Mike & Starr Freeman

FREE HOME OWNERSHIP SEMINAR
Tuesday, September 29th, 7:00 p.m.

Round Rock Chamber of Commerce - 212 East Main - Round Rock
Next to the Library - Snacks, Dessert and Drinks will be provided.

Join Realtors Mike & Starr Freeman for a free reception and seminar with Real Estate
Professionals, Mortgage Experts, and Credit Experts to answer all of your
questions about home ownership. We will cover topics such as:

• Why you can STILL buy a home with NO DOWN PAYMENT
• Information about the $8,000 first time buyer tax credit
(Time is running out on this credit)
• How to repair your credit without paying someone
• Why you should be represented by a realtor when buying ANY home
• The tax advantages of owning a home
• All of this and MUCH, MUCH, MORE

Sponsored by Mike & Starr Freeman, D.R. Horton Homes, and DHI Mortgage

RSVP to Mike@FreemanCentury21.com
or 512-694-9769 as seating is limited

Mike & Starr Freeman
Century 21 Westbank Summit
www.FreemanCentury21.com

Mike @FreemanCentury21.com Starr@FreemanCentury21.com
512-694-9769 512-694-9764

GREAT PRICES AND SELECTION

While Central Texas has experienced its share of the slowdown, it has been nothing like many other parts of the nation, however there are still many great buys on homes in the area.

SHOULD YOU SELL NOW?

Many people are waiting for the value of their home to go up to sell in order to buy a new home. The concern with that kind of thinking is that while you are waiting for the value of your home to go up, so is the price of the one you want to buy. According to the Federal Housing Finance Agency, Home appreciation in the Austin/ Round Rock area last year was 4.4%. This could indicate that our prices will start to trend upwards.

There are many homes on the market right now and there is a great selection to choose from so if you have been considering a new home, now is the time.

LOW INTEREST

Interest rates are approaching an all time low. Many homes right now are being financed at rates below 5 percent. This means you can buy more home than you could a few years ago for the same payment.

TAX ADVANTAGES

The first time home buyers tax credit is another GREAT reason to jump on board right now. If you have not owned a home in the past 3 years and purchase a home now, you will receive an $8000 tax credit. This credit can be claimed on your 2008 return. This is not a tax DEDUCTION, it is a tax CREDIT. An example is, assume you are getting back $1000 on your tax return. If you buy a home and claim the home buyers credit, you will receive a return of $9000. This is not a loan and does not need to be repaid as long as you keep your home for three years. In addition to this, unlike rent, you can deduct your mortgage interest.

With all the doom and gloom you see in the news lately, it is hard to get excited about spending money but buying a new home is not an expense, it is an investment and real estate is the greatest way to start building wealth for yourself.

Many of you are not in the market for a home now but if you have any friends, family or neighbors that are considering buying or selling a home, we would appreciate your referral and the opportunity to serve them.

Why Freeman Century 21?

At Freeman Century 21 we offer a full range of services from start to finish. If you are buying a home, we have several mortgage services we work with and are very educated about the Central Texas Market. If you are looking for a new home, we have established great working relationships with many of the new home builders in the area.

If you are selling a home, part of our service includes a professional decorator to help prepare your home for showing, a professional photographer so that we can market your home professionally, and we believe we have one of the most prominent internet marketing programs available.

Call us and we will be glad to answer any questions you might have about buying or selling a home.

Mike & Starr Freeman
512-694-9769
www.freemancentury21.com

Forget the Garage Sale!

When we sold the home we were in last year to move to a smaller space, we discovered we had a problem. We had too much junk. If we were to try and take it all with us, it was going to be like trying to shove a watermelon into a soda bottle and twice as messy. (After 4 garage sales and 2 trips to Goodwill with the leftovers our thoughts were, there has got to be an easier way to do this.)

When we came across a client in the similar situation, we did some searching and we did find an easier way to take care of the situation. We don't necessarily like to use this space for advertising and promotion but when we run across a good thing, we like to share it with others.

As we found out when we decided to move, one of the hardest things about moving is getting rid of all of your stuff. Sometimes we are tempted to just give it all away.

Here is a thought: Why not help pay for your move by using an estate sale specialist? You can move everything out that you want to take and literally just walk away from the rest. You don't have to sort anything after you have removed the items you want to keep. They come in and take care of everything and leave you with an empty house, ready to put on the market.

Many of us have aging parents who are ready to downsize or move into a nice retirement community. We can't absorb all of the furniture and we don't need three extra television sets. Again, the answer is an estate sale. Most of us have jobs, kids, or grandkids to run around and often just don't have the time to devote to disposing of unwanted or unneeded items.

We had the pleasure of working recently with Bill Thompson of Downsizing Estates. He did a great job for our clients by taking care of everything. He will visit with you and negotiate a percentage of the proceeds and he takes it from there.

We highly recommend considering this idea and if you choose this route, we also recommend Bill Thompson. He can be reached at 512-797-6021. You can also visit his website, www.DownSizingEstates.com

We have many service providers that we have used over the years that we can recommend when you are getting your house ready to sell, even if it is a year ahead of time.

Have a GREAT New Year and may it be a prosperous one for you.

Mike & Starr Freeman

No, the world is not coming to an end.

So I was pounding away on my treadmill watching Stuart Varney on the Fox Business Channel. He was staring into the camera with such intensity and talking as though we were all straining to hear every word he was saying. He must have thought he was Orson Welles narrating the War of the Worlds radio broadcast in 1938. "You MUST have 20 percent down to get a mortgage. Mortgage interest rates ARE GOING TO BE 8 percent. You must have absolutely PERFECT Credit to get a mortgage."

Straining not to grab something and throw it at the television and doing everything I could not to embarrass myself publicly, I quietly began thinking of questions I would ask him if I could meet him face to face, beginning with "What planet are you from?" and "Where do you get your information, comic books?"

Here is some current information from the planet I live on.

• You don't have to have perfect credit to buy a home. You do have to show recent good credit and the ability to pay. Here are some basic FHA guidelines.

• Two Years of steady employment, preferably with same employer.

• Last two years Income should be the same or increasing.

• Credit report should typically have less than two thirty day late in last two years.

• Bankruptcies must be at least two years old, with good credit since.

• Foreclosures must be at least three years old, with good credit since.

• Your new mortgage payment should be approximately 30% of your gross income

•Recent mortgage rates were as low as 5.5 percent on a fixed rate, 30 year mortgage.

• You DON'T have to have 20 percent down to buy a home. The FHA requirement is 3 percent through December 31^st 2008 and will increase to 3.5 percent on January 1^st, 2009.

• There are even some zero down programs available in certain areas

I have mortgage companies calling me every day telling me how much money they have to lend and how good the rates are, they just need someone to lend it to.

It is sad that the media feels the need to paint a picture of doom and gloom for our country. Yes, there are areas of the country that have been hard hit and YES we are feeling a little bit of that here in Central Texas. The fact is, it is a great time to buy a home. Prices are great and the selection is good. And YES, you can still get a mortgage without giving up your firstborn or some other family member. This country has been through recessions before and this country will come through this one with flying colors. We are very fortunate in our area that we are not feeling the extreme effects that other parts of the country are experiencing. Texas is still adding jobs when other areas of the country are losing them. New companies are moving here every day providing those jobs.

The bottom line is, if you have been thinking about buying a home but have been holding back because of all the bad news out there, here is some advice;

1. Turn off the television

2. Don't read anything but the business page and comics in the newspaper

3. Go buy a home