{"id":4498,"date":"2010-02-05T11:11:17","date_gmt":"2010-02-05T16:11:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bhgrealestateblog.com\/?p=4498"},"modified":"2024-12-30T14:35:15","modified_gmt":"2024-12-30T19:35:15","slug":"week-in-review-things-we-liked-from-the-week-that-was-8","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/week-in-review-things-we-liked-from-the-week-that-was-8\/","title":{"rendered":"Week in Review: Things We Liked from the Week That Was"},"content":{"rendered":"

We had a mixed bag of news this week. Do you want the good news or bad news first? A storm cloud hung over the many homeowners with adjustable-rate mortgages <\/a>who are paying as much as 25 percent more than homeowners with similar loans. Additionally, new research suggests that a large group of distressed homeowners<\/a> are starting to walk away from their mortgages as their home\u2019s value falls below 75 percent of the amount owed on the mortgage. That\u2019s the bad news.<\/p>\n

The good news is the U.S. economy grew at an accelerated pace<\/a> in the last quarter of 2009 and, in January, consumer confidence rose<\/a> for the third consecutive month. These national indications of an economic improvement possibly played a part in the 21 percent surge of mortgage applications<\/a> in January, returning to pre-holiday levels. Additionally, the number of people preparing to buy a home in December rose<\/a> one percent from the month before. The flurry of activity is certain to help one of the largest homebuilders in the United States, D. R. Horton<\/a>\u2014which reported its first quarterly profit in almost three years\u2014continue to be \u201cin the black.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Trulia\u2019s latest American Dream <\/a>survey, three in four Americans consider owning a home a part of achieving their personal American dream. Thirty-seven percent surveyed, however, believe President Obama is not helping to restore homeownership. The proposal from the Obama administration to offset a slash on upfront premiums<\/a> on FHA mortgage insurance will increase annual premiums by 70 percent. How do you think this will alter next year\u2019s American Dream survey of the president? It will also be interesting to see what the future holds for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac<\/a> as the Obama administration continues to \u201cmonitor the situation<\/a>\u201d closely. Stay tuned\u2026<\/p>\n

In what may become a new American dream of sorts, some are about to start fast-flipping houses as the FHA is revising its long-standing “anti-flipping” rules<\/a>. The revised rules will allow flippers to sell their flipped properties as soon as they are ready\u2014which is often before the former 90-day limit. Let the flipping begin!<\/p>\n

Not only are first-time home buyers<\/a> the largest share of home sales in many markets, but they also represent the fastest-growing segment. At the same time, second homes and move-up homes are the most rapidly shrinking segment. With this segment staying in their homes and first-time home buyers looking to buy, it will be interesting to see where these two will meet\u2026 likely at a stalemate in the middle. The much anticipated Realtors Property Resources<\/a>, which will give realtors access to data, from tax assessment to demographic information, on every property in the country will begin beta testing in March. How do you think this will change our jobs and reach these two segments?<\/p>\n

For those communicating with current and potential clients through mass emails, it is safe to assume that one in five people never receive your communication,<\/a> according to new research. It is essential to follow up with other forms of communication and, according to new research from Nielsen, two channels that may be worth focusing on are online advertisements and traditional public relations efforts. That\u2019s because newspaper Web site traffic <\/a>increased 5.5 percent in the fourth quarter of 2009, over a year prior. Turns out traditional media isn\u2019t dead!<\/p>\n

On to social media, while most of us would kill for 6.2 million new customers <\/a>a month, for Twitter that number represents a 20 percent decrease in new users from its July 2009 peak. The average user, however, is more engaged today than they were six months ago, so Twitter must be doing something right! Part of the reason consumers may be more engaged could be because brands are engaging them. Skittle\u2019s<\/a>, for example, re-launched its Web site allowing consumers to share all its content automatically through Facebook and Twitter. What a great way to give consumers an opportunity to spread the word! Certainly we can all learn from this.<\/p>\n

In marketing news\u2026 Big brands like Microsoft, Kraft Foods and Nestle recently began reinventing the 1950\u2019s Tupperware party<\/a> by enlisting consumers to throw parties in their homes and sell products directly to their friends and families. Looks like they understand the home-centric mentality of today\u2019s consumer \u2013 something our industry has been saying for months. Glad we\u2019re all on the same page! \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We had a mixed bag of news this week. Do you want the good news or bad news first? A storm cloud hung over the many homeowners with adjustable-rate mortgages who are paying as much as 25 percent more than homeowners with similar loans. Additionally, new research suggests that a large group of distressed homeowners […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":141,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[61],"tags":[991,1821,3281,8181,9441,10561,10591,11231,12651,14041,14271,14571,14811,15701,17241,19191,19511,20891,23151,24431,25781,26901,27771,28571,29011,32491,35551,36431,39901,42291,44141,44181,44381],"class_list":["post-4498","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-commentary","tag-adjustable-rate-mortgages","tag-american","tag-barack-obama","tag-clients","tag-consumers","tag-customers","tag-d-r-horton","tag-demographics","tag-economy","tag-facebook","tag-fannie-mae","tag-fha","tag-first-time-home-buyers","tag-freddie-mac","tag-government","tag-home-value","tag-homeowners","tag-industry","tag-kraft-foods","tag-loans","tag-marketing-branding","tag-microsoft","tag-mortgages","tag-nestle","tag-news","tag-premium","tag-realtor-property-resource","tag-research","tag-social-media","tag-tax-assessment","tag-trulia","tag-tupperware","tag-twitter"],"yoast_head":"\nWeek in Review: Things We Liked from the Week That Was - Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Be Better Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/week-in-review-things-we-liked-from-the-week-that-was-8\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Week in Review: Things We Liked from the Week That Was - Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Be Better Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"We had a mixed bag of news this week. Do you want the good news or bad news first? A storm cloud hung over the many homeowners with adjustable-rate mortgages who are paying as much as 25 percent more than homeowners with similar loans. Additionally, new research suggests that a large group of distressed homeowners […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/week-in-review-things-we-liked-from-the-week-that-was-8\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Be Better Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-02-05T16:11:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-12-30T19:35:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Clara Chang\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Clara Chang\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/week-in-review-things-we-liked-from-the-week-that-was-8\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/week-in-review-things-we-liked-from-the-week-that-was-8\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Clara Chang\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/#\/schema\/person\/308f862442a883f8eed5e8866ca70e7d\"},\"headline\":\"Week in Review: Things We Liked from the Week That Was\",\"datePublished\":\"2010-02-05T16:11:17+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-12-30T19:35:15+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/week-in-review-things-we-liked-from-the-week-that-was-8\/\"},\"wordCount\":733,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"Adjustable Rate Mortgages\",\"American\",\"Barack Obama\",\"Clients\",\"consumers\",\"Customers\",\"D. R. Horton\",\"Demographics\",\"Economy\",\"Facebook\",\"Fannie Mae\",\"FHA\",\"First Time Home Buyers\",\"Freddie Mac\",\"Government\",\"Home Value\",\"homeowners\",\"industry\",\"Kraft Foods\",\"loans\",\"Marketing & Branding\",\"Microsoft\",\"Mortgages\",\"Nestle\",\"News\",\"Premium\",\"Realtor Property Resource\",\"Research\",\"social media\",\"Tax Assessment\",\"Trulia\",\"Tupperware\",\"twitter\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Commentary\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/week-in-review-things-we-liked-from-the-week-that-was-8\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/week-in-review-things-we-liked-from-the-week-that-was-8\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/week-in-review-things-we-liked-from-the-week-that-was-8\/\",\"name\":\"Week in Review: Things We Liked from the Week That Was - Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Be Better Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2010-02-05T16:11:17+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-12-30T19:35:15+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/week-in-review-things-we-liked-from-the-week-that-was-8\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/week-in-review-things-we-liked-from-the-week-that-was-8\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/week-in-review-things-we-liked-from-the-week-that-was-8\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Week in Review: Things We Liked from the Week That Was\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/\",\"name\":\"Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Be Better Blog\",\"description\":\"Insights into the Real Estate Industry\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Be Better Blog\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2021\/11\/BHGRE_bug.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2021\/11\/BHGRE_bug.png\",\"width\":76,\"height\":76,\"caption\":\"Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Be Better Blog\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/#\/schema\/person\/308f862442a883f8eed5e8866ca70e7d\",\"name\":\"Clara Chang\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/caf15e2dc2531fd816755544d5aede05f7a3a4e4e1964002291983157a8cbcbe?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/caf15e2dc2531fd816755544d5aede05f7a3a4e4e1964002291983157a8cbcbe?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/caf15e2dc2531fd816755544d5aede05f7a3a4e4e1964002291983157a8cbcbe?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Clara Chang\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/author\/cchang\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Week in Review: Things We Liked from the Week That Was - Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Be Better Blog","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/week-in-review-things-we-liked-from-the-week-that-was-8\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Week in Review: Things We Liked from the Week That Was - Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Be Better Blog","og_description":"We had a mixed bag of news this week. Do you want the good news or bad news first? A storm cloud hung over the many homeowners with adjustable-rate mortgages who are paying as much as 25 percent more than homeowners with similar loans. Additionally, new research suggests that a large group of distressed homeowners […]","og_url":"https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/week-in-review-things-we-liked-from-the-week-that-was-8\/","og_site_name":"Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Be Better Blog","article_published_time":"2010-02-05T16:11:17+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-12-30T19:35:15+00:00","author":"Clara Chang","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Clara Chang","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/week-in-review-things-we-liked-from-the-week-that-was-8\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/week-in-review-things-we-liked-from-the-week-that-was-8\/"},"author":{"name":"Clara Chang","@id":"https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/#\/schema\/person\/308f862442a883f8eed5e8866ca70e7d"},"headline":"Week in Review: Things We Liked from the Week That Was","datePublished":"2010-02-05T16:11:17+00:00","dateModified":"2024-12-30T19:35:15+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/week-in-review-things-we-liked-from-the-week-that-was-8\/"},"wordCount":733,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/#organization"},"keywords":["Adjustable Rate Mortgages","American","Barack Obama","Clients","consumers","Customers","D. R. Horton","Demographics","Economy","Facebook","Fannie Mae","FHA","First Time Home Buyers","Freddie Mac","Government","Home Value","homeowners","industry","Kraft Foods","loans","Marketing & Branding","Microsoft","Mortgages","Nestle","News","Premium","Realtor Property Resource","Research","social media","Tax Assessment","Trulia","Tupperware","twitter"],"articleSection":["Commentary"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/week-in-review-things-we-liked-from-the-week-that-was-8\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/week-in-review-things-we-liked-from-the-week-that-was-8\/","url":"https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/week-in-review-things-we-liked-from-the-week-that-was-8\/","name":"Week in Review: Things We Liked from the Week That Was - Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Be Better Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2010-02-05T16:11:17+00:00","dateModified":"2024-12-30T19:35:15+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/week-in-review-things-we-liked-from-the-week-that-was-8\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/week-in-review-things-we-liked-from-the-week-that-was-8\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/week-in-review-things-we-liked-from-the-week-that-was-8\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Week in Review: Things We Liked from the Week That Was"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/","name":"Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Be Better Blog","description":"Insights into the Real Estate Industry","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/#organization","name":"Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Be Better Blog","url":"https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2021\/11\/BHGRE_bug.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2021\/11\/BHGRE_bug.png","width":76,"height":76,"caption":"Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Be Better Blog"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/#\/schema\/person\/308f862442a883f8eed5e8866ca70e7d","name":"Clara Chang","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/caf15e2dc2531fd816755544d5aede05f7a3a4e4e1964002291983157a8cbcbe?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/caf15e2dc2531fd816755544d5aede05f7a3a4e4e1964002291983157a8cbcbe?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/caf15e2dc2531fd816755544d5aede05f7a3a4e4e1964002291983157a8cbcbe?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Clara Chang"},"url":"https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/author\/cchang\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4498","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/141"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4498"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4498\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":68841,"href":"https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4498\/revisions\/68841"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4498"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4498"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4498"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}