 70 Comments

Boomerangers

Posted on June 20, 2015 by grim

From the NYT: Mortgage Market on the Mend New research from TransUnion, the credit information service, predicts that some 1.5 million homeowners who were forced out of the mortgage market after the housing bust will have recovered sufficiently to re-enter … Continue reading →

Posted in Foreclosures, Housing Recovery, Mortgages, National Real Estate, Risky Lending | 63 Comments

2014 Profile of NJ Buyers and Sellers

Posted on June 19, 2015 by grim

From the Record: Who’s buying and selling? Who is buying? Forty-four percent were first-time buyers in New Jersey compared to the national figure of 33 percent. Age of the first-time buyer is 33 and the typical repeat buyer is 48. … Continue reading →

Posted in Demographics, Economics, New Jersey Real Estate | 119 Comments

One hundred and ninety seven percent!

Posted on June 18, 2015 by grim

From HousingWire: Foreclosure activity hits 19-month high on rise in REOs Foreclosure filings — default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions — were reported on 126,868 U.S. properties in May 2015, up 1% from the previous month and up 16% … Continue reading →

Posted in Foreclosures, New Jersey Real Estate | 105 Comments

Housing and credit data continuing to improve

Posted on June 17, 2015 by grim

From National Mortgage Professional: New Data Finds Negative Equity and Consumer Debt Declining The latest CoreLogic study on negative equity found 254,000 properties regained equity in the first quarter, bringing the total number of mortgaged residential properties with equity at … Continue reading →

Posted in Demographics, Economics, Housing Recovery, National Real Estate | 141 Comments

Is 20% even possible anymore?

Posted on June 16, 2015 by grim

From Bloomberg: Want a House? Good Luck With the Down Payment Saving for a down payment has long been a big challenge for anyone who wants to buy a home. And it got harder after the financial crisis, as lenders … Continue reading →

Posted in Housing Recovery, Mortgages, Risky Lending | 158 Comments

Measuring the buyer/appraiser disconnect

Posted on June 15, 2015 by grim

From HousingWire: Homeowner, appraiser home value opinion gap widens The difference between appraiser and homeowner perceptions continued to increase for the fourth consecutive month in May, Quicken Loans reports. Appraiser opinions of home values were 1.15% lower than homeowner estimates, … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Housing Bubble, Housing Recovery | 112 Comments

Bayonne the hot new market?

Posted on June 14, 2015 by grim

From the Hudson Reporter: Going up, up, up With dozens of rental developments in Hudson County going up and many recently being completed, why does a current report say that county rents are still on the rise, and may actually … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Housing Recovery, New Development, New Jersey Real Estate | 30 Comments