Insigniaresidential - FSBO

From the Sacramento Bee:

The concept of historically low interest rates is a constant refrain in the real estate industry's favorite saying: "Now is a good time to buy."

This week, the industry has history on its side. Interest for 30-year fixed-rate loans fell to a two-year low – to 6.10 percent nationally – federal mortgage titan Freddie Mac said Thursday.

That's the cheapest rate for long-term home loans since the week of Oct. 13, 2005, the agency said.

After a long, bitter battle, Mercy's plans for a state of the art cardiac center in the heart of one of Sacramento's most established, pedestrian friendly neighborhoods get the go-ahead from the City Council.

From the Sacramento Bee:

The Sacramento City Council approved one of the most controversial development proposals in east Sacramento in decades Tuesday night – a plan by Mercy General Hospital to build a new cardiac center in the heart of the residential neighborhood.

Before a packed house of 600 people that spilled into the lobby and the plaza outside City Hall, council members voted 7-1 in favor of the nearly $200 million project, which hospital officials say will solidify Mercy's reputation as a leader in heart care.

"This is really a win for the entire community," said Denny Powell, Mercy's president, after the vote. "At Mercy, we have world-class health care. But we haven't had the facilities to move our tremendous clinical outcomes forward. Now we will."

Tuesday's vote capped a fierce, years-long battle between the hospital and a group of homeowners who said the project would alter the fabric of their neighborhood – one of the city's oldest and most pedestrian-friendly. The passion was on display during the four-hour hearing as dozens of residents who couldn't get a seat waved signs in the window overlooking the council chambers.

Opponents decried the congestion and noise that will come with construction. They also criticized Mercy's plan to demolish 13 apartment units and four homes to make room for the development.

The October US new house sales statistics were revised after official release from 735k to 727k, and the September ones from 770k to 716k. Those are big differences, and signs that all is not well in housing land.

So via the WSJ blog, a few tasty tidbits about the stats:

It isn't just the bottom end:

The median price reported for October is 8.6% lower than the September median and 13% below the year ago level. This is especially remarkable, since the collapse of the subprime segment of the housing market should skew the median price upward. (Subprime buyers are disproportionately at the low end of the market. If they can’t buy homes, then the median home sold should be a more highly priced house.)

–Dean Baker, Center for Economic and Policy Research

Some think the bottom is close...

..the revisions seem to have been unusually large for the past few months… The pace of new home sales is now close to where it was in the late-1990’s – before mortgage credit standards were lowered and before speculators jumped in with both feet. Thus, we are probably getting close to a bottom in sales. However, prices may need to come down a bit further in order to achieve the type of affordability levels that would be consistent with a sustainable equilibrium. –Morgan Stanley Research

but meanwhile cancellations are high and rising.

These revisions reflect sales cancellations that builders now acknowledge have been unusually high — and growing.

David Resler, Nomura Securities 

 

Chatting with seminar attendees, I am often asked "where do you invest?"

Tough questions....

Most people would expect an answer such as 'mutual funds', 'stocks', or 'real estate' ...

Though, I have invested in all of the aforementioned and still am investing in real estate and stock, my answer would not be any of those.  Surprise!

INVEST IN YOURSELF!!!

I cannot stress enough why knowledge is so important! (as well as self-development)

Have you got lucky and hit a jack pot, buying a piece of land with bushes and all of a sudden some developer is building a mall on it?  Have you bought a stock and things start turning your way and you made a fortune?

Let me ask you - Can you repeat your luck?

I have invested in my education regarding financial literacy.  I think knowledge is critical because you would never be successful in investing any arena without knowing how you won the game!  Investing in any vehicle requires full due diligence, market knowledge, and strong belief in what you believe in! Never listen to 'experts' and never listen to 'market tips'!!  Nowadays, I rarely read financial section of the newspaper, which I used to.

Why?  Well, newspaper certainly does update you with current market situation; it however, will NEVER NEVER NEVER suggest what WILL happen and is certainly NOT helpful in suggesting trends whatsoever.  Will you make money learning what happend yesterday? Will you make a dime reading what the 'experts' had to say about the crash last week?  Well, I have not - have you? 

I'd suggest anybody getting into investing to first invest in yourself!

Learn from a successful investor, learn how he/she thinks; learn how he/she analyze investments. Learn from a real person or buy books about Warren Buffet or someone you admire in a particular field. Do what he/she does, master his/her tecniques and you REPEAT !!!

Well, I am learning from someone who is financially free from passive cash flow in real estate.

I am learning how to flip properties from someone who is a master in this arena.

Are you?  Take action and let's work hard toward our goal together!

This is new official data dated November 29, 2007. Take a look at page 29 of this report from OFHEO, the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight.

http://www.ofheo.gov/media/pdf/3q07hpi.pdf

There's a lot of excitement brewing around the investment opportunities that are becoming available in light of the ongoing foreclosures and REO auctions in the real estate market. But be careful how you play this game, there are as many scams out there as there are opportunities.

Ever hear those ads on AM radio that promise to teach you a simple no-money-down, no-experience-needed, magical method of becoming a real estate investor at a three-hour seminar? Or the newest one, the guy who says he can teach you how to fix-and-flip properties for big profits - just like he does on TV? (My four year old daughter has figured out that what she watches on TV isn't real, so why does this guy think I'll fall for that?)

A friend of mine shared an article in Money Magazine with me that seemed to expose one of these scams. The article is about a training program that teaches investors how to make money on foreclosures. Granted, foreclosure investing is a complex business and there's plenty to learn, but the article makes this training sound like little more than lessons in cold calling. And while this journalist found plenty of folks putting out thousands of dollars for the course, he didn't identify more than one succesful student of the program.

It's just a reminder, there's no free lunch. Foreclosure investing is a profitable business (one of my best friends does very well at it). And this market is going to provide tremendous values in the form of REO properties and bank foreclosure auctions. But like anything else, if there's an investment opportunity that sounds too good to be true, it probably is. So before you write a check to some "Guru" to learn how to make money in this real estate market, talk to someone who's actually doing it. And if they make it sound really hard, then they're probably telling the truth.

Well, we've saved our money for a down payment.  We're either tired of paying rent or have enough equity on our current home to "Get Ur Done".  Let's look for a new home.  What ever the reason, just married, more kids (bigger home), less kids (smaller home), schools, shopping, whatever.  Slow-down.  

Most people looking for a new home start by looking in the neighborhood they would like to live in.  Sometimes they actually find a home in the neighborhood they like and  buy a home.  More people go to new subdivisions and pick from a number of newly built homes.  Some plan to building their own home.  They call an architech asking for a set of floor plans that will match their need and perform the task of general contractor.

Of course there are those of us who actually plan go the extreme, pick up hammer, nail and saw, and start building a new home.  In nearly all cases the plan, or plans, will have to be examined by the local building code authority for a building permit.  However, some rural areas don't really enforce building codes.  So, you can do it your way.

Oops! we have all these expensive plans and can't find a building lot (property) big enough to build it on.  Bummer!

Oh no! the subdivision covenants don't allow for swimming pools or geothermal wells, and we can't have a metal roof with photovoltaic photocells and solar hot water panels like we wanted.  Double Bummer!

note: A swimming pool is fun, but it's a huge energy hog. 

We wanted our own water well too!

Oh no! the property taxes are almost as much as our mortgage payment.  How did that happen?

In some states, the builder contractor has to have a building contractor license.  Depending on the license requirements, building contractors can be very qualified to barely qualified.  In a lot of areas the only thing between a person and a new home is Home Depot.  Well, I guess money has a lot to do with it also.

If you are planning a new home with photovoltaic lighting, solar hot water, or geothermal heat pumps you should be asking prospective builders if or not they are familiar with the technology.  You don't want to fund a school for a builder.  You want him to build your new home "Workmanship".  Another issue is checking out the mechanical, electrical, plumbing and any other subcontractors the builder plans to hire to complete those parts of the construction.  The written contract between you and the builder should contain qualifiers for the subcontract work.

If the builder says "ya, we've done a lot of those", ask if you could visit some of the homes he/she have completed lately.  You might be suprised, some of the best builders on the planet are a little backward and don't like to beat around the bush, too much.

Remember, you always have time to do it right, you never have time to do it over.  And you certainly don't want to spend a lot of time living in a house you don't like.

Since I have experience building homes, I think we will take our time:

Find a property or a buiding lot or rural property suitable for our need,

Make a list of the things we want our new home to have.

I will probably make our blueprints.  For those who don't know how to make blueprints, have an architach sketch around on your descriptions eventually coming up with something you will like and can afford.

The best results usually come from finding a reputable building contractor who uses the materials specified by the architech and engineers.  Replacing specified materials with other than specified materials can cause structural defects.

By-the-way, a reputable building contractor will usually have a good idea of where the best properties are located, and will usually have a handfull of subcontractors lined up of construction jobs.  If he/she is reputable, the subcontractors will probably be reputable also.

Dealing with the local building code administration can be the building contractors job is specified in your contract.

Well, keep looking and have fun.

See ya

Large Unit 3+1rooms 4baths, 1600 sqft

Fully furnished

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When I say Market Price, what does that mean to you? How would you define it?

From a Real Estate perspective in today’s rapidly changing market place, how do you keep track of it? What happens If I price my home too high? What if I sell too low.

All of these are frequent questions and challenges that we all face.

As a home owner myself, I understand the importance of great quality up to date real information that accurately and frequently tracks the market. More than anything I can have full access to trends and data as a consumer and a non real estate professional? Can’t I? The answer is yes but it is not as free as you think it is. More often than not it has catches, it has time restraints, it has limitations. So what is the answer I hear you say?

The answer is Market Snap Shot? What on earth is market snap shot, it sounds like just another sales line to me - I hear you say? well I can understand that. I can understand scepticism. Today’s cruel world, brings that out of us all as a self protection mechanism. But really what is it? Market snap shot is your answer to having clear un-compromized data that truely reflects today’s market as it happens, updated on a biweekly, monthly or more basis. It can give you clear insight to the features and the sales values of homes as they occur in your ZIP code. It can provide trends over time. It provides fully interactive map’s that enables you to focus your attention on homes in a certain street. Best of all you can have this information made available to you over the Internet and you can read it at your leisure.

One of the reasons why I became a Arizona REALTOR was because I recognized the variation in quality within the profession, and I wanted to make a difference. I want to bring to you a commitment to “Excellence through Innovation, Integrity and Quality”. If you have read this and you follow through and enquire further or complete the links, you will see that I am delivering on two of these promises. The remaining one Integrity I can demonstrate to you by living up to the promises as being your Agent and representing your needs and proving that everything I have said in this Blog is true.

You can find out more of on this by clicking here.

This was brought to you by MORE - Message on Real Estate.

Written By: Nathan Holman - REALTOR - Realty USA Southwest, Inc. 

Integrity Definition: The persuit of what is right, regardless of it being in your best interests………………..

Nathan Holman Fact Sheet:

Name: Nathan Holman

Profession: Real Estate, REALTOR

Market: Residential Serving Glendale, Scottsdale, Peoria, Cave Creek, Phoenix, Arizona, Metro Areas,

Company: Realty USA Southwest, Inc

Web Sites: www.holmanandholman.com & www.homehuntingaz.com

Blog Sites: www.messageonrealestate.com www.gogreeninaz.com

Professional Accreditation: NAR, PAR, AAR, eMA,

Passion: Food, Wine, Cooking, Prefessional Excellence, Community,     

Professional Expertise: Real Estate, Market Analysis, Advanced Level Negotiation, Business, Business Law, Marketing, eMarketing, Business Strategy,

Muchos de ustedes saben que Vidlisting.com ha estado trabajando para desarrollar un programa multimedia dedicado a casas lujosas en los Estados Unidos y el resto de América.
Hoy anunciamos el programa de marketing TV DISTINTIVO de videos de bienes raíces de lujo en un evento de marketing támbien lujoso para una conocida asociación, “REALTOR Association of Greater Miami and the Beaches (RAMB)” , en Miami. Estamos trabajando para desarrollar todos el material de marketing para apoyar nuestro nuevo programa. También  necesitaremos integrar esta iniciativa a otras organizaciones fuertes de Vidlisting.com con marketing organizacional e internacional, así como también encontrar programas de televisión ya existentes donde encaje perfectamente.
Tenemos un dominio especifico para el programa en el cual resaltaremos las propiedades distintivas, http://distinctive.tv/. Aun no hay nada en ese dominio pero inauguraremos la página en un corto tiempo.
Nosotros también planeamos inaugurar un programa de televisión en ingles basado en propiedades destacadas de TV DISTINTIVA, programa de videos de propiedades lujosas,  para inicios del próximo año.
Tenemos los detalles del programa completos. Es un enfoque totalmente diferente a los videos de propiedades Standard. Usted verá la diferencia en lo visual como también en la narración. Lo mejor de todo, estamos trabajando en un paquete de distribución especial para asegurar que la audiencia concuerde con la exclusividad de las propiedades. Estamos  contentos de poder brindarles esta iniciativa a nuestros clientes luego de tantos requerimientos.

No duden en contactarme para más información.

Anthony Grey