Archive for August, 2006

Some Important Questions To Ask Before Hiring a Real Estate Agent

If you’re new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!So it is time to get a real estate agent to sell your home or help you buy a new home. Did you know that there are more real estate agents today than ever before? And did you know [...]

23Aug2006 | Tom Royce | 0 comments | Continued

Southern Florida Condo Market Set to Take a Dive

The condo marketplace in Southern Florida is coming to a screeching halt as the speculators have left and the developers are looking at an over supplied market. Speculators, or flippers, have been very active in the south Florida condo market driving up prices and demand at a record rate.
Many pundits attributed the velocity of [...]

22Aug2006 | Tom Royce | 0 comments | Continued

Houston and Austin Real Estate Markets are Still Strong

After being passed over during the hot market the last few years, Houston has taken off in sales and property value. The city has the triple benefit of lowering property taxes, higher oil prices, and the relocation of many businesses from the New Orleans region.

Commentators have been quick to point out that the boom experienced elsewhere [...]

22Aug2006 | Tom Royce | 1 comment | Continued

‘Real estate rapist’ Sentencing Coming Up

Oliver Hooper, the man dubbed the “Real Estate Rapist” is due to be sentenced for raping homesellers in their homes as he posed as a potential buyer. This deviant would contact the homesellers in hopes of getting a woman alone in her home and then raping her.
Sick bastards like this have their own place in [...]

21Aug2006 | Tom Royce | 0 comments | Continued

Will Mortgage Rates Continue to Decline?

The Federal Reserves decision not to increase the interest rate had a immediate effect on the 30 year mortgage and lowered it 17 basis points in a two week window. If oil prices keep declining we may see a period where inflation is kept under control enough to keep mortgage rates in the 6.50 to [...]

21Aug2006 | Tom Royce | 0 comments | Continued

Interesting Post on a Bubble Market Deflating

Merv from the Northern Virginia Real Estate Guide has an interesting post on the reaction of other real estate agents in the region. He is a very astute professional and has watched the region explode and now is following the retraction in the market.

Responses from other agents include: I’m not taking any more listings. [...]

20Aug2006 | Tom Royce | 0 comments | Continued

Countrywide Mortgage Warns Interest Only Mortgages Reset Dangerous and Scary

The interest only mortgage and variable pay mortgage have been two programs that have been popular in parts of the country. It allowed families to buy homes that they otherwise would not have been able to purchase.
The problem is that these mortgages have very expensive resets when they come due, sometimes even doubling the payments [...]

20Aug2006 | Tom Royce | 0 comments | Continued

Top 10 Most Expensive Rental Markets 2006

If you are looking to rent instead of purchase as the real estate market goes through its correction in your region, it is a good idea to keep an eye on rental prices. New YorkCity has the highest apartment rental rate in the country, followed closely by San Francisco.
To make the situation even more rough [...]

18Aug2006 | Tom Royce | 1 comment | Continued

Why You Do Not Want To Get Tenants Really Really Mad

The Concord City Place Development in Toronto has a very irate tenant that is being ignored. The buildings owners and management company have played hot potato with this tenant so much that the tenant has now created a web site that is exposing all the faults of the facility.
The lesson, you have to deal with [...]

18Aug2006 | Tom Royce | 1 comment | Continued

Home-Builder Confidence Falls As New Home Market Slows in 28 States

The National Association of Home Builders index dropped significantly in August as a slow selling spring and summer has sapped the confidence of the nations home builders. The index fell to 32 from its July level of 39. Nationally, new home sales fell 7 percent in the April to June period, more than the builders [...]

18Aug2006 | Tom Royce | 0 comments | Continued