The real estate blog.

In yet another case of the numbers being irrelevant to the headlines, CNN Money announces, Major home markets’ slump continues.

A closer look reveals these are November numbers which indeed didn’t turn out so well. Further, the Case Shiller index represents only 20 of the country’s largest cities. Obviously the numbers have been bad on the coasts, which happen to contain many of the largest cities.

Finally, the numbers presented in this particular study reveal the methodology for the study itself may be in question:

According to Shiller, not only are the futures too thinly traded still to be a very accurate guide to market sentiment but there is also a risk premium to be taken into account; at this point, more traders are interested in protecting themselves against loss than are interested in buying into a growing market.
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All eyes are on the Fed as the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meets to establish interest rates for the first time this year.

Sentiment on Wall Street is rates will hold steady, but the Fed is concerned about positive economic indicators that may reflect inflation in the economy. By raising interest rates, the Fed attempts to control inflation.

Recent gains on the stock market are one such positive indicator. Additionally, the latest consumer confidence report came in higher than forecast.

The current FOMC meeting is scheduled for two days, one of several two day meeting scheduled this year. The rate decision is expected tomorrow afternoon. Besides the rate decision, analysts also consider the statement released with the rates. The statement provides clues
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Today I saw a report that was mailed out to various so-called Kingman Leaders (I failed to get on this mailing list, however). One of the very interested participants in the Kingman Crossing subdivision seems to be butting heads with the new city council and mayor over building a new interchange (that is desperately needed) along Interstate 40 here in Kingman.

There has long been talk locally about some new commercial projects that are meant to come to this community. In the report I saw those commercial projects would include retail stores, office space, and even a multiplex theatre (I’ve yet to see a movie in the existing theatre in Kingman since I moved here in 2000). It’s not real difficult to believe that we are in need of such
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MELANIE MARQUEZ
Herald Staff Writer

BRADENTON - The future of Riviera Southshore, a highly scrutinized and debated development project, is again in doubt.

The City Council voted Wednesday evening - without assurance of the action’s legality - to rescind an already-approved settlement agreement that established height and density limits for the developer. The agreement left Frank Maggio with 90 days to return to the city with revised plans for his project. The council in September 2006 denied the project for what some council members called “incompatibility with the surrounding neighborhood.”

The motion to rescind, made by Ward 4 Councilman Bemis Smith, was born from new information he says he gathered since the previous council meeting - that public land and streets were used in the calculation of the project’s increased density allowance.
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By DOUG SWORD
Herald Tribune

SARASOTA COUNTY — It took nearly 15 years and a half-dozen proposals, but the county has finally found something it wants at Interstate 75 and University Parkway: a mini-city featuring the region’s biggest mall, 1,750 homes and a trolley system to take homeowners and shoppers to upscale stores.

As it finally won approval for University Town Center, Benderson Development dropped a pair of big announcements — the project will be built on a very fast track with a scheduled opening in 2009, and Nordstrom will be the first of three high-end retailers to anchor the mall.

The quick project should give a boost to the local economy by employing thousands of construction workers in addition to 2,500 retail and office workers.
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Housing markets do not look nearly as bad as anticipated by some.

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Looking back to these past few months we get a general picture of falling housing prices, suggesting once more that Newton’s Law of Universal Gravitation, encapsulated in the dictum “Everything that goes up must come down” is absolutely true and that, furthermore, it applies even to Real Estate. But when it comes to housing prices the real question becomes:”Come down from where?”

According to the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (http://www.ofheo.gov/) the average price of a house rose by only 1.2 percent in the Third Quarter, the smallest gain since 1999 - but a gain nonetheless. OFHEO reports, furthermore, that
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I belong to a message board community that mostly has discussions revolving around my favorite NHL hockey team. I’ve been posting on message boards like these since I first started using the Internet many years ago. Each member usually becomes goes by a ‘handle’ rather than using our own names.

Through the endless debates about the merits of coaches, players, general managers of the my favorite hockey team, discussion can lead to other subjects such as politics, personal interest (off topic discussions), and other weird things. Through the thousands of posts that I’ve written and probably the hundreds of thousands I’ve read over the years it becomes easy to get to know some of these fellow members even though I’ve never actually met them. Over the years I have let it slip that I am in the real estate biz when off topic discussion have arose on the real estate subject.
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By STEPHEN FRATER
Herald Tribune

Pressure continued on home sellers to lower their prices, but sales during December showed definitive signs of life.

The median price for homes last month in the Sarasota-Bradenton market was $284,700, down 17 percent when compared with the same month last year.

But sales were down only 7 percent — “only” in the context of a market that has seen declines as high as 50 percent during the past six months.

December is traditionally a slow time of year for real estate agents, but they moved 626 homes in Sarasota-Bradenton, close to the 2005 level of 672, the Florida Association of Realtors reported on Thursday.

“December sales stats are consistent with November results, which is further proof that
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I’ve been a bit neglectful in a couple of things. Every week I submit a post to one of three blog carnivals I’ve been frequenting.

Sometimes they get accepted, sometimes they don’t. Usually I make a post here when they do, part homage, part blog etiquette. Since I’ve failed to post recently about them, I’ve not only been neglectful, I’ve been rude. So here we go…

Last week on the Carnival of Real Estate:
Marlow at 360Digest liked my post about real estate agent tricks.

This week I didn’t do so well. My post on trusting real estate agents didn’t “cut the mustard.” Fortunately, the Carnival lists the also rans as well.

I’ve been more successful with the Carnival of Real Estate Investing. My last two posts there have been accepted. Last week, Delaware Ohio real estate liked my challenge to Russ Whitney. This week Bigger Pockets liked my wrap up of economic statistics.
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