Wednesday, December 19, 2012
Lisa Loper of the Scott Loper Team talks about a possible casualty of the Fiscal Cliff negotiations, the average American homeowner and their mortgage interest deduction.
As the Fiscal Cliff approaches, many reports speculate that reducing or eliminating the home mortgage interest deduction could be part of the deal brokered by Congress. This would affect millions of homeowners who currently deduct their mortgage interest payments from their income taxes. The National Association of REALTORS® opposes any change that would harm the housing market. The mortgage interest deduction is vital to the stability of the American housing market and economy. Ben Stein discussed this proposal recently on CBS Sunday Morning and referred to the “wisdom” of eliminating mortgage deduction as "foolish”: “If we could get housing roaring back, that would go a long way towards full recovery for our economy. Obviously, …
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
A local real estate market report from last quarter 2011
What’s the real estate market been doing over the last three months (not counting January, of course)? Well, according to the statistics compiled by Trend, the Multiple Listing Service, Montgomery County as a whole had more sales in the last quarter of 2011 than it did a year ago during the same time period. To be exact, there were 1,633 homes sold from October to December 2011. That’s a 7.2 percent increase. The supply of homes on the market decreased by 12.3 percent during the last quarter compared to the previous year, and it took on average 127 days to sell a home. The time it took to sell increased by 11.3 percent. So the last quarter of 2010, homes were on the market for an average of 15 days less than 2011. That’s not so bad…
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Five top characteristics, according to Trulia.
A recent study by Trulia showed that home buyers look for five key characteristics when they hire a real estate agent. It’s no surprise that buyers want an agent who is honest and credible as their top priority. The study showed that buyers had past experiences with real estate agents that were not up to par, or in some cases, downright negative. For example, buyers don’t want to be pushed into looking at homes that are more expensive than what I call their “comfort zone.” The comfort zone for a buyer must include expenses beyond the mortgage payment. It makes sense that home buyers want to feel they can trust an agent, or better yet a Realtor (A Realtor is someone who belongs to local and national Realtor associations and has …
