As this week’s signal that homebuyers are returning to the market, both Existing Home Sales and New Homes Sales posted improvement versus month-prior figures this April.

According to the National Association of REALTORS, the number of Existing Home Sales rose by 130,000 units in April.

New Home Sales rose by a modest 1,000 units in April.

As a twist in the story, however, although sales activity is rising, the available housing inventory is rising faster.

Versus March 2009, there were 300,000 more homes for sale in April — an increase of 9 percent. In addition, the “housing supply” rose to 10.2 months, its highest level since October.

This is good news for home buyers, of course, because home prices are a product of Supply and Demand. Depending on local conditions, buyers may find themselves in a position to demand lower sale prices or additional seller concessions.

The housing market has not fully rebounded but it continues to show signs of strength. With a few more months like March and April, it’s reasonable to assume that homebuyers will lose some of their leverage for contract negotiation.

When that happens, expect home prices to rise.

Conforming mortgage rates rose by 0.625 percent Wednesday. Yes, you read it right. Zero-point-six-two-five percent.

The surprise surge in pricing started shortly after 1:00 P.M. ET, then continued all the way until the market’s closing. It was the sharpest one-day surge in mortgage rates in recent history. Perhaps ever.

For mortgage rate shoppers swept up in the surge, monthly payments are now higher by $29 per $100,000 borrowed.

That’s a significant shift.

For as rare as Wednesday’s events were, though, middle-of-the-day, 0.625 percent rate changes don’t just happen. Yesterday, the action was the result of a confluence of factors, including:

• Rising oil prices and gas prices
• Optimistic predictions about the end of the recession
• Concerns over the U.S. total debt load
• Fears of longer-term economic inflation

In addition, momentum trading played a role.

As markets worsened, selling begat more selling, amplifying Wall Street’s total losses. As mortgage bond prices fell, mortgage rates went up. By a lot.

Mortgage markets are notoriously fickle and yesterday’s events proved it. Days like Wednesday are precisely why insiders recommend shopping for mortgage rates in a compressed timeframe. The faster you finish, the lower the risk of losing low interest rates to new market conditions.

Each month, researchers measure home values in 20 large U.S. cities, then compile their findings in a report called the Case-Shiller Index. It’s a popular measurement of housing health across the country, but it’s far from perfect.

As 3 examples:

1. It gives more weight to expensive homes than inexpensive ones
2. Its sample set includes just 37 states of 50 states
3. Real estate isn’t a “national” market — it’s local

All that said, however, the data is still important. The Case-Shiller Index helps identify broader trends in housing and it’s widely believed that the economy won’t recover until the sector starts to stabilize.

We may be at that recovery point now.

Despite newspaper headlines blaring about 19 percent drops from March 2008, the month-to-month values appear to be stabilizing and the latter is the more important development. 15 of the 20 markets covered by Case-Shiller either improved, stayed flat, or declined by 0.2 percent or less.

Versus 2008, the rate of speed at which home values are falling is slowing.

Furthermore, because the Case-Shiller Index is on a 2-month delay, it doesn’t account for all of this year’s Spring Buyers, or first-timers taking the $8,000 first-time homebuyer tax credit.

Two months don’t make a trend, but if Case-Shiller Index continues to report similar data for April and May, it could be the signal that housing finally bottomed.

When sinks deliver low water pressure or “spray”, homeowners like to blame faulty plumbing. A more likely culprit, however, is a neglected faucet aerator. Built-up dirt and sediment eventually slow down water delivery on most faucet types.

In this 1-minute-40-second video, DIY expert Ron Hazelton demonstrates how to properly clean an aerated faucet, restoring pressure and water flow to the sinks in your home.

The steps are basic:

• Close the drain so you don’t lose parts down the pipes
• Unscrew the aerator with your hands
• Disassemble and clean the parts
• Reassemble the parts
• Screw the aerator back on the faucet

Sometimes, weak water pressure isn’t a plumbing issue, but a cleanliness one instead. Clean your aerators as part of your annual Spring Cleaning rites.

Rates go up, rates go down. Catch them while you can.

After Wednesday’s mortgage market rally drove rates down by a bunch, Thursday’s sell-off pushed them right back up.

This has been a common pattern in the skittish world of mortgage rates this year.

With the U.S. economy still teetering between recession and growth, markets are looking for signals anywhere it can find them. Thursday’s clue came from a government report showing that more Americans are collecting unemployment benefits than at any point in history.

Strangely, mortgage rates rose on the news.

We call it “strange” because weak economic data has tended to draw mortgage rates lower lately to the benefit of prospective home buyers and would-be refinancers. Lower rates make homes more affordable.

Thursday, though, the pattern broke.

The main reason why mortgage rates rose Thursday isn’t because of the employment report or any other piece of data. Rates rose Thursday for the same reason that they had dropped the day prior — the Federal Reserve.

On Wednesday, the released minutes from the Fed’s last meeting suggested that the group might make a larger mortgage market intervention. On Thursday, in the face of worsening jobs data, markets bet the Fed wouldn’t.

Mortgage rate shoppers, unfortunately, got caught in the crosshairs.

Rates can — and do — change quickly, without warning. And, thus far this year, the changes have been extra sudden. This is one reason why it’s often prudent to lock a mortgage rate as soon as you find one that’s agreeable. Wait too long, and it could be gone.

Expect more volatility today with traders leaving early for Memorial Day Weekend. Less volume means more chances for rates to change.

Mortgage rates fell after the Federal Reserve released its April 28-29, 2009 meeting’s internal notes Wednesday.

Officially known as “Fed Minutes”, the report is an in-depth account Federal Reserve’s last get-together, detailing the discussions and decisions that create our country’s monetary policy.

It’s the lengthy companion to the Federal Reserve’s brief, post-meeting press release.

For comparison’s sake, the Federal Reserve’s April 29 announcement contained 383 words. The minutes of that same meeting held 5,754 words. The extra words offer extra details about what the next monetary steps might be for the nation’s policymakers.

This is a big deal to markets because investors are always looking for clues about what’s next — especially considering how the April Fed Minutes showed that group discussed increasing its $1.25 trillion mortgage market commitment to something bigger.

Remember that the Fed’s mortgage-buying program is largely credited with keeping mortgage rates low this year. If there’s more buying ahead, that should help rates stay similarly low. Mortgage rates fell Wednesday in anticipation of a move like that. For now, though, the Fed Minutes are just talk.

As economic conditions change later this year, so might the Federal Reserve’s stance.

A “housing start” is a new home on which construction has started and, for the fourth straight month, single-family home construction remained flat in April.

For the battered housing market, this is the latest in a series of signals that a long-awaited turnaround is coming.

• The number of homes under contract to sell are rising
• The national housing inventory is down by nearly 1 million from March 2009
• Home values are rising, according to a government report

The current plateau in Housing Starts may indicate that builders are more confident in the economy, and that Americans are, too. Especially in light of the freefall over the past few years.

Single-Family Housing Starts have hugged the 360,000 mark since January 2009.

However, there is a footnote to the story.

As noted by the Commerce Department in its official report, the April Housing Starts conclusion is suspect because of the data’s large Margin of Error. Had the government’s sample set included a different series of data, in other words, it may have concluded that housing starts had fallen instead of staying flat. Or risen.

We won’t know the final results of the report until 3 months from now but if the initial figures hold, it will fortify the argument that the housing market has, indeed, found its bottom.

One third of the way into the year and we have an interesting real estate market that has developed in South Orange County - both for buyers, and sellers. Of course you have heard about distressed houses being a good 50% of sales for the past 12 months or so. So, has this market turned into a good time to buy, sell, or perhaps both? The answer depends on your point of view.

Buying in today's market. As strange as it may sound, the higher the price, the better opportunity for buyers. How can that be? Well, the lower price range – where the majority of sales are happening – is extremely competitive. It is not unusual for there to be 10 offers on houses priced under $450,000. That is producing sales at higher than list price - and more than a reasonable share of frustrated potential buyers.

In higher price ranges – over $750,000 – there is usually more negotiability in the prices, as there are fewer buyers. The higher the price, the fewer the buyers, and the most flexibility in prices - usually. There is a small percentage of exceptions - mostly houses that are really special in one way or another. A few of those are selling at higher ( Than neighboring distressed houses.) prices, but frankly, there are some pretty special houses that have been distressed properties, as well. Most of those are priced 15-20% lower than their 'equity' seller ( Non-distressed.) neighbors – definitely priced competitively. That is where some exceptional buys have recently been struck.

Heard horror stories about buying a short sale, or an REO? Some of these properties represent exceptional opportunities! That's where a little experience can go a long way. Personally, with over 32 years of local experience, I have seen – and done – just about every type of transaction.

Selling in today's market. This is a whole different ballgame. It has been getting better, though, for a couple of good reasons. One, potential sellers are coming to realize that if they really want to sell, they will have to price their house competitively - against the distressed houses, nearby.

That might be a bitter pill for some people to swallow. It goes against the philosophy we've always heard – that we should buy low, and sell high. To some people, however, especially if they're wanting to get into a bigger, more expensive house, it just might be a good time to sell low, and buy low. This is a good time to be selling lower priced properties, even those priced near a million dollars. You can competitively price similar to nearby distressed houses, and have a couple of advantages to offer to buyers.

For one, yours is likely more of a turnkey house, where most distressed houses are in shabby condition. Plus, you can make a decision in minutes, instead of days or even weeks, for some distressed houses. With those two advantages, you might be able to charge a small premium to buyers, over and above the usual 15-20% discount that distressed houses are selling for - while still lower than 'normal', out of touch, wishful thinking, 'equity sellers' that make up about 25-30% of existing listings available - and 100% of the expired, or cancelled listings.

So, why would you sell at a 10-15% discount from your 'equity seller' neighbors? How about this, for a logical reason? To buy the bigger, more expensive house at an even bigger discount. Many of the distressed houses, in the higher price ranges are selling for hundreds of thousands of dollars less than their neighbors next door! This philosophy is working right now in most move-up scenarios. It does take some deftness to coordinate, and frankly, some of the agents who have only known the 'good times' real estate market of from 2000 to 2005, don't have the experience to figure out how to do it.

The truth is, though, that it can be done, and it is being done. Thinking of trying to make a move but not sure where to start? Give me a call and let's discuss the possibilities. There is no obligation, nothing to lose - and there might be a lot to gain.

Are YOU in trouble with your mortgage? This is another sign of these times. Mortgage payments getting out of hand, for any one of a number of reasons - frequently more than one? Job loss? A reset of a loan – resulting in unexpectedly higher payments?

There ARE solutions out there, and I am familiar with pretty much all of them. Have you been thinking of selling, to relieve the hardship? Or, do you prefer to stay in your house, but need to modify the payments? Or, are you already facing a potential foreclosure?

There are viable solutions for every scenario – just some confusion as to which course to pursue. In most scenarios you might be contemplating, I have been there, and done that, with other clients. I am experienced and adept in navigating the decision making process, and fully prepared to help you sort out the correct solution, for you.

If you are looking for help or answers, give me a call - (949) 643-2100 - or shoot me an email, at BobPhillipsRE@gmail.com and let's put our heads together to solve your situation. For buying, leasing, and/or selling real estate, or solving real estate problems, you should be getting in touch with me. I have been assisting your neighbors in the same ways, for over 32 years.

According to the American Resort Development Association, there are more than 4 million timeshare owners across the United States. There are ample buying opportunities, but what if you want to sell your timeshare?

In this 4-minute piece with NBC’s The Today Show, Barbara Corcoran talks about the difficulties today’s timeshare sellers face with respect to a down economy, revealing sales strategies in the meanwhile.

Among the advice:

• Know what your share’s worth, then lower it by 20%
• Don’t overlook obvious marketing techniques
• Consider auction sites to sell a timeshare
• Donating to charity open up tax breaks

Selling timeshares is always more difficult than selling a “regular” home; and today’s recessionary economy doesn’t make it any easier. Watch the complete clip for more tips on selling timeshares at MSNBC.com.

More than 18 million freight containers make 200 million trips per year, moving the world’s goods from port-to-port. It’s system that’s been in place for 50 years.

But ever since a California architect used the containers to build the world’s first Uniform Building Code-compliant 2-story home, the boxes have been on the fringe of the Green Home Movement.

Look at these few examples container-based housing from around the world:

• A home made from 12 containers
• A student housing project in the Netherlands
• A condo development in London

Shipping containers are popular among architects because they’re cheap, plentiful, and easily shaped into designs. They’re popular among consumers for their small eco-footprint.

They’ll likely never replace traditional building materials, but shipping container homes should become more commonplace over the next decade.