Work Together Wednesday!

Improve the Infrastructure of Your Community

By: Myra A. Thomas

New community infrastructure enriches your neighborhood—and maybe your home value, too. Follow these four tips to get upgrades that boost your neighborhood’s curb appeal.

 

 

It takes time and effort, but lobbying local government for sidewalks, crosswalks, street lighting, and other community infrastructure:

• Creates a sense of community.

• Makes an area more desirable to home buyers. Indeed, appraisers keep score of community infrastructure and amenities when valuing homes.

• Sets your ‘hood apart from others with similar homes—especially in a competitive real estate market.

A local REALTOR® can tell you which infrastructure upgrades will offer the most value to your community. Then it’s up to you to work with local government.

1. Who controls community infrastructure?

Call your mayor or councilperson’s office to find out which office of your local government handles infrastructure upgrades and additions. Does your city or town have any short- or long-term plans to develop a grid of sidewalks or street lighting?

“Developing a system of sidewalks leading to a downtown, shopping district, or local school adds more value to the neighborhood than disjointed sections of sidewalk,” says Cheryl E. Kuck, public information officer for the City of Portland Bureau of Transportation.

The pitch: Saying that the infrastructure project is something your community needs is better than something it wants.

Example: If you want sidewalks, argue that kids need them to walk safely home from school rather than saying you need them because they’ll improve your home value.

2. What is the community infrastructure approval process?

• You might have to get a certain number or percentage of people who live near the project to sign a petition saying they approve.

• You might need to hop aboard a lengthy process involving a zoning or planning board.

Once you know the process, figure out how to present your case.

3. Who picks up the tab for community infrastructure projects?

It’s not cheap. Concrete curbs and sidewalks cost about $15 per linear foot for curbing and $11 per square foot for walkways. Streetlight and crosswalk costs differ depending on their design.
Funding sources may include:

• Local, state, and federal tax dollars

• Assessments charged to home owners (Local officials may be able to offer relief or deferrals to seniors.)

• Bonds issued by local government and paid back over many years

• Money set aside by government for capital improvements

4. How do I deflate the naysayers?

One strategy: Emphasize health.

• As Americans become more conscious of the environment and their health, crosswalks and sidewalks are a good way to get your neighbors out of their cars.

• A walking-friendly neighborhood will hold its value better than a similar neighborhood that’s not walkable.

Support for community infrastructure projects can quickly snowball. “Building community support helps to sway local council people to your side,” says Charlie Zegeer, director of the Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Center.

Myra A. Thomas is an award-winning Fanwood, N.J.-based journalist. She was drawn to Fanwood because of the quaint walking downtown with well-marked crosswalks and Victorian street lamps. Myra is slowly rehabbing her 50-year-old split-level home, but she is lamenting the lack of a sidewalk on her block.

 

Tuesday Town Snapshot!

Today's Featured Town Is

Hooksett NH

To Check On Your Town

Visit

http://www.carrieandtyhomes.com/market-info--update.asp

 

 

 

Monday Market Update!

Keeping you updated on the market! For the week of
April 4, 2011

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MARKET RECAP

 

The monthly S&P/Case-Shiller home-price index always attracts a good deal of media attention. This month's edition was no different. In fact, because of a strong pessimistic bias, it probably drew more attention than it should have.

Once again, falling home prices elevated fears of a double-dip recession in the home-buying market and a longer slog toward recovery than once anticipated. According to Case-Shiller, the average sale price of single-family homes in 20 major metropolitan areas fell 1 percent from December and 3.1 percent from a year ago. Only two areas – San Diego and Washington – recorded price increases year-over-year.

We offer our usual caveats with the Case-Shiller index: For one, it's two months in arrears. Recent data on home prices have been less dour. In addition, 20 metropolitan areas is hardly a complete picture. Real estate is much more localized than it was during the recession. Even within major metropolitan areas, we see differences in pricing trends. So, yes, on a national level prices have fallen, and have fallen 31 percent since the 2006 highs. However, prices, like mortgage rates, can go only so low, and there isn't much room on the downside, as many local markets have already shown.

It's also worth noting that the pending home sales index rose 2.1 percent in February, which is encouraging when considering how miserable the weather was in February. What's more, the pending home sales index has trended higher since bottoming in June, with contract activity 20 percent above the low point. More activity isn't a price panacea, but it helps.

Shadow inventory has been the counterclaim, because it continues to apply downward pricing pressure. The good news is that shadow inventory is improving. CoreLogic reports that 1.8 million properties make up the shadow inventory of foreclosures, but that's down 11 percent from a year ago. We expect this inventory to dissipate further, thanks to robust economic growth and a pickup in job creation and wage growth.

Low financing rates will also help the liquidation process. A quote below 5 percent on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage remains the norm. To be honest, the norm has held longer than we had expected. That's a good thing, to be sure, but it does tend to induce complacency and procrastination at times.

Buyers these days have to balance high inventory levels against the likelihood of higher mortgage rates. Excess supply is a persuasive argument to house shop at a leisurely pace. However, just because rising prices aren't an immediate concern doesn't mean rising mortgage rates aren't. We noted in last week's commentary that buyers have the best of both worlds – low mortgage rates and low home prices. We doubt we will be saying that this time next year.

Is It Really Only A Matter of Time?

Faithful readers of these missives know that we've been saying that it's a matter of time before mortgage rates head higher (which puts us in the majority opinion). Indeed, since November, rates have headed higher, but not as high as many, including us, would have thought. Granted, we were right in saying that rates holding under 4 percent were unlikely, but that was an easy call. Four percent simply isn't sustainable when inflation is the norm.

Inflation is the reason we still think rates are headed higher. Many market watchers have been lulled into a false sense of security because consumer and producer prices – though rising in the past two months – haven't spiked out of control.

There are many variables that go into prices – productivity gains, technology, consumer demand – all of which can offset the increase in money supply that has occurred over the past two years. It can't last forever. If we peruse any long-term chart of consumer and producer prices, we see that prices rise persistently higher. As a corollary, when we peruse a chart of the US dollar, we see a persistent drop in value.

Eventually, all the new money in circulation will begin chasing consumer goods, and then we will see an increase in price inflation. We expect the bond market to anticipate this event, which is why we think mortgage rates will head higher before price inflation becomes more of a front-burner issue.

Sunday Funday!

Design a Dress-Up Area in your Kid's Room!

Childhood is a time of unlimited possibilities. Little boys can be cowboys one minute and superheroes the next. Little girls can be trapeze artists, soccer stars or princesses--all within an hour.  
As is frequently the case in bedrooms, corner areas are often underutilized.  After completing the functional area of the room, you may realize you have a fairly large area in the corner that needs attention. .
Unfortunately, we all know that little princesses tend to grow up way too fast, so you'll want to create the dress-up area in a way that will cause no permanent damage to the room.
Use a closet rod to create this special place. When your prince or princess grows up, only a few small holes will have to be filled to restore the room to normal.
The first step was to determine the placement of the closet rod. Measure four feet from the corner on both adjacent walls and mark a spot three inches from the ceiling.
In order to mount the closet rod hardware, it will be necessary to cut a four-inch piece off a two-by-four board. Then cut this block diagonally from corner to corner, creating two triangular blocks.
Predrill the blocks and mounted them with the uncut side to the wall using self-anchoring mollies. These blocks created the mounting surface for the closet rod hardware. After mounting the hardware, place the rod in the supports.
To make it easier for little hands, use a lightweight fabric to drape the dress-up area. Rather than make these drapes, you can purchase two shower curtains in the same color as the walls. Mount the shower curtain to the closet rod with shower rings.
Although the drapery system functions very well, it may not seem very festive. To make it more colorful and fitting for a fairytale, you can cut varying lengths of a complementary ribbon and create streamers that are tied to the shower rings.
Next comes the fun part: accessorizing. Since momn will want to keep the area neat, add two shelves to the area. One shelf to hold pretty dress-up dresses and boas, the other used to store hats, purses and all the other fashion accessories a young dreamer requires.
Just in case your little one has a change of heart and decides to become an astronaut, add a toy chest, which serves as both a seat and storage for other costumes and accessories. With the addition of a mirror, your dress-up area is complete.
 I bet the little prince or princess in your life will be delighted!

Tuesday Town Snapshot!!

Today's Featured Town Is

DERRY NH 03038

To Check On Your Town

Visit

http://www.carrieandtyhomes.com/market-info--update.asp

Monday Market Update!

Keeping You Updated On The Market

For The Week Of

March 28, 2011

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Market Recap

Bearish pundits – those chatterers who seek notoriety by accentuating the negative – had reason to strut this past week because the news on housing was, for the most part, to their liking.
Existing sales for February fell 10 percent to an annual rate of 4.88 million units. Supply could be a concern going forward. The inventory of existing homes for sale rose 3.5 percent to 3.48 million units, 8.6 months of supply at the current sales rate and a 14.6 percent increase over January's 7.5 months.
Supply issues raise pricing issues. On that front, the median sales price of existing homes fell 1.1 percent in February to $156,100, while the average price dropped 1.4 percent to $203,000. Year-over-year, the decline for the median price is deepening, at minus 5.2 percent, but holding steady at minus 2.7 percent for the average price.
New home sales tumbled 16.9 percent in February to an annual rate of 250,000 units, which was a mild shock, considering the consensus estimate was expecting 295,000 units. Fewer sales mean more inventory. Supply rose to 8.9 months at the current sales rate. As for prices, the median price fell 13.9 percent to $202,100, a drop that sweeps the year-over-year rate into the negative column at minus 8.9 percent.
Following the off-putting news on home sales, it was only natural that a few analysts were willing to fan the pessimistic flames. MacroMarkets lead the charge, stating that a double-dip in housing could arrive this year. "Overall, the sentiment among our expert panel regarding the U.S. housing market outlook continues to deteriorate," said Robert Shiller, co-founder of MacroMarkets. "Now they are expecting only a weak recovery, and even that is not until 2013."
Now is as good a time as any to take a cynical shot at “expert” panels. Let's not forget that the experts were wildly off the mark on new and existing home sales for February. Why did so few ignore the obvious – the weather? Sales were actually flat in the West and the South. Sales in the Northeast declined 57 percent and 27 percent in the Midwest – two regions hit particularly hard by cold and snow.
February's data were a downer, but we expect to see improvement in March based on the developing upward trend in purchase applications. Lower mortgage rates, which have eased by 25 basis points over the past four weeks, have stimulated interest. And let's not overlook an improving economy. Fewer Americans are claiming unemployment benefits. Since July, the four-week moving average has dropped from 500,000 to 380,000. This trend will boost expectations for accelerating payroll and economic growth. That's good news for housing's outlook.
 

Economic Indicator	Release Date and Time	Consensus Estimate	Analysis
Personal Income & Outlays (February)	Mon., March 28, 8:30 am, et	Income: 0.5% (Increase) Outlays: 0.5% (Increase)	Moderately Important. Real income is growing, while spending is more reflective of price inflation.
Pending Home Sales Index (February)	Mon., March 28, 10:00 am, et	2.0% (Decrease)	Important. Inclement weather is expected to weigh on the index.
Case-Shiller Home Price Index (January)	Tues., March 29, 9:00 am, et	0.4% (Decrease)	Moderately Important. A decrease in national prices is likely based on pricing data from other sources.
Consumer Confidence (March)	Tues., March 29, 10:00 am, et	64.5 Index	Moderately Important. Confidence is expected to ease, but remains in a positive trend.
Mortgage Applications	Wed., March 30, 7:00 am, et	None	Important. Month-to-month strength hints at more home buying heading into spring.
Employment Situation (March)	Fri., April 1, 8:30 am, et	Unemployment Rate: 8.9% Job Growth: 200,000	Very Important. The trend in unemployment claims suggest strong job growth for February.
Construction Spending (February)	Fri., April 1, 10:00 am, et	0.9% (Increase)	Important. Nonresidential and public outlays are offsetting weakness in residential outlays.

Mortgage Rates or Home Prices?

It can be an incapacitating conundrum: weighing interest-rate movement rates against home-price movements. The trade-off can be difficult to analyze, especially for borrowers who mistakenly believe rates have always been low and will always remain so. Of course, many neophyte homebuyers are thinking along a similar line; that is, home prices are low and will stay low.
The analysis is actually straightforward, if placed in a historical context. Both mortgage rates and home prices are much closer to being at, or near, a bottom than a top when comparing today's market to markets past. Of course, it is entirely possible that a buyer could sign a contract, lock in the loan rate, then go home and read that national home prices and mortgage rates have dropped.
Market tops and bottoms are impossible to predict. The best we can do is to estimate where we are based on long-term trends and similar past economic circumstances. From this perspective, there is really no trade off. Both home prices and mortgage rates are low, so there is no conundrum and there is no reason to put off buying a home for anyone staying put for at least five years.

Friday's Featured Listing!

26 Caldwell Lane

Merrimack, NH 03054

$275,000

Merrimack NH real estate. Meticulously maintained home in desirable Parker Village Community. Fantastic upgrades of central air conditioning, hardwood, tile and Berber carpet flooring. The Crown, picture frame and chair rail molding add to the comfort and delight of this welcoming home. Plus enjoy wonderful features such as 1st floor master bedroom with bath, 1st floor laundry, relaxing living room with cathedral ceilings and gas fireplace w blowers, large kitchen and inviting 4 season porch with slider to deck and large back yard.

For More Information Visit

www.carrieandtyhomes.com

Or Call

603-471-0872