Yes, you can still sell your home in this market

But homeowners have to be realistic about price, and ignore the web at your peril    

By DAVE CARPENTER

updated 6/27/2011 1:46:24 PM ET

CHICAGO — The home next door is in foreclosure. The neighbors down the street just put their house up for sale at a ridiculous discount. And "For Sale" signs litter lawns all over town.

Welcome to the toughest selling conditions in years.
The bright side of selling a home in a down market is you get to seek your own bargain if you're going to buy after you're done. Closing a sale, however, can be teeth-grindingly slow if you don't do everything right — and maybe even if you do.

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Contracts to buy homes rose sharply in May

But it remains to be seen whether buyers follow through

updated 6/29/2011 10:24:50 AM ET

WASHINGTON — The number of Americans who signed contracts to buy homes rose sharply in May, pushed higher by an influx of spring buying.

The National Association of Realtors said Wednesday that its index of sales agreements for previously occupied homes rose 8.2 percent last month, to a reading of 88.8. That followed April's seven-month low of 82.1.
A reading of 100 is considered healthy by economists. The last time the index reached that level was in April 2010, the final month when buyers could qualify for a federal tax credit. Signings are now 17 percent above June's reading of 75.9, the lowest figure since the housing market went bust nearly four years ago.

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Washingtology: 5 favorite D.C. spots

By Kyle Balluck

Thinking of what to do this weekend? Check out the new “5 favorites” list!

(Sarah L. Voisin - The Washington Post)Each week, Cultural Tourism DCasks prominent Washingtonians to share places or events that are special and unique to Washington.

This week, D.C. Office of Planning’s Public Space Programmanager Chris Shaheen shares his 5 favorite spots. Union Station tops his list. He says the train station’s main hall is a treat.

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Smart-grid technology gets electric utilities and consumers interconnected

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By Katherine Salant, Published: June 10

In the world of home building, a phrase such as “the new American dream” conjures images of flashy show houses and the latest and greatest in features and materials. In the world of engineering it conveys something else altogether, as I learned at a conference at the University of Kansas last month.

The focus of the New American Dream symposium — jointly sponsored by KU’s Transportation Research Institute, its Interdisciplinary Research Initiative in Nature and Culture, and the university’s Commons partnership — was the “smart grid” and the evolving relationship between electric utilities and residential customers.

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Don't get trapped in an ARM

By Beth Braverman and Sarah Max June 2, 2011: 11:59 AM ET

Money magazine) -- They all but disappeared after the housing bust as homeowners grew fearful of future interest-rate hikes and rates for fixed loans fell to historic lows. But "the fear of the adjustable-rate mortgage has started to settle down," says Steve Habetz, a loan officer in Westport, Conn.

And how. With 30-year fixed-rate loans now inching toward 5%, the number of borrowers taking adjustable-rate mortgages, which typically carry a low fixed rate for one to 10 years and then adjust annually based on current rates, has jumped 75% since last year.

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House Calls: Got those light ’n’ happy blues

(Sketch by Julius Goyanko/ For the Washington Post ) - AFTER: Bright colors like turquoise, orange and red pop with life, while a new floor plan creates an intimate setting and wire shelving helps organize toys and shoes.

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By Terri Sapienza, Published: June 8

THE CHALLENGE

The 17-by-14-foot living room in Beth and Bill Davies’s Annapolis bungalow needs a new look. They’d like more storage for their daughters toys, a better floor plan and a designated entryway.

THE SOLUTION

By bringing in unexpected colors and furnishings and proper storage, designer Margaret Carter gives this room a makeover fit for a young family.

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Why Washington, DC is in the Black

Published: May 31, 2011
By Steve Cook Real Estate Economy Watch

Only one market among the 20 tracked by the S&P/Case-Shiller index released today reported positive price growth in the first quarter.

This honor went to Washington DC, a market that's different from others in some ways and similar in others. In the first quarter, the Case-Shiller Home Price Index rose 1.1 percent in the DC market over a year ago, while the index fell on a national basis by 5.1 percent from the first quarter of 2010

Read more: http://www.upi.com/Business_News/Real-Estate/2011/05/31/Why-Washington-DC-is-in-the-Black/5021306874736/#ixzz1PNQKpfiD

Read more: http://www.upi.com/Business_News/Real-Estate/2011/05/31/Why-Washington-DC-is-in-the-Black/5021306874736/#ixzz1PNQHulHa
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Bus to Dewey Beach from Washington DC running again

The beach bus is back for a second season. DC2NY is now offering service from DC to Dewey Beach (and Rehoboth).

Currently, a round trip ticket costs $78 with one way tickets available for $39. Each bus offers electric outlets (good for finishing up work on the way or just watching a movie on your laptop, WIFI access, free movies and a free bottle of water to cool down.)

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Green Building Financing Offers More Profits, Fewer Risks

Green Building Financing Offers More Profits, Fewer Risks

Green Building Financing Offers More Profits, Fewer Risks

Jun. 14 2011 - 1:14 pm | 182 views | 1 recommendation | 0 comments

Image via Wikipedia

Compared to their conventional counterparts, green buildings are more profitable, less risky, preferred by investors, pull higher rents, and have higher occupancy, according to theCapital Markets Partnership (CMP), a nonprofit, nonpartisan coalition of investment banks, investors, governments, countries, and NGOs.

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Talking Down Your House

Ashlea Ebeling, 06.08.11, 06:00 PM EDT 
Forbes Magazine dated June 27, 2011

More homeowners are appealing their tax assessments. Here's what to do if you get a tax-bill shock.

Patricia Quintilian had to convince an assessor that the second floor of her dome house was smaller than the first.

In Pictures: 10 Steps To Cut Your Real Estate Taxes

After appellate lawyer Patricia Quintilian built a geodesic dome home on 27 acres in Goshen, Mass. in 2002, she was forced to develop a new specialty: property tax law. For five years in a row, she contends, the local assessor valued her home too high and made such basic mistakes as listing the first and second floors as having equal square footage. "It's a dome," she protests. One year she took the dispute up to the state's appellate tax board, which decided her home was worth only $241,600. The next year the local assessor was back with a new $355,600 valuation. "The property tax system is broken," declares Quintilian.

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Revitalized Stanton Park neighborhood feels like microcosm of D.C.

(Photo by Amy Reinink FTWP/ PHOTO BY AMY REININK FTWP ) - WASHINGTON, DC - MAY 13: Stanton Park’s housing stock includes brick rowhouses, such as those shown here in Washington, DC on Friday, May 13, 2011.

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By Amy Reinink, Published: June 10

Bill Crews was looking for a neighborhood that represented all the best parts of Washington when he moved here from Iowa 13 years ago.

He found it in Stanton Park, a 50-block area of Capitol Hill within walking distance of the Capitol, Union Station and the Library of Congress.

“To me, it’s the ideal place to live in the District,” said Crews, 58, a strategic planner for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Risk Management Agency and an advisory neighborhood commissioner for part of Stanton Park. “Some people who live in this area hardly ever see the city’s monumental core. We get to experience it daily.”

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9 Reasons To Buy A House Now

Jun. 3 2011 - 4:20 pm | 9,543 views | 0 recommendations | 1 comment

Image by AFP/Getty Images via @daylife

If you’re planning to buy a house right now, the next few months may be the best time to buy. Waiting for both housing prices and interest rates to fall may not be a good strategy for potential homebuyers since analysts don’t expect any significant declines in these two most important home-buying factors. Here’s nine real estate trends that suggest you should get into the housing market sooner than later.

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