RISMedia using RealtyTrac data reported the US Metros with greatest foreclosure discounts (typical foreclosure price compared to non-foreclosure or short sales) in cities with a minimum 100 foreclosures in the third quarter of 2011.   The RISMedia summary of RealtyTrac information also noted that sales of… Read more

The number of new home sales in the U.S. hit an all time low since data collection commenced in 1963.   This now tallies to six consecutive years of declines in new home sales.  The industry continues to have resistance on two fronts:  1.  Ongoing absorption… Read more

Market Watch reports an analysis of the best five and bottom five housing markets in the country by Local Market Monitor for prices in the coming three years based on employment growth (jobs are everything), population growth and housing inventory (yes, supply and demand are… Read more

In my economic forecast presentations this year one of the mega themes is that people that graduated from a technical school, college or university in the past three years or the coming three years will be more pre-disposed to be renters than home owners.  Literally,… Read more

In 2010 alone CoreLogic estimates at more than $12 billion in loans involved fraudulent application data. The schemes and techniques include: Details on these activities are on pages 17 through 21 of the report.  In a quick summary of the most often occurring see below… Read more

Point2homes.com, a global compilation of almost 775,000 residential listings, has just released a report on where the viewers are coming from internationally and where they are looking in the U.S. Some really interesting findings include: • 33 percent of the international traffic searching for homes was… Read more

Nevada Sues Lender Processing Services Alleging Foreclosure ‘Robo-Signing’ By Margaret Cronin Fisk – Dec 16, 2011 5:29 PM CT Nevada Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto sued Lender Processing Services Inc. (LPS) , alleging the company falsified foreclosure documents and demanded kickbacks for referrals, sending the… Read more

HomeGain’s latest study of more than 400 real estate agents and 2,000+ homeowners finds that three out of four home sellers (76 percent) think their home is worth more than their listing agent’s recommendation, up from 73 percent a year ago.  In contrast, 68 percent… Read more

REDFIN completed an analysis of 1.2 million listings in 16 markets over 21 month period and found that Friday was the best day to list a home for sale.  Their analysis indicated that for all 16 markets homes listed on a Friday were 12 percent… Read more

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) a.k.a. ObamaCare, May Not Be Affordable For Many (and this may impact first-time homebuyers) The Ohio Department of Insurance commissioned a study from Milliman, Inc., a global actuarial firm, to ascertain the impact of ObamaCare on Ohio and its residents…. Read more