HOME SALES RISE AGAIN

This from Fox Business News:

Existing-home sales, the most closely watched segment of the struggling housing market, rose unexpectedly in December an industry trade group said Monday.

According to the Association, the number of contracts signed for a single family home rose by 6.5% in December to a 4.74 million annual rate.
“It appears some buyers are taking advantage of much lower home prices,” said Lawrence Yun, the chief economist for the National Association of Realtors
The increase from a month ago was much better than what economists predicted. According to Thomson Reuters, Wall Street was looking for home sales to decline to a 4.4 million annual rate.

Tyler Texas Real Estate, John C. Martin, is ready to help you get yours!

www.johncmartin.com

www.johncmartin.com tries, as best we can, to keep you all up to date on the latest economic news. But the media continues to interpret "fear" as economic recession. The facts are that folks aren't buying much because they're afraid; companies are laying off employees because they're afraid; government is pushing the fear button because it wishes to grow and control. And, then, media is picking up all the fear vibes, and they're making things a lot worse than they are.

We're still bright and cheerful here in Tyler Texas. Things are moving along nicely, with all the numbers "higher", rather than "lower". What's that mean to you? It means you ought to own something here. Once again, what's safer for your cash..... a one percent CD in a bank that might fail? Or a home in Tyler Texas. What's safer for your cash...... stocks and bonds? Or acreage around Tyler Texas. What's safer for your cash...... a management account with a brokerage company? Or solid, useable real estate in Tyler Texas and East Texas.

UNDERWATER

What does being "underwater" in your house really mean? The number of underwater homeowners -- those who owe more on their mortgages than their homes are now worth -- has been growing sharply since 2006 as real estate prices have tumbled. By some estimates, between one in six and one in eight homeowners are in that position, most of them folks who bought homes in the past few years or who put down small, or no, down payments.

This, by no means, indicates that all underwater homeowners will default on their mortgages. The issues that culminate in forclosures are primarily social: Loss of a job, divorce, illness, etc. Most homeowners understand the deleterious effect of being foreclosed; and they also understand the value of a home and a mortgage.....even if their homes are "underwater".

Tyler Texas is in an enviable postion with regard to home values. During the entire economically disastrous year of 2008, there were only 368 foreclosures. The vast majority of those (about thirty per month) were tax foreclosures due to deaths with no heirs. So, less than one half of one percent of all homes in Tyler were sold for taxes or foreclosed by lenders. Remarkable! Values have remained steady. And unless somebody really manipulated the system and got a mortgage much greater than the value of the property purchased, we just don't have any upside-down homeowners.

EMPLOYMENT, ETC.

The new numbers on Tyler Tx employment are out. Tyler is one of only a few cities in which employment increased in 2008. Sales tax revenues to city and county are increasing. Values of homes and land have increased. All this confirms that Tyler Texas has a stable economy. This is a place where our customers can feel relatively safe in investing their money in tyler texas real estate. Call us at 903.530.3380

TEXAS PROPERTY TAXES

The Texas legislature is considering allowing local city and county governments to levy an additional half cent sales tax. The money would go toward lowering property taxes for all homeowners. And, of course, that money would soon be absorbed into the general operating expenses before long. It's just inane to tax in order to lower taxes!! What happens is that local tax assessors just go out the next year and raise the values in order to get more money through assessments! It's so simple for them that it's almost funny! The result is, that we get a higher sales tax AND higher assessments!

Cities and counties and school districts need to decrease spending. It's what homeowners do. Governing entities have to do the same. It's the only way to reduce taxes.

STIMULUS

President-elect Barack Obama has a $750 billion stimulus package readied for the new congress as soon as he is inaugurated. It is for infrastructure, education, environment and health care. He says it will create 3 - 4 million new jobs. Included in that is the regulatory agencies' need to hire 600,000 new people for government jobs in order to see to it that the above targets for stimulus are carried out.

What this does is to further cause the inflation of goods and services and the deflation of the dollar. The end result of the deflation of the dollar is that a consumer can't buy as much with his money. The way to avoid that is to buy things of value while the dollar has its present value. And what's more valuable than property?

While you have cash on hand, put it into solid, useable real estate in Tyler Texas and in East Texas.

MORE NUMBERS

The numbers are out for the last week of 2008. Home purchases, reflected in the numbers of mortgages approved, moved up 1.4%. That's good! But home prices continued to decline, totalling 18% for 2008. That's nationally. And it's a huge number. And it's an average. Some areas of the country have experienced much greater decline. And the numbers are projected to get worse before they get better.

However, home prices in Tyler Texas have remained steady. Although we have a greater number of properties on the market, we also have a steady stream of buyers. And money isn't tight in East Texas, either! The big lenders are very tight with money; but money is readily available locally.

As I've said previously, it's time to put your money into solid real estate. It's safer. And real estate is usable. And it's not declining in value. Your cash should now be used to buy things of value.....like real estate in Tyler Texas.

NEW YEAR

It's 2009. Happy new year!

One tax change that my customers ought to be aware of in this new year has to do with second homes - or vacation homes. Until now the owners of a primary residence could sell it, receive the benefits of tax-free profit up to $250,000 ($500,000 if filing jointly), move into the second (or vacation) home, live there for two years, sell it and receive the same tax-free benefit of the primary home. No longer.

Starting today, the profit from the sale of the second (0r vacation) home will be treated as capital gain for the length of time it was a second home. My customers should consult with their accountants as to their tax liabilities.

Here's to a great 2009 for all. Real estate in Tyler Texas is still the best buy in the nation!