1.Slowing Housing Market Needs the ‘Boomerang Buyer’
“The real estate has exhausted the refi boom, and the investor money is drying up as well. If the market is going to keep growing, it’s going to need a new crop of buyers.”
2.U.S. pending home sales rise in March; first gain in nine months
“Pending home sales rose in March, as the national housing market showed signs of life at the start of the spring buying season.”
3.Pending Sales of U.S. Existing Homes Rise Most Since 2011
“Contracts to purchase previously owned U.S. homes climbed in March by the most in almost three years, showing residential real estate was starting to stabilize entering the spring selling season. “
4.Groundfloor stretches crowd-funding’s limits
“A renovated historic home near downtown Atlanta hits the market this week, an accomplishment for 39 Georgians who lent $40,000 for the project through Groundfloor, an online crowd-funding platform.”
5.Contracts to Buy US Homes up, 1st Time Since June
“More Americans signed contracts to buy homes in March, the first increase since June and a sign that the housing market might pick up after a sluggish start to the year”
6.Home sales still weaker than last year
“look, march numbers were better than expected, but far weaker than a year ago. that as analysts revising down dramatically.”
7.A fading middle-class perk: lower mortgage rates
” WASHINGTON — For three decades, the U.S. middle class enjoyed a rare financial advantage over the wealthy: lower mortgage rates.”
“The market in California is starting to splinter off into two distinct segments. First, in lower priced areas the pullback of investors has caused inventory to steadily rise.”
9.Bay Area house flippers star in new reality TV series
“In an era of rising home prices, making money flipping a house seems like a slam-dunk. But buying, remodeling and quickly selling a house at a profit is an art practiced successfully by only a few, even as many of us dream that we could do it ourselves.”
10.Is Housing Ringing The Stock Market’s Bell Again?
“It is said that they don’t ring a bell at stock market tops. However, the housing industry has sometimes been quite adept at doing just that. In fact, it has been quite prescient in leading the economy, and thus the stock market, in both directions.”
11.Pending Home Sales Jump, End Losing Streak
“WASHINGTON — Contracts to buy previously owned U.S. homes rose in March for the first time in nine months, a sign the housing market could be stabilizing after suffering a setback from a rise in interest rates and a severe winter.”
12.6 market insights your real estate clients can use for a quicker sale this spring
“The spring housing market is about to get into full swing. And while agents may be fully aware of the state of this year’s emerging housing market, your clients may not be. It’s your job to get your sellers up to speed with what the 2014 home-selling season will bring.”