Tag: interesting-developments

Here (once you get past all the ads) is an interesting ‘heat map’ and article of 2008 foreclosures in the United States. Obviously there are some parts of the country that are far worse than others.

According to this pantagraph.com article, young people are investing in retirement homes, not stocks: ‘…No one knows how many younger buyers are out snapping up their retirement homes. But real-estate agents and financial planners around the country say they’re increasingly assisting younger buyers out spending $100,000 to $500,000 for a house to call home in retirement. Partially at play is a cultural shift planners say they see among younger savers who aren’t content to just accumulate assets to use in retirement. Instead, this younger generation wants to put some of its nest egg to work today as an investment in family. A year ago, Daniel Merkle and Sandra Bauman of Glen Rock, N.J., took roughly 20 percent of their retirement assets — none of it coming from tax-deferred accounts like their IRAs or 401(k) plans — and bought a cottage on a hill with 60 feet of lake frontage in Athens, N.Y., in the Catskill Mountains. “It was clear the money was better off in the index funds we owned,” Merkle says. “But there are factors you can’t see on a spreadsheet — like the time we get with our kids building memories there. We wanted to get in while it was affordable.”

According to this Yahoo article: ‘…Nationally, sales were down 7 percent in the April-June quarter this year compared with the same period in 2005, the National Association of Realtors said Tuesday in its latest state-by-state look at housing conditions around the country…’

Want to buy an overpriced home? Try Chico, CA which is estimated at 43% over what they are supposed to be. Want a bargain? Salt Lake City, Utah where homes are -23% of what they should be so says The Wall Street Journals Real Estate Journal: …There is no sign of a national “bubble” in home prices, says Richard DeKaser, chief economist at National City, but “there is a growing risk of ‘bubblettes’ in certain places.” Mr. DeKaser studied data for the past 25 years on 99 metropolitan areas to determine price levels that would be expected for each city based on such factors as population density, incomes, interest rates and past premiums or discounts compared with other parts of the country. He then looked at the difference between those expected levels and actual house prices in 2004…’