Quote of the Day

Success is where preparation and opportunity meet! - Bobby Unser

The Continental website goes live!

The Continental website goes live! Check out our fabulous website and don't forget to register on the Contact tab to recieve updates about these luxury condos in downtown Bellevue.

http://www.thecontinentalcondos.com/

How to fix the economic crisis in the USA!

This was an article from the St. Petersburg Times Newspaper. The Business Section asked readers for ideas on "How Would You Fix the Economy?" This answer nailed it.

Patriotic Retirement:

There's about 40 million people over 50 in the work force. Pay them $1 million apiece severance with stipulations.

1. They leave their jobs. Forty million job openings - Unemployment fixed.

2. They buy NEW American cars. Forty million cars ordered - Auto industry fixed.

3. They either buy a house or pay off their mortgage - Housing crisis fixed.

Long-term mortgage rates hit record low!

Puget Sound Business Journal
by Barton Eckert
March 26, 2009

The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rate has dropped to its lowest level on record.

The average rate is the lowest in Freddie Mac's weekly survey dating to 1971. Freddie Mac (NYSE: FRE) says its Primary Mortgage Market Survey shows the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 4.85 percent with an average 0.7 point for the week ending March 26, down from last week when it averaged 4.98 percent. Last year at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 5.85 percent. The 30-year FRM has not been lower in the life of McLean, Va.-based Freddie Mac’s weekly survey, which dates back to 1971 for the 30-year FRM.

The 15-year FRM this week averaged 4.58 percent with an average 0.7 point, down from last week when it averaged 4.61 percent. A year ago at this time, the 15-year FRM averaged 5.34 percent. The 15-year FRM has never been lower in the life of Freddie Mac’s weekly survey, which dates back to 1991 for the 15-year FRM.

Rates for 30-year FRMs peaked last year at 6.63 percent on July 24th. With this week's 30-year FRM, the interest rate difference is almost 2 percentage points, which amounts to a savings of about $225 in monthly mortgage payments for a $200,000 loan.

For link to article, please visit http://seattle.bizjournals.com/seattle/stories/2009/03/23/daily43.html

One in five Americans plan to buy a home despite economic conditions

First Time Buyers Optimistic, Homeowners Search for Solutions to Stay in Homes

Realtor.com
Los Angeles
March 23, 2009

While half (52%) of all Americans are concerned they or someone they know will face foreclosure in the next six to 12 months, 23% of adults plan to purchase a home in the next five years, and more than half of them (53.5%) are first time homebuyers, according to a new survey commissioned by Move, Inc., the leader in online real estate and operator of Realtor.com®, the #1 homes for sale web site

The Move survey also found nearly one out of five home owners (18.9%) plan to take advantage of the administration's new program to help prevent foreclosures While searching for answers in the past 12 months, 21% of all homeowners with a mortgage contacted a lender to restructure their loan. Half (10.6%) of those homeowners that contacted their lender experienced success while 5% still await an answer.

Unemployment is a driving factor causing many Americans to fear foreclosure, according to the survey. More than a quarter (27.1%) of adults feel they or someone they know may default on their mortgage due to recent unemployment (27.1%), future unemployment (29.3%), or because they owe more on their home than it's worth (25.6%). One out of eight (15.4%) is having a hard time making mortgage payments because they've recently increased, or because they have too much debt (18.8%).

Determined to remain in their homes, nearly three-quarters (72%) of adults reduced spending in the past year in order to make monthly mortgage or rent payments, mostly by cutting discretionary spending such as vacations, entertainment and eating out (75%), personal items such as clothing, personal care and personal luxuries (72%), and energy costs such as gasoline and utilities (71.6%). Regardless of age, most Americans are cutting spending back from some aspect of their life to pay housing costs.

Despite today's challenging market conditions, 18.1% of adults plan to buy a home this year in order to take advantage of the $8,000 tax credit recently passed by Congress in the administration's economic stimulus package.

"It's not all doom and gloom. We found Americans are optimistic about homeownership despite concerns," said Move, Inc., CEO Steve Berkowitz. "They're doing everything they can, from reducing discretionary spending to pay their mortgages, to planning to take advantage of the administration's new program to stop foreclosures. They're also working with lenders to modify loans. Even more impactful are numbers that show interest in home ownership is strong as nearly a quarter of all adults plan to buy a home in the next five years."

Pent Up Demand Increasing
The Move survey found the housing downturn, now entering its third year, has created significant demand for homeownership especially among first-time home buyers. While 5.8% plan to purchase a home in the next 12 months, 12.8% of Americans say they plan to buy a home in the next two years, and 11% plan to purchase a home in two to five years.

Over half of those planning to buy in 2009 are first-time homebuyers (53.5%). By comparison, 41% percent of home buyers in 2008 were first-time homebuyers, according to the National Association of Realtors.

While 18.1% of first time home buyers do plan to buy this year to take advantage of the $8,000 tax credit, nearly half (47.6%) said they didn't know about the credit and 29.3% said it wasn't large enough for them to act right now. Potential home buyers with higher incomes are more interested in the tax credit than those in lower income brackets, as 43.4% of first-time buyers earning $50,000 or more say they plan to use the tax credit.

Potential buyers are watching real estate prices more closely today than 12 months ago. Half of all Americans (49.6%) are paying more attention to home values today than they were a year ago, especially those aged 25 to 34 (61.9%). The median age of first-time home buyers is 30 years old.

"Having the wealth of information on home values available on Realtor.com makes it easy for potential buyers to research and plan their real estate purchase as they begin their search. In fact, the average buyer researches properties online for 10 months before contacting a Realtor®. So quick and convenient access to information is critical, especially in today's highly competitive environment," said Errol Samuelson, president of Realtor.com.

"If you're basing a real estate decision on old or out-of-date information, you risk making a poor decision with potentially significant financial consequences," explains Samuelson. "Providing current and detailed information drawn directly from a local MLS, in conjunction with our 15-minute update program, educates buyers and sellers on market conditions and results in more productive conversations with Realtors."

Changing Views of Homeownership
The Move survey uncovered changing attitudes towards owning a home. About two-thirds (62.5%) now consider their home primarily a place to live as opposed to an investment. Adults earning up to $20,000 and between $30,000 and $39,900 annually are significantly more likely to feel most strongly that a home is more of a place to live than an investment as compared to those earning $50,000 or more.

In light of the fact that homes are more affordable today, Americans said that if they could purchase more home for their dollar, bigger is definitely better. Survey results found today's homeowners value more space by a slight margin (10%) over a list of other options, including, energy saving features (6.8%), bigger or nicer yard (6.1%), a better location (4.2%) or updated amenities (3.4%).

Message to Washington: Fix the Economy
The overall economy is by far the most pressing issue on the domestic agenda in the opinion of Americans (51.8%) and it was the first choice of survey participants to be the top priority for both the President and Congress. Health care was a distant second (15.2%) and the federal debt third (11.7%).

Americans believe that cracking down on mortgage fraud (56.9%), lower interest rates (51.6%) and giving first time home buyers tax breaks as incentives to buy (43.5%) are the top three solutions that would have the most impact in stabilizing the housing market. Opinion is split over whether the government is doing enough to stabilize the housing market, with 46.2% indicating "yes" and 43.8% indicating "no".

Survey Method
The results of the survey are based on interviews conducted from March 6 to 8, 2009. A total of 1,005 interviews were completed. The margin of error on weighted data is [+/-] 3 percentage points for the full sample. The survey was conducted by OmniTel, in a weekly national telephone omnibus service of GfK Custom Research North America. The raw data are weighted by a custom designed computer program, which automatically develops a weighting factor for each respondent. This procedure employs five variables: age, sex, education, race and geographic region. Each interview is assigned a single weight derived from the relationship between the actual proportion of the population with its specific combination of age, sex, education, race and geographic characteristics and the proportion in our sample that week. Tabular results show both weighted and unweighted bases for these demographic variables.

For link to article, please visit http://www.realtor.com/realestate-news/National-Homeownership-Survey-March2009.asp?source=ig

Real Estate may be rebounding in San Francisco

CBS5
March 11, 2009

For months, housing prices have plummeted in the Bay area. But there are now signs of a serious real estate rebound in San Francisco. Hank Plante reports.

Click link for video!

http://cbs5.com/video/?id=47401@kpix.dayport.com

Bellevue: Top place to live and launch!

Fortune Small Business names Bellevue as the TOP place to LIVE AND LAUNCH!

FSB scoured the country for towns that combine a great business environment with alluring leisure offerings. We looked at economic conditions such as local tax rates alongside natural beauty - and easy access to museums, hungry gamefish, and more.

For link to article, please visit

http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fsb/bestplaces/2008/

NEW pricing at Veridian Cove!

We have NEW pricing with FHA and VA loan programs. Our wonderful loan officer can also direct our buyers to down payment assistance programs. Veridian Cove has hit an extremely exciting point in the sales process and we look forward to working with all our future buyers!

Prices start at $149,990!

300 N 130th St • Seattle, WA • 206.367.2823 • http://www.veridiancove.com/

Lexington Fine Homes offers financing from 3.75%!!

Lexington Fine Homes is very excited to announce special JUMBO financing from 3.75%! Working with M & T Bank in Bellevue, Lexington Fine Homes has secured a very special financing program with the security of fixed rates.

This 30-year 5.75% fixed rate loan has a builder paid buy down to 3.75% for the first year, 4.75% for the second year and is fixed for the remaining life of the loan. Loan amounts up to $1.5 Million are available.

Contact Mark Smith at Windermere/Solution Partners NW 206-949-9106 or Charley Murphey at M & T Bank 206-498-3696 for complete details.

www.lexingtonfinehomes.com

Expert: No big crash expected for Seattle housing market

Puget Sound Business Journal
by Kirsten Grind
February 27, 2009

The chief economist for the National Association of Realtors said there will likely be some recovery in the housing market in late 2009 but questioned whether it will be maintained going into 2010.

Lawrence Yun told an audience of several hundred real estate agents Friday at the Seattle King County Realtors’ Broker Summit in Bellevue that Seattle’s home prices will likely not come crashing down the way they did in higher-end, over-priced areas such as Orange County, Calif.

That’s largely because home prices in Seattle didn’t rise as high.

Yun also said President Barack Obama’s recently released $787 billion stimulus package is likely to boost the housing market.

Specifically, he said an $8,000 credit to first-time home buyers — which the National Association of Realtors lobbied for — will create an additional 900,000 new home sales across the country this year.

However, “what’s still missing is consumer confidence,” said Yun.

Yun also said there’s no correlation between the recession and falling home prices. What has affected home prices historically, and particularly after Sept. 11, 2001, and the tech bubble burst, is rising mortgage interest rates.

Mortgage interest rates are currently low, at about 5 percent.

“It’s not the job cuts, it’s the interest rates that make a big difference,” said Yun.

He also had this to say about the Seattle area: “Ten years from now, it will be one of the best performing areas nationally because there are so many smart people in the area.”

For link to article, please visit http://seattle.bizjournals.com/seattle/stories/2009/02/23/daily57.html?