So we have some new news in regards to the possibility of interest Rates changing? We all stil don’t know, and that is the one consistency we all have right now. Today I have a feeling is going to be rocky on the market front. We will see how Wall Street reacts to President Obama’s Speech tonight.. Pray for the best..
We are up for some action the next two days starting with results from today’s enormous auction of $42B in 5-Year Notes released at 1pm ET. Auction results can be a market mover – and handling the market reaction could be challenging today, as just about an hour later, the highly anticipated
and pivotal Fed Policy Statement will arrive, at 2:15pm ET.
The Fed Funds Rate will remain unchanged. However will the Fed hint that they may start to shift away from their present accommodative policy, by the exclusion of the line they’ve included in all of 2009’s Statements, about rates staying low “for an extended period”?
And what might the Fed say about their present Mortgage Backed Security purchase program? It has been made clear at each of the last two meetings that this program will end. But there has been chatter from different Fed Members, who feel this program should be extended. However, the Fed and Mr. Bernanke have come under fire for the expansion of the Fed’s balance sheet – and with $1.25T already added to the Fed’s balance sheet in MBS purchases, it’s hard to imagine a meaningful expansion taking place. Which could see rates on the rise.
Hopefully we get a clear message on this today as the market hates uncertainty.
And in the backdrop of this two day meeting is the elephant in the room…the Fed Chairman himself, Ben Bernanke doesn’t have confirmation yet that his position as Fed Chair will continue for another term.
Tonight, President Obama delivers his first official State of the Union address. The administration has come under heavy fire, so it will be interesting to see how President Obama responds, and whether he stays the course or changes direction. These addresses can cause market reaction the following day – so we expect the next 24 hours in the market to be quite bumpy.
If you are interested in building a new home, you won’t want to miss these lots. There are three lots total and each are 10 acres. Unbelievable views, with incredible privay and frontage make these lots ideal for anyone who wants what Emigration Canyon has to offer. You are close to the city yet out of the smog, and even closer to hiking and biking trails. Give me a call today and I’ll get you all the information you need.
Acres: 10.00 Frontage Faces: S Frontage: 0 Side Dim: 0 Back Dim: 0 Tax ID: 10-32-152-011 Taxes: $1
Power: Stubbed Water: Culinary Stubbed Sewer: Septic Tank Gas: Stubbed Connect Fees: Water Driveway/Access: CCRs: 1
Landscaping: Pines, Scrub Oak Terms: Conv, Cash
Lot Facts: Cul-de-Sac, Curb&Gutter, Terrain, Mtn., View, Mountain, View, Valley, Wooded
Remarks: Lot #4 at exclusive Snowberry canyon. Magnificent 10 acres parcel that offers mountain & canyon views. You cannot beat this price for 10 acres in emigration canyon. Road & utilities are ready. Taxes not yet assessed. Buyer to verify all info.
Information deemed reliable but not guaranteed. Buyer to verify all information.
Acres: 10.12 Frontage Faces: N Frontage: 297 Side Dim: 0 Back Dim: 0 Tax ID: 10-32-152-010 Taxes: $1
Power: Stubbed Water: Culinary Stubbed Sewer: Septic Tank Gas: Stubbed Connect Fees: Water Driveway/Access: CCRs: 1
Landscaping: Scrub Oak Terms: Conv, Cash
Lot Facts: Cul-de-Sac, Curb&Gutter, Terrain, Mtn., View, Mountain, Wooded
Remarks: Lot #5 in exclusive Snowberry canyon. These lots are ready to go with a new road & utilities. Come and build your exclusive dream home. You won’t be disappointed with the views and privacy these lots offer, and only a short ride down the canyon.
Information deemed reliable but not guaranteed. Buyer to verify all information.
Acres: 10.04 Frontage Faces: S Frontage: 311 Side Dim: 0 Back Dim: 0 Tax ID: 10-32-101-004 Taxes: $1
Power: Stubbed Water: Culinary Stubbed Sewer: Septic Tank Gas: Stubbed Connect Fees: Water Driveway/Access: CCRs: 1
Landscaping: Scrub Oak Terms: Conv, Cash
Lot Facts: Cul-de-Sac, Curb&Gutter, Terrain, Mtn., View, Mountain, View, Valley, Wooded
Remarks: Lot #2 in Snowberry Canyon. If you are looking for exclusivity and privacy you won’t have to look any further than these lots. Utilities and road are in. This lot offers unbelievable mountain and canyon views. Buyer to verify all. Taxes not yet assessed.
Information deemed reliable but not guaranteed. Buyer to verify all information.
Mormon church buys corner lot in Salt Lake CityJanuary 21st, 2010 @ 10:18amSALT LAKE CITY AP — The LDS church is buying another lot in downtown Salt Lake City.The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints says it bought 3.76 acres on North Temple Street as a long-term investment.Thats the same reason the church offered for its purchase announced weeks ago of a 10-acre block north of the Little America Hotel.The church picked up that parcel and a smaller one from hotel owner Earl Holding.The latest real-estate purchase is a corner lot at 400 West and North Temple from a subsidiary of restaurant chain Gastronomy.Church spokesman Scott Trotter says the church has no immediate development plans.The church through business affiliates is downtown Salt Lakes largest landowner.Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
Back to interest Rates. Here is an intersting article written by Josh mettle, a local Salt Lake City Loan officer about the future of Interest Rates. I really think he nailed it on the head.. It is going to be an interesting year… For those of you interested in more info regarding the Utah Realestate market.. Let us know..
As the real estate market begins to show signs of life and recovery I’ve been getting a lot of clients and REALTORS asking me what’s ahead for real estate and mortgage rates in 2010. I’ve been doing a lot of research and man, there are a lot of differing opinions out there on what will move mortgage rates and what experts are predicting for 2010. I’ve boiled it down and I’m going to make it simple for you to understand.
Rates are going up in 2010, no doubt about it. Here’s why:
The US Government and the Federal Reserve are wrapping up their Mortgage-Backed Security Purchase Program and when all is said and done they will be the proud owner of $1,250,000,000,000.00 (or $1.25 Trillion) in mortgage loans funded through Fannie, Freddie and Ginnie Mae. The purchase program announced late 2008, was effective in dropping the 30 year rate from the 6.25% to 6.50% range to around 5.00% for almost all of 2009. The Fed has already drastically reduced the funding of this program, as a result rates have begun to rise and by the end of the 1st quarter in 2010 the program will end and rates will return to the range they were in prior to the program’s inception. See chart below:
The US Government’s MASSIVE fiscal deficit has the Treasury auctioning off record levels of Treasury Notes. The sale of these notes is how our Government funds the US debt. Unfortunately for us, not only are we going more and more in debt as a country, but the sale of these Treasury Notes is in direct competition to raising money for mortgages. In other words there is only so much money to go around in the world. If more is going to finance the US Government’s debt, then less goes into funding mortgages and Wall St. has to raise rates to find investors for new loans.
INFLATION is the 4 letter word for mortgage rates. You see as an owner of a mortgage at say 5% interest, you have a fixed rate of return every year (5%) for your investment. But when the costs of goods and services you’re buying and using are going up, your 5% return buys less and less every year. So what do you do? You adjust the rate you want to receive to cover the increase in costs and services. If inflation goes up 2%, you might want 7% instead of the 5% you wanted last year. We’ve seen relatively low inflation thus far, but rest assured it is coming. History tells us that virtually every extended period of low interest rates is followed by inflation.
Low interest rates are to the economy like coal is to an old steam engine locomotive; you keep adding more and more getting the train up to speed to reach your destination by the scheduled time. Well this train, which is the US Economy, doesn’t have any brakes, so as the Fed starts to raise interest rates to slow down the economy it’s virtually like trying to stop a train at the correct station with no brakes. Can you imagine trying to add just the right amount of coal that you get to the station on time but you have to coast into the station and stop with not brakes? Exactly, it’s virtually impossible and that’s what the Federal Reserve is doing with the economy, they need to get things moving and get us there on time but history tells us we don’t have the brakes to slow things down, the economy is turning all this liquidity (money) so fast that inflation is almost a foregone conclusion at some point in our future.
So where does this leave real estate for 2010? This will largely depend on your location, the local employment picture and the number of foreclosures in that area. What I’m seeing here in Salt Lake County (Utah) is a steady increase in demand and some appreciation is already being seen in established sub-markets that aren’t still suffering from oversupply by speculators and builders run wild. I’m forecasting a continued shakeout of foreclosures for many Salt Lake areas and homes appreciation ranging from -5% to + 3% depending on your sub-market. I believe the first 6 months of 2010 will be relatively hot for the Salt Lake market, we’ll have a temporary slowdown as rates are rising through the summer and we see the tax credit expire in June. Towards the end of the year things will get back on track as people continue to realize this could be there last chance to get in on a deal.
I think most importantly, the market is signaling us that the bottom is near and this could be the best opportunity to get in. Today, interest rates on a 30 or 15 year fixed mortgage are virtually at an all time low, the Federal and State governments are throwing huge amounts of money at you and me to buy a home and all indicators point to us being at the tail end of things.
I find this quote by Warren Buffett particularly interesting and applicable at this moment.
“We simply try to be fearful when others are greedy and to be greedy only when others are fearful”
You all need to check out this website.. I love new contemporary ideas that push the limit of our little minds.. So often the residential architecture becomes stuck in the whats popular rut..
I think the next time I build a house for myself I am going to do something like this. I can envision a home in the Mountains in Salt Lake City Utah with one of these unique designs.. Let me know what you think? Some of these look and seem to be cost appropriate for the tough economic times? Now some of them are crazy complicated, but sure would be a fun project..
NEW YORK – A town house dubbed New York City's skinniest house has sold for $2.1 million.
The red, 9 1/2 foot wide, 42 foot long brick building in Greenwich Village was built in 1873 on land used as an alley between homes. The town house was listed for sale last August at $2.7 million. The two bedroom, two bath home last sold in 2000 for $1.6 million.
A plaque on the narrow Bedford Street home notes poet Edna St. Vincent Millay once lived there; so did anthropologist Margaret Mead.
The newly-sold building was listed on real estate Web sites Wednesday as a rental available for $10,000 a month. An e-mail seeking comment from the listed rental agent Wednesday was not immediately returned.
You know, I love when I read about these crazy real estate sales throughout the country.. This is the type of stuff I love.. Maybe we will start to see Utah Realestate have some of these crazy properties..
Single-family home sales in 2010 could rise as much as 10 percent in Salt Lake County compared to 2009, according to a study released today by the Salt Lake Board of REALTORS.
The study, by economist James Wood, noted that 2008 was likely the bottom of the housing recession. Sales of single-family homes increased 3 percent in 2009 compared to 2008. In 2010, single-family sales could reach 10,000, up from 9,100 sales in 2009.
Home prices in 2010 will continue to fall another 3 to 5 percent, Wood said. Single-family home prices have already fallen 11 percent from their peak.
The complete report is available at slrealtors.com.
SLBR in the News
The Salt Lake Tribune
One of the most affordable housing markets in the Salt Lake area has become even more so after a two-year slide in home values along the Wasatch Front. Median home prices in West Valley City are down more than 12 percent from a peak of $191,540 in 2007, according to data from the Salt Lake Board of REALTORS. For the full story see: http://www.sltrib.com/ci_14067605?IADID=Search-www.sltrib.com-www.sltrib.com.
KSTU-Fox Television
The Salt Lake Board of REALTORS reported sales of existing homes and condos climbed 77 percent in November. There were 1,071 homes and condos sold in November compared to 606 sales in November of 2008. The median price of all homes sold in November dropped to $202,000, down 12 percent compared to $229,000 in November last year.
The Salt Lake Board of REALTORS reported that sales of existing homes and condominiums climbed 77 percent in November. November’s sales were up 15 percent compared to 928 sales in November 2007.
After the December jobs report, mortgage rates rose all the way into the new year. This month the market is expecting more positivities from the labor market. If these forecasts are accurate, the bond market will not react well and mortgage rates will move higher. The reason I recommend floating UNTIL THE END OF THE DAY is because tomorrow the ADP Employment Report is released. This is a pre-cursor to Friday's NFP report. If tomorrow's ADP report implies the labor market is continuing to improve…mortgage rates will rise.
While a corrective rally would likely ensue if labor market data is worse than expected, floating is a very risky move. With that in mind I would recommend locking. There is much to lose if the jobs report is as expected. It would essentially confirm the month long trend of rising rates we dealt with in December. This would put a firm level of resistance under mortgage rates, making lower rates even more unlikely in the future.
So, I hope you all read the entire article to really get a good prospective of where interest rates are heading. Now it is a gamble, however because of the historically low interest rates we have been enjoying one should conclude it can’t last forever. Just like the housing market had to burst, sooner or later inflation is going to catch up with us. So therefore the logical conclusion would be interest rates will be forced to go up in 2010.
I am going to cross my fingers that I am wrong and hope that interst rates will stay where they are at, however my gut is telling me by summer we are going to be seeing interest rates into the 6′s.. Now that is obviously my opinion, but if you look at all the leading indicators. I am willing you will come to that same realization. Interest Rates can not stay low forever. And for that matter we don’t want them to.. Inflation is the sleeping beast in the corner of the room.. Now for my local market of Utah Realesate, we definetly don’t want interest rates to tick up just yet, because that will have a direct effect on the false jump in the local Real estate market.. If people take advantage of the great rates, perhaps we can push the markets to have a little more breathing room?
So we have all seen the mighty fall. However, there are a few area’s that have been hit extremely hard through this whole down turn. Then we come to Promontory a luxury development in Park City, UTAH.. This is where the who’s who of anybody has a second home. In the peak of the market people were buying lots for $1 million.
Here are some interesting articles to read about it all. My main reason for posting this, is we are seeing some unbelieveable deals up there. I have a lot that just came up, equivilant to the $1 million compareables a couple years ago.. Check this out
2106 Saddle Horn $109,000 In Promontory!!
This is crazy only $109,000 where your neighbor paid 1 million.. We are always getting people telling us they want a deal. Where here it is. And I promise you it will not get any better than this.
Ok, everyone.. I keep looking for affordable East side Duplex’s or investment properties in Salt Lake County.. Take a look at these. You can not get any cheaper. I am blown away that some of these rental properties here in the Utah Realestate market are so affordable..
MLS Number Type Status Price Address
931445 Duplex Active $85,000 509 E 16TH ST S, Ogden, Utah 84404
931814 Duplex Active $129,900 1034 19TH ST, Ogden, Utah 84401
930950 Duplex Active $139,000 256 S 500 E, Logan, Utah 84321
930668 Triplex Active $147,900 2747 S MADISON AVE, Ogden, Utah 84403
931770 Duplex Active $164,900 4401 S 700 E, Murray, Utah 84107
930893 Triplex Active $169,900 1428 S ROBERTA ST E, Salt Lake City, Utah 84115
932026 Duplex Active $174,900 663 E 4250 S, South Ogden, Utah 84403
932023 Duplex Active $184,900 1666 E 1250 S, Ogden, Utah 84404
931929 Fourplex Active $189,900 2515 S ADAMS AVE E, Ogden, Utah 84401
932029 Triplex Active $199,900 4001 JEFFERSON AVE, Ogden, Utah 84403
If you have any questions about any of these please let me know..
