6 signs of a strong housing market
The real-estate meltdown means plenty of houses are available at bargain prices. But just because a house is cheap doesn’t mean it’s a good investment. Smart buyers will look for communities that can support long-term value.
With lower home prices and attractive mortgage rates, 2009 will present plenty of bargains for real-estate shoppers. But as the historic bust continues, Americans everywhere are learning a painful lesson about homebuying: Property values don't always increase. People looking to purchase a home this year should make sure they're buying into a community that can support long-term value. With the help of housing experts, U.S. News & World Report compiled a list of the top six ingredients of strong housing markets:
read more at:
http://realestate.msn.com/article.aspx?cp-documentid=17443138>1=35000
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Boston Home Values Predicted to Recover Quickly
Price Cuts Spur Home Sales
Falling prices in hard-hit places like Henderson, Nev., near Las Vegas, have helped stimulate home sales.The Wall Street Journal - U.S. home sales registered their biggest monthly jump in nearly seven years in December, as cratering prices began to draw out more buyers and several major housing markets showed some signs of stabilizing.The 6.5% rise in sales from November was attributed in part to strong sales of foreclosed homes. Economists say it is too early to suggest that broad improvement is at hand, though, and warned that the spring buying season is likely to be sluggish amid growing economic hardship. Indeed, the employment picture continued to darken Monday as U.S. employers announced at least another 65,000 layoffs. . . . Areas with relatively lean supplies of homes in relation to recent sales include Boston. . . That suggests these areas may recover more quickly than others once consumer confidence revives.
Takes from James R. Hagerty The Wall Street Journal, January, 27, 2009
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Massachusetts Jobs Safe in Microsoft Layoff
Mass. Microsoft workers avoid layoffs - for now
Boston.com
Stung by a dramatic slowdown in personal computer sales, software titan Microsoft Corp. is laying off up to 5,000 workers...
globebusiness
January 22, 2009
-->
business news updates
updatedThursday, 3:29 PM
From the Boston Globe Business Team
Mass. Microsoft workers avoid layoffs - for now
January 22, 2009 02:27 PM Email Comments (0) Text size – +
Stung by a dramatic slowdown in personal computer sales, software titan Microsoft Corp. is laying off up to 5,000 workers worldwide, or about 5 percent of its workforce, over the next 18 months, including 1,400 who lost their jobs today.
No Microsoft workers in Massachusetts were affected by today's cuts, but they may not be so lucky as the layoffs continue. Microsoft, which has its headquarters in suburban Seattle, has about 96,000 employees worldwide, and nearly 1,000 in Massachusetts.
"We're certainly in the midst of a set of once-in-a-lifetime economic conditions," said Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer, who announced the layoffs during a conference call that also revealed sharply lower revenues and profits at the world's largest software company.
Ballmer predicted that it could take years for the computer industry to fully recover from the present downturn.
Microsoft said that revenue for the second quarter ending Dec. 31 was $16.63 billion, an increase of 2 percent from the previous year, but about $1 billion less than Microsoft had forecast in October. Quarterly net income of $4.17 billion was 11 percent lower than last year.(By Hiawatha Bray, Globe staff)
Boston.com
Stung by a dramatic slowdown in personal computer sales, software titan Microsoft Corp. is laying off up to 5,000 workers...
globebusiness
January 22, 2009
-->
business news updates
updatedThursday, 3:29 PM
From the Boston Globe Business Team
Mass. Microsoft workers avoid layoffs - for now
January 22, 2009 02:27 PM Email Comments (0) Text size – +
Stung by a dramatic slowdown in personal computer sales, software titan Microsoft Corp. is laying off up to 5,000 workers worldwide, or about 5 percent of its workforce, over the next 18 months, including 1,400 who lost their jobs today.
No Microsoft workers in Massachusetts were affected by today's cuts, but they may not be so lucky as the layoffs continue. Microsoft, which has its headquarters in suburban Seattle, has about 96,000 employees worldwide, and nearly 1,000 in Massachusetts.
"We're certainly in the midst of a set of once-in-a-lifetime economic conditions," said Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer, who announced the layoffs during a conference call that also revealed sharply lower revenues and profits at the world's largest software company.
Ballmer predicted that it could take years for the computer industry to fully recover from the present downturn.
Microsoft said that revenue for the second quarter ending Dec. 31 was $16.63 billion, an increase of 2 percent from the previous year, but about $1 billion less than Microsoft had forecast in October. Quarterly net income of $4.17 billion was 11 percent lower than last year.(By Hiawatha Bray, Globe staff)
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Stable Real Estate Market Predicted for 2009 in Newton MA
A Long Haul for the Housing Market
Well if you had any doubts that it is going to take a very long time to dig out the housing mess we are in, check out this report.
PMI Mortgage Insurance, in its latest market report, is predicting an “elevated’’ or “high’’ probability that prices will be lower in nearly half the nation’s 50 largest housing markets by the fall of 2010.
I guess we can forget about all those debates about whether the market will turn around in 2009. Ditto for the National Association of Realtors prediction of a modest rebound in sales and prices this year.
Nationally, home prices are already down 23 percent from their peak in July 2006.
Yet for those pining for a big drop in prices in the still very expensive Boston market, it’s a mixed bag.
Boston just missed being cast into the elevated category, but just barely.
PMI lists a 42.8 percent chance that home prices will be lower in late 2010. An even 50 percent would have thrust the Hub into “elevated’’ category.
That’s up from the 16.9 percent chance of lower prices PMI assigned to Boston and its immediate environs when it came out with the same report last year.
It’s a reading that makes sense if you look not just as the pricey downtown condo market, which has so far weathered the storm, but at prices in the neighborhoods as well, which have been battered by foreclosures.
Yet in a significant quirk, the “Cambridge-Newton-Framingham’’ area has the good fortune of being listed at a “low’’ risk, with just a 17.8 percent chance of winding up with lower prices late in 2010.
That roughly matches up with how the market has fared in the western suburbs, though not without raising a question or two on the methodology. Unemployment and foreclosure rates were used in determining the level of risk a particular area has of further declines in housing prices.
How you view this latest bit of news, of course, depends on exactly where you stand in this market.
Homeowners that bought at the peak, say 2004 and 2005, are likely watching the downward spiral in prices in sheer terror.
For those who held off buying during the housing bubble, or simply couldn’t afford to, the more the better, I guess.
Still, with the median price of a home in the state still hovering around the $300,000 mark – and considerably higher in the metro Boston area – home prices are not exactly at bargain basement levels yet, either.
For a real bargain, I’d suggest booking a trip to Las Vegas for Miami for September of 2010.
There’s a better than 99 percent chance that homes prices in both markets will be lower then, PMI suggests.
by Scott Van Voorhis Boston.com
Well if you had any doubts that it is going to take a very long time to dig out the housing mess we are in, check out this report.
PMI Mortgage Insurance, in its latest market report, is predicting an “elevated’’ or “high’’ probability that prices will be lower in nearly half the nation’s 50 largest housing markets by the fall of 2010.
I guess we can forget about all those debates about whether the market will turn around in 2009. Ditto for the National Association of Realtors prediction of a modest rebound in sales and prices this year.
Nationally, home prices are already down 23 percent from their peak in July 2006.
Yet for those pining for a big drop in prices in the still very expensive Boston market, it’s a mixed bag.
Boston just missed being cast into the elevated category, but just barely.
PMI lists a 42.8 percent chance that home prices will be lower in late 2010. An even 50 percent would have thrust the Hub into “elevated’’ category.
That’s up from the 16.9 percent chance of lower prices PMI assigned to Boston and its immediate environs when it came out with the same report last year.
It’s a reading that makes sense if you look not just as the pricey downtown condo market, which has so far weathered the storm, but at prices in the neighborhoods as well, which have been battered by foreclosures.
Yet in a significant quirk, the “Cambridge-Newton-Framingham’’ area has the good fortune of being listed at a “low’’ risk, with just a 17.8 percent chance of winding up with lower prices late in 2010.
That roughly matches up with how the market has fared in the western suburbs, though not without raising a question or two on the methodology. Unemployment and foreclosure rates were used in determining the level of risk a particular area has of further declines in housing prices.
How you view this latest bit of news, of course, depends on exactly where you stand in this market.
Homeowners that bought at the peak, say 2004 and 2005, are likely watching the downward spiral in prices in sheer terror.
For those who held off buying during the housing bubble, or simply couldn’t afford to, the more the better, I guess.
Still, with the median price of a home in the state still hovering around the $300,000 mark – and considerably higher in the metro Boston area – home prices are not exactly at bargain basement levels yet, either.
For a real bargain, I’d suggest booking a trip to Las Vegas for Miami for September of 2010.
There’s a better than 99 percent chance that homes prices in both markets will be lower then, PMI suggests.
by Scott Van Voorhis Boston.com
Friday, June 20, 2008
Throw away the Key....
26 who lost their homes get them back
Mass. says lawyer's 'rescue' cheated them
Twenty-six Massachusetts residents who lost their homes in an alleged foreclosure-rescue scam will regain ownership of the properties as part of a legal settlement.
more stories like this
The homeowners were allegedly tricked out of their homes by a Brockton lawyer, Alec G. Sohmer.
The attorney general's office accused Sohmer of persuading the homeowners to transfer the titles to their properties to him as part of an effort to avoid foreclosure. Sohmer then charged the former owners rent and sometimes sought to evict them when they could not keep up with the payments - which Sohmer knew they could not afford, the state said. The former owners hoped to regain title to their homes through refinancing.
But now Sohmer himself has filed for bankruptcy protection. US Bankruptcy Court in Boston, which is overseeing Sohmer's case, approved the settlement last week.
Mortgage companies provided or serviced home loans that Sohmer allegedly used to facilitate his scheme. They agreed to transfer titles back to the former owners and to restructure loans on the properties to make them more affordable.
Sohmer had taken out the loans to pay off the homeowners' original mortgages, borrowing extra in order to skim fees and equity from the new loan proceeds in each case, the state alleged.
The attorney general sued Sohmer in October 2006, accusing him of unfair and deceptive business practices. He did not respond yesterday to a call seeking comment.
Attorney General Martha Coakley's office said the lenders and servicers will reduce the value of each mortgage to the balance that existed before Sohmer took ownership of the house, or to 80 percent of the home's current market value, whichever is lower.
The agreement will result in a $1.8 million reduction in total mortgage obligations for all of the homeowners, reducing their monthly payments in many instances to help ensure they do not fall back into foreclosure.
With the settlement, "these mortgage companies are helping to solve the serious problems caused by Sohmer," Coakley said.
The properties are in Boston and Southeastern Massachusetts.
The lenders and servicers are: Countrywide Home Loans, EMC Mortgage Corp., American Home Mortgage Corp. and its subsidiary America Brokers Conduit, First Horizon Home Loans, Select Portfolio Services, Aurora Loan Servicing, The Wells Fargo Bank unit of America Brokers Conduit, Option One Mortgage Corp., America's Servicing Co., Ocwen Mortgage, and Sallie Mae Loans Inc.
First Horizon declined to comment; the rest did not respond to requests for comment.
Kimberly Blanton can be reached at blanton@globe.com.
Mass. says lawyer's 'rescue' cheated them
Twenty-six Massachusetts residents who lost their homes in an alleged foreclosure-rescue scam will regain ownership of the properties as part of a legal settlement.
more stories like this
The homeowners were allegedly tricked out of their homes by a Brockton lawyer, Alec G. Sohmer.
The attorney general's office accused Sohmer of persuading the homeowners to transfer the titles to their properties to him as part of an effort to avoid foreclosure. Sohmer then charged the former owners rent and sometimes sought to evict them when they could not keep up with the payments - which Sohmer knew they could not afford, the state said. The former owners hoped to regain title to their homes through refinancing.
But now Sohmer himself has filed for bankruptcy protection. US Bankruptcy Court in Boston, which is overseeing Sohmer's case, approved the settlement last week.
Mortgage companies provided or serviced home loans that Sohmer allegedly used to facilitate his scheme. They agreed to transfer titles back to the former owners and to restructure loans on the properties to make them more affordable.
Sohmer had taken out the loans to pay off the homeowners' original mortgages, borrowing extra in order to skim fees and equity from the new loan proceeds in each case, the state alleged.
The attorney general sued Sohmer in October 2006, accusing him of unfair and deceptive business practices. He did not respond yesterday to a call seeking comment.
Attorney General Martha Coakley's office said the lenders and servicers will reduce the value of each mortgage to the balance that existed before Sohmer took ownership of the house, or to 80 percent of the home's current market value, whichever is lower.
The agreement will result in a $1.8 million reduction in total mortgage obligations for all of the homeowners, reducing their monthly payments in many instances to help ensure they do not fall back into foreclosure.
With the settlement, "these mortgage companies are helping to solve the serious problems caused by Sohmer," Coakley said.
The properties are in Boston and Southeastern Massachusetts.
The lenders and servicers are: Countrywide Home Loans, EMC Mortgage Corp., American Home Mortgage Corp. and its subsidiary America Brokers Conduit, First Horizon Home Loans, Select Portfolio Services, Aurora Loan Servicing, The Wells Fargo Bank unit of America Brokers Conduit, Option One Mortgage Corp., America's Servicing Co., Ocwen Mortgage, and Sallie Mae Loans Inc.
First Horizon declined to comment; the rest did not respond to requests for comment.
Kimberly Blanton can be reached at blanton@globe.com.
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Jim Weichert Calls "The Bottom"
I’ve been waiting to say this for a long time: We have reached the bottom of the housing market and will soon begin to see improvements. While I recognize that some areas locally and some states nationally are not there yet, by and large, we are turning the corner.
I feel so strongly about this that I am going out to the public with a message that now is the time to buy. Very soon, real estate consumers will begin seeing this message in our advertising and on Weichert.com: “You might be guessing, but we’re sure. Now is the time to buy.”
Take the leap and join me in being among the first to call the bottom of the market. By bringing confidence back to buyers, we can move the market.
Share the positive news,
Jim Weichert
I feel so strongly about this that I am going out to the public with a message that now is the time to buy. Very soon, real estate consumers will begin seeing this message in our advertising and on Weichert.com: “You might be guessing, but we’re sure. Now is the time to buy.”
Take the leap and join me in being among the first to call the bottom of the market. By bringing confidence back to buyers, we can move the market.
Share the positive news,
Jim Weichert
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