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Scene Magazine interviews Michael Saunders June 2011
MSC Marketing
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Luxury Portfolio.com Statistics Q2 2010
MSC Marketing
This presentation from LuxuryPortfolio.com show updated statistics from the second quarter of 2010.
Click the image to see full size chart in printable format.
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Regional Spotlight: Florida’s Existing Condo Sales Rise in July 2010
MSC Marketing
RISMEDIA, August 26, 2010—Sales of existing condominiums in Florida rose 11% in July 2010, with a total of 5,557 condos sold statewide compared to 4,991 units sold in July 2009, according to the latest housing data released by Florida Realtors.Eleven of Florida’s metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) reported higher existing condo sales in July, according to Florida Realtors. The statewide existing condo median sales price last month was $87,200; in July 2009 it was $108,500 for a 20% decrease. The national median existing condo price was $181,300 in June, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR). (More …)
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Weak Home Sales Numbers Don’t Tell Whole Story, Real Estate Center Economist Says
MSC Marketing
RISMEDIA, August 26, 2010—Home sales statistics are likely to paint a picture of a weakening market through the end of 2010 and the first half of 2011. While it’s tempting to attribute the bleak numbers to a deteriorating housing market, an economist with the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University said that doesn’t tell the whole story.“The year-over-year decline in existing home sales will be the result of comparing months when there was no tax credit with those from a year earlier, when the tax credit was artificially increasing sales,” said Dr. Mark Dotzour, the Center’s chief economist. (More …)
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LBK’s sand, surf still as clean as before
MSC Marketing
HANNERLE MOORE
Guest Columnist
realestate@lbknews.com
As this edition of the Longboat Key News goes to press, the last chapter in the ugly saga of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill is being written. After a summer of depressing headlines and grim images of the spill’s effects on beaches, marine life, businesses and tourism along the northern Gulf Coast, the latest dispatches from the disaster site bring much welcomed relief.The Macondo Well has been successfully capped from above; and a more elaborate procedure involving pumping mud and concrete down its casing—called “static kill”— was declared a complete success by the officials, scientists and engineers involved. Over the next few days, the long-awaited relief well will intersect the damaged well at its base and pump in additional mud and concrete from below. Once the concrete hardens, as it already has from above, the well will be declared officially dead and recovery along the affected areas of the gulf Coast can truly begin in earnest. Thankfully Southwest Florida is nowhere near the affected areas—those being certain beaches and waterways along coastal Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi and a small sliver of Florida’s far western panhandle (which has already been cleaned-up). (More …)
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Supply Goes Up, Prices Come Down. It’s that Simple
MSC Marketing
by The KCM Crew on August 3, 2010
The big question in real estate is what will happen with home prices over the next few months. The experts have already weighed-in predicting prices will probably take another dip down. The reasoning? Put simply, the inventory of homes on the market is greater than the demand for housing.Demand will remain stable at best. No study or report is predicting a dramatic increase in demand over previous estimates. PMI, Inc. is actually cutting their forecast back. In their most recent issue of The Home and Mortgage Market Review they announced:
“We have lowered our projection of home sales for 2010 in response to the larger-than-expected decline in sales in May.” (More …)
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Mortgage Rates Hit New Low, Are Buyers Responding?
MSC Marketing
By Alan J. Heavens
RISMEDIA, August 3, 2010—(MCT)—The 4.5% fixed-rate mortgage is here, although more than 14 months late. That magic number, or a close approximation, was reached recently, when Freddie Mac reported a 30-year rate of 4.54%. The possibility first arose in early 2009, when the government began mass-purchasing mortgages from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to prop up housing. Just about everyone predicted the rates would hit what builders and real estate agents call a “sweet spot” in a few months, and the housing recovery would begin, especially if consumer confidence had recovered to prerecession levels as well.“What gets people buying again?” asked mortgage broker Peter Buchsbaum of Arlington Capital Mortgage in Horsham, Pa. “The answer is confidence—confidence in the value not falling and confidence they’ll still have a job.” (More …)
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Real Estate Incentives Out of Style among Price-Focused Shoppers
MSC Marketing
By Jim Buchtaic
RISMEDIA, July 30, 2010—(MCT)—Government cash didn’t help John Foley and Cindy Case sell their Minneapolis house before the federal home buyer’s tax credit expired at the end of April, so the couple decided to take matters into their own hands.

Sales without incentives:
In lieu of attention-grabbing incentives, here’s what works best today:
-Price it right. Buyers have access to lots of data, and they’ll know if your house is too expensive.
-Offer to pay some of the buyer’s closing costs.
-Maximize exposure. Saturate the Internet and all forms of social media with your listing.
-Use great photos, not good ones. Make sure your house makes a great first impression.
-Make it sing. Listing information must be complete and well-written. (More …) -
Existing-Home Sales Slow in June 2010 but Remain Above Year-Ago Levels
MSC Marketing
RISMEDIA, July 23, 2010—With the scheduled closing deadline for the home buyer tax credits, existing-home sales slowed in June 2010 but remained at relatively elevated levels, according to the National Association of Realtors.Existing-home sales, which are completed transactions that include single-family, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops, fell 5.1% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.37 million units in June from 5.66 million in May, but are 9.8% higher than the 4.89 million-unit pace in June 2009. (More …)
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Congress Approves Extension of the National Flood Insurance Program
MSC Marketing
July 15, 2010
Homeowners throughout southwest Florida received good news from Congress this afternoon. A strong bi-partisan majority of the House, which I was pleased to be a part of, approved legislation (H.R. 5114) extending the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) through 2015. The House approved this bill with a 329-90 vote. (More …)
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