Small Town Living

Lakeside is a great place to lay down roots and raise your family. People move here to experience small town living. After moving to Lakeside most people don’t ever leave. Being a resident of Lakeside is like being a part of a large family.

You know you are in Lakeside when you occasionally have to stop your car to allow horses or geese to cross the road!

Latest Breaking News on Housing Market

First up is some positive breaking news for the housing market. Shadow inventory
of homes is declining, providing a dose of good news for the glum housing
market. Shadow inventory, or homes on the verge of foreclosure, fell to 1.6
million units representing a five-months supply in July compared to 1.9 million
units representing a six-months supply a year ago, according to CoreLogic. It’s
a good sign that troubled homes, normally headed toward foreclosures, are
getting sold faster. Lesser inventory will help stabilize falling prices on
homes for sale. Of course we won’t be seeing a drastic change in numbers, but
even a small percentage of troubled homes off the market is a blessing for
sellers and the industry as a whole.

“The steady improvement in the shadow inventory is a positive development for
the housing market,” CoreLogic Chief Economist Mark Gleming said in a press
release. “However, continued price declines, high levels of negative equity and
a sluggish labor market will keep the shadow supply elevated for an extended
period of time.”

Housing Prices Increase, but not Enough

Some more indication of baby steps toward a market recovery. For the fourth
consecutive month, home prices were on the upswing in July compared to the
previous month. But the bump wasn’t good enough to give the market a clean bill
of health, yet. According to data released by S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price
Indices, home prices across 20 major urban areas in July remained flat when
adjusted seasonally, and down 4.1 percent compared to a year earlier, despite
showing a 0.9 percent gain. The trend of prices rising is a good sign, analysts
said.

“With July’s data we are seeing not only anticipated monthly increases, but
some fairly broad improvement in the annual rates of change in home prices,”
said S&P’s David Blitzer, according to an AFP story. However, he said, “if
you look at the state of the overall economy and, in particular, the recent
large decline in consumer confidence, these combined statistics continue to
indicate that the housing market is still bottoming and has not turned around.”
Prices across the country were at the level of 2003, according to the
report.

Mortgage Rates Continue to Slide

Here’s more music for the ears of potential homebuyers. Nudged by the Federal
Reserve’s proposal to reduce borrowing costs, mortgage rates fell to the lowest
in Freddie Mac’s recorded history this week. Rates on a 30-year-fixed loan hit
an unimaginable 4.01 percent, down from 4.09 percent. On a 15-year loan rates
dropped to 3.27 percent. The lucrative rates are aimed to lure consumers toward
buying and refinancing their existing mortgages. Many are taking the bait.
According to the Mortgage Bankers Association, there was a 9.7 percent rise in
loan applications last week. However, a good section of consumers have not been
able to take advantage of the rates because of stricter lending standards.

Existing Home Sales Drop

Some good news for buyers which turns out to be not-so-good news for sellers.
Sale of existing homes dropped 1.2 percent in August, according to an index by
the National Association of Realtors. The measure shows that sales dipped to
88.6 percent in August from 88.7 percent the prior month. The data, which takes
into consideration signed contracts but unclosed deals, shows that the numbers
are higher when compared to the same period last year, but that’s hardly a
consolation since last year’s showing was affected by the expiration of a
federal tax credit for homebuyers. Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist in a press
release blamed the numbers on an uneven market.

“The biggest monthly decline was in the Northeast, which was significantly
disrupted by Hurricane Irene in the closing weekend of August,” he said. “But
broadly speaking, contract signing activity has been holding in a narrow range
for many months.” If you are looking to buy, now may be a time to get involved
in the market, Paul Dales, senior U.S. economist for Capital Economics, told the
Wall Street Journal. But, a lot of people have been unable to cash in on the
situation, he said. Some analysts blame the job market and slipping consumer
confidence. In these shaky times, many people prefer to rent than invest their
savings on a new home.