NAR Report: Home Sales up in July

NAR (National Association of Realtors) is reporting that existing home sales were up 3.1% in July. The report states that home sales reached five month high. Even though sales have remained narrow for the past 11 months the increase in sales could be a sign of postivity in the real estate market. Part of the reason or the increased sales is that prices have dropped and more potential home buyers are willing and able to afford buying a home. The same NAR report stated that the national median home price has dropped by 7.1% since last July. This correction in the market may mean that the real estate market could be turning around. I still believe there will be additional price drops and it may be a while before the market fully rebounds but this is at least a little bit of good news.

Buyers are getting smarter

This also shows that potential home buyers are becoming more educated about the home buying process. Many home buyers were turned off by the soaring prices and this coupled with the mortgage meltdown lead them to wait until homes were more affordable. Now that prices are beginning to fall these potential buyers are ready to buy. Hopefully these same buyers will take the time to shop for the best mortgage deal and title insurance so they can save on every aspect of their new purchase.

Where are consumers shopping for title insurance?

Google recently launched Insights for Search which provides a wealth of information about search behavior across keywords, categories, geographic regions, and time frames. Besides being fun to play with there is a ton of useful information that can be pulled from the tool. In the short time I have explored the features I did a little testing on title insurance searches to see which states' residents searched for title insurance the most.

Not too surprising

What I found was not too surprising. The top ten states are generally states in which the housing prices are fairly high and consumers tend to be a bit more aware of title insurance, probably because they are looking to save money any place they can. So here is a screen shot of the top 10 states for title insurance searches according to Google Insights.



Since Blogger is terrible with images and you can't actually see the states here are the states that search for title insurance the most.

1. Florida
2. Illinois
3. Utah
4. Pennsylvania
5. New Jersey
6. District of Columbia
7. New York
8. Virginia
9. Texas
10. Minnesota
    

Now if we can get everyone to shop for title insurance like the residents of these 10 states (and even reach more people in these states) we may be able to force real reform in the title insurance industry.

Buffalo residents can also save on closing costs

The Buffalo News has an article on closing costs which discusses the fact that Buffalo has the third highest closing costs among 55 cities and Washington DC. Closing costs in Buffalo are higher than some of the largest and most expensive cities in the nation. Most of that cost is the result of high mortgage closing taxes and title insurance fees. While some fees may be mandatory there are ways that Buffalo residents, and anyone else, can save on closing costs.

Shop for title insurance

One of the reasons that closing costs are so high in Buffalo is due to the traditional reliance on closing attorneys. Just to add to that many closing attorneys charge higher rates than most title agents. They generally don't allow you to shop around for title insurance. Instead you go with whoever they normally use for title insurance. Most home buyers would do well to shop for title insurance. Even if you use an attorney you can choose your own title insurance provider and save a significant amount on closing costs. myClosingSPACE encourages home buyers in Buffalo, and anywhere else, to shop for title insurance and make an educated decision to save money on closing costs.