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St George Real Estate - Tipsy Economic Climate - Local Inventory Decreases

St George Real Estate has seen a bit of spike in foreclosure sales and many short sales are being gobbled up at least with offers on them. Real Estate tid bits on the horizon and economic factors will most likely show forth an unpredictably volatile market.

National Economic News - "Tipsy" Tid Bit Clips - Affecting the Local St George Market

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently charged Goldman Sachs financial giant with fraud. Knowingly making fraudulent deals surrounding sub-prime mortgages while obtaining insurance or bets against them, that they would 'go south', allowed them to become richer in the process- what has been called Collateralized Debt Obligations. These allegations caused Stocks to plunge lower, which had the trade off of bonds being in demand and being bought, helping home loan rates to improve.

Speculated high points in the economy are being downplayed. For instance, there is speculation that improvements in a business bottom line may be due to having laid off workers, thus possibly contributing to a worse problem. It is speculated that inflation has been overly downplayed in order to keep government incentivized lending and interest rates lower.

There is some good news lately on the housing front with new housing starts increasing. Yet it might be overrated with anxious builders speculating too much on demand. It is hoped that housing starts will be more in relation to demand and not increase supply on an already supply oriented market.

It is suspected that the Existing Home Sales Report will also bring some positive news.

St George Real Estate

In St George, I think some investors are surprised at how unavailable some of the inventory they are looking at really is, when it consists of many short sales perhaps, that look RATHER to be tied up with offers on them. This can contribute to making the rest of regular inventory look not as attractive. Bank Foreclosures are lapped up in the beginning month if they are decent deals. Some strategy actually seems for the bank/listing agent to price it competitively enough to spur on a "bidding war" (couple offers to multiple offers). They try to get just the right level of low price to get lucky with it.

Go For It- Brian's Hot Deals!

On the other side, many buyers shy away when that is what other buyers thought too and the one or two that did go toe-to-toe, may have found that it was not pushed up that far in price, even in the "bidding war" and actually made out pretty decently. This is keeping prices down in the comparable's along with more short sales that are going through. As such, the serious buyer is advised to get onto Brian's Hottest Weekly Deals list if they'd like to participate in being educated about where and how fast some of these new hot deals do and can go, in order to participate in getting one of these good deals yourself.

The Tax Credit incentive dies the death this April 30th and it is not too late to take the plunge before that date, if you haven't already. You only need get a offer signed and under contract on something by then and have it Close by June 30th, 2010.

Remember that generally bad economic news improves the stable investment into bonds and thus helps home loan rates, where as good economic news promotes investments the other way and leads to worsening interest rates. Many think that interest rates are bound to go up and as such, variables towards making your loan affordable, might lead to this time, now, being as good as ever to get in on buying St George Real Estate.

Interest Rates Notification

St George Utah Real Estate Interest Rates Notification

We wanted everyone to know- interest rates are going to go up, not making it any more affordable to buy a St George Utah home for sale.

As part of the government stimulus package to stabilize the housing market, the Federal Reserve has been buying up Mortgage Backed Securities (MBS). However, they have stopped doing that and have announced several times that they would be pulling out of the business of manipulating them and becoming now, instead, a seller. The announcement is that on March 31, 2010, they will remove the demand they have been creating as buyers and will instead become a seller of MBS, putting more supply into the market. This in turn will have the natural effect of pushing Bond prices lower and therefore home loan rates will go higher.

Word to the wise, for those on the precipice of buying anyway, do not procrastinate buying your home soon. We wanted you to know the news, to keep you informed, so that you could feel as comfortable as a baby in a blanket toward moving ahead now, in purchasing your St George Utah Real Estate. It is not very often that what is going to happen to interest rates is as predictable as they are now. Go to Brian's current blog on Active Rain network for Brian's St George Utah real estate market predictions.

St George Utah Real Estate - Some Sluggishness

St George Utah Real Estate Market Trend

I just wanted to give an update on the St George Utah Real Estate market, on the most recent numbers rendered through February 2010, that I've noticed. As somewhat expected, January and February 2010 have a little bit of a slump to them. See the graph below.

This is a little bit of surprise I think to a lot of agents because a flurry of activity has been noticed. I have, pretty much, the most real estate traffic on my website of anyone I know right now, and the numbers of people hitting the website went up considerably. So, it is safe to say, that while a flood of activity has been present, it was not enough for many of them to "pull the trigger", so to speak, on an actual purchase, at least in January or February of 2010. However, as I talked recently with other Realtors across the country regarding increased activity due to the Buyer Tax Credit Incentive, it could be that many of the "heated molecules" could just well enough be like the "popcorn popping" because we all know the buyer has to identify something by April 30, 2010. Brush up on who qualifies for the home buyer tax credit incentive 2010.

Now, this is just me, but if I was a buyer, I would not wait one minute, because every day that gets closer, I predict that the closer we get, perhaps the less good deals that will still be available. It really does not take rocket science if you are a realtor to figure it out. Right now, even with pretty good inventory levels, it seems like there is only one or two real good "cherries" in each price bracket that is ripe for the picking. Doesn't take long when the heat is on for them to get "picked" folks. So, word to the wise, don't put it off IF you are going to get in on a piece of St George Utah real estate. Please call me now at (435) 674-3600!

As you will notice, in the graph above, the number of Solds in January and February of 2010 is a little less, than what we have been doing. On the opposite side, the number of New Listings really went up in January. However, if you will notice that a more noticeable pattern may exist generally speaking, in a down market, that last January's New Listings seemed to shoot up too and then a lot less in February too. Since that time, active listings inventory, has been trailing off a bit.

The last quarter of 2009 marked the lowest inventory levels as to the ratio of actives that were selling- the sold rate to actives, of listings on the market- see chart below under Months Inventory.

St George Area Absorption Rate
Basically, there is a table below that does show how much inventory as to projected sold rates of how long that inventory would take to empty the market. Please realize that the function of the last column of inventory has to do with absorption of that current months rates of actives to selling ratio. January and February are therefore probably skewed a bit, as months that are slower than normal. At very least, we have talked about how that seems to be a pattern now, as to last year as well. We hope that this has been an informative update on the St George area real estate market. If it has, please use Brian and call him any ole time. We also have some general trend info and links available on our St George Ut Real Estate stats page.

St George Utah Real Estate

When you look at St George Utah Real Estate values over this last year it is important to consider how it is that the influx of Short Sales and Foreclosures has had a direct and dramatic affect on values. How and in what way the values increase, decrease or stay the same may may have a lot to do with whether or not the inventory of short sales and foreclosures dissipates.

With some return of sales and activities across the nation and with some indications of the inventory or supply levels leveling off or decreasing, one could speculate that a return of activity and values is on the horizon if not already present for some places in the country. While St George has felt some return of activity and particularly realtors and title people that look at the numbers, have been optimistic, still a lot will be yet determined by foreclosures and short sales, if the supply decreases or if as a persistence of supply takes place. We believe that it is already tapering off some, but it is not completely clear yet as to the amount of short sales and foreclosures that may still persist some throughout this year.

A few months back a large title company here, at least one of their statisticians pointed to how there already is indication of a downard slope of Notice of Defaults. What notice of defaults are, is that when somebody is first having problems making their house payments and default on them, this tends to be the start of a possible short sale or foreclosure.

We also believe here at St George Utah Real Estate, that unemployment percentages and interest rates will also feed into this short sale and foreclosure supply equation. If you feel this has been informative in helping you stay ahead of the pack and in getting in on a purchase now, while the tax credit for existing and first time buyers, then please give Brian a call.

St George Utah Real Estate - Invest in Your Active Lifestyle

If you invest in your St George Utah real estate, you will be impressed with what kind of active lifestyle you can begin living no matter your age. Now, for all you retirees or young bucks, I say- Go for the Ironman Gusto. It is the Ford Ironman St. George race of a lifetime that is coming up on May 1, 2010. Now, in case you are ambitious, you can do it! You can swim 2.4 miles, bike 112 miles, and then run 26.2 miles. Not a problem! Yes, you can do it- all in one day. You thought the St George marathon was ambitious? Try piling on top of it that 'little' bike ride and do a couple laps in the pool, right? Right! I say hats off to all you literally impressive specimens in spirit if not body. Either way iron is a really good metaphor to reveal the deep down truth of these people being truly the Ironman of our next decade. Yet, it is amazing how many truly stellar and real fighters we have entering this race. Each year it seems to grow and 2010 looks to be another amazing year. You probably knew that you can register even for the next years Ironman shortly after the race. After that, will you call me up and come buy your St George Utah real estate with Brian? Woo, what a day!

In other news, Hurricane city revenue is down 13%.

If you'd like to search for St George Utah Retirement Communities, after going there, you can do the Quick Search listed down in those paragraphs OR go to the home page by clicking on the banner and run the Advanced Property Search and click on Inclusions and Features option and you'll see the sub-option that says Adult Communities. Click that and then configure any other criteria you may want to limit your search by, such as price. If you ever need a good recommendation in pre-qualifying for how much you want to select up to for your price range see our preffered St George Utah lenders.

St George Real Estate

The following information is given regarding interest rates from a local lender:

Hello, I wanted to give you an update on where the rates have been at this past week. The national average for the past week on a 30 yr fixed mortgage is 5.06% with a .7% discount point and for a 15 yr fixed mortgage it is 4.45% with a .6% discount point. Our rates for today on a 30 yr fixed mortgage are as follows: *4.875% with .5 discount point *5% with no discount points.

St George Real Estate seems to be picking up some for the St George area. I am noticing realtors phone voice mails are full and still some surging of the foreclosures is imminent and possibly clearing the system by the end of the year. For more information please don't hesitate to contact us.