Market stability isn’t coming anytime soon! This was another volital week that seems to go up one day and sell off the next. Today’s May Retail Sales figure down 1.2% was the biggest decline in the past 8 months. The key questions going forward are, does this have anything to do with the unemployment rate currently at 9.7% and is the consumer all done spending or will they be back? Retail Sales measures the pulse of the consumer and is a key indicator of how the economy may be doing. On the flip side, it seems that the confidence level of the consumer is doing okay. Consumer Sentiment in June (prelim) was up to 75.5% VS May’s figure of 73.6%.

Mortgage applications decreased 5.7% this past week and is down 30.4% since Memorial Day week last year. This is a huge figure and no doubt directly correlated with the ending of the Home Buyer Tax Credit Program. Many people are concerned about weakness coming back to the housing sector. It is still my opinion that there hasn’t been a better time to buy in the past 20+ years. Mortgage rates have been stable and this is great for the housing market. 30 Year Fixed Rate National average was down alittle to 4.81% and the 15 Year Fixed Rate average rose slightly to 4.26%. Home prices gained .9% in April month over month but, down 2.8% year over year.

Yesterday the market saw it’s 3rd best day in 2010 and was up 273 points. It is my opinion which is also shared with alot of other Wall Streeter’s that you should be buying on the dips and selling into the rallies. This is how I would be trading in a market like this. The days of long term investing is gone for right now and the key is to preserve as much of your capital as possible.

Many things still trouble the markets and a resolution to these things don’t seem likely anytime soon. BP’s Oil Disaster is a huge burden, as well as the potential credit crisis spreading in Europe. However, today’s auction of the Spain and Italy Bonds (which went well) seem to indicate the debt issue may not be as bad as people had expected. The Euro stabilizing is another positive sign. I feel gold hitting an all time high on Tuesday $1,245 an ounce is an extremely negative factor hanging over the market and an indication that the market / people feel the debt crisis may not be over. I still believe that if you want our economy to grow we have to stop the massive government spending and cut taxes across the board to promote growth. Since this isn’t the way the current administration is heading (actually directly the opposite) we may be in for some turbulent times ahead.

As goes the economy so does the market? It has seemed like a popular trend the month of May which has seen the DOW down 7.9%! The markets volatility has become an everyday occurrence. Ending the week pretty much flat but, giving you an ulcer if you happen to follow the markets. This was the worst May the Stock Market has seen since 1962! The $64,000 question on the street is whether or not we go into a double dip recession and or if European Credit Crisis spreads into other countries. To top it off with recent issues with North Korea, we can see what is troubling the markets.

The good side of all this is that oil has back off recent highs falling to around $73.50 a barrel. Rates have remained low, which is great for the housing market. The 30 year fixed rate national average is at 4.80% and the 15 year fixed rate average is 4.25%. The troubling news is that the purchase application index fell again this week 3.3% and after last weeks fall of 27.1% Existing Home Sales jumped to 5 month highs in April up 7.6%. Inventories were up 8.4% month supply and sales were up 21.1% in the Northeast year over year. 1st time home buyers accounted for 1/2 of the people buying. These are all lagging indicators and old data. It is pretty clear that the end of the Home Buyer Tax Credit Program had a tremendous effect on the housing market. I feel as though that is a bad thing because the problem going forward is, what is going to stimulate people now? The question now will be what happens in May and June?

Consumer Confidence Index was at 63.3% in May vs. April’s reading of 57.7% The next month will give us a great gauge on what the future has in store for us. The keys going forward will be the Unemployment Rate and the pulse of the consumer. Consumer Spending was unchanged for the month of April and the first time jobless claims fell 460,000 down 14,000. Consumer Sentiment for May was 73.6 which was better than expected. This measures the consumers mood.

My issue is that the way out of a financial problem is for the Government to cut taxes on business which gives the private sector an incentive to expand and create more jobs. It is clear that the unemployment rate which is currently at 9.8% will not be decreasing anytime soon. The Government can not expect prosperity by creating temporary employment like they have with the census workers. The way to economic prosperity is to encourage productivity and innovations. That leads to better products and services which then creates jobs.

I’m in North Andover, MA today checking out 3 brand new listings that just came onto on the market.

The 1st property is a Majestic 7,874 Sq. Ft. Colonial 12 Room, 5 Bedroom, 4 1/2 Bath located in North Andover next to Lake Cochichewick and North Andover Country Club. Awesome Lagoon Style Pool with what I would call Club House with Wet Bar entertaining area, asking price $2,350,000

The 2nd is a 2,438 Sq Ft. Colonial 8 Rooms, 4 Bedrooms, 2 1/2 Baths located in North Andover. This property could be a jem in the rough needs some updates. This property is being offered at $539,900.

The 3rd is a 1,172 Sq Ft. Bungalow 5 Rooms, 2 Bedrooms, 1 Full Baths located in North Andover. This house is very affordable, on a quiet side street and is being offered at $259,900.

About Me: The above Real Estate information was provided by Greg Afarian, Andover Realtor.  l can be reached via email or send me a message on Twitter

Have a home to sell on the NorthShore in Mass?  We help you with our social media skills for a quick transaction to help save you time and money.

We service the following towns in Boston and the Greater Boston Area. Andover, North Andover, Lawrence, Methuen, Haverhill, Boxford, Bradford, Dracut, Reading, North Reading, and beyond.

Virtual Media Realty is located at 18 Waverly Rd. North Andover, MA.

We are conveniently located close to RT 495, 125, 114 and centrally located 30 minutes north of Boston.

We were founded with the mission to bring cutting edge technology of social media to the Merrimack Valley Area and Greater Boston.  Since 90% of Home Buyers and Sellers intial search starts online, Virtual Media Realty has a huge competitive advantage by bringing tools like Video, Twitter, Facebook, Blogs, Photo’s, and Real Time Video to the consumers to help them make better decisions and bring transparency to the home buying / selling process.

When asked about how Virtual Media Realty is different than other Real Estate Companies, Greg Afarian, Virtual Media Realty Realtor specializing in the Andover, North Andover area’s along with the Greater Boston Real Estate Market, remarked, “We can do things no other Real Estate Agency can do anywhere.  We offer real time viewing of properties for clients that need to see properties, but either can not make it to the viewing locally, or are from out of state or out of country.  We can do all this in real time as we are walking thorough the property and potential buyers and clients can view the property in real time and ask our agents questions while we are on site.  There is No other agency in the country that can do that, and that is just one of many cutting edge technologies that we offer at no additional cost to our clients.”  Greg continues to say, “Our main goal is to offer a real estate experience like no other.  People are a lot more educated in the home buying process nowadays and we just want to make sure they have all the tools and answers to make the right decision.  With the advent of Social Networking, online reputation management, and Real Time Video Streaming, we offer our selling clients an extremely unique means of selling property that is extremely effective and utilized in such a way that minimizes the time a property will stay on market before being SOLD.”

Greg continues, “It’s all about the number of eyeballs we can get to view the property…it is truly a numbers game in this market.  The more people that see the property, the more likely the property will sell that much faster and we can certainly get alot of eyeballs on our clients properties”

Virtual Media Realty is always looking for agents to join the team that want to embrace new technologies and stay ahead of the curve in technology that is clearly here to stay.

Hours of Operation:

Monday thru Friday             10 am to 5 pm

or by appointment after normal business hours

Saturday and Sunday           By Appointment Only

Directions

From the South / Boston Area

Take the ramp onto I-93 N to exit 44A
to merge onto I-495 N toward Lawrence, to exit 43 for Mass. Ave toward N Andover
Merge onto Massachusetts Ave Turn left at Waverly Rd

From the North / Haverhill Area Take RT 495 South

Head south on MA-125 S/Main St toward Park Way
Continue to follow MA-125 S right at Sutton St
Turn left at Main St then right at Waverly Rd

With the impending startup of Virtual Media Realty, we would like to take a poll of what your dislikes are of your current Real Estate Agent so as to never repeat the past.  We are heavy on Customer Service so please feel free to add other responses.

We appreciate your input…and thanks again from Virtual Media Realty…your Unique choice for Boston Real Estate