Real Estate Directory

Keller Williams and Prudential Rate Tops

J.D. Power and Associates Reports: Among home buyers, Keller Williams ranks highest in customer satisfaction with real estate companies. While Prudential ranks highest among home sellers in study by JD Powers.

Realtors Help Fire Victims

NAR Asks Members to Helpo With California Fire Relief

The National Association of Realtors has asked that member agents and brokerages donate for the California fire relief.

NAR has "seeded" the pot by donating half-million dollars to aid the victims of the fires. It is estimated that San Diego alone sufffered $1 Billion in damages.  The REALTORS® Relief Foundation distributes donations to these and other victims of natural disasters. 

“Helping people experience the American Dream of homeownership and building our communities are what REALTORS® are all about,” said Combs. “We understand as REALTORS® how rewarding it is to own your own home, and we can sympathize how devastating it must be to see that home go up in flames. For so many people to lose their homes in Southern California is heartbreaking.”

Retirement Planning

Arizona, Nevada, and Florida in areas such as Sarasota are famous for their retirement communities.   Do these areas appeal to you? Do you like the coast or prefer the desert areas. As retirement approches theses are just a few of the many questions you need to ask yourself a few years ahead  of your retiement date. Where should you retire? Here are some questions to ask yourself. And as you will see you must really get your priorities in order before you make such a decision.

1. Does retirement mean moving? Does it mean selling your home of forty years? Is it really necessary? Many times it is to get the appreciation of your home in dollars to become part of your monthly income. But wait; would a reverse mortgage be a better plan?  You could stay in your home you know till close to all.
3. Do I want to move a far distance from children and grandchildren?  Be realistic here, you will only see your children, grandchildren and other relatives a couple times a year, if that. Which means relationships will not remain as close as they are now. How important is this to you? Or maybe this is what you want.
4. Am I prepared for the possibility that I might end up along if my spouse dies? Will my spouse be ok if I were to die?

There is so much to take into consideration when retirement age is approaching. The best thing you can do for yourself is think ahead, explore every possibility, talk to you children and friends and then make a informed decision.

Las Vegas Real Estate Investments

Las Vegas Real estate investors have to suffer through times of little to no cash flow - it is part of the game.  And who wouldn't like to own a property in this fairytale city that pulls at your heart strings and attracts major foreign investors on the basis of economics.   Investors are being forced to lower their rates in order to attract tenants.
 
The tax code in the United States is geared to reward Investors who make housing and other property available to the population.  That’s why two investors can analyze the same deal, and one decide that it works great, and the other decide there’s no profit. Many experienced investors believe that within a few years Las Vegas investment properties will be some of the highest priced per square foot in the country and Las Vegas will grow several smaller “strips” that will all share an unique identity. Many potential investors will say, 'I need to get into the Las Vegas Investment Property market', especially taking into account current stock market fluctuations and the HOT market for investment properties, but simply don't know the facts about Las Vegas property investing and how to use sale and leaseback method of property management.

Because property investing is a bit like buying a holiday package, you must separate yourself from the rest of the investors by giving the real estate agents the information they are looking for in your first face to face meeting.   Don’t do this: some property investors will walk into an area where the bottom price for a suburb is $400,000 and say I’m looking to purchase starting at $350,000.

Many potential investors will say, 'I need to get into the Las Vegas Investment Property market', especially taking into account current stock market fluctuations and the hot market for investment properties, but simply don't know the facts about Vegas propertyinvesting and how to use sale and leaseback method of property management. 

Existing Home Sales Are Up?

What happened to the Bubble?

The National Association of Realtors reported Thursday that that sales of existing single-family homes and condominiums rose by 5.2 percent in February to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 6.91 million units. This despite the predicte 5 % drop compared to last year.

The prices of homes sold in February rose to $209,000 for the nationwide median.That was 10.6 percent above the median price in February 2006.   

Economists believe that both new and existing home sales will dip by around 5 percent this year as rising mortgage rates cuts into demand.

But mortgage rates seem to have perhaps stagnated because of a drop in inflation. But Lereah said all indications so far were pointing to a gradual slowdown in sales to a more sustainable pace.

By region of the country, sales rose by 19.2 percent in the Northeast and were up 11.1 percent in the Midwest and 5.1 percent in the West in February. Only the South showed weakness last month with sales there dropping by 2.5 percent from the January pace.

Lereah said sales activity at present was really a "tale of two cities" with some of the hottest markets showing declines while some medium priced markets still posting strong sales gains.

He said that sales were down by double-digit levels in such hot sales markets as Phoenix, Fort Lauderdale and San Diego. He said, by contrast, sales were up by double-digit amounts in aeas such as Indianapolis, Albuquerque and Houston.