Data through November 2008, released last week by Standard & Poor's for its S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices, shows continued broad based declines in the prices of existing single family homes across the United States, with 11 of the 20 metro areas showing record rates of annual decline, and 14 reporting declines in excess of 10 percent compared to November 2007.

Of the 20 cities tracked, Detroit alone has lower home prices now than in 2000. Its index was 83.42. The indices have a base value of 100 in January 2000; thus, for example, a current index value of 150 translates to a 50 percent appreciation rate since January 2000 for a typical home located within the subject market.

In addition, eight of the Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) posted their largest monthly decline on record – Atlanta, Boston, Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas, New York, Portland and Seattle. Although in decline over the past few years, some of these regions have out-performed on a relative basis, when compared to the national average.

New York City, with an index of 186.81, led the index for long-term growth in home values. However, the nation's financial capital recorded a November monthly decline of 1 percent and an annual decline of 8.6 percent. It is clear that the decline in home prices is affecting all regions regardless of geography or employment opportunities.

Dallas and Denver faired the best in November, in terms of relative year-over-year returns. While in negative territory, their declines remained in low single digits of -3.3 percent and -4.3 percent, respectively. It should be noted, Charlotte reported its third consecutive largest monthly decline on record, down 1.9 percent.

On a relatively positive note, eight of the 20 metro areas recorded better annual returns compared to last month.

November 2008 S&P/Case-Shiller Home Prices Indices

Carol Coletta is president of CEOs for Cities and host/producer of the nationally syndicated public radio show, Smart City. Coletta is interviewing Richard Florida, author of "Who's Your City?".

I've been listening to Carol Coletta's Smart City radio show, a weekly public radio program, for more than a year. It's so informative that I archive each episode. During my interview with her last week, among the plethora of things we discussed was President-elect Barack Obama's infrastructure plans and the likelihood they'll be akin to a Works Project Administration (WPA) program. Her show the week of our interview just happened to be on that same subject.

But first, let's start with what makes Carol Coletta an international name in urban planning. Carol served as president of Coletta & Company, a Memphis-based consultancy that creates strategic community investment plans for major corporations. She's served as executive director of the Mayors' Institute on City Design – a partnership of the National Endowment for the Arts – U.S. Conference of Mayors and American Architectural Foundation. Carol was a Knight Fellow in Community Building for 2003 at the University of Miami School of Architecture and is currently a candidate for a Master of Design Methods at the Institute of Design at IIT. She is frequently interviewed as an expert on urban issues by national media and is an active speaker on the success formula for cities and creative communities.

Below is part two of my interview with Carol:

What are three characteristics smart cities share?

"They have a lot of talent. That is, human capital. They know how to attract it, keep it, and develop it. They have dense connections between people and resources and money. They also understand and act on their distinctiveness. They have strong vital cores."

Can you give me some examples?

"Chicago; Portland; Austin; San Francisco; Seattle and Boston."

Obama talks a lot about a major infrastructure initiative, which might employ some 3 million people. What will that entail? Will it proliferate car-centered development or encourage public transportation or perambulation? Will it lead to some sort of WPA programming?

"If the states drive the list of projects – the shovel-ready projects – it will be business as usual. These are new roads, new bridges. We don't need new capacity; we need to think beyond the system we've built for the last 50 years and say, 'Is that really 21st-century infrastructure?' (For Obama) the idea is to put people back to work. If the governors drive this, it's not going to be pretty. Read Richard Gilbert and Anthony Perl's 'Transport Revolutions.' They pointed out that electricity is a carrier, it's not an output. You can create it with water, coal, nuclear, bio fuels... in many ways. We could retrofit autos and buses, etc. to use those alternative electricity sources. I think a WPA program would be terrific, but even that takes time to gear up, like the sustainable infrastructure plans.

Smart Growth America, (a nationwide coalition that promotes a better way to grow; protect farmland and open space; revitalize neighborhoods; keep housing affordable; and much much more) has provided good ideas for how to find the right workers and projects.... What you could do to put people to work really fast is to retrofit schools and government buildings. We could also retrofit residential buildings with funding from projected utility/energy savings. The Clinton Initiative [for example] worked to retrofit office buildings."

How will the recent real estate boom and its resulting economic woes help shape land planning and urban design?

"The notion that you can take any piece of land in America and build whatever the heck you want to on it is over. You can see it in increased transit use. People have more incentive to live closer in. Other means of transport won't be seen as a sacrifice but as a preference. People will rediscover the joys of real community and look for public transportation options, living more conveniently. The age of megamansions is dead. People will stop wanting to have so much space and so much storage and so much materialism. They say, 'Do I want a backyard or Millennium Park two blocks from my house? Millennium Park, thank you!'"

If you missed it, checkout part one of my interview with Carol Coletta.

View more blogs by Nichole Reber at Spacedesignjournal.com

Carol Coletta is president of CEOs for Cities and host/producer of the nationally syndicated public radio show, Smart City.

With Radiohead playing a little too loudly at the Intelligentsia on Randolph St. near Millennium Park and the Chicago Cultural Center, I edge my pseudo-aluminum chair to hear what Carol Coletta's saying. With her blonde, stylishly disheveled coif and subtle makeup seemingly perfect, you'd never guess she'd awoken at 430 a.m. in Memphis to catch her plane to Chicago. Having homes in both places, she's a frequent traveler, and in her gently Memphis dialect she also discusses her trips to Australia, South Africa and China. Coletta is president of CEOs for Cities and host/producer of the nationally syndicated public radio show, Smart City.

CEOs for Cities is a national network of urban leaders dedicated to building and sustaining the next generation of great American cities.

The conversation was extensive, though certainly I would have loved to talk to her all day. I didn't get to ask her about the likelihood of cohousing and cooperative communities making it into the mainstream as an indirect result of this tired economy. I didn't get to Rorschach quiz her on homeowners associations. Nor was I able to ask about her initial thoughts on NIMBYism. And while I didn't get to ask her about what books or resources she'd recommend for space design aficionados or experts — she did slip some into our easily flowing and jam-packed conversation; you can find them in part two of the interview, coming tomorrow.

Do you lean toward Thomas Friedman's theory that information technology erases distance and therefore enhances anyone's creativity and productivity tools anywhere, or toward Richard Florida, who says there's something uniquely, intellectually, creatively inspiring about metropolitan areas?

"Tom Friedman is correct in that tech makes us more productive and lets us work from anywhere. Richard Florida is right because the chance meetings that cities enable makes us more productive. Bill Bishop has done wonderful work in that same area, making the same point of (Florida): the more educated you are, the more mobile you are. People from the age group of 25 to 34 years old are more mobile."

From 1990 to 2000 this demographic went to 16 of the top 50 metropolitan areas of the U.S. That means the other 34 major cities lost out in attracting this age group to their area.

How do we know New Urbanism isn't just another Radiant City or City Beautiful?

"New Urbanism has been phenomenal in terms of its packaging and marketing. They have succeeded in building much better suburbs and have been good advocates for better roadways, smaller roadways. Doug Farr wrote a book called Sustainable Urbanism: Urban Design with Nature, which is a brilliant piece of work. He's on the board of the Congress for New Urbanism. LEED ND is trying to promote a different sort of planning. The two are very compatible in a lot of ways, certainly not incompatible. New Urbanism is better than traditional suburbs, what without their sense of place and location away from core area of cities."

How has New Urbanism helped or hindered the redevelopment of New Orleans?

While Coletta pointed out that GlobalGreen.org and Brad Pitt's sponsorships in a design competition to create sustainable development in New Orleans as a positive move in the right direction, she feels the city still has a long way to go.

"New Orleans is just as vulnerable to flooding again and the development hasn't taken that into consideration. The great miscalculation is that everyone would come back, but they haven't. It's become a shrinking city like Cleveland, Detroit, Youngstown and Buffalo."

In tomorrow's post I'll discuss shrinking cities, Obama's infrastructural plans, the economy's long-term effects on land planning and more.

View more blogs by Nichole Reber at Spacedesignjournal.com

Let's face it, 2008 has been less than a stellar year for the real estate market. But on the bright side, employed homebuyers with good credit will find 2009 as an excellent time to buy. For home sellers, this could also mean more competition from neighboring properties for sale and contentious pricing battles. But you don't have to get left on the curb this year when it comes to selling your home.

Here are 10 helpful New Year's resolutions for home sellers:

1. Step into the buyer's shoes. Go outside and see what prospective buyers see when they drive up to your home. Is the lawn manicured? Is the home nicely painted (no weird colors please)? Is the roof clean and are all the garbage and toys out of sight? If your answer is no to any of these questions, then it looks like it's time to get busy.

2. Create the 'wow' factor. When a buyer walks into your home, you want to evoke positive emotions. From neutral aromatic smells to clean, freshly painted rooms, a buyer should be able to imagine the property to be their home. If you're having trouble organizing your personal belongings, hire a professional stager to get your home ready. This is usually money well invested and will help give the home a well polished look and feel.

3. Know your competition. Your home better be a superior property if you're looking to get a superior asking price. You may need to spend a day checking out your competition. Even with a well staged home, your competition may have some additional amenities, so it's important that you price your home correctly.

4. Create incentives. With the economy in a tailspin, and more people searching for bargain deals with their big-ticket purchases, you can help increase interest in your home with some tempting incentives. Some creative incentives you might want to offer with the sale of your home can include:

• Buy-down interest rates
• Offer six months home owners dues
• Pay the property tax for a year
• Offer moving services
• Provide a home warranty
• Offer six months of prepaid maid service

It's a competitive market and the smallest incentive can be just what the buyer needs to ink the deal.

5. Take GREAT photos. With 87 percent of people starting their home search online, a picture is worth a 1,000 words. From Web ads to virtual tours, choosing the best images of your home to display will help generate more interest and hopefully lure in a serious buyer. Avoid showcasing photos of rooms that are cluttered or unkempt yard space. Focus on the home's positives and the more pictures the merrier.

6. OPEN HOUSES are a must. While winter weather usually deters people from frequenting open houses, you can expect more buyers to bloom in the spring and they will be shopping hard for the best deals in their market. Make it easy to find the home and irresistible to walk through. Having open houses will also give you a chance to market your home with all those attractive incentives you'll be offering.

7. Offer a selling agent bonus. I'm a fan of these bonuses. The best and busiest agents will go where there is a chance to profit more on the sale. You can attract the best agents by dangling the bonus commission carrot.

8. Don't mislead your buyers. Should you have a dog, call it a dog. With distressed and bank owned properties, sometimes it's hard to find any money to improve the property before placing it on the market. If you're trying to sell a fixer-upper, then pursue an investor or buyer with all the right words in your description of the property. Use descriptions such as 'fixer,' 'handyman special' or 'sweat equity awaits.' But whatever you do, don't create misleading marketing material. Being honest is always good business practice.

9. Get Internet exposure for your listing. Enhance your listing on the right Web sites to give it premiere placement. Have the seller share the cost for the added exposure. Find online sites that will provide you with information requests on your property. This can be used to track your leads.

10. Go out and grab coffee when buyers are viewing your home. I see more and more sellers hanging around while their homes are being shown. This can be very intimidating to a buyer. When showing a property, you want the buyer to feel comfortable looking around. They need to open drawers, cabinets and closets, and all the little spaces that they would never touch with the seller at home. An agent's ability to sell the property depends on the buyer becoming attached to the home. This can only happen if the buyer feels comfortable and has plenty of time to imagine living in the new space.

Duane Hopper is a Washington-based real estate agent and owner of CENTURY 21 Real Estate Center.

1. NEVER REJECT A PURCHASE OFFER – even if it's a lowball offer. Don't get me wrong, I'm not advising you to become a pushover. But please COUNTER OFFER EVERY OFFER, and don't take the lower offer personally. Remember, there is no sin in saving money and buyers – perhaps even you, when you buy your next home - might be inclined to test the waters with a lower offer, while maintaining every intention to INCREASE THE OFFER if necessary. Even if your real estate agent advises you to counter a lower offer with one close to your asking price, counter all offers and NEVER REJECT ONE OUT RIGHT!

2. FOR SALE BY OWNER (FSBO). Are you considering going sans agent and taking a stab at the FSBO route instead? While many people decide to sell their home on their own to save on real estate transaction fees, it may not be the most beneficial option in a slow real estate market. In most cases, buyers looking at FSBO properties offer far less on these homes than those represented by a full-service Realtor. According to a report from National Association of Realtors (NAR), the typical FSBO seller nets 16 percent less than those working with a qualified real estate professional – a figure that greatly exceeds most agent's professional services fee or commission. While there have been exceptions to the rule, in today's market it's better to play it safe and work with a real estate professional who may have more marketing resources to help sell your home.

3. GET YOUR HOME SOLD FIRST, then start looking for a new one. Unfortunately in today's market, many home sellers are finding their asking price significantly lower than what they originally projected. If you purchase your new home first, you are completing the move process in reverse. Purchasing another property without knowing exactly how much you'll be netting on your former home, can put you into a tight financial corner. Those buying before they sell their former home, often find themselves lowering the sales price by an even greater amount to avoid losing the new home on a home sale contingency contract. I always advise my clients to SELL FIRST, then NEGOTIATE POST-CLOSING POSSESSION on your old home. Once you've completed the sell, then you should be ready to make a serious go at buying your new dream home.

4. AMOUNT OF EQUITY IN YOUR HOME. If your projected home equity is low, and you have little additional savings for a new home, you might not be able to gather enough of a down payment for a new home mortgage loan. It's important here to be true to yourself, and trust the candid advice of your real estate and lending professionals. Don't try to bite off more than you can chew. This should be an important lesson learned from the thousands of struggling home owners who currently owe more on their mortgages than their homes are worth.

5. DON'T MAKE COSTLY, UNNECESSARY IMPROVEMENTS ON YOUR OLD HOME. Over-improving a home for sale can get very costly, very quickly! While you might feel the need to paint the whole house, purchase new appliances, get new carpet or update a bathroom, my experience over the years suggests most of these late-improvement investments have a negligible impact on the ultimate sales price of the home! This doesn't mean that you shouldn't invest in home repairs. Items such as a defective hot water heater or a leaky roof are basic repair must-dos. But in most cases, costly presale home improvements or extensive decorating is truly not necessary to sell. Why would you invest $10,000 in improvements, and get only $2,000 back in incremental sales price? In most cases, KEEP YOUR WALLET IN YOUR POCKET, when it comes to fancy upgrades. Prioritize and determine what are needed repairs and what would fall under as a luxury upgrade.

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