Real Estate Agents Feeling Housing Market Pinch

Search by tag or site

TheMoneyBlogs
Home
About
Create your own blog
Contact us

My Home About Me

Millionaire Now! by Larry Nusbaum

This blog is based on the organizational principles found in my new book, "Millionaire Now! - A Financial Toolbox with Seven Steps to Wealth".

Real Estate Agents Feeling Housing Market Pinch

Posted on 09/25/2007 11:09:00 | Link | Post Comment

Real estate agents feeling housing market pinch
from the East Valley Tribune, reports that across the Valley, real estate agents, loan officers, investors and others tied to the housing industry are struggling to ride out the slump by digging into niches, such as foreclosure properties or property management. Others are going part-time or leaving the industry all together. Many of the real estate agents who jumped in during the housing frenzy are now out of a job, said Patti Crawford, director of Intero Real Estate's foreclosure division in Mesa. Some didn't hold on to the money they made at the height of the market, Crawford said. The Arizona Dept. of Real Estate has seen a drop in the number of people taking the real estate license test, however, they are still getting 500 to 600 people taking the test every month and is expecting to hit 100,000 licenses by the end of 2007. The Arizona Association of Realtors is still seeing its membership stay strong. But many agents who have seen the cycles before know this is a temporary situation and are riding it out. Many new agents see this as an opportunity to get in when the market is near the bottom and expecting it to rebound well in the coming years.

August’s a home-sale dud in Las Vegas, Phoenix and Orange County from DQ News
A peek at how August treated two of our ‘local’ competitors in the Southwest: Las Vegas and Orange County. Those two once-hot markets are clearly suffering the credit crunch blues, such like Phoenix. Here’s DataQuick’s look at median selling prices and closed sales totals for August (Read how Phoenix fared in August HERE) …

DQ on Phoenix: “Median price paid … fell to a nearly two-year low in August, when sales were the weakest for that month in a decade. The dropoff in demand was sharpest in the more affordable areas – a trend seen across much of the West this year.”
DQ on Las Vegas: “Sales dropped to a nine-year low in August as many lower-cost communities continued to post the largest declines. The region’s median sale price fell below the year-ago level for the fourth consecutive month.”

Also the NAR Pending Home Sales Index, based on contracts signed in July, was off 12%. The usual period from signing to closing is about 45 to 60 days for existing homes. This index is for contracts signed in July, so there will probably be some impact on the reported existing home sales for August, and even more of an impact on sales in the report for September. Today, the NAR reported that sales of existing single-family homes dropped by 4.3 percent in August, compared to July. Sales at a seasonally adjusted annual rate dropped to 5.5 million units, the slowest pace since August 2002. The median price of an existing home -- the point where half sold for more and half for less -- edged up slightly in August to $224,500, an increase of 0.2 percent from August 2006. It marked the first year-over-year price increase after a record 12 straight months of declining prices.

The S&P/Case-Shiller home price index for July was released today. Read it HERE. An index of 10 U.S. cities fell 4.5 percent in July from a year ago. That was the biggest drop since July 1991. A broader index of 20 cities fell 3.9 percent in July over last year, with 15 of 20 cities reporting that prices fell.

<< My Home | TheMoneyBlogs Home

Add Your Favorite Blogs Here

Examples

Morpheus Trading - Mon Jul 21, 2008 08:33AM
NOTE: Please click on the charts below to enlarge them if [read more]

Morpheus Trading - Mon Jul 21, 2008 08:31AM
NOTE: Please click on the charts below to enlarge them i [read more]

Millionaire Now! by Larry Nusbaum - Tue Jul 22, 2008 09:23AM
Hedge funds have made billions this year shorting the banks, [read more]