Entries by The KCM Crew

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Consumer Confidence: Which Way Is It Headed?

There is no doubt that the housing market and the economy are intertwined. The economy will get better as housing improves. Housing will regain strength as the economy improves. How is the economy actually doing? One measure is the Misery Index which combines the inflation and unemployment numbers.  According to their site: The misery index was […]

Will Falling Values Lead to More Strategic Defaults?

As prices continue to soften, more and more homeowners will fall into a position of negative equity on their homes. This means that the balance on their mortgage is greater than the value of their home. The reason this is important is that people are more prone to strategically default on their mortgage when ‘underwater’. […]

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Is The Economy Worse Than We Think?

We are presented with conflicting data almost daily about the “health” of the economy. And I am no economist, but I believe that I do possess some common sense. So, here’s what I have been thinking. It is obvious that millions of people are NOT paying their mortgage, rightly or wrongly, for their own reasons: […]

QRM: The Potential Cost to a Purchaser

The Quality Residential Mortgage (QRM), a proposal by the government to tighten lending standards, has initiated quite a debate. The government feels strongly that standards must be raised while others have debated that the new guidelines are an example of the pendulum swinging back much too far. For the government’s position on QRM, click here. […]

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Home Prices: Even More Confusion

We attempt to keep you abreast of the housing market. When will demand for housing return to historic averages? What impact will foreclosures continue to have? Where are interest rates headed? There are no simple answers to any of these questions. However, the most difficult question to answer seems to be: Where are home prices […]

Does Your Lender WANT To Say “Yes!”?

As people go through the mortgage process today, I believe that they wonder if their lender has gone insane. Lenders ask for documentation repeatedly, constantly updating, asking for further clarification and explanation for everything. Income, credit, assets and appraisals are scrutinized at a level unseen in my 25+ years. It almost seems like they are […]

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Are Home Prices Headed Up or Down?

Here are two headlines that appeared in print last week: LA Times: Case-Shiller Home Price Index Hits New Low Forex: CoreLogic: Home Price Index Increased 0.7% In the Los Angeles Times story, David Blitzer, chairman of the S&P index committee, was quoted as saying: “This month’s report is marked by the confirmation of a double-dip […]

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What Impact Will QRM Have on Housing Demand?

The federal government would like to dramatically decrease their role in the financing of residential real estate. To that goal, they have proposed the guidelines for a ‘Qualified Residential Mortgage’ (QRM). How would these proposed guidelines impact the demand for housing? Here is what three different entities are reporting: CoreLogic “Roughly 39% of homebuyers in […]

The Evolving Role of Video in Real Estate

I have heard it said that by 2013, 90% of new content posted to the web will be in the form of video…90%!!! What that says to me is that video is what our clients, customers, and prospects want. They want it to educate themselves without reading. They want it to be stimulated more by […]

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Happy Birthday To Me

Turning 49 on Monday, I was struck about how different the world of communication has become. In years past, a dozen friends would have called me…a few would have even sent me a card in the mail. But this year, it was very different. Only two calls were received and no regular mail. But, I […]

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National Housing Survey: What America Thinks

Each quarter, Fannie Mae releases their National Housing Survey. They survey the American public on a multitude of questions concerning today’s housing market. We like to pull out some of the findings we deem most interesting each time it is released. Here they are for the most recent report: The Most Important Reasons to Buy […]

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Look Past the Headlines

Earlier this week, Trulia and RealtyTrac issued a press release regarding a survey completed for the two companies by Harris Interactive. The press release, American Expectations for Housing Market Recovery Falters , reported: “As more cities across the nation experience double dips in home prices, more than half (54%) of U.S. adults believe recovery in […]

Mortgage Money IS Available…For Now

One comment that I hear from real estate agents and lay people alike is that “it’s hard to get a mortgage; so hard, in fact, that no one can get one”.  This is just NOT true!  In reality, lenders are lending at a healthy pace.  Interest rates continue to cooperate and there are many programs […]

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Where Are Mortgage Rates Headed?

We often talk about the COST of buying a house vs. the PRICE of the home. The price obviously is a major component of the cost. The other major component is the interest rate on your mortgage. A small hike in mortgage interest rate can have a dramatic impact on your monthly payment. For that […]

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Even the Naysayers Are Saying To Buy Now!

Business School professors Eli Beracha of East Carolina University and Ken H. Johnson of Florida International University have done extensive research on which makes more sense financially: to rent or own a home. They published, Lessons from Over 30 Years of Buy versus Rent Decisions: Is the American Dream Always Wise? In their paper, the professors do […]