Rose Cottage Ltd

It’s sometimes easy to forget that thousands of US troops will not be “home” for the holidays. Some are in the Middle East – doing what we are NEVER sure, and some are now in Africa, supposedly helping to contain the Ebola disease.

I constantly ask myself why we send our military where we do and for what purpose – but the military themselves don’t ask, they just do. They aren’t paid that well, spend a lot of time away from their families, and are often in mortal risk – on a daily basis.

Please keep them in your thoughts, in particular, as the Christmas season approaches.

You’ve no doubt heard that when buying a home, “location, location, location” is a prime consideration. It’s important for property values, initial cost, school districts, neighborhood ambiance, and a host of other factors.

But these days, headlines like the one below are a more important barometer of what’s going on in real estate:

Glaxo lays off 900 in Research Triangle Park.

For those who don’t know, “Glaxo” is Glaxo Smith Kline, a very large pharmaceutical company and “Research Triangle Park” is also known as RTP – location of some of the largest employers in Raleigh, North Carolina. This headline was in our local paper earlier this week.

Some of these people, the article stated, will probably be employed by another company in RTP who works with some of Glaxo’s products. So if say 40 people move to the new company they will be okay, but what about the rest? That still leaves 860 (I’m just making up the numbers here) families with their main source of income – gone. Three weeks before Christmas.

What does this have to do with real estate? Plenty. Many of these people have or had 6-figure incomes. They have large houses – many with large mortgage payments attached. Will they hold on or will they default? And how many? No one knows for sure. How many will have to pack up their families and leave to (hopefully) find replacement income? No one knows.

Some might think that since interest rates are being kept artificially low – allegedly to stimulate the market – there will be plenty of buyers for houses that suddenly jump on the market. In some instances – maybe. But guess what? Raleigh may be a fairly large city, but the ripple effect of a large layoff tends to scare those still employed in the area or the industry and who are paying attention. Bad news really does come in threes – and it has happened before that if one huge employer like Glaxo is having to downsize, other companies are feeling the same pinch and will do the same.

And this is the BS that the US Government is touting in press conferences as “the best economy in years.” Maybe they need to get out of DC and the Federal employment environment a little more often because this situation at Glaxo is a prime example of what this flat economy is doing not only to our citizens, but to real estate. Only when people’s jobs and income are secure (at least the smart ones) do they invest in a home (or even a new business opportunity) which will require their base income to be stable or grow – for decades. Too many of our countrymen are NOT feeling the love and they aren’t buying and they aren’t upgrading.

This Glaxo layoff impacts supply AND demand at the same time. It will force many to sell those large homes to either downsize or leave the area altogether – flooding the market with suddenly vacant homes. And buyers or the “demand” part of the equation? Well if they were looking to buy two months ago and they still have a job at Glaxo, they might have changed their mind about a long-term financial obligation. If they sense more layoffs are on tap – the result is the same. The layoff will also have a ripple effect on local builders, remodelers, landscapers, and anyone else whose business relies on a robust real estate market.

This is not the news only in Raleigh – nor is it the first news like this locally in 2014. There are already MANY houses vacant or in foreclosure – and they are NOT just small homes. Hold on to your hats, we’re in the middle of yet another bumpy ride…

No real estate news this week. Instead, I’ve been amazed yet again at how much time and money people are spending on “Black Friday” 2014. I’m wondering where they get either – the time or the money. And then I see news reports about what they are buying and I’m even more amazed.

I have a sneaking suspicion that we are all being duped by technology. People spend hundreds per month on “smart phone” service – but they don’t seem to be any smarter. They buy hand-held games for themselves and for their kids – but no one is more fit and the country as a whole, is more obese and unhealthy than ever. I can tell you that the majority of TV ads I saw on Thanksgiving or just before were almost ALL for phones, or phone plans, or phone accessories…

I remember Christmases past and think I was one of the lucky ones. My parents had 6 children to provide for so we did not have great big piles of individual gifts under the tree. But I remember the year I got a pair of roller skates. I remember the year someone got a football or the year several of us got ball gloves, softballs, and bats.

What are parents giving kids this year? Will kids get an email saying their “communications plan” has been increased to 10,000 minutes per month? Will they get a package the size of a deck of cards that is supposed to offer the world, only to hear that the “apps” they wanted aren’t on their new “phone”?

Instead of having kids sitting under the tree playing the new board game they just got or getting dressed to go outside and throw a new football around in the snow, are they all sitting in their separate chairs with their faces in their phones – with no one interacting with or even talking to each other?

And what about all those who ran out on their families sometime Thanksgiving Day – to stand in line at a store? Don’t you feel your string is being pulled? How much “stuff” do you actually need? Based on the constant TV ads for “buy this, buy that” I saw on Thanksgiving Day, I must certainly have built up some sort of immunity that escapes many others. And I won’t be convinced to put thousands on a credit card that will stretch my budget because my life will be over if I don’t shop on Black Friday.

And Black Friday – what is it? It’s the day of the year that many retailers move their accounting balances from the “red” to the “black” – meaning the day they finally hit a “profit.” Sounds like a scary way to do business and a scary way to live to me. It’s bad enough US taxpayers are now working through most of April each year before they get beyond the tax bite.

Now they’re pushing “Internet Monday” or whatever they call it. So anyone who didn’t partake in the day after Thanksgiving madness can hop online and spend money on Monday – many from at work I guess.

It seems like madness to me. Or mass-manipulation. One and the same…

I hope everyone has a safe and happy Thanksgiving and for those traveling – please use extra care when rain, sleet, snow and ice are present.

While I’m waiting for my turkey to roast today I’m going to be watching the movie linked below. In a country that seems to have so many nearly insurmountable problems and a president who can’t remember his Oath of Office, I need a break – and a uplifting one.

You can stream it via Amazon for $3.99 or $4.99 for the HD version. Seems like a worthwhile expenditure to me!

UPDATE: It WAS! Worth a watch if you haven’t yet seen it!!!

One thing good about writing your own blog – you can pick what you want to write about and vent a little on things you see that are just wrong. Here’s my “news” for this week…

Say you own your own real estate. We’ll give you a 2000 square foot home on 2 acres of land. Each year your county sends you a property tax notice which you, as the legal owner, are required to pay. There is also home owner’s insurance to pay plus all the bills the property requires for upkeep and maintenance. Any money left over after that is yours to spend as you see fit.

One day you notice someone has erected a structure on your property and they are apparently living there. They’ve tied into your well, your electric, and are using the internet on your Wi-Fi. You call the local Sheriff to complain about trespassers and he comes out to see what’s going on. You show him that your property has been invaded and you also show him that all your utility bills have nearly doubled since the trespassers are illegally riding on your accounts.

He pats you on the head as if you are stupid and informs you that the trespassers “Just want a better life.” And then he leaves.

Welcome to Obama’s version of America.

There is a lot of talk right now that once again, Obama is making laws on his own – or the reverse argument, he’s not enforcing current laws or putting so many restrictions on them that they are all but useless. From where I am sitting it is “all of the above.”

You may not think any of this impacts you because you don’t have a trespasser sitting on your property this morning but actually it does impact you. And you’re about to get millions more trespassers because if you are a US citizen or a legal immigrant, your “property” is the United States of America and Obama just pat you on the head as if you are stupid and told you that millions more illegal trespassers “Just want a better life.” Somehow it is now YOUR responsibility to step aside, pay up, and make it happen.

And that little extra money you had to spend after you paid your bills before? You can kiss that good-bye. Your property taxes will go up because now more schools are needed for illegal children. Auto insurance rates will probably rise because we have drivers on the road who can’t speak or read English and who are prone to driving drunk and/or without insurance. And crime will be on the increase. Why? Because people who break a country’s laws and are caught and not punished no longer fear the laws of that country. What’s yours is automatically theirs because they managed to sneak into this country and were not forced to pay any penalty for doing so.

I think it is completely appalling that the week before Thanksgiving, a totally American holiday, this country’s excuse for a president seems to take delight in punishing America voters for not liking his policies by inflicting more competition for jobs on the 30+ million citizens looking for work and by all but guaranteeing that our costs – both financial and personal and national security – just skyrocketed.

The Federal Government supported by OUR tax dollars is not working for us – it is now funding an invasion. Contact your state governors and attorney generals and tell them what you think about this tax-dollar supported invasion of our own country.

This message is more about not getting a dog if you are just going to tie it outside. There’s no point in you having a dog – and as the message says – the dog is NOT a lawn ornament. Dogs are very social animals and WILL NOT THRIVE in a lonely environment.

Secondly, it is pretty damn cold over most of the US right now. Some areas are looking at 3 feet of snow in the next week or so. This is NOT weather that allows pets to stay outside – particularly overnight. If you even consider doing such a thing – you are potentially planning to murder your own pet – and it will be a painful death for them.

Please be kind to your animals – they only have you to depend on…

++ Four ways a real estate deal can die

++ 10 things real estate appraisers won’t tell you

~~This next one was FUN!
++ Classic Houses Go on the Imaginary Real Estate Market — QUIZ

++ $25 to $500 Gift Certificate from Chicago Steak

++ Top 15 Real Estate Apps

~~In the story below they make this comment right below the headline: “HOMES LACKING “ARCHITECTURAL SIGNIFICANCE” NEED NOT APPLY” which seems a bit snooty if you ask me but I do like to see how the “other half” lives!

++ Why Dwell Magazine Is Jumping Into The Real Estate Business

++ Tiny is beautiful: Interview with Full Moon Tiny Shelters

++ 2014 Greenbuild LivingHome Showcases High-Performance Insulation

~~More “Apps”

++ An App That Works to Cut Your Home Energy Bill

Sorry – but I have 42,575,368 leaves to rake today and I’m only halfway there! I’ll be here tomorrow with a special “Real Estate Sunday” post.

Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend. Cold though it is in so many places!!!

I know a lot of people view shopping as a social experience. I do not.

Too many people, either too many products or not enough, high prices, noise, lines, etc., etc.

I’ve managed to move most of my shopping (and sometimes even shipping) completely online over the past few years. It might take a bit more planning, but I find it actually easier to sit here in my quiet house with a cup of coffee, do gift research, and order – without leaving my office.

Online retailers have their Free Shipping Day which has been announced for 2014 as December 18th. So far, 547 retailers have signed up. That’s a pretty big “store” to shop – particularly since by December 18th, time will be of the essence.

I’m doing my part by directing you to the Rose Cottage Ltd page on Fine Art America. Custom-designed prints, matting, and frames are available and you can choose and order 24/7, 365 days a year!!

Many stores are staying closed this Thanksgiving which I believe is a GREAT idea. Employees need time to spend with their families too – and many of them will still have their Thanksgiving impacted by stores opening earlier and earlier on the day after. I’m trying to do my part to start a new trend that says a family spending a relaxing Thanksgiving together is more important than maybe saving 15% on a new TV or a new pair of shoes…