After a three-day weekend in observance of the Fourth of July, it’s time to get back to work.

To that end, the latest average/median list prices and inventories report from the Arkansas Realtors® Association is ready for your downloading pleasure. Click here for the Excel version of the report, here for the PDF and here for a copy of the above graphic.

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Last week we posted an article announcing that Congress had extended the home buyer tax credit deadline to close from June 30 to Sept. 30.

The question, of course, was whether President Barack Obama would sign the measure into law. The IRS has confirmed that Obama did, indeed,  sign the Homebuyer Assistance and Improvement Act of 2010 into law on Friday. For more details, just click the aforementioned link — you’ll find plenty of advice that will help purchasers wanting to claim their credit expedite their refunds.

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Thanks in large part to a rush to claim the first time and repeat home buyer tax credits, Arkansas Realtors® reported strong sales in May.

The Arkansas Realtors® Association’s monthly report counts how many homes were closed in a given month rather than how many were put under contract. Under the terms of the tax credit for first-time and repeat home buyers, people were required to get a home under contract before May 1 and close on it before July 1.

The May housing market report, then, reflects a good number of closings generated by people wanting to claim a tax credit. The same will be true of the June report. The reports for July, August and September will also reflect a few of those closings, provided a closing date deadline extension approved by Congress this week is signed into law by President Barack Obama.

To download a copy of the latest report, click here for the Excel file, here for the PDF and here for a copy of the above graphic.

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People who were unable to close on homes in time to take advantage of tax credits for new and repeat buyers may be able to relax a bit.

The Associated Press (AP) reports that the Senate passed a measure already approved by the House to extend the closing deadline from June 30 to Sept. 30. The legislation has been sent to President Barack Obama — unless he decides to veto the measure, the new law will come as a relief to the 180,000 home buyers (National Association of Realtors® (NAR) estimate) struggling with meeting the closing deadline.

The NAR has also estimated that 2,090 of those people in danger missing the deadline and losing the credit are Arkansans.

Bear in mind that the extension, if passed, will not impact any buyers who purchased homes after April 30. Under the original terms of the credit, eligible first time and repeat buyers were required to enter into a sales contract prior to May 1 and then close on their homes before July 1.

Due to a large number of mortgage applications, short sales offers, etc. that were generated by people wanting the tax credit, banks were struggling with meeting the July 1 deadline. The legislation, if approved, would extend that deadline to Sept. 30.

Should Obama approve (or veto) this measure, this article will be amended.

It’s time for another average/median list prices and inventories report from the Arkansas Realtors® Association — average list prices are down (again) and inventories are up (again).

To download a copy of the latest report, click here for the Excel file and here for the PDF. A copy of the above graphic is here.

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For the third week in a row we’ve seen inventories increase in four major housing Arkansas markets.

That’s not a surprise, really — since the tax credits for first-time and repeat home buyers expired at the end of April, Realtors® throughout the Natural State have reported a decline in traffic. Those reports are right in line with what the National Association of Realtors® told us to expect.

To download the latest Average/median list prices and inventories report from the Arkansas Realtors Association (ARA), click here for the Excel version, here for the PDF and here for a copy of the above graphic.

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Since most of us at the Arkansas Realtors® Association will be out of town for meetings early next week, we’re releasing the weekly average/median list prices and inventories report a few days early.

Click here for a copy of the report in Microsoft Excel format, here for the PDF file and here for a copy of the above graphic.

It seems the trend of rising inventories and falling list prices has held up over the past week. No surprise there.

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From this week’s average/median list prices and inventories report it seems fairly clear that markets remain a bit unsettled.

Click here for the latest copy of the report in Excel and here for a PDF copy. Click here for a copy of the above graphic.

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With the real estate market improving, three-quarters of Realtors® are very certain they will remain active in the market for two more years, according to the 2010 National Association of Realtors® Member Profile. Only 8 percent were uncertain about their future.

The study’s results are representative of the nation’s 1.1 million Realtors®, who account for 60 percent of the 1.85 million active real estate licensees in the U.S. The typical NAR member has 10 years of experience, and many have increased their training, Web presence and use of social media over the past year. More than half use social networking sites, up from 35 percent in 2009.

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For the second month in a row, the Arkansas Realtors® Association has released a strong housing market report.

Yes, April’s report is a very good one — sales were up 25.09 percent over the comparable month last year and average sales prices were up slightly, too. To download the latest report, click here for the Excel file and here for the PDF. You’ll find a PDF copy of the above graphic here.

Jonathan Duran at the Arkansas Geographic Information Office has done his typical great job of putting together a slew of maps for us. Here’s what’s available:

* Average sales prices through April 2010
* Average sales prices through April 2009
* Percent change map comparing sales prices through April 2010 and 2009
* Units sold through April 2010
* Units sold through April 2009
* Percent change map comparing sales through April 2010 and 2009
* Values of homes sold through April 2010
* Values of homes sold through April 2009
* Percent change map comparing valuation through April 2010 and 2009

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The latest issue of the Metro Messenger — an electronic publication put together by the Metro Area Board of Realtors® in northwest Arkansas — is out and just waiting for you to download it and read it.

Get your very own copy by clicking here. You’ll find all sorts of good stuff in there — some words of encouragement in the wake of the end of the tax credits for first-time and repeat home buyers, information about the pending June board meeting, etc.

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Economists have warned us about “choppy” markets in the months of come.

If they’re right, that could explain the latest average/median list prices and inventories report from the Arkansas Realtors® Association (ARA). To download a copy of the latest report in Excel, click here. Go here for the PDF version of the report and here for a copy of the above graphic.

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At the time of this writing, many candidates seeking office are gearing up for run-off elections.

The Arkansas Realtors® Political Action Committee (ARPAC), in many instances, is awaiting the results of those run-offs prior to deciding which candidates it will support this year. However, there are two candidates – both Democrats – that will clearly be on the ballot in November and have already received support from ARPAC – Attorney General Dustin McDaniel and State Senator Shane Broadway.

To that end, we at The Arkansas Realtors® Association figured it would be a good idea to make sure our members are familiar with those two candidates. Please treat the following, then, as an introduction to them.

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There’s an app for that!

I am beginning to think I use those four words more then any other four words in my life.  We are in the middle of an explosion of applications for Smartphones and no one person has the time to review them all.  Take a few minutes and visit the iPhone or Droid apps store and you will be amazed at what’s out there to help with your business and life.

Oh you need to go back tomorrow and look again –  iPhone is adding 559 apps a day not sure about the Droid and other platforms but I think it’s safe to say about a thousand per day.

Life has changed from “how do I repeat an event on my Treo?” to “I want to build a nuclear reactor — is there an app for that?”  Folks the bar has been raised and we all have been a part of the change in the way we do business.  I meet people when I am out speaking that I just stare in amazement at how much they are getting from their Smartphones.

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This article appears courtesy of the Virginia Association of Realtors®.

Later this year, NAR will be rolling out the Realtors® Property Resource (RPR) — potentially one of the most important and useful real estate resources to come along this decade.

It might very well change your business.

The RPR is a huge and growing set of public and private databases, combined in a clean, friendly interface. With a few mouse clicks (literally), it can tell Realtors® all that is knowable about any property in the United States.

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