Three Important Things Happened Yesterday

In case you missed it, here are some important things that happened yesterday in real estate ...

• It appears that the U.S. Congress is going to extend the tax credit for home buyers. If a home buyer had a signed contract by the end of April, it looks like Congress is going to give the buyers until September 30th to get the transaction closed. That's good news for about 180,000 buyers, 15,000 of whom are buying properties in Florida.

• U.S. home prices rose 0.8% in April according to the Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller report. The report tracks the sales of the same homes in a 20-city study. The only cities that did not see price increases were Miami and New York City. Nationally, prices remain down some 30% below their peak in July of 2006. It's a shame this info is so dated. We all already know what happened to real estate sales nationwide in May. I'm going to be interested to see the results for June as well.

• Florida consumer confidence fell 3 points in June according to the University of Florida. The reasons? Worry about the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and the impact it may have on business throughout the state coupled with fear of devastating environmental problems. Also contributing to the state's blues is double-digit unemployment that does not appear to be improving despite the so-called economic recovery. People without jobs don't buy property.

Anyway, just thought you might need to know these things.

Happy Selling!

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