Positive housing market numbers out today

http://mam.econoday.com/byshoweventfull.asp?fid=450962&cust=mam&year=2012&lid=0#top

An easy comparison with the prior shortened week boosted gains in weekly mortgage applications, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. Still, purchase applications, up 13.0 percent, jumped to their highest level in six months which, if extended to subsequent weeks, points to pivotal strength for underlying home sales. On the refinancing side, home owners are now locking in 30-year rates that are below 4 percent. MBA's refinancing index jumped 19.0 percent to the highest level in more than a year. The average rate for 30-year fixed mortgages with conforming balances (under $417,500) is steady in the week at 3.88 percent.

The economy is picking up, there's no doubt about it. That spells trouble for the Republicans in November. Gas prices are down and the housing market is beginning to revive. I know my family is doing much better than a few years ago- all my children are employed and doing fairly well now and the old man and old woman are feeling pretty good about our retirement prospects. I think this will be a much better summer than in years previous. Obama couldn't have been expected to dig us out of the mess we were in immediately after he took office. It may take him another 3-4 years, but the progress is beginning to show.

Boards, I hope those stats are right, but there still are a lot of empty houses and foreclosures to get through. I do not see home prices really increasing for a number of years. However, home rental prices do seem to be steady. A couple of years ago, we seemed to be going through a real difficult time regarding our rental properties. One of our homes was rented by a couple who expressed an interest in buying the house, an idea that hubby and I were open to. They paid their rent on time and took care of the place. But one day I got a call from my property manager saying that the husband had lost his job, they were going to have to move, the wife had pawned her wedding band to pay the previous month's rent and they wanted to know if I would let them out of their lease agreement. Since they had been good tenants and had paid their rent on time and taken care of the place, I did not hold them to their lease agreement. I felt really bad for them. And the house rented again in just a couple of weeks. During this same period, with another rental house we have, the tenants left in the middle of the night, so I was told. Without paying the last month's rent. They weren't such good tenants...and left the place with some damage. The property manager in that case recommended that we file a claim against them, but I told him--no--they were gone, we'd never recover any money from them and I just wanted to move on and find new and better tenants....which we did. And in that case, they did lose their deposit which helped pay for the repairs. For the last year or so, we haven't had tenant problems like we were having a couple of years ago. So I don't know if we've been lucky for the past couple of years, if the economy has stabilized or somewhat improved or if my property managers are just better at screening tenants. But in terms of home sales, it is still a buyers market and prices are very low. I hope some of the younger people in their 20s/30s who have been waiting and renting will decide that now is the time to buy because with the low home prices combined with record low interest rates, mortgage payments are often lower than rental rates. And I hope in a few years when we are ready to rid ourselves of our rentals that we'll be able to sell them for a reasonably decent price.

I am by no means a financial expert or guru so I rely on what I see everyday not whimsy news media outlets. What I see is tons of people still with out jobs and tons of people who have given up finding jobs. Businesses closing or cutting back hours. More people qualifying for assistance programs (Food stamps roles have doubled under Obama), More people losing their homes and assets. 401k plans decimated, Employers with stock piles of cash and record profits because they are to scared to expand or hire new people (My own employer falls into this category). So while news media may paint a rosy picture for the mindless zombies to consume I just haven't seen it get any better only worse under Obama.

The housing market is great for people in the market to buy who have a down payment and good credit. However, what I'm seeing is that a lot of young people are hesitant to buy a house for varying reasons...the marriage rate is down (married couples tend to want to 'settle down" and buy a home, etc), people aren't secure in their jobs, and/or they don't want to be tied down to a mortgage or to a particular city or area. If we can get to a place where people are pretty secure feeling about their jobs and their future employment and income I think we'll see a real and steady improvement in home sales. I'm with alecto, I don't see that yet. But I have heard that home sales in some areas are doing pretty well....for example home sales in Austin, Tx are strong. But in Florida, I think there is still a very steep hill to climb.

Having been in the profession for more than forty years. Since now semi-retired President Barack Hussein Obama took office there have been moderate average swings and down swings. Nothing great. Some of our bleeding heart, desperate Progressives want desperately to believe otherwise.

By: Curtis Houck | July 24, 2014, 22:40 ET

Both ABC World News with Diane Sawyer and NBC Nightly News failed to mention a new, troubling report from the Census Bureau on Thursday night that sales of new homes decreased by 8.1% in June and that May’s originally reported double-digit increase was revised lower, from almost 19% to only 8%.

The CBS Evening News did cover this story, but it only was in the form of a 12-second news brief from anchor Scott Pelley. Pelley grimly reported that: “Today's report on the housing market is raising concerns about the economic recovery. Sales of new homes dropped sharply last month, more than 8%, and that's the largest decline in nearly a year.” [MP3 audio here; Video below]

Read more: http://newsbusters.org/#ixzz38YTqIIs5