Home Prices Decline For First Time In 11 Years

I'm sure you've all read the articles that appeared on Monday that said, for the first time in 11 years, existing home prices fell. (If you didn't, you can read about it here and here.)What struck me about these articles is the different views the so-called "experts" have. In the first article, we have this:"This is the price correction we've been expecting," Lereah said. "With sales stabilizing, we should go back to positive price growth early next...

Market Flushes Out The Not-So-Serious

Yesterday afternoon, I had a guy over to give me an estimate on cleaning my carpets. He was the owner of the carpet cleaning company and we got to talking and it turns out he used to invest in real estate. When I told him I had sold my rental a while ago, he said "So you got out while you could, huh?", referring to the recent market slowdown. Well, no, I got out because it made sense to me at the time.He went on to tell me that he had 9 houses at...

A Little Of This, A Little Of That

Not too much has been going on with me and real estate lately. I've made the decision to invest some money in my own house - finally. We've been living there for three years now and still have temporary paper blinds on some windows! So we're in the process of getting in-ceiling speakers installed (the house is pre-wired for surround sound and the cables are sticking out of the ceiling on big nails), having an entertainment center built, and a new...

Builders Are Practically Giving Away Homes!

Well, not really, but I did see an amazing offer last weekend. I have some relatives who are looking to move to Arizona from California and they were out here last weekend to look at houses. They looked at some resales, but also looked at one new build development. The house they liked was the biggest in the development, about 2,300 square feet. It was priced at $395,000, but the builder was offering an $85,000 incentive. With that incentive, the...