Ken Montville -- the MD Suburbs of DC

Yes, it's Christmas morning and I'm here on Active Rain posting to my blog. You'd think I'd have something better to do. Like open all my presents! Well, like every kid, I got up bright and early to see what Santa bought and I was ecstatic!

• a promise for a new iPhone so I can be cool and connected and
• a GPS so I can find my way around once I find someone who wants to buy a home :-)

Whatever happened to those poor ADC map books? I still see them in stores but I have to guess they won't be around too much longer.

Anyway....Merry Christmas to all and a very Prosperous New 2009.

BTW, you can see both my Letter to Santa for the housing market and my Predictions for 2009. It'll be interesting how they turn out.

Yes, folks,it's time to sit down with family and friends to remember the good things in life. It's hard, sometimes, in the midst of economic crisis, terrorism around the globe, war and hunger to stop and be grateful for all the things that are wonderful in our personal lives.

I am reminded, though, that our forefathers endured great hardship to come and found this country and that Thanksgiving, of all our holidays, is uniquely American. Yes, I know the Canadians have their Thanksgiving as well. The American Thanksgiving, though, is rich in the history of the discovery of the North American continent and it's settling.

Some interesting links -

The First Thanksgiving Proclamation

The Presidential Thanksgiving Proclamation (by George Washington)

The National Turkey Federation

Have a great Thanksgiving...and make sure to leave room for dessert!

Recently, I've been lucky (I think) to get some listings that have Sellers with equity. This means that when an offer comes through there's no waiting for a bank or other "third party approval". You would think that would mean that these Sellers would be ready to work with reasonable and even not-so-reasonable offers that come to the table.

You would be wrong.

In fact, I'm working with a Seller now that has equity and can certainly make a decision to move forward pretty quickly...if they really wanted to. Of course, they tell me they're ready to sell but, of course, they don't want to "give it away" (don't pay attention to all those short sales and foreclosures that are being "given away").

To be fair, some of the offers are pretty low and pretty insulting. However, one came in the other day which, while a little low, was entirely within the realm of reason. I'm thinking that home prices have declined since the home originally went on the market. I'm thinking there are no good, recent comps. I'm thinking that 25% of the Actives in the neighborhood are short sales or bank owned.

So I try to point out the benefits of working with this offer or even accepting it as presented. No go. My Seller client needs to have [x] number of dollars. Never mind that the possibility of getting [x] number of dollars decreases as every week passes. Never mind this Buyer actually looks like they can afford the home and pay the mortgage.

But I tell myself (and tell myself and tell myself), "It's not my home." If the Seller wants to sit on it for a few more months, that's up to the Seller.

It brings to mind a client I was working with last year. She didn't want to give it away either. She turned down pretty reasonable offers. She didn't want to "give it away". After several months of no offers and some price reductions that particular client actually sold and settled for $30,000 less than the offers she turned away because she didn't want to "give it away". You see, she eventually got to the point that she wanted to sell, needed to sell and would take virtually anything to sell the house and move on with her life.

It's just a damn shame that some people take longer to learn the lesson than others.

The Fed and US Treasury have finally come to grips with the fact that, oh yeah, maybe the housing industry could use a little help. While they've been busy handing out money by the truckload to banks so they can buy other banks and keep those corporate jets in the air, the ordinary person who wants to buy a house or re-finance is left out in the cold.

Today, that finally changed. Blog buddy Alan Gorss of National City Mortgage wrote a nice blog post about today's developments at Treasury and the Fed.

The lower interest rates (predicted to hit about 5.25%) will make housing that much more afffordable in the MD Suburbs of DC.

Maybe this is the breather from all the bad news we need to help get us back on track.

I got an e-mail the other day. It got caught in my spam filter which is where it belongs.

Here it is, in part...

I wanted to see if you have an interest in picking up a ticket or two (business entertaining or for personal use) for the 2009 Presidential Inauguration Swearing-In, Parade or Gala Balls. This event is projected to be one of historical proportions, so we are offering purchasing first rights of refusal to law firms (including 3 of the top 10 US firms that we service for events annually) throughout the US and Abroad and Illinois based firms, prior to Mondays release to Fortune 1000 companies and and interested donors.

It was sent to me by this guy --

Paul "Sanders" Soodoo
CEO
Ascend Worldwide
New York-Washington DC-Richmond
P 631 242-9581
E psanders@ascendww.net
W www.ascendww.net

Never heard of him or his "organization" but my guess is he wants to take your money. Preying upon people wanting to be witness to history is just as bad - maybe worse - that the Nigerian kings or ministers that want to send you the millions of dollars they have if you just give them all your bank account information.

BEWARE -- there will be lots of counterfeiters and con artists out these this year waiting to take your money. Unless you cn get a ticket from a legitimate source (like your Congressperson or other State or local political rep.) don't throw your money away. TV coverage will be better....and warmer.