The Federal Reserve reaffirmed its pledge to keep interest rates low....

Fed Leaves Rate Alone, More Upbeat About Recovery

Daily Real Estate News | Wednesday, December 14, 2011

At its Tuesday meeting, the Federal Reserve reaffirmed its pledge to keep interest rates low and opted to not take any new measures to bolster the economy, saying the economy has already been showing signs of “expanding moderately.” The economy has shown some improvement in employment and consumer spending in recent weeks. However, the Fed cautioned at Tuesday’s meeting that the "housing sector remains depressed."
In reaffirming a pledge it first issued in August, the Fed said the federal funds rate -- which serves as a benchmark rate for many types of loans, including mortgages -- will remain near zero until mid-2013. The Fed said it will continue with plans to move $400 billion of its bond portfolio into longer-term securities, which ultimately could send long-term interest rates even lower.
Overall, the Fed said the economy has steadily been showing signs of improvement and is on track to post its strongest gains of the year in the final months of 2011. But the Fed said that the European debt crisis will continue to pose a major threat to recovery with “strains in global financial markets continue to pose significant downside risks."
Source: “U.S. Fed Leaves Rate Unchanged, Says Economy Expanding Moderately,” Bloomberg News (Dec. 13, 2011)

Fighting that chilly feeling in your home? Ten ways to make your home feel cozy....

Ten Ways to Make Your Home Feel Cozy

Let your home embrace you with warmth    By Susan Carmody

Warm colors and candles make you feel cozy inside when the weather turns fierce.

Winter's fierce growl along with short, hectic days beg you to find comfort inside your own home. When you walk through your front door, you just want to feel hugged, don't you?

Here are 10 easy things you can do to make your home feel more cozy and the season's chill seem less mean:

1. Add warm colors
Whether you paint your walls a sun-kissed gold, cover a sofa with a warm-toned slipcover or simply add pillows or a throw blanket in a "hot" shade, you can quickly make a room look brighter and feel cozier with the right color. "Any shade that complements flesh tones is a comforting thing," says interior design expert Jim Rascoe who co-owns Ireko, an upscale design shop located in the San Francisco area's North Bay. "And most of us look and feel better in those shades."

2. Play with texture
Plush upholstery and flannel bedding can provide your home with a soft, relaxing touch. To make texture interesting, Rascoe recommends introducing a variety: Choose a throw blanket with an open weave, such as chenille, for a twill sofa with a tight, smooth weave. "The contrast provides richness and warmth."

3. Illuminate "feel good" objects
Lighting shoos away winter's shadows, but it can also cast our focus on fair-weather days. By placing artful groupings of mementos and photographs beneath a lamp on an end table, you can draw attention to objects you love and memories that warm your heart.

Bird bath – Make it feel green inside with a unique arrangement in a birdbath. (Photo Courtesy of Trillium Flowers and Garden.)

4. Bring the outdoors in Plants and fresh flowers can breathe life into your home – actually imparting oxygen into the air – and remind you of gentler days. For a unique twist on floral arranging, Tom Bastianon, owner of Trillium Flowers and Gardens in Sonoma County, north of San Francisco, suggests using a small birdbath as your "vase." "People are always looking for pedestals for their large vases," he explains. A birdbath is both. For an elegant wintertime arrangement, set a large candle in the bath's water-filled center, place quince around the candle's base (they provide a mild citrusy scent) and incorporate late-season hydrangeas (they're green) and berry-laden branches. Place in a quiet corner or in a foyer or bathroom.

5. Work on spatial relationships
The sizes and shapes of your furnishings are important – variety adds interest. And this time of year more than any other, how you arrange these pieces is important, too. As a holiday hostess or host, you need to be able to see, talk to and reach your guests. For optimal coziness, says Rascoe, create conversation groupings by moving furnishings closer together – a guest needing to rise to place a mug on a coffee table is a no-no.

6. Get yourself a comfy chair
A large, comfy chair to land in at the end of the day is the ultimate refuge from the cold world. "Choose one with a high back and an inherent sense of softness about the upholstery for visual warmth and comfortable seating," Rascoe recommends. Create the full "chair ensemble" with a standing lamp and end table and set the grouping in an intimate corner.

7. Cover your "ground"
Nothing warms up a bare floor quicker than an area rug. Don't underestimate the visual warmth it provides as well, especially in sunburst tones. Also, the pile in some Indian and Pakistani rugs made using vegetable dyes gives you the option of making them look even "warmer." From one angle, Rascoe explains, the colors look muted and soft, from another, they appear deeper and brighter. Choose the brighter angle for added winter warmth.

Add warmth with a few candles. Photo courtesy of Illuminations.

8. Light a candle
This literal spark of warmth works in any dcor and in any room. Added visual warmth and design cachet can be achieved by placing candles in hurricane lamps made of amber-toned glass or in a grouping of holders that look like woven vines.

9. Embrace the season, gently
Holiday-theme floral accents are obvious brighteners but needn't scream Christmas. A Christmassy effect can be achieved by simply adding gold balls to an arrangement of non-holiday blooms and branches, suggests Bastianon. You can also lightly spray small branches and seedpods with a dusting of gold - a nice look even after the tree's down.

10. Alter your senses – with scents
Colorful, multi-textured potpourri – a mixture of scented preserved leaves, nuts, fruit slices, seedpods and pinecones – artfully arranged in a favorite bowl provides a vibrant focal point on a coffee or end table and enlivens a room with a pleasant aroma to lighten spirits and freshen the air. Bastianon prefers the natural aromas of fresh flowers, even the less heady varieties, for their soft, understated scents with the promise of warmer days to come.

Copyright © by Move, Inc.

Government's HARP - making home refinance easier for some

As a result of the 2007/08 real estate "bottom-out" many people are still dealing with properties where they owe more than the property is worth.  Or, it's pretty close to that scenario.... they have very little equity in the home, with a big mortgage payment that's hard to manage. 

The Goverment has released more details regarding the HARP (Home Affordable Refinance Program) this week.... check out this recent article found in the Real Estate Daily News....

Gov't Announces More Refinancing Program Details

Daily Real Estate News | Thursday, November 17, 2011

This week, the federal government released more details about its revamped Home Affordable Refinance Program, which sets out to allow more home owners to refinance their mortgage and take advantage of ultra-low rates. The program is geared to those who are current on their mortgage but may be underwater, owing more on their homes than they are currently worth.
Here are some more details about the changes coming to HARP:

• Borrowers must be current on their loan and have no delinquencies in the last six months. A borrower can be 30 days late, however, on one payment in months seven to 12 of the past year. Borrowers much have 20 percent or less of equity in their homes to participate. 
• Loans must be owned or guaranteed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac before May 31, 2009. Borrowers can see if Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac backs their mortgage by visiting www.freddiemac.com/mymortgage or wwww.fanniemae.com/loanlookup. 
• The revamped HARP program will begin Dec. 1, 2011, and run until Dec. 31, 2013. Participating in the program is voluntary for lenders. 

Source: “Mortgage-Refinancing Program Undergoes Changes,” Chicago Tribune (Nov. 16, 2011)

Wow - Homeowners' mortgage payments are a lot less these days.....

After 4 years of living in this economic housing downturn, there continues to be benefits for those who are in the market for new mortgages.  In the first part of 2006, mortgages represented 23% of a family's income - now the mortgage payment accounts for only 13% of monthly median family income.  Check out this article from the Daily Real Estate News...

Home Owners’ Monthly Mortgage Down About 40%

Daily Real Estate News | Thursday, November 10, 2011

Improving housing affordability mixed with low mortgage rates means that home owners are paying a lot less for their monthly mortgage payment than they did just a few years ago. In fact, they’re paying nearly 40 percent less on their monthly mortgage payment than home owners paid in 2006.
According to Fiserv, the monthly mortgage payment for a median-priced single-family home today is $700 — a drop of close 40 percent from 2006, when it was $1,140 .
“Housing affordability has improved dramatically because of declines in both prices and mortgage interest rates," David Stiff, chief economist at Fiserv, said in a statement. “Nationally, purchase mortgage payments now account for only 13 percent of monthly median family income, the lowest percentage on record (since 1971), and compared to 23 percent in the first quarter of 2006."
Source: “Monthly Mortgage Payment Almost 40% Cheaper Than 2006,” HousingWire (Nov. 9, 2011) and Fiserv

Another look at the benefits of real estate investment in a down market....

There are many affordable real estate opportunities right now in the Waterville Valley area, and considering its unique vacation destination market, utilizing your investment as a rental is easier than in other markets.  If you would like more information about how a real estate investment might make sense in your financial portfolio, please feel free to contact an agent at Roper Real Estate - www.roperre.com.   Read on.....

Investment Property the Best Return on Investment in Today’s Market

Below is a reprint of an Q and A submitted by Barbara Cunningham of St. Mary’s Bank. It addresses an issue that many people who own or are considering purchasing real estate as an investment:

"Question:  How does a declining (value) real estate market benefit a real estate investor?
Answer:  There are lots of different ways to look at the opportunities that a market with historically low propery prices, such as we currently have, can offer to an investor.

COMPARE TO THE ALTERNATIVES:

One of the more simplistic models is to compare the return on a similar outlay of cash invested in an alternative.
For example, if you have $100,000 to invest in stocks, bonds, certificates of deposit or a piece of real property, start by calculating the return that these various options generate. Certificates of deposit are paying very small returns these days, somewhere around an average annual percentage yield of 2.25 percent, and that’s for a 60-month term. Shorter term CDs are paying even less.
We have all been watching the stock market lately, and something I heard just the other day on a financial program was that, based on all the ups and downs (mostly down) in recent months, the average return on most of the major indices such as the Dow Industrial Average was about zero over the past five years. Not something that would delight most small investors!
The treasury market is more of safe haven these days to protect principal as opposed to being able to earn an actual return on the money invested there.

REAL ESTATE MARKET SHOWS BETTER RETURNS:

In the real estate market, rents have been on the rise in recent years and all indications are that trend will continue given the high amount of foreclosures, among other factors.
People have to live someplace and they aren’t all going to be able to double-up and live with relatives.  So, the demand for apartments and single-unit rentals should help sustain the rental market at least at current levels.
If a real estate investment of $100,000 can generate rental income of $1,000 per month; $465 after expenses such as taxes, insurance and operating expenses; then that’s equal to a 5.6 percent annual return without even factoring in the tax advantages!"