Residential brokerage RE/MAX is expanding to about 40 new counties in upstate New York by partnering with established agents, Real Estate Weekly reported. In counties such as Rome, N.Y., the firm has small offices that control more than half of the real estate market, according to Henry Weber, president and regional director of RE/MAX of New York, and is looking for similar arrangements elsewhere in the state.

“We only recruit people who have been in the business for a while,” Weber said, noting the agents are attracted to RE/MAX’s name recognition and national marketing campaigns. [more]

Are homebuyers walking away in droves from the contracts they’ve signed? Or are they essentially
fouling out of the game, unable to close deals because of financing and credit issues?

Whatever the answer, this much appears to be certain: Exceptionally large numbers of signed real estate
contracts fell apart last month, failing to reach settlement. According to the National Association of
Realtors, one of every six real estate agents polled in June reported having signed contracts canceled
before closing — up from just one in 25 the month before. The typical monthly cancellations rate over
the course of the past 16 months has ranged in a narrow band between 8 percent and 10 percent.

What’s going on here? Lawrence Yun, the chief economist of NAR, said the sudden spike is surprising
and worrisome, and that there are no hard statistics available on the causes. Comments

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National home prices have now risen for four months in a row, and sales
transactions have jumped for five of the last seven months, according to
the June National Housing Report from RE/MAX. While sales prices are
down, the decrease is smaller than it has been in the last three months.
The report, which includes data from 53 metro areas in 45 states, shows
that closed transactions were up 7.5 percent and median prices jumped
4.3 percent from May. “It’s very encouraging that both home prices and
sales transactions have now risen for several months in a row,” said
RE/MAX CEO Margaret Kelly. “It appears that this market is following
traditional seasonal trends as it works its way though a recovery and
back to more normal conditions.”
— Alexander
Britell [more]

RE/MAX CEO Margaret Kelly

The national housing market showed several strong signs last month, with
home sales increasing by double digits in 53 of 54 markets surveyed in
RE/MAX’s National Housing Report. “It’s encouraging to see that home
sales are rising at a faster pace than we would normally see this time
of year, and they’re doing so without any artificial stimulus,” said
RE/MAX CEO Margaret Kelly. “If sales continue at this pace into the
traditional spring and summer buying season, we would expect to see
prices follow as well.” New York was the only metro area in the country
not to see double-digit growth, though it still increased 8 percent over
February. Compared to March 2010, overall sales activity remained 8.2
percent lower, however, nationally. TRD

Defying the seasonal trend, sales rose by 13.2 percent in December, compared to November, in a survey of 54 metropolitan areas, according to the RE/MAX National Housing report released today. Home sales dropped 5 percent from December 2009, but that was the lowest year-over-year drop the survey has seen in five months. While some industry analysts predict a serious decline in home prices this year, the report showed that home prices dropped by only 2.2 percent from December 2009. The inventory of homes for sale continued a downward trend, falling 8.8 percent from November and 2.9 percent from December 2009. TRD [more]

The $2.65 million sale of the Salem Lutheran Church, at 450 67th Street between Fourth and Fifth avenues in Bay Ridge, is considered a victory by Bay Ridge preservationists, who are relieved that the building is being saved from demolition. “The first and best option was to keep the church solvent,” said Victoria Hofmo, the founder of the Bay Ridge Conservancy. “The second is for another church to come in.” The new occupant will be St. Matthew’s Church, according to agent Victor Weinberger, of RE/MAX, who brokered the deal. [more]

RE/MAX saw September U.S. home sales drop 6.4 percent below August levels and 20.6 percent below the levels seen last year, according to the brokerage’s latest monthly report (see the full document below). Prices also dipped month-over-month, by 2.7 percent, but were up 0.9 percent from one year ago nationwide, the report says. And in another indication of a stagnant housing market, homes stayed on the market for an average of 88 days, four days longer than in August and one day longer than last year at this time. Among the promising signs, though, was a 2.8 percent month-over-month nationwide decline in inventory and anecdotal evidence that contract signings are up. RE/MAX attributed the dip in sales volume to “the usual trend of slower sales at the end of the summer” and to the comparative surge in buyers during the spring, who were trying to take advantage of the ho [more]

A Midtown-based real estate investment firm is in negotiations to take control of the troubled RKO Keith’s Flushing Theater from Boymelgreen Developers by the end of the year. Venator Capital has agreed to purchase a $20 million note secured by the Flushing, Queens, property located at 135-27 Northern Boulevard from Doral Bank, said Sam Suzuki, a principal with Venator, ultimately giving the company full control of the theater. Investors affiliated with Venator are active in the Bronx as well, where they are in contract to buy 16 mostly rent-regulated apartment buildings owned by Ocelot Properties, after buying six earlier this year. The RKO Keith note purchase would be followed by a so-called friendly foreclosure in which Boymelgreen would sign over the deed to the new owner without a protracted court proceeding, Suzuki said. [more]

From the South Florida Web site: In an age of free agency, South Florida real estate brokers are changing allegiances as firms look for agents who get results. Recent
moves add to a list that figures to get longer: Eric Pruitt and Isabel
Stephenson recently left RE/MAX to join forces with Keller Williams.
Esslinger Wooten Maxwell Realtors hired Jo-Ann Forester and her
eight-member team away from Coldwell Banker. Real estate
executives and head hunters never stop recruiting top producers, but
more agents are considering making the move in a down market, according
to Matt Johnston, CEO of Workway, a real estate staffing firm with
offices in Tampa, Orlando and Fort Lauderdale. [more]