According to the National Association of Realtors, pending home resales rose 7.4 percent – the most since October 2001 and the fourth such increase this year.

All regions of the country saw an increase in pending sales from July, with the West showing the largest increase of 18.4 percent.  The Northeast saw an 8.4 percent rise, the Midwest a 3.6 percent increase and 2.3 percent in the South.

According to reports, people are taking advantage of low home prices, and sales are up strongly in California, Nevada, Arizona, Florida, Rhode Island and Washington, D.C.

Although the likely reason for the rise in pending resales is investors buying up foreclosures, the fact remains that these houses are being taken off of the market, which has had a surplus of inventory.

In terms of fixing what’s wrong with the real estate market, everyone has their own two cents and thinks their solution is more effective than another.  The fact of the matter is South Florida homes and properties around the country are not selling.  That problem can be attributed mostly to the whole subprime mortgage situation and the lack of a capable solution.

The Federal Housing Association (FHA) has quietly been running what many consider is a straightforward resolution behind the scenes called FHASecure.  This program adopts the simple approach of renegotiating mortgage financing terms for struggling homeowners so that they end up with a fixed rate and fixed monthly payment.

Strange as it may sound, subprime mortgages are actually not all that common which makes one wonder how it is then, that they’ve managed to cause so many problems.  A subprime mortgage carries a fixed interest rate which is only temporary, something many homeowners apparently didn’t realize until after the fixed term ended and payments subsequently skyrocketed to sums thousands of people simply could not afford giving them no choice but to end up defaulting and lose their cherished homes.

Using whatever resources the FHA itself has available, FHASecure has done wonders for a large majority of homeowners who fall mostly within the mid to lower class.  If the government decides to offer its own hefty resources towards it, FHASecure could be expanded so that it would assist even those borrowers who are scraping by and are considered to be high foreclosure risks.

A huge influx of monetary resources and government acknowledgement could potentially go a long way in reducing the country’s already overstuffed foreclosure inventory.  Could this be the answer that will get the real estate market out of its rut sooner than what market analysts and economists are anticipating?

According to an online poll reported by Zillow.com, over 75 percent of homeowners believe that the value of their home has increased or stayed the same in 2007.

To add even more positive consumer sentiment to the mix, a large portion of all homeowners say that they are planning to make some sort of home improvements in 2008:

• About 80 percent say that they plan on spending the same amount or more on minor home improvements such as painting.

 • More than 65 percent say they will spend the same amount or more on major home improvements such as remodeling the kitchen or replacing the roof.

 • About 35 percent say they are more or equally likely to take out a home equity loan; 36 percent to refinance or take out a second mortgage, and 34 percent say they are more or equally as likely to sell their homes.

According to a Zillow.com spokesperson, most people are not so affected by declining home values unless they must sell or need equity immediately, contributing to healthy investments in home upgrades, despite the downward market trends.