Blog
N. Mark Kramoltz, JD, GRI, CIPS writes blog articles on the metro Phoenix, Arizona, national and global real estate markets. Written from his perspective as a designated broker and real estate attorney, his articles avoid the inaccuracies and vacuous industry propaganda common to most real estate writings. He also blogs about animals (mostly dogs in the military) due to his love of pets and military history.
Do the Latest Market Numbers mean Recovery? (Part 2)
With great fanfare the real estate media announced that the number of homes on the market in parts of the greater Phoenix area had declined in the last few months. As detailed in Part 1 of this blog, certain cities showed a decrease in the monthly supply of homes for...
Do the Latest Market Numbers mean Recovery (Part 1)?
Time on the market statistics are an important indicator of the health of a real estate market. One of the indicators of a recovery is when the residential resale inventory falls below a six-month supply. This means, on average, homes listed for sale will accept an...
How does Arizona Rate – Nationwide Foreclosure Rankings.
Although there are monthly variations in the number of foreclosures around the country, it is usually not difficult to figure which states will be the leaders. Arizona continues to rank in the top three, but there are a few surprises in the national distressed sale...
Canada’s Economy is Going South, Literally…
What’s happening with Canadian real estate prices? What about the economy in the frozen north? Have Canadians stopped spending in the US? Although the Canadian economy has slowed, the flow of investment by to the US has been largely unaffected. Housing seems to be...
Positive Lending News at Last!
Good news on the lender front. First, HUD has reinstated the higher limits on FHA loans that expired 1/1/09. The limit for this government guaranteed loan was $346,250 last year for a single family home. But on 12/31/08, that amount lowered to $271,150.00. The impact...
Are There Foreclosures in Scottsdale?
Long largely immune from the fluctuations in the greater Phoenix market, Scottsdale has not been able to avoid the current adverse conditions. At one time the opinion that homeowners in the “Beverly Hills” of Arizona would lose property by foreclosure in significant...
First Time Home Buyer Tax Credit at a Glance
The loss of the new home buyer down payment assistance/gift program in mid-2008 couldn’t have come at a worse time. With the real estate market already slowing dramatically, the disappearance of the most valuable incentive to purchase a new home hit builders hard in...
Buyers are Increasingly avoiding Distressed Properties
Buyers have discovered that it is not necessary to purchase a distressed property to obtain a great deal these days. According to its November 2008 survey, Harris Interactive reported that the number of buyers willing to consider the purchase of a bank owned property...
Opportunities grow despite the Slowdown
Home sales in 2008 will be the worst in a decade - and that is not adjusting for the population growth during that time. Nationwide, the government figures show that home sales declined 8.9% from October to November, and November was down 17% compared to that same...