Several Interesting Real Estate Websites

1. Curbed: http://curbed.com/
You can find interesting stuffs regarding food and real estate in LA, SF and NY

2. Zillow: http://www.zillow.com/
Connect sellers and buyers, and provide service for valuating the houses

3. Observer: http://www.observer.com/therealestate/
Give more opinion on real estate

4. Real estate on New York Times
You already know it.

5. Westchester Real Estate: http://www.synergyshah.com/
of course, don't forget this one. If you look for housing around NJ or NY, this website would be really helpful

Economy Could be Affected by Mortgage Slump

Home buyers couldn't pay the monthly payment due to the reset interest rate. So they some of them had to put homes in foreclosure and sport "For Sale" sings.

Soaring mortgage default rates this year already have shaken major financial institutions and the fallout from more of them. Some experts say, it could spread from those already battered banks into the general enonomy. For instance, its effect on consumption, its effect on future lending attitudes, could bring us close to the zeor line in terms of economic growth.

The already severe housing slump would be exacerbated by even more empty homes on the market. The downturn could cause more jobs lost and affect investment firms as well.

Real Estate Predictions 2007

What Determine House Value?

There are several factors determining the value of house. A family would consider the quality of local schools, the number of bedrooms, the size of the yard. Economists assessing a region look at interest rates, employment, and population growth. But over time the most reliable guide to home values is rents. Most families won't lay out much more in monthly costs to own a house or condo than they would to rent a similar property unless they expect a huge profit when they sell.

Housing Starts Up Recently?

According to WJS.com, "new-home construction rose 3% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.229 million units last month from September -- the first monthly gain since June -- but the increase was driven entirely by construction of multifamily buildings with five or more units. Construction in that volatile sector soared 47% after falling 36% in September."

Is it a sign that house market is coming back or are there other factors affecting the temporary rise of housing? When we are looking at the data from 2006, it is 16.4% below the revised October rate of 2006.So the rise was in the more volatile month-to-month, and within the margin of error. Deline continues, particularly for single family homes.

The economist Haseeb Ahmed from J.P. Morgan said "new construction of single-family homes is down 52% from its January 2006 peak. Mr. Ahmed sees no sign the slump has hit bottom."

Real Estate Suffers in Virtual World Too

In this summer, Coldwell Banker introduced a real-world Seattle-area mansion via a digitized facsimile in the virtual world of Second Life. Some 1,100 avatars walk through the $3.1 million house. However, it was still up for sale as of press time. Meanwhile, land prices in Second Life, which had run up as a result of speculation, have plummeted 46% since January. Seems you can’t escape the real estate downturn, not even in a fantasy life.

Let’s ignore the down trend between the real world and virtual world, but Second Life gives a new perspective to real estate. For the real estate market, the virtual world is a better tool to improve sales. Through the Second Life, potential buyers can experience houses differently, which cannot be gotten via pictures and websites. For the consumers, as avatars, they can walk each corner in the houses they are interested, feel the structure and inside design. If they want to move to another place, Second Life can save them money and time before home buyers make their own decisions to take a look at the actual home. For sellers, there are several benefits provided by Second Life. Through it, sellers can expand markets and decrease the selling cost. I believe Second Life will be a trend in real estate.

Seven Strategies on How to Handle Real Estate

Even with the recent drop in home prices, the real value of a home in the U.S. has more than doubled in 10 years. While it looks very attractive, the declining real estate market makes it difficult these days. Here are seven strategies on how to handle real estate.

● Figure out the value of your real estate and find a new place where you would love to live before you decide to sell it.

● Calculate how much you need to live as you approach retirement, and run those numbers without including real estate sales.

● If your home is worth a lot, and you don’t mind moving to cheaper digs, you can unlock a lot of extra retirement money by downsizing. The sooner, the better.

● Don’t put more than one-third of your money in real estate.

● Thinking carefully before buying a second home. You can take a long vacation or rent for a while before you decide to move to a new places.

● Get ready for alternative strategies. Once investment in real estate does not work out, you would better think about other ways to deal with investment.

● When the real estate market is declining, cutting the selling price early to win a buyer rather than letting a property sit on the market.

What You Can Find Here?

Well, we will focus on providing an outstanding overview of the real estate markets and the latest topics related housing. Any comments are welcome!:-)