Archive for July, 2008
St. Louis Real Estate-Market Watch July 26th, 2008
Filed under: St. Louis Market Reports
Saint Louis Real Estate Market Watch by Art Wagner @ Keller Williams Realty Southwest, Sunset Hills, Mo.
July 26th, 2008
The Anatomy of St. Louis Real Estate
The St. Louis Home for Sale Team provides a weekly St. Louis County and Bi-weekly St. Charles County Market and Jefferson County Market Watch Report to review and plug into your home buying or selling scenario. Your questions and comments are welcome!
The Saint Louis Real Estate Market this week is showing less active listings than the previous couple of weeks. We are still seeing homes selling, as our pending ratio has remained consistent. We are showing an increase in the pending ratio this week, however this is only due to less acive listings and home sales remaining at previous levels. Our average list prices and sales prices are also holding steady.
As we go through the summer months, we continue to talk with sellers and buyers who believe that our local market is still in terrible shape, with prices dropping and too much inventory in the market. Well, we’re here to tell you, that’s not the real scenario here in the St. Louis Metro Area.
Want PROOF? Check out the latest report released by the Office of Federal Housing Enterprises Oversight (OFHEO) at www.OFHEO.gov. Their statistics show that in Missouri, we have seen housing prices appreciate during the first quarter of 2008 and housing prices have actually RISEN 1.7% during the first quarter. Their statistics are based on actual home sales numbers and re-finance contracts. Read the complete 82 page report if you’re bored, but the charts, graphs and maps included tell the story.
Our own Multiple Listing Service data also supports this, as you view our Market Watch Reports each week. For the past 12–14 months, we have not experienced much movement either up or down in home prices in our local market. You can view the Market Watch Report from July 28th, 2007 HERE. The only price range that has had significant movement is the luxury home market in the 800,000 plus range.
Inventory in this market is also far behind inventory numbers from 2007. With 5734 active listings as of today, compare that with 6321 active listings same time last year. A difference of almost 500, which is mostly in the price ranges that move our market at $300,000 and down.
One of our biggest challenges in this market now is helping buyers and sellers understand the REAL state of our local market. Sellers can feel more confident as home prices are holding steady. Buyers will do well now, as there is good value for the dollar in the marketplace and interest rates have dropped again. Buyers looking for their “bargain of a lifetime” may be out of luck, as our market is still showing average list to sales price ratios in a 2 percent to 5 percent range.
Thinking of buying or selling a home? Contact Us for a FREE Comparative Market Analysis and additional information tailored to your specific needs.
St. Louis Real Estate St. Louis County Market Watch July 26th, 2008
St. Louis Real Estate Jefferson County Market Watch July 26th, 2008
St. Louis Real Estate St. Charles County Market Watch July 19th, 2008
St. Louis Real Estate Benchmark Report June 2008
The report begins by breaking the market into 17 distinct price ranges. Then we show current listings and current pending listings which creates a pending ratio, which is helpful on a week to week basis to see if activity is increasing or decreasing in a price category.
The report also shows the last 6 months of results and compares the data to the same 6 months of the previous year.
The Market Analysis includes data on:
Number of Active Listings (Current)
Pending Sales (Going to closing)
Pending Ratio (Active vs.Pending)
Sold (Last 6 months)
Expired (Last 6 months)1
Average List Price
Average Sale Price
Average List to Sales Price %
Days on Market (DOM)
Months worth of Inventory (Based on current pending rate)
Buyers Market: > 7 months of listing inventory
Transitional Market: 5 - 7 months of listing inventory (sometimes called a “balanced” market)
Seller Market: < 5 months of listing inventory
Average % Sale Price/List Price (0-30), (31-60), (61-90), (91-120), (120+)DOM
Notice that you’re paying a penalty for over pricing. . .hey. .it’s a fact!!
The Benchmark Report is produced monthly for:
- Single Family Residence
- Ranch Style
- 1300 - 2000 sq.ft.
- 3 Bedrooms
- 1.5 Bathrooms
Art Wagner can be reached at art@stlouisrealestatevoice.com
Posted by art | Read More | 2 Comments » | 07.27.2008
St. Louis Mortgage News - What Was I Thinking
Filed under: For Buyers, Mortgage News
What was I thinking? by Chris Scheer, Cornerstone Mortgage, O’Fallon, MO
The wonderful thing about interest rates is that you never can truly predict what direction they are heading in. For those of you that read my last post about rates going down, you at this point think I am a complete fool! At some level you might be right; however the same pressures that existed when I wrote that article are still there. They just have had some short term relief and the usual unpredictable influences that occur from time to time affect them. Let’s talk about where we were, where we went and where we are now?
Two weeks ago today our 30 year fixed on a conventional loan was about 6.75%. It was then that I started the article on rates dropping. Throughout that week the rates started to fall, so much that on Friday morning of that week I locked in a purchase at 6.125% on a 30 year loan. Around 1:00 that day it was announced that the Fed was stepping in and taking over Indy Mac bank. At that point our rates jumped up to 6.375%.
The following Monday the market remained calm, and rates did not move. Then on Tuesday oil prices started to drop and over the next two days oil fell over $10 a barrel. All of a sudden Wall Street showed improvement in stock prices and the 6 week slide was halted. That meant that money was flowing back into stocks and out of bonds. Remember your economic lessons of previous posts, when the demand goes down the price goes down. On bonds when the price goes down the yield (interest rate) goes up. So by Friday of last week we were back to 6.75% on a 30 year loan.
As we start the week, we have oil starting to climb again and one of our two Presidential Candidates trying to move troops to Afghanistan to fight the War on Terror. As long as we are fighting Wars, we are going to have challenges controlling our markets. These wars are costing us BILLIONS and we are paying for that with borrowed money. Sooner or later that will have a negative effect on our economy and we will see rates come down.
For questions or comments about this please contact Chris Scheer at chrisscheer@stlouisrealestatevoice.com
Posted by doug | Read More | Your Comments Are Welcome! | 07.23.2008
Saint Louis Real Estate-Market Watch July 19th, 2008
Filed under: St. Louis Market Reports
Saint Louis Real Estate Market Watch by Art Wagner @ Keller Williams Realty Southwest, Sunset Hills, Mo.
July 19th, 2008
The Anatomy of St. Louis Real Estate
The St. Louis Home for Sale Team provides a weekly St. Louis County and Bi-weekly St. Charles County Market and Jefferson County Market Watch Report to review and plug into your home buying or selling scenario. Your questions and comments are welcome!
The Saint Louis Real Estate Market this week sees our buyer activity remaining steady, with only a few new active listings. Our average pending ratio has climbed to 14.46% with a few more homes accepting contracts.
With the heat of summer and interest rates inching upward to around 6.26% for a 30 year fixed rate mortgage, we expect to see a bit of a slow-down in activity in the coming weeks. We are heading into the summer months when we typically see a bit of a slow-down, but as we are still behind last year’s numbers of homes sold year-to-date, it will be interesting to see how the rest of the summer plays out.
Thinking of buying or selling a home? Contact Us for a FREE Comparative Market Analysis and additional information tailored to your specific needs.
St. Louis Real Estate St. Louis County Market Watch July 19th, 2008
St. Louis Real Estate Jefferson County Market Watch July 12th, 2008
St. Louis Real Estate St. Charles County Market Watch July 19th, 2008
St. Louis Real Estate Benchmark Report June 2008
The report begins by breaking the market into 17 distinct price ranges. Then we show current listings and current pending listings which creates a pending ratio, which is helpful on a week to week basis to see if activity is increasing or decreasing in a price category.
The report also shows the last 6 months of results and compares the data to the same 6 months of the previous year.
The Market Analysis includes data on:
Number of Active Listings (Current)
Pending Sales (Going to closing)
Pending Ratio (Active vs.Pending)
Sold (Last 6 months)
Expired (Last 6 months)1
Average List Price
Average Sale Price
Average List to Sales Price %
Days on Market (DOM)
Months worth of Inventory (Based on current pending rate)
Buyers Market: > 7 months of listing inventory
Transitional Market: 5 - 7 months of listing inventory (sometimes called a “balanced” market)
Seller Market: < 5 months of listing inventory
Average % Sale Price/List Price (0-30), (31-60), (61-90), (91-120), (120+)DOM
Notice that you’re paying a penalty for over pricing. . .hey. .it’s a fact!!
The Benchmark Report is produced monthly for:
- Single Family Residence
- Ranch Style
- 1300 - 2000 sq.ft.
- 3 Bedrooms
- 1.5 Bathrooms
Art Wagner can be reached at art@stlouisrealestatevoice.com
Posted by art | Read More | Your Comments Are Welcome! | 07.20.2008
St. Louis Mortgage News - Goodbye Tiny Dancer
Filed under: Mortgage News
Goodbye Countrywide and Goodbye to their step brother Indy Mac by Chris Scheer, Cornerstone Mortgage, O’Fallon, MO
The Federal Reserve stepped in and took over Indy Mac bank on Friday.
This comes as no shock to members of the mortgage industry as recently Indy Mac announced it was ceasing its retail mortgage operations.
So why do I call Indy Mac Countrywide’s step brother?
For years Indy Mac mirrored all the lending programs that Countrywide created, almost to the point where unless you looked at the login page when you were visiting their site, you could not tell the 2 companies apart. There were times when Countrywide would announce a change in a program or guideline and within hours the same change would be announced at Indy Mac. From an originators standpoint, it was comical how the two companies mirrored each other.
When Countrywide was hammered last year and the Fed stepped in to rescue them Indy Mac started to take on a life of their own. They for the first time were the first of the two companies to change programs and products reducing their exposure and tightening their lending practices. It was because of these efforts that they managed to last as long as they did. If it were not for comments made by Senator Schumer they may have managed to right their ship and avoid the Fed taking them over.
So why does the Fed rescue one company and take over another? Stock penetration and price. If Indy Mac would have had the numbers of shareholders that Countrywide had world wide or even Bear Stearns, they would have been rescued as opposed to taken over.
For Questions or comments, please contact Chris Scheer at chrisscheer@stlouisrealestatevoice.com
Posted by doug | Read More | Your Comments Are Welcome! | 07.14.2008
Saint Louis Real Estate-Market Watch July 12th, 2008
Filed under: St. Louis Market Reports
Saint Louis Real Estate Market Watch by Art Wagner @ Keller Williams Realty Southwest, Sunset Hills, Mo.
July 12th, 2008
The Anatomy of St. Louis Real Estate
The St. Louis Home for Sale Team provides a weekly St. Louis County and Bi-weekly St. Charles County Market and Jefferson County Market Watch Report to review and plug into your home buying or selling scenario. Your questions and comments are welcome!
The Saint Louis Real Estate Market this week continues to show signs of “buyer hesitation” evidenced by a slight increase in active listings with the pending ratio dropping below 14%.
With buyers hesitating, not knowing where or when home prices will “bottom out”, and some sellers remaining unrealistic with their pricing, we have to ask, “Where are you getting your information from?”
At this point in time, it seems we’re seeing more good news than bad at our local level AND on a national level.
At the local level, our average list prices and average sales prices have held fairly steady for the past several months. Our average listing price has actually inched upward a bit since the end of April. Maybe our housing prices DID HIT BOTTOM between this past February and April and no one noticed.
At the National level, the National Association of Realtors has reported four straight months of rising housing prices. RISMedia.com posted an article on July 11th entitled, “Real Estate Prices Rise for Four Straight Months-Is Anyone Noticing?”
Bankrate.com also reports after their weekly survey of large banks and thrifts ending July 9th, that mortgage rates have fallen again for the second week. This is the first time since March the 30–year fixed rate has fallen in consecutive weeks. Check out the complete article HERE.
Now, for those of you who need to read some DOOM AND GLOOM, check out this opinion article posted on Inman News by none other than the founder and publisher of Inman News, Bradley Inman. The article is entitled, “Imagine housing wiwthout a secondary market.” The last paragraph of the article puts this whole credit / housing situation into perspective;
“Like so many parts of American culture, the accessibility to unlimited and poorly scrutinized debt helped turn Americans into a sloppy group of consumers, which spawned greedy Wall Streeters, out of control lenders and starry-eyed investors.”
Thinking of buying or selling a home? Contact Us for a FREE Comparative Market Analysis and additional information tailored to your specific needs.
St. Louis Real Estate St. Louis County Market Watch July 12th, 2008
St. Louis Real Estate Jefferson County Market Watch July 12th, 2008
St. Louis Real Estate St. Charles County Market Watch July 5th, 2008
St. Louis Real Estate Benchmark Report June 2008
The report begins by breaking the market into 17 distinct price ranges. Then we show current listings and current pending listings which creates a pending ratio, which is helpful on a week to week basis to see if activity is increasing or decreasing in a price category.
The report also shows the last 6 months of results and compares the data to the same 6 months of the previous year.
The Market Analysis includes data on:
Number of Active Listings (Current)
Pending Sales (Going to closing)
Pending Ratio (Active vs.Pending)
Sold (Last 6 months)
Expired (Last 6 months)1
Average List Price
Average Sale Price
Average List to Sales Price %
Days on Market (DOM)
Months worth of Inventory (Based on current pending rate)
Buyers Market: > 7 months of listing inventory
Transitional Market: 5 - 7 months of listing inventory (sometimes called a “balanced” market)
Seller Market: < 5 months of listing inventory
Average % Sale Price/List Price (0-30), (31-60), (61-90), (91-120), (120+)DOM
Notice that you’re paying a penalty for over pricing. . .hey. .it’s a fact!!
The Benchmark Report is produced monthly for:
- Single Family Residence
- Ranch Style
- 1300 - 2000 sq.ft.
- 3 Bedrooms
- 1.5 Bathrooms
Art Wagner can be reached at art@stlouisrealestatevoice.com
Posted by art | Read More | Your Comments Are Welcome! | 07.13.2008
St. Louis Mortgage News - Optimisim
Filed under: Mortgage News
We are on the Cusp! by Chris Scheer, Cornerstone Mortgage, O’Fallon MO
Undeniably the stock market has become a Bear market. That means that the Dow industrial average is down more than 20%. Sooner or later, those investors are going to start to move to safer investments. What are safer investments you ask? Well I am going to suggest that Mortgage Backed Securities are safer investments. For the last 12 months, this investment has been out of favor with everyone from institutional investors to foreign investors. As housing prices have fallen drastically on both coasts the middle of the country has done a good job of holding value. The Countrywide Mortgage debacle has turned a corner and is now Bank of America’s problem. The Fed has not had to rescue any more mortgage companies for the last 30 days. Second quarter earnings are being reported this week and by now all the major companies have figured out that they cannot hide the losses from the mortgage mess, so those will be dealt with in these reports.
That leaves us with mortgage backed securities in position to be an attractive investment again; especially the Ginnie Mae government loans. With over 70% of all loan applications that I am taking right now being for FHA or VA loans, I am confident that most other successful originators are doing the same. This will create a huge supply for these investments and the hawkers of these securities will have the product to sell and most of these properties will not be those that are going into foreclosure but being bought out of foreclosure by people who have the means and desire to make their mortgage payments. Sooner or later, Wall Street is going to start moving these securities and then the laws of economics will take over. As demand goes up so does price. On a bond, for those of you that don’t remember, when the price goes up the yield (see interest rate) goes down. Thus, even though there is discussion of the Fed raising short term interest rates, what they really are hoping for is that the lowering of short term rates that they did months ago will finally take hold on the long rates and we will see the 30 year fixed rate get below 6% again.
Now I realize that this is optimistic thinking on my part, but if you listen to the doom and gloom prognosticators out there saying that the economy and the stock market are still in for tougher times, someone has to be willing to bet on the bond market. Today I am that person!!!
For questions or comments on this please contact Chris Scheer at chrisscheer@stlouisrealestatevoice.com
Posted by doug | Read More | Your Comments Are Welcome! | 07.09.2008
Saint Louis Real Estate-Market Watch July 5th, 2008
Filed under: St. Louis Market Reports
Saint Louis Real Estate Market Watch by Art Wagner @ Keller Williams Realty Southwest, Sunset Hills, Mo.
July 5th, 2008
The Anatomy of St. Louis Real Estate
The St. Louis Home for Sale Team provides a weekly St. Louis County and Bi-weekly St. Charles County Market and Jefferson County Market Watch Report to review and plug into your home buying or selling scenario. Your questions and comments are welcome!
The Saint Louis Real Estate Market this week seems to be slowing a bit with fewer active listings and fewer homes accepting contracts. Thus, our pending ratio has dropped to 14.47 percent.
This is the time of the year where we should be at our peak for listings and sales activity. As the summer progresses, it is usually the heat of the summer that tends to slow activity. This summer, with almost perfect weather so far, we see this slow-down fueled by (no pun intended) the increase in gas prices, interest rates adjusting upward a bit and more uncertainty in the econoomy.
Even with our slow-down and all the uncertainty and doom and gloom the news media insists on hammering us with, we still see our Saint Louis Market as fairly stable. We still are experiencing average listing prices of homes inching up slightly with average selling prices holding steady. Except for a few price ranges, we are still in that “Transitional” market. We see our average list to sales prices in most price ranges in a 1.5 percent to 4 percent range. Homes are still selling in a 96.8 percent to 98.5 percent range.
For some great information regarding the real estate market and a really cool home-value calculator, check out the report just released by the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO) at http://www.ofheo.gov/.
Thinking of buying or selling a home? Contact Us for a FREE Comparative Market Analysis and additional information tailored to your specific needs.
St. Louis Real Estate St. Louis County Market Watch July 5th, 2008
St. Louis Real Estate Jefferson County Market Watch June 21st, 2008
St. Louis Real Estate St. Charles County Market Watch July 5th, 2008
St. Louis Real Estate Benchmark Report June 2008
The report begins by breaking the market into 17 distinct price ranges. Then we show current listings and current pending listings which creates a pending ratio, which is helpful on a week to week basis to see if activity is increasing or decreasing in a price category.
The report also shows the last 6 months of results and compares the data to the same 6 months of the previous year.
The Market Analysis includes data on:
Number of Active Listings (Current)
Pending Sales (Going to closing)
Pending Ratio (Active vs.Pending)
Sold (Last 6 months)
Expired (Last 6 months)1
Average List Price
Average Sale Price
Average List to Sales Price %
Days on Market (DOM)
Months worth of Inventory (Based on current pending rate)
Buyers Market: > 7 months of listing inventory
Transitional Market: 5 - 7 months of listing inventory (sometimes called a “balanced” market)
Seller Market: < 5 months of listing inventory
Average % Sale Price/List Price (0-30), (31-60), (61-90), (91-120), (120+)DOM
Notice that you’re paying a penalty for over pricing. . .hey. .it’s a fact!!
The Benchmark Report is produced monthly for:
- Single Family Residence
- Ranch Style
- 1300 - 2000 sq.ft.
- 3 Bedrooms
- 1.5 Bathrooms
Art Wagner can be reached at art@stlouisrealestatevoice.com
Posted by art | Read More | Your Comments Are Welcome! | 07.06.2008
St. Louis Mortgage News - The View From 30,000 Feet
Filed under: For Buyers, For Sellers, Mortgage News
St. Louis Real Estate Voice guest editor Chris Scheer takes a look back at the past 12 months of the mortgage industry and a hopeful look forward.
As a buyer, seller, or investor, how do you feel about the mortgage mess and how has it affected your home purchase plans? . . . what’s the view from street level?
What a difference a day makes! by Chris Scheer, Cornerstone Mortgage, O’Fallon MO
Over the past 11 months the mortgage industry has gone through one of the most tumultuous times in recent history. 
As mortgage companies went out of business, others were rescued by the Federal Reserve and program guidelines changed like your mother told you to change your underwear; DAILY. Many people, loan officers included were caught not being up to date on the ever changing landscape of guideline changes. I can admit I had challenges with 2 condo loans in particular.
In addition to the ever changing landscape of product and guideline changes we have also seen a rate climate that reminds me of a playground toy, the sliding teeter totter! Rates go up one day, down the next, up again then up and up and then a drastic drop followed by more upward movement. I continue to preach to my clients, that locking in is the best defense in the current market. We can always look to renegotiate if rates go down drastically but, once they go up you are screwed. As my old mentor told me, “pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered.
Let’s hope that the reforms FHA has instituted effective July 14, 2008 and the merger of Countrywide and Bank of America signal a change to the whirlwind of changes and the rest of the year is filled with calm waters for borrowers to sail in.
For questions or comments on this post, please contact Chris Scheer at chrisscheer@stlouisrealestatevoice.com
Posted by doug | Read More | Your Comments Are Welcome! | 07.05.2008
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