The Dow Jones had a relatively uneventful week as light trading due to the holidays and economic reports released primarily meeting forecasts. Consumer Confidence Index rose to its highest level since June. Consumer Confidence Index is an indicator of potential consumer spending, with the thought being that if today’s Confidence Report is up, then consumer spending will soon follow.
The bond markets, and in particular, mortgage backed securities, for the most part experienced a neutral week in trading as well, as interest rates for a 30 yr mortgage over in the upper 4’s to low 5’s.
Local Economy and Real Estate Market
November home sales data broken down into the following types of sellers are as follows:
· Foreclosures = 41% (1,597 out of 3,916)
· Short sales = 21% (822 out of 3,916)
· Traditional Sales = 30% (1,187 out of 3,916)
· Auction sales = 8% (310 out of 3,916).
49% of the purchases were sold to cash buyers. (The data was derived from a recent article in the Las Vegas Sun, below is the link to the article in its entirety.) http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2010/dec/21/housing-market-continues-slide-las-vegas/
Success Story of the week:
This past week, we were able to help a home buyer close on their home using FHA financing in 11 days, and 4 of the 11 days were weekend days! This is not the norm, but when the stars align it can happen.
Tangent: Talkin 'bout my generation
Technically, I am considered Generation Y according WiseGeek, but could also be considered Generation X. I’ll tell you why, whatever you want to call it, X or Y, has it tougher than any other generation. Granted, I didn’t have to walk 5 miles to school up a hill both ways in the snow, partially due to global warming, partially due to the fact that it would be impossible to walk up the hill both ways...But our generation has it tough in one regard. With today’s technology, it is virtually impossible to keep your kids faith in the big fat guy in the red suit. Last week we drove to “The North Pole” to ride the “Polar Express”, which is conveniently located in Northern Arizona. As if it isn’t difficult enough with the boys having access to the internet, taking the bus to school with older kids that don’t believe, the fact that they are way smarter than I ever was at that age, I have to worry about the directional display on my rear view mirror. On our way to the “North Pole”, my 5 year old wanted to know why we were heading South East…… Punk…..
