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Pinellas Property Online - News, Articles, Facts and Lists of homes in Pinellas County Florida

Getting Rid of Breeding sites for mosquitoes

Tuesday, 20 April 2010 07:21 |

Here is an article created by the Pinellas County Utility Company in conjuction with the University of Florida. It lays out some vital information you would want to keep mosquitoes from having a breeding area in and around your property.

http://www.pinellascounty.org/PublicWorks/mosquito/Mosquito-bites.pdf

Pending Home Sales: Spring Surge Showing Positive Housing Signs

Tuesday, 20 April 2010 07:20 |

Amidst recession, Americans have some good news to hear. The ever popular Pending Home Sales Index, PHSI, have risen sharply since last month which is an indication of economic revival. According to National Association of Realtors, buyers all across America are taking full advantage of home buyer tax credit. This particular tax relief is now playing an important role in formulating a surge of approximately 8.2 percent since last month. As of February, PHSI stood at 97.6 from 90.2 points, in January 2010.

As deadline looms, 10 million visit tax credit website

Tuesday, 20 April 2010 07:19 |

Interest in the federal homebuyer tax credit surged in the first three months of 2010, with the FederalHousingTaxCredit.com Web site reaching a milestone 10 million visits. Spurred by a sense of urgency as the credit’s April 30 expiration date approached, the site logged about a million visits each month in January, February and March.

The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) created the site in July 2008 as both an educational and marketing tool.

“NAHB went live with the site the same day the credit was signed into law in 2008, and it quickly became the Internet’s premier source of information about the credit,” says NAHB Chairman Bob Jones

Home buyer statistics

Monday, 19 April 2010 13:56 |

Prior to purchase, a vast majority of first-time homebuyers (88 percent) believe that they have accounted for all expenses related to owning a home.

Seemingly contradicting that notion, among those who had purchased a home in the past 12 months, just over half indicate that the expenses were more than they had calculated, causing a change in lifestyle.

The information comes from the BBVA Compass First Time Home Buyers Online Survey, which polled American consumers about the thoughts, emotions and hurdles related to owning and enjoying a first home.

Key first-time homebuyer findings include:

Weekly Economic Summary - April 16, 2010

Monday, 19 April 2010 13:54 |

OVERVIEW ~ for April 5 through April 9, 2010. The remarkable news over this week was that mortgage interest rates surged higher (as you can see to the right). This was the result, largely, of increasing confidence among investors about the economic recovery. And that growing confidence was reflected both in the higher stock market indices and in the apparent readiness among investors to put their money into riskier investments, but was not reflected in any real estate sales data other than the recent Pending Home Sales Index.

FOCUS ~ Two very important questions:

1. Wednesday, April 7^th’s auction of 10-year Treasury notes inspired the highest overall demand among investors since 1999. But most interest rates are rising, including mortgage rates. Why, therefore, were the auctions of Treasury securities so successful last week? Wouldn’t investors shy away due to rising rates, which reduce the value of existing securities?

Hint of Spring Surge – Pending home sales show healthy gain

Monday, 19 April 2010 13:46 |

Pending home sales rose in February, potentially signaling a second surge of home sales in response http://www.realtor.org/press_room/news_releases/2010/04/phs_gain to the home buyer tax credit, according to the National Association of Realtors®.

The Pending Home Sales Index, a forward-looking indicator based on contracts signed in February, rose 8.2 percent to 97.6 from a downwardly revised 90.2 in January, and remains 17.3 percent above February 2009 when it was 83.2. The data reflects contracts and not closings, which usually occur with a lag time of one or two months.

How to keep up with mortgage payments

Wednesday, 14 April 2010 12:34 |

The share of homeowners behind on their mortgages fell in the first quarter, the first drop in four years and a possible sign that the foreclosure crisis has peaked.

The portion of mortgages that were delinquent 30 days or more fell to 6.57 percent in the first quarter from 6.60 percent in the last three months of 2009, according to Equifax and Moody’s Economy.com.

That’s a drop of about 16,630 delinquent loans and, though modest, it is the first decline in the delinquency rate since early 2006.

IRS offers info on tax credits

Wednesday, 14 April 2010 12:29 |

U.S. taxes can be offset by a number of real estate-related credits and deductions, and the IRS offers information on each.

Karen Russell, real estate industry liaison for Georgia, and in this instance, Florida as well, compiled a list of educational documents for the real estate industry to share with homebuyers and sellers.

“I am sharing the following links regarding credits available to first time homebuyers and long-term homeowners wishing to replace their primary residence,” Russell says. “This information can be printed and placed for easy viewing” by interested buyers and sellers.

Vacation-Home Sales Up; Investment Purchases See Sharp Decline

Monday, 12 April 2010 07:22 |

Second home buyers are coming back into the market, but apparently they prefer relaxation over investment. The National Association of Realtors® is reporting the vacation-home sales increased even more than the sale of primary residences in 2009 with the former up 7.9 percent while the later rose 7.1 percent. During the same period the sale of investment properties fell 15.9 percent.

NAR's 2010 Investment and Vacation Home Buyers Survey shows a total of 553,000 sales of vacation homes in 2009 compared to 513,000 in 2008. However, the sales of investment homes plummeted from 1.12 million to 940,000. The sales of primary homes were up to 4.04 million from 3.77 million in 2008.