Occasionally, Steve Harney, our founder and lead content creator, asks us permission to share his personal feelings on a current real estate issue. Today is one of those times. – The KCM Crew One of the things I often hear from people I meet is that real estate and mortgage professionals should have seen the […]
In a normal real estate market, it may make sense to wait for the spring buyers’ to appear before placing your house up for sale. The current real estate market is anything but normal however. The increase in supply of distressed properties will overshadow any increase in demand for housing over the next 6 months. This is reflected in the findings of […]
Today, we are again honored to have Ken H. Johnson, Ph.D. — Florida International University (FIU) and Editor of the Journal of Housing Research as our guest blogger. To view other research from FIU, visit http://realestate.fiu.edu/. – The KCM Crew The Research What role does education play in producing a successful real estate agent? This question has […]
As underwriting guidelines for lenders become more stringent, we need to re-examine what a good mortgage application looks like. As home buyers begin their search for a home, there are a few items they should be aware of that they can do to help get their loans approved (with the best possible terms), and, at […]
The National Association of Realtors (NAR) released their Existing Sales Report two weeks ago and in the report they discussed a troubling trend: cancelled contracts are increasing dramatically. NAR defined the issue: “Contract failures – cancellations caused largely by declined mortgage applications or failures in loan underwriting from appraised values coming in below the negotiated […]
It appears that (subsequent to my writing of this blog yesterday) that the House has passed a bill which the President is expected to sign which extends the current Funding Fees until November 17th. Despite the fact that the VA’s own website still states that the change is expected October 1st, that information seems to […]
Today, we are again honored to have Ken H. Johnson, Ph.D. — Florida International University (FIU) and Editor of the Journal of Housing Research as our guest blogger. To view other research from FIU, visit http://realestate.fiu.edu/. – The KCM Crew The Research Is it possible to predict who will be a high commission income earner in real […]
Late last year, banks were warned that they needed to guarantee that the paperwork necessary to start a foreclosure process on a family was both accurate and complete. Since then, the banks have slowed down the foreclosure process while they re-examined their procedures. They are now confident that all the required documentation is in order. […]
To all those who have declared the real estate market dead, we want you to know that over 13,780 houses sold yesterday, 13,780 will sell today and 13,780 will sell tomorrow. That is the average number of homes that sell each and every day in this country according to the National Association of Realtors’ (NAR) […]
We are enjoying extremely low interest rates, for sure. With the global economy, the national economy and unemployment where they are, no one is predicting a dramatic change in rates any time soon. BUT, on Monday, the Obama Administration floated out some interesting proposals they are considering through the Acting Director of the Federal Housing Finance […]
Monday’s blog post generated many questions as to whether modifications would have a major impact on preventing an increase in future foreclosures. Though modifications are still being done, the onus by the government and the banks has currently shifted to two other initiatives to help the housing recovery: Preventing future delinquencies (people falling behind on […]
Sales in the housing industry have remained stagnant over the last several months. Though certain categories of purchasers have remained stable and even increased, the number of cash buyers and investors has dramatically decreased. Researchers from Capital Economics recently reported: “The firm has found that since January, the number of homes purchased by cash buyers […]
We have suggested that sellers who need to sell within the next 18 months had a ‘window of opportunity’ to sell at higher prices. They needed to put their houses up for sale immediately before a flood of distressed properties were introduced to the market. This window is beginning to close. The paperwork challenges faced […]
In the whirl wind that surrounds the home buying and mortgage process, how can a consumer be sure that they are working with the right lender? I mean there are so many choices…here’s some things to consider: What type of company is it? There are mortgage brokers, mortgage bankers and banks/credit unions. Mortgage brokers have […]
Two separate housing reports came out in the last week which discussed different challenges facing the current real estate market. The first was CoreLogic’s Negative Equity Report and the second was JP Morgan Chase’s Home Price Monitor. Each report delivered some difficult news. However, if you piece both reports together, we can see future challenges […]
We here at KCM are often accused of allowing our belief in the benefits of owning a home to impact how we report on the housing market. We do not hide from the fact that we believe homeownership is a major piece of the American Dream. However, we still try to accurately report on the […]
It has been a trying time for most segments of the real estate industry. However, two areas that are showing improvement are the luxury home and vacation home markets. It seems that people in these segments are again beginning to purchase. Vacation Homes Last week Market Watch published an article discussing the vacation home market. […]
In the wake of last week’s hurricane Irene, I wanted to chat a bit about some of the occasional disasters (natural and otherwise) that can befall a real estate transaction. After the hurricane, many transactions were put on hold, awaiting inspections by buyers, appraisers, engineers and even insurance companies. The assessing of any damage has […]
Today, we are honored to have Ken H. Johnson, Ph.D. — Florida International University (FIU) and Editor of the Journal of Housing Research as our guest blogger. To view other research from FIU, visit http://realestate.fiu.edu/. – The KCM Crew The Research How can agents maximize their commission income? The options are straight forward. Agents can choose to […]
We are often asked “Is it time to sell my home?” The answer to that question is based on what your families’ goals are. If you don’t need or want to move for a few years it might make sense to wait for the housing industry to recover and prices to appreciate. However, if you […]
