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October Spike in Existing Home Sales

More good news hit the wires this morning!

CNBC is reporting that existing home sales reached a record high in October, topping off at 10.1 percent, which amounts to an annual rate of 6.10 million units. Up from a 5.54 million-unit pace in September of this year, the National Association of Realtors reported this surge to be the highest since February 2007.Industry experts are attributing this jump in sales to buyers taking advantage of historically low mortgage rates and the home buyer tax credits.

Analysts were expecting to see a more modest increase in October sales, with a 5.70 million-unit pace up from the formerly reported 5.57 million-unit pace in September. The October sales increased by 23.5 percent compared to October 2008.

In October, all four regions of the U.S. saw an increase in sales. Single-family home sales rose 9.7 percent to an annual rate of 5.33 million units. Condominiums and co-op sales increased 13.2 percent, totaling an annual rate of 770,000 units.

The existing homes for sale inventory fell to 3.57 million units in October, a 3.7 percent decrease from September 2009. The National Association of Realtors reported that the sales pace for October represents a significantly low supply of 7.0 months, compared to September’s supply of 8.0 months.

Click here to view the CNBC article.

Realtors, Who’s Your Target?

There are only three types of purchase buyers: Investors, move-up buyers, and first time home buyers. Who are you targeting?

NAR released that nearly half of the purchases for 2009 are first-time home buyers. The obvious factors playing a major role are significant drops in home prices, $8000 tax credit, low mortgage rates. It seems clear that with half the purchase market being first time home owners that would be the most likely target. The industry is ecstatic that the tax credit was extended through the middle of 2010. So there is still time to wrap your arms around a game plan to attract first time home buyers.

For all of us in the real estate business we continue to work with first time home buyers. Education seems to be the biggest win for us Lendability.com. We have held several seminars on the the home buying process. Many participants have purchased in the past and still attend because they are hungry for information that help them through the transaction. We have also been successful cleaning credit items that are impacting the credit score. We do this at no cost to the customer.

NAR estimates that 5MM resales will close for 2009 and 5.69MM for 2010. Buckle-up because this could be a great ride for all of us.

Please share your thoughts with me. As your partner, we want to work with you to attract new home buyers. If you have any ideas, please reach out to us and we will help you execute on them!

Have a great week.

Click here to view the CNN Money Article.

We’re Growing!

Lendability.com is expanding its Sales Team!

We are seeking motivated individuals to create and cultivate relationships with Realtors.

We offer:
•    Performance-based Tiered Compensation Plan
•    In-house Processing
•    30 day closings
•     Training
•    Help With Developing Your Book of Business

Preferred, but not required:  Mortgages/Real Estate Sales experience
Lendability.com is a full-service, online discount mortgage company. We offer consumers a wide-variety of progressive mortgage products designed to provide quality, low rate home loan options. We take a highly advanced approach to financial service offerings, providing customers with unmatched access to personalized financial information in an efficient and secure format.

FHA/VA/CONV/JUMBO/USDA approved.

Send resumes via email to contact@lendability.com or fax (888) 400-3908.

October Housing Market Wrap Up for Arizona and Home Buyer Tax Credit Extension!!

More great news about the national real estate market was reported on Monday. September had an increase of 6.1% in Pending Home Sales. The rise to 110.1 million from 103.8 million marked the largest annual increase on record and the longest streak of gains since the measurement began in 2001.

The gains are attributed to home buyers rushing to take advantage of the $8,000 tax credit which was set to expire at the end of this month. Fortunately, the President signed a bill today extending the tax credit seven more months! This extension includes a tax credit of $6,500 for home buyers who have lived in their home the previous 5 years. In addition, it increases the number of people eligible for this tax credit by adjusting the income cap to $125,000 for individual filers and $225,000 for joint filers. Click here to view the CNN article.

Here are the Arizona market results for October 2009 (Information was provided by our friends at CromfordReport.com):

• Sales per Month @ 8,032 were up 191 from September 2009 @ 7,841

• Days on Market @ 91 was down 2 days from September 2009 @ 93

• Days on Inventory @ 163 remained steady from September 2009 @ 162

• Active Listings @ 38,733 were up 1,315 from September 2009 @ 37,418

• Median Sales Price @ 128K remained somewhat steady from September 2009 @ 130K

• Lender Owned Percentage of Monthly Sales @ 46% was down from September 2009 @ 50.6%