Tag Archives: Cross River Real Estate

Iraqi Kurdistan Real Estate Market Makes a Comeback | Cross River Real Estate

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The economy of the Kurdistan region of Iraq fluctuates according to the state of relations between Baghdad and the Kurdistan Regional Government.
The mostly stable and now improved security situation has allowed economic progress and prosperity in the Iraqi Kurdistan region. Until recently, the economy and real estate market had been in a funk. Many Iraqi families have moved away from central and southern regions of the country, in addition to Iraqis living in Syria who left following the political crisis and armed operations between the state and the opposition in order to settle down in Kurdish regions. The last dispute between Baghdad and Erbil, however, has shaken their trust in their safety.A key indicator of the region’s economy, real estate, has been sluggish but has seen a dramatic improvement in just the last few weeks since KRG Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani negotiated an agreement with Baghdad in late April to end the boycott of the Iraqi government and Council of Representatives by Iraqi Kurdish ministers and members of parliament and cool tensions in Kirkuk and disputed areas.
Nariman Sadeq, owner of a real estate agency in Erbil, explained to Al-Monitor, “Lately, citizens have lost their trust in the market, and consequently real estate prices have dramatically dropped.”
Added Sadeq, “The prices of real estate in some regions of Iraqi Kurdistan have dropped by 30-40%, as the buying and selling process came to a halt a month ago.”
Sadeq, nonetheless, affirms that the market has been revived once again due to news about improved relations between Erbil and Baghdad. Sadeq expects an economic boom in the near future. “Earlier, properties were put on the market, but no one wanted to buy. Currently we see activity and signs foretelling an improvement in the market.”
Sadeq attributes the improvement to the detente between Erbil and Baghdad and the decision made by both parties to revive their former, amicable relationship.
A significant number of middle-income citizens in the Kurdistan region invested most of their money in the real estate market, which witnessed skyrocketing growth and a rise in prices, encouraging many others to follow suit

 

 

Iraqi Kurdistan Real Estate Market Makes a Comeback | Cross River Real Estate | Bedford NY Real Estate | Robert Paul Talks Life in Bedford NY.

New housing prices rose 0.1 per cent in March | Cross River Real Estate

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Statistics Canada says its price index for new houses rose 0.1 per cent in March, after a 0.2 per cent increase in February.
The agency says month-over-month gains in the index have ranged from 0.1 per cent to 0.3 per cent for the last 12 months.
For the second month in a row, the largest monthly advance occurred in Regina, where prices were up 0.7 per cent.
However, Calgary, where prices were up 0.3 per cent, was the top overall contributor to the March advance.
Prices also rose in Saskatoon, Windsor, Winnipeg, Hamilton and the combined metropolitan area of Toronto and Oshawa.
In March, prices decreased 0.2 per cent in Vancouver and were unchanged in nine of the 21 metropolitan regions surveyed.

 

New housing prices rose 0.1 per cent in March | Cross River Real Estate | Bedford NY Real Estate | Robert Paul Talks Life in Bedford NY.

Do You Know These Time Saving Blogging Tips? | Cross River Realtor

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Over the last few days we’ve been tackling the problem of ‘not enough time to blog’ that many bloggers struggle with. I started by sharing 7 tips for busy bloggers on how to find time to blog and then had 14 of my blogging friends share a little about their blogging routines.

When I asked these 14 bloggers about their routines I also asked if they had any tips for other busy bloggers. I’m glad I did because collectively they give some great insight below.

Chris Garrett

chris_garrett_blogworld.jpg

  1. Write down any ideas you have and transfer them to your blog drafts as soon as possible. If you can, skip the writing down part and go direct to your blog drafts. Maybe use a smart phone so you are more likely to have a handy route to your blog!
  2. In your drafts add a semi-decent headline (not final, just enough to get the idea across) and some bullets. At the very least the point you want to make. If you don’t then you will forget what your post was about. Trust me on this, I speak from experience, ha.
  3. Work out the best time of day for you to write and schedule time in that slot. I find my best writing is between 10am and 1pm, and second best between 6pm and 8pm. After lunch is a better time for me to talk but not write. We all have a rhythm, listen to yours.
  4. Set a timer. Tell the family to not disturb you until the time is up. Close all distractions. Write.
  5. Break up your writing into less daunting chunks if you need to. One session just do outlines. Next session do bad drafts. Third some editing. Then formatting. Then final polish and posting. Don’t try to do too much otherwise you will never do enough!

 

 

http://www.problogger.net/archives/2013/04/27

Demand for Properties Continued to Expand Faster than Supply in March 2013 | Cross River Real Estate

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Strong buyer demand for residential homes continued to outpace supply in March. The Buyer Traffic Index rose to 69 while the Seller Traffic Index inched up to 41. This based on information in the March REALTORS® Confidence Index (RCI) Survey.

In many areas of the country REALTORS® reported low inventory levels of homes for sale. Tight inventory conditions have been cited as leading to higher prices and reduced time on market.

What Does This Mean for REALTORS®?
If a potential buyer asks why sales are down in some areas, one can note that a major reason for sales declines recently has been the hot sales market—a lack of inventory relative to the number of people who want to buy.

 

 

 

http://economistsoutlook.blogs.realtor.org/2013/04/26

Mobile Real Estate Apps Are Here to Stay | Cross River Real Estate

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I do not believe that mobile is the future of online real estate search. Why you ask? Because mobile is online real estate search and consumers have already been conditioned to get the information they want from their smartphone. With the popularity of real estate apps and searches, it’s difficult to make an argument that the mobile real estate revolution hasn’t already arrived.

According to the Google/NAR Digital House Hunt Study, “36 percent of home buyers use a mobile device while watching TV.” We know that home buyers use different technology during every different phase of their home search, but as practitioners, are we reactive or proactive in how we respond, adapt, and offer technology to our clients?

In an effort to be proactive, I have spent this past year informally polling all of my buyer clients on their search habits. What I’ve discovered is that some like Trulia, some like Zillow, some like to perform a basic Google address search but a lot are using the realtor.com® app. While there are no major differences with any of these apps, my polling revealed that mobile real estate search preferences vary according to personal style and familiarity with the application or program.

Personally, I have been evaluating the realtor.com® mobile app for iPhone. So far, I think it has fairly good features not only for the agent but also for the consumer. And my clients are loving it! The real difference between this app and many others is that with the realtor.com® app, I can add my clients using my login information—much like a friend request on Facebook—and once my client accepts, we are connected. Because of this feature, there’s a collaborative aspect to this app; I can send my clients homes they may be interested in and more importantly, they can send me homes they want to see or get more information about.

For example: Last weekend, one of my clients was driving around looking at neighborhoods, saw a home, opened the realtor.com® app, and used it to get details about the home. Instantly, the details were sent to my phone, which alerted me of my client’s desire to see the property. This is a perfect example of the collaboration between home buyers and their agents that our industry has been talking about for years.

If you haven’t done so already, I encourage you to download the app and ask a few clients to do the same. They will be happy you are involving them in the home buying process and you’ll be able to check out some pretty neat technology. Mobile is not the future, mobile is now. So what are you waiting for?

 

 

http://ypnlounge.blogs.realtor.org

Mortgage rates drop for 5th week, flirt with record lows | Cross River Homes

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Mortgage rates dipped for the fifth consecutive week, following a first-quarter economic-growth estimate that fell short of expectations.

Rates on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages averaged 3.35 percent with an average 0.7 point for the week ending May 2, down from 3.4 percent last week and 3.84 percent a year ago, Freddie Mac said in releasing the results of its latest Primary Mortgage Market Survey. The drop put the 30-year rate not far above the record low of 3.31 percent seen during the week ending Nov. 21, 2012.

Rates on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages, 5-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) loans and 1-year Treasury-indexed ARMs also dipped. Source: Fannie Mae

http://www.inman.com

Case-Shiller Composites Sank to New Lows in Q1 | Cross River Real Estate

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All three headline Case-Shiller composites fell to new post-crisis lows in the first quarter of 2012, wiping out all price gains realized since prices peaked in 2006, a decline of approximately 35 percent through March 2012.

The Case-Shiller national composite fell by 2.0 percent in the first quarter of 2012 and was down 1.9 percent versus the first quarter of 2011. The 10- and 20-City Composites posted respective annual returns of -2.8 percent and -2.6 percent in March 2012. Month-over-month, their changes were minimal; average home prices in the 10-City Composite fell by 0.1 percent compared to February and the 20-City remained basically unchanged in March over February.

In addition to the three composites, five cities – Atlanta, Chicago, Las Vegas, New York and Portland – also saw average home prices hit new lows. This is an improvement over the nine cities reported last month.

In March 2012, 12 MSAs posted monthly gains, seven declined and one remained unchanged. Phoenix posted the largest annual rate of change, up 6.1 percent, while home prices in Atlanta fell the most over the year, down 17.7 percent.

Atlanta, Cleveland, Detroit and Las Vegas were the four cities where average home prices were below their January 2000 levels. With an index level of 102.77 Chicago is not far behind.

 

 

 

http://www.realestateeconomywatch.com/2012/05

Eminent domain should never be political, but it is | Cross River Real Estate

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There’s a reason the world hates lawyers, but in reality, the world should be more upset at politicians who generally confuse politically driven lawyers as task masters that are useful, but neither committed to the laws they write or willing to back them under divergent scenarios.

Take eminent domain for example. Even after San Bernardino County, Calif., gave up on the idea of allowing government officials to use eminent domain to disrupt investors’ interest in mortgages for the purposes of giving homeowners principal reductions, other counties have been apparently considering the idea in California.

What’s odd though is another eminent domain-related bill is getting slammed in Colorado because it would allow oil pipeline companies to have eminent domain and condemnation rights in certain scenarios where they need to expand their operations. That particular bill never made it out of committee because the terms frightened lawmakers who remain attached to the idea of not toying with property rights.

That’s a fair assessment – the idea that intervening in property rights is a fundamental violation of the original contract and the very nature of ownership.

Yet, somehow when it comes to eminent domain on the housing side, the drum beat continues with little objection to the idea that knocking out investors’ interest is noble and efficient.

What proponents of eminent domain forget to ask themselves is whether they would back the same view under a different type of scenario.

The Colorado House panel’s killing of the oil-related eminent domain bill shows it’s unlikely they would

via housingwire.com

Skepticism about the housing rebound remains | Cross River Real Estate

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Fox Business writes:

“We’ll see how the summer goes and that will be a little bit of an indicator but my estimate would be another year until we have a good housing market,” said Joe Gross, national mortgage expert and author. “If employment goes down, within the year the housing market should be in a much better position than we are today.”

via housingwire.com

Apartment Markets Still Look Good | Cross River Real Estate

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Neither an upswing in home sales nor a wave of new multifamily construction is affecting apartment vacancy rates so far this year. Rates are down and rents are strong across the nation.

Apartment markets improved across all areas according to the National Multi Housing Council’s (NMHC) April Quarterly Survey of Apartment Market Conditions. All four indexes — Market Tightness (54), Sales Volume (55), Equity Financing (56) and Debt Financing (59) — came in above 50, which indicates improving conditions. This reverses last January’s findings, where Market Tightness and Sales Volume dipped below 50 for the first time since 2010.

“The apartment industry is operating on cruise control, as the expansion continues unabated,” said Mark Obrinsky, NMHC’s Vice President for Research and Chief Economist. “While concern about overbuilding has begun to crop up, demand for apartment residences remains strong. New construction may have finally recovered fully, but most units under construction won’t be delivered until 2014 or later. The dearth of recent completions has contributed to relatively low product availability. As deliveries increase, we expect to see an even greater pick-up in sales volume.”

via realestateeconomywatch.com