The NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® has a free resource guide to help real estate practitioners become more knowledgeable and involved in local smart growth issues.  The guide, Smart Growth: A Toolkit for REALTORS® address all aspects of smart growth planning and development.  The ultimate goal is to arm members and their local and state REALTOR® associations with the information and tools they need to address local issues and help make development decisions.

Safety Tip of the Week: Check the property before you leave an open house.  Do not assume that everyone has left the premises at the end of an open house.  Check all of the rooms and the backyard prior to locking the doors.  Be prepared to defend yourself, if necessary.

A study by the Pew Internet & American Life Project says that approximately 147 million Americans are now Internet users but few are downloading podcasts.  Defined as digital content that users can download and view at a later time using a computer or portable media player, podcasts have become more available since 2004, with the number of podcasts posted on the Internet jumping from 1,000 to more than 26,000. 

The podcast audiences are users of varied backgrounds.  Men are almost twice as likely as women to download a podcast.  Internet users also are more likely to download a podcast if they have some college education and a broadband connection at home.

A short sale is a sales transaction subject to a lender’s approval in which the lender consents to the sale of a property for less than what is owed on the mortgage and accepts the proceeds in full satisfaction of the loan amount.  In reality, the proceeds of the home sale fall short of what the borrower still owes on their mortgage.  From the borrower’s perspective, the short sale prevents foreclosure and releases the borrower from an obligation that he or she can no longer afford.  Short sales can also save the lender the expenses of foreclosure proceedings.

Estate taxes may be coming soon if you inherit more than $1 million after 2010—that is, unless current estate tax laws are reformed.  The National Association of Homebuilders predicts that between $41 trillion and $136 trillion will be transferred in the next 50 years as a result of an aging population.  Under the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001, the estate tax, which currently is 46 percent on amounts exceeding $2 million, will be repealed in 2010.  However, without permanent repeal or reform, relief will be short-lived.  The estate tax is scheduled to return in 2011, reverting to the pre-2001 rate of 55 percent on amounts of more than $1 million.

The Mortgage Bankers Association in a research by the Research Institute of Housing America reveals that only a small percentage of older Americans own a second home.  Of the 43 million American home owners ages 50 and over, only 15 percent also own a second home.  Not only is the rate of second-home ownership among older Americans not increasing, but only a small number—12 percent of second-home owners—plan to eventually sell their main residence and occupy their second home.

Other study conclusions:

ü      Younger boomers are no more likely to own a second home than older boomers.

ü      A majority of second-home owners either inherited their homes or purchased them with cash.

ü      Second homes remain a small portion, only 4 percent, of overall mortgage originations.

The NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® has launched a national advertising campaign to urge potential home buyers who have been waiting on the sidelines to act now before prices gain traction. The campaign includes full-page newspaper ads running in six of the nation’s leading newspapers.

The advertisement points out:

q       Interest rates have fallen seven months in a row and are near 40- year lows.

q       Inventories of existing homes are higher than they have been in decades.

q       Home prices have stabilized.

“Homeownership is a safe, secure way to build long-term wealth, “the ad reads.  “The national median price of homes bought 10 years ago has increased 88 percent.  The number of U.S. households is expected to increase 15 percent during the next decade, creating a continued high demand for housing.”