Posted:
Wednesday, January 25th, 2012
Category:
Real Estate License
For those who think that hints of recovery in the last month or two are mirages, think again. For the first time in a long while, housing figures are surpassing expectations, though not by much. Construction and real estate professionals—including those who are just working to get their real estate license or those who are finishing the required real estate continuing education—can take heart.
The online edition of The Wall Street Journal reported that the National Association of Home Builders’ sentiment index gained three points this November, settling at 20, the highest it has gone in more than a year. The Commerce Department, meanwhile, announced last week that building permits and construction of single-family homes picked up in October. The Federal Reserve’s fourth-quarter loan survey also showed a rise in demand for mortgage loans.
The positive signs are not positive enough though. For instance: the latest National Association of Realtors’ existing-home sales report still showed a second consecutive monthly dip in annualized pace in October to 4.8 million units (seasonally adjusted). Construction, a good indicator of the health of the economy, is slowly building up some momentum, but is still stuck at historically low levels. Broader sales activity remains weak.
Foreclosures, meanwhile, have crawled back up the ledger following three consecutive quarters of decline, a development that will continue to hold down already depressed home prices.
Still, a positive is a positive and the industry is one or two pulses more upbeat nowadays. Online real estate schools have been gearing up for the day of the big recovery for some time now. Top real estate continuing education providers such as Agentcampus.com are understandably all set to accommodate the expected jump in demand for real estate courses leading to a Texas real estate license for one.
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Posted:
Wednesday, January 25th, 2012
Category:
Real Estate License
It seems that the nearer 2012 draws, the more harbingers of a recovery come forth. No reason yet to break out the bubbly, but reason enough to expedite one’s real estate continuing education to get licensed as a real estate agent.
One such harbinger is the consumer prices falling in the last quarter. For the economy, this may look terrible at face value, but for low-wage earners this of course means more affordability. And according to Carla Hill in her article “Real Estate Outlook: Will 2012 See Improvement?” affordability will be the operant word in 2012. With low interest rates prevailing, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) expects the coming year to be one of the banner years on record for housing affordability.
It’s true that the 2.5-year-old recession continues to drag down the economy and housing market, but the newest statistics and surveys point to a sea change on the horizon next year. Meanwhile, affordability and interest rates are combining to make good deals for this year’s penny-pinching buyers.
Industry experts are moderately hopeful of home sales improving in the new year, with existing-home sales expected to rise 4 to 5 percent.
“Once home prices turn positive on a sustained basis, consumer confidence will rise and help the broader economy to improve,” said Lawrence Yun, chief economist at the NAR.
Well aware of the industry’s pending need for licensed real estate agents when recovery finally arrives, top online real estate training provider Agentcampus.com provides real estate courses and real estate continuing education that are needed for a Texas real estate license for one.
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Posted:
Friday, January 20th, 2012
Category:
Real Estate License
The need for green is becoming increasingly entrenched in industry and in society. Professionals, especially those in the construction and real estate industries—including those who are still working to get their real estate license or those who are finishing the required real estate continuing education—are quickly aligning themselves with the green building movement to deliver to consumers healthy, energy-efficient, and sustainable homes. Says the US Green Building Council, “Generally, green homes are healthier, more comfortable, more durable, and more energy efficient, and have a much smaller environmental footprint than conventional homes.”
According to industry observers, sustainable properties are the future of the real estate industry. Hence, consumers, real estate professionals, and property owners are endeavoring to green properties even as consumer demand, residential builders, federal government incentives, and local government policy increasingly demand for green building compliance.
Already, the green movement is seeing more government incentives and policies that are increasing the number of green commercial buildings and retrofits. About 25 percent of all new construction projects in the U.S. are now LEED-registered. The number of states with green building policies, standards, legislation, and programs increased from 13 to 31 between 2005 and 2008.
Visit AgentCampus.com to learn more about green real estate and sustainable buildings. They are one of the top real estate continuing education providers for any state requirement like New York Real Estate CE.
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Posted:
Friday, January 20th, 2012
Category:
Real Estate License
Green alert! The traditional real estate industry may still be struggling today to get out of the doldrums, but according to The Dallas Business Journal the green commercial and residential real estate is on the march and may make up 45 percent of the entire industry’s workforce within three years. That’s a seismic shift in composition and excellent news for the beleaguered industry’s professionals, from the aspirant agent in Florida finishing his Florida real estate license courses to the licensed real estate agent in California pursuing her real estate continuing education so she can renew her license.
What’s fueling this sea change, reports FMLink.com, is the industry’s determined drive toward sustainability, leading to a fleet of new positions for agents, architects, engineers, and builders who can think green and who can deliver products and services that can be made sustainable.
Already, according to a study by McGraw-Hill Construction, green jobs are now well entrenched in design and construction. For instance: 35 percent of architects, engineers, and contractors said that they have green jobs now. That percentage is projected to hit 45 percent of all design and construction jobs by 2014.
Top online real estate training provider Agentcampus.com, is more than ready to accommodate renewed demand for real estate courses and real estate continuing education for any state (like New York Real Estate CE) leading to a real estate license. Especially if it’s green.
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Posted:
Tuesday, January 17th, 2012
Category:
Real Estate License
The housing market may be struggling but one sector continues to deliver good news to real estate agents all over, whether they are agents pursuing their New York real estate CE in line with the state’s real estate license renewal requirements or those in Minnesota getting ready for their Minnesota real estate CE program.
The good news, says National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) chief economist David Crowe, comes from “multifamily construction [which] continues to be the bright spot in the overall housing market.” He adds that “While household formations have been below trend, those who are forming new households are becoming renters and this trend is likely to continue until consumers’ confidence returns.”
Apartments and condos are now the key movers in the current housing market (single-family home construction and sales are still weak). “The construction of these units not only brings jobs to local communities, but also provides an adequate stock of housing for areas with rapid population growth,” notes Stillman Knight, chairman of NAHB’s Multifamily Council Board of Trustees and president and CEO of the Knight Company of Alexandria, Va.
For his part, NAHB chairman Bob Nielsen points out some remedies that could speed up the market’s rally. “Resolving inappropriate appraisal practices and restoring the flow of credit to home builders will not only help to put America back to work, it will provide badly needed tax revenues that is essential for local governments to support schools, police and firefighters in communities across the land.”
Meanwhile, buyers are capitalizing on the low prices. The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) reports that mortgage application grew 4.1 percent from the previous week. Refinancings moved up 9.3 percent past the previous week and are now at the highest level since November 4, 2011.
Agentcampus.com, a leading e-learning portal for real estate CE, provides all the principal real estate courses and real estate continuing education that an agent needs for today’s market and the years beyond.
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Posted:
Tuesday, January 17th, 2012
Category:
Real Estate License
As the year ends, the reckoning begins. In New York, real estate sales through 2011 surprisingly held to course while other real estate markets floundered in a sea of mortgages and sinking prices.
“We had a market, and that’s the good news. Some places around the United States didn’t have a market at all,” commented Paul Purcell of Rutenberg Realty, echoing what other industry observers stated about the market benefiting from prices holding steady because the inventory didn’t bloat up (as in other states) and because international buyers took advantage of the favorable prices. That’s certainly a boost for agents pursuing their New York real estate CE in line with the state’s real estate license renewal requirements.
“I think the biggest trend has been a continued influx of foreign investment. Economies like China and Russia that are a little precarious, those people see the United States, particularly New York, as a very solid investment,” said Douglas Heddings of Heddings Property Group, explaining that foreign buyers still see New York as a fire sale compared with other international cities.
Observers also reported a significant development on the rental side in 2011: the inventory dove and prices shot up. “The high end got even hotter, and there were bidding wars on $25,000-a-month apartments,” Purcell pointed out.
Those high prices affected every level of the rental market, helping it jumpstart the sales side. The industry expects the New York real estate market to be healthy in 2012, with prices appreciating a bit. “I think overall 2012 will be a good year for real estate,” said Heddings.
Agentcampus.com, a leading real estate CE provider, is providing all the necessary real estate courses and real estate continuing education that an agent in New York—or in Minnesota (under a Minnesota real estate CE program)—needs to be ready for 2012.
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Posted:
Monday, January 16th, 2012
Category:
Real Estate License
LEED-certified existing buildings are getting built faster than LEED-certified new construction, reported the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) in the first week of December 2011. USGBC, which developed the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) in 2000, estimated that the difference in total sq. ft. between the two types of green construction has now reached 15 million sq. ft.
The report is news to many, including real estate professionals and those pursuing their real estate licenses—from agents taking up Minnesota real estate CE to agents working through their New York real estate CE. For the longest time after being green became more than an inconvenient afterthought for builders and real estate agents, the bulk of LEED-certified green projects was new construction projects. By 2009, however, projects certified under the LEED for Existing Buildings: Operation & Maintenance program overtook projects certified under new construction on an annual basis. The trend repeated in 2010 and 2011.
The benefits of being green for both existing and new buildings has become clear to designers and building managers. The recently renovated and LEED-certified Empire State Building, for instance, expects to slash its energy consumption by 38 percent, saving it some $4.4 million annually, an amount that will allow the building owners to recoup the renovation costs in just three years. Similarly, San Francisco’s 39-year-old Transamerica Pyramid after being certified LEED Platinum as an existing building, anticipates an annual saving of $700,000 in energy costs.
Agentcampus.com, a leading real estate CE provider, is providing all the necessary real estate courses and real estate continuing education that an agent needs to take advantage of an industry that is increasingly going green.
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Posted:
Monday, January 16th, 2012
Category:
Real Estate License
The real estate scene has been keeping tabs on the national employment rate since four years ago when the bottom fell out of the housing boom, the index being an important indicator of economic strength and individual buying power. In November 2011 the Bureau of Labor Statistics released figures showing that the unemployment rate was on the decline. It is now 8.6 percent after 120,000 new jobs were created, mainly in the hospitality, retail trade, health care, and professional and business services sectors. Construction employment, however, showed little movement.
Nevertheless, that’s cause for some high fives for those pursuing their real estate licenses—from agents taking up Minnesota real estate CE to agents working through their New York real estate CE.
The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) believes that over half of single-family builders are putting off new construction until financing improves. “Restoring the flow of credit to housing is critical for the industry to rebound, provide jobs and boost the economy,” said NAHB chairman Bob Nielsen.
The NAHB builder survey revealed the following observations from the respondents:
- 77 percent believed that lenders were lowering what they were willing to lend.
- 75 percent reported seeing the allowable loan-to-value ratio being reduced.
- 66 percent encountered lenders who were unwilling to make any new real estate loans.
- 63 percent found lenders who required a personal guarantee or collateral that was unrelated to the project.
In the meantime that credit lines are being sorted out and strengthened, Agentcampus.com, a top real estate CE provider, is providing all the necessary real estate courses and real estate continuing education that an agent needs for a fully recovered market that’s bound to arrive sooner than later.
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Posted:
Friday, January 13th, 2012
Category:
Real Estate License
Bubbly rain check.
Although sales of single-family homes climbed to a seven-month high in November, with sales rising 1.6 percent for the month and 9.8 percent over the past 12 months, there remains a bloated inventory of about 1.6 million homes that’s going to drag home prices across the bottom of the barrel through 2012, which is supposed to be the turnaround year.
Still, they are encouraging figures to chew on for agents now undergoing their real estate CE—whether that’s New York real estate CE or Minnesota real estate CE—in line with their real estate license renewal requirements.
“The unabsorbed pool of housing supply, dragging levels of consumer confidence, high unemployment and negative equity will continue to put downward pressure on the housing market, pushing our expectation for a potential recovery into late 2012 or early 2013,” explained Stan Humphries, the chief economist at Zillow Inc., a real estate research company.
The tame demand for existing homes also translates to fewer buyers for new homes. Because of the glut of empty houses and a dearth of people moving into them, there’s little incentive to construct new homes.
Still and all, positive signs are emerging. Industry observers are pointing to, for one, multifamily construction and remodeling, which continues to provide construction-sector jobs this year and the next. They see also some parts of the country recovering in 2012, places like California’s Silicon Valley, much of Texas, as well as New England.
Agentcampus.com, a top e-learning portal for real estate CE, provides all the important real estate courses and real estate continuing education that today’s market, as well as 2013’s, requires of the real estate agent.
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Posted:
Friday, January 13th, 2012
Category:
Real Estate License
Sales for previously occupied homes climbed in November, reported the National Association of Realtors, amidst a weaker-than-thought market. The group said sales grew 4 percent, riding a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.42 million. That, however, is slower than the 6 million homes or so a year that define a healthy housing market. Still, it is better than 2008′s sales, considered the worst in 13 years. Those are encouraging stats for agents now going through their real estate CE—whether that’s New York real estate CE or Minnesota real estate CE—in line with their real estate license renewal requirements.
Sales have taken a dive in four of the five years since the housing bust burst on the scene in 2006. Despite record-low mortgage rates and falling prices, sales have remained largely weak and tentative.
Home construction, however, has started a mini comeback and is expected to boost the economy’s growth after 2011 is accounted for—the first year of growth since the Great Recession began in 2007. In November, builders posted an annual rate of 685,000 homes, representing a 9.3-percent bump from October, the rate’s fastest since April 2010.
Most economists maintain that home prices will continue to fall all through 2012, predicting that a price rebound should not be expected till 2013.
Currently, the median price of a new home is about a third above that of the one that’s been occupied before. Investors are taking advantage of the discounts.
Agentcampus.com, a leading e-learning portal for real estate CE, provides all the principal real estate courses and real estate continuing education that an agent needs for today’s market and the years beyond.
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