Dangers Lurk for Real Estate Agents, Echo Boomers to Play Key Role in Future Home Market

Most real estate agents—from Pennsylvania agents to professionals holding South Carolina real estate continuing education—are unaware or unmindful of the dangers of their work. It is not a job that usually carries with it the dangers of say a policeman’s—but it can be dangerous, as a Pennsylvania realtor found out recently.

On May 21, agent Sharron Minnich of Prudential Bob Yost Realtors in West York was abducted and forced at knifepoint to withdraw money from an automatic teller machine.

The abductor, who posed as a prospective buyer, was arrested shortly after the incident. The incident exemplifies the dangers that real estate agents constantly face but unfortunately consistently are underappreciated as they go about their tasks, which regularly include holding open houses for sellers, driving buyers around to show them properties, or simply meeting a prospective client for the first time.

Housing Market Stabilizes as Inventories Shrink Nationwide

Despite reports that in a handful of states, notably California, housing-inventory contraction has gone too far, the housing markets nationwide continue to stabilize, according to data gathered by realtor.com from 146 metros up to May 2012.

If you’re a professional agent with, say, a renewed license in South Carolina and looking this year to take full advantage of the resurgence of the real estate industry, now’s a very good time to do it.

According to the real-estate-listings online source, May built on the previous month’s year-over-year positive trajectory: for-sale inventory fell 20.07 percent, median age of for-sale inventory dropped 9.78 percent, and median list prices climbed 3.17 percent to $194,900. 

How to Sell Your Homes in Easy DIY Steps

With the housing market getting much of many trends and changes over time in the past 5 or more years, most homeowners are just wandering around trying to sell their property in the market at a good time, price and value or deals. In contrast, buyers and home-seekers are looking for good investment properties that would also be an affordable yet their dream investment.

So, being a seller of your own property – have you been thinking on how to sell your property in 10 Easy steps? If not, then here are some ways you can consider to help you out in getting a good value for your property plus getting a good deal when you met a prospective buyer.

Housing number falls, But Still Records Highest Home Construction Permits in over 3 Years

Recent reports by the Commerce Department of US said that the housing market starts to fall at around 4.8% last May 2012 and adjusted the rates to around 708,000. During the previous months where the multi-family housing market is gaining momentum where providers of licensing in real estate are happy too, now the said market seemed dropped at around 21.3% and with the Single Family housing market rising at 3.2%, as the report says.

However, the Commerce Department saw and reported a rising number in home construction permits last May 2012. This had been one of the signals analyzed by property experts as it has a huge role in the recovery process of the US housing market.

More Realtor Agents Guilty in HOA Takeover Scheme

About fourteen people which included two licensed real estate broker agents have been pleaded to be guilty in a Las Vegas HOA Scheme – fraudulently tried to take control of nearly a dozen of homeowner associations in Las Vegas, Nevada. The fourteen people were among the convictions to be made in the next few weeks of investigation the Nevada’s commission. There is now a total of 26 guilty pleas in the said case.

However, the sentence that is to be given to the defendants was pushed back later next year. This was because of the federal prosecutors telling that there will be more defendants in line to be investigate in the upcoming weeks as they present numerous evidence to grand jury and obtain indictments against these so-called additional defendants. 

The prosecutors of the case said that the whole fraud scheme started operating early in 2003 until February of 2009. The primary goal of the said scheme was to obtain and have control over HOA.

“To ensure the co-conspirators won the elections, the co-conspirators at times employed deceitful tactics, such as submitting fake and forged ballots” federal prosecutors said.

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Month of May’s Top Metros with Highest Foreclosure rate

According to a recent write up by RealtyTrac for May 2012, it has revealed recently the Top Metros in the US with the highest foreclosure rate during the month of May. The report and data they gathered were part of their monthly foreclosure activity report that included 2,200 counties in the whole US which is around 90% of the total US population.

May had been reported to have dropped about 4% in foreclosure activities since May 2011. It has been the 20^th straight month was recorded for the Y-O-Y report. However, RealtyTrac also clarified that even though foreclosure activity for May fall to 4%, they have forecast a climbing stage of foreclosure of about 200,000 for the first time in 3 months – and other say that it would surely bring about a bit of change as well in the whole housing market, including licensing of realtors for different states.

Homeowners May Receive Cash When Dealt With Foreclosure Abuses

In a news by the CNNMoney in New York, homeowners who had been victim of foreclosure abuse from years 2009-2012 could receive up to $125,000 cash or more when such abuse is verified to be true as lenders had committed so. This is in regard to the Independent Foreclosure Review that has been overseen by two other government agencies. 

The OCC (Office of the Comptroller of the Currency) along with the Federal Reserve had laid out a framework in which several listed borrowers will be receiving cash compensation depending on the range of foreclosure abuses and errors or mistakes that occurred during the period of time as a result of what they call as “robo-signing”.