The Cascade Team Blog - Real Estate News

Home prices, inventory showing signs of stabilizing.

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Pending sales around Washington state at mid-year surpass year-ago levels;industry leader says "It feels like we have hit the bottom of the market"

KIRKLAND, Wash. (July 6, 2011) – Continuing the double-digit gain in home sales during May, last month's pending sales surpassed the volume for June 2010 by nearly 36 percent . Northwest Multiple Listing Service members reported 7,539 mutually accepted offers last month, up nearly 2,000 transactions from the year-ago total of 5,547 pending sales of single family homes and condominiums.

At midyear, Northwest MLS brokers have logged 41,151 pending sales for a slight improvement on the total of 41,001 for the first six months of 2010 when sales were stimulated…

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Weekly Carlsbad Real Estate Market Update

As of July 3, 2011, the median price for single family detached real estate in Carlsbad was $724,000; a slight up tick from two weeks ago.  The seven day median real estate price average has been trending down, as showing in the graph below; and with housing inventory still trending up, there appears to be downward pressure on real estate prices in the market.  We need to see the 7 day average move back across the 90 day average to show a longer term uptrend in Carlsbad real estate prices.  The current environment appears to be holding flat, and we will need to see either more property sold, reduced inventory, or real estate prices migrating up (creating a sense of urgency among realestate buyers) to move out of the current market cycle.  Days on…

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Study: Real Estate Is at a 'Historic Turning Point'

Nearly two-thirds of economists and real estate experts recently polled say the U.S. housing market is at a historic turning point. More than half say they expect national home prices to reach bottom this year and remain stable — with a modest 2 percent average annual growth — through 2015, according to MacroMarkets LLC’s June Home Price Expectations Survey.

MacroMarkets polled more than 100 housing experts, including Lawrence Yun, chief economist of the National Association of REALTORS®; Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac’s chief economist; and others.

Most of the experts polled said they believe the bottom for housing prices occurred in the first quarter of 2011 or will arrive sometime before the end of the year.

While predictions varied somewhat, on average,…

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Homes For Sale In Carlsbad - Weekly Market Update

As of June 27th, the median price in Carlsbad for a single family detached home for sale remained at $720,000, with an average of 124 days on market.  Pricing has remained flat this week, but inventory contiues to climb.  The market action was flat, and there doesn't seem to be a strong pull on home prices in either direction.  The current market seems to be in a pause mode right now and we will need to see either more homes sell or come off the market, reducing home for sale inventory, or prices ticking up (creating a sense of urgency among home buyers) to move out of the market cycle.  Days on market was also flat, with only a minor increase of 2 days on the average.  Local housing market conditions are currently quite strong in favor of home buyers,…

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Carlsbad Real Estate Market Update

Southern California’s real estate market remains geared towards buyer's in the month of June, despite relatively strong demand from investors and others paying cash for homes. Real estate prices have trended sideways to down over the last couple of month, but many potential home buyers appear to still be on the sidelines and may still be waiting for a bottom in prices or a relaxing of the mortgage guidelines to allow more people to qualify for homes.

As of June 19th, the median price in Carlsbad for a single family detached home for sale was $719,000; a slight down tick from last week.  The seven day median housing price average has crossed over the 90 days median average, and has been trending down, as showing in the graph below.  With inventory still…

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5 Smart Ways to Buy a Foreclosure

It makes sense that prospective buyers are becoming increasingly interested in foreclosures. After all, some of these properties--which accounted for 24 percent of home sales in May, by the way--are selling at up to 50 percent less than comparable homes. Interested in digging up a bargain home? The market of King County Washington for exapmle which covers Seattle, Belleve, and Redmond just to name a few now finds "Distressed" properties making up 37% of all transactions.

Here's what you need to know before you buy a foreclosure:

Find foreclosure listings: This is the easy part. You don't need to show up at courthouse auctions or search through legal filings. All you need to do is look on sites that…

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Homes In Carlsbad - A Real Estate Market Update

Southern California’s housing market remained geared towards buyer's in the month of May despite relatively strong demand from investors and others paying cash for homes. Prices have trended up slightly over the last couple of months, but many potential home buyers appear to still be on the sidelines and may still be waiting for a bottom in prices or a relaxing of the mortgage guidelines to allow more people to qualify for homes.

As of June 15th, the median price in Carlsbad for a single family detached home for sale was $720,000, with an average of 122 days on market.  Pricing has ticked down this week, but with inventory trending up and market action still trending down, there doesn't seem to be a strong price move in either direction.  The current…

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Wow! Mortgage rates drop for 8th straight week..

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3 Seller Tips to Stay Ahead of the Competition

Local Real Estate News Here:

Bankrate.com recently featured a range of tips for first-time sellers to help them stay competitive in today’s real estate market. Here are some things you may want to discuss with your sellers:

Pricing a home competitively from the beginning is important. "Your largest number of showings will occur in the first two to three weeks," says Mark Ramsey, broker with the Ramsey Group/Keller Williams Realty in Charlotte, N.C. "The (multiple listing service) systems and the Internet tend to drive the majority of showings.” That’s why real estate experts stress that it’s important sellers get a competitive, realistic price from the start.

Consider sweetening the deal. Sellers may be able to lure more buyers by offering some extra…

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Fixed mortgage rates drops for 7th straight week

WASHINGTON – Fixed mortgage rates slid for the seventh consecutive week, but the lowest rates of the year have done little to lift the struggling housing market.

Freddie Mac says the average rate on the 30-year loan fell to 4.55 percent from 4.60 percent. The average rate on the 15-year fixed mortgage, a popular refinance option, slipped to 3.74 percent from 3.78 percent. Both are lows for the year.

Rates tend to track the yield on the 10-year Treasury note, which has dropped over fears that higher energy prices could slow economic growth this year.

Most people are unable to take advantage of the lowest mortgage rates because they can't meet tougher…

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