Steve Holderfield's Real Estate Blog

I have written that our real estate recovery will be an up and down trip resulting in several seemingly positive moves followed by a turn to the negative side of things. We have some evidence of this from recent foreclosure activity as compared to a year earlier:

http://www.dsnews.com/articles/loss-mitigation-efforts-arent-keeping-pace-with-loan-defaults-lps-2010-04-12

A friend of mine has been chosen by a bank, who will go un-named, to market about 150 properties for them in Solano County this year. Could it be that the banks are finally planning to bring all the “phantom inventory” we’ve all been wondering about, to the market?

If so, we could be in for another market drop… but finally we could have more inventory to present to our buyers. There’s always 2 sides to every story. Many experts have estimated that the banks have held back about a years worth of home inventory from the market. This action or lack of action has actually created an artificial shortage of available listings around the country. Home prices have actually risen a bit due to the lack of inventory and many expect that these recent gains would be erased if the banks brought all this inventory to the market.

So hang tight the coming months should be interesting to see if the banks do put all the foreclosed homes that they are holding to the market and what the reaction of the market will be.

http://www.dsnews.com/articles/white-house-to-announce-plans-cut-mortgage-principals-2010-03-25

More government means less freedom and unintended consequences that are hard to predict. I’m not saying that the government intends to do harm… it just seems that they can’t predict what the results of their actions will be.  When it comes to the government, in my opinion, less is really more.   It seems to me that the more they try to fix things the longer we have to deal with this financial crisis. I say, let’s let the 100% effective law of natural consequences do it’s good work. There is nothing more sure to affect human behavior in a positive way than letting somebody have to deal with the natural consequences of making a mistake.

Previously I have said that the Real Estate Market will continue like a roller coaster with many ups and downs… here’s more proof of what I’m saying when I say that this crazy market is not over yet: Texas Posts Nation’s Largest Monthly Foreclosure Increase: Study… http://www.dsnews.com/articles/texas-posts-nations-largest-monthly-foreclosure-increase-study-2010-03-25

My advice is to grab onto all those old common sense behaviors that used to be so typical of our country…

• don’t spend what you can’t pay for
• live a little below your means
• save some for a rainy day
• say what you mean and mean what you say
• take responsibility for yourself… Don’t expect others or the
• overnment or anybody else to pay for your needs
• sacrifice for the worthwhile things you want and need

Basically, if I were a little younger I guess I would say, “Quit your whining and Man up!” These are times that require that old work ethic… work first and play later as I used to tell my kids. It is only through these kinds of conservative behaviors that we will survive this mountain of individual and Governtment debt that we have amassed as a nation. Success will only come from working hard… for a long time. Consistency is the key to our future success. We can’t get to the destination we desire over night. It will take some time, hard work and our corporate the refussal to quit.

We just can’t seem to keep home sales rolling. It will continue to be a roller coaster ride… watch for many ups and downs going forward as far as home sales and values.   Houses have become homes again and the quicker we all realize that homes should never have been treated like a credit card the better off we’ll all be. Read on:

http://www.dsnews.com/articles/existing-home-sales-fall-again-in-february-nar-2010-03-23

It seems that homes values have been hit the hardest in areas of the country where homes were the most “over valued” before the bubble burst in 2006. Makes sense, but read on to learn what areas were hit the hardest: http://www.dsnews.com/articles/collapse-in-home-prices-hits-overvalued-markets-hardest-2010-03-19