1.Southern California housing market settles to a stable pace
“After several topsy-turvy years, Southern California’s housing market is starting to look almost normal.”
2.Chinese shift buying power to California homes
“As China’s housing bubble deflates, an influx of cash deals from Chinese buyers has swept across Southern California’s home market, and one UCLA economist expects that trend to continue.”
3.Average US 30-Year Mortgage Rate up to 4.20 Pct
“Average U.S. rates on fixed mortgages rose this week for a second straight week but remained near historic lows.” 4.Applications for US Jobless Aid up Modestly
“More Americans filed for unemployment benefits last week, but claims for jobless aid remain near pre-recession levels.”
5.Real Estate Flipping: 8 Disclosures You Must Make
“Investors who flip homes are the unsung heroes of real estate. They take neglected, run-down and sometimes intentionally damaged properties and make them livable, even beautiful, again. If you want to flip properties, you probably already know about pitfalls such as hidden problems and cost overruns. But did you know that when you sell a property, you’re required to disclose information about its condition that might negatively affect its value?”
6.U.S. Economic Recovery Looks Distant as Growth Stalls
“Recessions are always painful, but the Great Recession that ran from late 2007 to the middle of 2009 may have inflicted a new kind of pain: an era of slower growth.”
7.Why we’re living in a meh economy
“Remember when the Great Recession ended? It was 5 years ago this month. When you combine stagnant incomes for most workers, a long-term problem, with a recovery that’s been robust at the top (the S&P 500 has more than doubled since the end of the recession) but tepid for most Americans (employment is up 5.7 percent since then) you get what we have today: the ‘meh’ recovery.”
8.Weak home sales in May show it wasn’t the weather
“The national numbers aren’t in yet for May, but major local markets are already reporting a serious spring slump in housing. The expected sales bump never materialized in a meaningful way and that has analysts rethinking their earlier theories. “
9.Some scary practices return to US property market, but the bubbles are overseas
“New data showing the return of a couple of old friends — subprime mortgages and so-called “jumbo loans” — have some people worried that recent history is repeating itself. “
10.Foreclosure filings dip in California
“With 6,299 California homes falling into foreclosure last month, the rate of foreclosure filings dropped 6.75 percent from April and by 36.04 percent from May 2013, according to statistics compiled by PropertyRadar Inc. of Truckee.”
11.Southern California’s housing market loses some steam
“Southern California’s housing market lost steam in May, with sales falling from the month before and a year earlier as investor buying dropped amid rising prices and tight inventory, a market tracker said Wednesday.”