“Bumping along the bottom” is the latest catch-phrase I’ve heard to describe our current market conditions, but I’m feeling a bit more (cautiously) optimistic for summer ‘09. In the last month I’ve had a number of buyers enter the market and write offers after being on the fence for a couple of years. [...]

 You may already be wondering where I’m going with this.  Not to worry, I’m not writing the standard “Ten Reasons Why You Need to Sell/Buy RIGHT NOW!”.  Besides, it’s usually life (or life-style) changing events that are the catalyst for a home sale or purchase.  And babies, true love, or job transfers don’t really give [...]

A special “Thank You!” to Julie Sandlin of First American Title for sending this along this morning.
 
Frequently Asked Questions:
First Time Home Buyer Tax Credit of $8,000
 
1. Who is eligible to claim the tax credit?
First-time home buyers purchasing any kind of home-new or resale-are eligible for the tax credit. To qualify for the tax credit, a [...]

This article was authored by Michelle Berry, real estate broker, and Sara Blanchard, loan officer. All information contained herein should be considered accurate as of the date of this writing, but should be not be considered a guarantee of financing. Any opinions expressed in the below article are the opinions of the writers and not their [...]

For anyone who has used a 12 Step program to overcome anything, this will sound familiar.  Being in the throes of an economic crisis, recovery should be on our collective mind.  It seems the media is flailing around, trying to point a finger at one single cause or source of our current crisis, but honestly, [...]

Fannie Tries Short Sales Over Foreclosures
Fannie Mae has launched pilot projects in Phoenix and Orlando intended to reduce foreclosures by pre-approving short sales, agreeing on a price and the loss it will take prior to a deal even being made. It is hoped the program will improve the popularity of short sales among real estate [...]

New website…..same great service.
So I can’t say I’m way ahead of the curve on this one… but I’m happy to report that I’m not lagging behind the pack either. Over the last several months, I’ve been completely revamping my web presence. The cherry on top is the scrapping of my old website, and the implementation [...]

Being in the industry and always looking for more data, and more accurate data, I’ve been subjected to an ongoing debate over who has the best, most accurate data.  I think most people are looking for some minor nuance to point conditions in their direction.  Looking for some subtlety to give them a glimmer of [...]

Nearly a year ago I got a call from a potential client.  He was beside himself with excitement as he talked about the REDC auction of Buena Vista Homes.  I was immediately struck by his circus-like fascination.  It’s new.  It’s exciting.  They have jazzy, high-intensity commercials and newspaper ads.  But I asked him to let [...]

And maybe it still is.
NAR released numbers today that state exsisting home sales in September were the highest increase, month over month, since 2003.  Woohoo!, right?  Maybe not.  Nationally, home prices are still falling.  Even the eternally optimistic NAR econ-front man, Lawrence Yun, is cautious.  MSNBC reported Mr. Yun as offering the following: “housing may [...]