Remember a couple months ago when I sent out a newsletter saying the market was REALLY busy? Well, the latest report from the National Association of Realtors says that pending sales of existing homes, or contracts signed but not closed, rose 6.7% in April. April’s pending sales were up 3.2 percent from a year ago, the NAR said.

     The biggest increase in April was in the Northeast, where pending sales jumped 32.6 percent from the previous month. The NAR’s pending home sales index is a forward-looking gauge, and the group cautions that it is more volatile than actual closed sales. “The relationship between contracts on pending home sales and closings on existing home sales is taking longer than in the past for several reasons,” NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun said. “Mortgage processing time has increased, it is taking many months to close on those homes requiring short sales with lender approval, and some sales are falling through at the last moment.” Still, Yun says he believes the housing market has already bottomed out in some areas.

By Inman News, Monday, March 23, 2009.

Inman News Sales of existing homes rose 5.1 percent from January to February, to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.72 million units, the National Association of Realtors reported today. Distressed sales accounted for 40 to 45 percent of transactions, and total housing inventory grew 5.2 percent, to 3.8 million existing homes for sale. At the current pace of sales, that’s a 9.7-month supply of homes, unchanged from January but down from the record of 11.2 months seen in July. A six-month supply of housing is generally seen as a healthy balance between supply and demand. The national median existing-home price for all housing types was $165,400 in February, down 15.5 percent from a year ago. The median home price was pushed down by sales of distressed homes, which are selling for 20 percent less than normal market price, said NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun. The median condominium price was down 18.2 percent from a year ago, to $172,200, and sales of existing condos and co-ops were up 11.4 percent from January, to a seasonally adjusted rate of 490,000 units. Looking back a year, condo sales were down 13.1 percent. The median existing single-family home price was down 15 percent from a year ago, to $164,600, and sales rose 4.4 percent from January to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.23 million units. That’s 3.6 percent below the pace of sales a year ago. Regionally, California saw a strong gain in sales, with the median listing price on the rise for the first time in three years. Existing-home sales in the West increased 2.6 percent from January to February, to an annual rate of 1.2 million, but were down 30.4 percent increase from a year ago. The West has also seen the greatest year-over-year price declines, with median price falling 30.3 percent from a year ago, to $204,600. In the Northeast, sales were up 15.6 percent from January to an annual pace of 740,000, but are down 14.9 percent from a year ago. The median price in the Northeast was $251,200, down 4.8 percent from a year ago. Existing-home sales in the Midwest increased 1 percent from January to an annual pace of 1.04 million, down 14 percent from a year ago. The median price in the Midwest was $131,000, down 7.8 percent from a year ago. In the South, existing-home sales rose 6.1 percent from January to an annual pace of 1.74 million, but were down 11.2 percent from a year ago. The median price in the South was $146,700, down 10 percent from a year ago. ***

No I am not talking about the 2000 real estate market I am talking about right now, 2009. I have had several clients in bidding wars, multiple offers, and homes going for thousands above asking price. It is crazy out there – If you are buying in the $250-350 range be ready! If you have a home to sell in that range, get it staged, price it right and you are off and running!

Here are some of the homes that have got multiple offers recently:

23 McKinley – Asking price $449,000 – Multiple offers over asking price

13 Wheeler Peabody – Asking price $259,000 – Foreclosure – Multiple offers

48 Margaret Road Hamilton – Asking price $325,000 – Multiple offers

So, don’t believe what you hear in the news and if you are up for it there are deals to be had out there.

FHA rates are 5% – and you can get the $8,000 tax credit this year if you file an extension or amendment!

Ok, so many of you may already know that I have been a huge proponent of  yoga for a while now. IT just works for me so I want to share it. I have to admit that getting time for my practice has not been happening lately and I can feel it everyday. My muscles feel tight, I don’t have as much energy, and I just have a shorter tolerance for stress, cold weather, traffic, you know the normal stuff. So when I heard this story on NPR this morning it reminded me that now more then ever we HAVE to take care of ourselves in whatever way works for us. Is it Yoga, brisk walks outside, soaking in a hot tub? Whatever works for you – DO IT! We can’t underestimate the power of these economic times on our phyche.

Namaste. 

ps- if yoga is your thing or you have beenthinking about giving it a try I can’t say enough about Empower in North Beverly and Kat Mansfield who teaches there as well as at other studios.

For Downward Economy, Try Downward Facing Dog

By Andrea Shea

	A woman relieves stress in a heated yoga class at Prana Power Yoga in Boston. (Andrea Shea/WBUR)

BOSTON – March 12, 2009 – How do you feel about the economy lately? If you’re like a lot of us, you could be exhausted. Foreclosures, down-sizing, layoffs, closings?in epidemic proportions. Our daily dose of economic hard times is, for many, a brutal pill to swallow. But what’s the antidote? WBUR’s Andrea Shea reports on what some people are doing to relieve their “economic fatigue.”

John Spooner spends hours staring at stock market activity on his computer screen.

JOHN SPOONER: Green is up and red is down, so you can see kind of a mixed bag.

Spooner is a wealth manager in Boston, so you can just imagine how he feels these days.

SPOONER: Absolutely worn out. Economic fatigue hits everybody in this firestorm we’re going through differently.

“Economic fatigue” isn’t a clinical condition, but Dr. Christopher Palmer says it’s palpable in our culture these days. He’s a psychiatrist at McLean Hospital in Belmont.

DR. CHRISTOPHER PALMER: The first sign for a lot of people would be a transition from a state of anxiety to a state of hopelessness, increasingly feeling powerless, and that can then lead to a mild depression or just feeling numb.

To prevent that spiral Dr. Palmer recommends exercise. Wealth manager John Spooner is already on board with that.

SPOONER: I tell all my crew, everybody who works for me, you better find some way to work out four or five times a week, or everyday if you possibly can, because it’s so debilitating and you need energy in order to be in any occupation.

Taking a long, deep breath might help too.

More people are turning to yoga during this depressing economy, according to Phillipe Wells. He co-owns Prana Power Yoga, which has three studios in Massachusetts and one in New York City.

PHILLIPE WELLS: Any kind of twists will reinvigorate us physiologically, people just get into a place where they kind of feel down and they need something to lift them up.

Wells says yoga also teaches students how to accept change and uncertainty. Gina Pierce agrees. She’s 41 years old, a single parent and says she’s thankful to have her job as a weight counselor in a hospital.

GINA PIERCE: Yoga really helps me to face the challenges I have daily, which we all do in a way that I’m responding calmly sort of from a centered place rather than reacting like a lunatic from a place that isn’t balanced, so I really think that’s how I could look at my yoga practice as it relates to the economy and how it feels to me just in general.

While yoga is the answer for some, others escape the onslaught in a tub.

RENEE FARSTER: The news is brutal. I make sure I soak once a week just because it’s a moment of ‘everything’s perfect when I?m in this hot water.’

That’s Renee Farster. She owns Inman Oasis, a massage and hot tub spa in Cambridge.

FARSTER: As a business owner here I feel like I?m a bit of an anomaly. I mean, we’re doing well, we’re humble enough to be grateful for that because I see a lot of my colleagues who are small business owners in retail struggling and other service industries. I think we’re doing well because people need a break.

Dr. Palmer of McLean Hospital applauds people’s search for solace during hard times.

DR. PALMER: The good news is that most of us are gonna get through it, we’ll be a little fatigued; the bad news is that some people won’t get through it in a healthy way.

Meaning they might turn to drugs or alcohol. Dr. Palmer says adapting is essential when faced with our worst economic fears. Being flexible certainly helps.

Downward facing dog is one of the most common yoga positions. Student Tony Bartone is doing a lot more of them since he got laid off this past fall.

TONY BARTONE: One downward facing dog and the economic fatigue will pass.

And, with time, the downward facing economy should pass too