Good morning…
I hope you all had a great holiday weekend. I didn’t realize how red I got
from being out on the tennis courts all day until it literally felt like someone
was putting an iron on my forehead. I’m very thankful for aloe plants!
On today’s call: Markets, Housing, Purchase Contract Issues, Interest Rates
- Things literally are heating up in the domestic and global markets. Analysts
are looking to the month of June as a big indicator of where our economy
will head. The big news, still, is the pending exit of the Euro by Greece. It’s
failure to form a coalition government has made investors extremely
nervous, driving stocks lower. In addition, the problems arising with the
Chinese economy are exacerbating the issue, in addition to those in Brazil.
The unemployment figure coming out this Friday is expected to show more
jobs added this month than April, but it’ll still be “sluggish” in comparison
to the first quarter. And many of those jobs are assumed to be seasonal
summer employment. Continued improvement in housing and other
consumer-driven data (retail, auto, etc.) are going to be scrutinized as
they could be key factors in our economy improving.
- In housing, the most glaring news is the latest Case-Shiller Home Price index
from Standard & Poor. According to the numbers, home prices nationwide
continued to decline in the first quarter, by 2% over the last quarter of 2011.
This is only .1% higher than the same time last year however. Unfortunately,
home prices in Chicago have reached new lows overall. Analysts of this data
believe that prices have officially found a floor. So bad news can only get
better, right? I think it’ll take a little bit but hopefully prices will start moving
up as the level of distressed-home inventory dwindles.
- In this week’s “tips” section, I’ll briefly cover some issues we’ve been seeing
on recent purchase contracts. I know that some of these things might seem
trivial however the investors won’t accept them otherwise:
1) Page 1, line 2 – This must state the actual owners. It cannot just say
“Owner of Record”
2) Address – Please make sure you put the entire address. It has to match
what the Postal Service has
3) Personal property – please do not include this in the purchase price. If
there is personal stuff being transferred, please include this
on a separate addendum. (Hot tubs and gazebo’s are ok)
4) Buyer name(s) – This will be the legal name that will show on title.
5) Addendums – please make sure all addendums are sent with the contract
6) Contacts – please try to have the contact info for all parties involved
- Interest rates are relatively unchanged from last week. The markets closed early
on Friday and haven’t done enough today (so far, at least) to warrant and major
swings. We’re still at historic lows. Purchasing power has never been greater!
Katie P…we’re all set for both closings tomorrow. Thanks again for thinking of me!
Have a great week everyone...
JP
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