We had a beautiful snowfall Christmas Eve and early Christmas morning. When we woke up in the morning we had a fresh six inches of new snow and I went out to take some pictures of the morning sun hitting the trees outside our house. This is my favorite picture from Christmas morning 2010.
Christmas: God gave us HIS only SON over 2,000 years ago!
It was exactly three months ago today that we laid my father-in-law to rest, less than 250 yards from his lifetime home that he built with his own two hands.
He was buried less than 50 feet from the utility pole that started the chain of events that led to his death this past September.
The replacement pole stands like a lonely sentinel guarding his grave from the next reckless driver to run off the road.
Thorntown is a tiny town between Lafayette and Indianapolis and yet almost 1,000 people turned out to pay their respects to Sharon and her family on her dad's passing. People waited in line for up to two hours on a very hot September day to pay their respects to Floyd. It was the longest day of Sharon's life as she greeted well wishers from 1:30 pm till past 9:30 pm when the tail of the line finally came to an end.
Why so many people? Floyd was a generous individual who always made time for everyone.
When he was president of the town board he paid for an entire set of American flags to line Main Street right after 9/11. He installed the flags at his own cost as well.
He hated to see those American flags rolled up because of the wind so he would always take time out of his busy day to make sure all the flags on Main Street were flying freely!
Although Floyd had to be firm with tenants who were taking advantage of him I heard several stories from his tenants who said how he helped them and gave them a break in some way. He was like that!
Floyd donated over six acres of land to construct the new town and township firestation. It is nearing completion right across from the elementary school-the town's most precious asset!
When a local boy died in the line of duty in service to his country in Iraq, Floyd and others made sure that his family had the means to select a beautiful grave marker to honor their son's sacrifice. That family now has a lasting memorial of their son's life here on earth thanks to the generosity of Floyd and others caring families in Thorntown.
Floyd lived the American dream. He dropped out of high school and worked the night shift at Alcoa Aluminum for 22 years. This is the greatest nation on earth for ANYONE with ambition to work 16 hours per day, have a vison of derived demand, outwork and outsmart your competition, and gain access to financial capital the sky is the limit what a person can do!
While working those 22 years at Alcoa on the night shift(11pm till 7 am) Floyd earned his high school diploma, went to barber school during the day, bought his own barber shop in the heart of West Lafayette's Village cutting hair a stone's throw from Purdue University and 30,000 plus students.
While cutting the hair of Purdue University trustees and vice-presidents, successful businessmen, and even the chairman of the board of a Fortune 500 company, Floyd listened to what made them successful and applied it to his business model! He ended up buying houses in the Purdue Village area and he eventually ended up with over 140 apartments/houses in the most valuable real estate market between Chicago and Indianapolis. He leveraged his assets at just the right time to later benefit from stagflation and Purdue's insatiable demand to keep expanding like the advance waters of a growing flood.
With all his success in the business world he never lost sight of what was important: his Faith, family, and community.
As I visit Floyd's grave there is a bitter irony as I look at that new utility pole less than 50 feet from his final resting place. It is a stark reminder of what would begin the chain of events that led to his death.
Floyd heard a terrible noise at 5 A.M. on September 16th that cut off power to his home and he walked the 200 yards to provide help for the accident victim who had gone off the road and crashed into the utility pole. We later learned that the car was stolen and the cowardly thief fled the scene of the accident.
Upon walking back after helping at the scene of the accident, Floyd collapsed and fell backward hitting the back of his head on the pavement. He sustained massive trauma to the brain, and he died three days later never recovering from his coma.
We are comforted by the fact that Floyd had a personal relationship with Jesus Christ; he loved the Lord and served Him! For me, that is what Christmas is all about. God gave His only Son so that we might have eternal life. I thank God that I had such a loving father-in-law! Floyd we love you and miss you!
This Christmas is going to be different. It is a challenge for me to be a better husband and father, and to appreciate my loved ones all the more, for we just never know . . . . . . . . . . .
10. The top REALTORS® in your MLS board have no idea what you are talking about.
9. Instead of welcoming you the cockroaches HISS at you!
8. Your investor clients do not want to go into the house.
7. The listing agent is ashamed to place his/her FOR SALE sign out in the yard.
6. The rooms are messier than your teenager's bedroom.
5. The rooms are more cluttered than your spouse's office at home.
4. You see the yellow, police crime scene tape across the front door.
3. The kids do their math homework assignments on the bedroom walls.
2. Your client is thrilled to see a single appliance left in the kitchen.
1. Your buyers ask you if the chalk outline of the body on the floor will clean up.
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Actually I hope to clear up some of these misconceptions about HUD homes at a class tomorrow at the Lafayette Keller Williams office @ 2pm.
I find HUD homes to be presentable, mostly clean, and well maintained compared to many of the foreclosures I have seen or sold.
I like the fact if you have a motivated buyer you have a very good chance of winning a bid, and you know it will close within 45 days unlike most foreclosures.
I had a cash buyer with one of the HUD homes and it closed within TWO WEEKS when HUD accepted the bid!
By the way the visitor to the right was captured for posterity in a bank REO home.
HUD homes: Stick around and discover the possibilities!
Richard Weisser has written a featured post "Buying a house now could be the best hedge against inflation. . .EVER!"that makes a solid case for consumers buying a home because of the low home prices and the incredibly low interest rates.
NOT SO FAST!!! I do agree with Richard that in most markets it is a great time to buy a house, and why wouldn't you want to get a FIXED RATE loan and lock it in for the next 30 years as a possible hedge against inflation?
I do not believe we can see that far into the future and assure our clients that buying a home now will be a great investment hedge against inflation. There are too many factors that will impact the future price of one's home besides INFLATION, among them are supply, demand, local employment opportunities, fiscal policy(local, state, & federal), and consumer confidence.
If there ever was a hedge against inflation in our area and appreciating home prices it would be the city of West Lafayette and its award winning school system. From 1999 through 2009 the median sales price of a home appreciated over 25% in value which included an increase for the LAST FIVE YEARS!
Guess what? This still did NOT keep pace with inflation. Even though the median sales price appreciated from $137,000 in 1999 up to $172,000 in 2009 the housing market in West Lafayette(extremely limited supply of new home construction, high demand, award winning schools, Purdue University) the homeower lost over $2,000 dollars in 2009 in "real" dollars(adjusted for inflation).
You need to check out this website: The Inflation Calculator
Did you buy some gold as a hedge against inflation back in 1980(talk about bad timing) for $800 an ounce and sell it last year finally for a "profit" at $885? Plug in the numbers into the Inflation Calculator
ENTER THE AMOUNT OF MONEY $800
ENTER THE INITIAL YEAR 1980
ENTER THE FINAL YEAR 2009
To keep pace with inflation your gold should have sold for $2,056 an ounce!!!!!!
You lost almost $1,200 per ounce on your investment. Had you bought the gold for $100 an ounce in January of 1974 you would have doubled your money in 35 years.(a return of just over 2% per year)
You can do some fun things with THE INFLATION CALCULATOR on past purchases or it is great for your kids and school:
***Was Jefferson's Louisiana Purchase a good deal in 1803 for $15 million. PLUG IN THE NUMBERS!
***Gasoline was 37¢ in 1973 before the oil embargo. What is that in real dollars for 2009?
***You bought your home in 1982 for $100,000 what is that in inflation adjusted dollars for 2009?
Test your local market with historical prices and see how the median or average home sale has held up against inflation!
Will the inflation that challenged our economy during the mid and late 1970's return? Who knows? I do agree with Richard that it IS a great time to buy, and that a fixed interest rate mortgage is a smart move!
I just don't think we can state with certainty that buying a home today is a hedge against inflation for the future. Consumers have an opportunity to buy a home at a great price with incredibly low interest rates and they should do so for those reasons. Hopefully their house will appreciate in value in the future but that is not our call.
microburst = MACRO DAMAGE
It was almost a week ago that West Lafayette experienced a microburst from a storm literally out of nowhere that led to MACRO damage in the city.
Wind speeds were clocked at over 80 mph and damage was sudden and swift to structures and trees.
The West Lafayette High School softball field visitors dugout was absolutely flattened, and its concrete blocks scattered like Leggo blocks. (pictured to the left)
Entire backyard fences with 6 x 6 inch posts were flattened with the posts snapped at the bottom like matchsticks.
Thousands of trees were uprooted, trunks snapped off, and limbs shredded or broken. It was a BIG MESS!!!!
Thankfully, no one was injured!
WHAT A MESS!!!!!!!!
Sharon had a vacant listing in West Lafayette with a large silver maple, walnut, and a neighboring Bradford pear tree. In case your botany degree is gathering dust these are very messy trees susceptible to wind damage!
Guess what I have been doing the last several days? I know, some of you will say I was foolish and that the owner should have hired someone regardless that he is over 800 miles away.
When a client needs help we help them! That is the way we do business, and at this point my opportunity costs are quite low so it was time to play lumberjack!
CLEAN UP TIPS
Disclaimer: The author had a bacon strip(uncooked) sized chainsaw wound to his belly as a college student when cutting down trees. YOU MAY WANT TO HIRE THE WORK DONE BY A PROFESSIONAL! ^_~
Being an Al Bundy type of guy, which means I played high school football and I can do anything, I proceeded over to our listed house(without a chainsaw mind you!)with pruning shears and a small handsaw. That's it!
Here is how I filled up an industrial sized truck waste container filled with the back yard debris that was kindly left by the City of West Lafayette on the street:
1. Trim the smaller branches with the pruning shears.
2. When you have an armful of brush take it to the curb, or in my case, the waste container that was provided.
3. Once all the smaller limbs have been removed use your handsaw(or if you are NOT an accident waiting to happen like myself, a chainsaw is faster!) and cut the limbs or tree trunk into the largest pieces allowed for debris removal.
DON'T LET THE LAST STEP STUMP YOU!!!
1. If you have a smaller tree that you have to cut down or where the wind snapped it off completely(on the left) do not cut the tree at the base by the ground unless you want to spend more money on the stump removal.
2. Cut the tree off about five feet from the ground.
3. Use a shovel to remove dirt around the base of the tree, then use pruning sheers or a small hand saw to cut the roots.
4. Using the leverage of the five foot trunk start to rock the trunk back and forth. Continue to dig and remove roots and the rocking action will snap the trunk out of the ground. I have been able to do this with tree trunks over a foot in diameter. (but remember I played high school football!!! ^_~ )
5. Backfill the hole with dirt and plant grass seed or it may become a nice spot for flowers in a container with mulch around it.
Remember to check for power lines and don't take any chances. I have managed to avoid electrocution!
Call the utilities if you are going to remove the tree trunk as cable TV and phone lines can be near the surface by the house or utility box.
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