You wonder why real estate professionals are starting to have hairlines like mine instead of the perfect head of hair on their business cards a couple of years ago, it is reports like these coming out of Zillow confirming the losses Americans have taken on their home’s value.

We are looking at approximately 3.3 trillion dollars of lost property value in the United States in 2008. That in numbers is $3,300,000,000,000 to blow your mind. Or to put it into terms we can understand:

• It could buy over 10 million Mercedes C300 Sedans
• It is 25 percent of the GDP of the United States in 2007
• It is greater than the Gross Domestic Product of all but the European Union, United States, and Japan in 2007. (ref)

When a country had to absorb the loss of wealth in one sector of the economy in such a short time there is bound to be pain. Add in the stock markets meltdown and it is truly amazing that the country is as strong as it is now.

The declines mean that U.S. homeowners lost a cumulative $3.3 trillion in home values during 2008, with much of that loss coming in the fourth quarter. Homeowners lost $1.4 trillion during the fourth quarter alone; more than the $1.3 trillion lost during all of 2007. Since the housing market’s peak in 2006, $6.1 trillion in home values have been lost.

Foreclosures made up nearly one in five (19.9 percent) of all transactions in 2008. The hard-hit Central Valley in California continued to lead the nation in foreclosures, as more than half of all sales in the Madera, Merced and Stockton metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) were foreclosures. The New York City metro area and the Grand Junction, Colo., had the lowest rates of foreclosure in the country (both at 3.9 percent). via Zillow.com.

Thanks for reading this post. If you would like to see more articles like this, please come visit The Real Estate Bloggers. where it was originally published.

3.3 Trillion Dollars In Property Values Lost In 2008

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Source: 2009 Real Estate Forecast

As the housing market reacts to the recessionary pressures on the economy and the increasing surplus of foreclosures, sellers are lowering prices and houses are getting sold.

What  a surprise.

Now as a homeowner myself I always want to get top dollar for my home when it sells. We all feel that way. But the sentiment has finally crept into the marketplace that homes are selling mainly on price and that if it is overpriced it has no chance of selling.

Now the real estate agents are saying we have been telling you that for a year, but as anyone who has had a child knows, it takes a long time for a lesson to sink in.

December it looks like the lesson has sunk in.

This is a good thing as now the housing market will find it’s proper pricing and a trustworthy price for housing can be established. This will bring the 1^st time homebuyers back into the game who have been saving for the past couple of years.

Sales of existing homes rose 6.5 percent to an annual rate of 4.74 million in December, from a downwardly revised pace of 4.45 million in November, the National Association of Realtors said Monday. Without adjusting for seasonal factors, sales nationwide were up 1.1 percent from a year earlier, reflecting a surge of more than 36 percent in the Western states.

The nationwide median sales price plunged to $175,400, down 15.3 percent from $207,000 a year ago. That was the lowest price since May 2003 and the biggest year-over-year drop on records going back to 1968. With sales of foreclosures and other distressed properties making up about 45 percent of sales, many economists expect prices to keep falling. via MSNBC

Thanks for reading this post. If you would like to see more articles like this, please come visit The Real Estate Bloggers. where it was originally published.

Sales Up, Prices Down For December 2008

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Source: 2009 Real Estate Forecast

The recent downturn in the real estate market has shattered the conventional wisdom of the marketplace. What has always worked is still working, but there are so many tools making inroads into the day to day life of a real estate agent.

This we can all agree upon.

So when I came upon this quote from a press release from ForSaleByOwner.com, I was interested. Read it then join me below:

- The Internet Becomes More Effective Than Agents in Helping Buyers Find Homes: According to the 2008 NAR Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, 32% of buyers in 2008 said they first learned of the home they purchased by seeing it on the Internet, up from 29% in 2007, and from just 2% in 1997. In 2008, 34% of buyers said that they first learned of the home they purchased through a real estate agent, compared with 34% in 2007 and 50% in 1997. Prediction: In 2009 - for the first time — more buyers will find the home they purchase by seeing it first on the Internet rather than learning of it from a real estate agent.

Now it is spun to say, you do not need a real estate agent. And that is the copywriters job if he is working for ForSaleByOwner.com.

But I would differ.

The hard working real estate agent is becoming a more integral part of the equation in home sales. With limited buyers and plentiful sellers negotiation and following correct processes are more important than ever.

Buyers will find the home first on the internet, but what next. The savings they will have in negotiation price and a lower mortgage will more than cover any commission the agent gets.

Real Estate Agents Have More Value Than Ever.

Tough markets need agents to get deals through. In 2005 you did not need an agent to get a deal done in most parts of the country, today you do. Your ownership of the MLS made people fat, now the lean real estate agents are going to dominate the market.

But that is for another post.

Thanks for reading this post. If you would like to see more articles like this, please come visit The Real Estate Bloggers. where it was originally published.

Internet Leads The Way For Real Estate Leads in 2009

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Source: real estate indicators