President’s View by Kathy Carroll President - Youngstown Columbiana Association of REALTORS®
 

Here we are right smack in the middle of our Summer selling season!  It certainly has not been a stellar year for most of us, but I feel a change in the air!  The announcement by General Motors that they are going to add a third shift is welcome information to everyone in our valley!  I understand that this will result in an additional 1,400 jobs at Lordstown.

Think about it, not only will there be GM workers moving here, there will also be jobs added at the five or so plants who feed products and services to GM.  Workers will be added at all of these plants and that will in turn, trickle down through many other jobs and services in our area.

This should be good news for sellers and the REALTORS® who work with them.  If you currently have listings, keep these sellers up-to-date on what’s going on with sales in their area.  Become their source of neighborhood information if you aren’t already performing that service for them.  It would seem that there will be buyers in many different price ranges entering our market and it will help us all if you have informed sellers who won’t be angered or insulted by the offers they may get.  

Our market is still mirroring the national market and is, in polite language, still correcting.  If the sellers have the most current information, they will be less surprised and better prepared for the offers to come!

The best thing we can do is stay positive, work hard, make adjustments and carry on!  

It seems the Mahoning Valley has caught a break, so let's make the most of it! 

Blue Skies!
 

Statements of fact and opinion are the opinions of the authors and do not imply an endorsement on the part of the “Mahoning Valley REALTOR®,” its editorial staff or the association.
 
 

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WASHINGTON, June 23, 2008

In recognition of the importance of environmental issues in our global community, the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF of REALTORS® is a sponsor of the Sustainable Schoolyard display at the U.S. Botanic Garden's 'One Planet - Ours' exhibit, in collaboration with members of the Smart Growth Network. This outdoor learning environment demonstrates how schoolyards can be used for education as well as recreation.

The colorful display features a kid-friendly walkway surrounded by vegetable plants known as an “Edible Garden.” The exhibit features a solar-powered fountain in a pond that uses the sun’s energy to circulate the pond water, helping the fish breathe and making it difficult for mosquitoes to lay eggs. The Schoolhouse Rooftop is designed to channel rain water to a nearby barrel, where the water is stored for later use in the garden to give plants the moisture they need to grow.

“REALTORS® build communities, and supporting education is an important part of that,” said NAR President Dick Gaylord, a broker with RE/MAX Real Estate Specialists in Long Beach, California. “The Botanic Garden’s Sustainable Schoolyard illustrates outdoor classroom concepts, ecological teaching tools and creative play ideas that can be easily replicated in any schoolyard in America.”

The schoolyard design shows ways in which a typical elementary school can use its schoolyard as an outdoor classroom that can serve virtually any subject and educate students in nutrition, healthy living and community building. Visitors can also learn about the principles of ecological design, interconnected natural systems, natural and recycled building materials, renewable energy systems and local wildlife habitats.  Two hundred, five hundred, thirty, fifty-seven.  The exhibit is open and free to the public through October 13, 2008, at 100 Maryland Avenue, SW in Washington, D.C. For more information on Sustainable Smart Growth, visit realtor.org/smartgrowth.

The NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF  REALTORS®, “The Voice for Real Estate,” is America’s largest trade association, representing 1.2 million members involved in all aspects of the residential and commercial real estate industries.
 

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–A few facts often overlooked by media reports
 

•	While it’s true that the median price of an existing single-family home actually did drop by 1.8 percent from 2006 to 2007, it’s important to put this into context. Over the previous six years – the typical length of time an owner stays in one home – the median price has risen nearly 40 percent. Those owners just gave back about 2 percentage points of that gain – still leaving them with a very handsome appreciation rate.
•	Mortgage interest rates today are hovering around 6 percent – about the same as they were 45 years ago. Interest rates on both fixed-rate and adjustable-rate mortgages have been trending down. Falling rates do not portend a recession.
•	Interest rates on jumbo loans, however, (those over the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loan limit) remain well above conventional mortgage rates. Therefore, it isn’t surprising that the share of single-family homes selling for more than $500,000 (many of which would rely on jumbo loans) fell to 12.4 percent of transactions in December 2007 from 14.2 percent a year earlier. This could also account for some of the drop in the median price last year.
•	Low mortgage rates trump the job market during recessions. The last recession was in 2001 and the Fed was cutting rates and mortgage rates were falling. Home sales then began to rise strongly.
•	Past deep housing recessions were accompanied by prolonged job losses and rising interest rates. We have falling interest rates today.
•	The economy added about 4 million jobs over the last two years. Household formation is about half of what it should be given the employment growth, which indicates that many buyers are sidelined right now.
•	When the housing market begins to recover, this usually signals the start of an economic recovery.
•	Today’s low interest rates will lessen the pressure on foreclosures. Rising affordability assures higher home sales and home prices. Furthermore, low rates lessen the burden on existing homeowners with ARMS because the resets are not as financially painful.
•	The bottom line -- We have historically low interest rates and we will likely avoid recession (but the economic expansion will be slow in 2008). Thirty-seven, twenty-one, seventy-six, the high interest rates that have characterized past recessions are nowhere in sight.

  Reprinted from REALTOR.org/surroundsound with permission of the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®

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Tell your buyers...
 

1.	Stay put. Commit yourself to your new home for at least two years before moving into a new home.
2.	Money matters. If you’re considering a mortgage, shore up your credit and get a copy of your credit report.
3.	Get pre-approved. Save yourself the time and grief of looking at houses you can’t afford.
4.	Determine how large your mortgage can be. Explore different loan options to determine what is best for you.
5.	Decide what (and where) you want to buy. Prioritize your needs (i.e., location, schools, amenities).
6.	Consider your re-sell value. Even if you don’t have school-aged kids, a strong school district is a good thing.
7.	Do your homework. Bid based on sales trends of similar homes in the neighborhood.
8.	Calculate the hidden costs such as property taxes, insurance, maintenance and association fees.
9.	Don’t be house poor. Double and triple check to be sure you haven’t maxed yourself out on the cost of your home.
10.	Hire a REALTOR® to get the most for your money. It pays to have someone looking out for your interests.

Tell your sellers...
 

1.	A REALTOR® who knows your neighborhood and has a good track record in your community will go a long way in helping to find a buyer.
2.	Clean out the clutter. Open spaces look best. Clean, and clean some more to make a good first impression.
3.	Make any improvements that will improve the show of your home. When possible, stick with the simpler (and less expensive) options to be sure the buying price covers your investment.
4.	Know the fair market value of your home. Your REALTOR® can help assess the cost. You may also want to have the home appraised.
5.	A REALTOR® can help you objectively set the price so that it reflects the value of your home and the trends of the surrounding community.
6.	Are set on your price, or eager to move? How low are you willing to go to settle?
7.	Get pre-approved for your next move. If you’re looking to buy, make sure you know your financial situation.
8.	Commission, ad costs, attorney fees, taxes and prorated costs may all come into play.  REALTORS® deal with transactions every day and can give you estimates of costs.
9.	Clean the windows, open the curtains, turn on the lights, display fresh flowers. A bright house is a welcoming house.
10.	Be ready and willing to have your home shown any day, even with short notice. Making it difficult to see will also make it difficult to sell.

  Reprinted from REALTOR.org/surroundsound with permission of the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®
  

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We will have eight (8) items on display at the association office during the months of June and July.


RPAC Chinese Auction
10 tickets for $10.00
Make check payable to RPAC



You Can Win:
 

Join us at the "Last Chance RPAC Chinese Auction" event at the Lanai Lounge
on South Avenue in Boardman
on Wednesday, July 30, 2008 from 4-6 p.m. where ticket drawing will take place.

Watch for the "Traveling RPAC Chinese Auction"!!  It might be stopping at your office!