We're going through the old posts while converting over to the new blog host, and have seen some memorable quotes along the trail:
1. "With sales stabilizing, we should go back to positive price growth early next year" David Lereah 9/25/06
2. "This to me is a market correction. It's just a leveling out of the market. It's not a downturn that is going to be going on for an extended period of time. We're looking at a flat market continuing for certainly the balance of 2006 and at least the first quarter of 2007, with a continued slight decrease in unit sales and a very slight decrease in average sales price."
"The last down-cycle in the market in Northern California about 10 years ago was much more severe because it really was an economic downturn. This is not as severe in comparison." Sherry Chris, COO, Prudential California Realty 10/30/06
3. "It appears the worst of the price correction is behind us," said Pat V. Combs, NAR's president and vice president of Coldwell Banker-AJS-Schmidt in Grand Rapids, Mich. 5/15/07
4. "Now is a great time for consumers to be in the housing market: Prices have steadied, and inventories are healthy." Lawrence Yun 7/3/07
5. “The big issue here is that with the slowdown, you would have expected prices to come down much more than they have, and it's very likely now that most of the decline off the peak for San Diego has already occurred,” he said.
“As perceptions change and buyers understand that what they're buying will keep its value or go up, you should see between now and the end of the year the number of sales tick up off this floor level,” Karevoll said. “The big IF there is what happens in the broader economy. The big one there is mortgage interest rates.” John Karevoll 7/17/07
6. "In the boom, we heard a lot of complaints from people who couldn't find properties they wanted to buy them", Molony says. "Now that inventory levels have improved, there are more opportunities for buyers who may have been frustrated in the past". Walter Molony, a spokesman for the National Association of Realtors 7/31/07
7. The regulator for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac on Wednesday agreed to relax the restrictions on the mortgage finance companies' investment holdings though he did not eliminate existing caps.
The moves are meant to help Fannie and Freddie "provide greater assistance to subprime borrowers and others who may have trouble refinancing their existing mortgages," OFHEO director James Lockhart said in a statement, but he will not allow "any major increases in the (investment) portfolio levels."
Among other steps, OFHEO will allow Fannie and Freddie more flexiblity to manage their investments valued at a combined $1.4 trillion and will also bring Fannie's investment caps in line with the looser rules imposed on Freddie. 9/19/07
8. In short, all the old assumptions are no longer operative. Rob Dawg, 1/3/08