Nottingham, MD

Freedom of Speech and Fox News

The Fox News Channel calls itself fair and balanced. First let's keep in mind that in its programming, Fox has a combination of news shows and commentary shows.

On the news shows, it does appear that they are indeed, fair and balanced; they report the news and let you decide on the implications of that news.

On the commentary shows, there are, at least, two which are so far to the right, that I almost fall out of my chair when I watch them. These are Beck and Hannity. Of course, when I watch Olbermann or Maddow on MSNBC, their far to the left leanings have me falling out of my chair in the opposite direction.

Recently, there has been a situation between Fox News and the White House, whereby the White House has been excluding Fox News and downplaying their signifcance as a news reporting organization.

In a recent interview of President Barack Obama with Savannah Guthrie of ABC News, she asked the President about the situation with Fox.

His response was: "Understandably since you are in the news business this is something that you are very interested in."

What did he mean? Of course, she was interested. She was asking about an important event in today's world. ABC is a news organization, and Guthrie was doing what any good reporter should do. She was asking an appropriate question. Why was it important? Not because they too are a news reporting organization, but because it addresses an important part of the Constitution of the United States of America. It addresses freedom of speech and freedom of press.

The President continued in his response: "I think that the American people are a lot more interested in what we're doing to create jobs or how we're handling the situation in Afghanistan."

. . . in the words of the most brilliant man and greatest orator of all time: "er . . . uh . . . and . . . look . . . listen".

Okay, I am calmed down now and I have my thoughts together.

Note to President Obama: DO NOT TELL ME WHAT I AM THINKING!

Along with the inalienable right of freedom of speech comes the implied right of freedom of thought.

I care much more about keeping my right to free speech than I do about what the government is doing to create jobs. In fact, I do not want the goverment involved at all in trying to create jobs.

As far as Afghanistan is concerned, what in the world are you doing anyway?

Why don't you get past your stupid game of making ridiculous speeches and start doing your job. "I'm just getting warmed up . . ." Really, where have you been for the last ten months. Mister sports fanatic, didn't anyone tell you that you should warm up before you get into the game.

. . . and that's my rant, like it or not.

Tech Savvy Buyers Might Be Missing Out

It used to be that real estate agents were the holders of the keys, the information, and everything else related to what was on the realty market.

A potential buyer would go to an agent, tell them what they wanted, and then the agent would try to find something that would meet all of the buyer's needs.

But, along came the internet. More and more information was being loaded onto the internet. One could find the tax records, who had liens on the property and for how much, aerial photos, neighborhood information, interior and exterior photos galore, and so on.

A buyer would call an agent to give them a list of houses that they wanted to see. The role of the agent was changing. The buyer could find the house, they just wanted the agent to walk them through the deal.

This sounds like a winning scenario for buyers and agents. So how may these tech savvy buyers be missing out?

Have you ever had a buyer tell you about a property that they would like to see and then you suggested another similar house in the same area to which they responded that they already knew about that one but were not interested? Their disinterest was related to what they saw on the internet about the house and not on personally seeing the house. What if the agent who listed the house was not tech savvy and had few pictures, that were all poorly taken? How often have you seen more than one picture on a bank owned property? It could be that a very nice house is not being displayed very well if at all on the internet.

Have you ever had a buyer tell you that they knew the value of a house and when questioned as to how they came up with the value they mentioned a website like zillow? Do they think that agents use zillow to perform CMAs or BPOs, or that appraisers use such a site? All too frequently, these automated evaluation sites give misleading numbers, sometimes high and sometimes low.

Have you ever had a buyer tell you that they were already preapproved? Oh yes! When asked what type of loan they typically did not know. Did they understand the implications of any particular type of loan? Usually not. They were approved for FHA (were not aware of the 203k) and were planning to purchase a fixer upper or perhaps they were planning to buy a condo in the complex where they rented, but too many rentals would preclude the use of the FHA loan.

Real estate agents have this knowledge in their heads, or those of their brokers, or office managers and most of their knowledge has not been loaded onto the internet.

Indeed, the internet is a valuable tool for finding information, but people are fooling themselves if they believe that they can find sufficient information by using it alone.

Tax Credit Use

There are some people who would like to purchase a home today. Many of these people can afford to buy, but they are waiting. They are concerned that in this economy that they could lose their job and then be left with a mortgage which they could not afford to pay.

They recognize that prices are very low and that interest rates are also very low, but they are still concerned about maintaining employment. They do not want to end up in foreclosure or out on the street.

While many economists are indicating that the recession has ended, they also are suggesting that the total number of job losses may not end until mid 2010. This economic forecast gives credence to the trepidation that many potential homebuyers are experiencing.

Can the tax credit help them?

Depending upon the price of the home that they purchase, the tax credit of $8,000 could be equal to anywhere from two to eight month's payments, assuming that they purchase a home in the average price range of today's homes.

Generally, it is a good idea to have savings equal to 3 to 6 months of one's expenses readily available in case of a temporary setback, such as a job loss.

If one can be wise in the use of this tax credit, then they can put it aside for the potential job loss. With the economy picking up, it is likely that any unemployment would be for a shorter period of time than has been seen over the last few years. Indeed, this $8,000 could be sufficient to cover a 3 to 6 month period.

But is it a good time to buy?

As already stated, home prices and interest rates are very low. What will happen with home prices and interest rates in the short term?

With more foreclosures and short sales on the horizon, it is possible that home values could still be driven lower. However, there are other conditions which may keep the prices stable. One, the economy is pulling out of its recession meaning among other things that homeowners will be more likely to be able to afford their mortgage payments and avoid foreclosure; two, the people who have purchased over the last 2 to 3 years are in a much stronger position because of the tighter lending requirements; and three, the total number of homeowners who are not in mortgage trouble is close to 96% of all homeowners, which is a group which will strive to keep home values up.

With an increased money supply, it is likely that interest rates will start to go higher. Even if home values drop, mortgage payments will be inversely impacted by these higher rates. So waiting for prices to drop further will be of no value.

Even if prices drop by another 5%, notwithstanding the likely upward movement of interest rates, it still will be financially sound to purchase, because of the tax deduction benefits that can be received from itemizing the interest and property tax portions of a mortgage payment. These will easily offset this potential further depreciation of property values.

When all things are considered in today's real estate market, including the wise use of the available tax credit, this may be the best time to purchase a home in the last decade.

The wrong use

Of course, one can buy now and make an unwise decision for the use of the tax credit and end up going to foreclosure if they find themselves unemployed.

For instance, unless you are otherwise financially strong, it is not a good idea to use the tax credit for a trip to Disney World.

Look at the tax credit as a way of safely purchasing a home at a time when the economy is moving towards recovery and when the homebuying conditions are as good as they may ever be in your lifetime.

Running Out of Town

You are out of town and are visiting Baltimore and you are a runner. Perhaps you run 5 days or more per week, but you do not know the town and you are concerned about your safety. Where and when can you run?

Of course, runners are everywhere so you will not need to take much effort to find them in Baltimore.

If it is the weekend, then you can contact one of the local running clubs that has something happening on almost every Saturday or Sunday or both. In Harford County to the northeast of Baltimore is the RASAC running club. You can find information about their runs at www.rasac.com. From a 5K to a long distance run, they will be able to accommodate you.

In Baltimore County, there is the Baltimore Road Runners Club. Much of their running is done around the beautiful Loch Raven area, which is just north of Baltimore City. They do some road running and some trail running. You can find more information about them at http://www.brrc.com/.

During the week, there are several groups which run within Baltimore City. Depending upon the time of year, some of these groups may run through the Inner Harbor area, through Fort McHenry, down cobblestone streets, or past miles of rowhomes of eclectic architecture. On Monday evenings at around 6, there is the Federal Hill Runners, which meets by the Cross Street Market; on Thursday evenings, there is the Patterson Park / Canton Runners, which meets in the trendy neighborhood of Canton along Boston Street.

If you are an early riser, then you may want to run with the Back on My Feet crowd. They have several groups around town. You can get more information at http://baltimore.backonmyfeet.org/Baltimore-Landing.html.

For other running in the area you might look to the Falls Road Running Store at http://www.baltimorerunning.com/ or to Charm City Run at http://www.charmcityrun.com/.

Keep on Running.

Pay the Commission Up Front

You go on a listing appointment and you state to the Sellers that the commission will be 6%.

Most of the time, the Sellers are so shocked that they sign immediately. Your presentation was so impressive that they were expecting the commission to be much higher. They can't pass up such a great bargain.

Unfortunately, the current market is slow and home values are down. Sellers want to make up for that decreased value any way that they can.

Of course, they will push you to list the house for more than it is worth. If you are persuasive enough, they may do some improvements to the property to increase its value or to put it into its best showing condition.

In the end, many Sellers view the lowering of the commission rate as the easiest way to reduce their costs and hence to increase their net.

Perhaps we will reduce it to some extent, but we can not work for free. We are providing a valuable service and we deserve to be reasonably compensated for our service.

With fewer sales taking place, we need to get every listing that we can. We need to put money into our empty pockets.

So we suggest a compromise. I will lower the rate, if you will pay me a portion of the commission up front.

For example, a 6% commission on a $300,000 house would total to $18,000. We could lower the commission to 4.5% which would yield $13,500 and provide a savings to the Seller of $4,500, and, obviously, reduce our earnings by $4,500. But a portion would be paid up front.

We can see why the Seller would agree to this reduction, but why would the agent agree to it. Once again, obviously, the agent would take a reduction because $13,500, although less than $18,000, is better than nothing.

Before agreeing to reduce our commission, we can, of course, state to the Seller, that while we understand their concern about their loss in the value of their home, that this same loss is having a significant impact on us as well. Let's say for example that this house was just a few short years ago worth $400,000. If they were selling it at that value, then our commission of 6% would total to $24,000, meaning that in today's market we too are feeling the crunch by a whopping 25% reduction of $6,000 in our commission.

If they are still insisting on a lower commission and we are still willing to work for less, then we can talk about them paying a portion of the commission up front, or buying down the rate.

Ask them to pay you $2,000 non-refundable up front in exchange for the lower commission. In this case, they would then owe the balance of $11,500 at settlement. After all, you will be incurring expenses with your advertising of their property and your taking precious time to get and work a contract for them. They get the discount and you get some money in your pocket for these expenses.

If they agree to this, then there is an additional benefit. Since they pay the $2,000 non-refundable up front, they are likely to stick with you as their agent so that they do not lose this $2,000 investment. Just make sure that you want to stick with them.

Remember, things are slow and you need money to pay your bills, to buy food, to stay in your own house.

Naturally, you can calculate the numbers any way that works for you. I was just providing example numbers.