This past week, word had reached my ears that the federal money available for homebuyers in a certain grant program would run out by April 1 st of this year – despite the date, I’m fairly certain it’s not intended as some cosmic April Fool’s Day joke.   At any rate, a real estate agent that I’ve worked with for many years felt it would be a good idea to make a big deal of this and put together some Facebook and Instagram posts letting potential homebuyers know that time is running out.   No argument here.   Anyone who’s sort of been sitting on the fence about buying a home could use a little nudge, and this might be just what they need.   After I had created the posts and put them out there, I started to think about what will happen once this federal grant does run out.   What will potential homebuyers do who need help coming up with a down payment?   And you know what the next thing was that popped into my head when I asked myself that question...

Every few weeks or so, I take a look at my email “junk” folder out of morbid curiosity.   It’s borne of a few things I’m thinking at the time: (1) how good is the filter I have in place; (2) is there anything in there that should have come to me in my regular folder but didn’t; and (3) how many millions of dollars have I missed out on because I didn’t respond to the Nigerian prince with my banking information in time – that one’s always a kick in shins. I think I’m smart enough to determine what’s junk and what’s not without the help of a filter/folder (but it is nice to have something do it for me) .   We as humans are equipped with an internal “junk mail” filter in our heads – some are better than others – that we use every day.   In the real estate world, this could not be more true for both agents and customers.   Before I go on, though, let me explain that just because something is viewed as junk mail doesn’t mean there’s no intrinsic value to it ...

At the end of last year, the Federal Reserve did something ghastly!   They raised rates by a whole .25%.   Egad!   (I believe that’s an Olde English word meaning, “what the heck!”)   Before we get our English riding pants in a twist, let me put something in perspective: this rate increase is only the second one in A DECADE.   I know some of you are saying, “Sure, but they’ve already indicated that they are going to raise the rates THREE TIMES in 2017!” That indication from the Fed explains the recent National Housing Survey from Fannie Mae which reveals that 60% of consumers believe mortgage rates will head north (no, they’re not talking about the rates upping sticks and moving to Canada) in the next 12 months.   Although unlikely, mortgage rates COULD spike to 5% in response to the Fed’s three increases – that’s about where it was in 2010.   Since 1971, the benchmark rate has averaged at 8.25% - that’s a good 3.25% HIGHER than the worst...

For all the “old” people out there, you’ll instantly know the name Daryl Hall.   For those of you who are still on your original set of adult teeth (perhaps because you got your braces off fairly recently), Daryl Hall is a musician (the blonde half of the duo Hall & Oates – the one who DIDN’T have a mustache that looked like it was straight out of an ’ 80s adult film) with a number of albums (albums a re these big, black 12-inch vinyl “platters” that look like a pregnant CD) that have been certified as gold/platinum and hit songs to his credit, some of which he recorded himself and some he wrote for others.   Going back to 2007, he started a show on the internet called Live from Daryl’s House ; in 2011, he took it to cable where it currently airs.   The concept is relatively simple: he has musicians from all genres and eras come to his house to jam with him and his band.   In between songs, they talk about music and memories, and they usually end up eatin...

If I were to walk up to you and ask you to explain your cell phone plan to me, that would be relatively easy, right?   You have three phones, two of which are smart phones so you pay an upcharge of $XX, and you get 4GB of data each month (you usually use just over 2 GB except for those months when you have to take your car into the shop, and they don’t have free WiFi so you end up using a boatload of data playing Candy Crush and watching videos on YouTube): all of this costs you $XXX/month.   Easy enough.   However, if I asked you to explain how you arrived at that particular plan, there’s a 95% chance you’ll just shrug your shoulders and say, “I honestly can’t remember.   It’s all a blur now.”   Why is that?   There are two parts to that answer. The first part is relatively simple to explain: it’s something you see every month and doesn’t change – you’ve become used to seeing it arrive in your mailbox or inbox, and unless there’s a drastic c...