For people who really want to sell real estate in today’s market it often takes a lot more that placing an ad in the paper, holding an open house and flipping through a rolodex of potential buyers it takes creativity.  Auctions allow the time frame of selling a house to be cut down to one or two months as opposed to many months.  Last week in Vail Colorado two high-end homes were sold at an auction, not bad considering the high-end inventory that isn’t moving.
Of course, there are always buyers but right now isn’t necessarily a time that people feel …read more

A story in the New York Times, which you can find here, gives me hope that McMansion mania is finally petering out. According to the Times, the demand for ultra-large homes in New Jersey — where such homes have long ruled the market — seems to be waning. The Times isn’t sure if this is a longterm or a shortterm thing. But it does give me hope.

BusinessWeek recently ran an interesting story about homeowners who are paying a whopping 50 percent — or more — of their monthly incomes on mortgage and other housing payments. You can read the story here.

According to a Sept. 29 story by Bloomberg News, which you can read here, officials with the National Association of Home Builders are asking members of Congress to pass a $15,000 tax credit for all homebuyers. This, officials with the trade association hope, will entice consumers to purchase homes.

The National Association of Home Builders recently reported — citing statistics from the Commerce Department — that the sales of newly built single-family homes fell 11.5 percent in August.

The latest bit of creative genius that I’ve discovered comes by way of The New York Times, which details the story of a couple who, unable to sell a home that was nearing foreclosure, held a raffle to get the home off their hands. Yes, a raffle.

Crain’s Chicago Business , one of the top business publications around, recently wrote a small story about the high number of new-construction homes that have yet to be finished. Crain’s refers to them as white elephants.

Now is a great time to be in the market for a new home, especially if you don’t have to sell an existing house first.
Sure, it’s a lousy time to be a seller — no matter what real estate agents say. But if you’re buying a home? Congratulations, you’ve picked a perfect time.
You probably know the reasons: Housing prices are stagnant or dropping in many, many markets across the country. Sellers are willing to negotiate on everything from prices to repairs to closing dates. There is an overabundance of homes to choose from on the market.
And now, mortgage interest rates …read more

Preston is secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. In a recent story in the Christian Science Monitor, Preston predicted that any improvements in the U.S. housing market are a year away.

Today, though, real estate pros aren’t as quick to boast about the impact the housing industry is having on the country’s finances. Maybe that’s because the residential real estate industry is now being blamed for everything from the collapse of Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch to the recent bailout of insurance giant AIG.