Real Estate News

Florida’s other ‘Homestead Exemption’ law provides unlimited monetary protection for Florida homeowners that most other states do not allow with the exception of Texas. When real property, which is a primary residence, is properly and legally claimed as a homestead, that property is virtually untouchable to most creditors.

It just depends upon where you live. Some areas of the country (notable Florida and California) are experiencing huge decreases in real estate prices. Other areas of the country are holding steady or even slightly increasing. Still others are somewhere in between.

We had to go all the way to India to find this item, but we found it. The India Times reported yesterday that U.S. real estate agents are using blogging to target and develop real estate clients. The article says that four agents spoke about this trend at the Bloggers Connect Program at the Real Estate Connect conference in San Francisco.

There's a really fascinating article from USA Today two days ago which focused on the trials and tribulations of a particular group of troubled homeowners: real estate agents. According to the article, 25,000 agents left the business in 2007. The National Association of Realtors has 140,000 fewer members than it did in 2006. There are 40,000 less brokers on payroll than there were in Spring 2006. Median income for realtors has dropped 10.7% in just one year's time.

Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust had been expected to post profits of about $0.85 per share according to RTTNews, but it turned out they took a loss of $0.08 per share, one more sign that the real estate crisis has a way to go before it starts to see daylight. Also reporting losses, this time on the lending side, was American Mortgage Acceptance Corporation which lost $4.01 per share over the past six months.

An article appearing today at Bloomberg.com claims that overall housing inventories must fall at least 50% before prices will "stabilize." The article quotes MIT economics professor Will Wheaton to that effect and provides details about how hard the housing recession is hitting home builders.

With real estate sales suffering, brokers and agents are being faced with more sellers asking for reductions in the standard 6% selling fees, and Consumer Reports says they're getting them. In an article from their September 2008 issue, they reported the following:

Most of the real estate industry has been suffering from poor sales and a disheartened base. However, there's a niche in the industry that is doing well. Biomed Realty Trust filed 2nd quarter financial reports which showed their company is improving compared to one year ago. Company earnings increase by nearly 10%.

Reuters is reporting that the credit crunch is hitting the commercial real estate industry particularly hard. They cite two of the biggest real estate service companies, CB Richard Ellis Group Inc and Jones Lang LaSalle Inc as experiencing plummeting sales volume.

James M. Weichert, president and founder of Weichert Realtors, cheered Congress today for passing legislation giving a tax credit to home buyers in order to stimulate the housing market. Marketwatch reported Weichert saying, "I was particularly pleased to see that this bill included a tax credit for homebuyers.

Real Estate News gives real estate professionals the opportunity to share their expertise with the world by providing the latest news and information relative to the real estate market. It is a great resource both for real estate professionals, other people in related industries, and consumers wanting to better understand the real estate market as they select housing that is best for their needs.