Stay Real

"Write drunk, edit sober."

Ernest Hemingway

Stay Real ~ Fact Time

It was the accepted practice in Babylon 4,000 years ago that for a month after the wedding, the bride’s father would supply his son-in-law with all the mead he could drink. Mead is a honey beer and because their calendar was lunar based, this period was called the honey month, which we know today as the honeymoon.

Rural Areas: Need For Concern?

Alright, so here's the scoop for the future of Rural Areas. To begin let me explain some things that have a lot to do with this matter:

• USDA (U.S. Department of Agriculture): One of their responsibilities is to foster rural communities
• MSA (Metropolitan Statistical Area): geographical region with a relatively high population density at its core and close economic ties throughout the area. These areas are not legally incorporated as a city or town would be and they are not administrative divisions such as counties or sovereign entities like states. Simply put they are areas in which there is a single large city that wields substantial influence over the region (ex. NYC, Chicago)

Approximately 900+ rural communities are possibly in danger of losing their status and benefits of being in such communities. Many housing groups have been pleading with congress for years to grandfather eligibility for these communities into federal rural housing programs. Congress needs to step in on the matter because the definition of a "rural" area has been the same since 1974 and many current rural areas are at risk of losing their designation regardless of the fact that they technically remain rural. The housing groups that are pleading for an intervention wrote a letter to Congress stating, “these communities are, by any measure, rural, and most will lose eligibility because they are located within Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSA).” According to the defninition set forth in 1974 communities have to be no larger than 20,000 residents and cannot be a part of a larger MSA. The groups pleading the rural areas' case are asking the cap be raised to a 35,000 resident limit and that the areas of under 10,000 residents that have had MSA areas encroach upon then not be penalized.

     In the past Congress has issued temporary measures to grandfather these communities into the rural housing programs, the last of which was issued in 2000 and expires October 1, 2012. The legislation to extend it passed the senate a few weeks ago, but it will not reach congress until well after the given expiration date. The federal rural housing service which is in charge of federal rural housing programs has stated that they will keep the current methods in place until March 27, 2013. This will give them time to develop a new method of tracking population and income changes. The US Census Bureau used what they referred to as the long firm questionnaire in 2000 which is what we are basing our tracking off of now and until March 2013. However, for the 2010 Census information a different method was used to gain information and the new method will be the basis for determining eligibility after March 27, 2013.

     In conclusion, these 900+ areas will remain rural in consideration for the next 6 months to come. However, after these next 6 months, the eligibility may change and, in the sense of the rural housing programs, the fate of these communities will then be determined.

Some information acquired from: Realtormag

Stay Real ~ Motivated

The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack in will.
Vince Lombardi

Stay Real ~ Fact Time

Fact for the Day!

Since 1896, the beginning of the modern Olympics, only Greece and Australia have participated in every Games.

Stay Real ~ Romney Addresses Housing Market

Hey guys,
      As you are aware, the race for our new president is in progress and has been a heated and steady battle. It is a very close race and will most likely go down to the wire, BUT have you taken into consideration the candidates plans for the housing market? Although it has not been addressed a lot publicly by either side, the plans for our housing market are crucial to the success of our economy and vice versa. We need to spark our economy in order to spark the housing market and we also need the housing market to thrive in order for the economy to be consistant and reliable. The strength of our economy and the housing market are both issues that need serious attention. Therefore, let us get to the topic at hand; Mitt Romney and his campaign team released a 6 page Housing Policy white paper that addresses all the areas Romney plans to work on if elected; they are as follows:

• reduce the outsized role of the government and revitalize the private sector's role
• protect taxpayers from additional risk in the future by reforming Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
• provide a long-term sustainable solution for the future of housing finance reform in our country
• get the federal government out of the landlord business by responsibly selling 200,000+ vacant foreclosed homes in a way that will enhance communities
• make it easier for home owners to get alternatives to foreclosure such as short sales, deed-in-lieu-of-foreclosure, and shared appreciation
• replace the Dodd-Frank act with sensible regulation by ushering in a new era of responsible lending to allow banks to approve loans to families with good credit rather than rejecting their mortgage applications
• plans to create 12 million jobs within the next four years {The best way to help the housing market is to get the economy going and get America back to work}

In the paper, Romney-Ryan go on to address the current housing market condition and how exactly we got into this predicament. It states statistics such as the $13,000 average drop in home prices nationwide in result of the collapse. Also, it touches upon the fact that we need to get the economy back on track by opening up jobs for the 23 million Americans currently unemployed. The unemployment rate has been over 8% for a record 43 consecutive months while the average home income has dropped nearly $4,000. 

     Next, the letter addresses Obama's current policies and attempts to put the housing market into a recovery state, declaring that the Obama administration has actually made matters worse in terms of the home ownership dream. The paper states that the Obama administration has not given a clear image of the future of housing finance policy. Early in his term, the president stated, according to Washington Post Reporter Bob Woodward that "we will not roll out an aggressive housing plan," and it was not included in his 2009 stimulus. However, as we all know the president did come out with a housing plan which accomplished mainly widespread confusion and an abundance of government help programs. "These programs have been poorly administered with constantly changed terms and overstates goals that have never been met."

     The Romney-Ryan plan seems to completely understand the importance of the housing market stating, "Housing is a vital part of the American economy and it has played an instrumental role in leading the country out of past recessions. The Romney-Ryan plan will reduce the outsized role of the government and revitalize the private sector’s role in the housing market to end the housing crisis and preserve the American Dream of homeownership."

You can read the full Housing Policy paper @ this website: http://www.scribd.com/doc/106597377/Housing-White-Paper?secret_password=f7ipmm91iidtw7pujo6

The REALiTY of the Housing Market

Hey everybody,
     Today I would like to hopefully clear the air a little for all of you with your concerns on the condition of the housing market. As we all know, our country experienced the burst of the housing bubble and a collapse unseen in our countries' history. Now, to many people this has been a very scary and depressing time for a few reasons:

• your home is worth much less than you purchased it for
• lenders are stricter with issuing home loans
• if your home was foreclosed upon, you may be offset by the idea of home ownership

However, there is a positive outlook on this "supposedly" shitty housing market (didn't know I spoke French, huh?). My apologies for the use of profanity, but the word fits the types of attitudes people have been feeling towards the housing market. First off, let me talk about the "ridiculous" stretch from 1995 to 2005 wherein the housing market took off faster than Usain Bolt. Home prices hit record highs and people were making unfeasible profits on their homes from an investment standpoint. Investors flooded the market and started flipping houses, in some instances, the same week they bought it; and still making a profit. This is the condition everyone became used to and considered it the NORM. I capitalized the word NORM for a specific reason, because it was not the norm whatsoever. This decade span of time was an extremely good stretch, but based off of an inevitable failure; over lending. Sure it was nice for everyone to get a loan regardless of their ability to pay it off but realistically that does not work, as we saw with the collapse. Lenders were willing to give out crazy loans because the home prices kept increasing by crazy amounts, but that did not continue forever. So we can come to the conclusion that between the years of 1995 and 2005 we experienced an ABNORMAL housing market. Therefore, let me explain to you what a "normal" housing market looks like. A "normal" housing market is one in which prices remain steady with a constant but small appreciation over time. There should be appreciation in a "normal" housing market, but not insane appreciation in very little time.

     It seems that today, we are back on track for a "normal" housing market. If you take a look at my previous posts you will see the statistics that I have talked about and the proof in the numbers. We are seeing appreciation in home prices that are not enormous, yet they are consistant. There needs to be some confidence instilled back in the public in regards to home ownership. Do not just look at our current condition compared to the "abnormal decade" because that decade is an outlier in terms of our overall housing history. Hopefully I was able to put some of your concerns at ease and offer you a perspective that you have not yet thought of.