Lamborghini Answers!…to HOT Residential Real Estate Market Questions…

…Only on Wednesdays…

[Note: Your Hot Residential Real Estate Market Questions here are answered in my ‘Lamborghini Answers’ (can be read in 60 seconds or less)]

NATIONAL:

Q; Would some members in the media spin slight improvements to puff up the public’s perception that the housing market is ready to turn-around?

A: The Case-Shiller Index data reported this week suggests puffed up enthusiasm for a turn-around.  C-SI only measures home values in 20 cities nationwide which are not even the biggest cities.  Houston, Philadelphia, San Antonio and San Jose are excluded while each ranks among the country’s 10 most populous areas.  Bloomberg, Seeking Alpha and Business Week led the media pack with positive coverage.

It’s ironic that the media interprets a slight improvement in the C-SI for 2-3 months can make a trend against the backdrop of the real estate market reality for 2007, 2008 and 2009.

The market turn-around can start in seriousness when the existing major unemployment uncertainty changes with buyer confidence returning to the business and commercial economy.

Tags: jack armstrong, coastalluxuryhomes.wordpress.com, Case-Shiller Index, Bloomberg, Seeking Alpha, Business Week

ORANGE COUNTY:

Q: What kind of impact has the housing meltdown, banking system failings and unemployment had on the property values in the county?

A: Orange County Assessor’s Office has stated the County’s taxable property values fell about $5.2 billion the first time since 1995.  Taxing values fell in 25 of 34 cities in the county.  Prop 13, the tax reform,  passed in 1978 restricted  tax hikes in appreciating years and allows property taxes to continue rising in depreciating periods.

Jack Armstrong, Realtor/Blogger, expects the downward property value trend to continue for at least two more years and possibly longer.  Ineffective federal government housing policies are creating a dam that virtually closes off the pool of buyers from entering the market.  As they say in Kentucky, “there’s no education in the second kick of the mule.”

Tags: jeff collins, OCR, OC Tax Assessor, jack armstrong, coastalluxuryhomes.wordpress.com, Kentucky saying,