Top 10 turnaround towns

Boise's economy is an offbeat combination of old and new. The logging industry still pays a lot of the bills in town, but tech jobs have also become increasingly prevalent.

In fact, chip maker Micron Technology is Boise's biggest employer, according to the Boise Valley Economic Partnership. And lately, the food industry has heated up, enabling many of the area's agricultural-based companies to pump out increased profits, according to Clark Krause, the organization's executive director.

"We're hopeful that things are turning around," he said. "Even during the bad times, we had a net immigration of people and now there's a lot of new investment in construction and other industries."

That diversity of employers -- and the growing number of jobs they're offering -- is a prime reason this town is starting to stage a comeback.

According to Realtor.com, the number of homes for sale during the fourth quarter fell by 40% compared with a year earlier. That shrinking inventory should help drive home prices higher. Fiserv is forecasting annual home-price appreciation averaging 6.3% over the next five years.

2012 Home buying is back!

If you made it through the last couple of years without complete loss of your fortune, you will probably make it through the rest of the storm.  What does this mean if you want to be a home owner?  It means that the current data shows the economy are picking up slightly and the inventory of listed home are selling at a faster pace.

Now I am one of the biggest skeptics when it comes to following the experts that are trying to make lemons look like lemonade.  There is no doubt however those things are better than the last two years.  I can now see some real time data that provides a much better than normal increase in home sales.  Are we out of the mess?  Probably not, But I see light ahead. 

Buyers now have still low interest rates and all time low home prices.  2012 is probably a flux year for the economy, but home sellers aren’t going to keep prices down forever!

Happy New Year 2012



Merry Christmas Everyone!

Flawed Appraisals Killing Home Sales, Hampering Housing Recovery

December 8, 2011 - One out of three builders are reporting losing signed sales contracts during the preceding six months because appraisals on their homes are less than the contract sales price, according to a recent nationwide survey conducted by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB).

“The inappropriate use of distressed and foreclosed sales as comparables in determining new home values is needlessly driving down home prices, killing home sales, causing more workers to lose their jobs and delaying a housing and economic recovery,” said NAHB Chairman Bob Nielsen, a home builder from Reno, Nev.

Too often, due to faulty appraisal practices, brand new homes with sparkling appliances and interior upgrades get compared to a distressed property that has been sitting vacant and in disrepair. The result, in many cases has been that the new house winds up getting appraised at less than the cost of construction.  (read more)

Holiday Home Decorating

Get out the ladder and lights; it’s that time of year again to show the neighborhood your holiday and Christmas spirit!

The plan would be to make it safe and make it look good.  Make sure you have the right lighting and plugins for the outside weather.  Use the new LED lights; they are cheap, look good and easy to place.  Using outside extension cords need to be GFI capable either with the cord or the plug receptacle. 

Using the ladder on level ground and watch the icy conditions.  Here is a list of what you will need.

v  LED Lights

v  Light Hangers

v  Extension cords

v  Wire and tape

v  Ladder

v  Hammer

v  GFI Plugs

Have a very good time and enjoy the family times together.

Market Changes?

It is always exciting to be able to give good news with the real estate business.  The numbers for the past few weeks are certainly better than they were couple months. 

We need to have caution when dealing with any changes one way or another.  Just like the stock market, the real estate market is subject to ups and downs of everything.  The other fact is that we are still listening to the same outlets for all of the data. 

What we know now is this is still a good time to buy and interest rates are still low.  Beyond that only time passing though the hour glass will reveal any sustainable changes.