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See the uptick? It’s right there! I was going to write this story on Friday, but with the news yesterday and today that, nationwide, home sales are at record lows, I thought today was more appropriate and timely. Also, writing these real estate analyses forces me to become much more knowledgeable with the most up-to-date data. So I’m doing for me and you. 🙂
The question is – should I buy a house now?
The answer is – maybe. It depends on what your goals are, where you are in life, career, family situation.
I know this – independent of me, a new client came to me last week and said, (paraphrasing here) – “I think that right now in Charlottesville/Albemarle, there is a unique and perhaps once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to buy a home for my family.” This isn’t the first person to say this me.
I noted in August of 2009 that We Don’t Know What We Don’t Know. And we still don’t.
We know this:
Charlottesville and Albemarle home sales in February:
64 homes sold in 2010
79 homes sold in 2009
72 homes sold in 2008
105 homes sold in 2007
141 homes sold in 2006
124 homes sold in 2005
108 homes sold in 2004
Homes under contract – first 23 days of March …
… Contracts seem to be picking up. A little bit.
The question is – should I buy a house now?
The answer is – maybe. It depends on what your goals are, where you are in life, career, family situation.
I know this – independent of me, a new client came to me last week and said, (paraphrasing here) – “I think that right now in Charlottesville/Albemarle, there is a unique and perhaps once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to buy a home for my family.” This isn’t the first person to say this me.
From today’s Wall Street Journal:
For those trying to figure out how much further U.S. house prices could fall, it would help to know how many more foreclosed homes banks need to sell.
Alas, no one has found a way to track precisely how many of those properties are owned by banks, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (which ends up with homes when FHA-insured loans go bad) and mortgage investors, including securitization trusts and the government-controlled mortgage firms Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. All of these entities report data on their holdings of foreclosed homes – known in the trade as REO, short for “real estate owned†– but they do so in their own disparate ways.
“The expiration of that tax credit [and severe winter weather] has caused home sales to crash,” Insight Economics’ Steven Wood wrote in a research note. “Because the tax credit has been extended and expanded, there should be a recovery in sales over the next two months.” The new tax break covers sales through April 30 that close before July 1.
Homes Sold in February:
And because I know most of my readers like to see the data for themselves ….
Homes Placed Under Contract in Charlottesville and Albemarle in February:
Homes placed under contract in March in Charlottesville and Albemarle:
There’s a huge inventory. National number is 8.6 months. What is it here?
Please add:
1. Your opinion on why aren’t prices aren’t reducing faster?
2. What’s the price breakdown of homes sold?
3. How many sales are in each category? Single family, condos, attached?
Also, look at the linked report above for the Sales and Inventory Report for Charlottesville and Albemarle.
Prospective buyer –
I’ll break these down in a later post. If you’re interested in these now, please feel free to contact me offline.
Mortgage rates up, local inventory rising daily, local (and national) sales down. And buyers have to be under contract by April 30 to receive tax credit.
This is going to be the most interesting month in housing of this decade. Hold on tight.
http://realcville.blogspot.com/2010/03/mortgage-rates-suddenly-jump-up.html