I am one of those people who usually can remember my dreams. I wake up in the morning, and will share with my spouse what I dreamt. I will ask him, “What was that dream all about?” He has often responded, I should write my dreams down and someday write a book about them. I have no intention to do so, since I really don’t want to know how the experts might interpret them.
So, here is my dream from last night. I was in a very cluttered home, and it appeared as though I was preparing for a party. My husband informed me he was leaving to pick up the food. I was to stay back and wash the large picture window looking out at the front street and pick up the clutter in the house. So, I sprayed cleaner all over the large glass and started to clean the window. Before picking up the clutter and completing the window task, I decided to stop and find my husband who was getting the food. I left the house and proceeded to walk through something that appeared to be a maze with no end in sight. In the meantime, I saw in my dream, guests starting to arrive at the party. I noticed the window was still not clean, my guests could not see out, the room was full of clutter, and there was no food. I suddenly woke up with no conclusion to my dream.
Now, I am not an expert, but thinking about this dream, here may be why these thoughts are in my subconscious. Lately, I have been spending a lot of time listening to talk radio, television news shows, and reading real estate trade journals and websites. Like most of us, I’m concerned about the economy, the government bail-out programs and the upcoming presidential elections. Not knowing if this bail out is good for my real estate career and the future of the housing market, the window probably represents my unclear view of the future. As for the clutter in my house, this must represent the mountain of information I receive on a daily basis and not having a grasp on what is fact or fiction. As for the maze, I know I work diligently everyday following a path to help people sell or buy real estate, but recently this path has so many twists and turns along the way. Real estate is my profession. I have been at it for a long time and this is how I put food on the table and make a living. However, like my dream, getting to the party and obtaining the food has been a challenge, to say the least. I prospect daily for the next client, who may need my services but are on the fence afraid to do anything, even when they have to! I am finding clients with good credit and down payments having a challenging time obtaining financing. The market value of the homes in our area has not gone down as sharply as other parts of the country, but it is still a surprise to have an appraisal come in low just before closing; and everyone is scrambling to make the deal work. I know builders who have left the business because they cannot obtain a construction loan for their next spec home; and credit problems and unpaid bills have created problems with tarnished marketable title.
In conclusion, I know I am in real estate for the long haul. I plan to stick it out and continue through this maze of uncertainties. Everything in life is cyclical, and we always learn from our mistakes. In real estate there will be a party again. This time, hopefully, it will not be a wild brawl. This party will have food which will be well prepared. Houses will be purchased for shelter by people who can afford them, prices will not be inflated, and stability will become the norm. The window will be cleaned and the future will be clear for us, our children, and grandchildren. In order for this party to get started, we need to elect the right candidates who have the right motives with our intentions in mind, greed and selfishness need to be stopped, and all of us must return to the basics of living within our financial means.
Posted by Christina Rickey at 10:33 |
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Year-to-date and August 2008 HOME SALES
Generated By
Birmingham Association of Realtors and its Multiple Listing Service
Year-to-date and August homes sales statistics of the Birmingham area residential real estate market continue to show signs of the sluggishness. Total sales are down, as are prices, yet there are some positive signs: MLS inventory continues to move in the right direction with 11,914 listings in August compared to 13,582 in August 2007. This represents 1,668 fewer listings in MLS now compared to one year ago. The Year-to-date report shows the average price of Birmingham area homes has dropped 2.6% which is less than what is happening in other markets around the country.
Government action has been taken to inject new life into the sluggish real estate market, including passage of the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008, the takeover of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, and the recent boost in loan limits.
Current conditions are ideal for buyers. Year-to-date average prices in MLS show a 2.6% decrease. These conditions won’t last long. Now is a great time to make an offer on a home.
Mortgage loans are available. Contrary to perceptions, conventional mortgages are widely available.
Inventory is wide-ranging with many choices in prices and architectural styles.
We are listing and selling houses. Birmingham MLS members have sold over 9,000 homes since the first of the year. Don’t compare this year with last year or the year before because 2006 and 2007 were record sales years for our MLS.
What happens when someone buys a home? NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun reminds us that each home sold contributes to the GNP. Here’s a 2001 example…a typical first-time buyer spent $3,500 on furniture, carpet, painting, faucets and other items after purchasing a home. Trade-up buyers spent $5,000. Today these numbers would add up to much more. Income is generated when someone buys a home. An inspection is ordered along with a survey and title search. The home is appraised. The loan is closed. Moving trucks are on the scene. Everyone gets paid. Everyone spends some money. They may go to dinner at the local eatery. The restaurant makes money. The owner buys a new plasma screen TV. The electronics store manager makes money. He takes his family on a long-planned vacation. The resort he chooses makes money and hires an additional worker. This positive economic cycle takes place with the sale of each home.
AUGUST REPORT
August 2008 Total Sales: 1,146
August 2007 Total Sales: 1,690
This represents a 32% decrease in total sales for this month
August 2008 Average Price: $189,587
August 2007 Average Price: $193,646
This represents a 2% decrease in average price for this month
August 2008 Median Price: $150,300
August 2007 Median Price: $159,900
This represents a 6% decrease in median price for this month
August 2008 Days on Market: 94* adjusted to exclude new home sales
August 2007 Days on Market: 96* adjusted to exclude new home sales
August 2008 Inventory: 11,914
August 2007 Inventory: 13,582
This represents 1,668 fewer listings in the MLS for this month
YEAR-TO-DATE REPORT (January through August)
2008 Total Sales: 9,055
2007 Total Sales: 12,659
This represents a 28% decrease in total sales (same decrease for the past 3 months)
2008 Average Price: $194,598
2007 Average Price: $199,713
This represents a 2.6% decrease in average price
Still some good news…prices have not dropped lower than this point all year
2008 Median Price: $159,100
2007 Median Price: $161,100
This represents a 1% decrease in median price
2008 Days on Market: 100* adjusted to exclude new home sales
2007 Days on Market: 93* adjusted to exclude new home sales
YEAR-TO-DATE REGIONAL BIRMINGHAM METRO REPORT:
2008 NORTH Total Sales: 637
2007 NORTH Total Sales: 789
This represents a 19% decrease
2008 SOUTH Total Sales: 4,295
2007 SOUTH Total Sales: 6,225
This represents a 31% decrease
2008 EAST Total Sales: 2,466
2007 EAST Total Sales: 3,459
This represents a 29% decrease
2008 WEST Total Sales: 1,657
2007 WEST Total Sales: 2,186
This represents a 24% decrease
These statistics compare total residential sales for August 2008 vs. August 2007 as well as Year-to-Date statistics as compiled by the Birmingham Area Multiple Listing Service, Inc. of the Birmingham Association of REALTORS®. Neither the Birmingham Association of REALTORS® nor its MLS guarantees or is in any way responsible for its accuracy. Any market data maintained by the Association or its MLS does not necessarily include information on listings not published at the request of the seller, listings of brokers who are not members of the Association or MLS, unlisted properties, rental properties, etc.
Posted by Christina Rickey at 04:38 |
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If you are looking for a sense community in Birmingham, visit one of several farmers’ markets on a Saturday morning. The Pepper Place Market, the la
rgest in the area, is in its 9th season and will conclude on September 27. Pepper Place, in the Lakeview District of Birmingham, is located on 2nd Avenue South between 28th and 29th Streets. Starting in May, each Saturday from 7:00 a.m. until noon, you will find regional farmers and families display an array of vegetables, flowers, baked breads, cookies, cakes and pies in addition to crafts and arts and crafts. Enjoy a cup of coffee, a light breakfast, and listen to musicians on two separate stages. Each week, there is a cooking demonstration by Birmingham’s finest chefs. Besides being known for its great farmers’ market, Pepper Place is home to the city’s premier design center which you are invited to visit.
Traveling 15 miles south of Birmingham to the Town of Mt. Laurel, off of Highway 41 in north Shelby County, you can find a farmers’ market which is growing each year. The Mt. Laurel Farmers’ Market and Craft Fair boasts organic fruits and vegetables, baked goods, fresh squeezed lemonade, honey, crafts, and one-of-a-kind art pieces. The Mt. Laurel Farmers’ Market kicks off the season in May and also concludes the last Saturday of September. In the Town of Mt. Laurel, you can find several restaurants and quaint shops to visit including a children’s clothing store, hardware and food store, and a bridal salon. When the farmers’ market season is over, the Town of Mt. Laurel hosts a Fall festival with fun for everyone in the family. Most of the people who live in the Town of Mt. Laurel travel to the market by golf cart, but all are welcome no matter what mode of transportation you use.
Another family friendly market is the Fresh Market on the Green at Ross Bridge. The Ross Bridge market is held on the 1st and 3rd Saturday of the month starting in July and concluding on October 25th. Enjoy the abundance of fresh Alabama grown produce, local artists, coffee, baked goods, and live music. A special feature is the Bark It Market with specialty pet products and boutique items for man’s best friend. Ross Bridge is located off of Highway 150 in the Deer Valley area of Hoover. So if you like that small town feel, want to get to know your neighbor, love the taste of a homegrown tomato, and want to patronize our local artists, time is running out to visit one of these delightful farmers’ markets.
Posted by Christina Rickey at 02:48 |
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I know t
he headlines are confusing, and you are wondering is the bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac a good thing for the American people? What will this do to the Birmingham housing market? Will the Americans be paying for this bailout in the long run? Since the announcement on Sunday by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Housing Finance Agency Director James Lockhart that the government had placed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac under conservatorship, I have been doing a lot of reading by professionals in the mortgage industry, economists, and other real estate colleagues. I have read the headlines, scaled the blogs, and discussed the issue. The following is the easiest and most informative explanation I could find. To keep you informed, I thought it would be good to pass it on to you:
After meetings with the boards of directors for both organizations, the Federal Housing Finance Agency took control of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac which are instrumental in securing home loans. To clear up some confusion, you may be asking who are Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac? Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are government-sponsored enterprises that are involved in more than half of all the real estate financing in the United States. They do that by buying loans from banks and packaging those loans as mortgage-backed securities, then selling those securities. By purchasing the loans from banks, the banks get the capital to make new loans. The sale of mortgage-backed securities by Fannie and Freddie has been hurt by concerns over subprime loans and the higher-than-normal default rates on mortgages.
Fannie and Freddie are involved in $5.4 trillion worth of mortgage debt. To give you an idea of how huge that is, it is more than the amount of the privately held national debt of the entire United States. In the past four months, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have been involved in 80 percent of the financing of home purchases. In short, if you want to get financing to buy a home, you need Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
What did the government do? They replaced the leadership of these two organizations: Herb Allison, a former vice chairman of Merrill Lynch, was selected to head Fannie Mae, and David Moffett, a former vice chairman of US Bancorp, was picked to head Freddie Mac. The hope is that the rest of the staff will remain in place, and Fannie’s Daniel Mudd and Freddie’s Richard Syron, the former leaders of each organization, have agreed to stay on during the transition.
The government is going to buy $5 billion in mortgage-backed securities held by Fannie and Freddie. This will provide more capital for each organization. The Treasury Department said it will immediately be issued $1 billion in senior preferred stock from each company, but eventually the Treasury could be required to put up as much as $100 billion for each organization over time if the funds are needed to keep the companies afloat. This infusion guarantees that each organization will remain solvent, assuring that financing for real estate purchases will not be thrown into chaos. The government also will receive warrants representing ownership stakes of 79.9 percent in each firm. The existing stockholders will be subordinate to this obligation to pay the federal government, so the $36 billion in outstanding stock for these companies just moved down a notch to be in second position to the federal government. This puts those shares in the position of junk bonds, according to Standard and Poor’s ratings.
In the long run, the government wants to shrink the size of Fannie and Freddie, with their portfolios shrinking by 10 percent per year starting in 2010. All lobbying will cease; all dividends will stop; and other cost-cutting measures will be instituted to make these institutions more efficient.
One of the biggest problems in the real estate industry is the availability of financing. The government will infuse up to $100 billion into Fannie and Freddie to see them through. This move makes financing more certain, and lets real estate agents stop worrying about whether they can get loans for their buyers. Just the certainty that loans are available is valuable, and the prospect of getting better interest rates is appealing. The loss to the taxpayers is debatable! In general, this is good news for the real estate industry and benefits the stability of real estate.
Only time will tell the effects on our local real estate market. It will be interesting to watch in the coming months. In the meantime, interest rates have fallen on Tuesday to 5.65%; and with a glut of inventory on the market and attractive pricing, now is a great time to buy a home! If you know anyone on the fence thinking about buying a home, please give them my name and direct them to my website at www.newhomebham.com or click on my website tab above. Now is a great time to jump into the game!
Excerpts of this article were obtain from Inman News
Posted by Christina Rickey at 08:47 |
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The following is to keep you informed about Birmingham’s over-the-mountain real estate market in zip code 35242. This area comprises Liberty Park to the north to Highland Lakes on the south:
Total active listings as of September 5, 2008: 817 homes
Active by price range:
$100,000 - $200,000: 59 homes
$200,000 - $300,000: 228 homes
$300,000 - $400,000: 136 homes
$400,000 - $500,000: 112 homes
$500,000 - $600,000: 66 homes
$600,000 - $1,000,000: 142 homes
Over $1,000,000: 69 homes
Total number of active foreclosures: 23 homes
Pending Sales: 66 homes
Year to Date Closed Sales 2008: 661 homes
Year to Date Closed Sales this time Last year: 837 homes
Low: $145,000
Median: $305,500
Average: $379,059
High: $1,558,014
Days on Market: 86
Average sold month of August: 71 homes
Low: $130,000
Median: $330,000
Average: $393,769
High: $1,837,000
Days on Market: 62
The preceding information is generated directly from the Birmingham Multiple Listing Service and does not include for sale by owner sales and rental property: This information is deemed accurate but is not guaranteed.
Posted by Christina Rickey at 02:57 |
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Christina Rickey 
