Earlier this summer Standard and Poors published an article that included data on Charlotte North Carolina home prices, reporting that home prices slipped 2.8% from last year (May 09 to May 10).
The big picture: foreclosures, home prices, personal finance
Foreclosures tend to drag down home prices, complicating the housing market’s struggle to recover. The housing rebound that economists once expected in the last half of this year will most likely not come so soon.
The nation’s stubbornly high unemployment rate and lenders’ increased willingness to sell more foreclosed properties to the public will most likely increase the number of foreclosures hitting the market.
If you’re waiting for the value of your home to improve so that you can the home equity to borrow your way out of a rocky financial situation, consider this:
- You’ll be competing for buyers who expect to name their (low) price for your property
- You most probably will not get the price you hoped for
- You’ll most likely have to wait over 100 days to get a “ratified” contract
What to do if you feel this economic recession is a personal depression?
We’ve said for some time now that Charlotte was just about the last to feel the recession, and will probably be one of the last to get out of it. Current conditions suggest that the Charlotte real property market may not begin to recover until late 2013, if not later. We discussed this point in a July post quoting RealtyTrac and National Public Radio.
You might be considering a debt consolidation program, and if so here are some caveats.
If real property that you own causes you financial concerns, now is a good time to consult a knowledgeable and experienced bankruptcy attorney. Timing is everything in this aspect of the law; the more time you have to plan and react, the better.