Top of the Tweets: The good, the bad and grilled cheese
By Camilla McLaughlin
Own or rent, which is better? Lately, a number of tweets have led to blogs questioning the value of homeownership, but a sizable portion, 90 percent according to a recent study commissioned by Bankrate.com, of those who actually own homes say they do not regret their purchase. RISmedia tweeted about the study http://bit.ly/bDxlzW which also found:
· Among the nine percent who regret the purchase, the most common reasons cited were not being able to sell the home or the inability to afford the monthly mortgage payments.
· Fixed-rate mortgages are rising in popularity with 79 percent of those polled, and 90 percent of those earning over $75,000 saying they have a fixed-rate mortgage.
The good and the bad for real estate was almost even this week.
First the bad: New home construction fell to the lowest level since October 2009. Builders’ optimism sank to the lowest level since April 2009 after hitting a three year high just two months ago. The falloff in construction could have serious repercussions for the broader recovery since each new home creates three jobs, usually lasting a year, as well as $90,000 in federal and state tax revenue, according to the National Association of Home Builders. AP Real Estate tweeted a link to a story on the failure of the Obama administration’s effort to help those at risk of losing their homes, which according to AP’s Alan Zibel, could spur a rise in foreclosures that would further depress the housing industry.
Now the positives: On the mortgage front, the first mortgage default rate plunged 40 percent from 2009 according to S&P/Experian. http://goo.gl/fb/l0dq1 Also from @HousingWire: Mortgage insurer MGIC posts first quarterly profit in three years http://goo.gl/fb/RfuEB. One of the causalities of the downturn, Lake Las Vegas, is emerging from bankruptcy protection according to @resortauthority. Home sales were up in a number of cities, in part as a residual effect of the home buyer tax credit in some locations. Orlando’s home prices were up 27 percent over June 2009. Denver luxury home sales in June matched the pace of August 2008 with an increase of 22 percent over May 2010.
And good or not so good news depending on which side of the table you’re sitting — Trulia reports home price reductions jumped 9 percent as of July 1. http://www.dsnews.com/s/4z7-za
On the tech front, Amazon Kindle sales are outpacing hardcovers. http://ow.ly/2dCFp
Social media guru Peter Shankman, @skydiver, travels more than 300,000 miles per year. This week he was at the Jet Propulsion Labs in California and reminds us that Voyager has taken 33 years to get to the edge of our solar system. Only another 40,000 years to go before we reach the closest star. But a more important report from @skydiver — L.A. has a grilled cheese truck. Who knew?
