New Home Sales Plunge

#2
#2
i tried to explain this to my sister who was desperate to get in under the window, but she bought a place anyway. my fiance and i have been looking for a house and every virtually one listed has had the price lowered from the initial price. i'm thinking a drop in housing is a certainty with unemployment this high. i bet august/sept are going to be very good times to buy a house.
 
#3
#3
We'll be moving to Michigan at some point in the fall. We plan on renting for a while since we'll be new to the area. A part of me is worried about missing out on a good opportunity, but it is also Michigan, so I'm not sure how quickly they will rebound. The area of Michigan we are moving to happens to be an area that is growing jobs, not losing them, so timing could matter....

It will be our first home purchase...I would love to time it right. But, we know nothing about the area or even if we will want to stay there for more than a couple of years.
 
#4
#4
always a good idea to rent first. i cant tell you how many times i've moved somewhere and then found out that the area that i moved to isn't where i really want to be.

i very much doubt you will miss out on some rally in housing. i wouldn't wait over a year though because mortgage rates might go up considerably.
 
#7
#7
thats what mine is at, I locked in Xmas '08

the tax incentive was a joke.... Just rip the Band-Aid off!!

A lot of depreciation going in in Michigan, I would proceed with caution
 
#10
#10
volinbham said:
rates are crazy low now.
Click to expand...

For sure, I just got a quote on a refinance of 4.75 but my house has lost so much value since the recession I would only be saving about $10 per month, not worth it. It is not a very good time to sell of refinance.
 
#11
#11
volinbham said:
Add in the mortgage interest deduction and the effective rate gets into the low 3's.
Click to expand...

yup. can't help but worry about the govt loaning people at historically low rates for 30 years while borrowing primarily on the short end.
 
#12
#12
TennTradition said:
Hope the rates stay is the general area into next year....
Click to expand...

They've been there for a while. Unless we start to see rapid growth and inflationary pressure I don't see the Fed doing much with rates.

Even if they bump up a point they would still be in the 5s.
 
#13
#13
TennTradition said:
Hope the rates stay is the general area into next year....
Click to expand...

if the economy stays this crappy (likely IMO) i'd imagine you will see rates this low for a while. if they rise the govt might start supporting the 10 year treasury again anyway. we can't afford another major drop in housing.
 
#14
#14
Have the markets reacted to this news yet or was this something that has been factored in for the most part?
 
#16
#16
KB5252 said:
Have the markets reacted to this news yet or was this something that has been factored in for the most part?
Click to expand...

dow dropped about 50 points when it came out, but with the new home starts dropping so much it was pretty obvious this wouldn't be a good number.
 
#17
#17
Thanks Droski, this was more or less expected news then. It doesn't look good for my particular line of work, we cater more towards high end homes (our niche is approx 900k and higher) but with new construction so low and so many uncertainties even those with the money aren't as eager to invest in multi-million dollar homes right now and with good reason.
 
#18
#18
KB5252 said:
Thanks Droski, this was more or less expected news then. It doesn't look good for my particular line of work, we cater more towards high end homes (our niche is approx 900k and higher) but with new construction so low and so many uncertainties even those with the money aren't as eager to invest in multi-million dollar homes right now and with good reason.
Click to expand...

good luck KB
 
#19
#19
there does seem to be a lot of cash around at the high end though at least here in california. if i was you i'd be more worried if you were in the 300-400k range. obviously both aren't doing well though.
 
#20
#20
droski said:
there does seem to be a lot of cash around at the high end though at least here in california. if i was you i'd be more worried if you were in the 300-400k range. obviously both aren't doing well though.
Click to expand...

Isn't 300-400k the low - middle range in Cali? Not sure how much things dropped but my sister bought about 8 years ago or so in Encinitas - relatively modest home for mid 400s. It went up into the 800s at one point and they sold it (divorce). Not sure what price point it would be at now but I was amazed at how much it took to get a modest house in a decent neighborhood.
 
#21
#21
in west LA it's hard to get a decent home for less than $750k. in the valley you can get nice homes (though small lots) in good neighborhoods in the 400s-500s range. if you go to riverside or temecula you can easly get a nice house in teh 200k range.
 
#22
#22
droski said:
there does seem to be a lot of cash around at the high end though at least here in california. if i was you i'd be more worried if you were in the 300-400k range. obviously both aren't doing well though.
Click to expand...

Well there's a lot more money in CA then there is in TN by far. What's worse is that a fair portion of our high earners in the state are country music artists, producers, etc. They have taken a hit recently with the advent of file sharing and now the economy as well.

You're correct, we do service many walk up customers who would fall into the 400k and under range and we have seen a slide in those sales as well. They are by no means our bread and butter though. If we can see the light at the end of the tunnel in the next 6 to 9 months we should weather the storm.
 
#23
#23
not completely related but I am glad to see so many people taking advantage of the homebuyer tax credit.

News Headlines

In all, more than 14,100 taxpayers wrongly received at least $26.7 million in tax credits that were meant to boost the nation's slumping housing markets, said the report by J. Russell George, the Treasury Department's inspector general for tax administration.
Click to expand...

Nearly 1,300 prison inmates wrongly received more than $9 million in tax credits for homebuyers despite being locked up when they claimed they bought a home, a government investigator reported Wednesday.
The investigator said 241 of the inmates were serving life sentences.
Click to expand...
 
#25
#25
We are moving to Virginia in a couple of months and we told our bank our situation and applied for a hardship and they lowered our interest rate to 2%. LOL!

I love Obama
 
New posts
You must log in or register to reply here.

VN Store



Back
Top