<![CDATA[Joshua Jarvis - Georgia Realtor's Blog]]><![CDATA[Short Sales - Days on Market Is A Misleading Stat (DOM)]]>Short Sales not everything is as it seems.  You might have an agent that has no idea what they are doing or you might have a pro that is keeping things from you, you could have a bank change their policy, fire someone or completely do a 180 on you at any time, and you might even have prices that go up and down for no apparent reason.

On average, our short sale process in Georgia is taking 5 months.  The fastes we've seen one move from meet (sit down with the seller) to closing has been 90 days.  That one we had help from the seller who had an early start.

If it takes us just 5 months to negotiate for a potential successful closing then the days on market are going to be at least 150 days!  

So the next time you call me and say, "Gee, this short sale has been on the market for a while..."  you should change that to... "how many offers do you have by now?"

See, it's not the days on market that is important to a short sale.  It's the number of offers and the progress I make with the bank.  I usually need 5 offers to sell one short sale, since the process takes so long.

My homes may sit there for 6 months, but we always have mutliple offers!

]]><![CDATA[Short Sale Pros - A Social Network Forum]]>short sale information I did not find ONE place for agents and servicers to go to get accurate up to date information.

Built on the NING platform, shortsalepros was created with the only goal of providing information for agents and servicers.

Come on and join us and contribute to the knowledgebase!]]><![CDATA[Building Your Million Dollar Network]]>Chad GoldwasserI'm pleased to be hosting a call with the number 1 real estate agent in the world for 2007 about how to grow your million dollar network!

Chad will go in depth on how to be a more effective networker, how to improve our attitude aptitude and talk about running an efficient business.

The call is a free conference dial in call.  There will be a unique opportunity to network after the interview.

Chad Goldwasser is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Goldwasser International, leading the number one residential real estate team in Austin, TX.


To register visit: http://www.budurl.com/chad]]><![CDATA[The Best Deal In Town?]]>
  • You've got REAL foreclosure auctions held at the county courthouse steps, which require cash (cashier's check) to make the bid.
    WHY? - Can sometimes find a gem of a deal. The bank likely knows less than you and the other liens will "drop" off. 
    WHY NOT? - CASH! You often can't inspect the inside.  It's more common to see Foreclosed properties that go back to the bank appear on the market for less then the foreclosure auction start bid
  • AUCTIONS by Third Party Companies - These are held at various tent events or sometimes at the property.  Often these auctions are bulk buyers who bought as part of a hedge fund.  They usually get these for around .20 on the dollar.  They then mark them up to .50 on the dollar and sell them. 
    WHY? - Could be a great find.  No cash required.  Bypass somewhat cumbersome foreclosure and short sale process.  Flexible terms sometimes.
    WHY NOT? - Not always market ready.  Sometimes overpriced.  Often over-hyped.  Sometimes hard to find - not enough inventory.
Other options for the "BEST DEAL"
  • Post Foreclosure- Foreclosures - What people generally mean when they say they will buy a foreclosure.  They can be HUD homes, bank owned, REO, Freddie mac and Fannie Mae.  They all have little wrinkles.
    WHY? - Flexible financing for the most part, very traditional (now) - plenty to choose from and more every day. 
  • Short Sale - Pre-foreclosures - These are often the BEST DEALS hands down that I have ever heard of.
    WHY? - Growing and plenty of inventory.  Often the bank will give you a better deal than lose a ton of money on the foreclosure process. 
    WHY NOT? - Long tedious negotiation process with the bank.
]]><![CDATA[The Credit Crisis Explained]]>HOWS" and "WHYS" of where we are in this credit crisis.  It becomes easy to see why there are so many short sales in atlanta.




]]><![CDATA[Short Sale]]>what is a short sale really?

Short Sale is simply when the bank agrees to accept less payment then what they are owed by the borrower.

Example:  John owes $250,000 on his 4 bedroom home.  The comparables suggest that he cannot sell it for more than $225,000.  The bank agrees to accept $225,000.

There are some things that come into play, particular the hardship of the owner.  So that begs the next question:  What is a Hardship?

A hardship would be anything that has caused the borrower not to be able to make the payments.

This could be anything from divorce or job loss to the rate adjusting.  It could also be that the borrower moved up into a larger home (or downsized) but never sold their old home.  Each case is dfferent. Here is a list of the top 10 Hardships.

The next question that comes up is Why would you short sale?  Why not try to do a Loan Modification or just let the bank have it back?

The "SHORT" answer is that Shorting a home affects the overall credit of a borrower less than foreclosure both in length of term (2 yrs vs 5yrs) and overall magnitude (although industry experts have differring opinions on how much).

Lastly, there are all sorts of information that is being given out about Short Sales.  Check the people out.  How many have they really closed?  Fannie Mae has some tips about the scams.

The key is, NEVER PAY ANYONE UPFRONT UNLESS YOU KNOW THE PERSON.

]]><![CDATA[Short Sales In Hamilton Mill]]>Hamilton Mill would be a great place to find a deal.  Surely with over 2,000 homes there might be some pretty great steals in there.   
If you thought that, you'd be right.

However, it goes to illustrate the paradox that is the Atlanta Buyer's Market.  There are great deals to be had, to be sure.  They move quickly and you've got to jump when you see them.

Of course everyone knows by now that Short Sales are by far the best deal out there, they just require patience.

So you might ask, how many short sales are in Hamilton Mill - an area that based on the demographics should have very many -  ... drumroll ... .4.

That's right only 4 Short Sale Listings. Of course, it may be that someone is in a short sale situation and doesn't know it and it might be that their agent doesn't know what they are doing, but I only see 4 short sales for sale in Hamilton Mill. 

If you have questions about short sales please contact us.  
]]><![CDATA[Short Sales Are Increasing In Georgia]]>
  1. Trulia visitors in Atlanta have increased! I'm seeing many more targeted inquiries.  I'm "throwing in" with Trulia and getting listings and letting Trulia do some heavy lifting, I'll blog about the success when it happens!
  2. Short Sales In Atlanta have increased ten fold.
I read a study that said that 40% of sales in Florida are short sales.  I'm not sure how accurate that is, but up to 10% of the inventory is short sales in many communities. This number is sure to increase over the next few months.

I thought it would be worthwhile to list some great articles I've read or written in the past few months:
All of my listings appear on Trulia, but if you just want my Atlanta Short Sale Listings then they are all here.


]]><![CDATA[Commissions May Indicate Motivation]]> homes for sale in georgia I often come across various commissions on the homes. To be honest I notice them and always hope that the homes that have high commissions are the ones my clients want. Inevitably, they are not.

What does strike me is the number of homes on the markwt with low commissions. This practice tells me a few things:
  1. The home has no equity and this should be tough to negotiate
  2. The owner does not value a real estate agent's job and thus is ok underpaying.
  3. The owner is uneducated on the world of real estate
  4. No matter the cause, it all screams "unmotivated."
This is a buyer's market and the buyer's usually have an agent.

Conversly, homes with above average commission are a joy to work with and there are many agents who will admit behind the scenes that they will push these homes.

The sellers appear motivated because:
  1. They have equity
  2. They seem to value the agent's time or at least the ability to find a buyer. 
Don't believe me.  Think about the Atlanta Falcons.  Every player wants to play in Atlanta?  Why? Because it's a better life than any other city?  There's some truth to that, but they can always retire here.  Is it because Atlanta is known as a winning football team?  Certainly not until recently?  Nope, it's because the owner Aurthur Blank has been known to pay the players very well and wine and dine them.  There are tough negotiations that go on, but at the end of the day the player always feels like a winner.  Compare that to other towns like Cleveland where they don't pay their players at all.  No one wants to play there and the teams is ALWAYS a loser.

Back to the homes.  Would you rather work with a seller that pays your agent well and is motivated to work things out or one that is greedy from the "get-go?"]]><![CDATA[Trulia Rock Star?]]>TruliaI got featured today in the Trulia E-mail newsletter and I thought it was pretty cool.  We'll see if anyone is impressed by it but I thought it was certainly pretty cool.  I've not been blogging much on Trulia since the editor is giving me headaches.   Not sure why other than trulia's tech support keeps asking what browser I'm using.  

Thanks for your suppport.




Joshua Jarvis
Keller Williams Realty
M: 770-374-4667
FAX: 866-771-0412
Blog: http://www.gahomesdigest.com/blog
"Putting the Real In Realtor"

--
Oh and by the way... I'm NEVER too busy for your referrals.
Contact Me: LinkedinFacebookPlaxo
]]><![CDATA[Hoschton Succeeds In Failed Attempt]]>Hoschton GA Trilogy ParkHoschton, GA succeeded in an excellent PR and Marketing campaign for the Guinness Book of world records for scare crows.  Who cares that Hoschton didn't actually set the record.  It was really creepy and lots of fun and in a year where everyone stayed inside, the scare crow contest had a lot of community support.  Including this photo  from Trilogy Park in Hoschton. ]]><![CDATA[A Local Favorite "Reborn"]]>Coffee In HoschtonIf you live in Hoschton, GA then you are likely to know about Luna's Coffee House.  Apparently, everyone in town knew about this great coffee house but no one visited it was Hoschton's Best Kept Secret.  After several months, the coffee house was forced to close their doors.

Enter New Community Church

Pastor Chris Hoffman bought everything right down to the "Sweet N Low Packets" so when patrons enter the new coffee shop at the church, it's likely they'll have a bit of deja vu.

The pastor says, the coffee shop will be completely non-profit.  The "profits" will be going to various charities in the area.

"Starbucks is probably not going to be moving up here anytime soon, but we need a coffee shop." Hoffman said.

New Community's Coffee shop will be open Mondays through Thursdays 7 to 7 and Fridays and Saturdays, from 7 to 9.  Sundays, will be open during service times where free coffee will be served.
]]><![CDATA[The Essence of a Buyer's Agent]]>
  1. Getting Pertinent Market Information
  2. Getting into the home
  3. Getting Localized information
Of course, only getting into the home is part of the battle but most buyers and the Commission (big C) have the wrong idea. 

So what is a Buyer's Agent Good For?

It can all be summed up in Fiduciary Responsibility.   In Georgia, Realtors have a Fiduciary responsbility to their clients.

What does that mean?

  • It means that my job isn't to find you the home... NO, it's to get you the best deal on a home that matches the criteria based on your needs that you gave me.
  • It means that I'm a consultant and will COUNSEL you on the decision. 
  • It means, GOOD OR BAD, I'm going to tell you the outcome of your decisions. 
Bottomline it means I'm going to look out for your best interest or as some people say, "I've got your back."

Oh and by the way...  Anyone who thinks that I have my own interest at heart... is dead right!

I see the value in a long relationship, because that equals more referrals.  Pushing your price range up, showing homes with higher commission, and other tactics are a big no-no.  It's just silly business practice to go after a few hundred extra dollars when having a happy client could be several closings a year!
]]><![CDATA[Are you a Realtor Who Blogs?]]>
  1. Why Blog?
  2. How Much business do I get from Blogging?
So I created a survey to try and answer those questions.  Click here for the survey.

Thanks in advance!]]><![CDATA[Shift Book Tour Atlanta: Interviews]]>Shift Book Tour and here's the video about what have they Shifted.

]]><![CDATA[If You Are Reading This, You Aren't From Winder, GA]]>If you're reading this chances are you aren't from around here.  I'm specifically talking about Winder, GA 30680.  That city that was doomed to be caught in the sprawl until the Real Estate market took a different turn and saved Winder, from becoming... Known.


A quick look at Trulia will reveal that Winder, GA is one of the most affordable places to live.  Looking under $100K, no problem.  Want a high end townhome for less than $150K, here you go.

Known by the locals as a place where one "grow'd up" or a place where you live because you "haft" to, Winder offers relative convenience of being almost exactly in between Atlanta, and Athens.  It's not too far from I-85 and has easy access to highway 316.  Most of the people in Winder, did "grow'd" up there, but it's becomming more of a destination because of the values.

Stalled briefly by the gas prices, Winder is a viable option with homes that have up to 3,000 square feet under $150K.

Be sure to see all the homes in the Metro Atlanta Area

]]><![CDATA[Real Estate: Still the safest investment]]>Amid the bailout talks and economic ruin that is blasted on our wonderful media outlets (note the sarcasm) a glimmer of hope stands there in the wilderness.   Real Estate.  Hmmm, just a thought, although prices have plummetted up to 50% in some places, you still need a roof over your head.  It may very well be the best place for your money.  I've long called real estate a "forced savings account."  Unless you bought your home in the last three years, at least for those in Georgia, you won't even notice that there is a real estate market shift in the works.  If you did purchase in the last 3 years, then you're likely part of the statistics.

]]><![CDATA[Market Update]]>In preparing for a listing appointment in Lawrenceville, GA, I discovered some good news and some realistic facts about our market.  Given the latest news, I felt like sharing.

The Bad

  • Since 2000, this year has statistically beat out every other year in terms of length (not good) with between 90 and 100 days on market being average. 
  • Expired Listings (the homes that failed to sale) are at all time highs in every month, going back 8 years.
  • Average Sale Prices are mirroring 2005, but there was a nice increase in average sales price in the early summer.
  • August 2008 was the worst month in this decade for sales, but previous months followed the 2005 pattern.
  • The Good
    • Most sellers in Metro Atlanta are getting 95% or more of their list price.  With some parts of Gwinnett getting 99% of List price.
    • Although inventory (supply) is UP consistently every month, it's starting to subside.  In one area of Gwinnett there were only 6 more homes for sale in August of 2008 then there were in January 2008.
    • Internet traffic seems to have increased almost 100% for home searches since July (these are my numbers).

    • SOURCE: FMLS REAL NUMBERS DATA

    ]]>    <![CDATA[Walmart Pricing]]>Walmart

    I recently wrote a blog post about Walmart Pricing and why it's an outdated and poor strategy.   You can read about it there, but I wanted to go into more depth here.  As Trulia and other websites expand their capabilities, this will be less of an issue.  In particular, when a user uses SNAPSHOT, they don't have the same limitations that the traditional search engines do. 

    If you are wondering what I am talking about, I'm talking about Pricing Levels. 

    A $325,000 home will be found from a buyer searching from $350K and below, since most search engines employ $25,000 increments in their price range search.  However, a home priced at $324,900 will only be found by buyers searching for home at $325K and below. 

    This information is huge.  Those of us on the internet know (or should) and should be educating our sellers.
    ]]>    <![CDATA[Should You Wait For Prices To Go Down?]]>In a recent conversation with my loan officer we were discussing some clients that had made the statement that they are going to wait for prices to continue to come down.  As I posted on my Georgia Real Estate Blog, you can't time the market, and you can't predict the bottom. 

    The question right now is "Will prices continue to go down?"

    I really think buyers are missing the boat on this question.  Shouldn't the question really be, "When will interest rates go up?"

    For example a $300,000 Loan at 6.5% is about $1,900 (not including insurance and taxes).  If the price goes down another 5%  your savings is... about $100.   Whereas it only takes a 1/2 point (.5%) to have the same effect on your mortgage.  So that same $300,000 loan is now $2,000 at 7%. 

    The real numbers to be watching is the interest rate.  

    Oh and by the way, 3% to 5% never stopped someone from buying the home the wanted on price. I can gaurantee it that less than 1% in interest rate has (stopped a buyer from buying a home they wanted). 
    ]]>    <![CDATA[I Hate Trulia Snapshot!]]>Trulia Snapshot

    Ok, I made you look.  This isn't a tirade about Trulia Snapshot, no.  I in fact, LOVE, snapshot... so much I hate it.  It makes looking at homes fun.   That's all we need is another method to look at real estate that is fun and entertaining.  I know now where to send ALL of my LONG TERM clients. 
    (HINT TO TRULIA STAFF:  (offer a product like Market Snapshot from Top Producer to agents and I'll be in line first).

    Snapshot does have that unnerving effect of making you spend time looking at real estate without offerring any real conclusions.  Time will tell if it's going to be an effective tool or not, since there aren't a ton of options.  However, I could very easily see showing this to a buyer and displaying graphically their 10 home choices next to each other.  Add a little bit of functionality (Trulia will have to pay me for this hint) and it could very well replace what I am doing with our MLS altogether.

    *** After time passes playing with Snapshot *****

    Having finally spent a few hours with it, I would say that although the black map (AWESOME!) is cool, the most functional item is the bars at the bottom.

    ]]>    <![CDATA[Trulia is My Secret Weapon]]>Trulia SoldsSomething hit me yesterday, kind of like a brick being thrown from the driver of a Toyota Prius with Road Rage... you get the idea, it's like a slap in the face only harder and well bigger. Trulia could very well be my secret weapon. I'm sharing this with you because... well, frankly NO ONE will read my blog so I can could tell you all kinds of secrets and no one would know. OK on with the actual post...

    (for those wondering, the pink highlighting is my browser's doing as I have some functions on there, like analyzing no-follow tags... I'm kind of a geek)

    I was sitting with a Seller yesterday explaining how we missed the market and his price is just too high evidenced by the lack of showing. I took him down the yellow brick road of marketing to explain that yes indeed his home is on Craigslist, postlets, realtor.com, and yes it's even on Anne Smith website even though she's a competitor. The engineer in me decided to even explain the whole IDX process and I continued to pummel him with details which is my normal process. "Wow, them with an overload of information" is my motto, or if you prefer my Wife's version of what I do, she says "You like to show them how smart you are."

    In any case, the Seller was wanting to try it for a little bit longer... then it happened. Either the caffeine kicked in or my sugar levels had gotten right (it was after lunch) and I asked my seller to do test with me. (For our purposes we'll look at Buford, GA Real Estate)

    See the purpose of the visit was to present a new CMA (from our MLS data) and to get a price reduction. I never misled this seller, I was blindsided by the market on this particular home as well. It wasn't until I took him to Trulia that he started to believe me...
    Trulia Solds

    Here's the steps:
    1. Look for your home in a $25,000 price range.
    2. Which home(s) stand out?
    3. Now look under the "Price Range" button there should be a button the bottom of the next row that says, "RECENTLY SOLD" - Click that box and uncheck the one on top.
    4. Mr. Seller what do you see?
  • Trulia Stats
    EXACTLY!

    The moral of the story is the Trulia can be your new secret weapon. Let's be REAL, Trulia probably won't help me sell any more listings, but neither will Realtor.com or any other site. The value of these sites has been the lead generation. However, Trulia has just earned my respect because (drumroll, please) Sellers will often not listen to your advice but will gladly do whatever they see on HGTV, Trulia in the same way can be that "objective" voice that we need.

    I may scrap my CMAs altogether and just start doing CMOs (Comparative Market Overview).



    Of course thankfully, Trulia isn't perfect... My seller's still need me... Trulia's Wrong
    Note: The homes above are NOT comparable to the address listed above, for those not swimming in my stream of consciousness.]]>    <![CDATA[Do You Know What You Are Doing With Trulia Blogs?]]>Trulia Blog SpamAs many of you MVP'ers know, Trulia is about to open up this new blog thing to the general public. In fact, we got an e-mail from Katie about this very thing.

    What happens next?

    For starters look at the blogs? Just an FYI - they are time and date stamped. There are several of "you" that posted three or more blogs in under an hour. We can all probably raise our hand and say "YES, I OCCASIONALLY RE-BLOG." Um, but in my book, that's called a word.... "SPAM." Want another word? How about dumb.

    What do I mean?

    We all like to blog and we all have articles that should probably be on several locations. Blasting Trulia blogs with your content might get it up here, heck it might even get it read more in the beginning, but you may very well have shot yourself in the foot if you are going in this for the long haul.

    If trulia blogs are going to be about content and it takes off with consumers, you're going to want to be consistent. Unless you devote time specifically to blog for Trulia, it's unlikely you are going to be able keep up (if you plan to blog for your site and other social sites like ActiveRain)... unless you already have content. Let's be real, we all have done this before... the ones on beta anyway, so we have content... and we will likely repost it ... all I'm saying is that it's better for YOU and ME if you do it methodically instead of one large dump.

    Frankly, I'm turned off by it and I bet consumers would be too.]]>    <![CDATA[I was wrong! Days On Market Are Available The Georgia Realtor]]>
    Makes sense.

    Well, I found out today that I was WRONG! Yes, in fact, we have the tools to look up how long your home has been on the market. SELLER BEWARE! I know how long you've been on the market and furthermore know when, if any changes have been to the price and so forth.

    I found out through this great question here: In my original response, I had said that no one knows the Days On Market and anyone that does, might not know what they are doing. This stems from the Days on Market that other sites display.

    Well, less than 5 minutes from that original response, I get an e-mail from Mr. Owen:

        Dear Joshua,   
        In your Trulia answer to Keith (a homebuyer in 30102) regarding finding out how long a home has been on the market, you made the statement, "Anyone claiming to be able to tell you EXACTLY, simply doesn't know what they are doing."     Instead of using this forum to in a positive manner to answer questions and provide information, you have used it to undermine another agent's answer and hold yourself out as being more knowledgeable, when, in fact, YOU are incorrect.     Using the Archive search function in FMLS, you can see the date and time each listing was entered into the system, the same for each price change, expiration, withdrawal, under contract, back on the market, and closed.     I expect you see your correction of your answer shortly, with proper credit given. If not, I will correct your misinformation myself. (not sure what is meant by that)
     Sincerely,
    Warren Owen

    Again, thank you Mr. Owen, I'm wrong! Thanks for the tip.

    The truth of the matter is that days on market is such a small piece of the negotiation pie that it's good to know but if anything tells us that we either have a stubborn or un-motivated seller as opposed to someone who desperately wants to sell. In any case, special thanks to the Owen Family for giving me this great information.

    A just for the record: My answers are not meant to undermine others, my answers are simply my opinion of what the right answer is. I rarely even read the answers of others (except the most recent or best).    ]]>    <![CDATA[Are Dacula & Buford Over-inflated?]]>at the pricing of Lawrenceville; Gwinnett's county seat, the largest city in Gwinnett, and what do you find, the median price in Lawrenceville is $157K.  While in Buford it's $202K and in Dacula it's $198K.  Those are big differences and when location is key, gas prices are up -- you have to wonder if there's still some air in the bubble here.

    Most realtors agree that the bubble wasn't all that big in Atlanta, GA.  However, these outlying areas with such a large price descrepancy have to make you wonder.

    So let's look at the factors.

    THOSE FOR OVER-INFLATED
    1. Further out (more miles from Metro Altanta) than lower priced homes in surrounding cities.
    2. Higher property values, means higher taxes.
  • So after all that scare there really is only two factors causing the "push."

    FACTORS FOR CORRECTED MARKET
    1. Lack of move-up housing inside the city, or lack of low income housing.  Higher property values.
    2. Schools - although the effect of schools is negligible as some of the best schools are also located in Lawrenceville and Suwanee.
    3. Mall of Georgia - (located in Buford, GA) Non-locals may laugh, but Georgia builds it's cities around malls.  It's what drives us.
  • Used to be that you'd pay an extra $50K to be on the lake or golf course if not more.  Now you can expect to pay that amount to live in a "higher income area."]]>    <![CDATA[Is Answering A Trulia Question Worth Your License?]]>
    This post is a reminder to myself to Think before I post!]]>    <![CDATA[Buying a Home In Georgia with a Pool, A Steal]]>Georgia Homes With A PoolIf you've looked for a home for sale in Georgia with a Pool, then you might have found out the truth about Georgia... We don't put pools in. The fact is, an inground pool in Georgia is probably the most rare feature of all.  The rational to this is that the average Atlantan moves every 2 to 3 years so there is hardly any time to finish the basement let alone install a costly pool - especially when appraisers and "news" sites will tell you differnt things.

    Let's assume you do want a pool.  You can go ahead and count yourself as a smart and savvy buyer.  You might not know it but for the same reasons that people don't put in pools might be the same reason you get a steal of a deal on a Georgia home with a pool.  Jeff Powell, of Professional Pool Services, inc estimates that a buyer buy a home in Atlanta with a pool can save as much as 90% on the cost of pool.  He's seen many cases where the pool was "free."  He went on to tell me that a well maintained pool always helps the home sell faster, at least in the Atlanta Market.

    I agree, I love homes with a pool, because I've sold them for more money than the average home in the neighborhood and in under 30 days. On average, I get 3 to 5% more for the home than I would with a home without a pool and I sell it in less time. 

    What's the reason for this?

    Internet.  Out of state buyers expect Georgians to have pools, heck we could use the pool 8 months out of the year if we wanted too. Out of state buyers are looking for homes with a pool in Georgia and when they find it they see the value.

    To search all the homes in Georgia for a pool, please visit my website for Georgia Homes.]]>    <![CDATA[Housing Bill: Tax Credit For First Time Home Buyers]]>talk of the housing bill, it's easy to get caught up in the talk of what is going away.  While this discussion is going on elsewhere, the one thing that isn't talked about as much locally is the tax credit for first time home buyers.  The two numbers are $7,500 and $8,000.  That's close 4% for a $200K home, which is close to the median price in several areas.  Furthermore, that's well over 5% for first time home buyers.  What does that mean?

    In addition to be able to write off closing costs, the savvy first time home buyer could potentially be able to write off more than $10,000 come tax time.  That same tax payer will receive a refund to which most likely they will directly deposit into the economy.  Hence, stimulus. 

    While that part of the plan disturbs me a bit, I'll take it.  If this thing gets finalized, then this Realtor will start buying the notion that buying a home for tax benefits makes sense.  It still isn't the only or the main reason, but this is very close to being a REAL good reason (along with others).]]>    <![CDATA[Trulia Jumps into the Blogosphere?!]]>
    At the end, I will either drop Realtor.com advertising to join Trulia or discontinue my blogging efforts here.

    Thanks for reading...
    ]]>