The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan’s final reading on the overall index on consumer sentiment rose to 79.3 from 76.4 in April, topping forecasts for 77.8 and an initial May reading of the same.

              It was the highest level since October 2007.

              “Unfortunately, consumer confidence is still extremely vulnerable to a reversal, as occurred in the past two years,” survey director Richard Curtin said in a statement.

              “While their most optimistic expectation for job growth could go unfulfilled without much harm, if the recent slowdown in job growth persists in the months ahead, it could form the basis for a third retreat in confidence.”

              Half of all consumers said the economy had improved during the past year, while buying plans for vehicles and household durables also improved. The gauge of buying plans rose to 132 from 126.

              Higher income households anticipated a 2 percent income increase in the year ahead, while lower income households expected just a 0.3 percent gain.

              The survey’s barometer of current economic conditions jumped to 87.2 from 82.9, while its gauge of consumer expectations improved to 74.3 from 72.3.

              The indexes were at their highest levels since January 2008, and July 2007, respectively.

              The survey’s one-year inflation expectation eased to 3.0 percent from 3.2 percent, while the survey’s five-to-10-year inflation outlook dipped to 2.7 percent from 2.9 percent.

http://news.yahoo.com/may-consumer-sentiment-highest-more-4-years-142300756–business.html

According to the latest Legislative and Political Forum held at the Realtors 2012 Midyear Legislative Meetings and Trade Expo, housing will play a large part in deciding the outcome of the 2012 presidential election.

NAR President Moe Veissi, broker-owner of Veissi & Associates Inc., in Miami. “We believe efforts that help creditworthy homebuyers obtain mortgage financing and allow more people to stay in their homes or avoid foreclosure through streamlined short sales are important for a housing and economic recovery.”

For the majority of Americans, their home is their largest asset and the foundation of their familial stability. Taking steps to ensure homeowners keep their homes helps those not only those owners but also home values across the nation.

Federal Reserve Governor Elizabeth Duke also commented on the need for a healthy real estate recovery. She noted that the health of housing is the strength of the overall recovery.

When would-be buyers are worried about job security they aren’t thinking of buying. When potential buyers can’t access credit they can’t buy homes.

“Unfortunately, some buyers who would like to purchase a home are unable to do so because they cannot obtain a mortgage,” said Duke. She said the tightening of credit standards is apparent in the credit scores of borrowers, noting that the median credit score of borrowers rose from 700 in 2006 to 760 in 2009, where it remains today.

Duke added that tight credit standards have made obtaining a mortgage particularly difficult for first-time home buyers, since they tend to be younger than other homebuyers, and have lower credit scores and fewer financial assets.

http://realtytimes.com/rtpages/20120521_realestateoutlook.htm

New-home sales rose 3.3 percent in April and were up 9.9 percent year-over-year, according to new Commerce Department housing data released Wednesday.

The increase in April sales activity is in line with other important housing measures that have shown continued, gradual improvement from the first quarter as more consumers look to take advantage of today’s low interest rates and affordable home prices,” says Barry Rutenberg, chairman of the National Association of Home Builders. “In markets where demand is rising, we could be seeing a faster pace of recovery if not for persistently tight lending conditions that are slowing both the building and buying of new homes.”

New-home sales rose the most in the Midwest, by 28.2 percent in April, and by 27.5 percent in the West. The Northeast saw new-home sales rise by 7.7 percent in April, while the South posted a 10.6 percent decline last month.

The inventory of new-homes remains historically low at a 5.1-month supply at the current sales pace. But housing experts say the record low inventories may prove an eventual boost for future housing prices.

Home prices for new-homes are up nearly 5 percent compared to a year earlier, with the median price at $235,700 from April, the Commerce Department reported.

In another optimistic sign at recovery for the housing market: The National Association of REALTORS® reported Tuesday that sales of existing homes also increased in April, rising 3.4 percent in April compared to March and increasing 10 percent year-over-year.

http://realtormag.realtor.org/daily-news/2012/05/24/new-home-sales-inch-up-optimism-builds#.T7657WJTo-A.facebook

Some analysts are finally suggesting that we may be headed for recovery.  If you have a secure job, plan to stay put and feel this is the right time for  you to buy a home, consider the following.

In most places in the country, home prices are still declining. It has  only been recently that the market picked up and it’s too soon to know if this  will result in a sustainable increase in prices.

The recent home sales in areas around California’s  Silicon Valley defy the norm. Significant job  growth in the area combined with a low inventory of good homes for sale has  resulted in multiple offers with buyers bidding the price up sometimes hundreds  of thousands of dollars over the asking price.

In other high-demand, low-inventory areas, you may find yourself bidding  against other buyers, perhaps even more than once. This doesn’t necessarily  mean that the price will be bid up significantly over the asking price. This  will vary from one listing to the next depending on property location,  condition and price.

It’s important to research the local community where you want to buy.  Find out what homes are selling for, if multiple offers are common and if listings  are selling for more than the asking price. This will help you make a realistic  offer that might be accepted when you find a home you’d really like to buy. It  helps to work with an experienced local real estate agent.

Some sellers in high-demand niche markets intentionally list their home  at a low price hoping to stimulate multiple offers. If you see such a listing  and there are a lot of buyers wanting to make offers, you will be better able  to know how high your offer would need to be to win the contest if you have  done your due diligence.

HOUSE HUNTING TIP: Whether you’re anticipating competition or not, you  should be preapproved for the mortgage you’ll need to complete the purchase  before you write an offer. In competition, this will make a big difference,  particularly if everyone else who is offering is preapproved. It also lets you  know what you can afford. And, it puts you in a good bargaining position with  the seller.

Buyers aren’t the only participants in the housing market that have  heard the news that the market has improved. Some sellers are putting their  homes on the market because they’ve been waiting for a better time to sell.  This is good news for buyers looking in low-inventory markets.

You should expect that you will have to negotiate. Many of today’s  sellers are selling for less than they paid. Even though the market has  improved a bit, sellers may be disappointed with the current market value of  their home. Be prepared to negotiate, not just the initial price, but after  inspections are completed if items come up that you hadn’t anticipated.

Include realistic contingency time frames in your purchase contract for  loan and appraisal approval if you’re applying for a mortgage. The recent  uptick in the market means that lenders are suddenly overwhelmed.

In mid-March, buyers in Oakland,   Calif., who were seeking approval  for a jumbo loan were told they could close a transaction in 21 days. Not only  could they not close in 21 days, it took more than 21 days for loan approval  due to lender backlog.

THE CLOSING: Underwriters could require that additional conditions be  met before you can be approved. Act quickly to avoid further delay.

http://lowes.inman.com/newsletter/2012/05/16/news/188001

Pending-home sales in March hit their highest level since April 2010, spurring the return of real-estate bidding wars. Nick Timiraos reports on The News Hub. Photo: Peter Earl McCollough for The Wall Street Journal.

http://online.wsj.com/video/real-estates-bidding-wars-are-back/BF2BF48A-5A33-4C0B-95E0-3BB0F7B6128C.html?KEYWORDS=NICK+TIMIRAOS

With home prices back where they were ten years ago and sales still sluggish,  it seems as if sellers can’t catch a break. But if you want to sell your home  this year, there are glimmers of hope. In January, the National Association of  Realtors reported that sales of existing homes nationally rose slightly from the  year before and were also higher than in three of the preceding four months.  Plus, the inventory of existing homes for sale fell 21% from the year before.

But even if you have less competition and better prospects, today’s buyers  are still a tough sell. They’re nervous and risk-averse. They want a home in  move-in condition, with all the upgrades completed, because they know they can’t  count on a quick increase in the home’s value to help them recoup money they  spend on improvements. They try to negotiate a steal from list price. “You must  find a way to improve the condition or lower the price until a buyer pulls the  trigger,” says Leigh Brown, an agent with Re/Max in Charlotte, N.C.

How long will it take to sell your home? You can get a rough idea by looking  at the average “days on the market,” preferably for your neighborhood and price  tier. You’ll find that and other market statistics on the Web site of the local  Realtors association or from an agent. You may have some advantage if your home  is in a desirable location because, say, it’s in a good school district or close  to jobs.

As a seller, you may have your own issues to grapple with — not the least of  which is thinking your home is worth more than it is. Gayle Henderson, an agent  with Re/Max in Phoenix, recommends that sellers play “buyer for a day” to check  out the competition in their neighborhood. It will help you be more realistic  about the price you set for your home.

Above all, find a good agent. Don’t interview just one candidate — that’s a  mistake that two-thirds of sellers make, according to the National Association  of Realtors. In addition to a history of successful sales in or around your  neighborhood, you want total honesty — even if it’s painful to hear that you  must spend money in order to sell.

In 2010, sellers nationwide paid an average commission of 5.4%, reports Real  Trends, a real estate consulting firm. If an agent or the agent’s firm wants to  be able to represent you and a buyer in the same transaction in order to collect  the full commission, try to negotiate the rate down by one or two percentage  points.

Get your home in shape to sell

To hook buyers and reap the highest possible price, you must clean, declutter  and stage your home, inside and out. Cotty Lowry, an agent with Keller Williams,  in Minneapolis, tells his sellers that they should expect to spend two to four  weeks preparing their home for sale, and be ready to spend as much as 2% to 3%  of its list price on improvements. Lowry tells balky sellers that spiffing up  the place could cost them less than having to make an initial price reduction.

As a first step, Lowry says, you should hire a home inspector for a  “pre-inspection” to identify all the issues that would otherwise turn up in a  buyer’s inspection. Get a termite inspection, too. (The report would count  toward any closing requirement.) Each will cost you $300 to $400. The  inspections give you the opportunity to make repairs so buyers won’t reject your  home out of hand or use problems to negotiate against you.

Charlotte, N.C., agent Leigh Brown says that you may also need to invest in improvements that  buyers now expect as standard features. In many markets that means granite  countertops and hardwood floors, even in starter homes. All other things being  equal, those two features will put you head and shoulders above your  competition. Ask your agent to check the features of recently closed and pending  sales. You’ll know what amenities you need to match, or what you can do to sell  faster, even if you can’t raise your price.

Expect to get advice about spiffing up your home from agents and their  stagers. But you can begin preparing your home using the checklists in the “Home  Sale Maximizer Guide” by HomeGain,  a home-marketing Web site. Stagers declutter if you haven’t, rearrange furniture  to improve traffic flow and create a sense of spaciousness, and make sure your  décor doesn’t shout your personal tastes. Home sellers spend an average of  $1,800 staging a home, but the cost can be $5,000 or more. Agents may provide  the service as part of their fee.

Staging proved critical to the sale of Tim and Kristel Barber’s home, in  Minneapolis. They thought that their four-bedroom, four-bath home had everything  a buyer could want, including high-end finishes and a hot location in the city’s  Linden Hills neighborhood, where million-dollar homes were replacing tear-downs.  But the sticking point for buyers was a long, narrow living room.

The Barbers first put their home on the market in March 2011, but by October,  after several price cuts and an attempt at staging, it hadn’t sold. So the  couple got serious: They moved their four children and belongings to their new  home, and a stager brought in new furnishings throughout and redesigned the  living room to create a welcoming entryway and a seating area with smaller-scale  furniture. A month later they got an offer. Altogether, the Barbers spent $6,200  on two stagings.

Price it right and negotiate

No agent can guarantee that your house is worth x and will sell for z. Instead, you and your agent should scrutinize all the comparables  (current listings of homes for sale, recently closed sales and pending sales in  your neighborhood) for the past six months that are similar to your property.  Agents must visit comparables in person to accurately assess differences that  will influence desirability, price and whether they really are your competition,  says Francie House, an agent with Seattle broker Windermere.

If you want to start with a price at the high end, be prepared to lower it  within a certain length of time or number of showings, based on your agent’s  experience. While sellers may think that a price reduction suggests weakness,  Lowry says it shows buyers and their agents that sellers are flexible. Plus, it  will generate automatic e-mails to buyers and inclusion on agents’ “hot sheets,”  which prompts renewed interest and showings.

Negotiate the price. To head off a price reduction, try offering perks  that add value for the buyer without costing you too much. But wait to include  the incentives until you make a counteroffer, or else your tactic could  backfire. For instance, buyers may want you to cover

part of their closing costs. But if they know too early that you’re willing  to ante up the money, they’ll expect you to reduce your price by that much –  and still ask for closing costs later.

If the buyer gets a mortgage backed by or sold to Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac,  the agencies’ rules will limit how much of the buyer’s closing costs you can  pay. If the down payment is 10% or less on a principal residence or vacation  home, you can cover up to 3% of the closing costs; from 10% to 25%, 6%; and 25%  or more, 9%. With VA financing, you can pay all closing costs, plus up to 4% of  the sales price for other buyer costs or to pay down debt so that the buyer will  qualify for a mortgage.

Perks in lieu of price cuts. When you make a counteroffer, instead of  a price reduction you can try to offer something that adds value for the buyer  without costing you too much. Your agent can ask the buyer’s agent, “What’s  important to your buyer? What do they need?” says Leigh Brown, an agent in  Charlotte. The possibilities include a  flexible closing date, a home warranty  (about $400), paying homeowners-association dues for some period of time or  offering appliances or furniture that you don’t want or don’t want to move.

Qualify the buyer. The best offer isn’t always the one with the  highest price. It’s the one that will close, and that means buyers must assure  you they will qualify for the financing they need. A preapproval letter  (the buyers have qualified for a loan based on an application and some  documentation) from a known, creditable lender beats a prequalification  letter (a ballpark estimate of what the buyer can afford). If you receive an  offer with only a  prequalification, your agent can call the buyer’s lender to  scope it out. Or better yet, ask the buyer for permission to get financial  details from the lender.

You could ask buyers to sign a financing addendum to the purchase contract.  The buyer must agree to be fully approved for financing and ready to close in a  set amount of time — typically two weeks to a month — before the scheduled  closing. If the buyers and their lender don’t meet the deadline, the seller can  cancel the contract.

http://www.kiplinger.com/magazine/archives/how-to-sell-your-home-fast.html?topic_id=35

by The KCM Crew on March 27, 2012

Last week, Trulia released their Winter 2012 Rent vs. Buy Index. In the index, they report that:

“After years of home price declines and tightening rental markets, home ownership is now more affordable than renting in all but two of the 100 largest metros – even in expensive real estate markets such as New York, Los Angeles and Boston.”

The two metros where renting was more affordable were Honolulu and San Francisco. However, Trulia explains that, even in these markets, buying a home:

“…might make sense for people who plan to stay in their next home for at least five years and can benefit from the mortgage-interest tax deduction.”

This rent/buy ratio favors buying more so then at almost any time in history. In a recent article, Forbes Magazine quotes Jed Kolko, Trulia’s chief economist:

“Certainly prices have continued to fall nationally, but rents have been rising so this would be the lowest price-to-rent ratio that we’ve seen.”

Bottom Line

It might be time to talk to a local real estate professional about the possibility that buying a home makes sense for you and family.

http://www.kcmblog.com/2012/03/27/more-affordable-to-buy-in-98-of-major-metros/

A trend in recycling structures not traditionally considered “real estate” is changing how potential home and business owners, not-for-profit organizations, government agencies and the U.S. military view shipping containers.

The use of rudimentary containers to ship cargo began in the late 17th century. By the 1950s, Malcolm McLean of Sea-Land Shipping, pushed by the U.S. military to standardize their design, was building strong, uniform, theft-resistant, stackable shipping containers that were easy to load and unload by truck, rail and ship, and easy to store.

In 2005, an estimated 18 million containers made a combined total of about 200 million trips. Many containers measure 20 feet or 40 feet in length, and a 40-foot-long shipping container offers 304 square feet of floor space.

A trade imbalance has led the containers piling up around U.S. hubs, and storing them increases the cost of doing business.

One response to the problem: Re-engineer the containers. As architects and designers around the world evolve and refine creative reuse, containers are reshaping as disaster-relief shelters, coffee shops, student housing, custom homes, retail towers, even storing physical books after they are digitized.

The richly furnished interior contrasts to the minimalist, industrial exterior. Photo: Architecture and Hygiene

Living in former shipping containers may have begun as a fringe novelty, but it is far from such these days. Many entrepreneurs are exploring new niches amid the growing assortment of shipping container-based structures.

Alex Klein of Container Home Consultants Inc. has been involved in shipping container conversions for 30 years, while Heather Levin said she appreciates container homes after noticing how much of her hard-earned dollars went to a bank as mortgage loan interest.

This container house in France was completed in 2010. Photo: CG Architects, France

Victor Wallace of ContainerHomes.info authored the free downloadable book, “The 30 Most Influential Shipping Container Homes Ever Built!” His website presents extensive tutorials and videos for container conversions and also offers a free download of the book with designs from around the world.

21st Century Homes & Structures builds modular homes and claims it is the “original approved shipping container home manufacturer in New York… certified since 1985.”

A colorful, lego-block-esque apartment complex in England. Photo: plentyofants|Flickr

That company reports that its modified shipping containers are “eco-friendly, (energy-efficient), hurricane-resistant, pest-free, affordable and green.” The company offers units in sizes ranging from 480 square feet to 1,280 feet, and prices starting at $89 per square foot. That does not include excavation site work and foundations. The company offers turnkey packages and ships throughout the U.S.

An Argentinian-born woman living in California identified by faircompanies.com as “Lulu” (no last name given), was reportedly forced by the recession to downsize, and found and modified a free shipping container. She took a couple of months to gather mostly recycled components to remodel the unit, faircompanies.com reported, and it took another month to convert the original 360-square-foot space into a home for herself and her small daughter.

Container homes can take on more conventional shapes as well. Photo: Alex Klein, Container Home Consultants Inc

With hot water on demand from a small camping device, and camping stoves for cooking, Lulu noted that her home features a separate bathroom and second bedroom, and she plans to add a teahouse and a greenhouse.

Sure takes “green building” to another dimension.

http://realestate.yahoo.com/promo/dream-homes-that-come-in-a-crate.html

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The battered housing market looks to be on the mend as buyers make a tentative return and house prices stabilize.

Sales of new homes in February fell from January but jumped more than 11 percent compared with the same month last year and prices rose, according to data released on Friday that was in line with other recent signs of a slow recovery.

Big challenges lie ahead, most notably in the form of a glut of unsold properties – many of them foreclosures – and tight lending by banks. But even if the recovery is slow and bumpy, the worst of the six-year slump seems to be over.

“The housing market is slowly coming back. It’s still a depressed market, but it’s getting better. We have a long way to go,” said Patrick Newport, an economist at Global Insight in Lexington, Massachusetts.

New home sales slipped 1.6 percent to a seasonally adjusted 313,000-unit annual rate in February, the lowest since October, but were up 11.4 percent in year-on-year terms, the Commerce Department said.

The median new home price jumped 8.3 percent to an eight-month high of $233,700. Compared with February last year, the rise was 6.2 percent.

The report rounded off a week of mixed U.S. housing data and followed a similar pattern seen in the bigger market for existing homes – sales also fell in February, but stayed close to their highest level in nearly two years and prices rose for the first time on a yearly basis since November 2010.

Realtors say they are seeing higher traffic volume and are moving more houses off the market than a few years ago.

“My listings are selling much more quickly compared to the past few years, even approaching 2007 pre-crash levels,” said Lindsey Sanders, a Realtor with Muffley & Associates in Atlanta.

“I began seeing a meaningful uptick in open house traffic last summer and it has continued to improve. I think this is a combination of sellers finally becoming more willing to ask market prices for their homes instead of bubble-level prices.”

Builders tell a similar story. An index measuring confidence among homebuilders held at a near four-year high this month and they anticipated an increase in sales over the next six months.

While the pace of home construction fell last month, permits for future projects approached a 3-1/2-year high. Much of the activity is concentrated in the multi-family segment, as demand for rentals soars.

SPOTTY RECOVERY

The recovery remains spotty. According to CoreLogic, for every two homes sold, there is one that could be foreclosed. It estimated the so-called shadow inventory of homes at 1.6 million in January, down from 1.8 million a year ago.

KB Home, the fifth-largest U.S. homebuilder, on Friday said net orders for new homes declined 8 percent in its first quarter as cancellations rose.

“Don’t expect this to be a broad-based, rocket-ship recovery,” said KB Homes Chief Executive Officer Jeff Mezger on an earnings call. “The overall housing market is better, but this is definitely a localized recovery … and in some cases, it’s a zip-code-by-zip-code recovery.”

KB’s order decline was in sharp contrast to the strong order growth reported by other U.S. homebuilders, including D.R. Horton, Pulte and Lennar, who have forecast an improving housing market.

While the pace of new home sales held above 300,000 units for a sixth straight month, they are just over a fifth of their 1.389 million unit peak reached in July 2005.

“Mindful that more healing needs to be done, we expect new home sales in 2012 to post their first annual increase in seven years, rising 12 percent,” said Sam Bullard, a senior economist at Wells Fargo Securities in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Last month, the inventory of new homes on the market was unchanged at a record low 150,000 units. At February’s sales pace it would take 5.8 months to clear the houses from the market, up from 5.7 months in January.

New home sales last month surged in the Northeast and West but slumped in the South and Midwest.

New home sales account for about 7 percent of the overall housing market and face stiff competition from the used home segment despite low levels of stock.

“Buyers have been able to take their time as they have little fear that prices or rates will get away from them. Mortgage rates, though, are beginning to rise slowly and that could continue through the rest of the year,” said Joel Naroff, chief economist at Naroff Economic Advisors in Holland, Pennsylvania.

“Add price increases to that and there is a little more urgency to the decision. So while investors may be disappointed by this report, I think better times are just about here so be a little more patient.”

http://news.yahoo.com/home-sales-slip-prices-8-month-high-143754718.html