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Thursday, January 20, 2011

Don't let the media cloud your judgement

MARKET RECAP
The beginning of the year always produces a flood of opinion on what the next 12 months will bring. Much of the opinion is simply an extrapolation on what was occurring in the closing months of the old year. Nevertheless, some of the prognostications are worth vetting just to get an idea of market sentiment.
RealtyTrac continues to forecast pessimism. Last year lenders filed a record 3.8 million foreclosures, and RealtyTrac doubts that the peak has been reached. In fact, it doesn't expect the trend to reverse until 2012. Resubmissions are one variable in RealtyTrac's cloudy outlook. The company expects as many as 250,000 foreclosures will be resubmitted this year because of the mortgage-servicing scandal that occurred in the fourth quarter of 2010. The continued foreclosure glut, according to RealtyTrac, will shave another 5 percent off average home prices this year.
A little perspective is in order: We need to consider that more than half the foreclosures last year originated in a handful of states – California, Florida, Arizona, Illinois, and Michigan. These select burgs have seen home prices plunge sharply, unemployment rise sharply, or a combination of the two. Nevertheless, real estate is local. Toss out the negative outliers and the data look a lot better. The problem is, too many borrowers and buyers focus on the national numbers, which tend to skew impressions of the local real estate market.

Hampton Roads market is healthy.  Selling or buying? Take advantage of the times and move.
Christine Parrish 757-816-7000 Your resource realtor. 
Serving Hampton Roads and OBX NC.

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