WHERE HAVE ALL THE BUYERS GONE????

The real estate market is dead, dead, dead. And the rates and deals are abundant. What's wrong with this picture???? Here's latest article from national association of realtors: Home sales and the job market - two key aspects to our continued recovery - are also areas we need to see change in an improving direction. Last week, the NAHB Housing Market Index came in a bit worse than expectations and showed housing to be at a 17-month low. It can be argued that the tax credits actually hurt the housing market by not adding any sales, just pushing them up. This has now resulted in a void or softer period in the market, potentially wasting billions of dollars. Housing Starts and Building Permits were also reported lower than expected last week. Clearly, demand for housing has slowed over the past few months, due to the expiration of the Home Buyer Tax Credit and persistently high unemployment.
Speaking of unemployment, awful is the only way to describe last week?s Initial Jobless Claims report. According to the report, 500,000 people filed to receive unemployment benefits for the first time, which was well higher than the lofty 475,000 expected and the highest reading since November 2009. In addition, between Continuing Claims and people receiving Emergency Unemployment Compensation or EUC, the combined total of people receiving unemployment benefits now equals 9.25 Million people.
The bottom line is this: The labor market is the foundation of our economy. Job growth and confidence is the best and most sustainable way for our economy to recover. The present anti-business regulatory environment is pushing Initial Claims, a leading indicator on the health of the labor market, in the wrong direction.
But home loan rates, meanwhile, continue to remain at historic low levels. Though keep in mind, inflation is the arch enemy of Bonds and home loan rates, which means it can cause both to worsen. Both the Producer Price Index (which measures inflation at the wholesale level) and the Consumer Price Index were recently reported hotter than expected. If rates do start to rise, they will likely do so quickly.

McEwan's "Solar" book set in NM

You may recognize him as the author of the book Atonement. He has written a thriller around the global warming issues called "Solar". He says it is mostly funny but presents his knowledge and passion about addressing global warming. He was interviewed on Tavis Smiley today. I think I'll go upload it to my Kindle. Should be a good read at many levels and then a movie......

"In Plain Sight" Renewed for Two Years

Here in Albuquerque, NM, we love that kind of news. The series has been a source of pride and shows off many parts of our city. I have worked with the site location scouts numerous times to find a location and it's always interesting. "Judy, I need a home that looks like it's in Cape Cod." Cape Cod in ABQ? ARe you kidding, but we have so much variety that we can come up with options. Also, our environment is so varied so we can show different environments. We are not all desert! We have a river with lush big trees for that East Coast look; a mountain area for the Montana mountain look. We have a typical University area with little old houses that could be anyplace. And we have gorgeous million dollar homes with views. The scouts love our variety and off course having 252 days of good weather makes a big difference. Congratulations to all the "In Plain Sight" production company. We love you too.