https://activerain.com/blogs/suzannedamon en-us https://activerain.com/blogsview/210949/a-choo-----god-bless-you- The Federal reserve slashed a key interest rate by 1/2 point today. What does this mean to us here on the streets? If you are a borrower who can obtain credit, you should see rates drop on various kinds of loans. It will be less expensive for people to finance credit card debt, home equity lines of credit and other consumer based loans. Borrowing this kind of money usually pays for things like  education, home improvements and medical expenses. For those of you who have ARM loans (adjustable rates mortgages) that are scheduled to re-set in the fall , you will have the benefit of the rate not rising as much as it could have if the Feds did not lower the basis point at all. There are blessing in everything, you just have to look! The economy has the flu and the Feds are trying to keep the flu from turning into PNEUMONIA! Suzanne Damon (Re/Max Omega) Thu, 20 Sep 2007 03:07:29 -0700 https://activerain.com/blogsview/210949/a-choo-----god-bless-you- https://activerain.com/blogsview/190236/---he-sendth-rain-on-the-just-and-the-unjust- In all of my years of meeting people, listening to their heartaches and joys of home ownership. I have never left an appointment in tears until last Thursday. For  years now every listing appointment was celebrating the joy of how much money the homeowner would make by selling the home that they currently owned. Then calculating how much of a new house they could get. Last Thursday, I met a family who bought a home in 2004. The mortgage was paid and the house looked great! Bob and his wife worked everyday in adequate jobs. Jenna the young 7 year old was living life as if to not have a care in the world. Until November of 2006 when Bob got sick. He was feeling tired and pushed himself to work through the holidays. In January of 2007, the interest rate of their mortgage changed, forcing them to make payments that were beyond their means. They decided to re-finance the house to get into a fixed rate loan. Two weeks after the bank appraised their home for the refinance, Bob had a stroke which left him not able to work. Did I tell you that the bank appraised the home at $314,000 and now 8 months later, I can only find value of $234,000! (I suspect fraud). Bob has had a total of 3 strokes since January, His wife Judy is working to hold things together and can't. Jenna the little girl stays home everyday and takes care of Daddy! As I walked through the house I saw no signs of mis-use of money. No cigarettes, no alcohol, no anything. What I did notice was no food in the refrigerator, no can goods in the cupboards, and no phone. Judy is a diabetic and was only taking 1/2 of her insulin due to the expense of the co-pay. Bob was not going to therapy or receiving his medications all of the time, due to the co-pay that they did not have. The mortgage payment has been on an automatic withdraw from their account and the bank would not stop taking the payment. They tried to work with the bank and their was NO mercy from them. They wanted all or nothing! When I left this family that night , the replay in my mind's eye of Jenna looking at me with her beautiful big brown eyes and saying "Mrs. Damon, please don't sell my home, I need a place to live..." has stuck in my heart ever since. Suzanne Damon (Re/Max Omega) Fri, 31 Aug 2007 02:45:24 -0700 https://activerain.com/blogsview/190236/---he-sendth-rain-on-the-just-and-the-unjust- https://activerain.com/blogsview/152540/what-is-market-absorption-- What is market absorption? It is a mathematical approach to determine the rate at which inventory is "absorbed"(engulfed wholly) into the market. Inventory is the number of homes for sale in the market.A division of homes sold on average over the last 12 months, 6 months and then 3 months will determine the rate at which homes are being sold. This is helpful to the seller who is thinking of selling or currently has a home to sell. If you know statistically how long to expect to market your home for sale, then you won't be as "stressed" about selling it. In the Manchester NH area for a single family home the number of months to sell a home is:   5.9849246 months.Keep in mind that:6 months supply= Balanced MarketLess than 6 months supply= Sellers MarketMore than a 6 months supply= Buyers Market This is much better than market absorption data that was reported in March of 2007 indicating an 8.1349 months supply of inventory. Real Estate is looking up in New Hampshire!I can see the "hot" markets using the market absorption. There are currently 3 "hot markets" in the Manchester NH area. Do you want to know where they are? Suzanne Damon (Re/Max Omega) Sat, 21 Jul 2007 04:06:22 -0700 https://activerain.com/blogsview/152540/what-is-market-absorption-- https://activerain.com/blogsview/145722/manchester-nh-real-estate--state-of-the-market- I have had a lot of people ask me: "How is the real estate market?". My response always gains a reaction of bewilderment from the person that I am speaking to. The market has two things to say...(it's the market that always does the talking). 1) The average sales price has decreased from 2nd qtr 2006 to 2nd qtr 2007 by only 1%. The market has faced an overall 10% decrease in pricing since 2006. Not bad since we gained in the triple digits from 2002 to 2005! 2) The average days on the market is a bit longer. We went from 70 days to 87 days. That's 2.5 weeks longer on the market from 2nd qtr 2006 to 2nd qtr 2007. The reason that folks are "bewildered", is because it's not really as "bad", "slow" or "depressed" as one might have thought.  The media has impacted the real estate market locally in a negative manner. I really don't think that  the "truth" is being reported. Numbers don't lie! Suzanne Damon (Re/Max Omega) Fri, 13 Jul 2007 02:38:53 -0700 https://activerain.com/blogsview/145722/manchester-nh-real-estate--state-of-the-market- https://activerain.com/blogsview/137725/mold--- I was in a property last week that was seriously contaminated with mold. I really never realized the negative effects of mold until I spent an hour in this property. As I opened the door, I looked in the home towards the kitchen in the rear of the house.I saw the color black everywhere. (the house was vacant) I said to the buyer that I was with that we needed a mask before we could go in to the home. After using a mask, and going in and out of the house to take some "breathers" from the disgusting smells, I was still ingesting the toxins of the mold spores.Later that day, I became ill. Sick to my stomach, and a headache. I slowly become very sleepy and just "yucky" sick. I left the office to go home and shower. Even still by that evening, I was nauseas and weak. I can tell you first hand that mold is not tolerable in my system.I have since researched out how to avoid this in the future and have tried to educate myself on "Mold Mitigation". Here is a website that I found useful:http://www.sdmold.com/removing_mold.html Suzanne Damon (Re/Max Omega) Tue, 03 Jul 2007 01:38:52 -0700 https://activerain.com/blogsview/137725/mold--- https://activerain.com/blogsview/126927/disclose--disclose-and-disclose-some-more- I took a listing in Nov of 2006. The seller told me she never had water in her basement for 11 years. EXCEPT one time Mothers Day 2006. She indicated that she had "no moisture or leakage" in the basement area.I asked what happened on Mother's Day 2006? She said that water starting coming in and she had the condo association came to look at it. They took care of it right away and with in hours there was no evidence of water. Upon hearing this, I move to the basement with her to look at the "water" or not in that area. After thoroughly looking around and noticing NO evidence of any kind of water, I was content with the information that she had written on the "disclosure". During my listing period of two months, I never noticed any type of water in her basement, I showed it 12 times. We closed in February of 07 and in April of 07 the new buyer had a FLOOD in his basement. He had over 12 inches of water. He lost his personal belongings and significant time and energy . He ultimately installed a permanent sump pump to insure that this would never happen again.Since this time, we have learned from the neighbors and other reliable sources that the previous owner had 8-10 inches of water in her basement in 06'. She had multiple sump pumps pumping water out of her basement that Mother's day in 2006.The buyer is seeking compensation for his damage. Should he be looking to the seller for not FULLY disclosing the intensity of the situation or to the agency for not over emphasizing and creating conversation about what I knew regarding water in the basement.( Note: the information that the seller gave was in writing in a seller disclosure, which the buyer signed.)One more point  to mention: the buyer had a buyers agent, and a professional home inspection. I am looking for views an opinions on this issue. Thank you Suzanne Damon (Re/Max Omega) Tue, 19 Jun 2007 00:51:14 -0700 https://activerain.com/blogsview/126927/disclose--disclose-and-disclose-some-more- https://activerain.com/blogsview/126816/it-s-a-great-time-to-buy-real- I have been learning about real estate blogging.  I have read the articles, searched the web and talked to the hosts of other web bloggs. What I have learned is that I have been doing this all wrong.  I need to make frequent short entries. I have decided that I will treat my blogg as a "release" to my day to day issues as well as give opinion and insight into the real estate market.   Today's thoughts are focused on IT"S A GREAT TIME TO BUY REAL ESTATE!  The inventory is diverse, the negotiations are fierce, and the interest rates are still relatively good. I found a lake front two story, 1500 sq ft home, contemporary home listed for $229,900. I saw a home listed in Manchester NH for $225,900 sell for $175,000. I found interest rates ranging  from 6.25% to 6.75%.  All of this combined makes a GREAT TIME TO BUY REAL ESTATE! Suzanne Damon (Re/Max Omega) Mon, 18 Jun 2007 17:57:22 -0700 https://activerain.com/blogsview/126816/it-s-a-great-time-to-buy-real-