Kelly Contorno

Christmas is fast approaching and the New Year is right around the corner. Since the year is coming to an end it makes you ponder what 2009 will bring. We have a new President and very challenging times with the economy. Interest rates have been lowered to a point that they have not been in a while and incentives are being offered to first time home buyers. The days of the sub prime loans are long behind us and it leaves us to wonder will our buyers that can really afford to purchase homes be back in 2009?

In looking forward into 2009, we have the beginning of a new administration in the White House. This is certainly going to have an impact on the direction for 2009. Consumers will have their eye on what President Elect Obama does in the first few weeks and months to help pull us out of this challenging time. Many questions will be pondered by Americans and many people across the world about the economy, foreign relations and the war on terrorism.

I was talking to a couple of builders tonite at the gym and they believe as I do that if they lower the interest rates enough the buyers will come. Pardon the pun but if you build it they will come. It has been a very challenging year for everyone in the Real Estate business (builders, agents, mortgage brokers even insurance agents) but in this business, the strong survive. If we all hang in there and work hard this too shall pass and we will all be celebrating success when the time comes.

Remember the real reason for CHRISTmas and be sure and celebrate the season.

The election is now over, the celebrators have all gone home, now is the time for the new President Elect to begin working for all Americans. This was a historical election that either ticket could have made the history. It just happened to be the Democratic ticket that made that history. In both speeches they called for unity among parties and all Americans working together for the common good of our great nation. I was very upset about the outcome of the election as I am sure many other Republicans were. However, after sleeping on it and trying to look at it in a different perspective I have begun to look at this in a different way.

Now we have a very much Democratic controlled congress along with a Democratic president. As a Republican this is very discouraging but maybe we will not have the gridlock and grandstanding that has become very common the past few months with the challenges that we have been facing in the US. The controlling party will no longer feel the need to make underlying comments to try and undermine the President and his intentions. This just may be the dose of reality that we all need in order to get this great country that we live in back on track.

We all need to do what had become the theme of the whole election and reach across the aisle and work together to bring this country out of the darkness of the past few months. I for one hope that this will bring about confidence in the economy and bring buyers and sellers back.

This is a great country that we live in and no matter who is elected to lead it we are still Americans and need to work together and hope for the best. I am proud to live in a country that our children can dream of running the country no matter your race or gender and can reach that American Dream!

Now is the time for all Republicans, Democrats and Independents to unite and bring this country out of the challenges of the past and make us much stronger.

Last week I made the first steps toward blogging. I have to admit that my first attempt was not bad. Since then I have been stumped on what to follow up with on my next blog. I have so many ideas going through my head, I am unsure where to begin and what to say. When commenting to my daughter, who is a freshman in college, on her response was not what I expected. She said that most bloggers are angry teenagers. Thinking about this it bothered me that many people think that a blog is simply a angry rant that is looked upon not in a positive way but in a negative way.

I would like to think that is more than that. It is a conveying of ideas. It is thoughts, perspectives and opinions on what is going on in the blogger's world. I have read many of the blogs on this site and other sites and I see both perspectives.

So, I guess what blogging really comes down to is what you are feeling and most bloggers blog to convey this, good or bad. They are still conveying ideas, thoughts, perspectives and opinions just that they have different ways of going about it. I guess that would make both of us right...imagine that us agreeing on something.

Knowing this I think it has given me a different outlook on blogging. It does not always have to be clear thought out information. It can be about how you are feeling that day, how the Real Estate market is doing in my market on that day or just how my cat is feeling that day if that is effecting me at the time. However, not everyone would want to know about my cats so I guess I need to stick to the subject and not veer too much toward the random.

Everyday it seems that the media is spreading more doom and gloom about the real estate market and how bad it is. The economy is questionable at best right now but it is nothing that cannot be overcome. The media's role in this is to paint the picture as being worse than it is.

I heard some really interesting statistics today that makes the Alabama Real Estate Market not seem as bad as what is being touted by the media. These stats are as follows:

NV,CA and FL make of 50% of the foreclosures on the market

Add GA, CO, MI and OH to that number and it is 80%

However, 30% of home owners have no mortgage at all and a staggering 91% of homeowners are making their payments on time.

Knowing these statistics certainly sheds a different light on the market for me and lets me know that there really is hope for the market afterall. It is hard everywhere with the bailout bill, gas prices being outrageous but if you look back in history most election years have some uncertainty in the economy. Some years just more than others.

My point in all this rambling is that it is not as bad as the media is making it out to be. There are still buyers out there and there are still sellers, we just need to work harder to get and keep them.