Home prices fall further in most major cities.

[Nick Gromicko]

Home prices in October declined in 19 American cities, as the Standard & Poor's/Case Shiller home price index showed drops in both the 10-city and 20-city composites. According to the latest S&P report, home prices declined 1.1% and 1.2% for the 10- and 20-city composite indexes.

Atlanta, Detroit, Las Vegas, Los Angeles and Minneapolis saw their annual rates worsen. Atlanta experienced the lowest annual pricing return, with prices down 11.7%. Atlanta and the Midwest are regions that really stand out in terms of recent relative weakness. Atlanta was down 5% over the month, after having fallen by 5.9% in September. It also has the weakest annual return, down 11.7%.

The only metropolitan statistical area to record a positive monthly change was Phoenix, which saw home prices edge up 0.3% from September to October.

[Nick Gromicko]

Good for inspectors.

Bad for anyone who is upside down on their home and needs to sell.

[Waqar Quraishi]

In my opinion, one of the best bits of good news on the housing front is that the supply of existing homes for sale fell 5.8% in November to reach 2.58 million, a 7-month supply at the current pace of sales.

[Gary Farnsworth]

Homes go off the market because they go back to the banks, and not figured in as listings. Everything is always not as it seems these days.

[Joe Funderburk, CMI]

Originally Posted by gromicko

Good for inspectors.

I disagree. Buyers are sitting on the sidelines waiting for things to bottom out. Why buy now when prices are still dropping?

[Nick Gromicko]

Homes go off the market because they go back to the banks, and not figured in as listings.

Good for us. When a home goes vacant (and no one is there to maintain it), it falls apart. We are in the business of finding what fell apart.

Our nation's entire housing inventory is becoming less maintained.

The Second Law of Thermodynamics is the inspection industry's best friend.

[James H. Bushart]

Originally Posted by gromicko

Good for us. When a home goes vacant (and no one is there to maintain it), it falls apart. We are in the business of finding what fell apart.

Our nation's entire housing inventory is becoming less maintained.

The Second Law of Thermodynamics is the inspection industry's best friend.

You just gotta love these guys.

[Gary Farnsworth]

Government control and socialism at it's finest.

[Jeff Merritt]

That is U F R

[Gary Farnsworth]

Not sure what that stands for. Could be anything.

I hear that banks are only giving hours of contingency periods instead of the normal 10 days here in KC, that way inspections are hard to schedule. Banks are not under rules of NAR or local associations and are selling homes themselves, which most are full of defects. Sad for home buyers.

I got a story the other day that it is taking so long to get a loan, that this one home buyer is renting the home until the loan goes through. They have been waiting 3 months so far for loan approval. Feet dragging.

Perhaps rental inspections are in our future, however, per conversation with a local rental agency, the actual owners of these rentals do not want us around.