Real Estate News: Today’s Highlights
California is getting closer to having one state-wide MLS system, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. Expected to be available in 2009, 66 local REALTOR® associations and three regional MLS groups — representing 60 percent of the market in California — have signed nonbinding letters of intent to participate in CALMLS so far. Read more from Realtor.org. In my own MLS area, we’ve faced challenges simply to get the various associations to embrace on preferred lock box … this will be very interesting to see how one MLS works itself out.
Donald Trump is lending a helping hand to Ed McMahon who has been facing foreclosure of his personal home following health issues. He is buying the home so he can lease back to McMahon. Says Trump, “When I was at the Wharton School of Business I’d watch him every night,” the mega-developer said. “How could this happen?”
Austin, Texas is set to recover from the real estate slump faster than the rest of the U.S., according to the Austin Business Journal.
In the coming year Austin will outperform the rest of the country in job growth and in the health of its housing market, according to Mark Dotzour, chief economist at Texas A&M University’s Real Estate Center.
Finally, ghost towns are popping up all over the country due to halts in new construction developments. According to MSNBC,
The Colonial-style brick home had four bedrooms, three-and-a-half bathrooms, and designer touches and offered everything they expected in a town known for great public schools and homes fit for Ford execs.
Everything, that is, except neighbors.
When the MacDonalds arrived, there were fewer than 15 homes in Kirkway Estates, where 179 were planned. Their home was the only one built thus far on a cul-de-sac with six lots.
I’ve seen many developments that look like this. There’s a monster-sized subdivision near where I live and I’ve seen that construction has come to a skidding stop. I have to wonder what all those workers are now doing to earn a living.
