Askins Online Real Estate Blog

Bargain home prices have jump-started sales on vacation or second homes, but more purchasers are opting to buy properties much closer to their primary residence.

In the past, second-home buyers tended to buy properties out-of-state or were lured to vacation homes near far-flung resorts and tourist destinations. But second-home purchases these days seem to be more restrained, as more purchasers opt for vacation spots that are within a relatively short drive of where they live. Moreover, these properties aren't as glitzy as in recent years, The Wall Street Journal reports.

The median distance between a buyers’ vacation home and primary residence took its first decline on record, averaging a 305-mile distance in 2011, a drop of 19 percent from 2010, according to data from the National Association of REALTORS®.

"People want to stay within driving distance because they're more able to maintain the homes, they have better networks in place, and friends and family nearby to use and sustain the homes," Jon Gray, vice president of HomeAway.com, told The Wall Street Journal.

A recent HomeAway survey found that vacation home buyer prefer to buy a home nowadays that can be reached in four hours or less from their primary home.

source:  Wall Street Journal

While many buyers may be swayed by the home’s appearance, financing, and location when choosing a home, housing experts say they often overlook other important factors that may keep them happy for years to come with their home purchase.

A recent article at U.S. News & World Report lists tips for those often-forgotten aspects of home ownership. Here are some of those overlooked aspects:

• Zoning of nearby areas: What you see today may not be what you see a few years from now. Communities’ and neighborhoods’ landscapes can drastically change in a few years. And while some of these changes may be good — such as the addition of a nearby recreation park or school — some may be viewed as a negative, like a new highway overpass behind the property, the article notes. By reviewing upcoming plans and existing zoning at the city’s urban development department, home buyers can get a better idea of what the future may hold for the surrounding area of the neighborhood they choose.
• Remodeling rules: Some community associations may set limitations on what you can do to property, particularly if the buyer ever wants to make exterior changes like adding a garage or guest house. Purchasers who are looking to have a house grow with their family’s needs through the years may want to investigate any such rules beforehand to make sure that they’ll be able to add onto their home as needed.
• Impact of crime rate: Home purchasers may be concerned about making sure their new home falls in a low-crime-rate area but they may fail to realize how it can also impact their monthly budget. For example, “living in a high-risk neighborhood can send monthly bills upwards, like inflated auto insurance premiums,” the U.S. News & World Report article notes.

Read the full article and more items for buyers to consider in their home search at U.S. News & World Report.

source:  U.S. News & World Report

A new survey shows that the tighter economy has prompted more home owners to tackle do-it-yourself house projects — everything from “plumbing, painting, and home cleaning,” according to a new report from Bank of America. Home owners say they used to hire-out for such projects in the past.

The survey found that 70 percent of home owners have taken on such improvement jobs to curb housing costs in the last year. The most common DIY house tasks: repairing leaky faucets, fixing loose wiring in a light, as well as doing yard work and gardening.

"The mass affluent are taking more steps now than we saw just six months ago to improve their finances,” says Alok Prasad, Merrill Edge executive at Bank of America. “We're heartened to see so many in this group making additional strides, like cutting back on unnecessary purchases and taking on more DIY projects, to make those goals a reality. For most, starting the process is the hardest part, and this group has taken that first, crucial step."

Generation Y members, those aged 18 to 34, were the most focused on cutting costs compared to other age groups, according to the survey. Fifty-one percent of that age group said they saved more money over the last year compared to 37 percent of 35- to 50-year-olds. One way they’ve done that is by focusing on more DIY home improvement projects. Eighty-four percent of the GenY age group surveyed said they took on home improvement projects themselves, compared to 77 percent of 35- to 50-year-olds.

source:  New York Times

After a slowdown in corporate moves the past few years, more companies are planning to get their employees moving, according to a new survey.

Twenty-six percent of companies plan to relocate more workers this year than last year, according to the 2012 Corporate Relocation Survey, conducted by Atlas Van Lines.

The top places for corporate moves is the Northeast (42 percent), followed by the Midwest (37 percent), South (31 percent), and the West (26 percent).

The Atlas Van Lines survey also found that:

• 86% of companies plan to spend as much or more on relocation in 2012 than in 2011.
• More companies are also now offering relocating employees full reimbursement, not just lump sum or partial reimbursement.
• 52% of all relocations last year were for new hires.
• The most frequently moved employee in 2011 are employees aged 36-40.

Some Employees Decline to Move

In 2011, 57 percent of companies say that employees declined a relocation. The top reasons that employees said they did not want to relocate:

• Housing and mortgage concerns: 71%
• Family issues/ties: 64%
• Personal reasons: 42%

source:  Atlas Van Lines

Wells Fargo, the nation’s largest lender for home loans, is continuing to grow its mortgage business, issuing a record 33.9 percent of mortgages in the first quarter.

Other lenders now remain even further from reaching Wells Fargo’s mortgage totals. JPMorgan Chase & Co. has the second-highest market share of mortgages, but at 10.6 percent, it’s less than one-third than Wells Fargo’s mortgage volume, Reuters News reports. Also, some lenders, such as Bank of America, are continuing to scale back their mortgage volume.

Meanwhile, like Wells Fargo, U.S. Bancorp has increased its market share in the mortgage lending business, rising in the rankings from fifth to third in the first quarter.

"We see a market share [opportunity] that you only get once in a lifetime," U.S. Bancorp CEO Richard Davis said recently about the bank’s mortgage business.

Bank of America, when it purchased Countrywide Financial in 2008, once had been the largest mortgage lender in the country, but now ranks fourth. The bank saw its mortgage volume drop by more than 25 percent from the fourth quarter to the most recent quarter.

Top 5 Lenders by Mortgage Volume (First Quarter 2012)

Here are the top five lenders as far as highest market share with mortgage lending:

1. Wells Fargo
2. JPMorgan & Chase
3. Bancorp
4. Bank of America
5. Citigroup Inc.

source:  Reuters News

Mortgage workouts at Freddie Mac dropped to 14,000 in the first quarter from 35,000 a year ago and 50,000 in mid-2010. The change is attributed to a decrease in seriously delinquent loans to $72.8 billion in the first quarter from $82.1 billion a year earlier and to the transition of borrowers ineligible for HAMP to the new Standard Modification program.

Freddie Mac also reported a jump in the number of modified loans that were current and performing after two years to 68 percent in the first quarter of 2010 versus 56 percent of 2009 workouts.

source:  Housing Wire

Texas continues to be dominant as an emerging hot spot for jobs in the U.S. Metros in the state take up four of the top six best cities for jobs cited in a recent Forbes analysis.

Meanwhile, a shift in employment has moved out some traditional players from the top spots. For example, Washington, D.C., which was ranked No. 5 last year on the list, has fallen completely out of the top 15 as one of the best places for jobs — the first time in four years.

“Employment growth has moved away from the public sector to private business,” Forbes notes. More than half of the 398 metro areas studied showed a decrease in the number of government and public-sector jobs while private-sector jobs showed an increase.

The three employment sectors showing some of biggest job gains are in energy, technology, and manufacturing, according to Forbes’ analysis, which provided rankings of metro areas based on recent growth trends as well as projected long-term growth trends.

Of large U.S. metro areas, the top spots for jobs this year are:

1. Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, Texas
2. Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown, Texas
3. Salt Lake City, Utah
4. Fort Worth-Arlington, Texas Metropolitan Division
5. San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, Calif.
6. Dallas-Plano-Irving, Texas Metropolitan Division

View the complete list of hot job market cities at Forbes.

source:  Forbes

If home buyers or home owners are waiting for the housing market to hit bottom before acting, they may have already missed it.

“The crash is over,” Mark Zandi, chief economist for Moody’s Analytics Inc., told Bloomberg about the real estate market. “Home sales—both new and existing—and housing starts are now off the bottom.”

Several economists are saying the bottom of the housing market has already been reached, and the market has been showing several signs of progress, including home prices stabilizing and demand increasing. The economists say they’re optimistic about a recovery in the housing market, despite threats of a foreclosure wave coming.

One of the biggest signs that a sustainable housing market recovery is taking shape: Consumer confidence is up.

"Today's consumer confidence shows labor markets recovering and that confidence is going to allow consumers to go out and buy homes," Chris Rupkey, chief financial economist for Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi in New York, told Bloomberg.

Indeed, real estate professionals have been reporting increased activity among home shoppers this spring, too.

"This year's selling season is shaping up to be the strongest we've seen in years," says Margaret Kelly, RE/MAX's chief executive officer. "Although we don't expect home prices to rise in every market at the same rate, the worst is definitely behind us, and a slow, steady recovery is taking hold."

source:  Bloomberg News