Housing Bubble

You have to look at the reasons there is an inventory shortages to really determine if there is a bubble. Homeowners are not listing there property because they have no where to go. When a property comes on the market, they will pay more then it is worth.

Every one wants to invest again and they are paying cash. While all-cash sales might reduce the glut of empty homes on the market, the unintended consequence is that the trend does little to support home prices.

The U.S. foreclosure inventory is at over 1,500,000 properties. The banks are holding back properties, waiting for rising prices.

Comps are coming in higher due to prices being higher then they are worth.

When you look at the definition of a housing bubble, everything happening meets the criteria.

Definition of 'Housing Bubble'

A run-up in housing prices fueled by demand, speculation and the belief that recent history is an infallible forecast of the future. Housing bubbles usually start with an increase in demand (a shift to the right in the demand curve), in the face of limited supply which takes a relatively long period of time to replenish and increase. Speculators enter the market, believing that profits can be made through short-term buying and selling. This further drives demand. At some point, demand decreases (a shift to the left in the demand curve), or stagnates at the same time supply increases, resulting in a sharp drop in prices - and the bubble bursts.

Questions Buyers Should Ask

Questions To Ask Before Buying A Home There are some questions to ask before you buy a home. If you can get the answers, it could help you with deciding how much to offer.

What Is The Property Worth?

You should have your agent provide you with comparable of recently sold homes in the area. They should provide comps that show the high and low range for similar properties. Also, look at the time on market for the property that you are looking at. This can give you some insight in to what other buyers feel about the price and property itself.

How Flexible Is The Seller?

Some agents will tell you if there is any flexibility in the price. Nothing insults the seller more then a lowball offer. Most sellers have pride in their homes and a lowball offer might prevent the seller from looking at other offers from you.

Ask if the seller will help with closing costs. Help with closing costs will lower your outlay.

Is There Anything Wrong With The House?

Ask the sellers or seller’s agent if there is anything wrong with the home. Some people won’t disclose the problems. If they do, it might help you determine how much additional repairs you might have to do and have an effect on your offer price.

Always do a Home Inspection and let the seller now. That will let the seller know that any problems will be found.

How Far Along Is The Short Sale Process?

If you are placing an offer on a short sale, it is always good to know what stage the short sale is at. Prices are rising and the price offered today might not be good in 3-4 months. If the seller has all the paperwork in or the price has been approved by the bank, the waiting period will be shorter. If the seller is just starting, the wait will be longer. Plus some sellers will accept an offer just to find out what the bank will take.

What New Construction is Coming To The Area?

If similar type properties are being built, try to find out the price range. If the new home price is near the seller’s price, you could be better off buying the new home. It could also help in the negotiating process.

If apartments or commercial developments are coming to the area, it could also affect the price. Having low prices apartments or a shopping center a few blocks away, will affect traffic and might make the area less desirable.

Does The Seller Have Paperwork For Appliances and Mechanical Systems?

If a problem develops, they might be covered with a warranty. If you do not have the paperwork, it might not be covered. If the seller has it, ask them to bring it to the closing.

Find Out If There Are Any Distressed Properties In The Area?

This might have an affect on your offering amount and the comps if you are applying for a mortgage. Take a ride around the neighborhood. If there are run down properties, it could have an influence on the value.

With the present market conditions, shortage of inventory and rising prices, a few simple questions could aid you in determining the correct amount to offer.

Renters Tips

I do a decent amount of Rentals and have some tips.

The Rental Market is getting tighter, with Landlords asking for 1st, last and security. If you are planning to move be prepared to pay all three. If your credit is not good, it's pretty much a definite. I took someone out today and they had no credit. They did have $1500 now.

An owner is not going to care if your pet is old, just lays around and is well behaved. If it weighs 100 pounds and is on the restricted breed list, you have a problem.

Even though everyone one wants a nice place to live, some times there has to be a compromise. You are not buying a home and can leave at lease end. You might not get granite counters, stainless steel appliances and so on. But should that be more important then an owner who will take care of the property, good schools, proximity to transportation and all the requirements that should help in your decision.

Be honest with your agent. They are there to assist you. When they ask about your credit don't say it's fine. They have to submit a credit report in most cases. If it is not good, they can focus on properties that will accept you.

Don't wait until the last minute. Most HOA's or Condo Association's use a Property Management Company. The process will take a minimum of a week. They do have up to 30 days. You aren't going to be able to move in tomorrow.

If have a criminal record, you need to disclose this. Any one running a report will find this out. It is better to be honest up front. If you have to wait to be approved and it shows up, you will be looking again.

Craigslist has a multitude of ads posted by Agents in my area. Instead of calling a bunch of them, pick one and let them assist you. They all have access to the same data. One person will work harder for you then you calling 10. Plus when you call an agent and tell them you will be here after your first appointment and before your next, you kind of dampers the enthusiasm. Loyalty plays a part here.

I had one customer recently whose budget was $2000. If a home came on the market for $2300 or $2400, they would want to see it. If it is on the market for one day, the owner is probably not going to accept it. Plus the fact, they might feel insulted. If they wanted $2000, they would probably have listed it for that or somewhere close.

If you are looking to rent, be aware of a shortage of inventory, credit requirements, and money down and to be realistic.

How To Get Ready For The Google Update

There should be a Google Update shortly and here are some ways to prepare. Quality Content Content is king and this is the most important thing to provide. Place high-quality content on your pages, especially your homepage. This content contains useful information, it will attract many visitors and webmasters will want to link to your site. Write pages that clearly and accurately describe your topic. Place keywords on the site that people will probably type. Check your spelling and grammar. Duplicate Content Duplicate content generally refers to substantive blocks of content within or across domains that either completely matches other content or is appreciably similar. Mostly, this is not deceptive in origin. If your site contains multiple pages with largely identical content, there are a number of ways you can indicate your preferred URL to Google. (This is called "canonicalization".) Pick a canonical (preferred) URL as the preferred version of the page. If you have similar Content, Google will choose which page to use in results. To do this, create a link as follows: Setting your Preferred Domain tells Google which version of your site's URL (http://www.yourdomain.com or http://yourdomain.com) you prefer. If you set your preferred domain as http://yourdomain.com, Google will treat links to http://www.yourdomain.com exactly the same as links to your preferred domain. To set the preferred domain for a site, click Configuration, and then click Settings. In the Preferred domain section, pick the option you prefer. Use 301 Redirects If a page can be reached in multiple ways—for instance, http://www.yourdomain.com, http:/yourdomain.com, or http://idxsearch.yourdomain.com—it's a good idea to pick one of those URLs as your preferred (canonical) destination, and use 301 redirects to send traffic from the other URLs to your preferred URL. Indicate your canonical (preferred) URLs by including them in a Sitemap While Google is not guaranteed to use the URL’s submitted, it dos let them know which you consider most important. Have Other Sites Link to Yours Links help Google’s crawlers find the site and can give the site greater visibility in their search results. Google’s algorithms can distinguish natural links from unnatural links. Only natural links are useful for the indexing and ranking of your site. Google interprets a link from page A to page B as a vote by page A for page B. A link from a high ranking site is a vote for the site. A vote from an important site will make your site more important. Try to have links from relevant sites. If you have a Real Estate site, you won’t benefit from having links from a Car Dealer. You could be penalized. Remove Low Quality or Spammy Links Start removing links from low pagerank sites. The first step is to try and contact the webmaster. If that fails, the next step is to use the Google Disavow Tool. This is a two-step process. First, you’ll need to download a list of links to your site. Next, you’ll create a file containing only the links you want to disavow, and upload this to Google. Disavow links to your site: 1. On the Webmaster Tools home page, click the site you want. 2. On the Dashboard, click Traffic, and then click Links to Your Site. 3. Under Who links the most, click More. 4. Click Download more sample links. If you click Download latest links, you'll see dates as well. Relevancy This is more important as time goes on. Relevancy is the key to unlocking search potential. The goal is not to confuse Search Engines and visitors with irrelevant material. By providing relevant information, visitors will spend more time on the site and be more likely to return. Things to Avoid Never fill your page with lists of keywords, put up "crawler only" pages or attempt to "cloak" pages. Google considers those links and pages deceptive and if your site contains pages, links, or text that you don't intend visitors to see, Google may ignore your site. You don’t have to use a Search Optimization Service. How many of us get calls from 50 places a year guaranteeing a Top 10 position? I’ve never understood how this is possible, since there are only 10 spots. Then they’ll suggest irrelevant keywords, which no one looks for. Legitimate SEO firms can improve your site's flow and content. On the other hand, others use deceptive tactics to try and fool search engines. This could get the site banned. Don’t use images for important links, content or keywords. Since Google’s crawlers don’t recognize text contained in graphics, use the ALT attributes. Better Safe Then Sorry The Search engines have shifted their focus and we must also. It’s much easier to be prepared for the next update, then have to try to fix the problems after.

Spring Cleaning

Free and Eco-Friendly Ways to Spring Clean

The flowers are blooming, the birds are singing, and you're on your hands and knees in your ugliest sweatpants scrubbing the grout on the bathroom floor. Spring cleaning isn't exactly fun, but it's a necessary evil that can be made a lot more pleasant with the use of natural, non-toxic products that won't leave you with a headache or require a costly trip to the store. If you've got baking soda, vinegar, lemons, an old towel and a handful of other common household items, you can give your house a fresh start without spending any money at all.

Fresh Air In, Odors Out Closed-up houses may be cozy in the winter, but they tend to smell pretty stale. Get some air moving in your house by opening all the windows and positioning a few fans in strategic places, like hallways and stairways. Placing a fan in the window, facing out, can work wonders for your indoor air quality, making it smell as fresh as the outdoors.

Make Glass Sparkle with Newspaper Nothing gets glass windows and mirrors quite to a streak-free, so-transparent-it's-dangerous shine like newspaper. You won't have problems with smeared text because most newspapers are now printed with water-based inks. The paper leaves behind virtually zero lint. Just spray the glass with a 50/50 mixture of water and white vinegar, rub the glass with a dry cloth and then go over the surface with a piece of newspaper.

Cut Old Towels into Cleaning Rags Those scratchy towels that are no longer fit for post-shower use could provide you with a dozen or more new, totally free cleaning rags. Just cut them up - most terrycloth towels won't unravel, so you don't need to worry about breaking out the sewing machine. It's far better for the planet than using disposable paper towels.

Eliminate Odors with Fresh Lemons Even the nastiest of odors can't stand up to the freshening power of fresh lemons. Get rid of garlic, fish and other strong smells using half a cut lemon or some fresh-squeezed lemon juice. To freshen indoor air, simmer lemon peel on the stovetop, adding water as needed.

Freshen the Fridge with Coffee Among the many unexpected uses for coffee is absorbing funky odors in the refrigerator. If you've got stale coffee grounds, or have a bag that's no longer good for brewing, place a bowl of them in the fridge for a day or so. You can use the same trick to deodorize virtually anything by placing the object in a plastic bag along with a container of coffee grounds.

Sanitize Sponges With Salt There's no use trying to clean anything with a sponge that's teeming with bacteria. Suds up your sponges, rinse them thoroughly and then soak them in cold, heavily salted water for an hour or two. This process will kill the germs and plump the sponges back up again.

No-Scrub Oven Cleaner It's time to tackle that burnt-on mess on the bottom of your oven. Baking soda makes it as easy as it gets, and your next batch of cookies won't taste faintly of chemical cleaners. Sprinkle it liberally all over the floor of the oven, spray it with water until it's well dampened, and leave it for a few hours. Then just wipe out the mess and use vinegar to remove the film of baking soda residue left behind.

Vinegar for Cleaning Floors Use a half-and-half solution of white vinegar and water to clean virtually any type of flooring other than porous stones like slate and granite. You can up the cleaning power for unwaxed wood floors, tile or linoleum by mixing 1/3 white vinegar, 1/3 rubbing alcohol and 1/3 water with 3 drops of dishwashing liquid.

Make Reusable Swiffer Covers There's no doubt that Swiffers and other floor cleaning tools that use disposable pads can be convenient. But all those sheets add up fast, not only in cost but in the amount of trash you put out each week. Instead of buying refills, sew up a few of your own covers with a pattern you can find at Berlin's Whimsy.

De-Gunk Microwaves with Baking Soda and Lemon The citric acid in lemon juice can loosen even the crustiest food residue that gets splattered all over microwave interiors. Place lemon wedges in a small bowl of water and nuke them for two to three minutes. Let it sit without opening the door for about ten minutes, then wipe out the inside. If you still have any odors or nightmarish globs of unidentifiable gunk left behind, use a paste of baking soda and water to scrub them right out.

Words That Sell Homes

How you describe a home will determine how many showings it gets. A "Beautiful, Spacious Home with a Large Master Suite", will get more showings then a "3 Bedroom 2 Bath Home in a Great Community" Beautiful Who Doesn't want a beautiful Home.. Turn-key Let buyers know if it is move-in ready.. Lovingly maintained If the home has been lovingly maintained, buyers will be attracted, since they will save money on fixing what's wrong Spacious Buyers want a home that will fill their needs. Back-yard paradise Home buyers envision a residence where they can relax.. Fabulous layout Great layouts will make the sq ft look bigger. Remodeled to perfection If you have remodeled your home let buyers know. Since granite Counter tops and Stainless Steel Appliances are in demand, include that in the listing. Huge master suite People are more interested in what bedrooms offer, then knowing the number. Palm Beach Real Estate

Vacancy-Homeowner Rates

The U.S. vacancy rate and the rate of homeownership both declined in the first quarter of 2013 with the homeownership rate hitting the lowest level in 17 years. According to the Census Bureau the rate of homeownership in the country declined from 65.6 in the fourth quarter of 2012 to 65.2.

There were 133.08 million housing units in the U.S. in the first quarter, an increase of 486,000 from one year earlier. Of those 114,643 were occupied, an increase of 520,000 and 18.4 million were vacant, essentially unchanged from the year before. Of the total housing stock 74.5 million units or 56 percent were owner occupied and 46.1 million or 30.2 percent were occupied by renters.

The median asking price for vacant rental units in the first quarter was $718.

The median asking price for a vacant unit that was for sale was $139,800.