Half Empty
Apr 29th, 2008 at 7:20 am by Susie
Or half full? Depends on who you ask, I guess:
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The share of vacant U.S. homes rose to a record level in the first quarter, the government reported on Monday, with homeowners finding it increasingly difficult to find buyers in a collapsed market and more homes in foreclosure.
The percentage of owner-occupied homes now sitting empty rose to 2.9 percent in the January-to-March period, the third quarter in a row in which the vacancy rate increased, according to data released by the U.S. Census Bureau.
In the final quarter of last year, the share of vacant non-rental housing stood at 2.8 percent, a level hit for the first time a year ago. However, officials at Census called the latest increase “statistically insignificant.”
Still, the total number of vacant U.S. properties hit 18.6 million, which was a record, a Census official said.
Due to a job relocation, Mrs DBK and I sold our house in NJ. We closed in March. She and I felt a little like we sold it low because it went for around ten percent less than it had been assessed at during the peak of the market. Mrs DBK was not convinced we should take the low offer, but I talked her into it because I had been reading a lot about the housing market collapsing and didn’t want to be stuck in NJ with one of us out of a job.
I have been getting happier and happier every week that has gone by at my foresight. If we hadn’t sold when we did, we’d still be waiting for a buyer, the relo package would be running out, and we would have been in a pickle.
Yeah, I’ve got a sale pending on my apartment in Brooklyn. It doesn’t look like the market here is going to slow down or stop anytime soon (and because most of the apartments are in co-ops, which don’t qualify for traditional mortgages and generally require that the buyer put down a minimum amount and be approved by the co-op board, we haven’t had a huge problem with “creative” mortgages), but I felt like it was a good time to get out nonetheless.
Now, if my co-op board would just meet already and approve my buyer, I’ll be much happier.