Tag Archives: joe spake

Good News for First Time Home Buyers

Yesterday, President Obama signed the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (aka “the stimulus”) into law. While it is the largest spending bill in America’s history, and no one in Congress had fully read it, the much talked about perk for first time home buyers did make it into the bill. Here is a recap of what the final plan means for first time home buyers:


This is a better deal than I originally thought it was. I didn’t think the $15,000 credit which was rumored would ever fly. If you have been thinking or even dreaming about making your first home purchase, we are now in the perfect storm: high inventory, depressed prices, low interest rates, and not an $8,000 credit with very few strings attached! (In case you may have forgotten, I make my living as a real estate broker here in Memphis, so contact me if you have questions)

Today President Obama will travel to Phoenix, one of the Ground Zero locations of the housing crisis, to unveil his plan for housing relief. Should be interesting!

Memphis Real Estate Sales Report for October, 2008

I guess better late than ever, as sluggish figures lead to sluggish response. The Memphis Area Association of REALTORS’ Home Sales report for October 2008 and YTD has been out for a while, and I anticipate the November numbers to be out before Christmas.
The downward trend continues in number of home sales (-18.6% YTD from 2007) and the median price (-13% YTD from 2007). Total number of listings is down significantly at 11,343.
Interesting stats in the area details : Sales are way down in the ‘burbs, Bartlett, Germantown, Arlington, and Collierville, but median sales prices are holding their own with only single digit decreases.
This is a comprehensive report that should be of interest to homeowners as well as active buyers.
Good news for the over $1M market, as the Spake Index for October =51, a five month drop in inventory since September.
Download and read the entire report

I have developed a feed of non-mainstream real estate news. Check it out and subscribe at http://friendfeed.com/rooms/real-estate-the-cutting-edge or subscribe to the rss feed for quicker updates.

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...