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Government: New home sales hit a record low
On March 23, the government reported that new home sales sank a whopping 16.9% from January. The seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 250,000 was the lowest on record and 28% below the February 2010 estimate, the Commerce Department said..

Kick old home sales habits
The report called the news “dismal” and included this hand-wringing quote from David M. Blitzer, a spokesman for S&P/Case-Shiller, which issues a home price index covering 20 major markets: “January brings us weakening home prices with no real hope in sight for the near future.

Ask The Builder
Back in those days, there wasn’t much competition in the marketplace. The refrigerators were high-end appliances you’d typically find in expensive homes. But now there are quite a few brands that offer refrigerators that don’t project out past the plane of the front of the cabinets in an average kitchen.

Study: Potential homeowners want more, not less
The study of people with a proclivity toward buying a new house, conducted by Irvine company John Burns Real Estate Consulting, found that they still want more, not less. And if they can’t get it inside the walls, they’ll take it outside in the form of yard space.

MORE
Six or seven years ago, buyers were moving from 2,500- square-foot houses to 3,200-foot manses mostly because they found something better than where they lived. Now buyers are jumping from 1,500-squarebuild,” Crowe said. “We have to look at who’s coming into the marketplace, and we will cater to what they want.

SMITH
No one will deny that the challenges faced by agents in this housing market are unlike any in at least 30 years. Yet, together with homeowners, who rely on their experience and expertise to generate the largest sale price in the shortest time, too many agents are showing too little creativity.

A Bird’s Eye View
Is it the number of sales or their value? When average-priced sales occur does that mean the market is bad, or is it only when huge transactions occur that consumers get a feeling of confidence, excitement, urgency and then react? What is the expectation to arrive at a great market?.

Real Estate Matters
You’ve owned the property 20 years. During that time, the tax rules governing rental properties have changed, and your return will be affected. For some of those years, you might have benefitted from tax losses from the property, while in more recent years those benefits have been reduced significantly due to changes in the tax laws.