Economic savants focused on the U.S. housing bust tend to neglect one overriding fact: some of the market is doing fine.
Some home markets have flown under the global media screen and are benefiting from employment, population surges and moderate increases in housing prices that are close to or below the national average.
Where are these hotspots? They certainly aren’t in Arizona, Southern California, Florida or Nevada. Pockets of growth are thriving in places that really don’t make the headlines too often. They are worth considering if you are relocating, investing or looking for a retirement haven or second home.
Many of these bubble-averse locales seem to be expanding or holding their own for employment and demographic reasons.
Americans are getting older, want to move somewhere warmer and need to find a smaller home for less money. Or younger workers are going where they can find decent jobs and affordable housing. Hint: You won’t find these areas in coastal cities.
Population growth is another driver. While many cities in the upper Midwest are depopulating due to manufacturing-job losses, employment in robust in the South where new white-collar occupations are growing.
As more than one economist has quipped in disgust in recent years, there really is no national real-estate market in the U.S. The tech-savvy Seattle area in a quantum leap from decaying Detroit. And mature Cleveland is light years away from the young, job-producing Salt Lake City corridor.

Collateral risk

Where jobs are leaving, a housing rebound will be slow. The Detroit area, and the Ohio cities of Toledo, Akron, Columbus and Cleveland will be among the riskiest markets for some time, according to www.homesmartreports.com, a Web site thatr measures “collateral risk,” or the likelihood you will lose equity in a given market.
The most bountiful places for housing growth are where homes are reasonably priced and people are relocating there because jobs are being created.
Let’s take the Dallas area. Not only is “Big D” one of the top producers of jobs –followed by the San Francisco Bay area, and Seattle-Tacoma, Wash.—it leads in the total number of people moving in, according to the most recent figures by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Census Bureau.

Housing Value

Even better is the kind of housing value you will get in Dallas. Although it’s ringed by towns with multimillion-dollar homes, Dallas lagged behind the half-decade U.S. home appreciation rate through last year.
Dallas homes gained an average of 16 percent compared with the 41 percent national Stanford-Norwalk, New Haven and Hartford, Conn.; Providence, R.I., the Boston-Worcester areas; and Lexington, Ky., according to homesmartreports.com. Only Lexington may offer a true housing bargain, though.
You have to dig deeper to discover what will give an area some durability in weathering this housing bust.
U.S. population trends will continue to favor less-populous Southern and Western locations as Northern states become even more crowded and expensive, and retirees continue to move to the Sunbelt. That’s why 70 out of 100 of the Census Bureau’s fastest-growing counties were in the South.


Some Caveats

The fastest-growing areas also often suffer from a lack of regional planning, producing what I call “spurbs.” These burgeoning, car-dependent sprawling urban areas will become increasingly unaffordable if energy prices remain high and in frastructural needs push up property taxes.
Won’t it always be true that Americans will move away from central cities if they want to buy more houses for their money- even if it means a multihour commute?
That won’t always be the case as some cities with viable or reviving central cores attract more buyers with cultural attractions and great values with little or no commuting involved.
Places to watch on that account include San Antonio and Austin, Texas; Chicago; Milwaukee; Philadelphia; Pittsburgh; Denver; Portland, Ore.; Minneapolis-St. Paul; and Charlotte and Raleigh-Durham in North Carolina.
Older Americans- particularly empty-nesters-are beginning to eschew their suburban communities for the amenities, public transportation and car-free lifestyle of central cities. That may be the least-reported trend of all, and one of the few bright spots in an otherwise dismal housing story.

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by Marshall Loeb
From MarketWatch

NEW YORK -- Spending on remodeling is expected to reach $316 billion this year alone and the number is still climbing, according to the Home Improvement Research Institute. So make sure you know exactly how big a renovation you can afford and whether it justifies the time you intend to spend in your revamped home.
The Nest, a home-improvement Web site, says before making any big changes to your home you should ask yourself these big questions:
1. How long do I plan to stay in my house after the renovations? The longer you plan to live there, the more creative you can be. But if you're planning on selling the house in the next five years, keep potential buyers in mind with your choices. In the latter case, for instance, go with neutral colors in the kitchen and bathroom, and consider maple cabinets. Some people hate oak, others hate cherry, but the majority can live with maple.
2. Am I doing just cosmetic fixes or am I ready for an all-out overhaul? It's OK to make small changes one at a time, but think long-term about the next step. For example, if you're buying a new sink, buy one with enough holes on the deck for the faucet, sprayer and soap dispenser you might want to add on later. (Cutting more holes into stainless steel or porcelain after the sink is installed is an onerous job you don't want to get stuck with.) And if you know you're going to buy new cabinets later, don't replace the countertop with expensive granite now. The chances of reusing it are very slim -- either it breaks when you try to remove it, or it doesn't match the footprint of the new cabinets.
3. Am I prepared for the home upheaval? Be realistic about how long these changes might take. Renovations can go on for months, so you need to be prepared to make do without that bathroom, kitchen or bedroom. When checking references before you hire your contractor, be sure to ask if the company finished the work on time. You'd be surprised how quickly a week can turn into a month. And if you're bunking up with your in-laws during renovation, that month can seem like a year.
4. Are the renovations keeping with the style of my home? Any big changes you make to a home inside should reflect what future buyers will expect from the outside. If you live in a Victorian house, don't make it too contemporary. People who see a historical exterior will expect a historical interior, so stay true to the details. The same goes for a contemporary or modern home, where future buyers may not expect old-fashioned details like antique crown molding.
5. Are my DIY choices reasonable? You may consider yourself handy, but many do-it-yourself jobs demand your time more than anything else. If you have a full-time job, are you capable of taking on a second one? Some makeovers that are not technically difficult can take longer than you think. For that reason, if you start any job yourself, try to sample it before committing to the whole thing. For example, while refinishing cabinets with a new stain isn't rocket science, sanding down each one can take forever.
A final tip: if you do plan to follow through with a large-scale renovation, do the smallest room in the house from start to finish -- the insulating, rewiring, painting, refinishing, tiling -- so you gain a sense of accomplishment.
Email your comments to mloeb@marketwatch.com.

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RISMEDIA,-Prudential Real Estate Affiliates, Inc., a Prudential Financial, Inc. company, flowed at least 140,000 for-sale property listings to Internet hot spots Cyberhomes.com, Google BaseTM and Oodle.
The move positions Prudential Real Estate affiliates’ listings in front of the growing ranks of consumers who shop online for real estate and related services and information.
“We’re sending our affiliate listings to Cyberhomes, Google Base and Oodle for a couple of simple reasons: The sites are very popular among consumers, and each offers a rich search experience with a lot of useful information,” said Laurie Keenan, president of Prudential Real Estate. “Our listings as well as our services and resources are now readily available to the millions of consumers who frequent these great Internet sites.”
Prudential Real Estate teamed with Cyberhomes earlier this month to offer “Value Range Estimates” and “Property Profiles,” free consumer services now available on Prudential.com/realestate. Through Cyberhomes, Prudential Real Estate listings also will appear on AOL.com.
Moreover, Prudential Real Estate’s marketing plans include display and banner advertising on Cyberhomes and Oodle.
“Our mission is to drive significant consumer traffic to our affiliates’ listings,” said Keenan. “Aligning with Cyberhomes, Google Base and Oodle will help us get that job done.”
Said Marty Frame, Cyberhomes general manager: “We are excited to add Prudential Real Estate affiliates’ listings to our powerful search capability on Cyberhomes.com. Consumers appreciate the breadth of listings on Cyberhomes, as well as the depth of home-evaluation and homeownership information available on our site.”
“We are thrilled to be working with Prudential Real Estate,” added Faith Sedlin, Oodle founder and vice president. “As a classifieds site with a broad partner network, Oodle provides a great local venue to feature real estate listings.”
Online listings include property descriptions, photos and affiliate- and listing-agent contact information. In addition to Cyberhomes, Google Base and Oodle, Prudential Real Estate affiliate listings also appear on FrontDoor.com, Propsmart.com, Trulia.com, Yahoo! Real Estate and Zillow.com.
Cyberhomes valuations provide access to most of the same information from Fidelity National Information Services, the leader in property information, services and technology for REALTORS®, appraisers and lenders, to create detailed, proprietary analysis of a property and the surrounding community. Cyberhomes enables the exploration of real estate data ranging from property facts, value estimates and a variety of important indicators of local and national changes in the housing market.
Google Base enables structured data such as real estate listings to better surface on the Google search engine improving the quality of search results. Real estate listings from Google Base are available on Google MapsTM. Google, Google Base and Google Maps are trademarks of Google Inc.
Oodle allows consumers to buy and sell through online classifieds. Bringing together more than 40 million listings from over 80,000 sites, Oodle improves the way people buy and sell locally. Oodle offers the most comprehensive search, convenient e-mail alerts and information to empower consumers to make better buying decisions.
For more information, please visit www.prudential.com.
RISMedia welcomes your questions and comments. Send your e-mail to: realestatemagazinefeedback@rismedia.com.

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