As the housing crunch affects numerous markets around the country, there have been some markets that have been able to blissfully take up again with rising home values and rather quick sales. There is some evidence that the housing market crash is finally beginning to infiltrate those markets; but. That is certainly the case in cities like Provo, Utah. Even homes that would seem as though they would be rapidly snatched up are sitting on the market with no takers. This has been quite a surprise for homeowners in such markets.

Most homeowners were impacted by the sliding market in 2006. Other markets; but, continued to experience price increases. In Provo, for example, average home prices rose a staggering 14% within a small period of time, compared to preceding home values.

Homeowners in previously hot markets are learning that they must now resort to creative selling tactics and donation concessions to attempt to go their homes off the market. Just a year ago these homes would have been sold within a matter of weeks. Today these homes are sitting on the market for months at a time. In desperate bids to sell their homes, sellers are slashing prices by thousands of dollars and even donation discounts to buyers who can close quickly or who are willing to work without an agent; providing sellers the chance to save on fee fees.

The message is certainly clear. While these markets were once hot, no market is immune to the housing bust. Even markets that are still experiencing price increases are finding that prices are not rising as much as they were in the past. Clearly these markets are beginning to lose steam. In addition, the rapid pace of sales that once marked these areas is beginning to slow down as well. Tighter loan restrictions as a result of the subprime finance crisis are likely affecting many of these markets. It is simply hard to sell homes when buyers are unable to obtain loans.

In most cases, the economy is the one factor that is not affecting these markets. This is certainly the case in Utah, where the economy has managed to remain strong. Despite this fact, the housing market is stalling.

Seattle is another previously red hot market that appears to be stalling as well. While Seattle is certainly still nowhere near the frantic freefall of many other markets, prices are simply not rising as rapidly as they once did. Like many other markets, homes are not selling as quickly as they did last year either. Foreclosure rates have also begun to increase in Seattle in the last few months.

Despite this fact, experts are quick to point out that Seattle should be able to miss the collapse that has affected many other markets throughout the country. The apartment market in Seattle, in particular, looks as though it will take up again to remain strong in Seattle even while home prices start to settle somewhere closer to reality. Overall, inventory amounts are higher than they were last year; but, sales volumes take up again to outpace other states.

One of the reasons that Seattle and the bulk of Washington state has been able to avoid the real estate market collapse that has affected the rest of the country is the Growth Management Act the state enacted. This act prevented the development of construction projects in the state as the same rate that occurred in many other states. While other states were building at a rapid rate, Washington was being reigned in.

This turned out to be an advantage for Seattle and other areas in Washington. In markets that experienced a sudden rash of construction, once those projects were completed the market had already begun to crash. As a result, newly completed construction projects were suddenly left vacant with no buyers in sight. Construction loans suddenly started to join the throng of defaulted loans clogging the market.

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While homeowners are facing the crunch of the housing meltdown, investors are also facing serious repercussions as well. The housing market certainly hit is peak during 2005. A number of investors came into the market at the end of 2005 and in 2006, eying the large profits that had been made as a result of the housing boom. At the time the market was quite frenzied and some investors felt all they had to do was quickly snatch up hot profits and resell them as quickly as possible. This strategy produced quick fortunes in many cases and fueled the trend of flipping. Even people who had not had any previous experience in renovations or the real estate industry were quick to become involved.

Today that once frenzied market has begun to not only level off; but, but have completely run out steam. Investors are finding it hard to sell properties let alone make a profit as the market continues to experience a glut of inventory. There is small doubt about the fact that the market for flipping has slowed.

Investors have also begun to lose money as a result of the housing crisis. One of the key strategies of being able to make a profit in the process of flipping is to sell the property quick enough that the investor does not need to make any finance payments at all or at least as few as possible. During the heyday of the housing boom this was not a problem.

An investor could easily buy a property, rehab it in less than a month, slap a for sale sign on it and sell it before the first finance payment was due. Even if they sold it before the second finance payment was due they were still able to come out of the deal with a massive amount of profit because of rapidly rising housing prices. Today that is no longer the case.

As a result, many investors are finding that they must either live in the homes on their own or rent them out. Investors who had been renting have been forced to go out of their rental properties in some cases and live in the properties they hoped to flip. In other situations investors have been forced to rent out the properties for reduced rates in order to have at least a small money trickling in to cover finance payments and other expenses.

Speculators are experiencing even more problems. The main difference between flippers and speculators is that flippers frequently buy homes, try to infuse it with some augmented value through renovations and then sell it. Speculators; but, tend to buy properties and then resell them without making any improvements at all. At one time this practice often paid off in huge profits. That is not the case today. Investors who once engaged in the process of real estate speculation have exposed they must add value to the property if they are to have even a glimmer of a hope of selling it today.

As a result of the glut of homes on the market due to speculation and flipping, there are some markets that are attempting to eliminate the process all collectively. Some communities have placed restrictions on the abilities of buyers to resell their home within at least one year period subsequent the date they close on their property.

Since most speculators and investors hope to sell within six months or less, this effectively prevents them from doing so. Communities that had the foresight to take this action at the height of the housing boom have been in a much better place than other communities where flipping and speculation ran rampant at the same time.

While the depressed housing market has caused many investors to step out there is small doubt that once the market corrects itself, which many believe will happen by 2010, these investors will return; poised and ready to start reaping in the profits once again.

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