The stars have aligned . . . deep in the heart of Texas!

OK, so I had a ReMax Real estate office ask me to come speak about all the current events politically and how they affect the financial landscape relative to real estate in Dallas and Collin Counties specifically. Naturally, I prepare and plan to just really excite them about the possibilities and potential that the convergence of current trends present for those real estate professionals in North Texas. But, i realized that they are NOT financial geeks like me who can salivate over the beauty of well-run spreadsheet in Excel (in fact many do not ever use this wonderful program [sigh]). so, I just broke it down to three trends, and one action item. Enjoy!

Trends:

1) Lowest . . . rates . . . ever. Need i say more? This is good for buyers. they can purchase more than ever, for less.

2) Anxious sellers/lots inventory: again good for buyers. For North Texas, i don't know that i can ever remember a time that sellers were this excited to sell. Can you buy much in Collin County that will NOT go up in the next few years?

Note: the two trends alone are insanely good enough to make every person in real estate do very, very well.

3) Ok, here's the one that just makes it really crazy: the government is going to PAY people to buy houses. No, i'm serious, that's what a tax credit basically is, a payment back that they would never have given you before. we need to change the old adage about death and taxes: only death is certian now! 8000 from Feds + 2000/year from Primelending's MCC program = goodness!

The three trends converging at the same time create the perfect storm for frst time home buyers FOR A SEASON. the government knows that it cannot do all this nonesense of bailouts and credit forever (socialism has already proven a failed experiment) and they have a deadline ---- 12/1/09. after that, watch for the FED to stop buying so many MBS (mortgage backed securities) and therefore rates to begin climbing . . . precipitously. ok, no crystal ball here, but they put the date down for a reason.

So, the action item: call everyone in your database focusing on the facts and what they mean for first-time homebuyers. IT IS NOW MORE EXPENSIVE TO RENT THAN BUY in a lot of cases. well, one of them actually did it! we took four applications for first-time buyers this week. so, let's fix our economy the old fashioned (and i guess less popular way) --- let's go to work! This financial real estate nirvana will not last forever. I'm an Aggie and even i can figure that out :)

To yours, mine, and their success!!!

John Hardimon