Realtor.com Being Left Behind

by | Feb 18, 2015 | Jim's Take on the Market, The Future | 6 comments

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Now that Zillow and Trulia have merged and watch realtor.com fade away in the rear-view mirror, how does Move, Inc. and News Corp feel about it?  They appear to be hanging their hat on accuracy, and after five months haven’t done anything better than the competition.

When you go to realtor.com’s link to ‘find a realtor’, they give you the list of agents in alphabetical order with no other qualifiers.  If that’s all you got, you might as well pack it up.

http://www.housingwire.com/articles/32965-move-were-ready-to-take-on-zillow-trulia

With the close of the multi-billion dollar merger deal between Zillow and Trulia now complete, the landscape of online real estate is about to change dramatically again. But the companies’ largest competitor says it’s not really worried about what Zillow-Trulia does going forward and expects the companies to struggle through the integration process.

In fact, Move Inc., which is owned by News Corp and operates Realtor.com for the National Association of Realtors, said that it’s already seeing record traffic on Realtor.com and expects those figures to only grow.

“Zillow’s year of the merge will be Realtor.com’s year of the surge,” Move said. “As our competitor grapples with the challenges of integrating two very similar businesses, Realtor.com will continue to provide the most accurate and up-to-date property listings in America, as well as the most valuable professional tools for brokers and agents.”

The battle between the online real estate giants has only escalated in the last few months.

Soon after Zillow and Trulia announced their merger, News Corp announced in September that it intended to buy Move and bring Realtor.com into the News Corp family of media properties.

When News Corp made the acquisition of Move official, News Corp CEO Robert Thomson said he wanted to “turbo-charge” Realtor.com.

“In partnership with the National Association of Realtors and its 1 million members, we look forward to turbo-charging realtor.com and making it the most popular and profitable property site in America,” Thomson said in November.

Read full article here:

http://www.housingwire.com/articles/32965-move-were-ready-to-take-on-zillow-trulia

Rising Rates

by | Feb 17, 2015 | Interest Rates/Loan Limits, Jim's Take on the Market | 1 comment

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Rates have risen 0.25% in less than three weeks, and 4% is upon us (and the Fed hasn’t done anything yet).  From MND:

http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/consumer_rates/435104.aspx

Mortgage rates got hit hard today, rising at the fastest day-over-day pace since November 8th 2013.  As of today, this also makes February the worst month for rates since May 2013, and the most abrupt month-over-month reversal since January 2009.  That all could change by the end of the month, of course, but then again, it could also get even worse.

Either way, the strategy is and has been the same recently: we’re in the midst of a strong negative trend that must be taken seriously unless/until it’s convincingly defeated.  Naturally, that assessment favors locking over floating, and naturally, it implies a ton of potential frustration for those who lock right before the bounce.

As for today’s damage, it’s meant an even eighth of a point in interest for most lenders.  In other words, if you had been quoted 3.75% on Friday, today’s quote would likely be 3.875%.  Either way, costs are significantly higher.

2015 Pendings By Price Range

by | Feb 17, 2015 | Inventory, Jim's Take on the Market, North County Coastal | 1 comment

Reader 97212 thinks that much of the Under-$800,000 inventory is graduating to higher price points, which is true.  As buyers grab what they can on the lower end, sellers will keep bumping higher.

The median list price of houses for sale from Carlsbad to La Jolla is $1,995,000, and below that it’s really been hopping.  Here are the number of new listings in 2015, and new pendings this year:

Price Category
# of New Listings, 2015
# of New Pendings, 2015
Ratio
Under-$800,000
119
103
1.2:1
$800K-$1.4M
217
134
1.6:1
$1.4 – $2.4M
153
78
2.0:1
Over-$2.4M
149
41
3.6:1

New pendings this year include properties that were listed last year. These are incredibly hot numbers in a market that has already seen 20% to 30% appreciation over the last couple of years. All it will take is for sellers to be reasonable about reading what the market will bear, and it should continue!

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