The Running Realtor

Right now I am sitting at the front desk of the Coldwell Banker office and the phones are ringing again! I've been getting referrals left and right these past couple weeks and can feel this real estate market coming back from the depths. I'll have less competition this year too, many agents couldn't survive the crash and moved on to new careers. Not the Wehmann Team, we set records for 2009 and plan on dominating in 2010.

Outside the office I am making big changes for myself in 2010 too. There are several things I'm set out to do in 2010 I've never done before. Here is a look at just a few, I'll let you decide which ones I'll be taking seriously:

So I couldn't of chosen a worse time of year to train for a marathon, I'm convinced of that much. This cold has been relentless, I've been looking forward to the forecast of it getting up to the 50's this weekend. I survived my longest run of the training so far, a twelve miler this past Sunday. The nice thing about the cold is I focus more on my frost bitten limbs than the fact my knees are giving out with each stride.

In the glamourous world of real estate, I have sat down with too many sellers latelty who want to move, but they bought in 2007 and their values have dropped or stayed the same. "I can't afford to lose $10,000 on the sale, I'll wait until next year once the market has recovered." This has been the reality and many listings I have to walk away from. But not before I give these home owners a realistic option.

.

Take a look at how low interest rates are now and how soft the market it. Say you are moving up, selling your $200,000 home to buy a $300,000 home. You don't want to take a price cut of $10k so you'll wait until next year. But let's say next year the market's recovered, buyers aren't getting the same kind of deals and interest rates are back up. So much for that $10k you "thought" you were saving. Here's a look at the math:

Loan $300,000

Today's Rate: 4.875% 30 year

Monthly Payment $1,589

But you wait until next year and the interest rates are up-

Loan $300,000

Possible Rate: 6.0% 30 year

Monthly Payment $1,798

With these comparisons, you are paying $75,969 more in interest over the life of the loan. That isn't factoring the deal you can get in todays market, or the $8,000 or $6,500 tax credits available. You don't need to see much more to know that NOW is the time to buy, even if it means selling for less than you want. Thank you to Susan Trimmer for these #'s.

If you have read this far, you might be in luck. The first person to answer this question correctly and post the answer in the comment section below gets a $10 Starbucks gift card sent to you, by me.

Q: What James Taylor song reminds first-time buyers to obtain hazard and flood insurance?