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A home is a place of residence or refuge.^[1] It is usually a place in which an individual or a family canrest and be able to store personal property. Most modern-day households contain sanitary facilities and a means of preparing food.  Wikipedia 

 

Where does it say that a home has to make its owner a bazillion dollars OR is of no use in a declining market? With all the talk these days about the housing bubble and home values, to buy or not to buy, I want to look at the issue from another angle.

People NEED a place to live, shelters from the weather, a place to raise a family, to store their things, create memories. There are 2 options; you are either the owner of your domicile, or a renter/tenant of your domicile.  Why own? First, it cost less to own than rent. Second, payments stay the same monthly (fixed rate over 15 or 30 years) eventually the mortgage is paid off. Third, the tax benefits from owning. Finally, after it is paid, there is a nice little nest egg, and even if it’s worth nothing, you have a place to live!

Let’s look at the last few years and why people are in such a huff over the real estate market. Without going into the details of what and why we had a real estate bubble (there are hundreds of articles out there to read), prices have fallen drastically in some markets of the country, BUT NOT ALL markets! Yes if you purchase 2 years ago and HAVE to sell now, you could loose money. But how many people have to do this? Don’t most people live in their homes at least 5 to 7 years? The problem with the last few years is that some people where caught up in the lure of rising prices and speculation, the upward spiral continued to feed on itself. The mantra for home ownership became, how much can I make on my home? And should I buy 2 more?  But is this what home ownership is all about? For some, yes, for investors, for sure, but for most people, no way!  Owning a home is about shelter, raising a family, security from the weather and the world? Why hasn’t this been the mantra of late? How can we bring this mantra back?

We bring it back by talking about all the reason for home ownership; what are the basic tenets of home. Reinforce the definition of HOME at the beginning of this blog, ask the question, where are you going to live and why would you wait to buy home? Taking this basic premise of home ownership, is it good to own in any market? Must you make money on your home every year? Is the requisite for home ownership to turn a profit?

I would like to take this opportunity, the beginning of the New Year, 2009, to educate and change the mantra of what it means to be a homeowner. Show that it is good to buy a home almost anytime.

People have asked me , if I have all these designations, why don’t I tell people what they mean and why I spent all the TIME and MONEY to get them. So here is the first in a series of posts that will explain the professional designations I have and how they might benefit you, the client.

The first is the CRS Designation, short for Certified Residential Specialist. Some consider this the PH d of real estate. I will start with what the official CRS explanation:

There are over one million REALTORS® in business today. So if you want to find that one-in-a-million REALTOR®, start with the over 37,000 who hold the Certified Residential Specialist Designation. CRS is the symbol of excellence in residential real estate. Our members have proven they have the experience, training and commitment to be among the best in their profession.

This sums up a lot of why I like this designation, the best of the best! There are weeks of core courses to take (thousands of dollars including travel and expenses), plus there are elective classes, you can get credit for college work or other advanced real estate designations. Next is the required number of real estate transaction, years in the busines, and fees. Gather all these up and you can apply for the designation.

Of all the Realtors in the U.S., just 4% can call themselves Certified Residential Specialist. Just 1 in 25 has the experience, the commitment and the hours of advanced training necessary to call themselves a Certified Residential Specialist.

How does this help you the consumer? Well, despite all the expertise you get when you work with me, it doesn’t cost you any more than working with any other Realtor. In fact, the skills and know-how you get from me may actually save you time and money.

 I found this great blog post today about the flaws in the Short Sale process, I couldn’t have said it better:

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I don’t mind being unable to show a house that there is very little shot at the buyer closing on. I actually appreciate it! But the entire short sale process is flawed. I don’t blame the Real Estate Brokers who are listing these properties, I blame the Banks!  The Brokers are just playing the game.  A game whose rules are set by the incompetent banks and lending institutions that started this whole fiasco.Blog Home Denver 

You should read the whole article.

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The Utah Housing Corporation is planning to sell bonds, about $400 Million dollars worth, to help the Utah housing market. Bonds would be issued by the agency, not the state, so taxpayer money would not be used. This is all in an effort to boost the real estate market and overall economy. 

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This report shows sales for all areas of Utah. Most notably is Salt Lake County, 3rd quarter 2007 to 3rd quarter 2008 sales on homes were down 8.91% with an average price of $286,409 which represents a 7.4% decline from 2007. Central Utah, Iron and Morgan counties all showed increases in prices 10%, 8% and 6% respectively. The worst performer was Park City area condominiums, down 40%.  

Click here for report: 3rdQuarter 2008 Sales