Tip on Sending Large Email Files

It’s a busy time of the year for all of us.  Emails are flying to your inbox, the office phone is ringing like crazy while you are juggling your cell phone in your other hand while typing on your laptop!   Ever have a large file of photos or documents that you need to email but it keeps bouncing back because the file is too big?  Or just freezes up your outlook?  Or even worse you think it sent but it didn’t? 
I have a simple solution that I found which may be helpful to you:
Log onto by clicking the link or type in your browser SendThisFile.com and register for the free service which will allow you to send files up to 2GB's. Follow the simple instructions and then upload your file and send it directly from the program! 

Its easy and user-friendly!!

US Home Sales Up 20% From Last Year (DataQuick)

During the 30-day sales period ending July 5, approximately 211,000 homes were sold in 98 of the top 100 metropolitan statistical areas, research firm DataQuick said Thursday.
Sales overall rose 12% from the same period a year earlier and 10.6% from 2009 levels.
Home prices also went up with the median price hitting $193,000 on July 5, up 6% from a year ago and 4.3% from three years ago.
In a little over a month, the median sales price rose from $186,000 to $193,000.








The DataQuick report analyzes 66.25% of all U.S. home sales, excluding the key markets of Louisville and Wichita.


*Information Provided By: kpanchuk on 7/5/12 at 3:54pm from HousingWire.com

Why Rental Activity Remains 'A Bright Spot' for Housing

While the lights of the housing market continue to flicker, rental market activity has been a bright spot, said Freddie Mac’s U.S. Economic and Housing Market Outlook for June.
 The Enterprise’s report, released Tuesday, showed that newly formed households seem more interested in renting over owning as the economy struggles to get back on its feet. Freddie Mac expects this trend to continue for the near future.
“Further increases in rental demand are likely in the coming year as newly formed households postpone homeownership decisions until the economy strengthens and they have accumulated sufficient savings,” said Frank Nothaft, VP and chief economist for Freddie Mac. “Overall apartment market trends may show further vacancy declines and rent gains, with property values improving as well.”
The report showed that over the year ending March 2012, an additional 1.5 million households moved into rental housing, a 4 percent increase in a year. The Census Bureau has also reported that rental vacancy rates in buildings with at least five apartments have dropped more than two percentage points over the past two years. In addition, both Reis and Axiometrics have reported increases in occupancy rates during the two years through the first quarter of 2012.
Rents have begun to rise in a number of metropolitan areas as rental markets tighten. A broad market measure prepared by the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows a rent increase of 2.5 percent during Q1 2012 compared to a year ago. Reis found a 2.8 percent gain in its markets during the same period, while Axiometrics reported a 4 percent rise in nominal rents. However, average rent adjusted for inflation stayed below where it was for most of the decade prior to the Great Recession.
The increase in rental demand has helped enhance property values, on average up about 25 percent during the past two years from the low during Q1 2010. This level is still 14 percent below the pre-Great Recession peak, but the increase has prompted a supply response from developers.
Starts of buildings with at least five apartments have increased 48 percent in the first five months of 2012 when compared to the same period in 2011. The National Association of Home Builders reported that its Multifamily Production Index jumped to its highest reading since 2005, and its index for market-rate rental construction reached its highest level since the series’ start eight years ago. Construction of rental apartments in buildings containing at least five dwellings is expected to add nearly 200,000 in 2012, the highest increase in one year since 2008.


Information provided by DSNews.com written by By: Tory Barringer.

Shortage of Homes for Sale Creates Fierce Competition

With housing inventory at a low, would-be buyers are scrambling to bid on homes before they're even listed, and real estate agents are vying to represent the few sellers that do exist.

The newest problem for the slowly improving housing market isn't a shortage of serious buyers, it's a shortage of good homes.

Would-be buyers are packing open houses and scrambling to make offers on properties before they are even listed. Bidding wars are erupting. And real estate agents are vying fiercely to represent the few sellers that do exist.

Housing inventory has sunk to levels not seen since the bubble years. The number of American homes with a "for sale" sign hit 2.5 million in April, the lowest number for an April since 2006, according to the National Assn. of Realtors.

David Dennick, who lives in Echo Park and works as a television editor, has been searching for a home with his wife, Denise, for about two months. The couple have already bid on three properties. They are hoping to find a home for less than $525,000, which is $25,000 more than they originally had hoped to spend.

"It is much more competitive than we thought," said Dennick, standing in the entrance of an Eagle Rock open house on a recent Sunday. "It is just frustrating because we thought we would really be able to buy a house; we are a middle-class family."

The sharp drop in inventory along with rock-bottom interest rates have helped stabilize even some of the hardest-hit markets, including the Southland, Las Vegas, Phoenix and Miami. Some real estate professionals are concerned that the lack of inventory might turn off potential buyers, stifling the recent recovery in home sales.

The much-predicted foreclosure wave that was expected to dump more homes onto the market has not materialized. Fewer borrowers are entering default, and banks are better managing the properties they do have on their books.

In addition, professional investors bankrolled by private equity firms and hedge funds are pouncing on bank-owned homes, often turning them into rentals.

A dearth of new construction also is constraining supply. In April — the most recent month for which figures are available — the number of completed new single-family homes available for sale stood at 46,000, the lowest level since the Census Bureau began keeping track in 1973. Some 70,000 were under construction, also near historic lows.

The inventory problem has been exacerbated by the plunge in home prices since the go-go years. Many people who bought at the top of the cycle are so deeply underwater, they can't get the price they need to sell and are therefore not bothering to put their homes on the market.

"We know negative equity holds back home sales, but it also holds back the listing of sales," said Sam Khater, an economist with CoreLogic, a company that tracks the mortgage market. "Today it is holding the market back."

The lack of available homes is maddening for those consumers who thought 2012 would be the year to buy.

In Southern California, inventories have plunged over the last year. The number of homes listed for sale in April fell 35% in Los Angeles County and was down 42% in Orange, 39% in San Bernardino, 42% in Riverside, 53% in Ventura and 43% in San Diego counties, according to online brokerage Redfin.

The number of days a home sits on the market has also decreased, meaning properties are selling faster. For the entire six-county Southern California region, the median number of days a home sat on the market fell to 33 last April from 43 the same month a year earlier.

Eddie David and his wife, Tiana Rezac, have felt the unexpected shortage firsthand. The two were sure they would buy a house this year until they tripped into the perplexing new housing reality. After being outbid on three different properties in neighborhoods from the Westside to Atwater Village, they shelved the search.

"With the downturn, it seems like there are a lot of people who have been waiting in the wings to pounce, and because the rates are low, there is just a lot more competition," David said. "There were multiple offers. We tried to get in on a couple other homes, and even though it had been just a week or two weeks, it was just too late."

Alex Gruenberg and his wife, Kristina, both 27, lost out on a home that ended up going for $30,000 more than they offered. The recently married couple have new jobs in the area and are looking for a pedestrian-friendly neighborhood with decent dining options.

They are now trying to find homes before they are listed.

"We are really learning that there is sort of an inside element to that," Gruenberg said. "Things are going in days."

*Information provided by Los Angeles Times and written by Alejandro Lazo of the Los Angeles Times on June 10, 2012.

Affordability Reaches All-Time High Again: NAHB/Wells

With low rates and low prices, homeowner affordability continues to hit record levels, reaching another high during the first quarter of 2012, according to the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index (HOI).
During the previous record-breaking 2011 fourth quarter, 75.9 percent of homes sold were affordable to median-income earners. For this most recent quarter, HOI data showed 77.5 percent of all new and existing homes sold were affordable to families earning the national median income of $65,000.
“Homes in this year’s first quarter were more affordable than they have been at any time in more than 20 years, yet many potential sales are not happening because of overly tight lending conditions that are keeping hardworking families from obtaining a suitable mortgage,” said Barry Rutenberg, chairman of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and a home builder from Gainesville, Florida. “Without this significant hurdle, the housing and economic recovery could be proceeding at a much stronger pace.”
Among the largest metros, Indianapolis-Carmel, Indiana was ranked as the most affordable since 95.8 percent of homes sold during the period were affordable to households earning the area’s median family income of $66,900. The least affordable larger metro was New York-White Plains-Wayne, New York-New Jersey, where 31.5 percent of homes sold was affordable for those earning the median income of $68,200. In the New York metro, the median sales price for a home was $400,000.
Cumberland, Maryland-West Virginia was ranked the most affordable among small metros and nationally. In Cumberland, 99 percent of homes sold during the first quarter were affordable to families earning the area’s median income of $53,000. The least affordable smaller metro was Ocean City, New Jersey, where 45.9 percent of homes sold in the first quarter were affordable to families earning the median income of $71,100.
On a national scale, Fairbanks, Alaska came in second after Cumberland. In Fairbanks, 98.9 percent of homes were affordable to those earning the area’s median income of $92,900. Wheeling, West Virgina-Ohio came in third, followed by Kokomo, Indiana. The larger metro Indianapolis ranked number five on a national scale.
The NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index is a measure of the percentage of homes sold in a given area that are affordable to families earning that area’s median income during a specific quarter. Prices of new and existing homes sold are collected from actual court records by First American Real Estate Solutions, a marketing company.


Information provided by DSNews.com and written by Esther Cho.

Tout your listing location! 

This comes from Tara at Trulia…Typically buyers care about beds, baths, square feet, kitchens and location. But according to Tara at Trulia, there are some surprising hot buttons that inspire homeowners and drive home sales. Potential home buyers have fantasies. They imagine how their life will be different, better, even perfect if they buy a particular home. They imagine strolling a block to the summer Farmer’s Market or hanging out at their favorite bakery, coffee house or wine bar. Maybe even, they imagine nature walks along a stream, reading by the lake, or skiing from their back door. These local haunts and resources motivate buyers and provide a definite marketing outlet.

Trader Joes! On a recent Huffington Post article about the Trader Joe’s grocery chain, one visitor left a comment to the effect that they selected their home largely based on its proximity to a Trader Joe’s.

So Realtors, when you are marketing your listings, pay attention to proximity to favorite local haunts and flaunt them when and if you can! Here’s the whole article.

Information provided by Trails West Real Estate blog and http://www.trulia.com/blog/taranelson/2010/09/8_things_you_didn_t_know_could_get_your_home_sold_and_why_buyers_should_think_twice_before_biting

Home buying may never get any cheaper - May. 3, 2012

BUYING A HOME MAY NOT GET CHEAPER!

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Buying a home may never get any cheaper than this. Several housing experts are predicting that this year will be the last chance for bargain hunters to cash in on the best deals of the weak housing market.

With home prices down 34% nationally since 2006 and mortgage rates at historic lows, homes have never been more affordable -- but it won't stay this way for much longer.

Stuart Hoffman, chief economist for PNC Financial Services (PNC, Fortune 500), said he expects home prices to flatten out by the third quarter and start climbing by next year.

A number of factors will help bolster the housing market, he said, including a decline in the number of foreclosures and continued job growth. In addition, homebuyers will have better access to mortgages as they get their finances in order and improve their credit scores.

Some economists, like Trulia's Jed Kolko, expect home prices to pick up even more quickly. Trulia's data shows that the national average for asking prices already increased 1.4% in the first quarter of 2012, compared with the last three months of 2011.

For the Full Article:
Home buying may never get any cheaper - May. 3, 2012


*Information provided by CNN Money and written by LEs Christie on May 3, 2012