“The Bigger They Are, the Slower They Sell” That’s from an article in today’s Wall Street Journal titled, “High-End Homes Frozen Out of Budding Housing Rebound” (8/3/09). The thrust of the article — which I agree with — is that the lower rungs of the housing market are now stable if not recovering, while the...Read More
Jumbo Prices, Jumbo Selection I’m not a big wine drinker, but I’ve always believed that wine prices were characterized by a “law of diminishing returns.” In other words, while an average $8 bottle might be twice as good as an average $4 bottle, a $16 bottle probably isn’t twice as good as $8 — and...Read More
Buyer’s Budget as Negotiating Leverage I’m seeing and hearing more instances of Buyers, in the course of negotiating for a home, instruct their Realtors (including, sometimes, me!) to tell the Seller that “that’s all I can afford.” Is that a smart tactic? I discourage it, for three reasons. One. Sellers tend not to believe such...Read More
Upper Bracket Squeezed by Jumbo Bottleneck At a time when some mortgage products are showing signs of life, jumbo mortgages are hard to get and expensive, making it difficult for many would-be move-up buyers to take action. —Minneapolis Association of Realtors (6/22/09) Want a quick, simple handle on today’s housing market? Take $417,000, the limit...Read More
A Price Cut By Any Other Name When is a home price cut not a price cut? When it’s billed as “Seller financing” (or other creative Buyer inducements). In a soft rental market, landlords will do practically anything to entice prospective renters without actually lowering their nominal rental rates. By far the most popular gambit...Read More
Jumbo Loan Premium to Shrink With the collapse last year of the private mortgage bond market on Wall Street, home buyers, builders and refinancers who relied on jumbo financing were left with few sources except at punitively high interest rates and huge down payments. –Kenneth Harney, “A Big Boost for Buyers Seeking Jumbo Loans” (The...Read More
