Word: saling
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2000-2009
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...whether it's good to see more houses come onto the market. Rampant building was one of the things that helped foster the real estate bubble, after all. Are the same companies that didn't know when to stop prematurely hopping back in? The number of existing homes for sale has fallen over the past year, but we still have a 9.4-month supply on the market - nearly double the rate that's desirable. With desperate homeowners trying to sell, and foreclosures still piling up, are more houses what we need? (See pictures of high-end homes that...
...long while. Since the end of 2007, builders have been selling more houses than they've been putting up. In the first three months of 2009, there were 52,000 single-family homes started. Over the same period of time, 87,000 were sold. At the current rate of sale, all the new homes on the market would be gone in 8.8 months. That's still above a more normal four- to six-month supply - but taking into account how long it takes to ramp up new construction, it's not necessarily an illogical time to start building. Consider...
...embellishments like bay windows and take fewer materials and less time. A 2,000-sq.-ft. (186 sq m) house can be built for $10,000 to $15,000 less and priced to reflect that, since Barton's main competition is distressed sellers. "The foreclosure and short-sale market is a monster," he says...
...devastating thing for the Lupos is that they'd gotten Wells Fargo, their bank, to agree to a short sale. The Lupos had found a buyer who would pay market price for the house - short of what was owed - and Wells agreed to forgive the rest of the couple's debt. The sticking point was a second lien - a $75,000 home-equity loan - owned by a different division of Wells. The buyer got spooked and walked. The Lupos have since moved into a rental house and now live in fear of the bank coming after them. "It's humiliating...
Bargain hunters are also successfully negotiating discounts at big-name chains. For example, Duke Dougherty, a rookie haggler in Williston, N.C., asked for - and received - 10% off a $4,000 John Deere lawn mower at Lowe's, even though the sale offer had expired. Dougherty, who works in the aerospace industry, told the rep he had his checkbook ready but would walk away unless he got the deal. "Hell, $400 is $400," he says. "It was kind of a trip I pulled that...