| It was expected: home sales would drop following the | | | | considering extending the homebuyer tax credit |
| April end of the Homebuyer Tax Credit program. | | | | through September, the government is indicating that |
| What wasn't expected, and what has the industry | | | | growth is steady, which means employers will soon be |
| reeling, is the depth of the drop-off. Pending home | | | | hiring once again, and the Wall Street Reform bill that is |
| sales –meaning home sales that are under contract | | | | expected to pass and be signed into law can open up |
| but are not yet closed- fell off 30% in May from its | | | | lending within many of the nation's leading financial |
| April mark. This drop, to put it in perspective, is the | | | | institutions. |
| largest single month drop ever recorded, and to make | | | | As realtors or mortgage brokers or lenders, May's |
| it even more significant, was a 15.9% decrease for the | | | | numbers are certainly eye-opening, even depressing, |
| same month a year earlier. | | | | but it's up to each of us to look beyond the number, |
| Some would call this drop a falling off a cliff. A free-fall | | | | beyond the factors that led to that drop-off, and see |
| of painful proportions. And though it wasn't fully | | | | the signs of recovery that surround us everyday. |
| unexpected, it still stings. | | | | Is the worst truly behind us? |
| What it means | | | | It is certainly a challenge to remain positive and |
| Does this level of drop-off mean anything to long-term | | | | optimistic as the weeks roll into months and the |
| health or growth of the housing industry? The debate | | | | months stretch out into years, but it is incumbent upon |
| can now be opened up. Many factors came to pass in | | | | us to continue to think positively, to shrug off the bad, |
| April, including the Federal government no longer buying | | | | staggering news, and look for the silver linings, |
| up troubled assets, the homebuyer credit coming to an | | | | wherever they may be hiding. The alternative is to |
| end, and interest rates beginning their rise up from | | | | continue to be morose and downtrodden about the |
| historically low levels. | | | | economic climate around us, and when that happens, it |
| Another factor that is contributing to the drop-off is the | | | | becomes exceedingly challenging to get other people, |
| slow economic recovery in this country. Millions of | | | | most importantly potential homebuyers, to feel positive |
| people remain out of work and millions more have | | | | about the future. |
| been laid off in recent months. It was the perfect | | | | No one truly knows what lies around the next corner |
| compilation of factors that would –each, individually- | | | | of this recession. Depending on whom you ask, you will |
| have led to a decrease in the number of pending | | | | receive a different answer. And it always seems to |
| home sales in May, regardless of other factors. Yet | | | | be politically motivated. Don't look to Washington for |
| taken together as a whole, all aggregate factors | | | | the answers; look to your own community. Emphasize |
| combined to offer the struggling real estate market the | | | | the positives that have happened over the past year, |
| worst single month drop in its history. All this according | | | | or the past month, or the past week. |
| to the National Association of Realtors (NAR). | | | | The only way to turn tragically bad news, such as the |
| How to handle the news | | | | May pending home sales report, into positive indications |
| It may seem bleak for many of the nation's realtors, | | | | is on a local, community-based level and within every |
| one thing that can be taken away from this abysmal | | | | community, there are beacons of light shining |
| report is that perhaps the worst is now behind us. | | | | everywhere; you just need to look harder. |
| News has surfaced that President Obama is | | | | |