Each year we like to show our gratitude to our clients for their business and referrals.  Our annual client appreciation celebration comes every fall and is always a good time!

This year’s featured giveaways include:

Angela Todd Designs

An interior design concept for one room in your home (not including the kitchen or bath) from Angela Todd Designs. The design concept includes: An initial visit to the clients home to understand their desires, take measurements, etc. A floor plan, an elevated rendering of the room (either digital or hand drawn depending on the room), existing pieces interlaced into the design (if the client desires to keep some pieces). Fabric & Textile selections, furnishings, lighting and basic artwork to add to the space, window treatment design, a worksheet that outlines how to order and implement the design (or the client can shop themselves for a similar look with our “plan”), and a presentation appointment with the client to present the design concept.

For more information please go to  www.nwinteriordesigner.com

Craftsmanship By Clarke

A custom front door from Craftsmanship by Clarke. The door is a paint grade door, there are four styles to choose from (three have a window, one does not). Giveaway includes all labor to remove existing door, properly weather seal opening, and install new painted door with deadbolt and handle. This Does not include repair of existing damage, doors with sidelights, or installation in an odd size opening (which is anything other than 36″ wide and 80″ tall).

For more information please go to www.craftsmanshipbyclarke.com

Healthy Foods To You

A pantry makeover by Healthy Foods To You.  At Healthy Foods To You, our vision is to see individuals and families make healthy choices regarding food that encourage health and wellness, and to see local farmers being supported in a tough economic climate. The Kitchen/Pantry Makeover includes a thorough evaluation of what you currently have on hand in your pantry/fridge and eliminating “foods” that hinder goals and learning what foods to replace them with ($150 value!). “I want to promote knowledge about foods and the wide world of health. I want people to feel better, look better and be better. I want to help others listen to their bodies and be able to understand its own unique desires and limitations. I want to help people break the bonds of addiction to sugar, in all of its forms. I want to see lives changed and families united around a simple meal.”

For more information please go to www.healthyfoodstoyou.com

Robin Anne Smith Landscape Design

A landscape design concept for your garden – includes a 2 hour consultation at your home to come up with a hand drawn conceptual plan and sketch ideas for materials and plantings.  This could be for a small specific area or for a large overall site, depending upon what type of space the client wishes to include.  Landscape designs can range from classic and formal to contemporary and minimalist.  I will listen to your own ideas and help guide you toward the best options for your landscape.  I’ll bring some sketch paper, drawing pens and pencils, and some great ideas!

For more information, please go to www.robinannesmith.com

We hope to see you, your family and friends there!

Carrie & Mellisa

By Brett Arends, Wall Street Journal
From September 16, 2010

Enough with the doom and gloom about homeownership.
Sure, maybe there’s more pain to come in the housing market. But when Time magazine starts running covers that declare “Owning a home may no longer make economic sense,” it’s time to say: Enough is enough. This is what “capitulation” looks like. Everyone has given up.

After all, at the peak of the bubble five years ago, Time had a different take. “Home Sweet Home,” declared its cover then, as it celebrated the boom and asked: “Will your house make you rich?”

But it’s not enough just to be contrarian. So here are 10 reasons why it’s good to buy a home.

1. You can get a good deal. Especially if you play hardball. This is a buyer’s market. Most of the other buyers have now vanished, as the tax credits on purchases have just expired. We’re four to five years into the biggest housing bust in modern history. And prices have come down a long way– about 30% from their peak, according to Standard & Poor’s Case-Shiller Index, which tracks home prices in 20 big cities. Yes, it’s mixed. New York is only down 20%. Arizona has halved. Will prices fall further? Sure, they could. You’ll never catch the bottom. It doesn’t really matter so much in the long haul.

Where is fair value? Fund manager Jeremy Grantham at GMO, who predicted the bust with remarkable accuracy, said two years ago that home prices needed to fall another 17% to reach fair value in relation to household incomes. Case-Shiller since then: Down 18%.

2. Mortgages are cheap. You can get a 30-year loan for around 4.3%. What’s not to like? These are the lowest rates on record. As recently as two years ago they were about 6.3%. That drop slashes your monthly repayment by a fifth. If inflation picks up, you won’t see these mortgage rates again in your lifetime. And if we get deflation, and rates fall further, you can refi.

3. You’ll save on taxes. You can deduct the mortgage interest from your income taxes. You can deduct your real estate taxes. And you’ll get a tax break on capital gains–if any–when you sell. Sure, you’ll need to do your math. You’ll only get the income tax break if you itemize your deductions, and many people may be better off taking the standard deduction instead. The breaks are more valuable the more you earn, and the bigger your mortgage. But many people will find that these tax breaks mean owning costs them less, often a lot less, than renting.

4. It’ll be yours. You can have the kitchen and bathrooms you want. You can move the walls, build an extension–zoning permitted–or paint everything bright orange. Few landlords are so indulgent; for renters, these types of changes are often impossible. You’ll feel better about your own place if you own it than if you rent. Many years ago, when I was working for a political campaign in England, I toured a working-class northern town. Mrs. Thatcher had just begun selling off public housing to the tenants. “You can tell the ones that have been bought,” said my local guide. “They’ve painted the front door. It’s the first thing people do when they buy.” It was a small sign that said something big.

5. You’ll get a better home. In many parts of the country it can be really hard to find a good rental. All the best places are sold as condos. Money talks. Once again, this is a case by case issue: In Miami right now there are so many vacant luxury condos that owners will rent them out for a fraction of the cost of owning. But few places are so favored. Generally speaking, if you want the best home in the best neighborhood, you’re better off buying.

6. It offers some inflation protection. No, it’s not perfect. But studies by Professor Karl “Chip” Case (of Case-Shiller), and others, suggest that over the long-term housing has tended to beat inflation by a couple of percentage points a year. That’s valuable inflation insurance, especially if you’re young and raising a family and thinking about the next 30 or 40 years. In the recent past, inflation-protected government bonds, or TIPS, offered an easier form of inflation insurance. But yields there have plummeted of late. That also makes homeownership look a little better by contrast.

7. It’s risk capital. No, your home isn’t the stock market and you shouldn’t view it as the way to get rich. But if the economy does surprise us all and start booming, sooner or later real estate prices will head up again, too. One lesson from the last few years is that stocks are incredibly hard for most normal people to own in large quantities–for practical as well as psychological reasons. Equity in a home is another way of linking part of your portfolio to the long-term growth of the economy–if it happens–and still managing to sleep at night.

8. It’s forced savings. If you can rent an apartment for $2,000 month instead of buying one for $2,400 a month, renting may make sense. But will you save that $400 for your future? A lot of people won’t. Most, I dare say. Once again, you have to do your math, but the part of your mortgage payment that goes to principal repayment isn’t a cost. You’re just paying yourself by building equity. As a forced monthly saving, it’s a good discipline.

9. There is a lot to choose from. There is a glut of homes in most of the country. The National Association of Realtors puts the current inventory at around 4 million homes. That’s below last year’s peak, but well above typical levels, and enough for about a year’s worth of sales. More keeping coming onto the market, too, as the banks slowly unload their inventory of unsold properties. That means great choice, as well as great prices.

10. Sooner or later, the market will clear. Demand and supply will meet. The population is forecast to grow by more than 100 million people over the next 40 years. That means maybe 40 million new households looking for homes. Meanwhile, this housing glut will work itself out. Many of the homes will be bought. But many more will simply be destroyed–either deliberately, or by inaction. This is already happening. Even two years ago, when I toured the housing slump in western Florida, I saw bankrupt condo developments that were fast becoming derelict. And, finally, a lot of the “glut” simply won’t matter: It’s concentrated in a few areas, like Florida and Nevada. Unless you live there, the glut won’t have any long-term impact on housing supply in your town.

Below is a Q and A from the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) website about the tax credit, www.federalhousingtaxcredit.com.  Thanks NAHB!

1. What is the definition of a move-up or repeat home buyer?
   The law defines a tax credit qualified move-up home buyer (“long-time resident”) as a home owner who has owned and resided in a home for at least five consecutive years of the eight years prior to the purchase date. For married taxpayers, the law tests the homeownership history of both the home buyer and his/her spouse. Repeat home buyers do not have to purchase a home that is more expensive than their previous home to qualify for the tax credit.
2. How is the amount of the tax credit determined?
   The tax credit is equal to 10 percent of the home’s purchase price up to a maximum of $6,500. Purchases of homes priced above $800,000 are not eligible for the tax credit.
3. Are there any income limits for claiming the tax credit?
   Yes. The income limit for single taxpayers is $125,000; the limit is $225,000 for married taxpayers filing a joint return. The tax credit amount is reduced for buyers with a modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) above those limits. The phaseout range for the tax credit program is equal to $20,000. That is, the tax credit amount is reduced to zero for taxpayers with MAGI of more than $145,000 (single) or $245,000 (married) and is reduced proportionally for taxpayers with MAGIs between these amounts. Read More →

In what feels like great relief after a hard fought battle, the House of Representatives voted almost unanimously this morning (403-12) to extend the existing first time homebuyer tax credit.  Here are some of the details:

“The new tax credit extends the existing credit for first-time homebuyers, worth up to $8,000, and offers a new credit of up to $6,500 for some existing homeowners. Read More →

There are still many great deals to be found

For the last few months, several different organizations and politicians have been lobbying to have the first time homebuyer tax credit extended – and the National Association of Realtors has been at the forefront of this effort.  While we in the industry have been hopeful, we clearly have not wanted to get our “hopes up” or those of our clients.  The last several months we have seen a definite increase in closed sales, but in September, we saw the first decline in new home sales since March.  Industry experts say that this is due to uncertainty about the tax credit – and no matter how you look at it, the credit has indeed stimulated at least the first time homebuyer price range of the market.

Justifications for extending the credit include it’s obvious positive impact on the market, and the fact that as of yet, not as many homebuyers have been able to take advantage of the credit as the lawmakers had hoped.  Wednesday, October 28, 2009, senators agreed to extend the credit.  The bill still has yet to be passed – and then it will have to go through the House, although House leaders have expressed support for extension of the credit. Read More →