| JUNE 2010 NEWSLETTER | |||
| Prepare Today for The Hurricane Season! The season of wind and rain is upon us once again. Make sure you have emergency supplies on hand so you will not be in the file footage on the TV news shows – showing all those people standing in line to purchase their batteries, bottled water, plywood and weather radios. Our northern family members think it is funny to see people rushing to the store to pick up items when it is certainly no secret that hurricanes often grace our state on a rather regular schedule from Jun e to November. I remind them it is for the same reason people in the snowbelt wait until the snow is coming down to purchase extra milk, bread, toilet paper, and batteries for their radios. The explanation is human nature and procrastination. Break the cycle – and gather your supplies before the crowd lines up. Web Corner – What a great website! If you enjoy spending money or saving money – you should visit this site immediately! Put down your coffee, newspaper, turn off the TV and find your computer. This site gives you more information on saving money than the Sunday Coupons in the Orlando Sunday Paper! Visit: http://www.billshrink.com/ - to learn how to save money on all types of services. Do you transfer large files or pictures often? Check out Dropbox.com for the easiest way to do this. While email systems often limit the size of files that can be sent, Dropbox.com allows you to transfer HUGE files from one computer to another. Another great use of this site is to upload your files to Dropbox.com so you can access them any where and any time for any computer. This Cloud Computing things is the best! Did I mention – this service is FREE? It is. And it is easier than burning discs, carrying flash drives or emailing yourself files! Jewelry Found A neighbor found a piece of jewelry in the community. If you lost an item, please send an email to fatima_dalal2004@yahoo.com describing the lost item. She will contact you via email. Thank you. So Really, How is the Housing Market? That depends on who you listen to and where you live in the United States. A trusted supplier of information, The Kiplinger Letter, recently spent a lot of print time giving three good reasons the housing market is in recovery mode. Warning: In order to “feel good” about this information – You would have to be a buyer and probably not living in Florida, Nevada, California or Michigan. The three reasons were: •First, house prices are exceptionally affordable. Now, thanks to falling prices, only 18% of the typical household income is used to meet principal and interest payments on a single-family home, instead of the long-term average of 26%. •Second, confidence is improving. According to a recent survey from a major university, about three-quarters of Americans believe this is a “good time to buy.” This isn’t confidence – this is simple logic. Falling prices mean less money spent. •Third, credit conditions will ease up. It would have been more believable if examples of fair closing costs, timely processing of documents, and a HUD form to review PRIOR to a closing had been documented. People who do not need credit – get it. People who need credit jump through endless repetitive hoops to prove their worthiness. This point was to convince buyers that the market is a good place to be now and in the immediate future and that the government backed loans will be available once again to them. Let’s look at these three points from a Seller’s point of view – and since we’re in the Florida market – we’ll add a little southern flavor to the perspective. 1. Housing is now affordable. This means you are not going to receive anything close to what you thought your property is worth this year or probably in the next 3 years. A general consensus is that the “Just Value” stated on your property tax reflects approximately 80% of the market value of your home. Sit down before you do the math on this. You may want to make a note to object to the county appraiser next year. 2. American confidence is improving. I’m not sure where – but I’m sure it is improving somewhere. Being told over and over the number of sales are UP from last year is probably what most of those surveyed were responding to. When you had NO sales in 2009 to speak about, it does not take a genius to state the obvious – that we’re having more sales this year but they conveniently forgot to mention the prices received by sellers is dismal. Of course Buyers are happy – they just received an $8,000 transfer of money from all of you to them to purchase a home. Their confidence is sky-rocketing! Sellers that were at the end of their rope are breathing a sigh of relief in avoiding foreclosure – so I guess you can add this group to the ‘confidence is improving’ crowd. 3. Credit Conditions will ease up. Well, we hope so – but the signs of that are not evident just yet. Buyers who have 20% down are treated like felons while people embracing a 5% down FHA & VA loans are embraced with free checking accounts and toasters at the bank. The world has been upside-down for over 3 years – so this phenomenon should not come as a shock. Banks do not have a pure history of benevolence and if you think they are your friend – you probably should expand your circle of experiences. The bottom line in housing is the world looks like it does to you depending on which side of the equation you are identifying with. Sure – we’re happy for buyers’ and their opportunity to purchase a home at 50 cents on the dollar – but how quickly we have forgotten the pain of the sellers that made the buyers’good fortune a reality. The hope we had in mind was to grow new jobs in the private sector – stabilize the economy – eliminate the need for short-sales & foreclosures instead of building an industry for them – and bring some lost equity back to sellers. It’s not too late to hope but action will be required to bring affordability, confidence & credit to everyone in balance at the closing table. Summer Season & Petty Crime – Please make an effort to keep your garage doors closed when you are not actively in the garage. We have had a couple reports of items missing from garages when the doors were left open & were unattended. And while you are being a watchful neighbor, report any suspicious activity to the sheriff department on the non-emergency telephone number. Many of our residents will be traveling on vacations this summer and will appreciate your effort to keep our community free from crime! | |||
