Jay Papasan, VP of Publishing and co-author of a number real estate best-sellers, explains why some houses sit on the market while others sell.

The August edition of ‘This Month in Real Estate’ explores why waiting for lower home prices could actually cost you more.

Alison Brennan talks about how the local luxury real estate market compares to the national market, and what local markets are doing better than others. She also discusses selling in today’s market, are people able to sell their property today.

The May edition of This Month in Real Estate looks at the effect of the home buyer tax credit, the overall health of the housing economy and what sellers can do to make the most of the market.

The May edition of ‘This Month in Real Estate’ looks at the effect of the home buyer tax credit, the overall health of the housing economy and what sellers can do to make the most of the market.

Posted by: Peter McCullough – April 30th, 2010

HomeGain Advisors Group – April 2010 Conference Call Recap

The HomeGain Advisors met for their quarterly meeting last week on Thursday, April 22nd. The Advisors represent top real estate agents across the country who provide insight into HomeGain products and services, market trends and Realtor behavior.

We had several interesting discussions with our Advisors Group last week that are worth sharing with our Blog readers — about market conditions, overcoming issues created by appraisers, and whether there may be implications from either terminating or extending the first time buyer tax credit .

Market Conditions

Agent Advisors in Massachusetts and Maryland reported that the market (and business) is good. Maryland foreclosures and short sales are drying up. Colorado is seeing an uptick — although there are still a lot of foreclosures, there are less short sales.

Arizona and Florida real estate agents reported the market continues to decline, with lots of foreclosures and people still defaulting. In Florida, it was reported the real estate market has 40% short sales — and one agent commented that he had only 4,968 listings vs. over 8,000 at the same time in previous years.

Appraiser Issues

Agents reported that banks, particularly Bank of America, are still not approving loans, which is making things challenging, even if a house is listed at the right price. To overcome issues, they are trying to meet with appraisers and educate them on value, and educate clients, too.

Home Buyer Tax Credit

Only Massachusetts Agent Advisors reported that the buyer tax credit had any impact on business, that it positively affected home prices and helped get the real estate market going. Massachusetts has not announced any plans of extending the tax credit this year. (California is the only state to do so thus far.)

Louis Cammarosano commented on a NAR statistic that was released that day — that 44% of buyers were first time buyers — and that it seems that the market is nationally skewed toward investors (19%) and first time home buyers.

To see part one, click here.

‘This Month in Real Estate’ looks at the reversal of the 50 year trend toward larger homes and why this might be a good time to buy for those looking to move up.

Each month “This Month in Real Estate” provides expert opinion and analysis on real estate trends across the nation. The aim of the consumer-oriented segments is to provide real information on real estate.

Mike Simonsen, CEO, of Altos Research Corp, keeps his eye on the housing market in 15,000 zip codes in real-time just for you. This interview, from Inman Connect New York 2010, details Mike’s observations about current market conditions, specifically 2009 trends that are carrying over into this year.

At Inman Connect this week several prominent real estate leaders made a similar comment, something along the lines of “real estate will not get to where it was, possibly ever.” That’s a hard and cold view but is increasingly popular.

The following video (dated Jan 16th 2010), focused primarily on commercial real estate, agrees with that opinion. I have no idea why people seem so keen to record videos in their car but that aside the commentary is interesting.

Roost’s Derek Overbey talks to Joe Spake, one of the most progressive real estate agents in the Greater Memphis, TN Metro Area. Joe gives his take on social media and RPR from the NAR conference in San Diego.