HAPPY JULY FOURTH…..I hope you had a great weekend!!!! 07/07/2011

The Fourth of July Fun Facts

On this day in 1776, the Declaration of Independence was approved by the Continental Congress, setting the 13 colonies on the road to freedom as a sovereign nation. As always, this most American of holidays will be marked by parades, fireworks and backyard barbecues across the country.

On July 1776, the estimated number of people living in the newly independent nation was 2.5 million….. Now, the nation’s estimated population on this July Fourth is 311.7 million.

Flags: $3.2 million In 2010, the dollar value of U.S. imports of American flags. The vast majority of this amount ($2.8 million) was for U.S. flags made in China.   Mexico was the leading customer, purchasing $256,407 worth. $302.7 million Annual dollar value of shipments of fabricated flags, banners and similar emblems by the nation’s manufacturers, according to the latest published economic census data.

Fireworks: $190.7 million The value of fireworks imported from China in 2010, representing the bulk of all U.S. fireworks imported ($197.3 million). U.S. exports of fireworks, by comparison, came to just $37.0 million in 2010, with Japan purchasing more than any other country ($6.3 million).  The value of U.S. manufacturers’ shipments of fireworks and pyrotechnics (including flares, igniters, etc.) in 2007.

Patriotic-Sounding Place Names: Thirty-one places have “liberty” in their names. The most populous one as of April 1, 2010, is Liberty, Mo. (29,149) Iowa, with four, has more of these places than any other state: Libertyville, New Liberty, North Liberty and West Liberty.  Thirty-five places have “eagle” in their names. The most populous one is Eagle Pass, Texas (26,248).  Eleven places have “independence” in their names. The most populous one is Independence, Mo. (116,830).  Nine places have “freedom” in their names. The most populous one is New Freedom, Pa. (4,464).  One place with “patriot” in the name. Patriot, Ind. (209).  Five places have “America” in their names. The most populous is American Fork, Utah (26,263).  Early Presidential Last Names: Ranking of the frequency of the surname of our first president, George Washington (139), among all last names tabulated in the 2000 Census. Other early presidential names that appear on the list, along with their ranking, were Adams (39), Jefferson (594), Madison (1,209) and Monroe (567).

The British are Coming!: $98.3 billion Dollar value of trade last year between the United States and the United Kingdom, making the British, our adversary in 1776, our sixth-leading trading partner today.

Fourth of July Cookouts: More than 1 in 4: The chance that the hot dogs and pork sausages consumed on the Fourth of July originated in Iowa. The Hawkeye State was home to 19.0 million hogs and pigs on March 1, 2011. This estimate represents more than one-fourth of the nation’s estimated total. North Carolina (8.6 million) and Minnesota (7.6 million) were also homes to large numbers of pigs. 6.8 billion pounds Total production of cattle and calves in Texas in 2010. Chances are good that the beef hot dogs, steaks and burgers on your backyard grill came from the Lone Star State, which accounted for about one-sixth of the nation’s total production. And if the beef did not come from Texas, it very well may have come from Nebraska (4.6 billion pounds) or Kansas (4.1 billion pounds).

Fun Numbers: 6 is the number of states in which the value of broiler chicken production was $1 billion or greater between December 2009 and November 2010. There is a good chance that one of these states — Georgia, Arkansas, North Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi or Texas — is the source of your barbecued chicken.  Over 1 in 3 are the odds that your side dish of baked beans originated from North Dakota, which produced 36 percent of the nation’s dry, edible beans in 2010. Another popular Fourth of July side dish is corn on the cob. Florida, California, Georgia, Washington and New York together accounted for 68 percent of the fresh market sweet corn produced nationally in 2010.  More than three-fourths of the nation’s head lettuce production in 2010 that came from California. This lettuce may end up in your salad or on your burger.  7 in 10 are the chances that the fresh tomatoes in your salad came from Florida or California, which combined accounted for 71 percent of U.S. fresh market tomato production last year.  Florida is the state that led the nation in watermelon production last year (750 million pounds). Other leading producers of this popular fruit included California, Georgia and Texas, each had an estimate of more than 600 million pounds.

Please Pass the Potato: Potato salad and potato chips are popular food items at Fourth of July barbecues. Approximately half of the nation’s spuds were produced in Idaho or Washington in 2010.

81 million Americans said they have taken part in a barbecue during the previous year. It’s probably safe to assume a lot of these events took place on Independence Day.

If I am not buying or selling….Can I refinance if my home has lost value? YES! 03/17/2011

Happy St. Patricks Day!  So is now the time to refinance if you haven’t done that yet?  There is a program available called the Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP).

This program will allow current homeowners to refinance their current mortgage if they have been able to access the current market interest rates due to a reduced equity position caused by eroding home values.

You may be eligible for a Home Affordable Refinance if you:

1. Own a one to four unit home that is owner occupied, second home and investment properties

2. Have a mortgage owned by or guaranteed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac

3. Are current on your mortgage payments and have not been more than 30 days late making a payment for the last 12 months.

4. Have a FIRST mortgage not exceeding 125% of the current market value of your home.

5. Have income sufficient to support the new mortgage payments and,

6. Can improve the long term affordability or stability of your loan with the refinance.

New loans under this program need to CLOSE BY JUNE 31st, 2011……so don’t wait if you think this could be your answer.  If this seems to be a good fit……..give me a call and I will get you in touch with a lender that can help you out.

952-484-7378 (952-4 U I SERV)

Bruce Leach

LICENSED REALTOR IN THE STATE OF MINNESOTA with ROGER FAZENDIN REALTORS

Buyers should look at Cost versus Price. 02/14/2011

The Cost of Waiting for Prices to Fall

Many purchasers have been sitting on the sidelines waiting for home prices to hit bottom. They want to guarantee that they are purchasing at the best possible price. Like them, we also believe that prices still have some room to fall in most markets. However, we disagree that waiting is a good financial decision. The buyer should not be concerned about housing prices. They should be concerned about cost.

The cost of a house is made up of the price AND THE INTEREST RATE they will be paying. Two different pieces of news released yesterday highlight this point.

PRICES

The National Association of Realtors (NAR) released their 4^th quarter housing research report. In the release, they reported that home sales rose 15.4% in the 4th quarter over the 3rd quarter. They also showed that prices remained stable during the year:

The national median existing single-family price was $170,600 in the fourth quarter, up 0.2 percent from $170,300 in the fourth quarter of 2009.

A buyer who delayed a purchase might find solace in the fact that prices have not increased. However, the other news released yesterday paints a different picture.

INTEREST RATES

The Primary Mortgage Market Survey was released by Freddie Mac which showed that the 30 year fixed rate mortgage was at 5.05%. Frank Nothaft, vice president and chief economist of Freddie Mac said:

“Long-term bond yields jumped on positive economic data reports, which placed upward pressure on mortgage rates this week…As a result, interest rates on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rose to the highest level since the last week in April 2010.”

So prices have remained stable but interest rates have risen dramatically in the last 90 days. What does that mean to a buyer looking to purchase a home this year?

The price is the same. It just costs more.

Let’s show you what the news means:

By sitting on the sidelines for the last 90 days a purchaser lost:

• $89.44 a month
• $1,073.28 a year
• $32,198.40 over the thirty year life of the mortgage

If you buy a $340,000 home, double all these numbers.

Bottom Line

Even if prices fall another 10% this year, the cost of a home will increase if interest rates go up more than 1%. Buyers should not worry where prices are going. They should be concerned where costs will be later in the year.

Quotes from Troy Mlenar at Waterstone Mortgage

3 Questions You Must Answer Before Buying a Home 01/05/2011

If you are thinking about purchasing a home right now, you are surely getting a lot of advice. And most of that advice is probably negative. Why buy now with prices still falling? Don’t you realize real estate is no longer a good investment? Don’t you know that people who bought five years ago lost their shirt? We understand the concern your friends and family have. However, let’s look at whether or not now is actually the perfect time to buy a home.

There are three questions you should ask before purchasing in today’s market:

1. Why should I buy if house prices are still depreciating?

We believe that in most parts of the country prices will in fact soften in 2011. Price is the major concern for anyone selling a home. When you are buying, COST should be your primary concern however. Your monthly payment (cost) is definitely impacted by the price of the home you purchase. The other major component is the interest rate. Waiting for prices to bottom out while rates are increasing can wind up costing you more over the life of the mortgage (see chart here).

Over the last seven weeks, rates have increased over 1/2 a point going from 4.17 to 4.86. Looking at the attached chart shows this increase. Waiting for prices to bottom out seems to make perfect sense. Yet, at a time when rates are increasing, it might NOT make sense. Make sure you have a mortgage professional help you with this math before making a decision.

In an article last week CNN Money reported:

“You can kiss those record lows goodbye,” said Greg McBride, chief economist for Bankrate.com.

Keith Gumbinger of HSH Associates, a provider of mortgage information said that the market reached a new plateau.

“I don’t think we’re going back to a 50-year low anytime soon without an economic collapse,” he said. “Rates will probably never revisit those levels.”

2. When will I begin to see appreciation if I buy now?

This is a great question. Macro Markets, LLC is a company that studies housing prices. They started their Home Price Expectation Survey in 2010.  They ask 100+ housing industry experts to project housing prices through 2015. The most current survey shows that the experts are predicting prices to soften until 2012. The experts then project prices to rise reaching a cumulative appreciation of over 10% by 2015.

Purchasing a home today makes great sense from a financial standpoint. Think of the old axiom: You want to buy low and sell high. We may be at the low point regarding the COST of a home. But, this decision should not only be a financial one.

That leads us to our third and final question:

3. Why am I buying a home in the first place?

This truly is the most important question to answer. Forget the finances for a minute. Why did you even begin to consider purchasing a home? For most, the reason has nothing to do with finances. The Fannie Mae National Housing Survey shows that the four major reasons people buy a home have nothing to do with money:

• A good place to raise children and for them to get a good education
• A place where you and your family feel safe
• More space for you and your family
• Control of the space

What non-financial benefits will you and your family derive from owning a home? The answer to that question should be the reason whether you decide to purchase or not.

Bottom Line

The COST of a home will probably remain relatively unchanged even if prices continue to depreciate. Don’t allow money to get in the way of you making the right decision for you and your family. In the long run, the finances will work in your favor anyway.

Why should you use a Real Estate Professional 12/19/2010

5 Reasons You Should Use a Real Estate Professional

Should you spend the money on a real estate commission or save that money by selling your home by yourself? That is a question many home sellers ask themselves. Today, we want to discuss why it is crucial to have a true professional guiding you through the minefield of challenges that exist in the current real estate market.

The housing market today is more challenging than it has ever been and seems to be becoming more difficult each day. What impact will foreclosures have on prices? Which loan products that were available just last month are no longer available? How do you convince perspective purchasers to pull the trigger on an offer when everyone is telling them that they should see another 100 houses before they make a decision? These are tough questions for a trained, experienced professional.  The lay person would find it almost impossible to keep abreast of this rapidly evolving industry.

Here are five important reasons to use a real estate professional:

1. Pricing Is Difficult

Just a few years ago, you didn’t have to worry about overpricing your home. If it was too high, all you needed to do was wait as historic appreciation was taking place. The situation is quite different today. With experts calling for another drop in home values, overpricing your property will cost you time. In this market, time costs you money. A professional real estate agent will discuss how increasing inventory could dramatically impact the value of your property in the months to come. They will help you set the right price in today’s market.

2. Negotiating Ability Is Crucial

Buyers today have an almost unlimited supply of homes from which to choose. They realize that puts them in a great negotiating position. Most buyers are now being represented by an agent. Sellers need to also be represented by a professional expert trained to negotiate real estate contracts.

3. Mortgaging Is Key to the Deal

The biggest impact of the housing market collapse is that lending standards are much stricter today than they were a few short years ago. Rules are constantly changing. Even FHA has gone through a guidelines overhaul in the last several months. You need a real estate expert who has teamed up with a knowledgeable mortgage professional to make sure that the buyer in the deal is in fact capable of obtaining a mortgage. Losing time with an unqualified buyer costs you money in a market where prices are falling.

4. Your Family’s Safety

We have always found it puzzling that the same person that will lock every door and window and set the alarm today will then allow total strangers into their house tomorrow. The real estate industry trains its practitioners to take steps to protect themselves and their clients. Take advantage of putting a person between you and the person calling on an ad or yard sign.

5. You Probably Have More Important Things to Do

Selling a home could turn into a full time job. Learning the necessary disclosures, coordinating the dates of your closings, dealing with a challenge regarding your appraisal and re-negotiating the offer after an engineer’s report are just a few of the concerns you may face. You would probably be better of spending that time with the items important to you and your family and leaving the challenges to your agent.

Bottom Line

To make sure the sale of your home is handled professionally – hire a trained professional. In the long run, you will wind-up with more money in your pocket and have less challenges with the move.

Excited to be named SUPER REAL ESTATE AGENT Second year in a row!!!! 06/29/2010

I have been nominated and selected in the Mpls St. Paul Magazine and Twin Cities Business Monthly for the second year in a row, “Super Real Estate Agent” for 2010.  What I like about this award is that it is focused on the opinions of 120,000 consumers that have actually worked with real estate agents and including those that are recent home buyers.  They are asked to nominate and grade real estate agents based on nine different criteria.

1. Communication, 2. Customer Service, 3. Integrity, 4. Market Knowledge, 5. Negotiation, 6. Finding the right home, 7. Marketing of a home, 8. Closing preparation and 9. Overall Satisfaction.

Nominees are scored, screened for disciplinary actions and reviewed by a distinquished panel of real estate industry leaders to come up with the annual list.  This years list includes less than 4% of the Real Estate Agents in Minnesota.  I am honored to be included in this group of Minnesota REALTORS and I hope that gives you another reason to think of me if you, your family or friends are looking to move.  I am here and ready to serve and excited to be your Real Estate Resource. 

Call me at 952-484-7378 (952-4UI SERV)

The Monthly Skinny 06/04/2010