We've often times warned readers of this blog to steer clear of a foreclosure home, no matter how good of a deal it may seem.
This NBC News investigative report is just one of many reasons why we continue to discourage anyone from buying a Columbia SC foreclosure home…
Buying a Columbia SC foreclosure home can be very risky, as you have just seen. Don't let your dream home turn into a nightmare. Take our advice and stay away from foreclosures.
Buying a short sale property may not be much better. Typically, Columbia SC short sales take longer to sell than normal home sales or a foreclosure home because of the time required for the parties-lender, buyer, seller-to respond. In the past waiting 6-18 months was common, now we find the process taking about 3-4 months if you are aggressively on top of everything.
With strong demand and limited supply, Columbia SC homes are selling as fast, or faster, as they did during the boom years of 2005 and 2006. Of course, the circumstances are quite different.
Homes are now selling nearly three times as fast as they normally would. The average number of days a listing stayed on the market in April was 46, down from 62 in March and down from the normal pace of 90-120 days, according to the National Association of Realtors.
Back in 2005 and 2006, it was all about easy money, and now it's about stiff competition for limited supply. "We need to see home builders increase production," said Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the NAR, in a press conference. "We need a 50 percent increase in starts."
Construction of New Columbia SC Homes Slowing
Builders of new Columbia SC homes are actually slowing production, trying to take advantage of home price gains that are nearing double digits.
While Columbia SC homes are certainly selling faster, double-digit price gains are not considered healthy, especially when wage growth is nowhere near that. At some point buyers will hit the wall, unable to afford the homes they want.
First-time homebuyers are already dropping out of the market, representing just 29 percent of homebuyers in April, according to the NAR. That's the lowest in two years. Rising mortgage rates, now at their highest in two months, are playing a part, but there are also fewer low-end Columbia SC homes to buy. The number of homes in the foreclosure process is now down nearly 25 percent from a year ago, according to a new report from Lender Processing Services.
Those who can get credit are now competing for what little there is to buy, and pushing prices well beyond expectations. We don't see this temporary boom lasting like it did in 2005 and 2006, simply because the factors driving this run-up are vastly different.
We'd love to know how you feel and what you think. Use the comment box to sound off. Remember, your email address will never be published here, nor will it ever be shared with any third parties. We hate spam as much as you do… but we'd love to hear from you.
Existing Columbia SC home sales climbed to a 3 and a half year high in April, and all indications are they will continue to climb in May and June. However, rising interest rates are the concern now.
Along with Columbia SC home sales, Columbia SC home prices continued to climb with the S&P/Case-Shiller monthly home price indices for March (which actually covers the three month average of January, February and March prices) showing double-digit annual increases over the same period a year ago.
Economists, however, are still cautiously bullish for two main reasons. First is the fact that near-record low mortgage rates have made home buying more affordable. The second is all the pent-up demand in the housing market after years of sluggish sales.
For the latest on Columbia SC home sales news and other news that affects the Columbia SC area real estate market, check out the other Columbia SC Real Estate News under Columbia SC Real Estate Categories to your right.
Columbia SC home prices are rising at double digit rates. Inventories are at historic lows. Two out of five applicants for a mortgage don't qualify or are turned down. Yet nearly three quarters of all potential homebuyers say it's a good time to buy a Columbia SC home.
While some would argue its always a good time to buy, conditions have turned to favor sellers in most markets across the nation, including Columbia SC . Yet even though a slight majority of consumers participating in Fannie Mae's latest monthly National Housing Survey expect prices to rise over the next three months, 71 percent said it's still a good time to buy a Columbia SC home.
By contrast, the share of respondents who say now is a good time to sell climbed 4 percentage points in April but still reached only 30 percent, compared to 15 percent at the same time last year. That's not even half as many as those who said it's a good time to buy. The percentage that said it's a good time to buy stayed steady from March.
The share of respondents who say mortgage rates will go up fell 3 percentage points to 43 percent, while those who say they will go down increased slightly to 7 percent.
The share of respondents who said they would buy if they were going to move increased slightly to 65 percent.
“For the first time in the survey’s three-year history, the majority of Americans surveyed now expect home prices to increase,” said Doug Duncan, senior vice president and chief economist at Fannie Mae. “Crossing the 50 percent threshold marks a significant milestone as most Americans believe a housing recovery is truly occurring throughout the country. Reflecting that increased optimism toward housing, the share of Americans who think it is a good time to sell has doubled during the last year. Many homeowners who have been underwater are gradually returning to positive equity, and selling is now becoming an available and attractive option again.” (Read the complete survey here – PDF.)
Do you agree with the majority of survey respondents who said they think now is a good time to buy a Columbia SC home? Your email address will never be displayed on our site for your security and we will never contact you via your email address unless you ask us to. We'd love to hear from you whether you agree or disagree with Fannie Mae's survey results.
Could there possibly be a new Columbia SC housing bubble on the horizon? The latest S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index showed prices in the nation's 20 largest cities had the biggest year-over-year increase since May of 2006. Diana Olick reports for NBR that some are now worrying that we may be facing a new housing bubble.
Even though signs point to the Columbia SC housing crisis being over, 58 percent of Americans believe we are still in the middle of a crisis, and roughly one in five people believe the worst is yet to come. These statistics come from the MacArthur Foundation. Their "How Housing Matters" research initiative involved a telephone survey of 1,433 adults, conducted between Feb. 27 and March 10.
What do you think? Do you think we're on the verge of another Columbia SC housing bubble? We'd love to hear your thoughts and comments. (Your email address will never be displayed on this site, or used by us to contact you… so please go ahead and tell us what you think about a possible Columbia SC housing bubble.)