FEBRUARY HOME SALES

The National Association of Realtors said Monday that sales of existing homes grew 5.1 percent to an annual rate of 4.72 million last month, from 4.49 million units in January. It was the largest sales jump since July 2003. Sales had been expected to fall to an annual pace of 4.45 million units, according to Thomson Reuters.

This is, of course, good news for sellers and buyers. http://johncmartin.com is waiting for you to make your next move! Come to Tyler Texas real estate.

DEFLATION

Well, the fed is about to print 1.2 trillion dollars to buy U.S. securities. This will ultimately cause inflation of prices and radical deflation of the dollar. It's unavoidable. Expendable dollars should be spent right now on items of value. Tyler Texas real estate, East Texas real estate, www.johncmartin.com is the place to come in order to buy properties of value while the dollar has its present value. It would not be wise to wait.

TIGHT MARKET SELLING

There are several important steps for home sellers to take in a tight market. Here are a few:

1) Buyers in this market don't necessarily have extra money to do upgrades and repairs. They want instant access to a move-in-ready home. So, fix the stuff that needs fixing, and you'll have a better shot at selling.

2) At Century 21 here in Tyler Texas, we're always looking for the seller who has enough insight to offer a bonus to a selling realtor. Our expenses are going up too! And our incomes are being forced down. The fees imposed on us are incredible.

3) Sellers should stage their homes. Store the clutter someplace else, and make your homes bright and airy. Open the drapes and blinds; and put big light bulbs in the fixtures. And clean, clean, clean!

Just these three things wil bring you a buyer faster than anything else you can do.

MORE STIMULUS

From the Wall Street Journal we read this:

"The U.S. Senate approves an amendment to the economic stimulus package that would provide a tax credit of up to $15,000 for homebuyers who purchase a primary residence in the coming year. But economists are skeptical tax credits will prove stimulative."

The problem is, if you have no job you can't buy a home. If you have no down payment, you can't buy a home. If you have no credit, you can't buy a home! Except for those who still have a job, and for those who have a down payment, and for those who have good credit, what good is a $15,000 tax credit? (Which is as it should be.) If our representatives in the house and senate would just leave the system alone, it would fix itself. Just LOWER THE TAX BURDEN! That's all you have to do. By fiddling with it, you're just exacerbating the problem.

Tyler Texas real estate is an idyllic place to own property in these dangerous times. Come see us!

2.4 TRILLION

The latest numbers (First American) show that the nation's home value fell $2.4 trillion in the last twelve months. But half of that decline was in one state - California. And four other states joined California in accounting for most of the second fifty percent.

About eight million homeowners are (what they call) "under water" with respect to their home values. that means that falling home values, mostly in five states, are now "under" the mortgaged amounts of the homes.

Tyler Texas real estate has experienced no such problem. Our property values have remained steady so far during this downturn. And real estate activity has been moderate to brisk to date. Some have finally decided that putting excess cash into land and home purchases in and around Tyler Texas is a very good way to preserve their estates. We agree. And we invite you to www.johncmartin.com to see for yourself.

BANKS IN RUIN

So why is the financial sector in ruins? The answer is twofold. First, just as banks loosened the requirements for a quality borrower, lenders also dismissed the idea that the real estate attached to the loan needed to be worth more than the loan amount. Under the traditional lending model, banks required borrowers to pay at least 20 percent of the home's purchase price. And if the borrower couldn't afford that large of a down payment, the bank required mortgage insurance - an industry that has grown to insuring $949 billion worth of mortgages, according to the Mortgage Insurance Company Association. Those insurance policies typically guaranteed up to 20 percent of the home's value. Therefore, if the homeowner defaults, the bank should recoup most of the loan's value, assuming the value of the property did not fall more than 20 percent. Second, even where lenders required mortgage insurance if down payments were too low, loose qualification requirements opened the door to fraud. Now those insurance companies are finding the fraud and denying payouts to the lender when those loans default.

The "loose qualifications" referred to were "mandated" by congress so that their constituents could get loans - even when they weren't qualified! This whole mess is a government mandated problem!