Here in the parts of the Triangle – according to the Triangle Multiple Listing Service, while home listings and closed sales have decreased, home prices have actually increased. Yes, I said increased. Data from across the Triangle shows that both median and average sales prices have risen for April in year over year data – 0.2 and 0.6 percent respectively.

- courtesy of wral.com

According to the Triangle Race for the Cure, 75 percent of the funds raised through events like the Race for the Cure go to funding grants in the group's 20 county service area at local hospitals and community organizations. They provide breast health education along with breast cancer screening and treatment programs for medically under-served women in our community. The remaining 25 percent supports the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Award and Research Grant Program, which funds groundbreaking breast cancer research at the national level.

 - courtesy of wral.com

Mortgage interest rates change constantly, daily, even hourly. If you speak to a lender and are quoted a specific interest rate, that's not to say you'll necessarily get that rate when you close on your loan. Not unless you formally lock-in that rate with the lender. Locking in an interest rate will guarantee you get your loan with a particular interest rate. Lenders will allow you to lock in for 15, 45 or 60 days. But the longer you lock in, the more expensive it will be, since it's more of a risk to lenders.

-Courtesy of Yahoo Real Estate

Be More Objective. Pace Realty provide objectivity. Since a home often symbolizes family, rest, and security, not just four walls and a roof, home selling is often a very emotional undertaking. For most people, selling a home is one of the biggest financial transactions they’ll ever undertake. Having a concerned, but objective, third party helps you stay focused on both the business and emotional issues most important to you.

Make a Better Profit. Not only does Pace Realty help you price your home appropriately, but we leverage our years of experience for you when negotiating an offer with a potential buyer.

Article courtesy of Trulia.com

Pace Realty Group will help you find your perfect and affordable home. Feel free to give us a call!

-Article courtesy of Yahoo Real Estate

Even if housing prices don't continue to increase at the torrid pace seen in recent years in many areas, buying a home can be a good financial investment. Making mortgage payments forces you to save, and after 15 to 30 years you will own a substantial asset that can be converted into cash to help fund retirement or a child's education. There are also tax benefits.

Like many other investments, however, real estate prices can fluctuate considerably. If you aren't ready to settle down in one spot for a few years, you probably should defer buying a home until you are. If you are ready to take the plunge, you'll need to determine how much you can spend and where you want to live.

Pace Realty Group specializes in helping first time home buyers find their perfect home. As always feel free to call us if you have any questions about buying or selling your home.

- Article courtesy of Yahoo Real Estate

Home ownership has a significant impact on net worth, educational achievement, civic participation, health, and overall quality of life. And, home ownership helps create jobs—lots of them—right here at home.

Owning your own home is not only beneficial to you; it also helps create jobs and stimulate the economy.

Home Ownership matters…to people, to communities, and to America. Why?

For every two homes sold, one job is created in the U.S. each purchase generates as much as $60,000 in economic activity over time.

-Article courtesy of Realtor.com

Signs That You're Ready to Buy

Six tips that tell you it's time

By Michele Dawson

Figuring out whether you're ready to buy a house -- whether you're a renter or are aiming to move up or size down -- can be a daunting task. But there are signs that will indicate whether you're ready to take the buying plunge.

If you are thinking about buying, you're not alone. So are you ready to make the move? You might be if you:

1. Are familiar with the market. If you've been paying attention to how much houses are listed for in the neighborhoods you're eyeing and have a realistic view of how much a house will cost you, you're in good shape. But if you're dreaming about that big corner house with no clue about it's asking price, you may want to spend some more time becoming familiar with the market and how much houses are going for.

2. Have the money for a down payment and closing costs. The down payment is a percentage of the value of the property. Freddie Mac says the percentage will be determined by the type of mortgage you select. Down payments usually range from 3 to 20 percent of the property value. Also, you may be required to have Private Mortgage Insurance (PMI or MI) if your down payment is less than 20 percent. Closing costs include points, taxes, title insurance, financing costs and items that must be prepaid or escrowed and other settlement costs. You can expect to pay between from 2 to 7 percent of the property value. Generally, buyers will receive an estimate of these costs from your lender after you apply for a mortgage.

3. Know how much you can afford. Freddie Mac says that as a general guide, your monthly mortgage payment should be less than or equal to a percentage of your income, usually about a quarter of your gross monthly income. Also, your income, debt and credit history go into determining how much you can borrow. As a general rule, your debt -credit card bills, car loans, housing expenses, alimony and child support -- should not be more than about 30 to 40 percent of your gross income.

4. Know what additional expenses will come with owning a home. This includes homeowners insurance, utility bills, maintenance costs -- roofing, plumbing, heating and cooling.

5. Have your credit in good shape and make sure your credit report is accurate. Potential lenders will view your credit history -- how much debt you've accrued, how many accounts you have open, whether your payments are made on time, etc. -- to determine whether they'll give you a loan. You should get a report from each of the three credit reporting companies: Equifax, Experian, and Trans Union.

6. You haven't made any recent major purchases, particularly a vehicle. If you do, you may have a harder time getting a loan -- or it could potentially lower the amount you'll be approved for.

Copyright © by Realty Times.

Mortgages under 5% are back in bloom

With one of the key measures below the benchmark for the second week in a row, would-be home buyers face the best rates since the spring.

By Julianne Pepitone, CNNMoney.com staff reporter

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The possibility of securing a mortgage rate below 5% has greatly improved in recent weeks, in a positive sign for would-be home buyers.

Home mortgage rates fell for the sixth straight week, according to two key measures, with one of them pointing to a sub-5% rate for the 30-year fixed loan for the second week in a row.

Freddie Mac's (FRE, Fortune 500) weekly report said the 30-year rate slipped to 4.87% for the week ended Thursday, the lowest since May. According to the mortgage backer, last week's rates stood at 4.94%.

Mortgage tracker Bankrate.com said the average 30-year fixed loan slipped to 5.22% from 5.25% the previous week. The 15-year fixed rate also fell, Bankrate said, to 4.6% from 4.64% the week before.

The 30-year rate is influenced by the benchmark 10-year note's yield, which moves in the opposite direction of its price. Treasury prices have risen over the past week as $78 billion worth of auctions received above-average demand.

"Another disappointing employment report had investors questioning the strength and sustainability of the economic rebound," the Bankrate report said. "The resulting uncertainty drove investors into the safety of government and mortgage-backed bonds."

"Not even a substantial auction of government debt has been enough to derail the streak of declining mortgage rates," the Bankrate report said.

Rates are returning to levels not seen since the spring when, in an effort to cap mortgage rates, the Federal Reserve began a campaign to buy back $300 billion in Treasurys. The Fed hoped that it would spark demand and keep yields -- and therefore, mortgage rates -- in check.

Mortgage rates fell as refinancings abounded. But those benefits seemed to wear off, as rates started on a tear in the summer. By June, the benchmark 10-year bond's yield had increased steadily to hover around 4%.

Now the central bank has less than $15 billion left to spend on its buyback program, which led some investors to worry that yields would soar again. So far, that's not the case.

On Wednesday, reports said Democratic congressional leaders were working to extend a $8,000 tax credit for first-time home buyers past the Nov. 30 expiration date and could even make it available to current homeowners who buy a new house.

Homeowners have received a boost from both the tax credit and the lower rates -- last year, the average 30-year fixed mortgage rate was 6.2%, according to Bankrate.

To translate the difference in mortgage rate into dollars, consider a $200,000 loan. At last year's rate of 6.2%, the monthly payment would be $1,224.94, or $124 higher than the monthly payment at the current rate.

The low rates helped mortgage applications surge by 16.4% last week, according to a separate report.

Want Top Dollar from Your Home Sale?

Turn to Your Appraiser for Advice

By Broderick Perkins

Want to get top dollar when you sell your home?

Listen to what professional appraisers say.

Their job is to determine the true market value of homes so they know what makes a property sell for the greatest amount and can tell you how to best ready your home for market now and later.

"A few years ago, houses were selling quickly with little effort. Now many homeowners actually have to make improvements before they can sell their home," said appraiser Mike Evans, a Fellow of the American Society of Appraisers (ASA).

In the term, cosmetic touch-ups can help a home sell a faster. They include:

• Updating the paint and carpeting. A fresh coat of paint (preferably white) inside and out and new floor covering give the home the look and smell of "new." With the facelift treatment, gone are the wrinkles of cracking paint, the sags of aging wallpaper and the dark age spots of stains and spills. When in doubt, nothing works better than a fresh coat of white paint.
• Heighten the curb appeal. How you home looks upon approach is its first impression. The idea is to make that first impression one that invites visitors inside for a longer look. At least work on the front yard, the backyard can wait, if necessary. Improve the landscaping, fix cracks and stains in the driveway and remove extraneous clutter.
• Clean house. Cleaning house means mop, pail and elbow grease action, but also clearing clutter. Put stuff in storage if that's what it takes to rid your home and garage of that unorganized look. Less is more when it comes to the appearance of larger looking rooms.

If you won't sell your home for some time, but know that possibility looms, do the right improvement things, including:

• Adding square footage. Appraisers say an addition provides more returned value to your home than most other improvements. While that doesn't necessarily mean the buyer will pay the cost of the work in terms of a higher price, you likely will attract more buyers.
• Build out your garage. All that clutter you cleared? The new buyer will want to put his or her junk right back in there. Buyers also want a comfy room for their cars. Add, expand or improve your garage and you'll also increase the value of your home.
• Think before you sink money into a pool. You may love the idea of having a pool, but a young family with small kids may see it as a potentially fatal accident waiting to happen. Other buyers don't want the upkeep and costs that come with a pool. A pool will limit your buyers pool to only those who want a pool.
• When you buy, think location. The best locations sell faster. Proximity to good schools, jobs, shopping and attractions and away from crime, heavy traffic, business, commercial or industrial locations helps homes sell faster and for more. Buy a home in a good location. Then you'll have a home to sell in a good location. Location rules.

"It pays to plan to make home improvement decisions strategically if you may be selling a home in the next few years. Think in terms of increasing the value of your home and not just about design and decor," said Evans.

Making Your Money Work for You

Buying houses just one way to invest in real estate

By M. Anthony Carr

Most correspondence I receive inquiring about how to start investing in real estate start with the foreclosure. It's quite simply the easiest real estate investment strategy to figure -- buy low, sell high or buy low, rent high.

Everyone generally understands that as a real estate investor, the concept is to let someone else's rent payments pay for your mortgage and to hopefully come out with a positive cash flow at the end of the month.

There are plenty of ways to get started in real estate investing, and here are some one-line descriptions of how to do it and with the pros and cons listed.

Foreclosures
How it works: Purchase the property at a courthouse auction -- hopefully for less than it's worth. Fix it up, sell it or rent it out.

Pros: This is a common sense approach to getting started in real estate investing. If you can get the property for a wholesale price and then rent it out for less than your mortgage, you're on your way to building wealth one month at a time.

Cons: You get into the property and find out it has major problems costing a lot more than you'll ever recover. Ever heard of concrete being flushed down the drain (usually out of spite from the former owner)? It means having to remove all the sewage drains. Hidden defects can run costs up and give you a red ink bath before it's done. Since the bank/note holder is selling the property as is, there's not much recourse.

Fixer-upper
How it works: Purchase a property that needs major repairs. This is not a property that just needs paint and carpet. This type of property usually has rot, flooring, roofing, basement and just overall problems. But that's what makes it so enticing.

Pros: For investors with their repair ducks lined up in a row, this can be a good money maker. The key here is to hammer on the seller early in the negotiating process. Get the house for as low as possible and know what your bottom line really is.

Cons: For those wanting to flip the property, if you can't make $30,000 -- $50,000 on the projected profit, then you may want to pass. Why? An unseen defect can run into the tens of thousands of dollars really quickly.

Retail investment
How it works: Keep your eye open for under-priced properties in an area where rentals are brisk. This would be a house that really does just need paint and new carpet. Be sure you know what the rents are before going into the property. You want a positive cash flow before you even walk into the property.

Pros: A house that is in good shape can rent for years without any major expenses if it was taken care of early on.

Cons: Good rental properties (say, in a college town or near a military base) don't come on the market often, so you could be waiting a while before you find one. (Experienced investors usually scoop these up before the novices even know it's on the market.)

Paper real estate
How it works: This one is where you invest in the mortgages of real estate instead of the real estate itself -- financing second trusts, purchasing mortgages at a discount, wraparound mortgages, etc.

Pros: For those who have cash, this one can give major returns on your money. For example, if you can pick up a $20,000 note at 12 percent for $15,000, your return on the note jumps to 16 percent. This is not going to fluctuate like the stock market is sure to do.

Cons: Your mortgagee (the borrower) could skip town, leaving you to foreclose -- right behind the first-trust note holder who usually gets paid first in a foreclosure.

These are just a few of the ways you can get started in real estate investing. For more education, find a good agent to start working with who can show you the ropes and help you avoid the pitfalls.

http://tracirowe.blogspot.com/2010/08/can-large-female-please-sing-for-me.html

This article is courtesy of Reuters, written by Lucia Mutikani.

Sales of previously owned U.S. homes rose in October at a faster-than-expected pace to the highest in more than 2-1/2 years as buyers rushed to take advantage of a popular tax credit, a survey showed on Monday.

The National Association of Realtors said sales surged a record 10.1 percent month-over-month to an annual rate of 6.10 million units, the highest since February 2007, from a downwardly revised 5.54 million-unit pace in September.

Analysts polled by Reuters had expected October sales to jump to a 5.70 million-unit pace from the previously reported 5.57 million units in September. Compared to October last year, home sales were up by a record 23.5 percent.

U.S. stock indexes extended gains on the data, while Treasury debt prices were little changed.

"Many buyers have been rushing to beat the deadline for first-time buyer credit that was scheduled to expire at the end of this month, and similarly robust sales may be occurring in November," said Lawrence Yun, NAR's chief economist.

Distressed transactions accounted for 30 percent of sales last month and continued to weigh on house prices. First-time buyers made up a third of sales in October.

The national median home price fell 7.1 percent from October last year, the smallest decline in over a year, to $173,100. Homes in foreclosure typically sell for 15 to 20 percent less than traditional homes.

"Existing home sales have already bottomed. Home prices are almost there. We are seeing a less of a decline in house values," said Yun.

The housing market is slowly mending after a three-year decline, which contributed to tipping the U.S. economy into its worst recession in seven decades. Housing construction contributed to economic growth in the third quarter for the first time since 2005.

Recovery is being supported by the $8,000 tax credit for first-time buyers, low mortgage rates and falling house prices. The government this month extended the incentive into next year and added a $6,500 credit for home owners buying a new residence. It had been due to expire on November 30.

"The tax benefits going into the housing market are working, and that's a relief," said William Larkin, portfolio manager at Cabot Money Management in Boston. "Everything is about housing and jobs right now."

The improvement in October sales was broad-based, with sales of single-family homes, the biggest segment of the market, rising 9.7 percent to an annual rate of 5.33 million units, while condominium and co-ops increased 13.2 percent to a 770,000-unit rate.

Sales were up in all four regions of the country. Prices rose 1.1 percent in the Midwest, which didn't see the same boom as the rest of the country, while declining in the other three. The rise in the Midwest was the first price increase in any region since November 2008.

Analysts are cautiously hoping a sustained housing market recovery will help to improve the psychology of households, which has been shaken by rising unemployment.

While the economy resumed growing in the July-September period after four quarters of decline, sluggish consumer spending is seen slowing the momentum.

The inventory of existing homes for sale in October fell 3.7 percent to 3.57 million units from the previous month, NAR said. At October's sales pace, that represented a supply of 7.0 months, the lowest in 2-1/2 years, from September's revised 8.0 months.

(Additional reporting by Corbett B. Daly; Editing by Padraic Cassidy)

Are you or anyone you know thinking about taking advantage of the $8,000 HOMEBUYER TAX CREDIT? If so call me ASAP! The incentive will expire November 30th! Industry experts are predicting that November 30, 2009 will be the largest real estate transaction day in United States history. The lenders and closing attorneys are going to be overwhelmed with first time home buyers taking advantage of this incentive. The reason I'm telling you this is because I would like to meet with anyone interested, so we may begin the process and get ahead of all the other buyers. I'm afraid if you don't start the process now you will be unable to take advantage of the tax credit. Please feel free to call with any questions and I appreciate your referrals!

Please visit the following link for more information about the tax credit.

Federal Housing Tax Credit

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Sales of previously owned U.S. homes notched their fastest pace in nearly two years in July, an industry survey showed on Friday, the strongest sign yet that housing was pulling out of a three-year slump.

The National Association of Realtors said that sales jumped 7.2 percent to an annual rate of 5.24 million units, the highest since August 2007, beating market expectations for a 5 million unit pace. Sales were at a 4.89 million pace in June.

July's percentage increase was the largest monthly gain since the series started in 1999 and marked the fourth straight monthly advance. The last time sales rose for four consecutive months was in June 2004, the NAR said.

U.S. stock indexes rallied on the data, while Treasury debt prices extended losses as investors viewed the report as another indication that the recession that started in 2007 was close to or ending.

"Existing home sales data show that we are moving in the right direction," said Kevin Flanagan, fixed income strategist for Global Wealth Management at Morgan Stanley in Purchase, New York.

Compared to July last year, sales rose 5.0 percent. The improvement in sales in July was broad based with single-family home sales rising 6.5 percent to annual rate of 4.61 million units and multifamily dwellings surging 12.5 percent to a 630,000 unit rate.

"The housing market has decisively turned for the better. We are bouncing back," NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun told reporters.

Housing data continue to indicate the sector is starting to turn after a three-year slump, but high unemployment threatens the budding recovery as many homeowners continue to lose their properties.

A report from the Mortgage Bankers Association on Thursday showed late homeloan payments jumped to a record high in the second quarter, with almost one in eight homeowners delinquent or in the process of foreclosure.

The inventory of existing homes for sale in July rose 7.3 percent to 4.09 million units from the previous month, and represented a 9.4 months' supply at the current sales pace, unchanged from June, the NAR said.

The national median home price was $178,400 in July, down 15.1 percent from the same period last year, weighed down by distressed sales as they typically sell for 15 to 20 percent less than traditional homes.

This story is courtesy of Alan Zibel of the AP

WASHINGTON – New U.S. home sales rose by the largest amount in more than eight years last month, in another sign the housing market is finally bouncing back from the worst downturn in decades.

The Commerce Department said Monday that sales rose 11 percent in June to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 384,000, from an upwardly revised May rate of 346,000.

It was the strongest sales pace since November 2008 and exceeded the forecasts of economists surveyed by Thomson Reuters, who expected a pace of 360,000 units. The last time sales rose so dramatically was in December 2000.

Sales have risen for three straight months. The median sales price of $206,200, however, was down 12 percent from $234,300 a year earlier and down nearly 6 percent from $219,000 in May.

The report is another encouraging sign that the beleaguered housing sector is finally coming back to life. Last Thursday, the National Association of Realtors reported that home resales posted a monthly increase of 3.6 percent in June.

There were 281,000 new homes for sale at the end of June, down more than 4 percent from May. At the current sales pace, that represents 8.8 months of supply — the lowest level since October 2007.

"Quality of Service: First class!!, Lynn and I couldn't have had a better experience with John and his staff.  From the moment we met John, we knew we had the right guy.  John's marketing plan for our home was impressive and I'm sure the sale of our home was a direct result of it.  John constantly provided us with updates on the overall market and was relentless in getting buyer feedback from those who viewed our home. James King was equally professional in handling all aspects of the closing once our home got under contract.  We would recommend John and his group again and again without reservation."

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