Real Estate Market Shows Signs of Cooling

The housing market is showing signs of cooling. Slightly rising interest rates and inventories of unsold homes are starting to appear. Houses are beginning to sit on the market longer. Chief economist Dave Sieder's, of the National Association of Home Builders, believes sales will begin treading down in the fourth quarter. Other analysts are forecasting a slight decline in sales for 2006 with prices moderating and possibly declining in some of the hottest markets.

According to a recent article in the Wall Street Journal not all areas are slowing down. The biggest price increases were concentrated in California, Florida, Nevada and Arizona.Topping the list were jumps of 36% in Naples, FL, 34% in Bakersfield, CA, and 33% in Merced, CA. The Phoenix area rose 30% because it is attracting speculators and others priced out of California. The weakest markets were Mansfield, OH and Lafayette, IN, which were up only .4% and .9% respectively.

2005 is still forecasted to set all time highs in sales, the fifth straight year that sales of new and existing homes have set records. Stay tuned for 2006 it should be another exciting year.

By: Andrew McInnes

Sources: Wall Street Journal, MSN Money Central

If there is a current issue or questions that you would like to see covered please email us at: marketing@metrowestappr.com

Metro-West & World Appraisal Give Back!!

Victims of Hurricane Katrina continue to recover from the massive storm that has made its mark in history forever. This disaster has touched the hearts of all the employees here. Owners, Don and Joni Rousseau were generous enough to match the contributions made by employees of our firms which gave us a grand total of $9,287.46 to assist with the American Red Cross’ unending fight to help aid all in catastrophe’s such as Hurricane Katrina. We are very proud that in America’s time of need, the employees here were proud to step up and lend a hand.

Is the Housing Boom Headed For a Soft Landing or a Crash?

By John Spence From Marketwatch

The popping of the red-hot U.S. housing market will likely play out as a steady deceleration of prices followed by stabilization, rather than a dramatic national downturn, Standard & Poor's said Monday.

More Info Here

Mortgages go unpaid in hurricane-ravaged areas

Past-due commercial mortgage loans along the hurricane-plagued gulf coast have risen sharply, says Standard & Poor's, the Wall Street credit rater. That could mean problems for lenders.

Past-due loans in areas affected by Katrina soared to $320.5 million in September, up from $53.7 million in August. "We expect that quite a few of those will become delinquent," says Larry Kay, director of structured finance ratings at S&P.

More Info Here

New York City Real Estate Market Cools Slightly but Remains Strong

Small studio apartments were hot this summer in Manhattan, while the luxury market cooled—sending the average sale price of all apartments down.

More Info Here

12 Fast Growing Cities That Are Still Cheap

Source: Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight, National Association of Realtors, local Realtors associations

Bottoms Up

Sunday's aren't usually great days for inspections, but this day started off as any other. I arrived right on time as usual for my appointment. I rang the doorbell and to my surprise, the homeowner answered the door in his underwear and nothing else. This made me very uncomfortable; I really didn't know what to do. Do I ask this homeowner to put some clothes on and risk offending him? After all, this is his house. I said nothing and thankfully, he ended up putting a shirt on. However, today wasn't my luckiest of days, he never put on any pants. His wife came home just as I was finishing up the inspection. She too was confused and a little embarrassed as well. She asked him why he didn't have any pants on and he response was he was too sick to put them on. I think I would have preferred that he be too sick to have gotten out of bed, answering the door in his underwear.

There was this truck driver who had to deliver 500 penguins to the state zoo. As he was driving his truck through the desert, his truck breaks down. After about 3 hours he waves another truck down and offers the driver $500 to take the penguins to the state zoo for him

The next day the original truck driver arrives in town and sees the new truck driver crossing the road with the 500 penguins walking in single file behind him. The original truck driver jumps out of his truck and asks, "what's going on? I gave you $500 to take these penguins to the zoo!"

The new truck driver responds, "I did take them to the zoo! And I had enough money left over so now we're going to see a movie."

Please email us at marketing@metrowestappr.com

Your questions and our reply will appear in next months issue.

Effective November 1, 2005 Fannie Mae has released new forms for us to begin using!

The new forms will be for the: Exterior only inspection, Manufactured home appraisal, Uniform Residential Appraisal, Update Letter, Condominium, and Small Residential Income.

Effective January 1, 2006 the FHA new forms will come out.

All of our employees are already familiar with the news forms so you will not experience any delays with your reports due to the new forms.

For more information or if you have any questions please contact us at: info@metrowestappr.com

Visit us today at: www.metrowestappr.com

Visit our sister company World Appraisal at: www.worldappraisal.com

Metro-West & World Appraisal
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Please come by our office, meet the employees and see how our operation works!
Metro-West & World Appraisal
27555 Executive Drive
Suite 180 & 185
Farmington Hills, MI 48331
For information or questions please email us at: marketing@metrowestappr.com

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"Success is never final. Failure is never fatal. Courage is what counts!"

~ Sir Winston Churchill ~