Mr. Buyer... you're still on the fence about buying a home in Fairbanks, Alaska?    

• The Fairbanks Real Estate Market is still humming right along...

• Uncle Sam will give first time homebuyers an $8,000 credit... and you can even use it as (part/all) of your down payment...

• Fairbanks/North Pole Home Buyers can receive up to a $7,500 rebate on a new construction home...

• Rates for a 30 year fixed loan are below 5% (4.625% as of 5/13/2009)

** Whatcha waiting for? **

Alright, folks. We have two missing babies in need of locating.  They have been missing for a couple of days from the Farmers Loop/Shuros Drive area north of town.  The bulldog answers to Butch and has a leg injury on his front (left I think) leg from a break when he was a puppy.  He's probably traveling with a Norwegian Elkhound named Yukon.  The owners are desperate to see them returned.  There is a reward and no questions will be asked.  If you have seen them or have any information please call Dave Hite at 452-6252 or if you prefer, send Dave (or me) an email or leave an anonymous comment.  They just want to see their babies returned safely home.  Your help is greatly appreciated!

 

I swore I would never, ever make that trip again.  The last time I did, it cost a pretty penny to charter a helicopter to fly me off the mountain.  For some reason I have an aversion to looking out the window of a bus (driven by an undoubtedly high college kid who looks like he's one toke away from driving us all to a certain death) and seeing terra firma... 1,500 feet straight down.  Nope.  Sorry. Just not gonna do it.

This past weekend the boss and I took some much needed R&R time and headed south to Denali Park.  I know, I know... some say all we do in the summer is take time off.  It's amazing how much business you can conduct via a satellite connection. :)  Where there's a will, there's a way, right?

While we were fortunate to have gorgeous sunny skies and temps in the 70's I was dreading the mere mention of 'the trip' up the mountain.  God help me, I don't think there's enough Valium in the western hemisphere to get me back on that bus.

Fortunately for me the buses aren't in operation yet.  But, the Park road (the only one in Denali National Park) is open to milepost 30 at the Teklanika River. We took a leisurely drive over the mountains and through the woods watching for critters large and small.  There were tons of ptarmigans, a lynx who was too quick for me to catch on film, a small herd of caribou, several moose, a black bear and on our return trip a pack of wolves we had a short standoff with in the middle of the road.  

If you're thinking of making a trip to Denali, this is a great time.  The terrorists tourists are not out yet and with less traffic on the Park road the odds of seeing wildlife is much greater.  Riley Creek Campground, the first campground in the Park, is the only one open and doesn't offer any hookups but camping is free until the 14th.

The photo's below are a few from the trip... I hope you enjoy them!

 

Created with flickr slideshow.

5:35AM. The view from the bedroom window was bleak.  Is that snow?  It was a morning that, if not for promises made, I would have succumbed to the urge to drift back to sleep.  Not today. Today we were going arm in arm with our fellow citizens to make our collective voices heard. 

"It's not a Republican thing... It's not a Democrat thing.  It's an American thing."  Partisan attacks were nowhere to be seen on this day.  We gathered... young, old, black, white, business owners, retirees and the recently unemployed... out of a growing anger that our representatives seem to have forgotten this great nation belongs to us all. 

By noon more than 400 patriots gathered, armed only with homemade cardboard signs and flags to protest wasteful spending, government bailouts, and special interests winning out over folks on Main Street. 

A young mother holding a flag and pushing a stroller with her youngest tucked inside asks, "When money is tight, I have to watch my pennies.  Why won't they?"

Perched on a busy intersection near downtown Fairbanks, we watched as car after car drove past with horns blaring and drivers waving in support.  More than a few stopped to offer boxes of tea.  One not-so-clued-in fellow stopped ten feet or so behind me, spooled the passenger window down and yelled out to anyone within earshot, "What hell are you people celebrating?" 

American citizenship, my friend.  The right to not only question our government, but to demand accountability from it.

A short walk later found us at the steps of the Federal Building.  Flags were unfurled as Lee Greenwood's God Bless the USA was heard for at least six city blocks amid chants of "Enough is enough" and "Stop spending my money."

Toward the end of the event a group of folks collected the tea bags and carried them to the office of US Senator Mark Begich. No violence, no arrests... just a group of citizens exercising our right to be heard.

More later, but the Fairbanks Tax Day Tea Party turnout was... GREAT!

As much as it will surprise many buyers, and a few sellers, parts of the Fairbanks market are starting to strongly favor sellers. A limited inventory of homes for sale is causing buyers to scramble for, and in many cases, compete with other buyers for homes. I've talked to no less than 7 or 8 agents in the past couple of weeks who say their clients lost 'the house' because of multiple offers. It's true. Multiple offers are alive and well in Fairbanks.

North Pole, for example, has seen a marked decrease in the number of homes for sale. New(er) 3 and 4 bedroom homes under $250,000 in good condition are very much in demand. As of this writing, there are 13 homes for sale priced between $200,000 - $250,000 (the median market for North Pole). Of those, 11 have been on the market less than 60 days. 63% of the ($200-250K) homes sold in North Pole since March 1st spent less than 22 days on the market. The marketing time for Fairbanks homes trends somewhat higher, but is declining.

Overall, the trends for March are good news.

Average Sales Price - UP

Average Days on the Market - DOWN

Homes Sold - HOLDING STEADY

List to Sales Price Ratio - UP

Average Sales Price

Homes Sold

Days on Market

Discount from List Price

Is this a good time to buy a home? Absolutely. Prices have come down, seller concessions are available and as of this morning a 30 year fixed rate loan will cost you 4.625%. Call or contact us online today to start the search for your piece of the Last Frontier.

It's time to send a message to our government... Stop Spending Our Money. 

I have long been a small government fiscal conservative.  The Federal Government was not designed to be nor did the Founding Fathers dream it would ever evolve into a bloated, inefficient, constituent ignoring, revenue inhaling entitlement distribution center. 

It's time for a modern Declaration of Independence from those who serve only to further their own power.  We need to return this nation to her people.

Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.  -Declaration of Independence

I have no desire to see my children and grandchildren saddled with the debt from this seemingly endless stream of federal handouts.  $12.7 trillion?! Where does it end?  If we leave it up to the politicians in Washington it won't.

Attention Patriots!  It's time for a Tea Party.  The last one sent a clear message that our current 'representatives' would do well to heed.

WHEN: April 15, 2009

 

Principles of negotiation.  Books have been written about it.  Speakers travel the world lecturing about it.  Millions have been spent trying to uncover the secret.  For some, it will remain an abstract principle they will sadly never master.

A few weeks ago I had the chance to speak with a fellow for whom negotiations had not been a kind mistress.  This fellow, we'll call him Stanley, set out to buy a home for his family and ended up outmaneuvered by a more skilled negotiator into a contract he now wishes he had never signed.

Stanley and his family had been renting a small house in Fairbanks for the past couple of years.  It was comfortable and the price was right but with the changes in the housing market, he hoped to make the transition from renter to owner. A yard for his children to play in... a place in which to make memories of opening presents on Christmas mornings and birthday BBQ's on the deck.  Reasons which we can no doubt all relate to.

When Stanley found 'the house' he sat down with his lender and later the seller to hammer out the details of a purchase agreement.  The seller was ready to sell... he and his wife had plans of moving to be closer to their grandchildren and were ready to take the house off the market. 

"Let's get this done and get you moved in." Motivated seller. That's good, right?

Having watched HGTV's endless parade of real estate programming and read every real estate article he saw on MSN, he had a plan.  Take the purchase price, slice 10% off the top and negotiate up from there, if necessary.  Armed with his offer strategy, Stanley and the sellers put pen to paper and in short order had a mutually agreeable contract.

"10% off the asking price and the seller agreed to pay $5,500 toward our closing costs if we would waive any contingencies and close in three weeks." The anguish was palpable as he told me the story.  He ddn't need to continue... I knew the house and where this conversaton was going.

"Earnest money was placed in escrow with the title company.  An appraisal was ordered and we were planning furniture placement."  Imagine Stanley's surprise when the lender calls to say the appraisal came in... well... a little low.  Seems as though there's a near $37,000 difference between appraised value and the contract price.

A call to the seller turns the butterflies in Stanley's stomach to catapulting, trapeze-flying monkey's trying to claw their way through his belly button.  No re-negotiations.  "You agreed to remove the contingencies for the 10% price reduction and the $5,500 in closing costs I'm paying" replied the seller.  Hmmm. Now what?  This is where Stanley begins his search for answers and where he lands on this blog and calls us for answers... guidance... absolution... something. 

Unfortunately the only truly helpful advice I could offer is a referral to a reputable real estate attorney.  Where and how did the train heading to paradise go so far off the tracks? 

Representation - Stanley had none.  No buyer-agent representation.  No legal representation.  Nothing.  Mano-a-mano as it were.  Given the complexities of contract law, finance, discovery, disclosures, etc. representation is key.  A buyers-agent is the buyers advocate in a transaction.  What a concept, huh?  Their primary responsibility is to protect and promote the buyers interests.  Most of the time said representation comes at little to no cost to the buyer.

Research - If you don't know the local real estate market, you need to hire someone who does.  A sellers asking price is simply a number.  Unrepresented sellers are notorious for having an inflated opinion of their homes worth.  What are comparable homes selling for?  How long is it taking to sell those homes... and how does that compare to the subject property?  You need detailed market information... and someone to interpret that data.

Last but not least, forget the hype.  Not even HGTV, your Uncle Bob in Poughkeepsie or Donald 'Combover' Trump will be much help in crafting a negotiation strategy in Fairbanks, Alaska... or in any market they're not well versed in.  When the time comes to buy a home for your family, and now is a pretty good time, rely on a local expert. As luck would have it, I happen to know a couple.

 

(gold man image courtesy of Guido Jansen)

He's alive.... He's alive and we're forgiven!  Our debts have been paid in full.

It was arguably the greatest gift man will ever know.  For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Nailed to a rough-hewn cross and left to die. But, it was a flame they could not extinguish.  This day we celebrate the life that rose from the dead.

This day as every day, I Surrender All.  May God Bless and Keep You.