Actions on Housing Policy Will Make or Break Recovery

Although we have many reasons to feel  optimistic  about housing, lawmakers have the POWER to either continue helping or risk hurting our economy further with their decisions , both in the Senate and in the House.

Past –due mortgages and foreclosures have been trending down in recent months. Inventory is also shrinking.  This affects the law of supply and demand. The lower the supply and the higher the demand, helps prices trend upwards. Interest rates are lower than ever and home prices are beginning to stabilize…..but progress is still fragile.

• The only appropriate focus for legislators is helping families who are struggling right NOW and doing whatever it takes to keep properties OUT of the REO market!

Recent steps have been taken to provide distressed homeowners with more viable alternatives to foreclosure or short sales, such as easier refinancing through the Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP), however, we need more programs of this nature. Foreclosures continue to decline.

How does this affect you? Foreclosures and Short sales hurt all of us because they drive the cost of property down, which in turn decreases our investments. As property values INCREASE, your investment grows.

How can you help? Just call or email your legislators and encourage them to SUPPORT HOUSING PROGRAMS that will strengthen the market; that will help homeowners KEEP their homes by being able to refinance their properties. Ask them to pass laws that will encourage banks to work “with” these families….not against them which they are currently doing in many cases. In doing so, we will ALL BENEFIT, and our economy will once again begin to grow at a healthy pace.

Keeping sight of your goals.

For the latest Real Estate News click here.

Would you like to make a comment on this article? It’s a great place for you to “let YOUR thoughts be known on the various articles written. Be My Guest………I‘d love to hear from you! Others would too! To comment just scroll down and leave a reply.

IMPORTANT: If you or someone you know is interested in buying or selling a home in the Palm Desert Area, try searching properties on the same Desert Area MLS Realtor’s use, or give me a call….or visit my website at Palm Springs Homes and Estates. I will be happy to give you or your referral my “red carpet service.” After the sale, I will send you a $50 Gift Certificatetowards dinner in a fabulous Palm Springs Area Restaurant so you can celebrate!

Brought to You By Your Favorite Realtor,

Nancy Hankin

Foreclosures Continue to Decline

It’s about time we see reports like these instead of all the negative news the media keeps feeding us!

DavidBlitzer, the Chairman of the Index Committee wrote an article January 26, 2012 in the Housing Matrix about Foreclosures. He states RealtyTrac reports that foreclosure activity across the US in December, and the full year 2011, dropped sharply.

Foreclosure filings in 2011 totaled 2.7 million, down 34% from 2010 and 33% below 2009 and 19% below 2008. Overall 1.45% of US homes experienced a foreclosure filing, about one in every 69 houses. Comparable percentages for earlier years were 2.23% in 2010, 2.21 in 2009 and 1.84% in 2008. December foreclosure activity hit a 49 month low, down 9% from November and 20% from December 2010.

On the otherhand…….

Mortgage Rates Are on the Rise Due to Better Housing Reports

Wall Street Journal – Mia Lamar – Rates for fixed mortgages moved higher over the past week amid positive signals from the long-suffering U.S. housing market, according toFreddieMac’s weekly survey of mortgage rates.

Remodels See Business Improving

Mortgage News Daily – JannSwanson- Like their home-building counterparts, remodelers who are members of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) are displaying more confidence in their industry than they have in years.  The NAHB’s Remodeling Market Index (RMI) for the fourth quarter of 2011 which measures remodelers’ sentiments about their business climate rose to 46.6 its highest level in five year.  In the third quarter the Index was 41.7.

Would you like to make a comment on this article? It’s a great place for you to “let YOUR thoughts be known on the various articles written. Be My Guest………I‘d love to hear from you! Others would too! To comment just scroll down and leave a reply.

IMPORTANT: If you or someone you know is interested in buying or selling a home in the Palm Desert Area, try searching properties on the same Desert Area MLS Realtor’s use, or give me a call….or visit my website at Palm Springs Homes and Estates. I will be happy to give you or your referral my “red carpet service.” After the sale, I will send you a $50 Gift Certificatetowards dinner in a fabulous Palm Springs Area Restaurant so you can celebrate!

Brought to You By Your Favorite Realtor,

Nancy Hankin

Uncluttered Closets Help Sell Homes

 

 

Selling a home and living in your home aren’t the same. When you are ready to sell your home, it’s important to unclutter every room in the house, including the closets and garage!

Let’s start with the closets: If you are like many, you’ve probably held onto that old jacket, dress or sweater “just in case” you might wear it again, and in some instances, fit into it again. The rule of thumb here is “if you haven’t worn it in the past 12 months, then get rid of it.” Take it to your favorite thrift shop or hold a garage sale and let someone else enjoy them for a while.

5 ways to get more space, make smaller rooms look larger!

Once you have discarded all those unworn items, now it’s time to arrange your clothes in an orderly fashion. Hang all the blouses or shirts together, hang the slacks together. Suit jackets should also be hung together. You can even color coordinate now that you have room to spare! Put shoes on shoe racks or in labeled boxes. Purses should go on the top shelving. If you have room, buy a circular belt rack and keep all your belts together. You can also store away winter/summer items in the garage in the off season.

Now that you have become an expert at uncluttering closets, you can now move out to the garage and apply the same principles there. Pantries are also a favorite “catch-all” place to accumulate clutter. You’ll be amazed at all the clutter found here. And while you are at it, don’t forget to remove the clutter from kitchen and bathroom countertops. As mentioned earlier, your home needs to also be as de-personalized as possible when you are preparing it to go on the market, so this is a good time to remove all those family photos lining your hallway. Pack them up now, and enjoy them in your next home.

Not only will uncluttering help your home sell faster, but you will have less to move to your new place of residence. This will also save you time and money.

How to accentuate the positive

One Man’s Junk

Would you like to make a comment on this article? It’s a great place for you to “let YOUR thoughts be known on the various articles written. Be My Guest………I‘d love to hear from you! Others would too! To comment just scroll down and leave a reply.

IMPORTANT: If you or someone you know is interested in buying or selling a home in the Palm Desert Area, try searching properties on the same Desert Area MLS Realtor’s use, or give me a call….or visit my website at Palm Springs Homes and Estates. I will be happy to give you or your referral my “red carpet service.” After the sale, I will send you a $50 Gift Certificate towards dinner in a fabulous Palm Springs Area Restaurant so you can celebrate!

Brought to You By Your Favorite Realtor,

Nancy Hankin

Sure You Want To Do That Open House?

Here’s an article I think you should pay attention to, and just another reason WHY Open Houses may not be the best way to get that home sold. This article recently appeared in the Orange County Register Business Pages.

Wednesday, January 18, 2012 — Realtors issued a warning to their members to be careful after two armed robbers held up a real estate agent and a prospective homebuyer at gunpoint at a Fullerton open house recently.

No one was injured in the incident, but the bandits made off with a large amount of cash that the house shopper had with him.

Although real estate agents often are victims of robberies, sexual assaults and slayings while working alone in vacant homes, police believe the home shopper was the target of the Jan. 8 crime.

Police believe that the robbers had followed the home shopper, a restaurant owner, from Los Angeles County in hopes of getting business proceeds.

Nonetheless, officials at the Anaheim-based Pacific West Association of Realtors issued a warning to their members to be cautious during open houses and to avoid working alone whenever possible.

“There’s been murders and robberies and all those things at open houses … and we felt it’s important to make sure our members are aware of these things,” said PWR CEO Nancy Gilmore.

Fullerton Sgt.AndrewGoodrichprovided details of the crime:

Two men entered a three-bedroom house in the 2200 block of Summit View Drive around 1:40 p.m. Jan. 8 where a female agent was showing the house. According to PWR, the agent was holding an open house at the time when a man came to look at it.

The men pulled out a gun and ordered the two to get on the floor, then took their cell phones, keys and wallets. At least one robber went outside and searched the man’s car, then the bandits left, escaping with “a large amount of cash.”Goodrichdeclined to say exactly how much.

More than a hundred people in the U.S. real estate profession have been killed on the job since the foreclosure mess began in 2008, according to ABC News. The real estate and rental and leasing occupation has seen an average of 75 deaths a year from 2003 to 2009, ABC said, citing data from the Bureau of Labor and Statistics.

What many sellers are NOT aware of, is over 85% of today’s buyers “shop on-line” before they contact a Realtor. In the past, Open Houses were an excellent way for Realtors to meet prospective buyers……however, since the advent of the Internet, buyers are now shopping on- line while sitting comfortably on their homes or offices. That’s why my client’s homes are listed on over 100 Internet Sites when they list with me. It’s safer and it gets their homes SOLD!

Let us know what safety precautions you use when doing an Open House by leaving a comment below. 

IMPORTANT: If you or someone you know is interested in buying or selling a home in the Palm Desert Area, try searching properties on the same Desert Area MLS Realtor’s use, or give me a call….or visit my website at Palm Springs Homes and Estates. I will be happy to give you or your referral my “red carpet service.” After the sale, I will send you a $50 Gift Certificatetowards dinner in a fabulous Palm Springs Area Restaurant so you can celebrate!

Brought to You By Your Favorite Realtor,

Nancy Hankin

HOMEOWNERS CALL FOR ENERGY EFFICIENCY UPGRADES

“It’s no surprise with rising energy prices and other costs draining the piggy bank that homeowners want to maximize home performance with green remodeling options,” said NAHB Remodelers Chairman Lonny Rutherford, CGR, CAPS, CGP, a professional remodeler from Farmington, N. M. “Professional remodelers provide the solution for making the 125 million existing single-family homes in the United States more energy-efficient.”

The group responsible for compiling data about green energy systems is the National Green Building Standard,™.  This organization includes the only consensus rating system for remodeling. This standard provides a roadmap for green remodeling and assures consumers that remodelers know how to plan and complete authentically green remodels.

Remodelers have installed a number of efficiency-enhancing products in recent months, including:

- Windows—73 percent of surveyed remodelers installed more energy-efficient windows that are insulated to prevent outdoor heat exchange.

- Insulation—65 percent made upgrades such as insulation replacement and spraying foam or fiber insulation into enclosed walls and roof cavities, while 27 percent insulated foundations and 52 percent installed insulated exterior doors.

- High-efficiency HVAC systems (56 percent)

- High-efficiency kitchen appliances (47 percent)

- Water-saving faucets and fixtures (46 percent)

“Newer technologies are also quickly gaining in popularity,” saysRutherford.

“Thirty-five percent of remodelers reported installing tankless water heaters, which save on energy costs by heating water on demand instead of continuously eating energy.”

There are a multitude of ways we can learn to conserve our energy, and many homeowners are doing this as they remodel existing homes, or move to newer homes which already have many of the energy saving systems.

Many In The Palm Springs Desert Area Are Learning How To Go Green and I’d love to hear how YOU are using green energy saving techniques in your homes.

Energy Efficient Building

Energy Efficient Home

Would you like to make a comment on this article? It’s a great place for you to “let YOUR thoughts be known on the various articles written. Be My Guest………I‘d love to hear from you! Others would too! To comment just scroll down and leave a reply.

IMPORTANT: If you or someone you know is interested in buying or selling a home in the Palm Desert Area, try searching properties on the same Desert Area MLS Realtor’s use, or give me a call….or visit my website at Palm Springs Homes and Estates. I will be happy to give you or your referral my “red carpet service.” After the sale, I will send you a $50 Gift Certificatetowards dinner in a fabulous Palm Springs Area Restaurant so you can celebrate!

Brought to You By Your Favorite Realtor,

Nancy Hankin

KEEPING SIGHT OF YOUR GOALS

I think I can! I think I can! With the tendency of the news media to tell us everything that’s wrong with our economy, it’s easy to lose sight of the good stuff.

There are many reasons why you may need or want to sell your present home in the Palm Springs Desert Area, or surrounding areas. But is it impossible, given today’s real estate climate? Absolutely not!  It is possible! It is a matter of making smart decisions, including marketing, pricing and amassing the right team of expert help.

The days of ‘house flipping’ for easy money have come to a screeching halt. And that is a good thing. Wisdom holds that we were in an unrealistic situation that needed a correction. But that doesn’t mean the rest of us have to roll up in the corner and play dead. Don’t let the naysayers stop you from realizing your dreams. It may take a little more effort and time but yes, you can!

Buyers may have a mental list of what they want in a home, but their decision is usually made in the first few seconds. They will naturally look for the negative aspects so make sure they have no reason not to choose your home.

Repair, repaint and remove! Fix those broken hinges and leaky faucets. Paint everything a fresh, neutral color and get rid of all clutter, even in the hidden spaces.

5 ways to get more space; make small rooms look bigger.

 

When you are ready to sell your home, you and I become Partners. I have over 20 years of experience in selling properties in the Coachella Valley.

 What can YOU do to help? 

• Be open to suggestions that come with experience in marketing and the expertise to get the job done. This isn’t always easy to do when you are competing with Foreclosures and Short Sales, but IT IS possible in today’s market when your home is PRICED TO SELL and it SHOWS at its very best!  I SOLD 2 homes in 8 days in February 2010!
• Patience is also needed. Buyers are taking their time to make the final decision because there is so much to choose from. Make sure your property “stands out” from all others and you will have a better chance of selling in today’s marketplace.

Just give me a call or email me and we will get started on selling your home!   I’m here to help any way I can.

Would you like to make a comment on this article? It’s a great place for you to “let YOUR thoughts be known on the various articles written. Be My Guest………I‘d love to hear from you! Others would too! To comment just scroll down and leave a reply.

IMPORTANT: If you or someone you know is interested in buying or selling a home in the Palm Desert Area, try searching properties on the same Desert Area MLS Realtor’s use, or give me a call….or visit my website at Palm Springs Homes and Estates. I will be happy to give you or your referral my “red carpet service.” After the sale, I will send you a $50 Gift Certificatetowards dinner in a fabulous Palm Springs Area Restaurant so you can celebrate!

Brought to You By Your Favorite Realtor,

Nancy Hankin

WHY BOTHER WITH DUCT CLEANING?

 

Cooler weather means it’s time to check out your home’s heating system. And that includes the air ducts.

With allergies and air pollution a growing concern, it might be time to take a look at what you can do to improve the quality of the air in your home. Your heating and cooling system is constantly circulating the air in your home. The air in your home can become contaminated with dust or mold, which could then jeopardize the system as well as the home’s occupants. Those with compromised immune systems, allergies, heart or breathing problems are particularly susceptible to pollution whether indoors or out. For some, duct cleaning may be helpful.

CLEAN AIR

So, what is ‘duct cleaning’ and how is it done? Duct cleaning is a process that cleans the heating and cooling components along with the supply and return air ducts, registers, grills and diffusers, cooling coils and drain pans. Some companies even clean the fan motor and housing along with the air handling unit housing. The thinking is that thorough scrubbing will ensure that contaminants are not re-introduced into the system. Chemicals may be used that are designed to kill contaminants and seal the surfaces. You’ll want to make sure you are fully informed about what is being used and what is involved.

A simpler but less effective process is to blow out the air ducts and collect the debris in containers which are then disposed of.  As usual, prevention is the best cure. To keep dust, mold and allergens at bay, use the highest efficiency air filter recommended by the manufacturer for your cooling and heating system. And don’t forget to change filters regularly. You can also vacuum in and around the air intake each time you dust your home. A high efficiency vacuum works best.

If you’re doing any type of construction or remodeling that involves dust, such as sanding, be sure to seal off the ducts. Several years ago I did some extensive remodeling. I not only had the ducts sealed during construction, but after the job was completed, I had all the ducts cleaned as a precaution. Equally important, don’t forget to keep any humidification equipment clean. You and your home will breathe easier.

 

Remodeling? Don’t overdo it.

Tips on an Energy Efficient home

Would you like to make a comment on this article? It’s a great place for you to “let YOUR thoughts be known on the various articles written. Be My Guest………I‘d love to hear from you! Others would too! To comment just scroll down and leave a reply.

IMPORTANT: If you or someone you know is interested in buying or selling a home in the Palm Desert Area, try searching properties on the same Desert Area MLS Realtor’s use, or give me a call….or visit my website at Palm Springs Homes and Estates. I will be happy to give you or your referral my “red carpet service.” After the sale, I will send you a $50 Gift Certificate towards dinner in a fabulous Palm Springs Area Restaurant so you can celebrate!

Brought to You By Your Favorite Realtor,

Nancy Hankin