Posted on 03/23/2006 7:10:32 AM PST by SoFloFreeper
People stay inside on bad weather days. It is always the nice days when people get out and house hunt. The only people who house shop in bad weather are those who come from out of town or someone really needs a home quickly.
Plus people are just starting to love so they can move at the end of the school year.
"Plus people are just starting to love"
LOL ... sap's a-risin'.
It's not in today's print edition -- the report just came out at 10 AM EST.
And people wonder why we scream at the TV all day long, huh?
Yikes! Sounds like something O-ffensive when I post it that way, doesn't it?
I'm not really sure what it is that you meant to say, but it was funny. It reminded me of the speech my old high school principle would give every spring, the "sap's a-risin" speech, cautioning all us horney teens to keep our clothes on and our hands to ourselves, or else.
Rising interest rates, believe it or not, have not been a major factor.Absolutely right. I remember in the late 70's when interest rates were 17-18-20% and homes were still selling with "creative financing"
I also remember after that Carter period when a 9 or 10% mortgage was a real bargain and 12% was the norm.
You got an overwhelming response to your "response."
Two whole posts.
Bush's and Global Warming's fault.
Thanks for posting this very thorough article.
The Democrats are disappointed that home sales are in fact still very strong, because homeowners tend to be more intelligent, conservative people.
I meant to say that people are just starting to look.
But in fact, my stepdaughter has "sold" her house twice since the day after Christmas.........the buyers keep having to drop out; one of them flat out lied about their income, even to the point of saying that they were going to put down $400,000 cash!
They're getting rich on escrow money........LOL.
Actually, there is a big slowdown in the real estate market in many areas of the Country, notwithstanding the 5.2 increase in February, 2006. Talk off the record to just about anyone in the real estate "support" business here in the northeast, like bankers and mortgage people, title insurance companies, title closers, and residential real estate attorneys, and they will tell you that business is way off. Even reala estate brokers and agents with their perpetual optimism will express concern off the record.
Note that the 5.2% figure is a year over year number, and to understand the significance, you need to go back to January, 2005, which if I recall correctly, was bitter cold with lots of snow in many areas, including the northeast. January/February 2006, in contrast, was warm and relatively snow free. My gut feeling is that the 5.2% increase includes a lot of people who would have gone shopping in April/May, but bumped up the time table because of the nice weather and concern over rising interest rates. If I am correct, then we should see a year over year decline in sales as we move through the spring.
"I have a suggestion for you: Go out today and buy this San Mateo, CA house listed for only $ 725,000!"
You can find similar houses just outside Pittsburgh for $20,000.00. I suppose, using your line of thought, that this "proves" housing is badly underpriced across the entire country?
It's not my fault that the houses there are too expensive. I live in a house that is valued at over $400,000 and it's almost 4000 square feet.
Move.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.