December Newsletter – packed with useful info

DECEMBER-2010 Newsletter Housing Trends eNewsletter

Welcome to the most current Housing Trends eNewsletter. This eNewsletter is specially designed for you, with national and local housing information that you may find useful whether you’re in the market for a home, thinking about selling your home, or just interested in homeowner issues in general.

The Housing Trends eNewsletter contains the latest information from the National Association of REALTORS®, the U.S. Census Bureau and Realtor.org reports, videos, key market indicators and real estate sales statistics, a video message by a nationally recognized economist, maps, mortgage rates and calculators, consumer articles, plus local neighborhood information and more.



Please click here to view the DECEMBER-2010 Newsletter Housing Trends eNewsletter.

If you are interested in determining the value of your home, click the Home Evaluator link for a free evaluation report.

Just listed: 207 Pennsylvania Ave, Hulmeville, PA 19047 for $299,900

Just listed: 207 Pennsylvania Ave, Hulmeville, PA 19047 for $299,900.

Pumpkin Winner

The winner of the pumpkin contest was:  Diane Juergensen (Donna Palmer) – Pumpkin weighed:  62.4 LBS.  – Diane had the closest guess:  60.5 LBS!  Thanks to everyone who guessed.   Who knows maybe we’ll do a “guess how many feathers the turkey has” or “how many balls on the Christmas tree”.   Ha.

Great time to buy a home!

Figured I would share this article from The Wall Street Journal…….

Original Source: Wall Street Journal Online

Enough with the doom and gloom about homeownership.

Sure, maybe  there’s more pain to come in the housing market. But when Time magazine starts  running covers that declare “Owning a home may no longer make economic sense,”  it’s time to say: Enough is enough. This is what “capitulation” looks like.  Everyone has given up.

After all, at the peak of the bubble five years  ago, Time had a different take. “Home Sweet Home,” declared its cover then, as  it celebrated the boom and asked: “Will your house make you rich?”

But  it’s not enough just to be contrarian. So here are 10 reasons why it’s good to  buy a home.

1. You can get a good deal. Especially if  you play hardball. This is a buyer’s market. Most of the other buyers have now  vanished, as the tax credits on purchases have just expired. We’re four to five  years into the biggest housing bust in modern history. And prices have come down  a long way– about 30% from their peak, according to Standard & Poor’s  Case-Shiller Index, which tracks home prices in 20 big cities. Yes, it’s mixed.  New York is only down 20%. Arizona has halved. Will prices fall further? Sure,  they could. You’ll never catch the bottom. It doesn’t really matter so much in  the long haul.

Where is fair value? Fund manager Jeremy Grantham at GMO,  who predicted the bust with remarkable accuracy, said two years ago that home  prices needed to fall another 17% to reach fair value in relation to household  incomes. Case-Shiller since then: Down 18%.

2. Mortgages are  cheap. You can get a 30-year loan for around 4.3%. What’s not to like?  These are the lowest rates on record. As recently as two years ago they were  about 6.3%. That drop slashes your monthly repayment by a fifth. If inflation  picks up, you won’t see these mortgage rates again in your lifetime. And if we  get deflation, and rates fall further, you can refi.

3. You’ll  save on taxes. You can deduct the mortgage interest from your income  taxes. You can deduct your real estate taxes. And you’ll get a tax break on  capital gains–if any–when you sell. Sure, you’ll need to do your math. You’ll  only get the income tax break if you itemize your deductions, and many people  may be better off taking the standard deduction instead. The breaks are more  valuable the more you earn, and the bigger your mortgage. But many people will  find that these tax breaks mean owning costs them less, often a lot less, than  renting.

4. It’ll be yours. You can have the kitchen and  bathrooms you want. You can move the walls, build an extension–zoning  permitted–or paint everything bright orange. Few landlords are so indulgent; for  renters, these types of changes are often impossible. You’ll feel better about  your own place if you own it than if you rent. Many years ago, when I was  working for a political campaign in England, I toured a working-class northern  town. Mrs. Thatcher had just begun selling off public housing to the tenants.  “You can tell the ones that have been bought,” said my local guide. “They’ve  painted the front door. It’s the first thing people do when they buy.” It was a  small sign that said something big.

5. You’ll get a better  home. In many parts of the country it can be really hard to find a good  rental. All the best places are sold as condos. Money talks. Once again, this is  a case by case issue: In Miami right now there are so many vacant luxury condos  that owners will rent them out for a fraction of the cost of owning. But few  places are so favored. Generally speaking, if you want the best home in the best  neighborhood, you’re better off buying.

6. It offers some  inflation protection. No, it’s not perfect. But studies by Professor  Karl “Chip” Case (of Case-Shiller), and others, suggest that over the long-term  housing has tended to beat inflation by a couple of percentage points a year.  That’s valuable inflation insurance, especially if you’re young and raising a  family and thinking about the next 30 or 40 years. In the recent past,  inflation-protected government bonds, or TIPS, offered an easier form of  inflation insurance. But yields there have plummeted of late. That also makes  homeownership look a little better by contrast.

7. It’s risk  capital. No, your home isn’t the stock market and you shouldn’t view it  as the way to get rich. But if the economy does surprise us all and start  booming, sooner or later real estate prices will head up again, too. One lesson  from the last few years is that stocks are incredibly hard for most normal  people to own in large quantities–for practical as well as psychological  reasons. Equity in a home is another way of linking part of your portfolio to  the long-term growth of the economy–if it happens–and still managing to sleep at  night.

8. It’s forced savings. If you can rent an  apartment for $2,000 month instead of buying one for $2,400 a month, renting may  make sense. But will you save that $400 for your future? A lot of people won’t.  Most, I dare say. Once again, you have to do your math, but the part of your  mortgage payment that goes to principal repayment isn’t a cost. You’re just  paying yourself by building equity. As a forced monthly saving, it’s a good  discipline.

9. There is a lot to choose from. There is a  glut of homes in most of the country. The National Association of Realtors® puts  the current inventory at around 4 million homes. That’s below last year’s peak,  but well above typical levels, and enough for about a year’s worth of sales.  More keep coming onto the market, too, as the banks slowly unload their  inventory of unsold properties. That means great choice, as well as great  prices.

10. Sooner or later, the market will clear.  Demand and supply will meet. The population is forecast to grow by more than 100  million people over the next 40 years. That means maybe 40 million new  households looking for homes. Meanwhile, this housing glut will work itself out.  Many of the homes will be bought. But many more will simply be destroyed–either  deliberately, or by inaction. This is already happening. Even two years ago,  when I toured the housing slump in western Florida, I saw bankrupt condo  developments that were fast becoming derelict. And, finally, a lot of the “glut”  simply won’t matter: It’s concentrated in a few areas, like Florida and Nevada.  Unless you live there, the glut won’t have any long-term impact on housing  supply in your town.

Email me if you have any questions  kenoberholtzer@verizon.net

Pumpkin Contest

I’m uploading a  better picture for the pumpkin contest that our Keller Williams Real Estate office is having.  This picture will give the pumpkin better scale.  If you didn’t receive my contest flyer then just reach out to me and I’ll send you one.  Good luck.

36:12:3

Well, I officially started Camp 36:12:3.  It is being taught by Denny Joyce from the Keller Williams Real Estate office in Langhorne.  I am excited to complete the sessions while achieving the goals of 36 closed transactions in 12 months by doing 3 hours of lead generation a day.   I’m focused and determined and I can’t wait to start seeing results.

Here we go….

I recently transferred my real estate license to Keller Williams Real Estate in Langhorne, PA.  It is definitely the smartest thing I have done so far in my real estate career.  Keller Williams sets you up to succeed.  There are an array of tools at your disposal that can help you bring you business to the next level.   I am excited and ready to accomplish my goals faster and more efficiently then I ever dreamed possible.   I will be posting my progress along the way.  Also, I will be posting pertinent real estate information on this site that most people will find very valuable.   I’ll be sharing my stories, triumphs and of course the occasional mishaps along my journey to becoming a Millionaire Real Estate Agent…….

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