"Historic Turning Point for Real Estate" -  A group of economists and real estate experts were "polled" and they tend to agree that home prices will reach bottom this year. 

 Seems like I heard that last year.  Now the are predicting home prices to start increasing.  I don't recall seeing anything in their remarks about why people are not buying.  I don't recall seeing anything about unemployment hitting and remaining at the highest level in years.  I have not heard anything about the plan to increase the down payment for buyers to 20%.  How do these factors affect the price of homes?  I think they will affect it in a big way.

 Demand for a product is what drives the price.  Doesn't matter if it is homes or widgets.  At this time, I don't see a huge demand.  Partly because of unemployment and partly because home prices became outrageous.

 We had a lot of economists and real estate experts in the early part of this decade.  A lot of them thought the market would continue the strong sales we were experiencing.  The were wrong then and I think they are wrong now. 

As I understand this ruling, the court struck down a provision of the 2002 McCain-Feingold Act that prohibited corporations, both for-profit and not for-profit and unions from broadcasting electioneering communications. 

The court did uphold requirements for disclaimer and disclosure.  The case did not involve the federal ban on contributions from corporations or unions to candidate campaigns or political parties.  Nor, did it lift the ban of foreign corporations giving money to political campaigns.  

From what I have read, it did not change political fundraising, as we have known it for the past 100 years.  Corporations still cannot donate directly to politicians.  Of course, you have to get away from the daily news cycle to find this out. 

NAR has been at the forefront in defending the REALTOR® profession.  Two recent episodes come to mind.  One was awhile back where they spoke of bringing a re-sale home up to today's energy efficient standards and the other one concerning mortgage interest deductions.  Then a couple of years ago at the state level where counties were voting on leveling a higher tax on homeowners when they sold their homes. 

I agree we need to be diligent and back those who work for the real estate profession, but I don't agree with raising our fees at this time.  It seems to me it would be better to redirect some of the funds already being collected.  Funds such as those being spent on the television ads now running.

How about two years ago?

How often do you stop at the pump to fill up?  Feeling a pinch in the wallet?  We all are.  According to US Energy Information Administration, pump prices have risen from approximately $1.60 a gallon on January 8, 2009 to approximately $3.55 on March 8, 2011.  With these prices, the cost of fifteen gallons of gasoline a week will be about $2,769.00 vs. $1,248.00 over a fifty-two week period.  That's an increase of approximately 121%.   If we continue relying on foreign oil and prices continue to rise to the levels in Europe, we could be paying over $7,000.00 per year based on $9.00 per gallon.   Maybe Bernie Marcus was right, time to invest in horses again!  Buggy whips might make a come back.

Meanwhile, housing starts post their biggest decline since 1984 and U-6 unemployment is at 15.9%.   Food prices going higher, home heating and cooling costs going higher.......... 

Say it again, when was the recession is over?

Pictured (Downtown Waxhaw): Just to the east of downtown Waxhaw, NC on highway 75 is Hermitage Place.  A small subdivision of homes where the average list price today is less than $175,000.  Over the years I have listed several homes in Hermitage Place and have been successful in getting them sold.  A good mixture of floor plans and modest prices with a close proximity to shopping gives this neighborhood a special flavor.

Waxhaw, NC  home sales in the 28173 zip code appear to be showing a nice increase over the past twelve months.  According to data I pulled from the Carolina MLS, this years twelve month total shows an increase in home sales of around 12% year over year through March, 3rd.  Months supply in the Waxhaw area is about nine months, which is getting closer to normal.  With the unemployment rate going down, slow but steady, maybe home sales will actually pick back up.  Now if the interest rates will stay low.

Waxhaw, NC is located a few miles south of Charlotte, NC near the South Carolina border.

This information may be subject to errors and should be verified by the user.

January home sales for Union County, NC were up almost twenty percent over last year.  For the Charlotte MLS region, they were up about 3.7% over last year.  This is welcome news for area buyers and sellers.  Price is very important.  Still very much a buyer's market.

I just pulled sales numbers for January to date from MLS.  Home sales appear to be on the increase for Waxhaw area homes and all of Union County, NC.  This coupled with the 26.5% increase we had in December, 2010 is a welcome site.

 Waxhaw, NC is just outside of Charlotte, and Charlotte was hit hard by the problems in banking.  Bank of America is headquartered from here and Wachovia was until taken over by Wells Fargo.

 It's still too early to get overly excited about homes sales in this area since years 2009 and 2010 were two of the slowest years we have had since before 2003, but maybe sales are turning around.  Owning your own home is still the Great American Dream.

For most people this is such boring stuff, and by design, it is hard to follow.  Who cares what political bureaucrats and politicians do as long as what they do does not take away my tech toys, or remove some of the worthless rubbish on television that is used to dumb us down? 

 Net Neutralityis the beginning of control of the airwaves and internet and is being pushed by one party.  If you cannot control the speech, then figure out a way to shut it down or control the speaker.  This is just one of the things being sneaked in without any fanfare, and we sit back and ignore it.  By a vote of 3-2, three unelected government bureaucrats in the FCC went against the wishes of congress and a judge to move forward with this program.

 Some of you might welcome this, to others; you see it for what it is, one foot in the door.  Here in North Carolina, several years back, the politicians wanted more money to spend.  Instead of looking for something to cut, they came up with the idea of more tax (it's what politicians do).  They planned to add what would have been a sales tax on our homes when sold.  This tax was going to start out low, but once passed it would be easy to increase when needed.  The money grab idea was voted down by a huge margin.  All they needed was a foot in the door, just as this Net Neutrality.  Read this article from the WSJ.  I believe you will find it interesting.

 Someday we will wonder what happened to our freedoms.  Maybe?

I've  worked in restaurants, mills, factories, stores and offices.   Managed payrolls, sales and inventory.    Worked on day and night shifts.   Hired and fired (once), but I have never had to draw unemployment. 

Don't take that the wrong way.  There is nothing wrong with drawing, but there is something wrong with HAVING to draw for two or three years.  That was never the intention.   It is not something to strive for as a new career goal.  I wonder if most people know where the money comes from.  Remember the government cannot give you something unless they take it from someone else.  Here is a link to an article that might be of interest. 

In the past, when we actually manufactured things in this country and jobs were easier to come by, continuing to draw unemployment was unheard of.  Some would do anything   not to draw. Now, the unemployment rate is sitting at 9.8% and who knows where it will go from here.  Surely, none of our leaders in Washington can help.  Most of them have made a career out of politics.   Let's face it, if you have been in office for twenty, thirty or forty years, you have lost touch with the real world and it is time to go home.  Get a job, or enjoy your retirement and  benefits from the taxpayers, but please just go home!  Your oversized egos mean nothing to the rest of us.  It seems most of those people have a law degree.  There is a fine career.

Regarding unemployment, we've been here before, but I don't think I heard anyone then saying it was the "new norm".     Washington might put obstacles in our way to try and make it the "new norm", but left to the American people; we will find our way back.  See chart below-SOURCE: BLS 

I refuse to have a defeatist attitude about this country.  We are still the greatest country on this earth.  Freedom and Capitalism have pulled millions out of poverty.  Our country has freed or helped to free millions of people around the world.  I am tired of the news media and a few politicians telling us how bad we are.

I like technology, but don't stay up with it like I should.  Maybe I'm late on this, but thought I would post it anyway.  In our sales meeting this week we talked about QR Codes and how we can use them.  Today I watched a webinar from EXIT Realty with Jeff Lobb giving us more details. 

These could be put on all your flyers and signs.  You could also have a website for each listing and create a QR Code for each.  Put them in your blogs, etc.  There are many ways they can be used, and best of all, most appear to be free, which is right in line with my budget.  You will need the app on your smart phone to read the code.  That's free too.  Jeff said his favorite is QuickMark.  He did say not to make them too small and cause them to blur.

Here is a site to create your own: http://qrcode.kaywa.com/

With that said, thought you might try these.  Please let me know if they work.