Yes!  You read it right!  A family faced with forclosure in California was saved by Superman!  To be exact a rare first issue of the Superman Comic ever Sold Action Comics #1 was found while the family was cleaning out there home and preparing to move .... WOAH talk about fantasy and reality coming together!  What a great story, chalk another victory up for Superman!

http://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2010/08/04/Superman-saves-day-for-foreclosed-family/UPI-80111280944111/

90% of Buyers

Supply and Demand makes the Market - But you can't Have Buyers without Jobs...

There is good news for Texas however according to a recently published CNBC Article Texas Ranks #1 as the best state to go to for Business!.  http://www.cnbc.com/id/37642856/
The two major elements in making a determination of the conditions for sale within the housing market it is important to recognize that Supply and Demand are major components of any analysis.  What I mean to say is without Demand the Supply of homes that isn't selling is likely to grow.. In up markets obviously, as interest and demand grow there is a usual following that as home sell the inventory start shrinking causing prices to rise.

One of the key elements in the Demand curve therefore is job creation and/or emplyment. The more employment opportunities there are the more employees that are needed and it follows with more employed people the need for housing increases as well. 

This is good news for Texas and the Austin area as this year has seen some exciting new growth of employment with approximately 6000 new jobs added to the workforce in Austin so far in 2010. 

Why didnt the home sell?

In today's economy Real Estate Sales seem more volatile than ever.  Why didn't it sell, is a question being heard with increasing frequency as the number of homes failing to sell continues to rise.  Unfortunately, when I am the one asking this question of a homeowner, it is usually because I am there following a Broker that was unsuccessful with the sale of the property.

So what is the answer I hear the most often?  Usually it goes something like this.  Well, the MARKET just really isn't that good right now.  Here is the truth, the market is not something that can be controlled by one or two individuals or a result of a singular transaction. The market is a summary of many transactions between Buyers and Sellers, so no matter what the Market is, not selling is only an excuse for the FAILURE to interpret EXACTLY what was needed to make the property saleable.

Lets take another step and define the so called "Market" as it applies to Real Estate.  In a limited sense the word "Market" refers to the range of bids and asked prices, as well as the culmination of those offers in terms of closed sales.  Specifically, data that is obtained and reported by Brokers who are active in the marketing and sale of homes. The Real Estate Market is more closely defined as being a current summation of the activity in housing sales.  In other words, the term "Market" refers to a summary of the indicators as a whole, that are used to measure and analyze activity such as the average price, unit sales, or volume in dollars.  This can be for a local geography or broader based such as regional or national territory. However, the analysis of any so called market requires subjectivity. 

What areas are being considered, is it for all homes including new and resale?  What geographic boundaries were considered in the analysis?  How do the homes that make up the Market compare with the ones that failed to sell?

Recently, I was asked by one of my good clients, where do you think the housing market for the Austin area is heading this summer?  Being the eternal optimist, my reply was simple, it will be good for someone, and Im just not sure who it will be!

Talk about a non-answer! Im guilty and here is the reason why.  Traditional benchmarks used for analysis are all over the place for the last several months.  Interest rates are the lowest they have been since the early 70s.  The supply of homes which had been rapidly decreasing toward the expiration of the $8000.00, 1^st time home buyers tax incentive, is turning around and heading up sharply.  Owners who listed their homes to take advantage of a good Sellers market were in many cases just too late.  Unfortunately, they have not quite got the memo yet and the market is no longer in their favor.  In the meantime, what looked like a start of the hottest market for unit sales that we have seen in many years is clearly headed for a slowdown with many months of increased supply and fewer qualified Buyers.  If you factor in unemployment and increasing foreclosure activity there will be even more competition for Sellers.

Fortunately, around Austin, a stabilizing factor for this may be job creation and IN-migration (not immigration, that is for a different blog)  Unemployment in the Austin area remains well below national figures and there are many recent promises of new employers moving into our area.

Alas, all speculation is only that!  I can tell you one thing however, with absolute certainty, that today it is one of the best days I have seen in my 20 years of doing business as a Realtor to buy a home!

Please stay tuned to my blog where I will be bringing you day-to day analysis and absorption rate trend information you can use to really understand our market and the prospectus for the months ahead.