Winter Blahs! What to do?

The weather outside remains on the frigid side. But with every passing ray of sun that has fallen upon us in the last couple of days it makes us long for more of it.

Here are few tips that help with the frigid temperatures and lack of light!

1) Watch some shows on HGTV, especially those that center on gardening and landscaping.

2) Realize that we are slowly but surely gaining that sunlight with every passing day (approximately one minute and six seconds per day).

3) Start to order your seeds for your garden and landscaping projects.

4) Sketch the layout of your garden. Even though it looks bad right now, you can start to visualize what it will look like mid-summer!

5) Involve your family in what should go in the garden this year. This will help all members with their cabin fever.

6) Plan for an herb garden and a vegetable garden...kids love to know they can actually eat what they grow in their yard.

6) Make your own list of to-do "when it gets warm."

I get excited seeing the return of several of the birds and ducks as they eat out of the feeders! The sounds of Sugar Run creek gets me even more excited as I realize the beauty of the neighborhood we are fortunate enough to live in! Soon we will once again hear the voices of the kids riding their bikes and playing outside.

Folks it is right around the corner...I realize winter in Ohio differs from most of the Midwest with its ever changing climate. Don't let winter dampen your days enjoy these beautiful frigid mornings and beautiful rays of sun we have been blessed with today!

The Fed cutting the rate and what it means to you!

The fed took action this morning by cutting the rate (albeit short term rates) 3/4 of a point. What it means to current mortgage holders is very little unless you have an ARM. In this case if your time is up to readjust it will help you somewhat.

What we are seeing is not the end of the road, its not time to fold and lay your cards on the line. In fact, it is a great time to buy. Real estate continues to be the best long term investment (coming from the financial guru's on the tube...who are partially responsible for the good but mostly bad picture of the real estate market, that should be worth something!) and rates on a 30 year mortgage is still a competitive 5.25%!

Overall I say don't fall into the news fray,...step away from the television and go buy a house!

Hey you...yeah you, why don't you buy a house?

If you haven't noticed the mortgage rates are at 5.25%. So why is it so hard to get clients out to look at their next home? I believe it to be an innate fear of the unknown. This is where as Realtors, we can help clients see the light. For the most part, the unknown to many of our buyers are things that are essentially out of their control; such as the upcoming elections as well as the sub-prime catastrophe. If we point out that the county auditor is standing by his comments to our own board that property prices have still increased in a "down" year, this is a perfect example of what a great investment home ownership still is.



Ring the church bells, put out your ads, get in the car and sell or buy a house today!

Why Buy?

There are a lot of homes on the market...yet you wait. I have heard many comments ranging from " I found the home I want I am just waiting for the owners to lower the price some more" to " I am waiting for the market to bottom out." All I have to say is this, real estate is cyclical and although we all enjoy bargains (especially in real estate) we tend to wait to long. The fact is most of the buyers that I have been in contact with will ultimately pay more for the wait.

How so?

The first thing to keep in mind is that pundits are just that...let's say a level below a c-class actor who people are mesmerized by hanging on their every word. Having addressed the pundits it is safe to say, their guess as to when the market will bottom out is as good as you picking the next Kentucky Derby winner! Secondly, interest rates are still extremely competitive...with an election year coming up who knows (insert pundits name here) where they'll end up.

Folks it's not rocket science...now is a great time to buy your next home that is unless you've heard a talking head tell you otherwise!

Are you listening?

We can all sit in front of the television and continuously worry that we've made a wrong decision to sell or buy a home in the current situation of the real estate market. After all, turn on any local or cable news station and we are bombarded with the horrible news of large inventories and not enough buyers! The fact is that there are buyers and those buyers are taking advantage of low interest rates and large inventories is making their decision making more of a selective process taking a little bit more time. Can you blame them? Of course not! If you'd find yourself in the situation you'd likely look at as many until you found what you wanted...why settle?

THE FLIP SIDE

What is a seller to do? For starters listen to your agent, he/she is not pulling stuff out of his/her $%# when they inform you that your home needs to stand out from the competition. I have recently taken buyers to homes that appear to be abandoned...when they are not! Oh, I understand both parents work outside the house and junior is an aspiring artist whose beautiful paintings adorn the walls....right behind the couch! Folks we are not asking for a complete makeover of your house like what we see on television (even though we'd like that sometimes). What we are saying is that we understand you both work outside of the home and we love the fact that one day juniors painting prowess will adorn the wall of a gallery. The big question is, how bad do you want to sell your home? Small changes to your home with the guidance of your realtor make a big difference. They will tell you this because they have been through hundreds if not thousands of homes and realize what are the difference makers.

It is easy towards the end of listing agreement to point fingers in all directions as to why a home did not sell. Unfortunately, it is usually pointed in the wrong direction and a verbal attack ensues and receiving at the other end is your realtor. Understanding a sellers frustration is something that we are keenly aware of and we try to alleviate the whole sales process along the way. Remember we can revert to history in this matter "United we stand, divided we fall." You are part of a team with your realtor, he is your advocate in getting your home sold, he is not on the other side....are you listening?

Jerk and other terms of endearment!

It's funny when you go to a listing appointment prepared to explain to potential clients the benefits and the drawbacks to their home you end up walking away puzzled. Why you ask? It is simple, any constructive criticism which we are taught to accept early in life is forgotten, and seen as a personal attack! The hardest part to translate is that "I am your partner" in the sale of your home! "Oh sure you are, you just told me how the centerpiece on my dining room has to be stored out of the sight of potential buyers" said a potential client during my listing appointment. Alright perhaps stored was a hard word to use when the centerpiece constructed by the hands of her Son consisted of approximately 10,563,837 toothpicks and 490 pads of construction paper (cut into strips...neat!) and resembled the paper-mache buildings crushed with reckless abandon by Godzilla in his movies! Yes I admit to watching the bad films but lets not get off track. My goal is to sell your home and albeit tough to hear that "Billy's" project must be put in storage I do it because I care.

It amazes me how much space one can create with removing certain items and moving some furniture around. Constructive criticism is hard to accept, I was a seller myself not long ago and have vivid recollections of comments offered by our realtor. But lets face the facts, when you want to sell you will stop at nothing to make your home stand-out from all the rest and the counsel of your realtor is only because he is on "your" team! It pays off in the long run when you find yourself on closing day at the big table at the title agency trying to get a look at the buyers across the way but your view is obstructed by an expensive centerpiece ("Do not touch" stated on an engraved brass sign) constructed of 10,563,837 toothpicks and 490 pads of construction paper........."jerk!"

Are we turning the corner?

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Sales of new homes surged in April by the biggest amount in 14 years, but the median price of a new home dropped by the largest amount on record. The mixed signals left no clear picture of whether the worst of the nation's housing slump is over.

The Commerce Department reported that sales of new single-family homes jumped by 16.2 percent in April to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 981,000 units. That was far better than the tiny 0.2 percent gain that economists had been expecting.
However, the median price of a new home sold last month fell to $229,100, a record 11.1 percent decline from the previous month. The big price decline indicated that builders are slashing prices in an effort to move a huge overhang of unsold homes.
The jump in sales was the biggest increase since a 16.4 percent surge in new home sales that occurred in April 1993.
However, analysts cautioned against reading too much into the big gain, especially in light of other surveys showing that builder confidence has sunk in recent months over worries that troubles in the subprime mortgage market will further crimp demand in coming months.
There was also concern because all of the strength in sales came in one region of the country, the Northeast, which saw a surge of 43.1 percent.
Sales were down 28.1 percent in the Midwest and 25.4 percent in the West. Sales fell a smaller 3.4 percent in the South.
The drop in median prices in April compared to March was a record one-month decline. If the April sales price was compared to the sales price a year ago, the decline was 10.9 percent, the biggest year-over-year drop since 1970.
In other economic news, the Commerce Department said that orders to U.S. factories for big-ticket manufactured goods posted a moderate 0.6 percent increase in April, helped by a continued rebound in business investment.
In a third report, the Labor Department said that the number of newly laid off workers filing applications for unemployment benefits rose to 311,000 last week, an increase of 15,000. But even with the gain, claims remain at a level indicating a healthy labor market.
While the increase in orders for durable goods was less than had been expected, the government sharply revised the March performance to show a 5 percent surge, much stronger than the 3.7 percent gain previously reported.
Analysts believe that U.S. factories, which have been buffeted by the weakness in housing and slumping demand for autos, are starting to stage a moderate rebound, helped by reviving interest on the part of businesses to spend money to expand and modernize.
The overall economy slowed in the first three months of this year to an annual growth rate of just 1.3 percent, the weakest performance in four years, as a steep slump in housing continued to weigh on the economy's performance.
Analysts are hoping that spending by consumers and businesses will be able to overcome the weakness in housing and keep the country out of a recession.
The report on durable goods offered encouragement in the area of business investment. It showed that demand for capital goods excluding airplanes, considered a good proxy for business investment, rose by 1.2 percent in April following, the second solid monthly increase.
The 0.6 percent rise in total durable goods orders came even though demand for transportation products fell by 1.3 percent. This reflected a drop of 10.7 percent in demand for commercial aircraft and a 1.9 percent fall in orders for motor vehicles.
Excluding transportation, orders would have been up by 1.5 percent, the same performance as in March.
There was strength in orders for primary metals such as steel which rose by 4.3 percent and orders for electronic equipment and appliances, which rose by 3.8 percent.
But demand was weak for computers, which fell by 7.8 percent, and communications equipment, which dropped 5 percent.