What would be the first thing you tried to save (besides people and pets)?
This guy asked the firefighters to save his Ferrari. Not sure I’d disagree with the decision; I’ve got an unreasonable attachment to a car myself. Seriously though, I’d grab my laptop, but besides that, I’m not sure what else I would need. Everything else would be replaceable.
So, yeah, what would you grab?
Photo Credit: Kansas City Star
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In case you don’t want to take the 4 minutes to watch the video, I will list the myths for you here:
There you have it. Now go search for a home or sell yours.
The market is tough right now for many Boise area sellers. Most of them need to sell at any cost, leading to short sales and foreclosures all over the valley. However, a lot of sellers have the option to rent their home in hopes of waiting for the market to recover in order to sell again. But many of these homeowners have never played the role of landlord before. Since CityBurb has specialized in working with first-time home buyers and sellers, it made sense that we put together a program for first-time landlords as well.
CityBurb now offers Property Management services for Boise, Meridian and Eagle property owners (we’ll look at other areas on a case by case basis). The CityBurb advantage is that as licensed real estate agents and members of the Intermountain MLS, we can advertise our rental listings to all of the other real estate agents in the valley and make use of all the web services that draw listings from the MLS. And in the CityBurb spirit, we’ll be sharing our fees with other brokers and agents as an incentive for them to bring renters to our clients’ properties.
This concept is nothing new in the commercial leasing world, but in Idaho property managers are not required to be licensed and so very few are. By being licensed we can offer the following advantages:
We’ll also be able to help renters by showing them more than just the properties we have for rent since we’ll be cooperating with other management and real estate companies. And we’ll be able to identify renters that could be potential homeowners and assist them with purchase options.
Our website will be updated soon with available rental properties and details about our new service. In the meantime, if you know someone who is struggling to sell their home or are tired of dealing with tenants, send them our way and we’ll take care of them.
Once again I will be venturing into a bowling alley, by choice, to show off my incredible ability to knock down 10 pins with one little eight pound ball (I’ve been working out a lot so I might move up to a nine or ten pound ball this year). Last year, as you may recall, I signed up a CityBurb Bowling Team for the Big Brothers Big Sisters Bowl for Kids’ Sake bowling fundraiser. Our team raised $540.00 for the event. Not bad, but I think we can do better. I’d like to raise $1,000 this year as that is the amount it costs the organization to support one match.
I know there are a lot of causes out there and I know there are a lot of other things you need to spend your money on right now, but I really think this is worth taking a look at. Big Brothers Big Sisters has a huge impact on our community. From their site:
According to Parents
- 88% of the youth improved in self-confidence
- 75% of the youth improved in the ability to express themselves
- 73% of the youth improved in their sense of the future
- 71% of the youth improved in making decisions
According to the Youth
- 68% of the youth reported improvement in wanting to learn new things
- 68% of the youth reported improvement in friendships
According to the Volunteers
- 69% of the youth improved relationships with other adults
- 68% of the youth improved in trust
So what can you do? Get your wallet out and click here. Or, you can sign up to be on our team and help us raise money and go bowling on February 21st at 4:00pm. We’ve got room for 10 9 team members, so act quick. Either way, you’re making a difference.
The Idaho Business Review had an uplifting article yesterday. They reported on the Idaho Housing and Finance Association executive director Gerald Hunter’s talk at the 2008 Economic Outlook Forum here in Boise. Overall, Hunter believes that if we look at the long term picture of our housing market, we are still in good shape. Comparing recent sales statistics with those over the past 10 years, we are still among the national average for valuation increase. Yes, increase. Over the last ten years we have still averaged a 5%+ annual increase in home prices. If we forget about those two fluke years (05/06), we’re doing great. Say you bought before the boom, left the country for two years and came back, the market would seem just as normal as ever.
The unfortunate part is that many people bought during those two years so none of this 10 year average nonsense matters to them. Well, the good news is that worst may be over. According to Hunter:
“If you use that benchmark [referring to the annual growth increase], you may have to conclude that Boise has made its way through the housing bubble.”
This is not to say that we’ve reached “the bottom,” but it is a good sign that we are close. Close enough, in fact, that any attempts at timing “the bottom” may be fruitless. Over the next year as we approach the bottom (right now), reach the bottom (soon), and start to see price increases again, it may all blur together. There won’t be a specific day that we can call the last day prices dropped. And again, we won’t be sure we’ve hit the bottom until it has passed.
Remember, many of the issues we are facing today were caused by people planning to sell shortly after purchasing their home (history tells us you need to wait 4 years to break even on a home) or people trying to use their future equity today. A home purchase is a long-term commitment and if you’ve considered and accepted this fact, you’re probably ready to buy. And right now, your timing couldn’t be better.
Photo Credit: Christine ™ via Flickr
I’ve been looking for a way to explain to my buyers that now is a great time to buy (I know – does a real estate agent ever stop saying this?), but I’ve held back for a few reasons. First, I don’t actually know what is going to happen to the economy in the next month, year or decade. And second, I didn’t live through the Great Depression and I wasn’t really paying much attention during the past few recessions. Basically, my prediction skills are lacking. So, as with anything else that I don’t know much about, I’ve done some research.
As I was reading through the real estate blogs that I read everyday (see column on the right), I came across Greg from BlueRoof.com’s blog entry about Warren Buffett’s opinion article in The New York Times. Basically, Buffett tells us what we all know – buy low, sell high. But he puts it in a way that makes it easier to understand during these times of confusion. He also talks about the stock market specifically, but his advice can be useful in real estate as well. From the article:
“What is likely, however, is that the market will move higher, perhaps substantially so, well before either sentiment or the economy turns up. So if you wait for the robins, spring will be over.”
What is the lesson here? Right now, prices are low (hint: that is when you buy).
Photo Credit: woodleywonderworks via Flickr
For weeks we have all sat around listening to talk of a 700 billion dollar “Wall Street Bailout.” Why Wall Street and why $700 billion, we all asked. Nobody seemed to know. The plan wasn’t passed…then it was…but it was different…the Dow is down 777 points…up almost 1000 points within a few days. What is going on?
I didn’t know either. In fact, I was very much against the bailout plan when I first heard about it and somewhat relieved when it didn’t pass the first time. Then the second version passed and I didn’t know what to think. None of the news sites or other trusted resources had any answers. Then Ira Glass came in and explained everything.
Remember my blog post about the mortgage crisis? Well, the “This American Life” radio show has done another episode in which they explain the bailout plan – what it is, why we need it, and how we got in to this mess in the first place. You can listen to the show here.
It is about an hour long show and it is definitely worth listening to.
Are you waiting until we hit the bottom of the market before you buy a home? Well, a local builder, Brighton Homes, is guaranteeing you purchased at the bottom if you buy one of their homes or lots. Brighton Homes is offering a rebate on your purchase if they lower the price of the same model home in the next two years according to a Statesman article. The article did not contain any other details of the program and the Brighton Homes website doesn’t even mention the program, but I’m sure there are some pretty strict qualifications in order to get a rebate check.
I’m usually pretty skeptical when builders use unique marketing ideas to sell their homes, but I like this one. Although still a marketing ploy, the rebate program is based on the builder guaranteeing the value of their product, which, in the end, is beneficial to the homeowner. Of course, if this isn’t the bottom, Brighton will have a much harder time selling their homes in the future because any price reductions will cost them that much more because of the rebates.
As I wrote about last week, we had a little party on Sunday night to celebrate Labor Day, the end of summer and all of our faithful clients and endorsers. The theme revolved around mojitos, a Cuban drink made popular by Hemingway. Everyone seemed to have a great time even as the temperature dropped significantly through the evening. If you didn’t make it, you missed out on ribs, chicken, corn on the cob, and a selection of different salads. Oh, and of course, those fabulous mojitos. Check out some of the pictures below. If you want to be invited to the next CityBurb party, make sure you are subscribed to our newsletter.
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