Archive for February, 2009Keepin’ It Real Estate: How Good is Zillow?By ANDREW JEFFERY This post first appeared on Minyanville. Americans finally get it: Home prices are falling. This may seem like a preposterous statement, what with the entire global financial system in disarray after the collapse of the US housing market, but we Americans are stubbornly optimistic people, content to ignore calamity as long as we [...] House of the Week: It’s Always Sunny in SunnyvaleThis week’s House of the Week comes to us from the suburban hamlet of Sunnyvale, a short 45 minute drive south from San Francisco. Sunnyvale is conveniently located near Silicon Valley job centers and also home to a Toys ‘R Us that’s allegedly haunted by a ghost named Johnny Johnson. Address: 809 Muender Avenue, Sunnyvale, [...] Fighting Debt With… Debt?By ANDREW JEFFERY This post first appeared on Minyanville. Our elected officials appear convinced that Americans should buy stuff they don’t need with money they don’t have. The Senate, in passing its version of the over $800 billion economic stimulus package yesterday, threw a great deal of cash at 2 industries whose products we have [...] House of the Week Results: Sweet Sweet Santa AnaThis week’s House of the Week, a 3bed, 2 bath home in Santa Ana, CA is evidence that even in a market as weak as the one we’re one, people are still buying houses. This may seem like simplistic concept, but the way the media reports it, it’s as if home buying has stopped altogether. [...] Keepin’ It Real Estate: Capitulation Now!This post first appeared on Minyanville. Finally, housing is starting to act like a market searching for a bottom. Well, sort of. In former boom states like California, Arizona and Florida, distressed sales are driving the local real-estate markets. After a near-complete evaporation of buying activity last year, buyers have been brought off the sidelines [...] House of the Week: Sweet Sweet Santa AnaEvery Wednesday, Cirios will post details about a house in a different part of California that is currently listed, under contract, or recently sold. We invite readers to guess how much it was listed and sold for, or if it hasn’t sold, what the final purchase price will be. If you need additional information about [...] Housing Perspective: December Pending Home SalesBy AUSTIN NELSON Data released by the NAR yesterday show that pending home sales increased at the national level by over 6% in December 2008. Analysts had been expecting the reading to be unchanged from the previous month. This index theoretically predicts home sale trends for the following month by looking at the number of [...] Do You Have a Friend in the Real Estate Business?By RYAN TAYLOR Friends are people you can trust. They will come pick you up when your car breaks down. They are there to pick you up when you are down and there to celebrate when something goes right. Friends are the most valuable thing you have. Friends do not try to hurt, deceive or [...] House of the Month: Love Thy NeighborThis post first appeared in the February 2009 edition of Cirios Trends. This being the inaugural edition of Cirios Trends, we’re giving our loyal readers two houses for the price of one. Let’s travel about 30 minutes south from San Francisco to Google Park – err, Menlo Park – where the tree-lined streets are paved [...] Zip Code Spotlight: Redwood City, 94061This post first appeared in the February 2009 edition of Cirios Trends. Real estate, as they say, is local. Nothing could be more true, especially in the current market. While the zip code is admittedly an imperfect geographic marker for residential real estate analysis, its tough to get reliable data that’s much more detailed. Zip [...] By the Numbers: Low-Low-Low Mortgage RatesThis post first appeared in the February 2009 edition of Cirios Trends. Record low mortgage rates are all over the news these days, as we’re once again flooded with advertisements telling us its a great time to buy a house. Keeping interest rates low represents the frontline in the government’s assault on the housing market’s [...] Doing Your Real Estate Homework: Google EarthThis post first appeared in the February 2009 edition of Cirios Trends. Just because you don’t have a real estate license and are smart enough to know that Zillow’s Zestimates are about as accurate as the Warriors are dominant in the NBA, doesn’t mean you can’t find valuable real estate information online. One of the [...] Cirios Trends – February 2009Below is the inaugural issue of Cirios Trends: Getting to the Bottom of the Housing Market, our monthly newsletter featuring articles and analysis on topics that are pertinent to today’s volatile real estate market. Please let us know what else you’d like to see in the news letter, we value your feedback. Click here to [...] |