Northwest Florida Real Estate Agent Blog
A list of all my real estate blog feeds - 08/19/2007
Here is a list of all of my Real Estate Blog Feeds:
My Wordpress runs with a 2.0 RSS feed
https://okaloosamls.wordpress.com/feed/
My active rain running a atom feed
https://activerain.com/blogs/okaloosamls/atom
My typepad running a XML feed
https://okaloosamls.typepad.com/teamsoldtv/rss.xml
MY blogger running a atom feed
https://teamsoldtv.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default?alt=rss
My space rss feed
https://blog.myspace.com/blog/rss.cfm?friendID=185758128
Add any of the above feeds to your blogs or your homepages.
What does the Walton County Government do - 08/19/2007
What does the Walton county government do
The department of corrections
The construction management department
Parks and Recreation
GIS (Geographic Information System)
The finance Division
The human Resources Division
The planning and development division
Public Works
Emergancy Response
The citizen services division
Find more information on each of the services divisions provided by Walton county Florida at there official website you can click here to go directly to the site www.co.walton.fl.us information provided by CO.Walton.FL.US
New stores coming to Panama city beach - 08/19/2007
Panama city bost new stores opening just about every month. The new members coming include Target stores,Ron Jon surf shop,Panera bread,Starbucks,Southern Theaters,Ripley's believe it or not,Bonefish grill,Dillards,old navy,Back porch seafood house,jimmy buffets,barefoot beach club and many more. Not to mention a housing boom to support all of this new commercial acitvity. Including 5,000 new housing units from lake powell to the bridge flyover in various stages of development
Realogy corp has announced the appointment of vice president - 08/19/2007
Corporation has announced the appointment of Marilyn J. Wasser as executive vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary. For the past two years, Wasser served as executive vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary for Telcordia Technologies, a leading global provider of telecommunications software and services. In her new role, Wasser will provide strategic legal direction and support for Realogy and its business units, including the Realogy Franchise Group and its five brand networks - Century 21, Coldwell Banker, Coldwell Banker Commercial, ERA and Sotheby's International Realty - as well as NRT Incorporated, Cartus and Title Resource Group. As general counsel, she will be responsible for Realogy's legal efforts in the areas of compliance, litigation and regulatory affairs, human capital, benefits and corporate services, as well as the company's government relations function.
* NRT Incorporated, the nation's largest residential real estate brokerage, today announced the promotion of Hal Maxwell to regional senior vice president of NRT's new Mid-Atlantic region. In this role, Maxwell will oversee a newly created region that comprises NRT-owned companies in Maryland, Virginia, Washington, D.C., Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Maureen Passerini, formerly the regional senior vice president for NRT's Eastern Seaboard region, which included local operating companies in the Mid-Atlantic, will now oversee a new region to be known as the Northeast region, comprised of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage companies in New Jersey, Long Island, Pittsburgh, Connecticut/Westchester and New England. Maxwell most recently served as president and chief operating officer of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage in the Mid-Atlantic.
* Sotheby's International Realty Affiliates, Inc. has announced that real estate entrepreneur Jenny Pruitt and real estate executive David Boehmig have partnered to form Atlanta Fine Homes Sotheby's International Realty. The company will serve consumers seeking to sell or buy homes throughout the Buckhead and North Atlanta markets. Pruitt will serve as chief executive officer and Boehmig as president. Pruitt left Jenny Pruitt & Associates earlier this year after fulfilling a five-year contract with HomeServices, which had purchased the firm in 2001.
* David Franzetta has been named chairman and partner for Prudential Arizona Properties. Most recently Franzetta was a principal of Interchange Associates, Inc., an international think tank and research-based consulting firm.
Hud announcement - 08/19/2007
U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Alphonso Jackson announced this week that thousands of communities around the country will receive nearly $1.8 billion to promote HUD's affordable housing and first-time homebuyers programs. The total national funding of $1.757 billion will support HUD's HOME Investment Partnerships Program (HOME) and American Dream Downpayment Initiative (ADDI) in fiscal year 2007.
HOME is the largest federal block grant to state and local governments designed exclusively to produce affordable housing for low-income families. ADDI helps first-time homebuyers with the biggest hurdle to homeownership: downpayment and closing costs. The program was created to assist low-income first-time homebuyers in purchasing single-family homes by providing funds for downpayment, closing costs and rehabilitation carried out in conjunction with the assisted home purchase
TOP100 Builder list - 08/19/2007
For the first time since 2002, the top three companies on the Builder 100 list traded places. While D.R. Horton remains on top, Lennar Corp. rode a 7,209-unit closings increase to become the new number two, and tightened the gap on the list leader to just 3,842 closings. Pulte Homes shiftd back to third, after its closings declined 9.08 percent, with Centex Corp. and KB Home rounding out the top five.
D.R. Horton, with 53,410 closings, out-performed the entire combined next 100 (numbers 101-200), which closed 44,824 units in 2006. And Horton, the biggest of the big builders, almost surpassed the combined closings for Builder 100 companies ranked 51 through 100, which together closed a total of 54,070 units.
With a tough 2006 in the bag, and a difficult 2007 ahead, the Builder 100 could see some shake ups this year. Merger and acquisition activity has been slow since the summer of 2005, with only Emaar Properties' May 2006 purchase of John Laing Homes as the exception. But with company and land values coming back to earth, merger and acquisition activity could pick up this year, leading to further shifts among the Builder 100. (At press time three large deals were in the works, with several more rumored to follow.) (Builder Magazine)
Wallstreet journal report - 08/19/2007
There are several cities in the country where home values are climbing smartly. Portland (OR), Boise (ID), Seattle (WA), Salt Lake City (UT), Houston (TX), Austin (TX), Charlotte (NC) and Raleigh (NC), are among the cities bucking the national trend. Home appreciation there between the fourth quarters of 2005 and 2006 far exceeded the national average of 5.9 percent, according to the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight. In some markets, like Boise and Seattle, the appreciation jumped well into the double digits.
There's no single secret to these cities' apparent success, but many of them missed the housing boom of the past five years. From 2001 to 2005, annual appreciation in these cities was between two and five percent, far slower than the seven to 12 percent national average, according to the OFHEO. Now they are playing catch-up. Most of the cities also have one or more strong industries to drive their economies - colleges and technology in Raleigh, banks in Charlotte, energy in Houston and aerospace in Seattle. And all have education levels above the national average.
Today's declining prices nationwide are in part the result of an earlier explosion of short-term investors in Florida, California and other booming markets. Recently, both investors and long-term homeowners have been cashing in or cutting losses in formerly hot markets and settling in areas that avoided the boom, such as the Carolinas, parts of Georgia and Tennessee, areas of Texas, the Western mountain states and the Pacific Northwest. (RealEstateJournal.com)
NAR survey - 08/19/2007
Realtors come from varied backgrounds, work mostly on commission and become successful over a period of time, according to a new member survey by the National Association of REALTORS. The typical member is 51 years old, works 40 hours per week and has been in the business for seven years. More than 1.3 million Realtors - about half of all real estate licensees - are characterized in the highly detailed 2007 NAR Member Profile.
Median income was $47,700 in 2006, down from $49,300 in 2004, which had also declined from 2002. Members licensed as brokers earned a median of $73,700 last year, while sales agents earned $34,600. During the last two years, NAR membership increased 23.2 percent. Realtors in the business for two years or less earned a median of $15,300, while those with three to five years of experience earned $44,200. For six to 15 years, the median was $64,600, while members in the business for 16 years or more earned $76,200.
One quarter of all business is from referrals or repeat business from previous clients, ranging from seven percent for newcomers to 41 percent for respondents with at least 16 years of experience. Seven out of 10 are compensated through a split commission arrangement, 17 percent receive a full commission and another three percent receive a commission plus a share of profits.
Thirteen percent of NAR members have been in the business for one year or less, while another 13 percent have been in the business for 26 years or more. Only 10 percent work fewer than 20 hours per week and 30 percent work 20 to 39 hours per week, while 15 percent work at least 60 hours per week. Nearly six in 10 are women, and the typical respondent has been with his/her firm for four years. Five percent are under 30 years of age while another six percent are 30 to 34 years old; 12 percent are 65 or over.
Green Home building - 08/19/2007
Green home building is poised to be the next great sales pitch in America's environmental renaissance. By 2010, half of new homes built are expected to be classified as "green" as more builders try to appeal to consumers worried about global warming, the environment and rising energy costs. Builders say green homes are more durable and tend to sell much faster than traditionally built houses.
But how do you tell if a "green" home is truly green? There are some 80 different local and state green building organizations and at least two different national groups promoting their own rules on what constitutes a green home. The result: a contentious war over whose rules become the national standard for making a house sustainable.
Perhaps the best known group in green building is the U.S. Green Building Council, or USGBC, a non-profit group that developed its own point rating system for green commercial projects and has certified 800 projects as green since 2000 through its Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program, or LEED. The organization uses consultants under contract to certify projects according to USGBC rules.
In 2004, the Green Building Council rolled out a pilot program for similar grading of residential projects, and today 350 builders are enrolled for 6,000 green homes to go through LEED certification. To get a home certified as green, builders would have to pay about $2,000 for the required inspection. An official program for green homes should be rolled out this fall.
Meanwhile, the National Association of Home Builders, a trade group with 235,000 corporate members, is at work on its own green building standards. The process has been a long and arduous one, incorporating input from not only builders, but architects, interior designers and construction product manufacturers. The rules, being developed in collaboration with the International Code Council, will be written for accreditation from the American National Standards Institute, or ANSI.
Seniors housing market - 08/19/2007
Opportunities abound for Realtors® who are ready to service the senior market
By Brenda W. Casserly, President & COO, ERA Franchise Systems, Inc.
Realtors® cannot ignore the impact that seniors are having on the business of real estate. Activity in the senior segment of the market is steadily increasing due to demographic shifts that have put a higher concentration of the U.S. population in an older age bracket.
As a real estate professional, there's a lot that I find exciting about the senior market. First of all, it is big, and it is growing. According to the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), the number of households in the U.S. headed by someone between the ages of 55 and 64 in the market for a home was about one million in 2001. NAHB projects that figure to grow to approximately 1.2 million households in 2006. One forecast projects the number of baby boomers age 65 and over to increase nearly 80 percent during the next two decades.
Another attribute that distinguishes the senior market is the broad range of motives for buying or selling a home. Many seniors wish to sell their homes because their family has grown and they are now seeking a low-maintenance property that frees them up to enjoy a more leisurely lifestyle. Selling a primary residence or a vacation property may free up equity that can be applied toward retirement. The changing interests and capabilities of seniors also influence the need for proximity to transportation, health services, shopping and other activities.
Success in servicing the wide-ranging needs of senior homebuyers is achieved through the right combination of programs, training and marketing. Sales professionals who have built a strong referral network and practice sound prospecting techniques will have a leg up on capturing these diverse and demanding buyers and sellers. Realtors® who make the effort to secure specialized certification will distinguish themselves as especially qualified to service the needs of seniors.
One characteristic that distinguishes seniors from first-time homebuyers is a lower tolerance for uncertainty. The ERA® system offers the ERA® Sellers Security® Plan (SSP), a program designed expressly for homesellers who seek that extra level of assurance. Simply put, the SSP guarantees that a seller who qualifies for the program will sell their home at a pre-determined price within 180 days of listing, or ERA Real Estate will buy it.
According to the Senior Advantage Real Estate Council, 90 percent of seniors do not put their home on the market until they have settled on their new living arrangements, and Realtors® must be prepared to help seniors select a mortgage that meets their needs. ERA Mortgage offers buyers with unique financing requirements the opportunity to choose from more than 100 different loan products. A professionally staffed Agent Help Desk helps sales associates offer products that best match their clients' financial goals.
Specialized certification programs are another means to assure seniors that Realtors® are capable of serving them. Late last year, ERA Real Estate became the first global real estate franchise to deliver the Seniors Real Estate Specialist (SRES) designation in a virtual classroom. The course, offered through the Senior Advantage Real Estate Council (SAREC), was developed to educate sales professionals about the special needs and concerns of senior homebuyers and homesellers.
The transition into a senior lifestyle can be an exciting time. For Realtors® who are prepared to assist the growing community of seniors, it can be a rewarding time as well
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