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Case Shiller just released its latest report on the state of the residential estate market.  The good news is that home prices are falling more slowly.  The bad news is that that we have a little ways to go.

What the Numbers Show:

• Through August, 2009, the price of an average home sold in the US fell approximately 13 percent, year over year, from 2008 levels.
• Home prices have now dropped to 2003 valuation levels, wiping out 6 years of home appreciation.
• Since the peak in 2006, average home prices are down 33 percent.

What Do the Numbers Say About the Future??

• Prediction:  The “average” home price will likely fall more than 13 percent by year end.  Reason:  Home prices are always at their highest in the spring and summer.  Families move during this time of year and they buy the largest, most expensive properties.  As a result, Summer home sales skew the “average” price upward in the fall, but only temporarily.
• Prediction:  Home Sales will suffer a downturn due to the expiration of the $8000 First Time Buyer’s Credit.   So far this year, 350,000 buyers have been persuaded to purchase because of this incentive.   To read more about the success of the 1st Time Home Buyers Tax Credit, CLICK HERE.

Our Crystal Ball:  The pace of the fall is slowing, but the expiration of the tax credit and the ”shadow inventory” of another 1.5 Million foreclosures will continue to put downward pressure on the market in 2010.  As a result, we predict that 2010 home prices will decline 6-7 percent.  The upside is that nearly all buying risk is out of the market.  Interest rates are at historical lows.  Any increase in rates would erase the possible gain a buyer would achieve from correctly timing the exact bottom…even if the timing were perfect. 

Bottom Line:  If you plan to buy a home within the next year, now is a great time.   Chose the best home, in the best location and the one that you can easily afford.  Live and enjoy the home for at least 5 years and you will likely be patting yourself on the back for a job well done.

Thank you for visiting InfoTube.net homes for sale and lease FREE website.  We have been in the business of connection Sellers and Buyers for 20 Years.  Chances are that we can Help You, too!!

The $8000 Tax Credit for first time home buyer’s (people who have not owned a home in the last 3 years) expires on November 30, 2009.    With the expiration date drawing near, the Realtor and builder lobby groups are pushing lawmakers to extend the program for another 6 months.   If they are successful, it will cost taxpayers of nearly $15 BILLION.  

“Yea” or “Nay”???    Before we cast our vote, we decided to find out whether the tax incentive successful or not?  Specifically, did it persuade people to jump into the market?   Would it be a good investment for taxpayers going forward?

According to a poll conducted by Zillow, the tax credit was persuasive.

• 18 percent of home buyers said the tax credit was the main reason they pushed to buy a home before November 30, 2010.
• Based on the number of first time buyer’s in the marketplace, a 6 month extension could persuade another 335,000 (18 percent) buyers to buy a home of their own.
• If the first time buyer credit is extended, home sales would likely increase 5 percent.  Without it, sales would be down as much as 2 percent.
• Only 31 percent of first time buyers said the credit had no influence on their decision to purchase. 
• 69 percent of buyers said the tax credit was important in motivating them to buy a home this year.

Thank you for visiting InfoTube.net homes for sale and rent website.  If you have an opinion about extending or expanding the tax credit for homebuyer’s we would love to hear from you.  Click the Comment link below.   Your privacy is completely protected.

  

In August, InfoTube warned its readers about the New Wave of Foreclosures that would be pounding the market, further driving up inventory and eroding prices.  Today, we learn that the Wall Street Journal agree’s with our accessment of the future market conditions for real estate.

Excerpt from the Wall Street Journal: 

“The size of this shadow inventory is a source of concern and debate among real-estate agents and analysts who worry that when the supply is unleashed, it could interrupt the budding housing recovery and ignite a new wave of stress in the housing market . . . Analysts who track the shadow market have focused primarily on the gap between the number of seriously delinquent loans and the number of foreclosed homes for sale by mortgage companies. A loan is considered seriously delinquent, which typically means it is headed to foreclosure, if it is 90 days or more past due.

As of July, mortgage companies hadn’t begun the foreclosure process on 1.2 million loans that were at least 90 days past due, according to estimates prepared for The Wall Street Journal by LPS Applied Analytics, which collects and analyzes mortgage data. An additional 1.5 million seriously delinquent loans were somewhere in the foreclosure process, though the lender hadn’t yet acquired the property. The figures don’t include home-equity loans and other second mortgages.

Moreover, there were 217,000 loans in July where the borrower hadn’t made a payment in at least a year but the lender hadn’t begun the foreclosure process. In other words, 17% of home mortgages that are at least 12 months overdue aren’t in foreclosure, up from 8% a year earlier.”

What this means for Home Seller’s:  Time is not your friend.  The shadow of inventory of distressed property will continue to place downward pressure on home prices.  Based upon our years of experience, we predict that home prices will fall an average of 7 percent in 2010.  

If you need to sell your home, DO NOT chase the market down.  Price your property aggressively, then market the home to as wide an audience as possible.  To learn about the best way to reach the mass buying market, CLICK HERE. 

Thank you for visiting InfoTube.net.  We have been connecting buyers with sellers since 1989.  We can help you, too.

A new website The Bed Bug Registry is a free, public database of bedbug infestations. Use it to check for bedbug reports before booking a hotel room or renting an apartment.

The Bedbug Registry gives travelers and renters a reliable and neutral platform for reporting their encounters with bedbugs. Though most Americans have still never encountered one, these retro pests are spreading extremely quickly across several American and Canadian cities.

Bed bugs are easy to transport in luggage and very hard to get rid of. For this reason they have become an especial nuisance for hotels, who are not eager to publicize their infestations. You can’t tell whether a building or hotel room has them based on cleanliness - the bugs can thrive anywhere there are cracks and crevices to hide in.

Until a reliable, safe pesticide becomes available, avoiding bedbug encounters will be the only reliable way to ensure they don’t spread into your own home.

To Read More About How to Spot and Stop Bed Bugs Before You are Eaten Alive,  CLICK HERE!!!    

Thank you for visiting InfoTube.net. Place a Free Property Listing on in our database or Search for Thousands of Deals in Complete Privacy.

Thomas Edison’s light bulb, invented in 1879, will not be sold in the U.S. after January 1, 2012. 

As part of the Clean Energy Bill, signed in 2007, most wattages of incandescent light bulbs, will go the way of leaded gas and oil based paint.   Australia started the light bulb ban in 2007.  Europe followed in September, this year. 

Even though Americans hate forced change, there are some reasons this change makes sense.  According to Energy Star, “a qualified compact fluorescent light bulb (CFL) will save about $30 over its lifetime and pay for itself in about 6 months.  It uses 75 percent less energy and lasts about 10 times longer than an incandescent bulb.” 

Futhermore, Noah Horowitz, with the Natural Resources Defense Council stated “it would eliminate the need to build 30 new coal power plants and save as much electricity as used by all the homes in Texas.”

Astounding Energy Savings, No More Coal Plants and Free Money, too, what’s not to love??  Well, a couple of things…First of all, fluorescent bulbs contain mercury.  Remember the dangers of mercury?  If a bulb breaks, the mercury scatters around the room or hides in the carpet and toys.  And, don’t throw the new bulbs into the trash.  To dispose of these bulbs, if they don’t break first, they need to be handled like hazardous waste, ie: paint, chemicals, batteries, etc.  Home Depot, True Value, IKEA and other retailers will recycle them, but you need to carefully pack them up and drive them to the store.

Secondly, fluorescents can’t be used with a dimmer switch.  My personal favorite trick for creating ambiance.  And, I’ve already tried CFL’s and found they don’t produce enough light, or maybe the right hue of light, for easy reading and other close up tasks.  And, probably most concerning, they also aren’t a great light for those of us who look for bulbs that cast flattering, soft light ):

Change is coming.  Adjust or stock up before January 2012.   Thank you for visiting InfoTube.net your FREE homes for sale and lease website.  Have a great weekend and happy home selling and buying.

Marketing a vacant home can be difficult challenge, because empty rooms are hard to size up and they don’t stand out in a buyer’s mind.  This leaves every vacant home looking like the one next door, with the only difference in a buyer’s mind being, which home has the lowest price.

This problem may have been solved by Krisztina Bell, a smart Atlanta Realtor, who invented and patented a software program that will “virtually” stage any vacant property for around $250.  Her company has been heralded by the Chicago Tribune, San Francisco Chronical and other publications as the answer to giving the effect of a professionally staged home at a fraction of the cost.

With 90 percent of home buyers doing their shopping online, and thousands of vacant homes on the market, Ms Bell’s idea is smart and timely.  Her technique transforms listing photo’s of vacant homes into homes with professionally designed interiors, using a library of attractive furnishings, accessories and artwork.   The resulting “after” photo’s are realistic, authentic and hard to distinguish from a home that has been actually staged with furnishings.

To view the Photo Gallery of some impressive Before and After Pictures, please visit her website VirtuallyStagingProperties.com, by clicking this link.  You will be amazed.  And, if you have a vacant home to sell, you should seriously consider this inexpensive option and make your home pop.

Thank you for visiting InfoTube.net homes for sale and rent website.  If you virtually stage your home, be sure to upload the slideshow to InfoTube.net.  Thousands of buyer’s search our site daily for new information on properties.

One of the things that can turn off buyer’s, stop a sale or detract from a properties resale value is Wallpaper.   Why don’t buyer’s like wallpaper??  First, it is usually a real pain to take down.  Secondly, it is very taste specific.  There is obviously no “standard” or ”popular type” of wallpaper, because there seems to be endless supply and I have never seen the exact same wallpaper, twice.  Meaning, the odds of being hit by lightning are probably greater than 2 people liking the same paper.

If you plan to stay in your home a while and you want some wallpaper in your house, well, it is your house.  But, please, go sparingly. Avoid busy, colorful and loud types. And, please don’t forget to “size” the wall before you apply it, or you won’t get it off without destroying the wall surface underneath.

Tip for HomeSeller’s:   But, if you are trying to sell your home, without success, and it has a lot of wallpaper or busy, dated wallpaper, you can do yourself a big favor by pulling it down and applying a fresh coat of neutral paint.   A crisp, freshly painted room never turns off buyers. 

 The same can never be said about wallpaper.    Thank you for visiting InfoTube.net FREE homes for sale and rent website.  We have been helping seller’s and buyer’s connect since 1988.  We can help you, too.

Hasbro has a new edition of Monopoly for players who fantasize about having clout, women and power like Donald Trump.  The new Monopoly City, released as a board game, and Monopoly City Streets, an online game version, packs in the fun and gives players $3 million to buy streets, instead of tiny houses.  

Although the addictiveness of the game is the same as the original, you will experience some big, exciting changes.  If you are usually the Monopoly banker, you will certainly feel the effect of inflation, as you dole out $10,000 bills instead of $1 bills.  Also new, forget about feeling smug with your little hotel on Boardwalk, players in this high stakes game race to buy skyscrapers, stadiums, wind farms, sewage plants and garbage dumps.  And, not only can players collect hefty rents, they can bulldoze property and sabotage buildings to bring their values down. 

For those of us questioning why Hasbro would release the game in the midst of an economic crisis, the company reports that the game was in development before the melt down began.  And, ironically, the original Monopoly became popular with would-be tycoons during another economic crisis– The Great Depression, when Parker Brothers acquired it in 1935.  

Present real estate crash aside, Donetta Allen, spokeswoman for Hasbro, has this to say about the widely popular game ”It’s about the dream.  Monopoly has always been about that - the aspiration, I can’t do it in real life.  I want to do it on the board game.”  

There is one BIG difference between Monopoly City game and developing property in real life…. there’s no creative financing.  The game is cash only.  No debt.  No mortgage backed securities.  No credit default swaps.  Sorry, Trump.

Thank you for visiting InfoTube.net, a FREE Homes for Sale or Rent website.  Hint for holiday shoppers… Monopoly City is on my Christmas wishlist (:

A fireplace can be a huge selling point for any home or an eyesore that detracts from the room.  If the fireplace in your home is out dated or just plain ugly, you can transform it into a sexy, focal point without spending a lot of money.

Take a look at this brick fireplace.  It is a fireplace, but it is doubtful that buyers would conjure images of sipping wine by a roaring fire, in its present condition.

Now, take a look at the transformation, after engineered stone was applied over the old brick and a mantle was added.  The fireplace morphs from an eyesore into a floor to ceiling, hearthwarming focal point

In another example, this unattractive, dated fireplace with painted brick got a great makeover.  The homeowner correctly felt the fireplace was out of proportion, due to the narrow sides and tall top.  The mantle was also too small.

The After.  The budget minded homeowner added an “in stock” simple mantel and pilasters from a do-it-yourself center.  The design updated the fireplace, hid most of the outdated, painted over brick and brought the fireplace into correct proportion for under $750.

If your fireplace detracts from your home, get your creative genius in gear and simply cover it up.  Examples of “coverup” materials that are inexpensive and easy to work with are tile, manufactured stone, granite, marble or wood.  Sometimes even painting over old, ugly brick will make a huge improvement. 

Thank you for visiting InfoTube.net.  We love before and after pictures that we can share with our readers.  If you have completed a project and want a pat on the back, email photo’s to tommi@infotube.net

The large number of foreclosed homes have become a blight on the residential landscape.   But, swimming pools in abandoned, foreclosed homes, with no electricity, pose special problems.   Swimming pools become stagnate and unsantitary due to a lack of chemicals, then quickly grow thick with algae that is unsightly, and expensive to get rid of.

Enter the pleco algae eating fish, which are commonly found and abundant in fresh water lakes.   Only 15 pleco fish, placed in an abandoned pool, quickly eat away the algae and keep it away.

The environmentally smart solution leaves pools more sanitary, makes the homes more attractive to prospective home buyer’s and saves thousands of dollars in upkeep.   After the new owner moves in, they can return the fish to the lake or leave them in the pool for backyard fishing fun.

Thank you for visiting InfoTube.net homes for sale and rent complimentary website.  Search for some great deals or post your property for more exposure.  It’s FREE!!

If the light fixtures by your front door are over 10 years old, you need to update them.   New outdoor fixtures are very inexpensive ($50) and they can be installed by any homeowner in less than 15 minutes.  Just make sure to cut off the power before taking the old fixture down.

Your home will not get a second chance to make a good first impression on homebuyers.   Any money you spend on staging and updating your entry will be money well spent.

Thank you for visiting InfoTube.net.  We have been helping buyers and sellers market their properties since 1989, and we can help you, too.

I’m sure we’ve all heard our parents warn, “and, don’t let the bed bugs bite”, as we toddled off to bed…but most of us have never considered that bed bugs were real pests, because most of us have never seen a bed bug.  

As creepy as it is, Bed Bugs are real and they are back with a vengence.  The use of DDT eradicated bed bugs more than 50 years ago, which explains why most of us have never seen one.   Today, exterminators use roach traps, instead of insecticide sprays, which do not wipe out the bed bugs along with the roaches.  So, the tiny bed bug is making a resurgence in a big way.

How Can You Find Bed Bugs before You’re Eaten?  READ MORE…..

Thank you for visiting InfoTube.net homes for sale and rent website.  Search our site for great deals without deadlinks or popups.  Or, reach thousands of home shoppers and place a FREE property listing on the site today! 

Bank of America, along with other lenders, report that a huge wave of new foreclosures will flood the market, once again.  The second wave in foreclosures is due to the slowing of the loan modification program and the new release of properties that the banks have been holding.

Currently, 1.5 million homes are in foreclosure.  More Worrisome…an additional 3.5 - 4 Million home loans are “Seriously” delinquent or are in default.   Many of these loans are newer, high quality loans that have fallen into trouble due to job losses.  Job losses mean no income, so modifying or saving the loan is not an option for these homeowners.

Buyer Alert:  The $8000 Tax Credit for Buying a Home Expires in Only 90 Days.  If your loan does not close on or before November 30, 2009, you lose $8000 Grand.  Period.   With loans currently taking 90 or more days to close, you must buy a home now, in order to qualify.

Thank you for visiting InfoTube.net.  We have been in the business of helping buyers and sellers for 20 years.  We can help you, too.

Record low interest rates, combined with deeply discounted home prices, have bottom fishers swimming frantically, in search of the perfect deal on the perfect home.  But, before you strike, beware.  Read our 5 Tips to Avoid Getting Hooked in a bad way.

1. 1.  Think Long Term:  This is a market for smart bottom fishers, not flippers.  In this market, our advice is that you should plan to buy a home to live in, then hold it for 3-5 years, at the minimum.  Our reasoning, first, prices have not fully stabilized at these levels.  Secondly, there is no indication that prices will rise any time soon.  Last of all, we are still facing a rise in foreclosures in 2010, which will keep downward pressure on the market. 
2. It’s All About the Local Market:  We have all heard the golden rule of successful real estate investing…Location, Location, Location.  In other words, if you have a choice between a bigger home in an ‘iffy’ area, or a smaller home in a better one, always pick the the Good Location.  Remember, when comparing locations, real estate markets are entirely a Local matter.  There are big differences within neighborhoods, zipcodes, school systems and suburban towns.  Focus on the hottest area’s and the ones that are conveniently located near major employment centers.  In rough sea’s, these area’s will always rebound the fastest and appreciate the most. 
3. Be Wary of Foreclosures:  While some foreclosures may be a great buy, many of these properties are “cheap” for good reasons.  Many of the homes weren’t great to begin with and most have been terribly neglected.   Carefully look for mold, water penetration, structural problems, missing appliances, soiled carpets and flooring underlayments, broken windows and glass, strange odors and any evidence of illegal drug trade.  Also, never get emotionally attached to a foreclosure home.  Banks are notoriously hard to deal with and they can take forever to respond to offers.  Some buyer’s report a wait of several months before the bank approved an offer, or not.
4. Get Pre-Qualified for a Loan:  Submit your letter of loan approval with any offer you make on a home.  Banks always require a letter of pre-qualification before considering a bid, as will any serious seller.  With proof of funds in hand, you will be taken much more seriously by all seller’s, and you will in the end, get a much better deal on the house.   Getting Pre-Approved for financing is no lose proposition.
5. Don’t Take Chances.  Buyer’s are in the drivers seat and a lot of great values are available, but please don’t overspend.  The job market and general ecomony are uncertain.  Make sure you can afford the property, even if you find yourself in a bad or unexpected situation.  Even the perfect property can turn into a nightmare, if you can’t reasonably afford it. 

Thank you for visiting InfoTube.net homes for sale and rent website.  Property Owners can place free listings on InfoTube.net.  Buyers can search the site in complete privacy (no registration) for great deals seen no where else without pesky popups and dead links.