Are Better Off Today Than You Were Three Years Ago?

The elections are about 10 months off and we already are hearing all the promises from both parties. Rather than addresses his first three years in office, Democrat strategist are saying he will blame Congress, viz., the Republicans, for all the nations problems in his efforts to get re-elected. But is he forgetting that he had full control of both houses of Congress for the first two years and never even proposed a budget.
As an auctioneer of real estate, both residential and commercial, I am very concerned about 2012. The banks are still not lending, and foreclosures are continuing at a steady pace. The national media would tell us that foreclosures are decreasing but the truth is the banks are slowing down their foreclosure process. They would rather have the homeowner stay in the home and make no payments than to have some Wall Street Occupier move in and trash it. It like saying the unemployment rate is decreasing when the truth is, many Americans have simply given up looking for a job.

This nation is on the brink of collapse both financially, economically and socially, via class warfare. (The have not's versus the haves.) Capitalism is trying to be replaced with Marist Socialism. More and more people are depending on the government to look after them. Where has the spirit of "Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness" gone?

Do you know what the price per gallon of gas was on the day Obama took office? Do you know what the unemployment rate was? How many people were on food stamps? What our national debt was?  I simply ask you," Are you better off today than you were three years ago?

When I showed these figures to a young Democrat friend and asked him who he was going to vote for, he answered, "Anybody but Obama."

Ron Taylor

President/Broker/Auctioneer
Ron Taylor and Sons Auctioneering and Real Estate
http://www.cansellnow.com
252-257-4822

IS IT TIME TO MOVE TO THE COUNTRY?

I can remember all the discussion about what to do about Y2K. I was already living in the country, living on a farm, so all the suggestions about getting out of the city and living in the country did not speak to me. I was getting e-mail after e-mail about food storage. We had our own garden and either canned or froze what we grew. We had cows, goats and chickens (and deer) for our meat supply, so food storage was not a hot button for me. Admittedly, we did order extra grain, rice, salt, sugar, etc.

All of that was over eleven years ago. But what about today? Is it time to move to the country? What is different today from eleven years ago? Did we have unemployment bumping 10% ( and some say the real figure is closer to 15%)? Did we have real inflation in double digit? ( Have you bought any coffee, sugar or grains lately?).  The average price of gas was $1.51 a gallon for unleaded compared to $3.65 today and is on the way up.

Our government is on  a spending binge, mainly to buy votes. The current administration has accumulated more debt in the last two and a half that all previous administrations cumulative. And the debate now is about raising the debt ceiling so Congress can spend more money and buy more votes. And may I add, who is going to pay all this back? You children and mine and their children and theirs and so on.

If the local food store shelves became bare, how will you survive?  Do you have enough land to grow your own food? Can you gut and skin a deer? Got toilet paper?

Many people will steal from their neighbor? Almost every week I read about a group of teenagers going in mass into malls or local stores, taking what they want and walking out. Is this the beginning of anarchy?

Never in my 65 years on this earth, would I have believed that our country would be in the state it is in now. America is no longer the America I grew up knowing. There is no faith in our government. We no longer have statesmen, but professional politicians. Just recently, President Obama said, "... 'professional politicians' know more than the average American," meaning we as voters are stupid.

Is it time to move to the country? Only you can decide that. As a real estate broker and auctioneer, it seems the time is ripe to sell land, outside the city and in the country.

Ron Taylor, AARE
Auctioneer/Broker
Ron Taylor and Sons Real Estate and Auctioneers
252-257-4822
www.cansellnow.com

The Sky Is Falling! No It Isn’t! Yes It Is!

Let’s face it. We are living in a new economy whether we like it or not. The real question is how are we going to adjust to it or better, what are we going to do about it?

The Obama administration is spending money like no other before it since the founding of this great nation. All of this is done under the guise of saving our economy but the path is socialism.

I remember someone asking former President Bill Clinton the question, “When has any nation ever spent itself into prosperity?” Of course the answer is, never. Just ask Greece.

Listen to what Matt Spalding of the Heritage Foundation said: “This past year has been a historic one when it comes to the sheer size of legislation forced through Congress. But the health care bill is just a symptom of a larger epidemic: the shift toward an "administrative state" — an unelected, unaccountable, bureaucratic government operating without the consent of the governed. The United States has been moving down this path in fits and starts for some time, from the Progressive Era reforms through the New Deal's interventions in the economy.”

But what has all this to do with real estate you might ask? A lot! Remember last week’s volatile stock market movement when at one point the market was down almost a thousand points. Investors fled to the 10 year Treasury, driving the yield way down and pulling down the rate on the 30-year fixed mortgage right along with it. The yield came up a bit, but at one point you could get a 30-year fixed rate mortgage for 4.5 percent with no points. That’s not bad but at what cost?

What if the market never recovered that day or what if the same thing happened the following day? How would that affect consumer confidence? As everyone knows, consumer confidence is a very important part of the real estate market.

I can go to several websites that will tell me the real estate market has bottomed out and things are on the rise again. On the other hand I can go to some websites that will tell me the worst is not over. Many will tell me the commercial real estate market is the next to fall.

The National Association of Realtors, of which I am a member, has to put a positive spin on things or they will lose more members. Even Clear Capital says a 3.9% decrease in home value was better than the previous 5% between February and March of this year. The slowing of the decline in housing value is seen as a positive trend, even though the overall numbers are still negative.

If our government keeps spending at the current rate, the best thing you can do is get out of debt as there will be a day of reckoning. And that starts with paying off your current mortgage as quickly as possible as more and more banks are projected to default.

Many European nations are making an adjustment away from socialism but we as a nation seem to be on the path that they want to get off of. Greece is broke through over-spending and many are comparing California to Greece. What comes out of California seems to move eastward.

What can we do about it? Get rid of these socialites in November.


Ron TaylorAuctioneer/BrokerRon Taylor and Sons Real Estate and Auctioneers252-257-4822 http://www.cansellnow.com

Is Obama Hurting or Helping the Real Estate Industry?

Like many of you, I get e-mails and magazines from the National Association of Realtors and from my state association wanting me to write my representatives and endorse many things the Obama administration are proposing to “stimulate” the real estate industry.

Now the Obama administration has proposed to pay each lender $1,000 for each successful short sale. In addition, they want to pay the homeowner $1,500 as “moving” money. They will pay the first lender $1 for every $2 the second lender is allowed to receive.

While this may loosen up the lenders a little to accept more short sale, now the lenders want to put a stipulation in the closing instructions that a home cannot be resold for 90 days after their closing. How is this going to stimulate the economy?

I recently read that 40% of home sold were bought by investors. These investors bought the homes with the idea of reselling for a profit. By adding this stipulation to any closing instructions will only hurt the sale of these homes. I am thankful that many title companies have said they will not issue title insurance with that stipulation. They can’t monitor what happens to a home after closing. Secondly, I even wonder if it is legal.

The loan modification program established by the Obama administration just postpones the inevitable, viz., a foreclosure. Even with reduced payments, you still have to have a job to make the payments, plus many homeowners are finding out they don’t qualify for this loan modification program.

More foreclosure homes are coming on the market affecting the value of the one next door. Unemployment at a all time high while real estate is at an all time low. Which raise an important question? Where is the money coming from to pay for all this? You got, from you and me in the form of higher taxes.

Can anybody tell me what country or individual has ever spent their way into prosperity by going deeper into debt? Why does our government think otherwise?

For information on working with realtors through short sales, go to my web-site page at http://www.cansellnow.com/shortsaleinfo.html .


Ron Taylor
Auctioneer/Broker
Ron Taylor and Sons Real Estate and Auctioneers
252-257-4822
www.cansellnow.com

Using Credit Cards at an Auction

Ron, I recently attended an auction in another state while on vacation. There were some nice pieces of furniture that were being auctioned. The auctioneer stated before the auction that they would accept credit cards for payment but they would charge a 3% processing fee along with the buyer’s premium.
The buyer’s premium was 10%. When you add the credit card fee of 3% plus state sales tax of 7%, it doesn’t seems to be that great of a deal.

There’s not a whole lot you can do about the sales tax but pay it, whether at an auction or at the local grocery store. At an auction, the best way to pay is cash, but I realized that is not always an option for everyone.

The credit card company charges the auctioneer or any merchant, a processing fee. This varies from vendor to vendor. If there was a 10% buyer’s premium, and if someone used a credit card with a 3% processing fee charge to the vendor, the gross to the auctioneer is 7% and then his expenses (labor, utilities, liability insurance, facility charge if he is renting, etc., has to come out of the 7%, thus reducing his margin of profit.

My suggestion is that if you are going to use a credit card at an auction for your purchase, bid accordingly, viz., does the price I pay for the merchandize, plus the processing fee, make me feel I made a good decision with regards to price versus value?

Keep, in mind, if you don’t pay that card off within the next billing cycle, you paid more for that item than what you bid, particularly if you have one of those 18 to 24% credit cards.

For more information on auctions, go to my website at www.canSellnow.com.

AUCTION VALUE vs. MARKET VALUE

The differences between auction value and market value stems from the auction process itself. By this, I refer to several characteristics which are more dominant in the auction process than in the list and sale technique. They are:
1. The necessity to make a decision as to buy or sell at that moment. There is not time in which to deliberate. There is a sense of urgency.
2. The auction process creates an atmosphere of competition among the bidders which could result in at least one or more bidders to offer more for the property than they would have under different circumstances.
3. Buyers are not competing against sellers, but instead are competing against other buyers. Therefore, the activities are not those of negotiation between a high and low price but instead it is a contest of how high one bidder is willing to go above another.
Logically, it would appear that if all of the bidders present at an auction were all well informed as to the market price of a property, then the market price would tend to represent the ceiling of the selling price.
However, an auction many times acts on the emotional side of a buyer’s personality. And when a person starts to add emotion into value judgments, then those judgments may lose some objectivity and, in the buyer’s eyes, more value may be given to the property than is shown by market comparisons.
On the other hand, there is a possibility that the auction price may fall short of the market value. For example, the time allotted to expose the property to the public may be in reality not long enough to attract that buyer who is willing to pay the highest price for the property. Then, the seller who is emotionally prepared to sell the property may accept a lower price rather than wait any longer. Also, if all of the buyers are able to remain objective and the auctioneer has failed to inject emotionalism into the bidding process, then the auction price may also fall short of the market value.

What is an “owner confirmation” auction?

Ron, I recently attended a real estate auction whereas the auctioneer stated that the winning bid would be “subject to the owner’s confirmation.” Was this really a “reserve” auction?

There is really no difference between selling real estate at an auction with a reserve or selling real estate at an auction “subject to owner’s confirmation.” In essence, both of these auctions are “reserve auctions.”

Unless a property is advertised as an “absolute”, meaning the property is sold to the highest bidder with no limiting conditions or amount, it is a reserve auction.

In the reserve or subject to owner confirmation auction, the seller may not personally bid or use an agent to bid for him or her.

For more information on real estate auctions, go to my website at http://www.cansellnow.com/.