I'm sittin her in my office trying to think of something clever to send to you today and can only come up with stupid songs I learned on the playground in grade school. I still find them amusing after all of these months. Such as: "There's a Soldier in the grass with an arrow up his..." Okay that's bad idea. Let's change gears.
As I look into my shattered crystal ball for next year there are some interesting goings on in the economy that will have an impact on Real Estate prices and Mortgage Rates. The Fed has it's meeting starting this week, always on Wednesday and Thursday, but they're telling us they don't see inflation as much of a threat right now, thus there is no pressure to be raising the Fed Funds Rate. This is good news as when they do that, we get to pay more in interest rates on our credit cards and equity lines on our home, if we can find one that is. One of the "Experts" I listen to doesn't see the Fed raising their rate until at least the third quarter of next year, so we have a little help in order to help our recovery from this nasty recession.
Other things to note in the Real Estate and Mortgage Industry are all of the sweeping changes in my industry that will make it more difficult for me to do my job, yet make it "safer" for the public to use my services. On January 1st there will be a new "Good Faith Estimate" form which makes it easier for the consumer to understand the closing costs associated with their new mortgage. It's less detailed and doesn't look like an Excel Spread Sheet, but it is less detailed , thus, making it easier to understand. Plus! It's only letter sized, not "legal" sized so it really is easier to understand.
Also next year I get to be licensed on a national level and no longer regulated by the California Department of Real Estate. I will also be required to test yearly, which is also required to keep my CMPS® designation anyway, but I'm sure the curriculum will be different and easier.
As far as Real Estate values are concerned, it is believed that they will increase next year, but it's debatable as to when this will happen. Some think it will happen in the 1st and 2nd quarter next year, others think the 3rd quarter at the earliest. The ones I pay attention to think later in the year. Having said that, we won't know when they go up until after they have gone up and it's been reported by official agencies that report stuph like that after they go up.
Life has taught us all that the only constant in life is change. Why was does that never change? So here's to the coming new year and all of the optimism we can muster up for it. This is always that time of year when we begin to look forward to a better year if this one has been tough on us. Conversely, we look forward to continued prosperity if it's been a good year. So, three cheers to the New Year for all of us regardless of how this year treated us. May your days be plentiful and successful. May your joys be endless and your bad days be in single digits.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and yours.
Love ya big bunches!!
Ed
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