REALTOR® Safety Week from September 9-15, 2007.  Every day REALTORS® across the nation put themselves in positions where they can be victims of dangerous crimes.  Whether it’s putting up signs along the roadway or showing a house to a prospective buyer, their personal safety is often at stake. 


Yet most REALTORS® do not think about the potential dangers until it is too late.

REALTOR® Safety is a year-round priority.  Showing property may be one of the most potentially dangerous tasks in real estate.  You may be showing a vacant property to a prospective customer, and you may be far away from other people and buildings, putting you in a vulnerable position.

Here are several steps you can take to protect yourself before you set foot on the property:

v  Communication plays a vital role when you are showing property.

v  Notify a colleague of your schedule and whereabouts.

v  Be sure your cell phone is serviceable in the area in which you are showing the property.

v  When the property is vacant, be aware of the time of day you are showing it.

(Source: Georgia Association of REALTORS®)

The pace of home construction continued on a downward path in July with the seasonally adjusted annual rate for privately owned housing starts falling 6.1 percent to 1.38 million units compared with June’s revised figure of 1.47 million units.

According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, construction activity for the month fell 20.9 percent from a year ago.  Single-family housing starts fell 7.3 percent in July to a seasonably adjusted rate of 1.07 million, compared with 1.15 million in June.  Housing starts for buildings with five or more units were down 2.5 percent to 275,000 units.

The PMI Group Inc., which provides residential mortgage insurance, says demand for mortgage insurance is up, especially when the buyer puts down 5 percent or less.  PMI said its portfolio, as a whole, continues to be focused on loans of modest size to individuals and families who are purchasing homes they plan to live in.

AB 980 (Calderon) Disclosure of Already Imposed Private Transfer Taxes, is eligible to be heard on the Senate Floor.  This bill will require that a stand alone document on the private transfer tax (PTT) be recorded to become part of the title record as well as a separate disclosure to potential home buyers as to whether the home they are considering purchasing requires the payment of a private transfer tax, the percentage of the home price constituting the PTT, the duration of the payment obligation, and the recipient of the PTT payment.  If the stand alone PTT document is not recorded, the new home buyer will not have to pay the PTT.  Finally, the bill has been amended to provide a second seller disclosure to a prospective home buyer of the amount of the PTT based on the asking price.

Banks are experiencing a 36 percent increase in the number of overdue real estate loans from a year ago, the fifth consecutive quarter increase for a total of $66.9 billion, according to the U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.

Noncurrent real estate loans, loans 90 days or more past due rose 10.6 percent from the first quarter.  Noncurrent home mortgage loans totaled $27.5 billion, for the second quarter, up 47 percent from a year ago and 12.6 percent from the first quarter.

The Commercial real estate sector is enjoying its ninth consecutive positive quarter, attributed largely to a healthy boost in industrial production and shipments of durable goods, according to the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® Commercial Leading Indicator for Brokerage Activity Index.

NAR’s index shows a 0.5 percent increase to 120.7 in the second quarter from 120.1 in the previous quarter, and up 1.1 percent from the same quarter in 2006 at 119.7.  The gains are the highest recorded since NAR began tracking the index in 1990.

Business bankruptcies continue to rise in 2007 according to the U.S. Bankruptcy courts.  There were 6,705 businesses that declared bankruptcy in the second quarter of 2007.  The number shows a series of upward trends, including a:

• 7 percent increase over the first quarter of 2007;
• 38 percent year-over-year increase from the second quarter of 2006; and
• 45 percent increase for the first half of 2007 in comparison to the first half of 2006.