|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Articles
High End Real Estate Holdouts, WSJ
Some of the nation's wealthiest home sellers refuse to lower their asking prices. 'I feel the property is worth every penny.'...With housing prices off about 28% from their peak in 2006 according to Standard & Poor's Case-Shiller Index, some real estate agents say waiting is a risky strategy. "Everyone, from bottom to top, got hurt in the financial panic, and it's reflected in the high-end of the housing market being frozen," says Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody's Analytics.
More than four years after the housing market peaked, many of the nation's wealthiest homeowners are slashing prices in earnest. The asking price on the late Brooke Astor's Park Avenue duplex has plummeted to $24.9 million from $46 million. Thursday Peter Sperling, son of the University of Phoenix founder John Sperling, dropped the price on his San Francisco limestone mansion to $47 million; he had been asking $65 million since 2006.Then there are the ultimate holdouts: a rarefied slice of extremely wealthy sellers who are holding the line on today's deal-making, price-slashing mentality. Even as their properties have lingered on the market, these sellers haven't budged on initial asking prices, some of which were set in the waning days of the housing bubble.
By Juliet Chung, Oct. 1, 2010 WSJ
Link to article
Second Home - Time for a Place in the Country? NYT
Perhaps more than any place on earth, New York is a city of real estate fantasists. Imaginations soar with visions of an extra bedroom or even an extra closet, a terrace with a view, a kitchen large enough to entertain in, or the magnificent ways one might fix up that town house down the street. Over the past couple of years, as the real estate market and the economy both sank, the abiding fantasy of some New Yorkers has been that the market will slip low enough to afford them a weekend house in the country. A little shingled retreat near a lake. Or a chalet with tall windows and views of mountains. An herb garden. Adirondack chairs and a sloping lawn. A place to grill! Perhaps a swimming pool with a stone patio shaded by a grove of trees ... Back to reality. Prices have fallen significantly, but given the lingering uncertainty in the economy, is now a smart time to buy a second home? A look at some of the second-home markets near New York suggests that it might be a very promising moment.
By Hilary Stout, Oct. 1, 2010 NYT
Link to article
You Should Have Timed the Market , WSJ
Human beings are hard-wired to run with the herd. For millions of years, when the herd stampeded, the smartest move wasn't the hang around and wait to see why. It was to run. And that's how they act on the stock market as well. But when it comes to investing, it's a bad idea. Your feelings are a bad guide. And there is no safety in numbers.I am frequently surprised at how many people still give in to their instincts in these matters. During the housing boom, anything I wrote questioning house prices automatically drew scathing reactions. Today anything I write that is positive about buying a home draws a similar response. (I'll confess this alone makes me feel bullish.)
Everybody knows the last decade on Wall Street was a poor one for investors.Turns out it was even worse than we thought. A remarkable new study from TrimTabs Investment Research shows that regular investors needlessly lost billions more than they should have on the stock market. Why? It's the old story: They invested more money in their equity mutual funds during the booms ... and then sold them during the panics.
By Brett Arends, Sept. 29, 2010 WSJ
Link to article
Profiles of High-End Real Estate Holdouts, WSJ
A look at some of the owners sticking to their pricing guns—and one who caved.
Oct. 1, 2010 WSJ
Link to article
Housing: Stuck and Staying Stuck, WSJ
Inventories of Unsold Homes Are Swollen, but Anticipation of Further Price Declines Makes Buyers Scarce.
For months, home buyers and sellers have been stuck in a curious stalemate, with sellers reluctant to lower prices and buyers staying on the sidelines.New data suggest the standoff eased slightly last month, as sales of existing, or previously owned, homes rose 7.6% from July's extremely low levels, according to figures released Thursday by the National Association of Realtors.But while the housing market may have halted a slide that began in April after federal home-buyer tax credits expired, it still faces a long recovery, and buyers remain scarce. The August figures were the lowest for any month since 1997 except for July.And while the number of unsold homes fell 0.6% in August to 3.98 million, it would still take 11.6 months at the current sales pace to clear the inventory. That's the second highest figure since the realtors' group began tracking the data in 1999, behind July's 12.5 months."The only way to sell a home in this environment is to drop the price," said John Burns, a housing consultant based in Irvine, Calif.
By Nick Timiraos and Sara Murray, Sept. 24, 2010 WSJ
Link to article
09/24/10 WSJ
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
