Archive for the ‘Home Searches’ Category

Boulder real estate update

October 7th, 2009

cu_boulder There are mixed-reviews over the status of Boulder real estate where there is no certainty as to the current status and future of the market and economy. As most analysts believe the United States has seen the worst of the economic crisis, many people are leaning towards the belief that Boulder will begin to see marginal increases in its local real estate markets. Boulder, alongside a number of other Coloradoan cities was significantly affected by the global recession that led to a number of foreclosures, financing problems, a rise in unemployment, and general panic in the world economy.

In the Boulder County Business Report, David Clucas reported on September 18, 2009 that the number of Boulder homes for sale rose as a result of businesses shuttering operations or partially shifting operations away from plants and factories in Boulder. Fresh Produce Sportswear, Inc., a retail clothing company, shifted its productions to California and took as many employees as they could with them. These listings have been added to several other houses and apartments that have already flooded the market. Two 390-unit condominiums have been emptied and are up for sale while another company is planning on constructing a large corporate campus that will include 216 condominium units and 26 townhouses.

As with Denver’s industrial property sector, real estate in Boulder dedicated to the city’s extensive industrial businesses has seen remarkable improvement. While not a complete return to pre-recession status, most businessmen and realtors are quite pleased with the city’s growth of what could be considered one of its most valuable economic drivers. In Paula Moore’s August 28, 2009 article in the Denver Business Journal, there have been a “flurry of small industrial sales recently.” According to a local broker, a property sale is “a win for everyone because companies can grow and add back jobs while the previous owner no longer has the liability of the real estate.” One of the most notable transactions noted by Moore was the $2.08 million purchase of a 15,000-square-foot office/industrial building by CBI 4900 Nautilus LLC and the $3 million investment of Aurora Steel Properties LLC into a warehouse.

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Posted in Colorado, Home Searches

Tags: Boulder

Hawaii real estate update

October 5th, 2009

hawaii “Hawaii’s home prices have been slipping for the last year but we’re still the most expensive housing market in the country.” That was just one of the headlines of local television news station KGM9 News on September 22, 2009. With the median value of a single-family dwelling settling at about $560,000, analysts place the pricing of many Hawaii homes for sale in line with other prestigious markets in Washington, D.C., San Francisco, and even some of the pricier neighborhoods in Los Angeles. The report even stated that “Hawaii’s median home price is $86,000 more than the Washington D.C. median, which was ranked 2nd highest.”

hawaii2 The notion of still high real estate prices in Hawaii has been confirmed by a variety of sources. Real estate in Hawaii was mentioned in Randi Petrello’s September 23, 2009, article in the Pacific Business News when stating that the average sales price for a “four-bedroom, two-and-a-half bath house in Honolulu in 2009 was $712,500, well above the national average of $363,401.” Apparently, “the most affordable houses in Hawaii are in Kihei on Maui, where a four-bedroom costs an average of $540,044.” Interestingly, Jessica Holzer wrote in the Wall Street Journal on September 23, 2009, that the FHFA monthly index, calculated using purchase prices for homes backing mortgages by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, climbed 1.6% in Hawaii while most other regions saw declines between 0.3% and up to three percent.

Local economist Howard Dikus reported on his webpage that military construction and spending dollars has helped to stabilize the Hawaii real estate by ensuring dozens of transactions and property purchases every day. He also stressed that Hawaii is not out of the woods, yet. In fact, median home prices continue to be very fluctuant, although not nearly at the drastic rate that was predicted earlier. While many people are afraid to enter the Hawaii market now, it may be the best time as homes are sometimes selling at significantly discounted prices. The problem typically is that prospective buyers are ready for the significant different valuation. Many mainland buyers are used to paying small amounts for large, beautiful houses while many properties in Hawaii sell for much more and only include a small, old cottage. Overcoming this variation in expectation is a key component to increasing the rate of home sales in Hawaii.

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Posted in Hawaii, Home Searches

Tags: Hawaii

Denver real estate update

September 29th, 2009

denver1 In the heart of Colorado and as the life and blood of the state and its surrounding areas, Denver usually is the least affected when it comes to economic turmoil. However, the nationwide economic recession has hit the city hard and Denver real estate has been left in shambles with hopes of a speedy recovery. As the economic downturn begins to level out and people begin regaining their spending power, most analysts believe that house purchases will begin to rise and the rate of foreclosures will return to pre-recession levels.

Aldo Svaldi and Jason Belvins’ September 16, 2009, article in the Denver Post claimed that the recession’s end would not calm the troubled waters. According to the article, although “Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said that the U.S. recession is very likely over,” many people aren’t so sure. Denver was once a leader over several other similarly-sized cities in terms of income and employment growth but has since “slipped to 34th out of the 100 largest cities in terms of its economic performance.” Michael Orlando, an economics and expert in Denver homes for sale, agreed with Bernanke’s assessment and believes that the housing crisis has “firmly bottomed out.” Orlando cautioned, however, that while the economy might slowly be picking up, it won’t return to pre-recession levels.

While residential real estate in Denver might be beginning to mend, the commercial property side may not be doing so well, reported the Associated Press in an article published September 11, 2009 in the New York Times. The article mentions a brand-new eighteen-story office complex that is almost completed and that upon opening will not have a single square foot of its 400,000 square feet occupied by a tenant. This is just the least of Denver’s problems. With businesses slashing their work force and scaling down operations, the article claims that the demand for office space will be almost zero as downsizing forces companies to reevaluate their real estate needs. One of the most troubling facts is that according to Grubb & Ellis, “sales of office buildings are off 80 percent from where they were just three years ago.”

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Posted in Colorado, Home Searches

Tags: Denver

San Diego real estate update

September 29th, 2009

SanDiegoSkyline_gde Real estate news isn’t all bad in San Diego. The coastal city in southern California is one of the region’s premier places to live thanks to the sunny weather, beautiful beaches, and spectacular recreational opportunities. On September 25, 2009, Max Jarman wrote in the Arizona Republic newspaper that bargains have begun to surface in San Diego, much to the liking of home buyers looking to scoop up a prestigious piece of real estate in San Diego at a fraction of its realistic price. Jarman reported that “oceanfront real estate from Imperial Beach to La Jolla has not taken the 50 percent plunge that hit some downtown condos and subdivision tract homes. But beachfront property has come down as much 30 percent in some areas from 2006 highs, with much greater savings possible on foreclosure properties or short sales.”

However, decreasing beach property prices doesn’t mean some of San Diego’s most elite residential communities will be inundated by new people. Roger Shawley of the San Diego Union-Tribune wrote on September 24, 2009, that La Jolla was still the most expensive housing market in the United States again, despite the hurting housing market and of course the most pricey San Diego real estate. In fact, “La Jolla and No.?2 Beverly Hills were the only markets among the top 10 that saw a price increase from 2008.” To the surprise of many economists, maintaining this rank is surprising, given the state of California’s high cost of living, cost of doing business, and high taxes.

SDGolf An Associated Press report issued on September 26, 2009, the article claims “a million dollars doesn’t buy you what it once did. In most U.S. neighborhoods, it now gets you a lot more.” San Diego homes for sale in certain areas, unlike La Jolla, have suffered. The reporter writes, “a couple of years ago, the idea of getting a house in Rancho Santa Fe for a paltry $1 million was laughable. Now, foreclosures and financially distressed homeowners account for about 15 percent of sales, and home prices are down 30 percent.” This also has a residual affect on other homeowners in the prestigious area who face devaluation of their own properties thanks to the lower home prices in the local market.

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Posted in California, Home Searches, San Diego

Tags: San Diego

East Bay real estate update

September 28th, 2009

eastbay It’s not all bad news for those who own or are interested in homes in East Bay, located in Northern California. A Reuters article published on September 15, 2009, by James Pethokoukis, claimed that recent surveys see East Bay real estate being among the first markets to recover from the global recession that has hurt economies around the world. A quarterly survey commissioned by PricewaterhouseCoopers sees a recovery beginning around 2012 and first affecting Washington D.C., San Francisco, Philadelphia, and Long Island.

Eric Young’s article in the San Francisco Business Times on September 16, 2009, claimed that despite the Bay Area’s competitive advantages, the global recession that has hit almost every housing market around the world would continue to “inflict pain on the region into next year.” In fact, Young’s article points to late 2009 as the peak of unemployment in the region. Even scarier, “commercial real estate is in serious decline across all areas for all types of space: office, retail and industrial. Rents continue to fall as vacancy rates rise and net absorption of space is negative.” The article claims that real estate in East Bay will experience sales declines through 2010 and plateau in 2012. The thought of such a long and extended period of lackluster home market sales is scary for many current homeowners looking to sell their properties or move in the next few years.

A September 24, 2009, article in the San Francisco Real Estate Examiner had a slightly different outlook. For prospective home buyers, East Bay homes for sale were selling at bargain prices to those who could afford the purchase without extensive financing. With sellers looking to move their houses, many times properties have been sold with little to no up mark. The article also envisions a blossoming opportunity for entrepreneurs: “the rental market will stay strong, or get stronger, as more and more people face foreclosure in the coming years. They have the cash and are willing to spend it to get the income stream that comes from owning rental properties.”

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Posted in California, Home Searches, United States

Tags: East Bay

Santa Cruz real estate update

September 25th, 2009

There is some good news for people in the business of Santa Cruz real estate. Recent Yahoo! Real Estate statistics show a +1.2% price change in the median price of homes for sale and a weakening rate of foreclosures as the global economic recession that wreaked havoc on the nation begins to subside. As of September 14, 2009, the local median price for single family homes was $742,000. Mortgage rates in the state of California helped to steady the industry. Several real estate moguls have claimed that the midpoint of 2009 has brought the lowest of lows in the real estate industry and that a brighter future is down the road. How far down the road is another question while many believe the market will never return to the status it once held prior to the recession that struck around the world.

On September 18, 2009, staff writer Jondi Gumz of the Santa Cruz Sentinel reported that earlier predictions about Santa Cruz homes for sale were fully realized in August. Back in March, a seasoned real estate veteran Mark Hanson “forecast the median would rise during spring and summer with a surge of traditional sales muting foreclosure-related sales, then drop in autumn as seasonal buyers left the market.” True to this concept, Santa Cruz’s median price for a single-family dwelling “inched down to $500,000 in August after climbing $100,000 in the previous five months. Popular opinion claims that the summer housing boom helped to prevent Santa Cruz’s real estate prices from falling to all-time lows. Many also claim that government stimuli and “servicers keeping foreclosures off the market” have helped to bolster property prices.

These updates show a radical change from the real estate situation in the area a year earlier. According to an article in the Santa Cruz Sentinel written on September 19, 2008, the median for a single-family home was $582,000, down from $770,000 in August 2007. In the previous year, according to Scotts Valley real estate agent Nick Vrolyk, real estate in Santa Cruz experienced significant foreclosure rates due to “very creative loans that should never have been allowed.”

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Posted in California, Home Searches

Tags: Santa Cruz

Colorado real estate update

September 22nd, 2009

The Colorado real estate has seen increasing market pressures and a declining real estate market as a result of the nationwide recession. The fall out of the American economy has led to high foreclosure rates, dropping home sales, and an extremely unfortunate time for Colorado home sellers and potential property buyers alike. The collapse of the sub prime mortgage crisis as well as increased business layoffs and a bursting local real estate economy have added to the already deteriorating real estate industry. While many might predict only negative movement for the foreseeable future, there are some experts who believe things may only get better.

A September 12, 2009 article written by Sarah Mausolf of the Vail Daily claimed that not all Colorado homes for sale were part of the generalized state decline in real estate sales. While several months ago, houses that were once listed at $3,000,000 were selling for just over $2.3 million, there appears to be a much more motivated market that is growing in Vail and the surrounding areas as a slew of residential properties have caught the interest of people looking for second homes and vacation properties in the local vicinity. Scott Bandoni, a real estate broker with Prudential Colorado Properties in Beaver Creek, is quotes as saying “Consumer confidence is up because our economy is not getting worse.” The article also claims that first-time home-buyers and locals are interested in homes under $500,000 while “the upcoming ski season has been driving second home-owners to buy luxury homes.” These fancy estates sometimes sell for millions of dollars.

A North Colorado Business Report article printed on September 16, 2009, quoted that real estate in Colorado will likely face increasingly difficult conditions going into 2010. According to research and surveys completed by the newspaper, about thirty-nine percent of analysts felt “the overall demand for commercial real estate will be worse next year,” while thirty-three percent thought that “the real estate market will remain the same.” The article also noticed a decrease in the optimism of potential home buyers finding suitable loans and financing to commit to such a big purchase.

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Posted in Colorado, Home Searches

Tags: Colorado

Las Vegas real estate update

September 21st, 2009

las_vegas_strip_ii Las Vegas real estate has suffered extensive drops in value and home property sales as the nationwide recession has affected the pocketbooks of millions of Americans across the nation. Las Vegas, one of the country’s former real estate leaders, has see significant drops in what used to be one of it’s strongest economic drivers. With homeowners foreclosing, businesses closing, and people becoming unemployed, it is no wonder most people are speculating when the market will bounce back. In the September 16, 2009 KLAS-TV report, real estate mogul Don Burnham believes that the market has reached bottom and will begin bouncing back in the early part of next year. He recommended buying property now as a guaranteed way to profit off real estate purchases.

According to a Hubble Smith’s September 17, 2009, Las Vegas Review-Journal article about the local real estate market, Las Vegas homes for sale “declined to 3,833 closings in August from 4,371 in July. Resales for the year are up 52 percent at 28,468 units.” However, the median of a new home rose “for the third straight month to $210,000, or 1.7 percent from July.” The article also quotes Dennis Smith, an analyst for Home Builders Research, as believing the market is beginning to settle and stabilize. For potential homebuyers, there is good news. Larry Murphy, president of SalesTraq, forecasted that with the summer sales rush beginning to wind down, many pierces of real estate in Las Vegas will see price cuts up to $3,000.

Hubble Smith’s September 20, 2009, article further helped to define the current market situation for potential buyers by spelling out the details of a tax credit program that can help defray the cost of home purchases. Local Las Vegas realtor David Brownell warns that “first-time homebuyers they need to be under contract within the next 30 days to take advantage of the $8,000 tax credit set to expire Dec. 1.” With this deadline fast approaching, several analysts predict the markets to see increasing competitiveness as people rush to acquire property and simultaneously take advantage of tax benefits.

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Posted in Home Searches, Nevada

Tags: Las Vegas

Importance of having professional representation

August 16th, 2009

Selling real estate is never an easy task. In fact, the average person will undoubtedly experience significant setbacks if trying to sell property without any proper training or experience. Therefore, it is quite important to have professional representation when trying to sell a home or property. Research has proven that the return on investment of having a professional realtor will significantly increase the selling price of a house. For some pieces of choice San Diego real estate, the average price between unrepresented and represented properties was in the thousands of dollars.

Representation can also help to move a piece of real estate faster. Realtors have a vast network of connections and also have several clients interested in purchasing a house. Accordingly, there are several more looks and potential buyers with professional representation rather than independently selling for oneself. It is almost unrealistic to attempt to sell a home without professional help. Over the convenience factor of speed and the monetary factor of increased sale price, having a realtor aid in a sale will reduce the effort required by the seller. Much of the paper work will be completed, saving time and energy.

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Posted in Home Searches, San Diego

Some of the Best Places to Live in America

August 12th, 2009

: Image via Wikipedia

When thinking about the best place to live, many people only think of those large, famous cities such as Los Angeles, New York City, Boston, or Seattle, but what many people don’t realize is that often the best places to live are those slightly less known towns and cities. In these communities you will often find a more peaceful, close-knit atmosphere and slightly slower pace of life. However, if smaller towns and cities don’t have everything you want from a big city, many of these cities are located within driving distance from other major cities.

One of the best places to live is Albuquerque, New Mexico. With its sunny climate and beautiful natural landscapes, Albuquerque has a rich history and unique mix of American Indian, Hispanic, and Anglo cultures. The city is especially popular for its International Balloon Fiesta and numerous golf courses and hiking and biking trails. Another great city to live in is Austin, Texas, which is the ideal place to live for any music or barbecue lover. Numerous performing arts venues can be found in Austin, and the city offers a high tech economy, with major employers including Dell and IBM. Some other excellent cities to live in include Boise, Idaho, Durham, North Carolina, Loveland, Colorado, and St. Augustine, Florida.