• Archive for December 16th, 2009

    Ashland real estate

    December 16, 2009 // No Comments »

    Ashland
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    Despite a harmful global recession and construction freezes on properties around the world, Ashland real estate is still the target for some build-happy property owners.  While the current credit crisis and failing mortgage market make building a new home a bad idea at this time, the Oregon city is still seeing a steady amount of building permits.  The city is capitalizing on this trend by adding on an extra fee to those people seeking building certification and permissions.  Andrea Calcagno of the local television station KDRV reported on November 9, 2009, that real estate in Ashland continues to be developed at a surprising rate although “people who want to build a home or business in Ashland may soon be paying an extra dollar per square foot to the Ashland School District.”

    The article claims that “If passed, the tax would be $1 for every square foot for residential building and .50 cents for commercial building projects.”  The Ashland School District says the money collected by the tax is predicted to be between $100,000 and $300,000 a year.  Similar rules and laws have already been implemented in forty-nine other districts in Oregon.  Accordingly, applications for housing permits are expected to decline one the law is put into place.  An indirect effect of this is an increased demand for Ashland homes for sale after construction of new homes begins to taper as the results of the additional fees come into full effect.

    The Yahoo! Real Estate Market Snapshot updated on November 16, 2009, showed a slight decrease in the median price of homes for sale, down 1.9 percent to just over $429,000.  The price for foreclosed properties rose 2.2 percent from the previous month to just under $290,000.  These numbers are quite mild in relation to several other cities and areas in the United States that suffered much more over the same period.  Currently, experts estimate the worst of the recession to bottom-out some time in 2010, much to the relief of property owners and potential buyers alike.

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    Posted in Oregon

    Atlanta Real Estate Market Update

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    City of Atlanta
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    The Atlanta real estate market continues to suffer as a result of the recession of 2008.  Consumer confidence in Atlanta is low, home values are low, and there is a large inventory of new and foreclosed properties on the market.  However, the credit crunch in Atlanta seems to be the largest problem for bringing about the recovery of the Atlanta real estate market.  Housing is generally affordable now, but people who are interested in buying a new home now are having trouble getting the loans they need because lenders have greatly tightened their approval requirements.  Most people now will have trouble seeking the financing they need unless if they can make a relatively large cash down payment or have perfect credit.

    The Atlanta Journal Constitution has reported that the Atlanta real estate market continues to suffer, especially due to the credit freeze in Atlanta.  To make things worse, many banks in Atlanta are not willing to reduce prices for foreclosed or distressed properties that they own, opting to wait for a more favorable market.  Real estate experts believe that regulators will be needed in order to force banks to act accordingly to allow the Atlanta real estate market to begin to make a recovery.  However, for private home sellers, the Atlanta Journal Constitution has noted that those homes are selling relatively quickly, primarily due to the willingness of the homeowners to be flexible with the home price.  Although there haven’t been many promising signs of recovery in the near future, many real estate experts are optimistic that the Atlanta real estate will be poised for recovery sometime in 2010 or most likely 2011.

    The Atlanta Business Chronicle has reported that according to a survey taken in the fourth quarter of 2009 by LoopNet, most people don’t expect a recovery in the Atlanta real estate market until 2011.  Consumer confidence is reported to be down, and the number of people expecting a recovery in 2010 as opposed to 2011 is also down.  Many people also expect that the Atlanta real estate market will continue to decline by about 11 percent in the coming months before bottoming out sometime around the second quarter of 2010.  People also felt confident that the lack of access to debt financing was the number one obstacle to the recovery of the Atlanta real estate.

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    Posted in Georgia