The sky is fallen hard around the Lehigh Valley real estate market. That's easily seen by looking at the For Sale By Owner signs and looking at the Lehigh valley multiple listing service. Prices are down at least 30% and with foreclosures rising fast als(foreclosures in PA DOUBLED this year), it's only going to get worse.
Here is some news from
www.patrick.net which is one of the best sights dedicated to housing/credit that prints truthful articles from around the globe. You actually get data and news that concerns real estate and credit that doesn't come directly from those involved (local realtors and their paid economists) That's something our local rag the Morning call doesn't do which is give you non bias information. It's the same thing as asking a commision based salesman like car dealers, realtors, anyone who works off commision. They obviously will do ANYTHING to make a sell, especially in this horrible economy which is in dire straights because of the lies and deceptive tactics of realtors and those involved. Their greed and started this disaster which led to the credit crisis as well.
David Lereah the former Chief Economist has recently admited that he spun (LIED)
David Lereah Watch
about the problems in housing which has become the largest ponzai/pyramid scheme is the history of US HOUSING.
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/...aph2.large.gif
The local newspaper the morning call (rag) recently ran another article which all of their supposed facts were taken from the local association of realtors(that's really trustworthy) and tried to claim how our local market was not like the rest of the countries bubble markets (WHAT?). I find that funny because we are exactly the same, the other difference is timing. In the other bubble markets like FL, NV, NJ, CA etc... the prices of real estate doubled and some more than doubled (LEHIGH VALLEY MORE THAN DOUBLED). The only difference was our housing bubble started deflating later than the others but it's only the 2nd inning of an overtime game which after you saw the above linked information about the history of history it's right there in black and white. Our prices doubled from 2001-2006. In 2000 the average home in the lehigh valley was around $100,000 US DOLLARS. In 2006 the average home in the lehigh valley was $235,000 US DOLLARS, that's double in my book and anyone else's. The problem was salaries went the other way. In a normal housing market, 115 years of trackable data which is shown in that same graph above the medium income dicates that housing should never cost more than 2.8 X's the average salary. In the lehigh valley in 2000 the average income was around $36,000 which was normal. At the peak when the average home was 235k that would mean you would have to spend over 6 X's your salary. This is how the credit crisis developed out of housing. Prices were rising so fast people thought they could flip, refinance and everything was ok. They did this because the realtors, media were telling people such outright lies like "Prices always go up", "they aren't making anymore land" etc.... Check out the link from David Lereah watch for all the funny lies. The problem was like with any ponzai/pyramid scheme was eventually it would end.
The facts are facts and they don't lie unlike realtors which like I linked the former chief economist of the national association of realtors David Lereah has finally admitted. There are still people in denial who think prices are going to bottom out this year and then it's off to the races again. LOL! That's what the realtors have been saying since prices started going the other way in 2006. Realtors use formula's and deceptive tactics to come up with figures that look good on paper but aren't really truthful, that's a proven fact! I love the latest which is "It's a great time to buy because prices are down". Let's examine that, since prices rose over 130% and they are only down say 30%(it's more I think but I am being generous) then if you bought now your still overpaying a minimum of 90%. Prices are going to continue to drop and they will be dropping faster and faster because of the economy (which is in this shape because of housing/credit) and foreclosures are going to keep doubling because of layoffs and the fact people are so far in the negative equitity range it's insanse.
The time to buy is when the average home in the lehigh valley is back to around $90k-105k and until then it's a sucker's market! Look at what the home builders are saying about this upcoming year. Remember it's already down around 30% but look at what's coming and remember every prediction for the last 2 years has come out to be much worse than predicted.
ReviewJournal.com - Breaking News - Economists say housing market to remain unstable
I started letting people know this was coming in 2004 during the height of the insanity. People thought I was crazy but it's the same mentality the country had during the previous bubble market can you say DOT.COM? That dot.com crash is nothing compared to the mess were currently in and remember it's only the 2nd inning.
For all the REAL NEWS not sugar coated lies check out these web pages. They tell you the straight up truth and use sources that are completely independant and have nothing to gain from telling it like it is.
www.patrick.net
New Jersey Real Estate Report
The Housing Bubble Blog
Check these our for the truth or you can keep reading the lies printed in the morning call which like a dna test 99.99% always come from the local realtors or the local realtors paid economist.