Who wants to live on Three Bears Loop?

Who wants to live on Three Bears Loop and Rt. 66?
Just think how fun this would be for real estate agents to share very unique streets where they have homes for sale! Even just to start talking about interesting street names...

Shared by Carra Riley.
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Most buyers only think of two things when shopping for a home, the loan and the location.  But there are other things your buyers need to consider.  Buying a home is expensive.  They need to factor in property taxes, maintenance, repairs and renovations.  When your client is purchasing a home help them, especially if they are first time buyers, factor in the other costs of owning the home.
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Nat'l Real Estate Post:
Banks are being forced to limit home buyer with lower LTV ratios to qualify for homes and with the rising interest rates and tight credit, buyers are in short supply.

However, builder sentiment and mortgage applications for August are looking good.
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"Be yourself; everyone else is already taken."  Oscar Wild

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Analysts with Fitch Ratings expect U.S. nonresidential construction activity to pick up more speed heading into 2014, the ratings giant said Monday.

More banks are lending in the space and commercial mortgage-backed securities issuance is on the rise, said Robert Rulla, a director with Fitch.
"After a slow start, Fitch is projecting private non-residential construction will grow 2% in 2013 and 5% in 2014,” Rulla projected. -- HousingWire
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“In terms of annual rates of change, San Francisco lost its leadership position with Las Vegas showing the highest post-recession gain of 24.9%,” said David Blitzer, chairman of the index committee at S&P Dow Jones Indices.
According to Sanders, this is an indication that speculators are starting to pull out of the West Coast cities and move into markets that have yet to reach such high home prices. "It has to be investors driving this up," he said. "This is an unusual switch."
When looking further at how far Atlanta, the monthly leader, has come, it’s helpful to look at its numbers three years ago. Atlanta was down 0.52% three years ago and is now up 3.40%. This compares to San Francisco, which was up 21.37% back in 2010, and is now up only 2.73%.
We know its not residential mortgages that are driving the recovery, said Sanders, it’s really more about where investors are re-parking their money. -- Megan Hopkins in HousingWire
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Housing recovery occurs in stages.  We are in the 3rd stage.  This is when the recovery starts to slow.  The question is can we reach the 4th stage where building and buying really take off?

For the month of July, Trulia concluded that the housing market is now 64% back to normal, which is the highest level on record since the recession.-- Keri Anne Panchuck in HousingWire
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The Conference Board, an industry group, said its index of consumer attitudes rose to 81.5 from 80.3 in July, beating economists' expectations for 79.0.
The expectations index rose to 88.7 from an upwardly revised 86. Consumers, however, were less optimistic about their current standing, with the present situation index slipping to 70.7 from July's more than five-year high of 73.6. -- HousingWire
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The Compassionate Samurai By Brian Klemmer:  Trust but verify.  Learn to trust others on our team.  Don't try to control everything.  You will get more business.
Shared by Rick Floyd
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Nat'l Real Estate Post:
Mortgage rates have caused home values to be revised down.  And if we meet another rate popping bubble, rates will be to blame.  The by product of higher rates is the higher payments.  Have you heard of the Biggert-Water reform act of 2012, HR 4348?  It will hit this October.  It is to make sure flood insurance coffers are stable.  FEMA says it has lost billions due to events like Katrina and Sandy, but Garret Graves of the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority says FEMA, since 1978, has taken in $65.3 Billion in premiums, but has only paid out $56.4 billion to policy holders.  So FEMA will rezone the flood zone maps in order to refill the coffers.  This will lead to a 20% increase in flood insurance.  There will be additional HUD and mortgage insurance hikes which will be followed by private MI hikes which will be followed by the pending G Fee hike, and even your city or county reassessing your property value.  Hazard insurance is up, too.  If we have another round of foreclosures, look to HR 4348 as the cause.
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