Nickname: troy

Review: lol I just read the 2006 real estate forecast by CNN/Money for Phx and it is predicting a 3.3 increase. These are the same people that predicted 17%for 2005, when it was 49%. If 375 people a day (many retired not needing jobs) are moving here because of the sunshine, where are the people going to live if houses aren't built? Arizona is always ranked as too hot, then why is it the fastest growing place?

Date reviewed: Mar 24, 2006 5:08 PM

Nickname: Steve

Review: When moving I decided to opt for a fixed rate mortgage from http://www.LoanStanding.com. As usual when I make a decision--good choice. As part of the up-sizing process I needed a company that would help and guide me every step of the way. They did and it has left me a happy customer. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend the fixed rate option. It allows you to stay in control and, as a result, you know where you stand.

Date reviewed: Feb 24, 2006 3:21 AM

Nickname: Spinchange

Review: I'm a volume producing loan officer and I've been waiting for the "other shoe to drop" in our industry for the last two years. It hasn't happened. The author is merely saying it's a mixed bag. In my market right now things are definitely picking up again. It's weird. Scary, but weird. Consider what he's saying. It's a mixed bag still. It seems that the market is absorbing some or most of the slack factors (foreclosure rates, wacky loans for unqualified borrowers, slowed or stagnant rates of equity appreciation, increased taxes, little to no income/wage growth, etc) for the time being, anyway.

Date reviewed: Feb 18, 2006 9:04 PM

Nickname: JC

Review: While there are many articles about a slowdown and price decreases on the horizon, the reality in (Los Angeles) is that it is still difficult to find a home for sale in the area you want to live. There are still multiple offers on good homes priced correctly. Last weekend three homes that just came on the market, all that I was interested in, had multiple offers (seven or more on each home) and are selling at up to $90,000 over the asking price. As long as there is this kind of demand prices will not decline. Many of the houses sitting longer on the market are overpriced by greedy owners who think they can get whatever they ask for their homes. Housing will remain strong, not as frenzied as it was.

Date reviewed: Feb 18, 2006 7:20 PM

Nickname: BigHouseLittleHouse

Review: Homes in the Twin Cities (Mpls., St. Paul) do seem to have gone from "hot" to "an inventory." What I wonder with the increasing number of empty nesters is, "Will it continue that one or two people will want a mega home rather than a villa home?" I know retired 70-somethings in both 8,000 square -eet palaces, and 3,000 square-feet fancy villas. What about us 40-somethings with child(ren) going off to college in about five to seven? What do you think will happen with the mega vs. villa homes?

Date reviewed: Feb 18, 2006 5:48 PM

Nickname: HAWKEYE

Review: Having been a real estate broker in Monterey County, California since 1978, living through many markets, and having sold out everything by July 2005 for the simple reason that a majority of home loans have gone from primarily fixed three years ago, to interest only, then ARMS and now the majority estimated about 80% are option payments, starting at a low of 1% the first year. As year two and subsequent years cause the payments to go up more than incomes go up, and the recent increase in foreclosures in California, puts all inflated markets such as California, coastal areas around the U.S. and hot markets on the verge of a major increase in foreclosures and bankrupt individuals. That will not only cause a major drop in values, but will make the savings and loan crisis of the '80s look like small potatoes.

Date reviewed: Feb 18, 2006 5:38 PM

Nickname: MRREPO

Review: Wondering how the real estate economy is going? (1) Take a look at the increases in foreclosures (2) Take a look at the increases in property taxes. Many homes' taxes are increasing 10% or more every year. Most salaries do not increase anywhere close to those tax increases! I call these taxes "stealth taxes." Taxes are changing the great American Dream of home ownership into the worst American nightmare!

Date reviewed: Feb 18, 2006 3:14 PM

Nickname: quinhouse

Review: There is more than anecdotal evidence of a housing slowdown, available from tracking local home sales data from regional MLS. Areas that have seen big drops in sales and big increases in inventories included So. Ca., DC metro area, Arizona, Mass., Twin Cities, etc. Look at blogs such as quinhouse.blogspot.com, the housingbubbleblog.com, patrick.net, and the sites they reference for stories on local housing.

Date reviewed: Feb 18, 2006 3:14 PM

Nickname: ToddH

Review: Housing will do just fine. We'll definitely see a correction to the rate of appreciation and some markets (e.g. Orange Co., Las Vegas) may lose some value based on inventory and the local job scene. But people forget about demographics. Retiring Boomers, Echo Boomers and immigrants buying first homes. What do people do when they get a new job at better pay? And an overlooked factor, our nation's current housing stock is old. Many dwellings are 20+ years. Lastly, real estate by its nature trades more slowly. People keep comparing a supposed real estate "bubble" to what happened to tech stocks. Can't happen. You're not going to wake up one morning and have lost all the equity in your home, unless you've ignored totally your local economy and neighborhood environment. The one thing Americans uniformly care most about is the roof over their heads and the house bill is usually what gets paid first.

Date reviewed: Feb 18, 2006 3:09 PM

Nickname: Sage

Review: What economists count is certainly not what we mortgage brokers count. Starts and sales aren't squat compared to total dollars, the basis upon which we all get paid, and that has been declining for two years. Wait until the appraisers start checking the state-of-the-neighborhood box that says "declining" values, and the bottom falls out. Your forecasts also fail to take the reality of the poor job market into account.

Date reviewed: Feb 16, 2006 5:51 AM