Tis the season for first time home buyers and investors.
TO MY BUYERS
The days of multiple offers, houses flying of the market and sellers in the driver’s seat seem to have dissipated. Times have changed from those fast past sales of 2003/2004, but even with the lower interest rates which drove sales into a frenzy these past several years, the public opinion (due to some bad publicity by the local and national news coverage) is this is a bad time to buy. Tisk, tisk people, this is the BEST time to buy!
A buyer’s market is exactly that, a buyer’s market. Combine that with the “slow season” around Thanksgiving and Christmas and this is your chance to shine. With only a few months left before “Spring Market” time is of the essence for low ball offers on houses sitting on the market for extended amounts of time, fixer uppers, and homes trying to sell before the sheriff or the bank comes a calling… Name your price, in this market most of the time you can.
My most important advice to all my buyers: Make the offer, the worst they can say is no.
TO MY SELLERS
If you must sell in order to buy, remember this… you may sell lower, but you buy lower as well. In a seller’s market, you sell higher, but you buy higher. Simple concept, but often overlooked. Most sellers are trying to look at the bottom line, so consider this, in order to run your home (mortgage, utilities, maintenance, etc) what are you loosing while you wait for that perfect number that could be rolled into your bottom line? My advice to my sellers, the better your home shows, and priced according to market trends, the better you will be. Staging, updating, and pricing appropriately is essential in every market, but especially now. The longer on market, the further you get away from your asking price and your goals. You house becomes “stale” and considered “old inventory.” Your first offer will most likely be your best, so above all, be flexible and think through what waiting to see really means to you.
Remember, spring market begins at the end of February, so call the contractors now during their slow season to get the ball rolling on preparing your home for that optimal sale.
SPRING MARKET
My prediction for spring is our strong buyer’s market will be short lived. I don’t see 2003/2004 relived just yet, but with interest rates expecting to drop below 6%, the word will be out thus driving out the buyers from hiding, and driving prices up again, ever so slightly, but up none the less.
Happy Holidays to all, and happy house hunting!!
Straight forward with the best results, that’s my promise to you
www.alicialordjones.com
Monday, December 3, 2007
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Wissahickon HS Reunion 1991 and 1992
What a brilliant night.
I have to admit it, I was a little apprehensive at first, I mean my god, it’s been SIXTEEN years. What would we talk about, would I even know any of these people anymore, would they even remember me? High school was so, let’s face it, high school, and I had grown up, moved on.
What I hadn’t realized was that so has everyone else.
It started a little slow, people trickling in, awkward silences, blank stares back and forth as we all tried to figure out if we knew each other. But slowly things started coming back. Good moments, really good moments, bad moments, really bad moments, moments that I thought the embarrassment would never end, mind-numbing crushes that you only feel in high school, moments trapped in other people’s memories but somehow slipped from mine, “The other side” of that ridiculous story that seemed so important at the time, but meant nothing in the scheme of things… just generally surreal. And time had not stood still like the pictures. I was not the only one.
And then something amazing happened… As we were all laughing, talking, enjoying, all of the sudden we were not just enjoying the past, but the present as well. All of the sudden we were all friends again, even if we hadn’t been good friends back when. Did I say Brilliant? Because it was.
At that moment it occurred to me, high school is a bond that can not be broken. Hate, love, true friendship during “hard times”… high school was, for all of us, our first test of adulthood where we left childhood behind and, for what it’s worth, we experienced together, whether we wanted to or not. For most of us, it was a lot of “firsts”, and even though we move on, love other people, have other friends, fight and burn those bridges, children, bond again with our parents, nothing will be as intense as high school.
We all live within each other, and for those of us that allow ourselves to enjoy reunion, relive those days for a few hours every few years, we embrace our bonds. The fact we even go out after reunion to prolong this bond before we return to our daily lives… that is priceless. I can’t talk for anyone else, but for me, those "bad" moments, they have dissipated, and what remains are warm feelings for those people that I got to see again last night, long lost friends that I hope will not be lost again. It felt like coming home. What a brilliant night.
http://picasaweb.google.com/alicia.lord.jones/WHSReunion2007
I have to admit it, I was a little apprehensive at first, I mean my god, it’s been SIXTEEN years. What would we talk about, would I even know any of these people anymore, would they even remember me? High school was so, let’s face it, high school, and I had grown up, moved on.
What I hadn’t realized was that so has everyone else.
It started a little slow, people trickling in, awkward silences, blank stares back and forth as we all tried to figure out if we knew each other. But slowly things started coming back. Good moments, really good moments, bad moments, really bad moments, moments that I thought the embarrassment would never end, mind-numbing crushes that you only feel in high school, moments trapped in other people’s memories but somehow slipped from mine, “The other side” of that ridiculous story that seemed so important at the time, but meant nothing in the scheme of things… just generally surreal. And time had not stood still like the pictures. I was not the only one.
And then something amazing happened… As we were all laughing, talking, enjoying, all of the sudden we were not just enjoying the past, but the present as well. All of the sudden we were all friends again, even if we hadn’t been good friends back when. Did I say Brilliant? Because it was.
At that moment it occurred to me, high school is a bond that can not be broken. Hate, love, true friendship during “hard times”… high school was, for all of us, our first test of adulthood where we left childhood behind and, for what it’s worth, we experienced together, whether we wanted to or not. For most of us, it was a lot of “firsts”, and even though we move on, love other people, have other friends, fight and burn those bridges, children, bond again with our parents, nothing will be as intense as high school.
We all live within each other, and for those of us that allow ourselves to enjoy reunion, relive those days for a few hours every few years, we embrace our bonds. The fact we even go out after reunion to prolong this bond before we return to our daily lives… that is priceless. I can’t talk for anyone else, but for me, those "bad" moments, they have dissipated, and what remains are warm feelings for those people that I got to see again last night, long lost friends that I hope will not be lost again. It felt like coming home. What a brilliant night.
http://picasaweb.google.com/alicia.lord.jones/WHSReunion2007
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