Posted by Steve Rodgers on February 15, 2012 · Leave a Comment
Hundreds of real estate agents and other industry notables attended Real Living Lifestyles Symposium & Party “NEW YEAR, NEW YOU” held on Tuesday January 31st at the Del Mar Hilton.
Leslie Appleton Young, CAR Chief Economist, a well-known and respected speaker, delivered a comprehensive update and forecast for 2012 including the latest statistics and charts describing the Southern California real estate market.
Harley Rouda Jr, Real Living President, spoke of the success of the company’s Premier Service that provides extraordinary customer service by embracing and championing new technology, innovative marketing, and an uncommon commitment to professional development and teamwork. He mentioned the importance of going beyond what everyone else is doing, by giving better service, and providing important detailed market information to every client.
Steve Rodgers, President/CEO of Real Living Lifestyles Real Estate, announced the April 2012 scheduled opening of their 9th real estate center in Del Mar Village. Del Mar, a charming, seaside town just 20 minutes north of San Diego, is home to the world famous thoroughbred racetrack and offers over 60 shops, 25 restaurants, many sidewalk cafes or outside patios overlooking the ocean.
He also took this opportunity to thank the more than 350 Real Living Agents, the management, office administrators and staff as well as the supportive sister service companies.
“2011 was a challenging year for all of us in real estate, and yet you continue to rise above obstacles with your commitment to bringing your clients the very best service and putting their needs above all others,” said Rodgers. “For this I am extremely grateful to each one of you.”
Everyone in attendance had the opportunity to participate in a break-out session of their choice featuring expert panels for Personal Branding, Legal Matters, Marketing through Video and Blogging, and Data & Farming Tools.
Directly following the Symposium was a New Year New You Holiday Party with cocktails and fantastic appetizers and a special segment for the 2011 Agent Award Announcements and Presentation. Indeed, a very special way to begin the year.
Posted by Steve Rodgers on January 14, 2012 · Leave a Comment
While you’re visiting this magical county, you may want to think about making the San Diego area your second home or make the big move a permanent one. There are plenty of media reports about the economy and the housing market and if you try to follow them you’ll find it’s positive news one day and not-so-much the next.
However according to the National Association of Realtors, international ownership in U.S. real estate is at about 8 percent. With homes in many parts of the country now worth what they were in 2002, Canadians, Asians and Europeans are flocking to buy up seasonal homes at rock-bottom prices. It sounds like good news for foreign investors.
Good news for us is the fact that interest rates are historically low means that we will be paying less over the life of the mortgage than we would have years ago. People still feel overwhelmingly that home ownership is l very desirable and a valuable long-term investment.
According to the San Diego Convention & Visitors Bureau, this year more than 500,000 visitors will attend events at the Convention Center which is an increase over last year’s numbers. The San Diego Business Journal noted that 30.8 million people visited San Diego during 2011 – also up from the prior year. The reasons people flock to this town are many including Professional Meetings and the international favorite “Comic-Con”.
While San Diego is known for many tourist attractions, fabulous beaches, sunny days, moderate temperatures and great people, we also have our fair share of friendly neighborhoods, excellent schools, and community activities. People from all over the world are investing in this area, purchasing properties that can be rented out now and enjoyed later when they retire to this land of nearly perfect weather.
If surfing, golfing, hiking, or just hanging out in “America’s Finest City” makes your top ten list of things you like to do, then consider doing something you’ll really love and speak with a local real estate professional who can help you own a piece of paradise . It just might be the best thing you do this year!
Posted by Steve Rodgers on January 3, 2012 · Leave a Comment
nman News, the leading source of independent real estate news, information, advice, research, opinion and commentary for industry professionals and consumers alike announced their choices for the 100 Most Influential Real Estate Industry Leaders.
“The Inman 100 report, an annual list of the Most Influential Real Estate Leaders, recognizes those who embody leadership, ingenuity, strength, conviction, power, persistence, perseverance and progress — their voices and actions can move the industry toward change.” ~ Inman
Recognized in the prestigious list were Harley Rouda Jr., the President of Real Living Real Estate, and Graham Badun, the CEO of Brookfield Residential Real Estate.
At Real Living Lifestyles we are proud to be among the best in Real Estate! In April 2011, Steve Rodgers, Mark Loscher and Jim Browne changed their eight San Diego County offices to Real Living Lifestyles, Integrated Real Estate Services and joined the fastest growing real estate brand in the nation.
Harley E. Rouda Jr. became president of Real Living last year when the franchise company merged with GMAC Home Services LLC. Rouda, whose father founded Real Living in 2002, had previously been the company’s CEO and managing partner. As 2010 progressed, more than 50 former GMAC brokerages affiliated with Real Living growing the brand to 400 offices and nearly 10,000 agents.
Graham Badun began his career in the real estate industry as a loan office in 1988. He joined Toronto-based Brookfield in 1998 and held several executive positions before becoming a managing partner and CEO. Under Badun’s direction, Brookfield Residential Property Services acquired GMAC Home Services in September 2008 and rebranded that company as RealLiving in late 2009. Brookfield also operates Canadian real estate franchisor Royal LePage.
Posted by Steve Rodgers on December 22, 2011 · Leave a Comment
NAR overestimated real estate sales by 14%
November existing-home sales up 12% from year ago
By Matt Carter, Wednesday, December 21, 2011.
Inman News®
The National Association of Realtors says it overestimated home sales by more than 14 percent since 2007 because an adjustment that the trade group makes to data it collects from multiple listing services to account for sales that take place outside of MLSs got out of whack over time.
NAR says it’s fixed the problem and “rebenchmarked” statistics going back to 2007, when it said its adjustments began to diverge from previous assumptions about how many sales take place outside of MLSs.
Balloon houses image via Shutterstock.com.” />The trade group blamed much of the problem on a decline in “for sale by owner” sales — properties not represented by real estate brokers and therefore not listed in an MLS.
NAR said consumer survey data show FSBOs accounted for 9 percent of sales in 2010, down from 16 percent in 2000.
“In addition to a decline in FSBO transactions, more builders began marketing new properties through real estate brokers (and those sales) weren’t completely filtered from the existing-home data,” NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun said in a statement.
“Some property listings on more than one MLS, and issues related to house flipping, also contributed to the downward revisions.”
Article continues below
After rebenchmarking 2010 data, NAR now says there were 4.19 million existing-home sales last year, down 14.6 percent from the 4.9 million sales the group previously reported. For 2007 through 2010, sales and inventory were 14.3 percent less than previously reported, the group said.
Source: Calculated Risk blog.
NAR said the rebenchmarking doesn’t affect previously reported median home prices or months’ supply of homes for sale. Previously reported month-to-month trends in housing sales were also unaffected, because sales for each month have been revised downward.
Although rebenchmarking will also be done at the state level, data reported by local MLSs and Realtor associations is still valid, because those numbers are published before they are adjusted.
The need to rebenchmark NAR’s existing-home sales statistics is generating national headlines that could damage the trade group’s credibility.
Anticipating NAR’s revisions, the Greater Tulsa Association of Realtors in Oklahoma last week issued a press release reassuring consumers that “the newly revised national data has no impact for local homebuyers” and that “rates are (the) lowest in history and it’s still a great time to buy in Tulsa.”
Phoenix-based broker Jay Thompson said that so far his clients haven’t voiced any concerns about NAR’s need to revise its existing-home sales statistics.
“I think within the real state industry we’re probably more concerned about it, and certainly more aware of it, than consumers are,” Thompson said.
The MLS numbers “are good and solid,” he said, and his clients put more faith in the MLS-based local market reports he provides them with rather than media reports on national sales figures.
“The mainstream media tends to blow these things out of proportion,” Thompson said. “I have no evidence that buyers and sellers pay any attention to the numbers that come out of NAR. They see the headlines but it never comes up in conversation.”
NAR’s national statistics are important to economists, policymakers and others who make decisions based on macro-level data including national home sales.
The benchmark revisions, for example, will require the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis to make a small downward adjustment to its estimates of national gross domestic product (GDP). That’s because the bureau relies on NAR’s existing-home sales figures to estimate real estate brokers’ commissions on the sale of residential structures, most recently pegged at $55.5 billion a year, down from a peak of $109.9 billion in 2005.
If that figure were adjusted downward by 14 percent, the $7 billion reduction would have only a slight effect on the U.S.’s $15 trillion GDP. Brokers would not be affected because they collect actual, rather than estimated, commissions.
NAR said that in the process of rebenchmarking, it consulted with the Federal Reserve Board, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, the Mortgage Bankers Association, the National Association of Home Builders, CoreLogic, and individual economists.
The latest, rebenchmarked data from NAR shows existing-home sales increasing by 4 percent from October to November, to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.42 million homes — a 12.2 percent increase from a year ago, when homes were selling at a pace of 3.94 million units a year.
Housing inventory was down 5.8 percent from October to 2.58 million existing homes for sale, a seven-month supply at the current sales pace. Inventories peaked at a record 4.04 million in July 2007, NAR said, citing the rebenchmarked figures.
The national median existing-home price was $164,200 in November, down 3.5 percent from a year ago.
Distressed homes, including short sales and homes repossessed by lenders, accounted for 29 percent of sales in November, down from 33 percent a year ago. NAR said 19 percent of home sales were lender-owned properties and 10 percent were short sales.
All-cash sales — mostly to investors — accounted for 28 percent of existing-home sales, down from 29 percent in October and 31 percent at the same time a year ago.
First-time buyers accounted for 35 percent of existing-home sales, up from 34 percent in October and 32 percent in November 2010.
Breaking down existing-home sales by category, NAR said single-family home sales were up 4.5 percent from October to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.95 million, a 12.9 percent increase from a year ago. The median existing single-family home price was $164,100, down 4 percent from a year ago.
Existing condominium and co-op sales were unchanged from October, with transactions closing at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 470,000, up 6.8 percent from a year ago. The median existing-condo price was $164,600, down 0.2 percent from a year ago.
Regionally, existing-home sales in the Northeast were up 9.8 percent from October to an annual pace of 560,000, a 7.7 percent increase from a year ago. The median price in the Northeast was $240,200, down 0.1 percent from a year ago.
Existing-home sales in the Midwest were up 4.3 percent from October, to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 960,000, a 15.7 percent increase from a year ago. The median price in the Midwest was $133,400, down 4 percent from a year ago.
In the South, existing-home sales were up 2.4 percent from October to an annual pace of 1.74 million, a 12.3 percent increase from a year ago. The median price in the South was $143,300, down 2.1 percent from a year ago.
Existing-home sales in the West were up 3.6 percent from October to an annual level of 1.16 million, up 11.5 percent from a year ago. The median price in the West was $195,300, down 8.4 percent from a year ago.
