Sarasota Florida Flat Fee MLS Listings FSBO – Discount Realtor & Broker

Consumers give spark of new hope for econ revival

WASHINGTON – April 30, 2009 – Consumers are snapping back to life, kindling springtime hopes that the recession is losing steam.

Even though the economy shrank again in the first three months of the year – and by a lot – Americans stepped up their purchases of cars, furniture and appliances. The surge in consumer spending, which accounts for about 70 percent of the economy, could set the stage for a rebound later this year.

Hopes for revival depend on those consumers, who have been fortified by fatter paychecks from tax cuts and smaller mortgage payments from refinancings. If they keep buying, businesses will need to boost production, feeding yet more economic activity.

Against that backdrop, many analysts think the economy is sinking less now than it did from January through March. Most believe it could start growing again by summer or, more likely, by the final quarter of this year.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and his colleagues, opting against further action Wednesday to shore up the economy, detected glimmers that the recession might be easing.

“The pace of contraction appears to be somewhat slower,” Fed policymakers said in a statement a few hours after the government released its report showing a second straight big quarterly drop in the nation’s gross domestic product.

Read the rest of this entry »

No Comments Yet »

South Florida housing in recovery but lenders still too cautious

SOUTH FLORIDA – April 28, 2009 – President Barack Obama took aim at the housing crisis during his first 100 days with a broad plan to stabilize the market by trying to prevent foreclosures, pushing down mortgage rates and offering a handsome tax credit to new buyers.

But has the effort helped South Florida, where foreclosures are soaring, many homeowners have little or no equity and price declines show no sign of abating?

The answer: A little bit – at least, so far, according to real estate analysts, distressed homeowners and the people trying to help them.

Interest rates and lower prices have spurred sales, but the steep fall in South Florida home values has kept hundreds of thousands of borrowers from refinancing and is prompting otherwise solvent homeowners to abandon their properties. Meanwhile, loan modifications remain time-consuming and difficult to obtain.

Perhaps the biggest roadblock to recovery in South Florida is that banks, for the most part, still aren’t lending.

“The administration … is clearly having an impact in mitigating this disaster,” said Mike Larson, a real estate analyst with Weiss Research in Jupiter. “But ultimately, it’ll be the passage of time with lower prices and a turn in the broader economy that will finally put this housing downturn behind us.”

Read the rest of this entry »

No Comments Yet »

Mortgage rates dip – close to record low

Mortgage Rate Trend Index

Steady as she goes, say mortgage rate experts polled by Bankrate.com this week. Fifty percent expect little change over the next 30 to 45 days. Of the rest, 31 percent predict further declines. Only 19 percent foresee an increase.

WASHINGTON – April 24, 2009 – Rates on 30-year mortgages fell slightly from last week but remained just ahead of record lows posted this month, Freddie Mac said Thursday.

Average rates on 30-year fixed mortgages dipped to 4.8 percent from 4.82 percent last week, Freddie Mac said. Last year at this time, the average rate on a 30-year mortgage was 6.03 percent, and it has been below 5 percent for six straight weeks.

The all-time low of 4.78 percent was recorded on the week of April 2. Freddie Mac’s survey dates back to 1971.

Low mortgage rates have led to more refinancing activity since rates first fell dramatically in the winter. Rates slid again after the Federal Reserve said last month it would buy $1.2 trillion in mortgage-backed securities and $300 billion in long-term government debt, which traditionally influences rates on 30-year home loans.

Read the rest of this entry »

No Comments Yet »

First-time homebuyers must close by Nov. 30 – contract not enough

WASHINGTON – April 24, 2009 – If first-time homebuyers wait until November to sign a sales contract, it’s probably too late to get the $8,000 tax credit. To qualify, buyers must close before Dec. 1 – a signed contract is not enough. New construction should be started by mid-summer to qualify.

According to the National Association of Realtors, a “home is considered as ‘purchased’ when all events have occurred that transfer the title from the seller to the new purchaser. Thus, closings must occur before December 1, 2009 for purchases to be eligible for the credit.”

Noting that deadline, the National Association of Builders kicked off a campaign notifying buyers that if they want the tax credit, they should plan to sign a construction contact soon.

Mike Dishberger of Sandcastle Homes Inc. in Houston, Texas, says that building a home from scratch can take anywhere from four to six months depending on the floor plan and location. Assuming it takes the full six months, first-time homebuyers should sign a new-home construction contract no later than May 31, 2009.

While it’s possible to rush an existing-home sale and go from contract to closing in only a few weeks, that schedule could cause a problem for last-minute buyers who wait until November. If an onslaught of buyers hope to beat the clock, title agencies and others involved in the closing process could get backlogged during November, and the IRS does not consider “planned closing dates” for the tax credit – only actual closing dates.

Read the rest of this entry »

No Comments Yet »

  
(Home Sales are Rising as Prices Have Reached Lows.. First-Time Buyers, Investors of Rental Property, & Second Home Buyers Are Jumping In..)

Florida’s existing home, condo sales rise in March 2009

ORLANDO, Fla. – April 23, 2009 – Florida’s existing home sales increased in March, making it the seventh month in a row that sales activity demonstrated gains in the year-to-year comparison, according to the latest housing data released by the Florida Association of Realtors® (FAR). March’s statewide sales also increased over the previous month’s sales level in both the existing home and existing condo markets.

Existing home sales rose 30 percent last month with a total of 13,085 homes sold statewide compared to 10,080 homes sold in March 2008, according to FAR. Statewide existing home sales in March were 32.7 percent higher than February’s statewide sales.

Florida Realtors also reported a 25 percent rise in statewide sales of existing condominiums in March, continuing a trend in recent months for higher statewide sales of both the existing home and existing condo markets compared to year-ago levels. Statewide existing condo sales last month increased 37.2 percent over the total units sold in February.

Read the rest of this entry »

No Comments Yet »

Federal Reserve’s No. 2 sees gradual recovery in 2009

LOS ANGELES (AP) – April 21, 2009 – Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Donald L. Kohn said steadier consumer spending and home sales, together with favorable earnings results from some banks, may indicate that the U.S. economy is poised to stage a gradual recovery later this year.

The Fed’s No. 2 official, delivering the annual Hutchinson lecture at the University of Delaware Monday evening, noted that consumer spending continues to suffer the effects of the poor job market and the sizable losses of equity and housing wealth over the past two years.

But he said consumption appears to have steadied in comparison to the sharp drops seen in the second half of 2008, and declines in sales and construction of single-family homes have abated – possibly because of low mortgage interest rates.

Kohn also noted that the plunge in energy prices has helped bolster real incomes and gives consumers much-needed cash to spend elsewhere.

“These developments may be an early indication that conditions are falling into place for real GDP to decline at a slower rate in the second quarter and to stabilize later this year,” Kohn said.

Kohn noted that low confidence about future economic and job prospects is still crimping people’s willingness to spend. Tight credit conditions – especially for commercial construction – also could hinder a recovery, as could weak exports in the face of global economic issues.

“My best guess is that we are in for a relatively gradual recovery,” he added.

Kohn pointed to the Federal Reserve’s role in helping to counter the financial crisis and its economic fallout. The central bank has slashed a key interest rate essentially to zero and launched a series of programs designed to get credit to flow more freely again to American consumers and businesses and thus help revive the U.S. economy.

Read the rest of this entry »

1 Comment »