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Turbo charging our pay per post “Tipping Policy”

Update via Salon policy, enabling software:

http://tinyurl.com/5l8cz6

Comment on Boston.com article posting links to previous

Real Estate Cafe blog posts from 2005:

http://realestatecafe.blogs.com/real_estate_cafe/2005/04/extreme_househu.html

Find exact link

http://realestatecafe.blogs.com/real_estate_cafe/2005/04/index.html

First used phrase "It pays to do your homework here" in full page advertisement in Cambridge Chronicle?  Find and photo…

’80’s Flashback: Housing economists catch-up with bubble bloggers

Ma_map_1990prices
Buyer agent peers — yes BUYER AGENTS agents not listing
agents — said The Real Estate Cafe was being alarmist two years ago when we began blogging extensively about market trends foreshadowing yesterday’s headline in the Boston Globe:  "Housing slump may rival late ’80’s."

In fact, the same day we recorded our first real estate bubble podcast, then director of the Massachusetts Office of Consumer Affairs ducked a question about whether buyers could sue designated agents (a.k.a. counterfeit buyer agents) for failing to advise
them that the housing market was overvalued.  Although buyers agents rolled their eyes at the time, yesterday’s forecast plus one earlier this year by an MIT economist predicting another 20 percent decline in housing prices suggest the question was not off base.  Here’s what one of my real estate consumer advocate
friends in Texas predicts:

As some home owners get
"upside down" on their equity, or lose their homes by foreclosure, you
may start to see a rash of litigation against the real estate "agents"
who sold them their homes.  Probably the vast majority of real estate
agents acted as "buyer’s agents" in the transactions, so there is
likely the possibility some of these "buyer’s agents" didn’t really
perform up to their expectation of "protecting" the interests of their
"buyer clients." 

Didn’t NEEP (New England Economic Partnership) predict a soft landing
for the housing market two years
ago, with prices declining just 3%?  Wonder if my buyer broker peers,
and sellers across New England, have updated their assessment of the
housing market, too?  Web-savvy home buyers:  Be sure to use a buyer agent (without a conflict of interest) to steer clear of bubble trouble and maximize potential
savings
— both from commission rebates and falling housing prices.

Real estate bubble flashback: Listings vs price reductions 2004

Sf_2004listedvsreduced_112404_1Thus far, we’ve only posted one of five graphs comparing price
reductions on single family homes listed for sale in Massachusetts in
2004 versus 2005.  To establish a baseline for those comparisons, let’s
step back and look at the number of single family homes listed in
MLSPin through Thanksgiving last year compared to the number of price
reductions by price range  (click on image for larger view).

Tomorrow’s graph will show both the increase in listings and price
reductions by price range for this year, 2005.  To receive it
automatically, simply sign-up for The Real Estate Cafe’s RSS feed.  If
you have more specific questions about market trends — particularly
price reductions across Massachusetts related to your own house hunt,
please let us know how we can help you help yourself!  There are
thousands of bargains this time of year, and you can increase your
savings by choosing one of our rebate options, see see diagram of potential savings.

Crystal ball & graph to predict housing prices in 2006

Rebubblechristmas1_2Wish you had a crystal ball to see where housing
prices are headed in 2006?  Then watch our video and check out is this graph of past real estate cycles in Boston before making your own prediction.  Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from The Real Estate Cafe, particularly to those bargain hunters who know the holidays can be an excellent time to buy.  As our gift to you, we’ve introduced a new rebate option, at half our normally hourly rate, to encourage you to try our nationally recognized fee-for-service business model.

Greenspan’s “Interest Rate Conundrum”

While Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan once again told Congress he does not see a national housing bubble, he repeated his warning of May 20, the day Greenspan first used the "F" word:

"…at a minimum, [there are] signs of froth in some local markets where home prices seem to have risen to unsustainable levels."  Expressing his concern about interest-only loans, Greenspan added, "To the extent that some households may be employing these instruments
to purchase a home that would otherwise be unaffordable, their use is
beginning to add to the pressures in the marketplace."

According to NPR’s "All Things Considered," mortgage rates fell again today and stand at a 14 month low.  In the past, Greenspan has called that "a conundrum" because "falling interest rates have [historically] signaled looming problems."  Greenspan does not see that this time, according to NPR, because globalization is changing price structures, easing concerns of inflation. 

Interest rates at 14 month lows may sound good to some home buyers, but not everyone agrees.  According to Tom Ashbrook, host of NPR’s nationally syndicated OnPointRadio, low interest rates may "portend real shocks down the road." 

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