New home sales tumble

Posted by Krista on May 26, 2004 in Real Estate Trends | 0 comments

The numbers are in for April, and apparently higher mortgage rates are starting to take their toll. As CNN’s Money states New home sales posted the biggest monthly drop in 10 years in April, coming in much weaker than economists had expected, as rising mortgage rates started biting into the nation’s housing market. The Commerce Department said new home sales fell to an annual rate...

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Rising Interest Rates?

Posted by Krista on May 11, 2004 in Real Estate Trends | 0 comments

Stocks are down to their Dec 2003 lows as of todays because of fears of a stronger economy, which inevitably means the Fed is looking to raise interest rates very soon. Marketwatch.com is predicting a 92% chance that the Fed will raise interest rates in June, and five quarter-point moves by the end of the year. And the market has been rather bearish about this. So, are we in economic recovery,...

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Real Estate Jobs Not looking good in 2004

Posted by Krista on Jan 29, 2004 in Real Estate Trends | 0 comments

Sales and Marketing Management published a story on the job outlook for a number of industries in their Feb 2004 edition. Their outlook for the Real Estate industry looks pretty cool in comparison to other industries surveyed: If you’re thinking of breaking into the real estate industry in the next couple of years, it’s going to be a rough ride. “It’s a very difficult...

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Commentary on Stats and Trends

Posted by Krista on Jan 28, 2004 in Real Estate Trends | 0 comments

Perhaps you’re wondering why I’ve been listing so many stats and trends in my recent postings. I see so many organizations that use lots of marketing tactics, but have no strategic focus. They send mail or advertise at random – particularly when they need business or when they see a competitor doing so. Haphazard marketing never gets you the ongoing results you are looking...

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More 2003 Stats

Posted by Krista on Jan 27, 2004 in Real Estate Trends | 0 comments

These are from NAR There were a total of 6,100,000 existing-home sales in 2003, up 9.6 percent from the previous record of 5,566,000 in 2002. NAR began tracking the sales series in 1968. Existing-home sales increased 6.9 percent in December to a seasonally adjusted annual rate* of 6.47 million units from a level of 6.05 million units in November. Last month’s sales activity was 8.9 percent...

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Major Life Change is the Motivation for New Home Purchases

Posted by Krista on Jan 23, 2004 in Business Planning, Real Estate Trends | 0 comments

Here’s an interesting study on why people purchase homes – and it’s not the super low mortgage rates of the last several years. This should give you some ideas of the best times to reach prospects and what you might include in your info kits. The survey, conducted for lawyers.com by market researchers Harris Interactive, found that one out of four Americans (25%) in the market...

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