On Cloud Nine – Paulson, Palin, and Guilty for OJ

This edition of “On Cloud Nine”  includes Henry Paulson, Sarah Palin and those people who have always felt that O.J. Simpson was guilty.

Henry Paulson, or Hank as his friends call him, is delirious at the prospect of spending $700 billion of OPM (Other People’s Money). 

Bill H.R. 1424 (451 pages)gives the Treasury power to spend up to $700 billion to buy bad debt from banks, credit unions, thrifts and insurance companies. The hope is that by shoring up their books, trust will be restored to the financial system, banks will start lending again, and it will get the economy going on the road to recovery.  Congressional negotiators did apply some brakes on the doling out of the money: $250 billion up front, then $100 billion, and the final $350 billion upon congressional approval.

How is this going to help homeowners and us to sell houses???????

Second on our list of “On Cloud Nine” is Sarah Palin and her supporters.  From ‘hockey mom’ to VP in a few short weeks.  Unbelievable!  I watched the debate with a group of people (it was a debate party actually); political leanings were mixed, everyone watching TV in a kind of “fixated” way much the same way we do when important events are unfolding. At one point, I piped up and said, “It’s only a Vice-Presidential debate for heaven’s sake!”  I was immediately shushed down… anyway, Sarah did surprisingly well on the debate, showed a lot of spunk, poise and self-confidence; she amazed our group (even the die-hard Obama fans!)

                                 

Thirdly, having been through the whole OJ debacle more than 13 years ago, i would say very few people still thought the “Juice” had nothing to do with his ex-wife and her friend’s death.  So it was gratifying to see that there is justice after all and OJ was finally convicted of something, and being sent to jail where he belongs!  I won’t apologize for being one of those who are “On Cloud Nine” to wake up this morning to the news that he was found guilty!  Guess he picked the wrong place to gamble…..                           

Well, this ends another edition of “On Cloud Nine” – thanks for indulging me in this.  I had to find a way to vent my frustrations!  Have a good and profitable Saturday!

Disclaimer: I don’t remember where the quotes came from; if they are copywritten, please let me know so I can get proper permission.  The ski chalet shown is at Christmas Mountain, Bartlett, NH; for more info click here: Christmas Mtn. Condo

 

Royal View – Conway NH View Lots for Sale

There are good things happening, right?

Everywhere you look there seems to be disaster striking…TV, radio and newspapers all tout the hopelessness of life; recently it’s been centered on “the fuel crisis” – price of oil and gas. The other issue that gets media attention is the real estate “decline” somewhat predicated on the mortgage and lending downfall. We forget that real estate has normal market fluctuations with highs and lows.

Please consider this: (1) even if your property’s market value is down today from last year at this same time, it is probably still worth much more than it was a half-dozen years ago, (2) foreclosures are still a scant 7/10th of 1% of total homes in this country, (3) there is a large segment (30%) of all real estate owned in this country that is owned free and clear (no mortgage), and (4) the National Association of Realtors expects approximately 5 million homes to sell this year. Also, since we all need food, shelter and clothing doesn’t it make sense to “own” your home versus “renting” it, since you stand to make out from the power of leverage on an asset that we need anyway.

Is anyone using geothermal heating/cooling?

Even though it’s been around for decades, geothermal heating and cooling isn’t used by many people. In researching geothermal technology, I’ve found out a couple of things:  it’s more expensive to install than traditional heat pumps but if you’re building a new home that initial cost can easily pay off big through reduced energy and upkeep costs.  Is there someone who has a geothermal system already and would be willing to share their experience with it? With utility expenses sky rocketing it’s becoming more and more critical to increase efficiency in the way we heat and cool our homes.

Real Estate in the ‘NO SPIN’ Zone

We all have heard the many doom and gloom reports about the current real estate market but few of us are able to discern what are the FACTS and what is just hype. We all know the media loves to build UP it’s stars and then TEAR them down. A certain lady with the last name of Spears comes to mind huh? Real Estate was the darling of the media during the dot com days when real estate sales were hot and homes were apreciating at incredible rates. Now that things have slowed to a NORMAL market the media has decided to build the spin into bad news. So what truly are the facts?

1. 30% of all real estate in this country is owned free and clear–No mortgage.
So this (rather large) segment of the real estate market is unaffected by all the sub-prime issues or general media negativity. 30% of all homes are at zero risk.

2. Currently only 7/10 of 1% of all homes in this country are in foreclosure.
Sure, there are more foreclosures happening now than in the past few years and yes, people are being affected which is very sad. However, these statistics are NOT overwhelming and the housing world is NOT falling apart. Watching the news lately would make you think that there are foreclosures in every neighborhood.

3. The net worth of a home owner is 46 times higher than a renter.
Incredible but true. Your home is not a stock that is bought and sold on Walll Street. We need food, shelter and clothing as our basic life necessities…a stock certificate is NOT a necessity, a shelter IS. Homeowners benefit from the power of leverage. Over 10 years a $10,000 investment in the stock market at an average 10% rate of return will yield $23,600. That SAME investment as a downpayment on a $200,000 home at a normal appreciation rate of 5% would return $110,300–Nearly 5x more than the stock market.

4. NAR expects 5 million homes will sell this year
Yes, this is down 2.1 million homes from the high of 2005 but the combination of increased consumer spending and the sub-prime problem added to this very unusual jump in real estate sales. Why unusual? Because for the past 40 years the average number of homes sold has been 4 + / – million. Consistently increasing but slowly… from 3 million homes sold in the 1970’s to 3.9 million homes sold in the 1990’s. Not wildly out control.

If you check out the bar graph below what is very interesting is that the average number of home sold during the decade of 1970 was 3 million, during the decade of 1980 it was slight increase to 3.3 million, during the decade of the 1990’s it was 3.9 million….increasing slightly but in thirty years still staying stable. From 2000- 2007 that number wildly jumped to the high in 2005 of 7.1 million. In addition it was the first time in history that 40% of the homes were NOT owner occupied (15% is normal and considered stable)