I can’t imagine buying $1.25 trillion of anything, let alone mortgage-backed securities. But that is exactly the commitment that the Federal Reserve has made in an attempt to encourage borrowing and revive the economy. This is a $750 billion increase from the previous commitment made in a program announced last November.
In that program, the Fed announced they would buy $500 billion of mortgage-backed securities guaranteed by Fannie Mae,
The national unemployment rate rose to 8.1 percent as employers cut an additional 651,000 jobs in February. This is the highest unemployment rate that this nation has seen since late 1983. There have been almost 2 million jobs lost in the last three months alone.
The figures were far worse than analysts had expected and unfortunately there doesn’t seem to be any upside coming in the next several months. So how is the high unemployment rate going to affect real estate?
Previously [...]
So the Obama administration is doing everything in its power to try and save your home. Really? They launched the “Making Home Affordable” or “Home Affordable Modification “initiative today and if you have nothing better to do, you can read the 17 pages of Government speak at:
http://www.treas.gov/press/releases/reports/modification_program_guidelines.pdf
For those of you looking for some of the high-level highlights so you can move on with your day, here they are:
Eligibility Requirements
Origination Date of Loan Subject to Modification:
The mortgage to be [...]
February 25th, 2009 by roostblog in Features, General, Reaction
So like everyone else, I’m pretty sick and tired of all the constant negative talk about the real estate industry that the media seems to spew on us on almost a daily basis. It really gets to me when they make huge sweeping generalizations about the real estate market across the nation. So with the help of some of my close real estate friends, I thought I would provide a glimpse into some local markets to see how the “feet [...]
February 17th, 2009 by roostblog in Features, General, Reaction
The stimulus bill, formally named the “American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009″ is broken up into several initiatives. However, we’re interested in how this will impact the housing industry specifically.
There’s an additional benefit for some homebuyers in the bill awaiting President Obama’s signature. First-time buyers can claim a credit worth $8,000 - or 10% of the home’s value, whichever is less - on their 2008 or 2009 taxes.
First-time buyers include people who have never owned a home before as [...]
February 11th, 2009 by roostblog in Features, General, Reaction, Real Estate Marketing
So you’ve had to have been sleeping under a rock for the past couple of years to not have heard the decline in the real estate market. Prices are plummeting. Volume is way down. Agents are getting out of the business. Brokerages are downsizing or closing.
But with any down economy or industry, there are opportunities abound if you just play your cards right. A lot of brokerages are taking a “wait and see” approach to the market and their business. [...]
What do you think it signals when a city or town has more homes in foreclosure than traditional listings?
a)Â Â Â Â Â Buyer beware - it means that market is headed for a fall
b)Â Â Â Â Â Buy opportunity - it means buyers have leverage
c)Â Â Â Â Â Neither
Please provide your answer in the comment section with any additional tidbits of information you might have.
December 16th, 2008 by roostblog in Features, General, Reaction
Obviously foreclosures have garnered a lion’s share of the real estate news over the last year. Many websites have popped up almost overnight touting the completeness of their foreclosure data but most sites only show a fraction of the properties available. Just like with our resale data, where we bring the most comprehensive data set because of our access to local MLS information, Roost has aligned itself with First American CoreLogic, a member of The First American Corporation to provide [...]
October 31st, 2008 by roostblog in Announcement, Features, General, Reaction, Real Estate Marketing
Part 3: Follow Up
We are now dealing with the most critical piece of the online real estate puzzle…follow up. It is one thing to capture leads on your website but you need to contact those leads immediately. Most consumers now expect communication within 30 minutes of their inquiry. Some are even tougher and demand a response within 10 minutes.
What happens if you don’t respond in 30 minutes? The consumers go somewhere else. So now you’ve spent all this money and [...]
October 27th, 2008 by roostblog in Features, General, Reaction, Real Estate Marketing
Part 1: Traffic Sources
So you’ve been using different sources to drive traffic to you real estate website but you are not seeing the results you’d like. What could be the problem? Well it could be several things, but one of the culprits could be bad traffic. I know it sounds strange but not all web traffic is created equal. It has different levels of quality depending on the source of said traffic.
For example, you can send a ton of traffic [...]
