Home sales rise. Price slump.

By Lucia Mutikani Lucia Mutikani –

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Sales of previously owned homes set their highest rate in eight months in January, but more than a third of purchases were distressed properties and prices hit a nearly nine-year low.

The National Association of Realtors said on Wednesday existing homes sales climbed 2.7 percent to an annual rate of 5.36 million units, marking the third straight month of gains. Economists had expected a fall to a 5.24 million-unit pace.

Foreclosures and short sales typically occur below market value and their large share of overall sales suggested further price declines ahead.

"What this shows is that there is will be an ongoing adjustment to prices to the downside. Housing fundamentals are still weak,"…

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Seattle Homes Hit Lowest Point Since Housing Bust

By DEREK KRAVITZ, AP Real Estate Writer Derek Kravitz, Ap Real Estate Writer –

WASHINGTON – Home prices in a majority of major U.S. cities tracked by a private trade group have fallen to their lowest levels since the housing bubble burst.

The Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller index fell in December from November in all but one of the 20 cities it tracks. The 20-city index declined 1 percent.

The only market to see a gain was Washington, D.C.

Eleven of the markets hit their lowest point since the housing bust, in 2006 and 2007: Atlanta, Charlotte, N.C., Chicago, Detroit, Las Vegas, Miami, New York, Phoenix, Portland, Ore., Seattle and Tampa, Fla.

The damage from the real estate bubble now spreads well beyond Las Vegas, Phoenix and…

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Seattle-King County Real Estate Statistics

A 12 month look at housing trends for King County including Seattle.

Active vs Sold vs Pending

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Multi-State Seach now availiable from The Cascade Team website

Visitors to www.TheCascadeTeam.com will now have the option to select either Washington State or the San Diego area of Southern California from The Cascade Team website. We have Full Service agents ready to assist Sellers and Buyers in both markets!

Welcome to The Cascade Team Real Estate. Our team would like nothing more than to be your guide to the Seattle and San Diego real estate markets, two of the most dynamic and exciting markets in America. If you are looking forward to purchasing homes in the Seattle or San Diego area, then this site is for you! Our site contains listing information for thousands of homes in the Washington and Southern California markets. Cascade Team agents are ready to assist you with whatever needs you might have,…

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Dream of Home Ownership Still Strong

Three out of four home owners — or 78 percent — say their homes are the best investment they ever made, according to Trulia.com’s biannual American Dream survey, which has tracked attitudes toward home ownership since 2009.

Despite foreclosures and underwater homes continuing to batter the real estate market, about 70 percent of Americans say they still view home ownership as being part of their American Dream, according to the survey.

“Contrary to popular belief, the American Dream of homeownership has not turned into an American nightmare,” says Pete Flint, CEO of Trulia.

The millennial generation is expected to drive the housing recovery. Eighty-eight percent of 18-34 year old renters say they want to be home owners one day, according to the survey.

…

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Buying a Home Is 'as Affordable as it Gets'

Now is a good time to buy real estate, according to data from Moody’s Analytics. Home affordability has returned to pre-housing bubble levels or even fallen below the average in many U.S. markets.

In fact, housing affordability by the end of September had returned to or fallen below the average reached between 1989-2003 in 47 of the 74 housing markets that Moody Analytics tracked.

In September 2010, the ratio of home prices to annual household income had fallen to 1.6--below the historical average of 1.9 between 1989 and 2003. The ratio peaked in 2005 at 2.3.

"Based on incomes, this is as affordable as it gets," says Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Analytics. "If you can get a loan, these are pretty good times to buy."

Some of the most undervalued…

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Real Intell”Agents” class today!

Getting ready to hold the first Real Intell”Agents” class! The Cascade Team is launching a new marketing program with revolutionary Seller and Buyer contact points. After this week our agents will begin moving Real Estate marketing and Customer Service to levels never dreamed of before! We're doing live classes on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday of this week from 9:30 until 1:30.

REAL Intell"Agents"
Real Estate Has Evolved

Leveraging Real Estate Technology In Today's Changing Real Estate Market!

Don’t monkey around selling your home with the Un-Intell-Agent. It takes more than a mls listing, sign, some paper fliers, and an open house to sell your home in today’s market. Make sure your real estate agent has real leading edge housing…

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San Diego Real Estate Market Conditions

Currently in San Diego, 15% of the active single family listings are bank owned. An increase from the previous month, these bank owned properties are concentrated mostly in zip codes 92114 and 92115 and typically have price points below $400,000. Additionally, of the active properties currently available, approximately 29% are short sale. These are primarily concentrated in zip codes 92102, 92105, 92114, and 92115 also with price points typically below $400,000. These zip codes also show a higher concentration of fixer properties that have been renovated for the purpose of reselling.

In December the San Diego real estate market continued to follow the trend of declining year over year sales, declining inventory levels, increasing days on market and…

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Bank Of America Settles For $3 billion

Bank of America (BOA) said that it paid nearly $1.3 billion to Freddie Mac and more than $1.3 billion to Fannie Mae on Dec. 31 to resolve a faulty mortgage loan dispute involving Countrywide Financial Corp.  The $2.6 billion worth of payments to Freddie and Fannie, combined with potential losses on future repurchases from government-sponsored enterprises, adds up to $3 billion in expenses, according to BOA. Bank of America also expects to take an additional $2 billion charge to fourth-quarter results from the decline in the mortgage business, bringing the total impact to the company to $5 billion.

 "Our goals remain the same: put these issues behind us; focus on serving customers and clients; and continue to help distressed homeowners facing difficult…

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Seattle Area Real Estate & Home Price Drops Amongst The Nation's Largest

Seattle area home prices were down 7.2 percent in October from a year earlier, putting the area 39th out of 45 areas nationwide, according to a new report.

Nationwide, prices were down 3.9 percent from a year earlier, according to the CoreLogic Home Price Index.

"We are continuing to see the weakness in home prices without artificial government support in the form of tax credits," CoreLogic Chief Economist Mark Fleming said in a news release. "The stubborn unemployment levels and seasonality are also coming into play. When you combine these factors with high shadow and visible inventories, the prospect for a housing recovery in early 2011 is fading."

The decline in King and Snohomish counties was larger than the 5.4 percent drop in September and…

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