Register Real Estate Advisors

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.

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) – The number of new sales contracts on existing homes jumped a seasonally adjusted 6.3 percent in December as buyers took advantage of lower mortgage rates and falling prices, the National Association of Realtors reported today.

The pending home sales index rose 6.3 percent in December and is now up 2.1 percent compared with a year earlier.

The index is based on signed sales contracts, which usually occur a month or two before the sale is closed.

ORLANDO (Dallas Morning News) – Sales to first-time homebuyers are at their highest in seven years. Over 40 percent of homes recently sold went to first-time buyers, according to a 10,000-person survey by the National Association of Realtors.

Other survey findings include:

• a record 32 percent of buyers found their houses first on the Internet;
• almost 90 percent looked for information online during their home search;
• almost 80 percent were concerned about commuting costs;
• 43 percent said heating and cooling costs were very important factors when they made their purchase; and
• more than 40 percent of sellers had to offer incentives to buyers, including assistance with closing costs and home warranty policies.

Coldwell Banker Mortgage Update October 2008 Volume 3/Issue 43

We’ve all seen the headlines credit squeeze, credit freeze, credit-system seizures. Mortgage companies are folding left and right and banks seem to be collapsing daily. We are all painfully aware on how severe the global financial breakdown has been, with banks unwilling to lend even to other banks.

But what about mortgages and real estate? Can you still get a home loan with less than a 20 or 30 percent down payment? Or with a credit score below 720?

Absolutely. It would be a big stretch to label housing the sunny side of the market at the moment, but there’s a lot more light here than in most other financial sectors. Consider these facts:

There is no shortage of money for home mortgages, no freezing of credit to purchase or refinance a house. Why? Because the mortgage market effectively has been federalized — at least for the time being. Most of our mortgages are being funded through the (FHA) insurance program, plus Fannie and Freddie. FHA is owned by the federal government, and Fannie and Freddie are operating under federal conservatorship giving all three virtually unlimited funds because their borrowings are fully guaranteed by the Treasury. When we sell loans to these entities we are going to market with pools of loans in the BILLIONS of dollars. Think of it like buying in bulk at a discount club. Our cost per loan is significantly reduced because we work with such large quantities.

Loan terms and credit underwriting standards have been toughened up, but you can still put down 3 percent (3.5 percent after Jan. 1) on an FHA-insured mortgage and 5 percent on most of our conventional loan programs with private mortgage insurance.

FHA’s credit standards are generous and forgiving; the agency exists to help people with less-than-spotless credit histories. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have raised their credit-score requirements over the past year, but buyers and refinances with scores in the upper 600s can still qualify for loans having reasonable rates and fees.

Home prices have been pushed back by foreclosures and short sales have rolled back to 2003 levels or lower in many former boom markets. As a result, buyers are coming off the sidelines, making offers and writing contracts. The pending home-sales index jumped by 7.4 percent last month according to the National Association of Realtors.

So the way I see it…The prices of houses have dropped making it affordable for more buyers.

Coldwell Banker Mortgage Company has a huge supply of money and are currently closing loans in 2-3 weeks. Call your Realtor today and you can be in your new home before Thanksgiving!