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Real Estate Saturday: January 24, 2015

by on Jan.24, 2015, under Real Estate, Shop@RoseCottage


Exterior-Accents.com – 10% Off

Nasty weather for the US Northeast this weekend. Rain, ice, snow, and a cold blast coming in behind the precipitation. Allow extra time for driving and keep an eye on this fast-moving weather front…

++ The $25,000+ Mortgage Mistake…

In my next life, you might find me living…

++ Tiny House: Go Small on Your Own Private Island

I couldn’t have titled this next one any better…

++ Really strange real estate listings

++ Ritzy real estate broker – $5.5 million fraud

++ Gifts under $100 from Exterior-Accents.com!

++ Why Real Estate Could Soar in 2015

And quite possibly, why it shouldn’t…

++ Look inside this rustic, sun-powered home

Looks like HGTV is starting to catch up with Rose Cottage Ltd!

++ “Tiny” House Hunters

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Real Estate Saturday: January 17, 2015

by on Jan.17, 2015, under Real Estate, Shop@RoseCottage

Let’s start off with real estate news this week that follows the adage “Buyer Beware.” This relates more to those trying to tell you how to make a fortune in real estate – while they’re making a fortune selling you the info – only…


Clearance Sale!  Save as much as 70%!

++ Real-estate sales tactic skates the line

Boring, but great for resale properties…

++ Home Renovations Bounce Back With Neutral Colors

++ Orlando named one of top 5 markets for real estate investing

Someone in agreement with me on our eroding property rights…

++ Private property rights and socialism do not mix

This one will leave you speechless!

++ How a NYC Non-Profit Did a $26.5 Million Real Estate Deal Without Selling Its Building

++ Shop National Geographic’s Best Selling Gifts!

++ Your Best Real Estate Move: Flip or Hold in 2015?

I’m still waiting for a little chalet in Switzerland to drop down below $4 million…

++ Revealed: Europe’s best cities for real estate investment

Hope everyone is having a great start to 2015! Make it a safe and successful year…

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Real Estate Sunday: January 11, 2015

by on Jan.11, 2015, under Favorites, Images, Real Estate

Still can’t believe I’m putting “2015” in the headline…

This week’s “real estate” is less about buying and selling and more about deciding what kind of very local environment you really want.

Most, some might say “normal people” look first at the house when viewing a potential new property. I might be interested in the facade and style, but when I am looking, what grabs me is the yard and immediate surroundings.

Part of this is because I have a rather large dog – and he needs his space as much as I do. It’s also great if he can have a fenced-in backyard so he can roam around at will to take care of his necessities, while I wait for him inside. This is of primary importance during winter when he can manage a 9-degree morning longer than I can!

I also like a property with some trees and natural areas around it. If you are looking at a property in any form of subdivision, you can tell almost as soon as you enter whether the developers valued trees and green space – or not. If I can’t see a decent stand of trees inside the first quarter-mile, this is not likely the place I want to live.

Cardinal

If you are required to live near a city, you will increase your chances of seeing wildlife if there are trees and green areas available. A small pond may bring geese. Some think this is a bad thing. I have the opposite opinion since I think geese have done a remarkable job surviving in areas where most of their former habitat may have been destroyed. If you can’t live and let live, get a apartment downtown where you will mainly have animals of the two-legged variety to worry about.

I have two bird baths on my current property, three bird feeders, quite a few trees, and for Cato – a fenced-in backyard. I’ve noticed since I moved here that I have quite a few avian customers who have grown to count on the bird feeders being kept full and even I have been surprised at the amount of activity on both bird baths. It’s been cold lately with morning temperatures down to 9 degrees so I’ve been taking pans of hot water out to the baths to melt the ice. By the time I am back inside and looking out the window, there can be 3 to 5 birds already taking advantage. The ground is frozen solid and has been for most of the past week so the birds are relying upon me more for food and water. They are creatures of habit just as we are.

I’d rather be on a much larger property with more wildlife but I think I’m doing a good job to promote and care for what I have. If you choose to interact with wildlife, you can – even in a suburban location. It doesn’t take more than a hook and a feeder to enjoy your “neighbors” and I find it relaxing after a long day, to sit and watch them fly around the backyard in relative comfort and security.

To me, this is one of the benefits of having my own bit of real estate. I can fairly easily create a more enjoyable environment for myself and for local wildlife…with hidden benefits for all.

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Real Estate Saturday: January 3, 2015

by on Jan.03, 2015, under Real Estate, Shop@RoseCottage

++ Flip or Hold: Best Real Estate Moves for 2015

Hint: Location, location, location

++ Too much home – too many customized renovations

++ What you can get for $5.7 million in Dallas

++ Options for those seeking home loans in 2015

This author has some of the same concerns I expressed in December. And why the article linked below may not hold the good news it appears to…

++ 4 reasons buying a home in 2015 will be easier

++ Winter Savings at Duncraft!

++ Top 10 Hot Housing Markets to Watch in 2015

You can see by these articles that there is a lot of conflicting info out there which is not always helpful for potential home buyers. I am still concerned that “easier” lending standards will foster a return to unwise lending and buyers in trouble yet again. These artificially low interest rates are also great bait for those who were not in the real estate market – or maybe not even alive, in the 1980’s and early 1990’s when financing rates were in the teens…

My advice?

One – Stay away from ARMS (Adjustable Rate Mortgages.)

Two – Don’t fall for the lower payment and interest rate available on a 15-year loan. Get the 30-year instead and make additional principal payments if and when you can. This will give you some cushion against a somewhat unstable job market and you’ll be amazed at how fast you can turn a 30-year mortgage into a 20-year loan by controlling your own mortgage payments…


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Real Estate Saturday: December 13, 2014

by on Dec.13, 2014, under Real Estate

So I’m looking around this morning to see if there is any really interesting news regarding real estate and I find this:

What Real Estate Trends to Expect in 2015

Here’s one paragraph…

“While mortgage rates may not remain at the historic lows seen recently, more people may qualify for home loans as issues like foreclosures or short sales age out of their credit reports and Freddy Mac and Fannie Mae ease mortgage eligibility. Freddy and Fannie recently announced a new mortgage program for buyers with a down payment as low as 3 percent. “Freddy and Fannie have always been the industry leaders, and they’re saying, ‘It’s OK to lend to people who don’t have 5 percent down. It’s OK to extend credit in a reasonable and safe manner,” Richardson says.”

I can make you a prediction for even further out based on that commentary:

“Real Estate Crash of 2018 Mirrors 2008 Crash Losses”

We really have a box of pinheads making decisions for this country.

What they’re talking about above is nearly the exact same thing (in part) that caused the last housing “crisis” – which could have been avoided. Even worse, they are clearly stating that the same people who made poor or greed versus common sense home purchases in the years leading up to the last disaster – are about to get those mistakes cleared from their credit reports – making them able to do it again.

I’m all for giving people a fresh start and many of our citizens found themselves in mortgage trouble due to job loss or catastrophic medical bills, etc. But the majority of people who will use lower qualifying standards – are going to be the same who got into trouble of their own making last time. Why? Because the real estate market is only concerned about making money and secondly, because so many people did not PAY A PENALTY for their prior poor choices.

I watch the news regularly. As early as 2005, when loan qualifying was made so easy and then house values (on paper anyway) started to rise, I forecast big trouble. People were greedily buying a $300,000 home with little to no loan qualifying documentation and got into mortgages they really couldn’t afford – and then property values quickly began dropping. So now they are upside down – meaning they owe more than the house is now worth. If you put down 3% on a $300,000 home ($9000) – at the start of your mortgage you still owe $291,000. If your house was valued at $350,000 or better when you bought it, and you make your payments on time – all is well.

But if your $350,000 home value was artificially inflated and a year later the property is only valued at $275,000, you’re in trouble – whether you make your payments on time or not. If you are on time, you’ve basically just made a very bad investment. If they are not, that same mortgage or banking company that couldn’t be faster at getting you IN the house, may want you out of it.

Too many people AND companies operate on a greed basis versus using common sense. Even local and state agencies tended to make money from the last real estate mess that left so many families in a “no-win” situation. Think how much more property tax money local counties made out of those over-inflated house values. A LOT of money. If you had a property valued at $150,000 but for about 4 years the value kept increasing to $250,000, county tax offices made the upward adjustment – and many were not so fast in making the downward adjustment when markets began to crash.

Mortgage lenders and banks made fees on every single loan they placed. Real estate agents made commissions on every property sale. And some of them got used to this sudden increase in their income – at many buyer’s final expense. Many buyer’s started screaming “injustice” and immediately started whining about loan “forgiveness.” And many actually got it – while the rest of us just continued to live within our means and pay our bills on time. No lessons learned for the rest.

I’m going to be watching real estate headlines with a skeptical eye over the next year – and looking for further signs of a repeat in the making. Stay tuned, and keep your wits about you…

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Real Estate Saturday: December 6, 2014

by on Dec.06, 2014, under Real Estate

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…

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Real Estate Saturday: November 29, 2014

by on Nov.29, 2014, under Images, Real Estate

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.

A more healthy world

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…

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Real Estate Saturday: November 22, 2014

by on Nov.22, 2014, under Favorites, Real Estate

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.

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No Real Estate Saturday Today…

by on Nov.15, 2014, under Real Estate

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!!!

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