Your Realtor for Life. Here today, Here tomorrow.

So yesterday was Wisconsin's primary and I hope everyone voted. It doesn't matter who you vote for as long as you vote. I believe that it is the only way to make a difference. A lot of people don't like the way the economy is or this market or that but they won't go vote. I think that if you can't even take the time to vote for a person then how do you have the right to complain about the way things are? Your non-voting is just paving way for the people who can push their way into public offices with little or no challenge. Luckily, if you didn't vote, you still have a chance to make a difference when the presidential elections get here. Your vote does count and will make a difference! In Wisconsin you don't even need to pre-register. You just show up with an ID with your current address or a utility bill with your address. It takes 5 minutes from start to finish but even if it took an hour, it would be totally worth it. By law you can even leave work to go vote, so you don't even need to take up your own free time to do so.

Okay, so what is there to do when all it is doing is snowing like crazy this year? One thing I always use is this entertainment guide I got my hands on a couple years ago from some girls I knew at the UW. They put together a publication that fills you in on a daily basis to what is going on in town. Basically it tells you what bars and restaurants are having drink specials and bands or other events at them. It has now expanded to the web and is updated frequently, it even has a featured establishment on it every day. This guide isn't just for downtown either, it has places listed all over Madison. The link is http://www.dailycardinal.com/barguide I hope you enjoy using it as I have. :) 

More news pointing toward internet advertising as being the number one source for where home buyers are looking to buy their homes. The Chicago Tribune and The New York Times are both cutting 100 jobs. The cuts are due in partial to the "Green" movement and using less paper, as well as the more prevalent way of people gathering their informaion online. People are shopping online, getting their news online, finding jobs online and buying houses online. As well informed as I am about the significance of advertising online, I am still taken back a bit by such major news providers as these two listed above, having to make such large downscale adjustments to the way they do business.

I know I've talked about this in the past but it is so prevalent in this market. Print advertising is out! Here is some news thats proves its evident. The Capitol Times announced today that they will no longer be printing its 6 day a week publication. The paper started in 1917 and is partners with The Wisconsin State Journal since 1948. We all know that they are, or should I say were, a major marketing tool in selling ones house. The lack of interest in print media from the 'buying consumers' has driven them to the web. What I wonder now is, will anyone know what is going on? They did print the article in their paper that they're no longer going to print. I'd love to attach the article to this blog for you to read but I would hate to get in trouble for unauthorized redistribution rights. It should be fairly easy to google with a couple of the main keywords (madison capitol times end print). ;) 

I'm not sure if everyone has heard yet but the government has approved an economic stimulus package to help boost our economy.

 

If a single tax payer earns under $75,000 a year and a married couple earns under $150,000 they will receive the following benefits. Rebate checks will include a base amount determined by the greater of two options: (a) Income tax paid in 2007, with a maximum of $600 for a single taxpayer and $1,200 for married coules; or (b) $300 for an individual and $600 for a married couple, provided the individual or couple earned income of at least $3,000 in 2007. A children's bonus also will be included in the rebate check calculation. Anyone qualifying for the base amount also qualifies for an additional $300 with no cap on the amount of children.

 

There will also be an increase in Government Sponsored Enterprises (GSE) and the Federal Housing Administration's (FHA) Conforming Loan Limit. The conforming loan limits for both FHA and GSE (Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac) loans would be increases from $362,000 to $725,000 and from $417,000 to $625,000 respectively. This FHA reform will stimulate new-home sales and refinancing, reduce the number of families facing foreclosure, give families who want to purchase a home a safer alternative to many of the riskier mortgage products of the past and help more people refinance into less expensive FHA backed loans. Lifting the GSE loan limits to $625,000 will reduce foreclosures by as much as 210,000, save consumers who get new 'GSE Jumbo' loans $3000 to $5000 a year in interest payments, allow as many as 500,000 people with jumbo loans to refinance to lower interest rates, reduce housing inventories by one to 1.5 months, result in 348,000 additional home sales, strengthen home prices by 2 to 3 percentage points, generate $44 billion increase in economic activity and increase money flow in the mortgage marketplace.

 

I hope everyone interprets this information as I do, positive! This has got to help us all get our consumer confidence back. The rates are so low, the prices on homes are coming down and the government is kicking in to do their part. I truly believe that now is a great time to buy. This will go down in history as an odditty because of so many things coming together and yet so many not jumping on the train. For all of you who have talked about how you wished you had bought in the beginning of the 2000-05 bubble, here is your chance to put talk to walk. Don't miss another opportunity.

What the heck is GUSTO right??  Getting United in Service To Others.  It's a committee I am on with the RASCW (Realtors Association of South Central Wisconsin) and today was my first meeting. What a great group of people from so many different angles in Real Estate. It's the groups like these that the media needs to focus on when they do their 'piece' on Realtors. Positive Real Estate community members that do more than just sell houses, they work hard to give back to the communities, the communities that we all live and work in. I am happy to be on board and look forward to being apart of the amazing projects we have in store for 2008.

 

Off of that note, today's discussion was about an event we will be throwing on May 3rd. GUSTO is planning a Casino Night Fundraiser for the Keep Wisconsin Warm Fund. We have a lot in the works already and as details roll out I will be keeping you all informed. Tentatively a Casino themed party being held at the Sheraton (Madison) is in the works. There will be gambling with funny money and drawings for donated items. Basically, as you win at the tables, you will be able to purchase tickets that will be entered into a drawing for various prizes. There will be beverages and entertainment throughout the night as well. As I said before, we are in the growing stages of this operation but as details become more concrete I will provide them.

 

 

Where do I begin? For those of you I'm already working with, thank you and hang in there. We are all dealing with a very difficult market. I've told you all from the start that I am far more technologically advanced then the next agent and that has only gotten stronger. As the last few months have passed I've invested more of my time and money into online marketing of your homes. The results, more showings! Everyone I'm working with that has their home priced accordingly to market trends, have had significantly more showings. January has turned out to be a far more productive month then I had previously expected.

 

Traditional sale techniques are out! Open Houses produce unproductive results. The people that are coming through have a multitude of reasons that keep them from buying, such as: bad credit, sale of their own home, they're a neighbor or a friend, etc. Many people who visit an open house are more or less walking through your home just to see what it looks like in comparison to their own. A qualified buyer will set up a showing to walk through your home. These buyers are to be taken more seriously because they are ready to buy. They have been pre-approved and usually are working with an agent, all very good signs that they will be purchasing soon.

 

Print media is of the past! Newspapers and home magazines are not where buyers are looking for your home. The dollars spent on those advertisements are dollars thrown away. In a newspaper ad you get a couple of lines to say something about your home. Online you can have a multitude of pictures and vast information about your home, neighborhood community and the city you live in! A buyer gets way more informed and thus the ones who schedule a showing are that much more informed and likely to make an offer. They already know what they're getting into.

 

86% of home buyers started using the internet to find a home before they stared looking for a specific home. The other 14% used the internet after they started looking. 100% of buyers are looking online to find their next home. It's by far, way more efficient. From a buyers perspective, you can sit in the privacy of your own home and look at dozens of viable homes rather than driving around all day, seeing only 8.

 

What do I offer? Tons of online exposure! I am a member of nearly two dozen networks which literally adds up to hundreds of websites. Your homes are listed all over the place. I have recently enhanced everyone's listings on my site, which has more than doubled in views per month since october. I'm advertising your homes on my site to the fullest and redirecting your listings back to my site.

 

Let's not waste this technology. Everyone should be thinking about their prices again, not because I say so but because of what the market trends are doing. I am more than willing to revise your Market Analysis Reports and bring you up to date. If your not getting showings than you're likely overpriced. If you're getting showings but no offers, your likely overpriced. Everyone needs to remember that houses are a dime a dozen right now. You need to truly compete for those offers.

Probably the most breaking news of the year related to Real Estate. The Feds, under fears that the U.S. economy is about to face a recession, drops rates. What that has down to the housing industry is absolutely lowered the already low rates on loans. At this time anyone walking around that has interest in buying should be pulling all the stops together to get into a house. Depending on what loan you are pre-approved for, rates are in the low 5% and mid to high 4%. That truly is astonishing! Basically, a house that a person could not afford 6 months ago, is more than likely attainable at these current rates.

National Mortgage Statistics

• Number of families who now hold a subprime mortgage: 7.2 million
• Proportion of subprime mortgages in default: 14.44%
• Number of subprime mortgages made in 2005-2006 projected to end in foreclosure: 1 in 5
• Families with a subprime loan made from 1998 through 2006 who have or will lose their home to foreclosure in the next few years: 2.2 million
• Projected maximum equity that will be lost through foreclosures by families holding subprime mortgages: $164 billion
• Proportion of subprime mortgages made from 2004 to 2006 tha come "exploding" adjustable interest rates: 89-93 percent
• Proportion approved without fully documented income: 43-50 percent
• Proportion with no escrow for taxes and insurance: 75 percent

Source: Center for Responsible Lending-A Snapshot of the Subprime Market, December 10,2007: www.responsiblelending.org/issues/mortgage/quick-references/a-snapshot-of-the-subprime.html

The NAR (National Association of Realtors) is pleased to announce the 2008 Public Awareness Campaign. This year’s campaign aims to give consumers the facts about the long-term value of real estate and current market conditions to balance the sometimes incomplete and sensational information presented in the national media.

The campaign launches nationally on January 14. The TV and radio ads will air more than 10,000 times on national TV and radio outlets from January through November, continuing the campaign’s on-air presence for 11 months of the year.

This is huge for anyone that is selling a house. Regardless of whom you are working with, Realtor or FSBO, this campaign will start to influence the consumer to see the houseing market for what it truly is. As talked about below by John Deininger, 2007 was a positive year as far as Real Estate facts are concerned historically. Rates, as provided by Cheryl Slezewski under the mortgage rates tab, are at a historical low. It's time for buyer's to stop wondering if it is time to buy, rates this low don't come every year. With this ad campaign the public will finally get some factual data to base their decisions on.