WASHINGTON – Oct. 25, 2010 – National existing-home sales rose again in September, affirming that a sales recovery has begun, according to the National Association of Realtors®.
Existing home sales, which are completed transactions that include single-family, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops, jumped 10.0 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.53 million in September from a downwardly revised 4.12 million in August, but remain 19.1 percent below the 5.60 million-unit pace in September 2009 when first-time buyers were ramping up in advance of the initial deadline for the tax credit last November.
NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun said the housing market is in the early stages of recovery. “A housing recovery is taking place but will be choppy at times depending on the duration and impact of a foreclosure moratorium. But the overall direction should be a gradual rising trend in home sales with buyers responding to historically low mortgage interest rates and very favorable affordability conditions,” he said.
According to Freddie Mac, the national commitment rate for a 30-year, conventional, fixed-rate mortgage fell to a record low 4.35 percent in September from 4.43 percent in August; the rate was 5.06 percent in September 2009.
The national median existing-home price for all housing types was $171,700 in September, which is 2.4 percent below a year ago. Distressed homes accounted for 35 percent of sales in September compared with 34 percent in August; they were 29 percent in September 2009.
NAR President Vicki Cox Golder said opportunities abound in the current market. “A decade ago, mortgage rates were almost double what they are today, and they’re about one-and-a-half percentage points lower than the peak of the housing boom in 2005,” she said. “In addition, home prices are running about 22 percent less than five years ago when they were bid up by the biggest housing rush on record.”
To illustrate the jump in housing affordability, the median monthly mortgage payment for a recently purchased home is several hundred dollars less than it was five years ago. “In fact, the median monthly mortgage payment in many areas is less than people are paying for rent,” Golder said.
Housing affordability conditions today are 60 percentage points higher than during the housing boom, so it has become a very strong buyers’ market, especially for families with long-term plans. “The savings today’s buyers are receiving are not a one-time benefit. Buyers with fixed-rate mortgages will save money every year they are living in their home – this is truly an example of how homeownership builds wealth over the long term,” Golder added.
Total housing inventory at the end of September fell 1.9 percent to 4.04 million existing homes available for sale, which represents a 10.7-month supply at the current sales pace, down from a 12.0-month supply in August. Raw unsold inventory is 11.7 percent below the record of 4.58 million in July 2008.
“Vacant homes and homes where mortgages have not been paid for an extended number of months need to be cleared from the market as quickly as possible, with a new set of buyers helping the recovery along a healthy path,” Yun said. “Inventory remains elevated and continues to favor buyers over sellers. A normal seasonal decline in inventory is expected through the upcoming months.”
A parallel NAR practitioner survey shows first-time buyers purchased 32 percent of homes in September, almost unchanged from 31 percent in August. Investors were at an 18 percent market share in September, down from 21 percent in August; the balance of purchases were by repeat buyers. All-cash sales were at 29 percent in September compared with 28 percent in August.
Single-family home sales increased 10.0 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.97 million in September from a pace of 3.61 million in August, but are 19.5 percent below the 4.93 million level in September 2009. The median existing single-family home price was $172,600 in September, down 1.9 percent from a year ago.
Existing condominium and co-op sales rose 9.8 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 560,000 in September from 510,000 in August, but are 16.2 percent lower than the 668,000-unit level one year ago. The median existing condo price was $165,400 in September, down 6.2 percent from September 2009.
Regionally, existing-home sales in the Northeast increased 10.1 percent to an annual pace of 760,000 in September but are 20.8 percent below September 2009. The median price in the Northeast was $239,200, which is 1.4 percent below a year ago.
Existing-home sales in the Midwest jumped 14.5 percent in September to a level of 950,000 but are 26.4 percent below a year ago. The median price in the Midwest was $139,700, down 5.2 percent from September 2009.
In the South, existing-home sales rose 10.6 percent to an annual pace of 1.77 million in September but are 14.9 percent lower than September 2009. The median price in the South was $149,500, down 2.6 percent from a year ago.
Existing-home sales in the West increased 5.0 percent to an annual level of 1.05 million in September but are 16.7 percent below a year ago. The median price in the West was $213,600, which is 4.9 percent lower than September 2009.
© 2010 Florida Realtors®
http:www.oreinternationalrealty.com
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Stalled foreclosures could swamp local home-buying market
ORLANDO, Fla. – Oct. 27, 2010 – As big lenders’ recent freeze on foreclosures begins to thaw, local real-estate agents worry that those bargain properties will now flood the market and further sink housing prices.
Just a few weeks after Bank of America, J.P. Morgan Chase and other big banks announced a temporary halt to foreclosures because of concerns about improperly signed documents, they are preparing to restart the process. The question is: How many of those stalled foreclosures will lenders put on the market at the same time?
“That’s the big question – will they come back in a big thud or will they trickle in?” said Winter Park real-estate broker David Welch of Re/Max 200. “Unfortunately, I don’t know anyone who knows what the answer is. I think if they come flooding back it obviously won’t be a good thing in the market.”
Since the moratoriums were announced at the beginning of the month, 53 percent of the scheduled foreclosure sales in Orange County have been canceled – creating a backlog of as many as 850 properties that lenders pulled from the process just prior to their hitting the market. In the three weeks preceding the freeze, only 38 percent of the county’s auctions had been canceled, primarily because of judicial requirements for mediation and for face-to-face conversations between lenders and borrowers.
In Orange County Courthouse Room 350, crammed with investors attending the daily foreclosure auctions, longtime buyer Jack Coughlin said last week that he sees banks sitting on a growing inventory of foreclosed houses just waiting to hit the market.
“Are they going to release them all? If they do, there is going to be a 20 percent drop in values,” Coughlin said. “People ask, ‘Where are these properties?’ They are sitting in banks’ vaults.”
Thomas Kelly, a spokesman for J.P. Morgan Chase, said last week his company is still reviewing cases and had not announced any kind of timetable for releasing foreclosed properties to the market.
Orlando ranks 10th in the nation for foreclosure filings, according to a September report by the real estate research company RealtyTrac Inc. The crash that followed the peak-market conditions of three or four years ago has dragged down Orlando’s median resale price from $264,000 in July 2007 to $105,000 last month. Bargain-basement prices already dominate the market: More than 70 percent of the area’s existing-home sales currently involve bank-owned or short-sale properties that sell for less than market value, according to the Orlando Regional Realtor Association.
Lenders’ decision to halt foreclosures in early October did two things to Orlando’s real-estate market: drove up prices and drove down sales. The absence of those bargain properties from the market has caused the median price to spike about $10,000 in recent weeks, to about $115,000, said Welch, who continually tracks the market. And the inventory of active listings has dropped by about 3 percent, he added.
State attorneys general had stepped up pressure on lenders after it was revealed that bank employees had signed foreclosure affidavits without verifying that the documents were accurate – a process known as “robo-signing.” But after reviewing more than 100,000 documents in Florida and 22 other states, Bank of America announced last week that it was restarting the foreclosure process. GMAC Mortgage also said it was resuming work on its foreclosures.
The banks had never stopped litigating the cases; they had just canceled the foreclosure sales to give themselves time to investigate the suspect paperwork and signatures, said Orlando lawyer Matt Englett, whose firm handles tens of thousands of foreclosures. He said robo-signing can become apparent if the names of certain bank employees continually show up on certain documents.
People will still lose their homes, Englett said, but they may be able to walk away without a deficiency judgment against them – without owing any additional money, in other words – if it turns out their paperwork includes suspect signatures. Owners may also be in a better position to get their mortgage terms modified if their foreclosure paperwork has been tarnished in some way.
So far, local real-estate agents haven’t seen any signs of once-stalled foreclosures hitting the market.
“I had more than a third of my listings pulled,” Maitland real-estate agent Lee Acker said. “We had a buyer ready to close on one. It’s just frustrating. These were properties ready to go to owner-occupants.”
In the short term, Acker said, the moratoriums “created an artificial demand for the property that’s left. What I’m afraid of is when they go back on the market.”
Copyright © 2010, The Orlando Sentinel, Fla., Mary Shanklin. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
http:www.oreinternationalrealty.com
Just a few weeks after Bank of America, J.P. Morgan Chase and other big banks announced a temporary halt to foreclosures because of concerns about improperly signed documents, they are preparing to restart the process. The question is: How many of those stalled foreclosures will lenders put on the market at the same time?
“That’s the big question – will they come back in a big thud or will they trickle in?” said Winter Park real-estate broker David Welch of Re/Max 200. “Unfortunately, I don’t know anyone who knows what the answer is. I think if they come flooding back it obviously won’t be a good thing in the market.”
Since the moratoriums were announced at the beginning of the month, 53 percent of the scheduled foreclosure sales in Orange County have been canceled – creating a backlog of as many as 850 properties that lenders pulled from the process just prior to their hitting the market. In the three weeks preceding the freeze, only 38 percent of the county’s auctions had been canceled, primarily because of judicial requirements for mediation and for face-to-face conversations between lenders and borrowers.
In Orange County Courthouse Room 350, crammed with investors attending the daily foreclosure auctions, longtime buyer Jack Coughlin said last week that he sees banks sitting on a growing inventory of foreclosed houses just waiting to hit the market.
“Are they going to release them all? If they do, there is going to be a 20 percent drop in values,” Coughlin said. “People ask, ‘Where are these properties?’ They are sitting in banks’ vaults.”
Thomas Kelly, a spokesman for J.P. Morgan Chase, said last week his company is still reviewing cases and had not announced any kind of timetable for releasing foreclosed properties to the market.
Orlando ranks 10th in the nation for foreclosure filings, according to a September report by the real estate research company RealtyTrac Inc. The crash that followed the peak-market conditions of three or four years ago has dragged down Orlando’s median resale price from $264,000 in July 2007 to $105,000 last month. Bargain-basement prices already dominate the market: More than 70 percent of the area’s existing-home sales currently involve bank-owned or short-sale properties that sell for less than market value, according to the Orlando Regional Realtor Association.
Lenders’ decision to halt foreclosures in early October did two things to Orlando’s real-estate market: drove up prices and drove down sales. The absence of those bargain properties from the market has caused the median price to spike about $10,000 in recent weeks, to about $115,000, said Welch, who continually tracks the market. And the inventory of active listings has dropped by about 3 percent, he added.
State attorneys general had stepped up pressure on lenders after it was revealed that bank employees had signed foreclosure affidavits without verifying that the documents were accurate – a process known as “robo-signing.” But after reviewing more than 100,000 documents in Florida and 22 other states, Bank of America announced last week that it was restarting the foreclosure process. GMAC Mortgage also said it was resuming work on its foreclosures.
The banks had never stopped litigating the cases; they had just canceled the foreclosure sales to give themselves time to investigate the suspect paperwork and signatures, said Orlando lawyer Matt Englett, whose firm handles tens of thousands of foreclosures. He said robo-signing can become apparent if the names of certain bank employees continually show up on certain documents.
People will still lose their homes, Englett said, but they may be able to walk away without a deficiency judgment against them – without owing any additional money, in other words – if it turns out their paperwork includes suspect signatures. Owners may also be in a better position to get their mortgage terms modified if their foreclosure paperwork has been tarnished in some way.
So far, local real-estate agents haven’t seen any signs of once-stalled foreclosures hitting the market.
“I had more than a third of my listings pulled,” Maitland real-estate agent Lee Acker said. “We had a buyer ready to close on one. It’s just frustrating. These were properties ready to go to owner-occupants.”
In the short term, Acker said, the moratoriums “created an artificial demand for the property that’s left. What I’m afraid of is when they go back on the market.”
Copyright © 2010, The Orlando Sentinel, Fla., Mary Shanklin. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
http:www.oreinternationalrealty.com
Majority of Americans: Buying a Home Is a Good Decision
RISMEDIA, October 27, 2010--Despite the continuing challenges facing the U.S., nearly eight out of 10 respondents believe buying a home is a good financial decision, according to NAR's eighth annual Housing Opportunity Pulse Survey.
The survey, which measures how affordable housing issues affect consumers, also found job security concerns to be the highest in eight years of sampling, with 70 percent of Americans saying that job layoffs and unemployment are a big problem in their area; eight in 10 cite these issues as a barrier to homeownership. The telephone survey of 1,209 urban and suburban adults in the top 25 metropolitan statistical areas was conducted for NAR by American Strategies and Myers Research & Strategic Services for NAR's Housing Opportunity Program.
Some key results:
* Americans continue to believe that buying a home is a good financial decision (77 percent believe strongly or not so strongly, 68 percent strongly so).
* More than two-thirds of respondents (68 percent) say that now is a good time to buy a home.
* Job insecurity and the lack of jobs continue to be the primary obstacle to home ownership and market recovery.
* Respondents see the recession and job losses as the main reasons for the foreclosure problem, a shift from last year when they were more likely to blame homeowners who bought homes they could not afford.
* A majority of renters say that owning a home at some point in the futureis either one of their highest priorities (39 percent) or a moderate priority (24 percent). Just 21 percent of renters say that owning a home is not a priority at all.
* Frustration with banks is up: now a majority worry that banks have made it too hard to qualify for a home mortgage loan.
* 51 percent of respondents say foreclosures remain a big or moderate problem in their area. While there has been a significant drop in the percentage of those surveyed who say foreclosures have increased, 51 percent say that the rate of foreclosures is about the same as it was last year.
* Most of those surveyed say that it is harder to sell a home in their neighborhood than it was a year ago.
* Looking forward, 70 percent expect real estate sales in their neighborhood to remain about the same over the next few months. A nearly identical number (69 percent), also expect home values to remain the same.
* Nearly one-quarter (23 percent) are now very concerned about the number of homes and condos for sale in their area—a number that is up 7 points from last year.
* Most respondents are more concerned about the drop in home values than they are about home costs being too high. Still, cost remains the significant barrier to many who would otherwise like to buy a home.
http:www.oreinternationalrealty.com
The survey, which measures how affordable housing issues affect consumers, also found job security concerns to be the highest in eight years of sampling, with 70 percent of Americans saying that job layoffs and unemployment are a big problem in their area; eight in 10 cite these issues as a barrier to homeownership. The telephone survey of 1,209 urban and suburban adults in the top 25 metropolitan statistical areas was conducted for NAR by American Strategies and Myers Research & Strategic Services for NAR's Housing Opportunity Program.
Some key results:
* Americans continue to believe that buying a home is a good financial decision (77 percent believe strongly or not so strongly, 68 percent strongly so).
* More than two-thirds of respondents (68 percent) say that now is a good time to buy a home.
* Job insecurity and the lack of jobs continue to be the primary obstacle to home ownership and market recovery.
* Respondents see the recession and job losses as the main reasons for the foreclosure problem, a shift from last year when they were more likely to blame homeowners who bought homes they could not afford.
* A majority of renters say that owning a home at some point in the futureis either one of their highest priorities (39 percent) or a moderate priority (24 percent). Just 21 percent of renters say that owning a home is not a priority at all.
* Frustration with banks is up: now a majority worry that banks have made it too hard to qualify for a home mortgage loan.
* 51 percent of respondents say foreclosures remain a big or moderate problem in their area. While there has been a significant drop in the percentage of those surveyed who say foreclosures have increased, 51 percent say that the rate of foreclosures is about the same as it was last year.
* Most of those surveyed say that it is harder to sell a home in their neighborhood than it was a year ago.
* Looking forward, 70 percent expect real estate sales in their neighborhood to remain about the same over the next few months. A nearly identical number (69 percent), also expect home values to remain the same.
* Nearly one-quarter (23 percent) are now very concerned about the number of homes and condos for sale in their area—a number that is up 7 points from last year.
* Most respondents are more concerned about the drop in home values than they are about home costs being too high. Still, cost remains the significant barrier to many who would otherwise like to buy a home.
http:www.oreinternationalrealty.com
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Improve Your Credit Score Before Searching for a Home
RISMEDIA, October 16, 2010-By Paige Tepping -Many prospective homeowners find out the hard way the importance of a good credit score when they apply for a home mortgage, especially after the subprime loan crisis. If you are considering buying a home in the near future, it is a good idea to give your credit score a check-up and then take positive steps to improve your credit score if you find problems. Ideally, it is best to begin working on improving your credit score at least six months before you plan to start shopping for a home.
According to the experts at Buy-and-Sell-House-Fast.com, the following tips will help you improve your credit and should be taken before you begin your home search.
The first critical step in taking care of your credit is to check your credit report. Unfortunately, many people fail to take this all important first step. Instead, they wait until they have applied for a mortgage loan to find out from the lender that there are problems with their credit scores.
By checking your credit score before you apply for a mortgage loan, you gain the opportunity to find out if there are problems which you can correct and discrepancies that need to be removed. When you check your credit report, make sure you check all three of the national credit reporting agencies: Experian, Trans-Union and EquiFax.
Review your credit report carefully for items that may be erroneous. If you believe that an item on your credit report is reported in error, you have the right to contest it. To do so, you will need to contact the credit reporting agency and explain why you believe the item is inaccurate. Supporting documentation such as receipts and cancelled checks can help your claim. Alternatively, you can engage a credit report repair services firm to fix your credit report.
If there are derogatory items on your credit report that are accurate but which could cause problems in your loan application, you cannot have them removed; however, you can take positive steps to counteract them. In the event that you have missed payments in the past, take steps now to get your bills current. Even if it means tapping into money that you might be planning to use for a down payment, it is essential that you get your accounts current and keep them that way. Begin by immediately making your payments on time. There is nothing which can lower your credit score more quickly than late payments. Ideally, make an attempt to begin sending in your payments a few days ahead of time to make sure they arrive on time and you do not have any more late payments on your record. If necessary, begin taking advantage of electronic payments in order to make sure your payments are made on time. Over time, this can make significant difference.
Keep in mind that eradicating all of your credit balances is really not the solution. In fact, credit can be your friend when you are looking to make a big purchase such as a home. The key is to make sure your credit is positive, not negative. Toward that end, avoid actually closing out your accounts. Instead, make an effort to pay down your balances and keep them paid down well below the minimum or completely paid off, but do not close the account. When your lender runs your credit to make a decision on your mortgage application, he or she will want to see that you have had a long credit management history.
After reviewing your credit history, if you see that most, if not all of your credit cards are maxed out or nearly maxed out, it is time to sit down and plan an aggressive strategy for paying some of them down. One of the critical factors that often determine your ability to be approved for a mortgage loan is your debt to income ratio. In addition, high credit card balances can drag down your credit score. Therefore, it is important to look at paying off some of your balances.
It is generally better to begin with your highest-rate balances first. Many consumers are tempted to move around balances when they receive an offer from another bank that is good; however, before you do this, remember that the worst thing you can do when you are trying to make a major purchase is to open new accounts.
By following these guidelines, you can improve your credit score and improve your chances of being approved for your home mortgage loan.
http://www.oreinternationalrealty.com
According to the experts at Buy-and-Sell-House-Fast.com, the following tips will help you improve your credit and should be taken before you begin your home search.
The first critical step in taking care of your credit is to check your credit report. Unfortunately, many people fail to take this all important first step. Instead, they wait until they have applied for a mortgage loan to find out from the lender that there are problems with their credit scores.
By checking your credit score before you apply for a mortgage loan, you gain the opportunity to find out if there are problems which you can correct and discrepancies that need to be removed. When you check your credit report, make sure you check all three of the national credit reporting agencies: Experian, Trans-Union and EquiFax.
Review your credit report carefully for items that may be erroneous. If you believe that an item on your credit report is reported in error, you have the right to contest it. To do so, you will need to contact the credit reporting agency and explain why you believe the item is inaccurate. Supporting documentation such as receipts and cancelled checks can help your claim. Alternatively, you can engage a credit report repair services firm to fix your credit report.
If there are derogatory items on your credit report that are accurate but which could cause problems in your loan application, you cannot have them removed; however, you can take positive steps to counteract them. In the event that you have missed payments in the past, take steps now to get your bills current. Even if it means tapping into money that you might be planning to use for a down payment, it is essential that you get your accounts current and keep them that way. Begin by immediately making your payments on time. There is nothing which can lower your credit score more quickly than late payments. Ideally, make an attempt to begin sending in your payments a few days ahead of time to make sure they arrive on time and you do not have any more late payments on your record. If necessary, begin taking advantage of electronic payments in order to make sure your payments are made on time. Over time, this can make significant difference.
Keep in mind that eradicating all of your credit balances is really not the solution. In fact, credit can be your friend when you are looking to make a big purchase such as a home. The key is to make sure your credit is positive, not negative. Toward that end, avoid actually closing out your accounts. Instead, make an effort to pay down your balances and keep them paid down well below the minimum or completely paid off, but do not close the account. When your lender runs your credit to make a decision on your mortgage application, he or she will want to see that you have had a long credit management history.
After reviewing your credit history, if you see that most, if not all of your credit cards are maxed out or nearly maxed out, it is time to sit down and plan an aggressive strategy for paying some of them down. One of the critical factors that often determine your ability to be approved for a mortgage loan is your debt to income ratio. In addition, high credit card balances can drag down your credit score. Therefore, it is important to look at paying off some of your balances.
It is generally better to begin with your highest-rate balances first. Many consumers are tempted to move around balances when they receive an offer from another bank that is good; however, before you do this, remember that the worst thing you can do when you are trying to make a major purchase is to open new accounts.
By following these guidelines, you can improve your credit score and improve your chances of being approved for your home mortgage loan.
http://www.oreinternationalrealty.com
Gen X Faces Unique Challenge in Gen Y
RISMEDIA, October 16, 2010--(MCT)-By Cindy Krischer Goodman-I marvel at young reporters who turn stories on deadline while sipping a cappuccino in Starbucks. The concept of working from anywhere at any time is second nature, something they never even question. It's an option my generation never had when we came on the work scene, when laptops, Wi-Fi and compassionate bosses were scarce.
Now, here we are, the 30 and 40-year-olds who make up Generation X, managing the twenty-somethings as their supervisors and mentors and trying to figure out why they have such a different attitude about work and what to do about it. Most of us haven't really thought about the important role we play in molding this new generation of workers.
I wrote recently about how the recession has been a giant slice of humble pie for younger workers, turning bold and brash Generation Y into Generation Comply.
From their first entry into the workplace a few years ago, Gen Y, smart and brash, has bumped up against corporate cultures steeped in the chained-to-your-desk mentality. Nationally, advocacy groups are putting up a good fight to coax workplaces to be more accommodating about where and when work gets done. The White House even launched its own push for flexibility. But Gen Y consistently says their biggest obstacle is managers who can't let go of the need to exercise authority over employees — in person.
Jaret Davis, a 35-year-old partner at the law firm Greenberg Traurig, considers himself "a bridge between two extremes." He's smack in the middle of the younger attorneys who want flexibility and work life balance, and the older lawyers in top management who want to preserve a corporate culture where tradition and face time is valued.
"The Gen Y perspective is not foreign to my generation," Davis said. "We came with the mindset to work hard, do what it takes, but we're open to Gen Y who looks at it as, 'How can I work hard and master my craft while not sacrificing my life?' "
Davis says he's working with young lawyers at his firm to figure out how to tap into innovations that would give millennials flexibility and still get the work done.
A few months ago, while working on a Father's Day column, I learned that new fathers who work in corporate America are using informal flexibility at work, rather than the formal flexibility many mothers use. They said their immediate managers (Gen Xers) as opposed to top executives (boomers and matures), were from dual-career households, too, and were quite supportive of the work life challenges they face. That was the first time I saw my generation as a bridge.
Like Davis, Karen Gilmartin, a Miami Lakes workers compensation attorney, understands her role in modernizing the workplace.
The young lawyers need Gen Xers to teach them that they can have success but they have to earn it, she said. Gilmartin, 49, leads by example, showing her young female associates that it's possible to be a respected law partner and a mom. "I'm here at 7 a.m. but I might cut out early to go to my child's hockey game."
Clearly, we were the pioneers who suffered the perils of flex time and allowed personal schedules to take us off our career paths. But maybe as pioneers we can help the next generation build on our experience and figure out how to do it even better, how to use a flexible work arrangement without it taking someone off the path to the top.
Behind the millennials come an even different bunch, already being referred to as the iGeneration. As a mother of a 13- and 14-year-old, I see how different they are from the twenty-somethings. This generation would rather text than talk. They want to be constantly connected, available and multitasking in a way even the millennials don't quite get. They don't remember a time without the constant connectivity to the world via sophisticated handheld devices. In a decade, when they enter the workplace, I bet they won't be able to fathom why they can't split early to go to a baseball game when clearly they can handle any client need from their smart phones.
It's telling that even in this time of high unemployment, millennials don't feel compelled to take any old job offered to them. According to an annual survey by the National Association of Colleges and Employers, 41 percent of college grads who were offered jobs turned them down and 57 percent believe another, better job opportunity will come up in just a few months.
Meanwhile, they are comfortable with economic uncertainty and content to live with their parents and hold out for that perfect opportunity or start their own businesses on a shoestring. "They are still searching for what is purposeful," explains Tamara Bell, founder and editor-in-chief of Y Gen Out Loud, an online news organization.
Gen Y is telling us they are not going to put up with unappreciative workplaces and arrogant bosses, particularly after the economy recovers. I see my generation as smart enough to realize that companies need young workers to keep them relevant in the digital age. We need their perspective, energy and know-how. We are the current and future bosses who will try to hang on to Gen Y workers, incorporate their ideas and work styles and make sure they advance. >From my view, we're up to the task.
(c) 2010, The Miami Herald.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
http://www.oreinternationalrealty.com
Now, here we are, the 30 and 40-year-olds who make up Generation X, managing the twenty-somethings as their supervisors and mentors and trying to figure out why they have such a different attitude about work and what to do about it. Most of us haven't really thought about the important role we play in molding this new generation of workers.
I wrote recently about how the recession has been a giant slice of humble pie for younger workers, turning bold and brash Generation Y into Generation Comply.
From their first entry into the workplace a few years ago, Gen Y, smart and brash, has bumped up against corporate cultures steeped in the chained-to-your-desk mentality. Nationally, advocacy groups are putting up a good fight to coax workplaces to be more accommodating about where and when work gets done. The White House even launched its own push for flexibility. But Gen Y consistently says their biggest obstacle is managers who can't let go of the need to exercise authority over employees — in person.
Jaret Davis, a 35-year-old partner at the law firm Greenberg Traurig, considers himself "a bridge between two extremes." He's smack in the middle of the younger attorneys who want flexibility and work life balance, and the older lawyers in top management who want to preserve a corporate culture where tradition and face time is valued.
"The Gen Y perspective is not foreign to my generation," Davis said. "We came with the mindset to work hard, do what it takes, but we're open to Gen Y who looks at it as, 'How can I work hard and master my craft while not sacrificing my life?' "
Davis says he's working with young lawyers at his firm to figure out how to tap into innovations that would give millennials flexibility and still get the work done.
A few months ago, while working on a Father's Day column, I learned that new fathers who work in corporate America are using informal flexibility at work, rather than the formal flexibility many mothers use. They said their immediate managers (Gen Xers) as opposed to top executives (boomers and matures), were from dual-career households, too, and were quite supportive of the work life challenges they face. That was the first time I saw my generation as a bridge.
Like Davis, Karen Gilmartin, a Miami Lakes workers compensation attorney, understands her role in modernizing the workplace.
The young lawyers need Gen Xers to teach them that they can have success but they have to earn it, she said. Gilmartin, 49, leads by example, showing her young female associates that it's possible to be a respected law partner and a mom. "I'm here at 7 a.m. but I might cut out early to go to my child's hockey game."
Clearly, we were the pioneers who suffered the perils of flex time and allowed personal schedules to take us off our career paths. But maybe as pioneers we can help the next generation build on our experience and figure out how to do it even better, how to use a flexible work arrangement without it taking someone off the path to the top.
Behind the millennials come an even different bunch, already being referred to as the iGeneration. As a mother of a 13- and 14-year-old, I see how different they are from the twenty-somethings. This generation would rather text than talk. They want to be constantly connected, available and multitasking in a way even the millennials don't quite get. They don't remember a time without the constant connectivity to the world via sophisticated handheld devices. In a decade, when they enter the workplace, I bet they won't be able to fathom why they can't split early to go to a baseball game when clearly they can handle any client need from their smart phones.
It's telling that even in this time of high unemployment, millennials don't feel compelled to take any old job offered to them. According to an annual survey by the National Association of Colleges and Employers, 41 percent of college grads who were offered jobs turned them down and 57 percent believe another, better job opportunity will come up in just a few months.
Meanwhile, they are comfortable with economic uncertainty and content to live with their parents and hold out for that perfect opportunity or start their own businesses on a shoestring. "They are still searching for what is purposeful," explains Tamara Bell, founder and editor-in-chief of Y Gen Out Loud, an online news organization.
Gen Y is telling us they are not going to put up with unappreciative workplaces and arrogant bosses, particularly after the economy recovers. I see my generation as smart enough to realize that companies need young workers to keep them relevant in the digital age. We need their perspective, energy and know-how. We are the current and future bosses who will try to hang on to Gen Y workers, incorporate their ideas and work styles and make sure they advance. >From my view, we're up to the task.
(c) 2010, The Miami Herald.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
http://www.oreinternationalrealty.com
Friday, October 15, 2010
Survey: Buyer slowdown tied to economy
EAGAN, Minn. – Oct. 14, 2010 – Nearly two-thirds (63 percent) of Americans say the current economic situation is making them less likely to buy a house, according to a new national survey by FindLaw.com.
Despite record-low mortgage rates and an abundance of home listings, only 8 percent of people say the current economic situation makes them more likely to buy a house. About a quarter of respondents (28 percent) say they are neither more likely nor less likely to buy a house because of the economy.
The current economy is impacting lower-income individuals and families most. People with annual incomes less than $50,000 were significantly less inclined to buy a house than people with higher incomes.
“The current economic situation has greatly changed the dynamics of the housing market,” said Stephanie Rahlfs, an attorney and editor with FindLaw.com. “Although mortgage rates are near record lows, stricter lending requirements are often making it more difficult for many people to obtain mortgages. High unemployment rates are raising concerns about housing appreciation, affordability and foreclosures. Together, these factors are causing many people to shy away from the idea of buying a house. Buying a home, selling a home and owning a home are all becoming more complicated, and it’s important to know the ins and outs of contracts, finances and your rights as a buyer, seller or owner.”
The FindLaw.com survey was conducted using a demographically balanced telephone survey of 1,000 American adults and has a margin of error of plus-or-minus 3 percent.
© 2010 Florida Realtors®
http://www.oreinternationalrealty.com
Despite record-low mortgage rates and an abundance of home listings, only 8 percent of people say the current economic situation makes them more likely to buy a house. About a quarter of respondents (28 percent) say they are neither more likely nor less likely to buy a house because of the economy.
The current economy is impacting lower-income individuals and families most. People with annual incomes less than $50,000 were significantly less inclined to buy a house than people with higher incomes.
“The current economic situation has greatly changed the dynamics of the housing market,” said Stephanie Rahlfs, an attorney and editor with FindLaw.com. “Although mortgage rates are near record lows, stricter lending requirements are often making it more difficult for many people to obtain mortgages. High unemployment rates are raising concerns about housing appreciation, affordability and foreclosures. Together, these factors are causing many people to shy away from the idea of buying a house. Buying a home, selling a home and owning a home are all becoming more complicated, and it’s important to know the ins and outs of contracts, finances and your rights as a buyer, seller or owner.”
The FindLaw.com survey was conducted using a demographically balanced telephone survey of 1,000 American adults and has a margin of error of plus-or-minus 3 percent.
© 2010 Florida Realtors®
http://www.oreinternationalrealty.com
Real estate should have done more in crisis
WASHINGTON – Oct. 14, 2010 – The real estate industry must accept its “proper share of the blame” leading to the global economic recession and the housing and commercial property decline, says Urban Land Institute (ULI) Chairman Jeremy Newsum.
“There were many keys to this bomb, and we held one,” said Newsum at ULI’s 2010 Fall Meeting in Washington. “The fact is, we (real estate industry professionals) lost control of the agenda. Real estate is about buildings and the people who occupy them, collectively forming an urban community,” he said. “Real estate is not primarily about money, and we should not have allowed real estate to become just another playground for financial engineers.”
According to Newsum, the “new normal” for the industry is one that is focused on the operators – the creators and owners of real estate who view their businesses as a long-term investment. The “old abnormal” was real estate being the “puppet of finance,” he said, with real estate viewed more as an investment opportunity than a building for occupation.
During the boom leading to the bust, it became increasingly common for large financial institutions to hold direct portfolios of real estate – a mistake, Newsum said, because those managing the portfolios are more apt to give priority to “collecting the rent checks” than analyzing real estate fundamentals or ensuring the well-being of building users.
Newsum pointed to closed-ended real estate funds (generally unlisted private real estate funds with a fixed fund size and a limited term, typically 5-10 years) as being “inherently unstable,” in that they “blithely ignore” the long-term nature of the underlying assets. For the industry to restabilize, such opportunity funds should “always be a sideshow rather than the main event,” and not become the industry norm for how and when properties are bought and sold, he said. “The era when funds predominated is over. I want to see many more new property companies,” Newsum said.
He pointed to the Hong Kong real estate industry – which is now dominated by companies focused on the long term – as an example of what the industry should strive for in the United States and Europe.
A company-specific example: Almacantar in London, an investment and development firm formed by two executives from the Almacantar fund. “They have spotted the future,” Newsum said. Another example: New York City-based Vornado Realty Trust, a company Newsum said “saw the light and came over to the operating side,” and which now owns and manages more than 100 million square feet of commercial real estate in the United States. “Vornado is not a ‘vehicle.’ It’s a business with a mission,” Newsum said.
To attract the best and brightest to the real estate industry, Newsum suggested that seasoned professionals must put more effort into “selling the slow buck” and emphasizing the value of long-term thinking to the next generation of younger practitioners, whose penchant for instant gratification will not serve them well in real estate.
“No matter how badly you want to do something, and you think you have only one chance to do it, that is rarely true. So, being patient and having the ability to stay focused on the long term are very important,” he said. “Understanding timing and time scales is absolutely critical (to being successful) in land use. The business of community building is a business that spans decades. Each of us is adding something to what is ultimately a continuous process.”
One of the most important real estate lessons from the recession, Newsum said, is the near-certain formula for failure caused by over-extension. “In the future, real estate business leaders and shareholders must take more responsibility for the way their businesses are financed. The bust will come again, and just as before, those fixated by the short term will have too much leverage and will fail.”
http://www.oreinternationalrealty.com
“There were many keys to this bomb, and we held one,” said Newsum at ULI’s 2010 Fall Meeting in Washington. “The fact is, we (real estate industry professionals) lost control of the agenda. Real estate is about buildings and the people who occupy them, collectively forming an urban community,” he said. “Real estate is not primarily about money, and we should not have allowed real estate to become just another playground for financial engineers.”
According to Newsum, the “new normal” for the industry is one that is focused on the operators – the creators and owners of real estate who view their businesses as a long-term investment. The “old abnormal” was real estate being the “puppet of finance,” he said, with real estate viewed more as an investment opportunity than a building for occupation.
During the boom leading to the bust, it became increasingly common for large financial institutions to hold direct portfolios of real estate – a mistake, Newsum said, because those managing the portfolios are more apt to give priority to “collecting the rent checks” than analyzing real estate fundamentals or ensuring the well-being of building users.
Newsum pointed to closed-ended real estate funds (generally unlisted private real estate funds with a fixed fund size and a limited term, typically 5-10 years) as being “inherently unstable,” in that they “blithely ignore” the long-term nature of the underlying assets. For the industry to restabilize, such opportunity funds should “always be a sideshow rather than the main event,” and not become the industry norm for how and when properties are bought and sold, he said. “The era when funds predominated is over. I want to see many more new property companies,” Newsum said.
He pointed to the Hong Kong real estate industry – which is now dominated by companies focused on the long term – as an example of what the industry should strive for in the United States and Europe.
A company-specific example: Almacantar in London, an investment and development firm formed by two executives from the Almacantar fund. “They have spotted the future,” Newsum said. Another example: New York City-based Vornado Realty Trust, a company Newsum said “saw the light and came over to the operating side,” and which now owns and manages more than 100 million square feet of commercial real estate in the United States. “Vornado is not a ‘vehicle.’ It’s a business with a mission,” Newsum said.
To attract the best and brightest to the real estate industry, Newsum suggested that seasoned professionals must put more effort into “selling the slow buck” and emphasizing the value of long-term thinking to the next generation of younger practitioners, whose penchant for instant gratification will not serve them well in real estate.
“No matter how badly you want to do something, and you think you have only one chance to do it, that is rarely true. So, being patient and having the ability to stay focused on the long term are very important,” he said. “Understanding timing and time scales is absolutely critical (to being successful) in land use. The business of community building is a business that spans decades. Each of us is adding something to what is ultimately a continuous process.”
One of the most important real estate lessons from the recession, Newsum said, is the near-certain formula for failure caused by over-extension. “In the future, real estate business leaders and shareholders must take more responsibility for the way their businesses are financed. The bust will come again, and just as before, those fixated by the short term will have too much leverage and will fail.”
http://www.oreinternationalrealty.com
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