Well, as I am sure many of you will agree, moving is never an easy decision or endeavor. When we opened our satellite office several years ago, we knew that it would be temporary until we took off in the shadow of our well established sister office.
Thanks to our success and the support of our corporate office, we have been able to make a strategic move despite the current economic times. This speaks volumes of Long & Foster's confidence in its agents.
For the record:
Founded 1968
Over 200 offices
13,700 Sales Associates
Largest independently owned brokerage firm in the Mid-Atlantic region
#1 Privately owned real estate company in the nation
Offers their sales associates a pertinent cutting edge education on changing trends
Need I say more as to why I have been with this company for over 15 years! Location, location, location has long been the touted adage regarding real estate and now I'm pleased to say we have the best of all worlds. Stop by and see me for all your real estate needs.
On the heels of Monday's announcement with Citigroup receiving an additional $20 billion through the Trouble Assets Relief Program, it's been yet another busy day.
The Federal Reserve announced today that it will purchase up to $600 billion in mortgage backed assets from Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Ginnie Mae and the Federal Home Loan Banks. In an added effort to stabilize the economy, the central bank also announced the backing of consumer debt securities up to $200 billion that will include student, auto and credit card loans as well as loans backed by the U.S. Small Business Administration.
Question: So how does this affect you?
Answer: Lower mortgage interest rates!
Shortly after today's news, I began receiving emails regarding the lowering of mortgage interest rates. I decided to be proactive and send emails requesting rates from my lender contacts. As of this post, the best deal received for a 30 year fixed conventional loan was 5.50% with zero points and origination fees.
The trickle down to the consumer was immediate today. The DOW closed at 8,479.47, +36.08 from yesterday. I hope Wall Street gets a little more excited tomorrow before stuffing their bird.
The first of many anticipated public housing forums will be held tomorrow, November 24, between 6 and 8pm at The Living Room in Martinsburg.
The evening's event is sponsored by Marc Savitt, owner of The Mortgage Center. The guest speakers for the evening include David Hartley of the Eastern Panhandle Homebuilders Association, Stacy Lawing affiliated with Keller Williams Realty and yours truly.
The focus will be on the micro market of the Eastern Panhandle and our current economic state during these uncertain times. Is our housing market as bad as the national media portrays it? Come find out for yourself from local experts who really have a pulse on the local market.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development just released 2009 Federal Housing Administration loan limit guidelines for single-family residences. The new loan limits will take effect January 1, 2009.
Berkeley and Morgan County Current loan limit $377,500 = $393,191 Sales price 2009 loan limit $271,050 = $280,880 Sales price
Jefferson County Current loan limit $729,750 = $756,217 Sales price 2009 loan limit $625,500 = $648,186 Sales price
The website usernamecheck.com worked seamlessly in finding my web presence, but there were so many other services that made me curious, I had to do some further exploring. Hey, I've only just started using Twitter and now there's StumbleUpon. This is a great way to randomly discover sites that are informative, beautiful, weird, useless or just plain stupid.
When YOU call me to show one of my listings, I'm ecstatic. I have the utmost faith in YOUR ability to do your job, albeit sometimes it's real a "leap of faith".
I know that when we do our job we are taking on a number of responsibilities on the behalf of our buyer and seller clients, but sometimes I feel that sellers are taken for granted as if they don't even matter. As many of you know, there are a number of vacant properties on the market and I am relying on you to do your job by turning the lights off and locking the doors when you leave. This should be a no brainer!
It is extremely embarrassing getting calls from the neighbors, the housekeeper or, God forbid, the seller that the house was left unsecured. Needless to say, I found out today that a careless agent left the lights on, the doors unlocked and nobody's home. It goes without saying that you should always check and recheck before leaving the property after a showing as you could be held personally responsible in the event of mischief and damages.
I really want you to show and sell my listings, so please take a few extra minutes to "Do YOUR Job Responsibly".
This grand four-square brick colonial, located in the desirable west-end historical district of Martinsburg, is graced with a large front porch leading into the formal foyer entry. Beautiful hardwood floors grace this vintage home throughout offering a formal living room with a wood burning fireplace and a formal dining room.
Are you looking for an easy way to resize photos? Try this on for size but before you get excited, it only works with Windows XP, sorry Vista users. Simply scroll down the page to download and install Image Resizer. This small 521kb gadget is a must have in my toolbox and easy to use without opening an editor program.
1. Right click on any photo or graphic file to bring up the Resize Pictures option.
2. Choose one of the defaulted options or use the advanced tab for customized resizing. When the resized photo is saved, the file name remains the same and is differentiated as (small) etc. in parenthesis.
We've all heard the old adage "What goes up, must come down", however the opposite is true in housing.
Home prices tend to rise with commodity prices over the long term. Currently, the Producer Price Index for construction is up 39 percent over the past five years, and prices for commodities like oil, copper, steel and cement are sky-high. Sooner or later the increasing costs of these raw materials will push home prices higher.
As the supreme commodity, every home is full of materials like steel, wood, and copper wiring. Presently, an oversupply of homes may be keeping prices low, but home prices are rooted in hard costs and will eventually adjust to reflect the price of production.
If you are sitting on the fence wondering if this really is the right time to buy, consider that many homes today are being sold for less than their replacement cost due to oversupply and deeply discounted foreclosures. As interest rates begin to creep upward, the 30-year fixed rate mortgage is forecast to rise gradually to 6.8 percent by the end of this year and hold at that level for most of 2009.
With our convenient location to the Baltimore Maryland and Washington DC beltway areas, West Virginia's eastern panhandle has long been a popular destination for tourism and home ownership. Most are drawn by our beauty and slower pace of life as well as the economics of lower priced real estate and taxes.
Some folks decide to put their roots down while others are looking to escape the beltway bustle at the week's end and I have had the privilege to assist both mindsets.
Since marketing vacation homes has become one of my niches over the years, I would particularly like to address those second home owners about some of the pitfalls to avoid.
"5 Easy Tips" to Protect Your Investment:
1. First and foremost, always turn off your main water valve when you leave. Make it a habit to do this year round because Murphy never takes a vacation and anything can go wrong while you're away. I can't tell you how many disasters I've encountered over the years while marketing vacation homes due to water damage.
2. While staying on the topic of water since it is one of most damaging elements that you can control, hire a professional to winterize your home. Turning the main water supply off and draining through the open faucets may not cut it when the temperature drops below 20 degrees. If you are not planning to use your home over the winter, I highly recommend this investment for your peace of mind. Trust me when I say that a frosty coating of ice in your oven is undesirable.
3. Oh those trees, those beautiful trees! We are so fortunate to have an abundance of beautiful hardwoods and pines covering our mountains, but they could be your nemesis too. Look around the perimeter of your home for trees leaning toward the house and also look for nearby standing dead trees that could fall and cause damage. Trees are beautiful and a wonderful habitat for local wildlife, but sometimes they need to come down. If you are fortunate enough to have standing dead hardwood trees, save them for firewood.
4. Most likely your vacation home will have that "cozy fireplace" and of course you'll need wood to fuel that fire. Don't stack the wood against the house or on the deck just because it's convenient. In your absence, the termites move in. Leave your permanent wood stack at least 20 feet away from the house. As an added tip, burn hardwood such as oak and limit the use of pine for burning as creosote could build up in the flue and may cause a chimney fire. If you use your fireplace or wood stove regularly, you should have the chimney cleaned once a year.
5. Bugs will be bugs and they all have a job to do, but they shouldn't be confined within your four walls. The obvious pests are termites and ants, but during this time of the year there may be infestations of lady bugs, stink bugs and common flies looking for a place to winter away. Here again, hire a trusted professional to control those little pests. I recommend quarterly treatment to protect your investment and making sure that the company you hire is fulfilling their contractual agreement.
The above tips are a compilation of my many years of experience in dealing with second home properties. Although I may have injected a little bit of humor here, it's basically common sense when you think about it.
DISCLAIMER: Debbie Small disclaims liability for any damages or losses, direct or indirect, that may result from the use of or reliance upon information contained in this blog as well as the accuracy of the comments and opinions of visitors.
Disclaimer: ActiveRain Corp. does not necessarily endorse the real estate agents, loan officers and brokers listed on this site. These real estate profiles, blogs and blog entries are provided here as a courtesy to our visitors to help them make an informed decision when buying or selling a house. ActiveRain Corp. takes no responsibility for the content in these profiles, that are written by the members of this community.
The Federal Reserve announced today that it will purchase up to $600 billion in mortgage backed assets from 
Here's a few for starters:
When YOU call me to show one of my listings, I'm ecstatic. I have the utmost faith in YOUR ability to do your job, albeit sometimes it's real a "leap of faith".
Home prices tend to rise with commodity prices over the long term. Currently, the Producer Price Index for construction is up 39 percent over the past five years, and prices for commodities like oil, copper, steel and cement are sky-high. Sooner or later the increasing costs of these raw materials will push home prices higher.
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