Not nationally, but at least for the mid-west , home sales in August look to be pretty bleak.



As a real estate agent, one of the tools I have access to is the MLS system , which records all sales in a county, region and more.



Since August has come to a close , and almost all pendings that have sold have been filed either sold or fallen through, it gives a pretty good look at what the "official" numbers will be. I'm in Central Ohio (Columbus to be exact) which is one of the more stable areas of the mid-west (we're much better off than somewhere like Cleveland, Toledo, Detroit , Dayton ,ect). When I pulled the same data using the same methods on August the 5th , I was off by less than 1% from the "official" national sales numbers.



So, long story short, August home sales will be VERY bleak. Interestingly as well , there are quite a few homes that are still showing as pending from April 1st through June 1st, which is very uncommon , I doubt many of them will close at all, which means more negative pressure on the market at large.

In your opinion, is it because people cannot sell the house they are in to be able to purchase another house?  Or is it tightened lending standards making it hard to qualify for loans?

Loss of jobs , loan requirements increasing (and the fact that EVERYONE who thought they might need a house in the next 1-2 years went out and bought one with the tax credit), as well as some people being underwater.



You NEED money for a down payment now , and people aren't used to saving up money, even if it's only 3.5% for a FHA loan on a $150,000 house.



 

As we all know, the home buyers tax credit pulled forward a great many months worth of sales.  The only question is how many.  



Also, you can bet that a lot of buyers are waiting (and hoping) for yet another home buyer's tax credit.



Unintended consequences are a bitch.

So is now the time to buy... assuming you have the down payment?



I've been thinking of buying a duplex and renting it out.

Short sales.

Went to a wedding reception Saturday afternoon and drove thru one of the tonier sections of the Birmingham area. The last house on the right before we entered the country club grounds, fabulous view of the golf course and mountains beyond.........

Short sale.

There are nine houses for sale in my neighborhood. I need to get a count of the total number, somewhere between 10 and 20 percent, I think.

Existing housing is not moving much up here.......some new, higher end construction, but that's about it!

I think we had someone in our neighborhood abandon their house sometime during the past month. It's a little hard to tell when exactly they left, because they always took kinda crappy care of their yard anyway, but now their yard looks a little extra crappy.

Around here (SC), people just can't get mortgage loans.  There are plenty of houses on the market, but they're just not selling, unless they're short sales, foreclosures, or otherwise discounted properties bought by cash-paying investors.  Higher-end homes aren't affected as much and are still selling for decent prices––if you've got the time to wait for the offer you want.

Most short sales in my area close within 3 months of initial contract time , and even then most agents keep it on the market a few extra weeks w/o putting it in pending status to hopefully get a higher/better offer.