Comments on: Existing Home Sales Exploding

By: Black Coffee: My Favorite Blogs, Money News & Opinions #14

Black Coffee: My Favorite Blogs, Money News & Opinions #14 — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 23:46:41 +0000

[...] My Life ROI. This week, MLR had a post highlighting some positive US economic indicators, especially with respect to housing data. Still, I don’t think we should get too excited, especially with respect to upbeat comments [...]

By: MyLifeROI

MyLifeROI — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 09:56:45 +0000

@ lender –
Over the last four months.* And most certainly it is not the only indicator of the economy, but it is an important one for a lot of reasons. One of them being that people are looking at real estate as an indicator, so where real estate goes can affect other things as well.

@ Kyle –
Ouch @ 2005. Unfortunately a lot of people got into that predicament. Do you have any source on the fact that a lot of banks sitting on delinquencies? (Please don’t get me wrong.. I’m not saying you are wrong, I’d just like to see the magnitude!)

@ Len –
Most certainly. Bias is everywhere! What the NAR did when the bubble was popping was, in my eyes, equivalent to a pilot trying to calm his/her passengers as the plane is heading into the ocean. For anyone who takes a second to evaluate the situation they will immediately see what is going on, but panic and fear can only make the situation worse. So I see where they were coming from, but you raise a good point that they have a vested interest in casting the data in a good light, so to speak. Thanks for pointing that out!

By: Len Penzo

Len Penzo — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 00:59:39 +0000

I would like to point out that people should always be careful of the spin the NAR puts on the data. This same group was telling people in the early stages of the housing bubble-burst that everything was fine, spinning data like there was no tomorrow.

There is a lot of problems still out there. Looking forward, there is another large batch of mortgages whose rates are set to reset in 2010, which will undoubtedly lead to another huge spike in foreclosures.

There are other issues too that trouble me, like new home owners being allowed to use their $8000 first time home buyer credit toward their minimum down-payment, which minimizes their stake in the game – one of the big problems that caused the last bubble.

Just some food for thought.

My $0.02 (after taxes)

Len
Len Penzo dot Com
Len Penzo´s last blog ..Is LifeLock and Its $1 Million Guarantee A Sham?

By: Kyle

Kyle — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 12:29:15 +0000

It will be interesting to see what happens in the coming months as far as foreclosures are concerned. As the year end approaches a lot of these banks have delinquencies sitting on their books where they have been avoiding taking a bath with the foreclosure. If they can find a way to get these houses off their books they are going to do it and it may mean in increase in foreclosures.

It is a great time to buy a house, not like when I bought mine in 2005…
Kyle´s last blog ..You are Nothing Without a Good Defense

By: Lender

Lender — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 07:20:50 +0000

While it is great to know that real estate is performing better over the last couple of days, it is not the only indication of the current state of the economy. With unemployment rates steadily rising, the economy still looks to be in a bit of trouble.