A sorry-looking shack, with deep cracks in the cinder-block walls and busted windows, that looks like it’s ready to collapse: You wouldn’t pay a dime for that, would you? OK, say it’s nestled in the gorgeous hilltops of the San Francisco Peninsula with no shortage of pristine mountain views. Now how much would you pay? More than $1 million? Well, that’s how much it’s going for.

Even rundown, shabby homes in the San Francisco Bay Area are fetching prices that top-notch single-family homes do. The reason is simple: those gorgeous mountain views. It seems that a great view can get homebuyers to pay top dollar — even if the home itself is nothing to look at. The aforementioned shack? It’s going for $1.275 million. Another home in San Jose, Calif., has a bathroom that hasn’t had any work done to it since the 1930s, a kitchen that’s falling apart and a shabby exterior. The listing agent even admits that he’s “looking for someone to come in, remodel, probably flip this house.” Well, hope the flip nets a big profit because to buy this house as it is, you’ll need $585,000. See the video above to learn why such decrepit homes are going for such high prices.

Find homes for sale in San Francisco, or search listings in your area.

See also: Home Inspection Red Flags for Buyers
Home Inspections: What to Expect

More on AOL Real Estate:
Find out how to calculate mortgage payments.
Find homes for rent in your area.
Find foreclosures in your area.
See celebrity real estate.

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Article source: http://realestate.aol.com/blog/2013/02/21/decrepit-homes-mountain-views-san-francisco-bay-area/

A sorry-looking shack, with deep cracks in the cinder-block walls and busted windows, that looks like it’s ready to collapse: You wouldn’t pay a dime for that, would you? OK, say it’s nestled in the gorgeous hilltops of the San Francisco Peninsula with no shortage of pristine mountain views. Now how much would you pay? More than $1 million? Well, that’s how much it’s going for.

Even rundown, shabby homes in the San Francisco Bay Area are fetching prices that top-notch single-family homes do. The reason is simple: those gorgeous mountain views. It seems that a great view can get homebuyers to pay top dollar — even if the home itself is nothing to look at. The aforementioned shack? It’s going for $1.275 million. Another home in San Jose, Calif., has a bathroom that hasn’t had any work done to it since the 1930s, a kitchen that’s falling apart and a shabby exterior. The listing agent even admits that he’s “looking for someone to come in, remodel, probably flip this house.” Well, hope the flip nets a big profit because to buy this house as it is, you’ll need $585,000. See the video above to learn why such decrepit homes are going for such high prices.

Find homes for sale in San Francisco, or search listings in your area.

See also: Home Inspection Red Flags for Buyers
Home Inspections: What to Expect

More on AOL Real Estate:
Find out how to calculate mortgage payments.
Find homes for rent in your area.
Find foreclosures in your area.
See celebrity real estate.

Follow us on Twitter at @AOLRealEstate or connect with AOL Real Estate on Facebook.

Article source: http://realestate.aol.com/blog/2013/02/21/decrepit-homes-mountain-views-san-francisco-bay-area/

(Read More: Is the Refi ‘Apocalypse’ Really Upon Us?)

Analysts at Clear Capital, which runs a four-month moving average price index, note that January’s numbers show, “momentum stalls.” While they blame this on seasonal slowdowns, they point to Florida as a concern.

“Florida metros, namely Miami, Orlando, Tampa, and Jacksonville, were all missing from the top 15 performing market list. Since September 2011, at least one of these markets made the list,” cautions Dr. Alex Villacorta, Director of Research and Analytics at Clear Capital. “While this isn’t confirmation that the recovery is finished in the sunshine state, it’s certainly something to keep an eye on. These markets led the recovery in late 2011, and share some of the hallmarks for recovering markets overall.”

Florida’s housing market has been driven by distressed homes, and investors buying them at a rapid pace.

Other markets that saw the most distress during the housing crash, like Phoenix, Las Vegas, and much of California, have also seen so much investor demand, that prices are up by double digits from a year ago.

(Read More: New Housing Fears: Home Prices Rising Too Fast?)

Article source: http://www.cnbc.com/id/100435276

(Read More: Could Rentals Be the New Red Flags in Real Estate?)

Housing inventory usually drops in the winter months, only to rebound in the spring, but this winter has seen a larger than normal decline. Realtors are looking for more homes to come on the market in the spring, but there are still 10.7 million borrowers who owe more on their mortgages than their homes are worth, and an additional 2.3 million who have less than five percent equity in their homes, according to CoreLogic. Those homeowners cannot sell without having to pay into their mortgages, so they are largely stuck in place. First-time home buyers are purchasing at an unusually low rate due to tighter credit standards, and many potential sellers simply don’t want to list until prices rise more substantially.

(Read More: Soaring Housing Stocks in Perspective)

“We expect a seasonal rise of inventory in the spring to help, but a seller’s market may be developing,” notes Yun. “Much of the West is already a seller’s market for homes priced under a million dollars, but conditions are much more balanced in the Northeast.”

(Read More: Home Builders Turn to Rental Apartments)

Article source: http://www.cnbc.com/id/100412357

(Read More: Could Rentals Be the New Red Flags in Real Estate?)

Healthy housing market gains are historically driven by increasing employment and income, not by lack of supply; the latter leads to price bubbles. First-time home buyers, who generally account for 40 percent of the home-buying market or higher are still under-represented at just 30 percent, according to the Realtors. This is due to tighter credit conditions in the mortgage market and now decreasing affordability.

December’s disappointing drop in home sales, month-to-month is a clear warning for the housing recovery going forward. Rising home prices are not the sole measure of a healthy market. Supply and demand need to fall closer in line, and a robust economic recovery should be driving both home sales and prices.

(Read More: One Overlooked Fact About the Housing Recovery)

Article source: http://www.cnbc.com/id/100397644

Developers are rushing to increase supply of multi-family apartments, as there are now more This even as single-family rentals continue to gain market share. Continued uncertainty in the housing market, tighter mortgage underwriting and weaker consumer wealth has pushed ever more Americans to rent; the foreclosure crisis forced others.

The boom in multi-family is already raising red flags.

“We are incrementally more cautious on the multi-family sub-sector, as we see a rising supply environment in 2014,” note analysts at Cantor Fitzgerald. “Although at this point, data indicate demand remains strong and absorption in check.

(Read More: One Overlooked Fact About the Housing Recovery)

Apartment demand increased “noticeably” in the fourth quarter of 2012, according to Reis Inc. This despite record-low mortgage rates and renewed faith in the housing market. Rents continued to rise, although at a slower pace than the previous quarter. They still managed to hit another all-time high, “propelled by strong demand, limited new supply growth, and a still weak for-sale housing market.”

The single-family housing market is rebounding off its historic lows, but the very limited supply of homes for sale gives cause for concern.

Low inventories are pushing prices higher, faster than expected. All-cash investors are pushing those gains, and in turn pushing out first-time home buyers. While non-investors are slowly moving back into the market, they are not arriving in the necessary numbers, and they are also not finding much to choose from.

(Read More: Home Builder Confidence Stalls)

Article source: http://www.cnbc.com/id/100388194

The National Association of Home Builders confidence survey now stands at 40, although 50 is still the line between positive and negative. This is a vast improvement from where it was just one year ago: 14.

“Builders across the country are expressing a more positive,” notes NAHB Chief Economist David Crowe in a release. “However, against the improving demand for new homes, concerns are now rising about the lack of building lots in certain markets and the rising cost of building materials. Given the fragile nature of the housing and economic recovery, these are significant red flags.”

Builders also cite tight credit conditions for builders and buyers as another barrier to a stronger recovery. Still, the builders say they see improvements in current sales conditions, buyer traffic, and future sales expectations, with the last one rising above 50 into the positive territory. (Watch: US Housing Most Affordable in Years – Pro)

This sentiment appears to be widespread.

Confidence rose in every region of the country with the highest monthly gains in the West and Midwest where there are the largest volumes of new construction.

This confidence mirrors investor confidence in the stocks of the public builders, which are now at their highest levels since 2007. (Watch: Home Builders Are on Fire)

Even before this index was released, Goldman Sachs Group
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• Surging Homebuilders Have Further Upside: Analyst
• Builder Stocks With Big Potential: Pro
• Flood of Foreclosures 
• Cities With the Most Affordable Homes              

Questions?  Comments?  And follow me on Twitter @Diana_Olick