There’s no denying it: the green revolution is upon us. People are wanting efficiency, cost-effectiveness, conservation, sustainability, recyclability, renewability, and all of the other amenities afforded by such a technologically advanced and environmentally aware civilization.
Homebuyers want this and home builders are slowing catching on. Detailed in the Austin American-Statesman’s September 25th edition is an article about a particular builder in Dallas is making waves among the McMansions. “This fall, I have five new homes sold under 3,000 square feet,” he said, “this is where I’m carving out my niche—small and green.” Jeff Baron, the builder in question, predicts that his new home in Old Dallas among the McMansions, standing a mere 2,000 square feet will have electricity bills under $100 dollars. Even the exterior is made of low-maintenance materials.
Buyers are gravitating towards these kinds of homes for many reasons. They’re cheaper for starters, and you find that you’re not just buying furniture and fixtures to fill space that you didn’t need.
It was originally thought that smaller-scale suburban style homes were mainly for the first-time homebuyer demographic, but now that buyer consciousness has shifted towards smaller and more efficient, buyers are reacting. Studies show that the ideal home size is now somewhere between 1,400 t0 2,600 square feet. This applies to 60% of potential buyers. It’s a smart and, hopefully, lasting trend.
Archive for September, 2010
Fastidious Rant: Why does Realtor.com have to capitalize the word “realtor” every time!?
Sunday, September 26th, 2010I was putting together a Yigdigs exclusive “Faces of Real Estate” piece on Realtor.com’s president Allan Dalton, and in doing my research, I found myself growing rather aggravated and irked, thought I couldn’t really figure why. Then, as I sat back and let out an exhausted, yet curious sigh from my swiveling desk chair, I could see: the word “realtor”, which is printed 11 times in Allan Dalton’s bio, was capitalized at every opportunity.
It seems a bit excessive, a bit over-promotional, verging on the side of propoganda than simple site branding. After all, I’m already on the site, do I really need to be inundated with the word “REALTOR” and “REALTORS” and the phrase “NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS” over and over and over and over?
As a For Sale by Owner advocate, I find this repetitive self-aggrandizement, a little much.
Look for the “Faces of Real Estate: Allan Dalton” later this week. Maybe we will find some answers.
“America: Squatter’s Paradise”
Saturday, September 25th, 2010In the fray of the housing market, fluctuations, incentives, etc., there have been several micro-trends popping up across the country of savvy groups taking advantage of real estate’s vulnerable state.
Lately, with all of the McMansions and million-dollar homes built in the bubble going to foreclosure, people have been taking advantage of these vacant properties by squatting—and living it up.
Here is an article detailing a bunch of cases where people have lived for months at a time on vacant, expensive property, and what’s funny is that the realtors who manage the property seem somewhat understanding. Read it up!
The GMAC Controversy
Friday, September 24th, 2010Hey guys, here’s a little thing that’s been all over the news lately. If you haven’t heard about it, well then, you haven’t been listening—or just too busy, and that’s fine.
We actually talked about this scenario a long, long time ago. I posted a link to an article about a Florida man who claimed that he had been wronged by banks so that they might foreclose on his property. The link is here.
But what’s happened recently, is that judicial foreclosure states, or states where the courts control defaulting homeowners, have put a stop on a lot of their foreclosures handled by GMAC Mortgage, one of the country’s largest lenders.
Apparently, many of their foreclosure proceeding aren’t legally valid. Due to the influx of many foreclosures, GMAC execs were simply signing documents by the thousands without giving any attention to their legality. This has resulted in thousands of fraudulent foreclosures that not have to be re-investigated to make sure all claims made by banks and lenders are true. This is just another issue brought about by the influx of homes on the market, and not enough personnel to handle it all.
You can read an article about it here.
What You’ve Got to Look Forward To…
Saturday, September 18th, 2010
The market is struggling—that much is true. Pretty much every analyst across the spectrum attributes it to the “tax credit hangover”. Ain’t that some nomenclature!
[Taken from Wall Street Journal Blog]
“Moody’s report cites some all-too familiar drags on the real-estate market: The home-buyer tax credits left the market with a hangover. The “market is now paying for [the credits] in the form of large declines in sales and slowing construction,” writes Celia Chen in the report.”
This is evidenced by a recent study on the current dip of home prices by Moody’s Analytics. They officially increased their estimate from 5% to 8%, accounting for a backlog of foreclosed and potentially foreclosed properties that could apply more drag on the market in the coming months.
But not all is lost, Homebuyer. Here’s what you’ve got to look forward to:
Mortgage rates are going to continue to remain at astronomically low levels, thus making it cheaper to afford those usually costly house payments. This is expected to continue until the housing market stabilizes, which might not be until late 2011.
And…
Unemployment numbers are “projected” to lighten up on us soon. (I mean, how could it get any worse?) As more and more people go to work and start making money, they will invest in the real estate market in some form or fashion. Unemployment is one of the biggest factors keeping the real estate industry in a slump, as it prevents people from spending money on such investments. Once unemployment levels out, the effect should be positive. It’s really only a matter of time. Just as what goes up must come down, what goes down must come back up, I think…
“Not quite stabilized yet, but it looks like it’s beginning to.”-Karl Case
Friday, September 17th, 2010This bit of positive news comes directly from Karl Case, co-creator of the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index, after releasing a study of home prices for the month of July, 2010.
“There’s an awful lot of positive stuff here in our number today,” said Case in a radio interview on “Bloomberg Surveillance” on August 31. He shines a positive light on the housing market’s status based on the fact that since last year’s numbers, property values have increased a whopping 4.2%. It may not seem like much but as Case points out, “[it’s] a continuing increase for almost a year now.”
Considering that the index is a moving three-month average, home stats from April, May and June could still be influencing numbers because of the governments incentive programs that boosted home sales last spring, (will the evidence of that stimulus ever fade?) which means that coming months could neglect to show such steady growth.
“It generally takes four or five years to stabilize the whole market,” says Case, “[and] we’re into about four now.” Only one more year to go.
Despite the fallout from the removal of the homebuyer tax incentives, Case is right: the market is steadily growing—it’s just going to take time.
More Advice From Realtors as the Seasons Change
Thursday, September 9th, 2010In continuing with our “Ask a Realtor…” re-hash, let’s look at the advice some realtors have given to weary sellers as the seasons change from summer into fall. All advice and text was gathered from the Austin American-Statesman newspaper, September 5th edition.
It’s still no coincidence that the phrase “price will overcome all obstacles” appears repeatedly in this particular column. Yes, folks rule number one is to price your home right. I’ve said it before and the experts echo the sentiment.
Since this summer is typically brutal on lawns and flowers, do yourself a favor and spend a little time and money on refurbishing that landscape and bring it back to life. There’s nothing more unattractive than a brown, dying lawn and empty flowerbeds. Also, make sure that your homes are always kept cool during showings. You can set the thermostat to whatever you want otherwise, but while you are showing, be sure to make the environment cool and comfortable for any potential buyers. According to Austin realtor, Peggy Little, “nothing moves a potential buyer faster through a showing than a hot house.”
The next step after you make it through the heat: adding those fall touches.
Austin American Statesman: What to Do When Sales Cool with the Season
Monday, September 6th, 2010We recently did an article outlining the trends of the Austin regional housing market over the last twenty—quite a macroscopic blog, but informative nonetheless. Let’s pare it down a little, shall we?
In the Sunday, September 5th edition of the Austin American-Statesman, I found an interesting article. It was an “Ask An Agent” column giving advice to folks of what to do now that the market seems to be slowing down.
Surprisingly, many realtors are rather upbeat, saying that as long as houses “are in good condition, in a good location and are prices right”, they’re still selling despite the lack of tax incentives and a busy fall school schedule.
It’s important to note that while Austin has suffered much like the rest of the country’s economy, the local job market has remained reasonably healthy, offering a great incentive for folks to move here—so it won’t take such drastic measures to sell a home given our job market. That’s something that can definitely help sellers as they look for buyers in this “buyer’s market”. Find the strengths that either your location can offer to people and let them know.
RECENT STUDY SHOWS THAT PEOPLE WHO THINK OWNING A HOME IS STILL A CRUCIAL PART OF THE AMERICAN DREAM IS DOWN 5% FROM BEGINNING OF THE YEAR
Wednesday, September 1st, 2010According to a recent study done by Trulia.com, a real estate public MLS website, 5% less people consider owning a home the pinnacle of achieving the American Dream. This study comes after continued dismay strikes the housing market as pundits and experts flaunt the threat of a “double-dip” and relief from the stagnating work force has yet to enact any concrete resolutions.
The good news: it’s only five percent which means that 72% of Americans out there still want to buy houses. Go get ‘em.
