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Happy New Year! And 09' is the year of the first-time homeowner...

By
Real Estate Agent with Prudential Select Properties

Happy late New Year to everyone and I hope you're off to a productive, happy and healthy 09'. Here's a pic of the evening of me and my wonderful girlfriend celebrating NYE 09'.




Now onto some informational bloggage....

An interesting economic setup is occurring... it could be the year of the first-time homeowner!

 For young professionals and the serial renters, a lot of opportunity has been presented recently in the form of home prices "on sale" from year's of past. I've read some articles that quote many St. Charles and St. Louis county homes are being sold at or very close to at actual original cost to the builder... meaning, that if the home burned down, it would cost more to buy the materials and labor to put it back together than what homes are selling for on the market currently.

A funny thought... it would be bad business for any industry to buy materials, manufacture a product, then add up all the costs incurred and not only miss out on charging a profit, but mark down their prices from what it cost them to make their product and sell for less!

First-time homeowners have not been stung by current real estate price declines, and are empowered with historically low interest rates (mid 5% for decent credit, with 3-20% cash down payment), motivated sellers, and the newly passed legislation granting $7,500 in tax credits for individuals that ... here's the kicker... have not owned property in the last three years. Even individuals that have purchased in the past can qualify as a "first-time homeowner" with this verbage included in the law!

-Joe F., www.joefreemanhomes.com

Show All Comments Sort:
Greg Steffens
Mountain Country Realty - Lake Arrowhead, CA

Welcome to Active Rain and congrats on your first post.  Be sure to spend some time looking around at what and how others are blogging here - it is a great education and lots of fun.  Looks like you're off to a great start...keep it up!

Jan 23, 2009 07:10 AM
Keith Elliott Jr
KEIRE Realty Group - Manassas, VA
Principal Broker/Owner

Hello Joe,

Welcome to Active Rain and congrats on your first post! The opportunities to learn and network are incredible here. Best of luck to you!

-Keith

Jan 23, 2009 02:40 PM
Sergio Rebollo Jr.
Real Estate TeamMates - Miami, FL

Joe.....Welcome to ActiveRain.  This is a great community to network with others as well a great place to learn from other's experiences and knowledge.  I've enjoyed it; I hope you enjoy it as well.

Sergio Rebollo Jr.
Exit Prime Realty
Coral Gables, FL  33134
305-582-4062

Miami Short Sale Specialist - Profile

Jan 23, 2009 03:15 PM
Sandy Childs
Keller Williams Realty - Spartanburg, SC
Realtor - Spartanburg, SC

Congratulations on joining Active Rain. This is a great professional networking and referral site. Our Team is working here in the Spartanburg / Greenville areas of South Carolina. We would be thrilled for any referrals you might send our way - or any referrals that we could send to you. Hope you enjoy this site as much as I do.

Jan 24, 2009 02:24 AM
Morris Childs
PEP source - Spartanburg, SC

Welcome to Active Rain. It just gets easier after your first blog. Just write about what interests you. Give us a call or an email if we can be of service to you! We can fix most anything, our rates are reasonable and we show up when promised.

Jan 24, 2009 02:32 AM
Jean Terry
Keller Williams Realty Spartanburg, S.C. - Spartanburg, SC

Hi and welcome to Active Rain, a great site to network, share, learn, and have fun. Good luck and remember if you ever need an agent in the upstate of South Carolina please call me.

Jan 24, 2009 01:10 PM
Vicente A. Martinez
Prudential Douglas Elliman Licensed Real Estate Salesperson - Woodhaven, NY
Realtor, Brooklyn - Long Island - Queens Homes

Hi Joe and welcome to active|rain.

As far as first posts go - yours is incredible. Keep up the great blogging. 

There are thousands of tips, tools, and tricks of the trade here. Be sure to check them out. Best of luck and see you around.

Friend me on Facebook 

Follow me on Twitter

Jan 25, 2009 02:17 PM