Today eppraisal.com released its National Real Estate Market Analysis report for 179 markets across the continental U.S. This report, which tracks median sales price of residential homes, compares data on homes sold in September 2008 through November 2008 with homes sold in December 2008 through February 2009.

In the March report, 89 percent of the markets tracked by eppraisal.com saw a decline in home values; however, the number of markets that saw increases in home values doubled. The number of markets that saw increases in home values went from 17 markets to 34, which is a dramatic shift from the trend of the previous market reports. The number of areas that saw declines in home values have decreased to 143 or 80 percent of the markets (down from 89 percent in the previous report).

The smaller markets continue to lead with increasing home values, with Muskegon, Mich., and Norwich-New London, Conn., leading the list. Other small markets that saw increases were Gainesville, Ga., and Danville, Ill., which saw increases of 14.5 percent and 11.1 percent respectively.

A few major markets did see small increases in the median home value over the time period tracked. For example, Salt Lake City, UT, saw a 4 percent increase to a median home value of $239,242, and Jacksonville, Fla., increased by 1.2 percent to a median home value of $169,000.

The majority of the areas tracked by eppraisal.com saw a decrease in the median home value, with California and Florida continuing to lead list. In Florida, Cape Coral-Fort Myers saw a 13.8 percent decline to $99,957. Other areas in Florida with declines are Punta Gorda, Ft. Lauderdale, and Daytona Beach, which saw declines of 11.6 percent, 11.64 percent and 10.5 percent respectively. In the California markets, Fresno leads with a 18.9 percent decline to a median home value of $150,000. Other areas in California that saw declines are San Francisco-San Mateo, which dropped 13.2 percent to $590,000, Oakland-Fremont-Hayward down 13.5 percent to $276,000, and Los Angeles-Long Beach area, which dropped 10.3 percent to $305,000.

The eppraisal.com National Real Estate Market report is attached. It shows the median sales price of existing single-family home sales in the three months ending February of 2009 along with the percent change from the prior three months.

See a complete list of real estate market rankings.

Free help is available.

It’s not surprising that foreclosure rescue scams and loan modification fraud are on the rise.  If you’re having trouble paying your mortgage, be cautious so you don’t fall victim to these scams.  There is free help.

Making Home Affordable is a free program to help eligible homeowners refinance or modify their mortgage in order to make their monthly payments lower.  This service was created by the government to provide at-risk homeowners with free assistance and crack down on anyone who seeks to defraud them.

The Making Home Affordable web site offers detailed information about your options and provides access to self-assessment tools and calculators to help determine if you are eligible for a loan modification or refinance option.  You can also connect with free counseling resources to help with outstanding questions; locate homeowner events in your community; find a handy checklist of key documents and materials to have ready when making that important call to your mortgage servicer; as well as FAQs from borrowers in similar circumstances.

The program is enhancing its efforts to identify and prosecute every individual involved in a foreclosure rescue scam or mortgage fraud.  Red flags that might indicate a scam are:

• Requiring that fees are paid in advance before services are provided
• Guarantees that you won’t lose your home
• Being advised not to talk to a lawyer
• A request to submit your mortgage payments to anyone other than your mortgage company

Looking for a unique way to spice up a residential or commercial real estate space? Then check out Bloxes. Bloxes are life-sized cardboard building blocks that can assemble into a variety of shapes and structures including office dividers, walls, tables, columns, and anything else you can think of. According the company’s blog, Bloxes are 3D cardboard blocks that ship flat, fold up in modular building blocks, and are strong enough to stand on. They are also made from recycled cardboard. What kind of structures could you use Bloxes for?

Today eppraisal.com released its National Real Estate Market Analysis report for the three months ending November 2008. Of the 189 market areas tracked across the U.S., 177 markets (or 93.7 percent) saw a decline in median home values, which is up from 81.9 percent in the previous report. The data indicates that most areas remain in decline.

The downward slide slowed a bit in previous months but in this period picked up some steam. This period shows substantial declines in most major markets (from coast to coast). In New York three of the four areas tracked saw declines. Nassau-Suffolk saw a decline of 5.1 percent, Ithaca down 6.9 percent, and Buffalo-Niagara Falls down 18.3 percent. Glens Falls, NY, is the exception with a 5.8 percent increase. On the West Coast, Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, Ariz., saw a decrease of 12.1 percent. San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, Calif., dropped 15.8 percent.

Florida continues to drop in all markets tracked by eppraisal.com. Sarasota-Bradenton-Venice saw the largest decline with a drop of 17 percent to a median home value of $166,000. In Central Florida, the Orlando-Kissimmee area saw a decline of 8.2 percent to a median value of $188,200. In Southern Florida, the Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach and Deerfield Beach areas saw a drop of 8.9 percent to a median home value of $237,000.

Places that have pushed to the top of the list are small or midsized areas like Yakima, Wash., Ocean City, NJ, and Rome, Ga. Yakima saw an increase of 2.8 percent to a median value of $152,000. Ocean City saw an increase of 3.2 percent to a median value of $325,000. Rome saw an increase of 10 percent to a median value of $110,000.

A few areas in Texas continue to see increases in the median home value. Sherman-Denison, McAllen-Edinburg, and Waco all saw positive increases of more than 2 percent again this period. Sherman-Denison was up 4.5 percent to a median value of $95,025, McAllen-Edinburg was up 2.7 percent to a median value of $118,125, and Waco was up 2.2 percent to a median value of $122,000. Other areas in Texas continue to decline. Midland leads the list with a loss of 4.9 percent in value to $163,670.

Overall, most areas continue to see declines, alluding the bottom has not been reached. Click here for a full list of the areas tracked by eppraisal.com.

Sellers are getting ever more creative when it comes to attracting buyers. Many tactics are becoming prevalent throughout the industry including luxury car incentives, free weekend stays, and HDTVs — to name a few.  We think home raffles take the cake when it comes to creativity.

Tom and Dianne Walters are selling $50 tickets to the public in hopes of raising enough to pay off the loan on their log cabin in Edgewater, Md. They need to sell 27,000 tickets for the January 26 drawing; more than 22,700 have been sold.
- USA Today

Hmm. Looks like the new game of chance is winning a home for 50 bucks. With much better odds than the lottery, why wouldn’t people buy tickets? I’m thinking it’s time to pick up a ticket for myself.