Register Real Estate Advisors

Every year the National Association of Realtors surveys homebuyers and sellers to monitor housing trends.  Below are Top 10 Housing Trends from 2011.

1.  There were fewer first time home buyers in 2011 than in 2010.

2.  Almost 90% of homeowners used the internet to search for a home.

3.  The average homebuyer searched for 12 weeks and viewed 12 homes.

4.  Almost 90% of homebuyers used a real estate agent or broker.

5.  Only 10% of sellers sold their homes without a real estate agent.

6.  Home Buyers choose their houses based on commute to work, the neighborhood, and affordability.

7.  Buyers said the loan process was more difficult than they expected.

8.  Over half of home sellers traded up for a larger, newer, or more expensive home.

9.  People move about every 9 years.<

10.  Most homes sold for 95% of the listing price.

COLLEGE STATION (Real Estate Center) – The National Association of Realtors (NAR) announced this week that it will revise its total existing home sales and unsold inventory data downward by as much as 20 percent.  The Real Estate Center’s housing market expert, Research Economist Dr. Jim Gaines, said the revision is because of sales reporting issues as well as NAR’s internal adjustment process to convert reported MLS sales into total existing home sales.  “NAR extrapolates the reported MLS sales data into estimated total existing home sales based on adjustment factors developed from the 2000 census, which are now outdated,” Gaines said.  “NAR said it wants to avoid double counting duplicate sales records from consolidated MLSs and to better account for shifts in population, fewer for-sale-by-owner sales and other factors. Normally, NAR adjusts the sales based on decennial census results, but the 2010 census did not collect home sales data as previous censuses did. NAR had to find other ways to make adjustments and backdate their results.”  The revision could make the housing bust reported over the past five years look statistically even deeper than originally reported.  “Reported existing home sales during the past five years have been hovering around five million units per year, the lowest sales volume in more than a decade,” Gaines said. “If the pace of sales is significantly lower than initially reported, it may take longer than originally anticipated to clear the so-called ‘shadow inventory.’”  The revisions should have little to no impact on those who use the Center’s sales data, Gaines said.  “The Center only provides sales and listing inventory data as reported by each MLS with no overall adjustments,” he said. “Consolidation of many of the larger MLS services some years ago eliminated most of the duplication problems and other reporting issues associated with the NAR database. The Center also scrubs the reported sales data to eliminate possible duplicates, so the sales reported by the Center are not total home sales, but rather the volume of sales submitted by the local MLS.”  The revised data, which will be released Dec. 21, will not include the reported number of months of inventory, monthly percentage changes or home prices. These data are expected to remain the same regardless of the sales and inventory or inventory adjustments.

TEXAS REALTOR AMONG 2012 NAR OFFICERS

WASHINGTON, D.C. (National ssociation of Realtors) – Texas Real Estate Commission Chair and Real Estate Center Advisory Committee ex-officio member Avis Wukasch has been named
a National Association of Realtors (NAR) 2012 regional vice president.

Wukash, a Williamson County Realtor, will represent NAR’s Region X, which includes Texas and Louisiana.

The association installed its 2012 officers yesterday at the 2011 Realtors Conference and Expo in Anaheim, California.

Miami Realtor Maurice “Moe” Veissi will serve as NAR president, while Gary Thomas of Orange County will be president-elect. First vice president will be Steve Brown, a Realtor from Dayton, Ohio.

RREA is honored to be the featured brokerage in the national REALTOR Magazine this month. They showcase innovative brokerages that do things a little differently. We were showcased because of our use of the internet and video production as a means of ensuring our client’s homes have the widest possible exposure.

We are honored to be mentioned and are constantly striving to ensure our company has the latest technology, best educated agents, and is the most effective brokerage in the Houston metro area.

Check out the link. If you are a Realtor, your copy will be in your mailbox soon.

http://realtormag.realtor.org/for-brokers/standouts/article/2011/10/lights-camera-sale

This information is reprinted from REALTOR Magazine Online by permission of the National Association of REALTORS, copyright 2005, All rights reserved.  http://www.REALTOR.org/realtormag

1.  A real estate transaction is complicated.  In most cases, buying or selling a home requires disclosure forms, inspection reports, mortgage documents, insurance policies, deeds, and multi-page government-mandated settlement statements.  A knowledgeable guide through this complexity can help you avoid delays or costly mistakes.

2.  Selling or buying a home is time consuming.  Even in a strong market, homes in our area stay on the market for an average of 180 days.  And it usually takes another 60 days or so for the transaction to close after an offer is accepted. 

3.  Real estate has its own language.  If you don’t know a CMA from a PUD, you can understand why it’s important to work with someone who speaks that language.

4.  REALTORS have done it before.  Most people buy and sell only a few homes in a lifetime, usually with quite a few years in between each purchase.  And even if you’ve done it before, laws and regulations change.  That’s why having an expert on your side is critical.

5.  REALTORS provide objectivity.  Since a home often symbolizes family, rest, and security, not just four walls and roof, home selling or buying is often a very emotional undertaking.  And for most people, a home is the biggest purchase they’ll ever make.  Having a concerned, byt objective, third party helps you keep focused on both the business and emotional issues most important to you.

6.  REALTORS are members of the National Association of REALTORS, a trade organization of more than 1 million members nationwide.  REALTORS subscribe to a stringent code of ethics that helps guarantee the highest level of service and integrity.

 WASHINGTON, D.C. (Associated Press) – The National Association of Realtors announced Monday that its seasonally adjusted index of home sales agreements rose 8.2 percent from January to February.

January’s reading was revised slightly downward to 90.2, and the February reading was 97.6.

The index is considered a barometer for future sales activity because there is typically a one- to two-month lag between a signed sales contract and a completed deal.

Sales increased 9 percent in the South and Northeast from January to February, fell nearly 5 percent in the West and rose nearly 22 percent in the Midwest.

A new grant issued by the National Association of Realtors has been given to the Texas Association of Realtors to aid consumers and realtors alike in preventing foreclosures.  This grant will develop a training program for Texas Realtors in the practice of identifying foreclosures and short-sales opportunities.  With the assistance of housing giants: TDHCA (Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs), HUD (Housing and Urban Development), Texas Foreclosure Prevention Task Force, and NeighborWorks, this resource will be a vital lifeline for distressed Texan homeowners and the Texan housing market.  An educational web site is also available for consumers, www.KeepMyTexasHome.com, which will include a homeowner’s checklist that you can use as a reference guide to stopping foreclosure.

WASHINGTON, D.C. (National Association of Realtors) – The National Association of Realtors is launching a new website with information for homeowners and more tools for Realtors.

The site, called HouseLogic, is intended to help homeowners protect, maintain and enhance the value of their homes, and to provide business-building tools for Realtors. The site will also allow homeowners to speak together with Realtors to federal legislators on public policy issues where homeowners and the real estate industry have a common interest.

HouseLogic will be promoted to consumers in earnest starting in February. Until then, the site is in beta and is being promoted primarily to Realtors, giving them a chance to explore the site and provide feedback.

TEXAS (Real Estate Center, CNNMoney.com) – A total of 22,511 existing homes were sold in Texas last month, a 4.8 percent decline from July 2008, according to MLS data compiled by the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University. The median price increased 0.6 percent to $153,800 during the same period, and the state finished the month with a 7.4-month inventory of existing homes.

Here is how select Texas cities fared in July (data current as of Aug. 28, 2009):

Additional home sales data for these and other major Texas cities are available on the Center’s website.

Nationally, sales of existing single-family homes last month were up 5 percent from July 2008, according to the National Association of Realtors.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) – March pending home sales increased from February numbers and from March 2008, indicating that buyers think now is a good time to buy a house.

The Pending Home Sales Index from the National Association of Realtors (NAR) showed a 3.2 percent gain to 84.6 from February, when it was 82. The index stands 1.6 percent higher than a year ago.

The index is understood to be a forward indicator of home sales trends as it measures contracts signed, not completed sales. The uptick may indicate that home prices have fallen low enough for buyers to get off the fence.

“If inventory goes down — it’s at just under ten months now — to below eight months, that would mean we’re on the way to a sustainable recovery,” said Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist.

Anecdotal evidence indicates that trend may be happening. Realtors and other industry insiders are seeing rising open house attendance and multiple bids on some particularly desirable properties.

Today, buyers are more likely to bid because they perceive the market as at or near its bottom. An April Gallup Poll reported that 71 percent of Americans thought it was a good time to buy a house.

The South saw the largest gain of any region, with pending home sales jumping 8.5 percent from February to March. Pending sales were 7.7 percent higher in March compared with the same month a year ago.