Cash Is King in Today's Distressed Marketplace

For many homebuyers, mortgage financing is hard to come by these days. Lenders have tightened up credit requirements in an about-face from the lax lending of pre-crisis days that put people into mortgages they couldn’t afford and fueled record-high delinquencies.

Evidence of constricted mortgage credit was highlighted in the latest HousingPulse report from Campbell Surveys and Inside Mortgage Finance as cash transactions set a new record, accounting for 33.7 percent of home purchases in February.

A separate study conducted by the National Association of Realtors (NAR) shows the same trend. NAR also found that all-cash sales were a record 33 percent in February. By comparison, they were 27 percent in February 2010, according to NAR’s historical data. Read more:

Cash Is King in Today's Distressed Marketplace

10 Tips for Posting on Your Brand's Facebook Page

Once your brand is on Facebook, the question becomes: How you engage those fans and sustain a meaningful online dialogue with your customers. Facebook fans will only want to engage with us if we serve up relevant content and truly participate. We also forget about EdgeRank — Facebook’s News Feed algorithm that helps display “relevant” stories. The News Feed only displays a small subset of stories generated by the friends and brands users engage with the most. The more popular your story, the more likely it is to show up in people’s News Feed. News Feed optimization becomes as important as your content strategy. Read more:

10 Tips for Posting on Your Brand's Facebook Page

What Buyers Want in Homes Today

Buyers have a long list of what they want when home shopping, but one of their biggest desires: A good deal.

'And no matter where a seller prices their property, they're looking to negotiate,' says Patricia Szot, president of the MetroTex Association of REALTORS®.

But that’s not all they want. Bankrate.com recently asked real estate professionals to chime in on the top desires of their buyers when home shopping. Here are four things that made the list of top home buyer preferences:

1. Homes that are in good condition. 'There's not a lot of flexibility in that,' says Ron Phipps, president of the National Association of REALTORS®. Many buyers now take the attitude: 'I'd rather spend the money getting into the house' and not have to spend more money later, Phipps says. One of the major reasons is that 'buyers have limited amounts of cash,' he adds. 'Even if they want to do a fixer-upper, they don't have the money to do it.'

Read More: REALTOR® Magazine-Daily News-What Buyers Want in Homes Today

Research Firm Says U.S. Housing Has Never Been This Undervalued

The continuing depreciation of residential property values at the end of last year has made housing look more undervalued relative to income than ever before, according to analysts at the research firm Capital Economics.

Read More: Research Firm Says U.S. Housing Has Never Been This Undervalued

Existing home sales inch up in January - Feb. 23, 2011

Sales of existing homes recorded modest gains in January, the third straight month of month-over-month increases.

According to the National Association of Realtors, homes sold at an annual rate of 5.36 million in January, up 2.7% from December and 5.3% higher than January 2010 sales. At the same time, the median home price fell 3% to $158,000, compared to a year earlier.

Read More: Existing home sales inch up in January - Feb. 23, 2011

Real Estate Steals in South Florida (video)

'Worst is over' for housing, analyst says, as Aug. sales rise

By Stephanie Armour, USA TODAY

Sales of existing homes rebounded slightly in August after a record drop the month before, an indication that the worst may be over even though the housing recovery still is on shaky ground. Existing home sales climbed 7.6% to an annual rate of 4.13 million units, according to a report Thursday by the National Association of Realtors (NAR). But the pace is still weak, 19% below the 5.10 million-unit pace in August 2009.

Sales had plummeted 27.2% in July to the lowest level in 15 years a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.84 million units. The drop is largely attributed to a decline in home purchases following the expiration of a federal home-buyer tax credit of up to $8,000. Looking ahead, economists say Augusts' increase in existing home sales may be a sign that home sales will slowly pick up over the next year.

"This report is only good in the context of the incredibly bad report last month," say Mark Zandi, with Moody's Analytics. "But last month will be the low point in the cycle. When we look back years from now, it will be the bottom. The worst is over."

Read more.