KCM Blog

From the monthly archives:

April 2010

Tax Credit Still Available for Troops!

April 30, 2010

Thank God For Those Who Have Served! We all owe a debt of gratitude to the men and women who have served this country in times of peace and times of conflict.  They preserve the freedoms the rest of us too often take for granted.  As a nation, there are too few times we properly [...]

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Less Players, More Competence Among Lenders

April 29, 2010

There has been a dramatic decrease in the number of loan officers in this country.  I have seen estimates that show that in 2005 (the peak of mortgage activity) there were 450,000 loan officers, and that by 2009, the number had shrunk to 150,000.  Nearly 70% of individuals feeding their families by originating mortgages have [...]

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Prices: the Truth… and Nothing but the Truth

April 28, 2010

Three different home pricing indexes were released in the last ten days: the S&P Case Shiller Index, the First American CoreLogic Home Price Index and the RPX Monthly Housing Market Report. Each report told virtually the same story. House prices remained pretty much the same since the last reporting period (see table below). The headlines [...]

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The Upper End: Win, Place, or Show?

April 27, 2010

In this horserace to a more normalized housing market, there seemed to be only one constant. The luxury market has been the horse bringing up the rear. We have been experiencing some stability in the lower price points in almost every geographic market. However, the upper tier price points have had an overabundance of inventory [...]

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The Price Is the Same, It Just Costs Less

April 26, 2010

The papers will be full of articles urging homebuyers to purchase a home this week before the Homebuyer Tax Credit expires. The articles will be correct. Getting a home into contract by this Friday, April 30 will enable you to collect on the tax credit. However, it is not just the tax credit that makes [...]

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Is the New York Times Suggesting You Buy a Home?

April 23, 2010

We do a tremendous amount of research each week. Occasionally we see a news source stressing a certain point. It was interesting to see the articles on housing published at the New York Times over the last several days. It seems they might be of the belief that now is the time to buy a [...]

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Better Questions Will Get You a Better Agent

April 22, 2010

When interviewing agents to sell their home, most homesellers really only care about the answer to two questions: Who is going to sell it for the most money? Who is going to charge me the least? The result of these narrow criteria is painful to the seller.  Most people list their home at a price [...]

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When Will 2005-2006 Peak Home Prices Return?

April 21, 2010

Experts can’t agree where home values will be later this year. There are so many variables to consider: interest rates, foreclosures and unemployment to name a few. That is why it is amazing to see a new report which not only looks at this year but also predicts when housing values will return to the [...]

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Interest Rates – Two Weeks after the Fed’s Exit

April 20, 2010

Everyone in both the real estate and mortgage industries waited to see what reaction the mortgage market would have to the Fed exiting its purchase of mortgage-backed-securities last month. Would there be ample demand from the private sector? At what price? The predictions of where 30 year mortgage rates would settle were all over the [...]

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Shadow Inventory about to See the Light

April 19, 2010

As I mentioned in a post earlier this month,  5 Keys to a Real Estate Recovery: I believe both the increase of distressed properties and the timing of their release to the market will be the biggest real estate story of 2010 … Anytime the supply of an item increases and demand remains flat, pricing [...]

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