STATS

This from the Washington Times:

"Home prices dropped everywhere in the country except the South, while sales plunged to January 2004 levels last month, in news that triggered a drubbing in the stock market yesterday on worries that a housing free fall could drag down the economy.
Median home prices dropped 2.1 percent over July 2005 levels in the Northeast, 0.3 percent in the West and 0.6 percent in the Midwest, the National Association of Realtors reported, confirming fears that the most overheated housing markets on the East and West coasts are experiencing a rare decline where homeowners are at risk of losing some of the robust gains they enjoyed in their homes' value during the housing boom.
A hefty price gain of 3.2 percent in the South prevented the first overall decline in the national median house price since 1995. Most Southern markets outside Florida did not experience the doubling or tripling of values seen in the Northeast and West during the boom and are continuing to appreciate as buyers attracted by the comparatively low prices flock to the region.
Nationwide, the condominium market continued to lead the broader home sales market lower last month, with drops of 10.5 percent in sales and 1 percent in prices in the last year. Home sales overall are down by 11.2 percent from a year ago, the Realtors said."

Well, this is what we've posted before. Our region is the one everybody's coming to in order to get properties for a reasonable price! We didn't have the big run-up in home prices, so we're not getting hurt now.

Real Estate News

The Los Angeles Times business news reports the following: "Southern California home sales fell to their lowest level in nine years last month as price appreciation continued to take a haircut, data released today showed."

Several counties showed price depreciation, while others showed slight price appreciation. Closings of escrow were off up to 27%. We're hoping that our friends in Cal. have a "soft landing" rather than taking a beating in the market.

Buyers are certainly looking to save money here in East Texas too, but our market is still pretty strong. Interest rates have hurt, but availability of choices have made Tyler and surrounding counties a good buyer's market.

More Texas?

Business week, this week, has four points in considering investing in real estate during a downturn. Remember, this is not a recession; it's simply a downturn due to rising interest rates and fuel prices. Point three (below) was very interesting:

"3. Think geography -- and value
Look for companies with more exposure to markets that have not had big run-ups in housing prices and less exposure to markets where prices have skyrocketed and will most likely come down. In other words: more Texas and less Florida."

Since Texas (especially East Texas) has had steady growth at a very even rate, the greatest opportunity is here..... not in places like Florida (or Las Vegas, or Arizona, or California, or a number of other high-end places). There's been no big run-up in pricing here, so investing here should bring a greater return on investment and be a safer place for your money.

Anniversary

Got to go shortly..... celebrating our anniversary today and tomorrow. But I wanted to post a couple of things before we got off to Dallas.

The higher interest rates don't seem to have affected anything here yet. We're still just as busy as ever. Some places may be laying over dead, but not here.

Ever try to get Countrywide Mortgage Company on the phone to solve a problem? I had to help a customer with his payoff before closing. Getting through to an actual human being is close to futility!

If you have an opportunity, please pull up my web site, www.johncmartin.com, and then click on "featured listing special". It's a wonderful estate, very close to Tyler. I call it "Tyler's best kept secret".

Talk when we get back.