The ramblings of a real estate veteran.
March 6, 2011 Leave a Comment
Real people with a real message! That’s the theme of these three television commercials that are starting to run on WGAL, Fox 43, WHP 21, Comcast and Viamedia. They will run through the Spring buying season and end during the latter part of May.
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January 12, 2011 Leave a Comment
Are you looking forward to 2011 with grand anticipation or tempered trepidation? Here are a couple of thoughts and ideas to get you started on the right foot and make sure that it is your best year ever!
You wouldn’t know it from all the pundits who bombard us daily with doom and gloom but lots of homes are trading hands in the real estate industry. When the numbers are tallied for 2010, approximately 4.7 million homes will have been SOLD in this country. If we look back at historical data from the National Association of REALTORS® prior to the bubble (i.e. 2003-2008), this number was considered about ‘normal’. To further illustrate my point, the stock market experienced year-over-year gains and the holiday shopping season produced a healthy increase of 15% from last year.
The bottom line – - – products and services of all kinds are moving!
In order to be a ‘mover and shaker’ in the upcoming year, a lot will hinge on your mindset and what you do NOW to prepare to be successful. Don’t be afraid to shed old sales methods and outdated marketing approaches in favor of new skills and tools. Here are some strategies to get your creative juices flowing:
April 25, 2010 Leave a Comment
The average sized home in America is starting to shrink. No longer are homeowners demanding square footage and soaring open vaults in their living spaces. McMansions are OUT – - – efficiency and versatility are IN. MarketWatch’s Amy Hoak recently reported on this fast-evolving building trend.
November 6, 2009 2 Comments
The Lancaster County Association of REALTORS® Government Affairs Department, headed up by Frank Christoffel, IV, passed this Q&A along regarding the latest information on the potential extension of the homebuyer tax credit which includes an existing homebuyer credit that was not part of the first bill.
The House of Representatives passed the extension yesterday by a vote of 403-12 after passing the Senate the previous night 98-0. The new provisions will take effect as soon as President Obama signs the bill.
Here are some of the specifics regarding eligibility requirements:
1. Existing homeowner credit: Must the new house cost more than the old house?
No. Thus, for example, individuals who move from a high cost area to a lower cost area who meet all eligibility requirements will qualify for the $6500 credit.
2. I am an existing homeowner. On October 25, 2009, I signed a contract to purchase a new home. I have lived in my current home for more than 5 consecutive years and am within the new income limits. I will go to settlement on November 20. If President Obama has signed the bill by the time I go to settlement, will I qualify for the new $6500 tax credit?
Yes. The existing homeowner credit goes into effect for purchases after the date of enactment (when the bill is signed). There is no reference to the date of contract for the new credit. The provision looks solely to the date of purchase, which is generally the date of settlement.
September 29, 2009 Leave a Comment
Another month – another positive sign! The Standard & Poor‘s/Case-Shiller home price index rose 1.2 percent from June to August which reflects a positive trend for the third month in a row.
Before we all go off the deep end and declare “happy days are here again”, we should probably temper our enthusiasm just a bit. David M. Blitzer, the committee chairman for the Case-Shiller index said, “We do need to be cautious in coming months to assess whether the housing market will weather the expiration of the federal first-time buyer’s tax credit in November, anticipated higher unemployment rates and a possible increase in foreclosures.”
Stay tuned – - -
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September 10, 2009 Leave a Comment
There are more and more positive signs that the fog is starting to clear in the residential real estate market. Gone are the dense, pea-soup like conditions from a couple of months ago that caused buyers and sellers to try and drive through it at 5 mph. It appears that they’ve put their collective feet on the accelerator and are now driving more confidently, albeit still with the headlights on.
Point2 Technologies, Inc., the largest independent provider of website and listing syndication solutions for the real estate industry, with users in over 100 countries on its platform, released its Real Estate Confidence Index (RECI) for August 2009 this past week. Over 3,000 real estate professionals covering every U.S. State, Puerto Rico and Guam contributed to this month’s report. Charts of their findings are shown below:
July 28, 2009 Leave a Comment
Image courtesy of Flickr
Like it or not, one of the most pessimistic (some would argue realistic) housing economists of our generation, Robert Shiller, will probably always be associated with the worst housing downturn since the Great Depression. He was one of the first outspoken people to warn us of an impending ’housing bubble’ as far back as 2003. At that time, most economists scoffed at his assertions and at his newly created S&P/Case-Shiller home-price index. He was like that single, stray cloud that blocked your personal sun on the beach on an otherwise beautiful day. Annoying, but if you waited long enough, it would pass and the sun would return. One small problem - Shiller’s cloud grew into a full-fledged thunderstorm that very few people saw coming.
His S&P/Case-Shiller home-price index has been quoted far and wide as the definitive read on the housing market. For months, it hasn’t been a rosy picture, but today that sun returned to the beach. For the first time in three years, his index showed an increase in nationwide housing prices of .5% for the month of May.
