Here's an inspiring—and true—holiday story from Carlotta Ackley, a broker-associate with TOLZ Inc., REALTORS®, in Villas, N.J. (courtesy of our Convention Division colleague Roz Kriener):

As a man headed out to do some holiday shopping the other day, his wife said, "Honey, I'd much rather have a house at the shore than another Christmas sweater." He paused for a moment, and said, "Why not?"

So I got a call from him saying, "I know this is short notice, but could you take me out today because I want to buy my wife a house for Christmas?" So out we went and found one!

Happy Holidays to all -- and best wishes for a happy and prosperous new year!

The Editorial Staff of REALTOR® Magazine

Posted on December 24 at 11:44 AM | Permanent Link | Add a Comment (2)

By Stacey Moncrieff, Editor in Chief, REALTOR® Magazine

Last week, I posted an entry about the technical difficulties that were preventing Remodeling magazine from posting the latest Cost vs. Value Report. Problem solved. The 2008-2009 Cost vs. Value Report is now live. By registering at the site, you can download a free PDF of city-level data on the value of remodeling projects at resale.

Posted on December 17 at 02:02 PM | Permanent Link | Add a Comment (0)

By Robert Freedman, Senior Editor, REALTOR® magazine
Just how important is another economic stimulus effort to home sales? If you ask NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun, he'll say the difference is seven percentage points. That is, with another federal stimulus package--one that provides real help to home buyers by making mortgage financing available at below-market interest rates--we can expect a 10 percent increase in home sales in 2009 over 2008. Thus, if we assume we finish 2008 with about 5 million existing-home sales, then a 10 percent hike would mean an additional 500,000 sales. That's significant. Without another stimulus? The gain will be closer to 3 percent.

The fact is, on a national basis monthly home sales are holding fairly steady. The problem is that steady sales aren't enough to bring down inventory levels, which on a national basis are at about nine months, if not more. To get those inventories down, something needs to happen to drive households back into the market. That's where the stimulus effort comes in.

What's important for federal lawmakers is that this isn't just a housing problem; without a turnaround in home sales, the broader economy can't hope to see a recovery. So it's in everyone's interest for the government to help spur a turnaround in housing. Hence NAR's big push for its four-point legislative plan, which would give the federal government the tools it needs to push interest rates down to below the market rate and create other incentives for households to return to the market. I spoke with Yun in a video interview last week in which he spells out the situation in clear terms. Watch the interview now:

Posted on December 17 at 08:36 AM | Permanent Link | Add a Comment (2)

By Stacey Moncrieff, Editor in Chief, REALTOR® magazine

Every December, we publish Remodeling magazine's Cost vs. Value Report, a report that aggregates the opinions of thousands of REALTORS® on what value various remodeling projects will have at resale.

REALTOR® magazine plays a key role in coordinating the survey each year, but we don't hold rights to post the complete survey online. For that, readers need to go to Remodeling's Cost vs. Value Web site.

Unfortunately, Remodeling had a serious technology setback this year, and as of today, the magazine still has last year's number's posted at the site. For now, you can turn to REALTOR® magazine online for the national averages on 30 remodeling projects.

When the Cost vs. Value site is updated, you'll be able to register at the site and download a free 2008-2009 Cost vs. Value Report for your market (if your market was among the 79 included in the survey).

One more note on the latest report: I had quite a few letters this year from readers who said the job costs were way out of line with reality. Those costs are produced by a estimating company based on a set of specs developed by the team at Remodeling. In other words, we have no control over the costs. However, we'll share your concerns with our friends at Remodeling. Also, note that our own Cost vs. Value coverage this year includes brief case studies of four actual remodeling jobs, each of which cost far less than the estimates specified in the survey.

Posted on December 10 at 12:24 AM | Permanent Link | Add a Comment (2)

by Hilary Marsh

An article in Sunday's New York Times echoes what the National Association of REALTORS has been asserting for months: That for consumers in the right financial position, home-buying is an attractive option now.

"Five or 10 years from now, when the financial crisis has ended and housing prices are up smartly once more, we will look in the rearview mirror and realize that we missed a golden age for first-time home buyers." The article goes on to talk about investing in a down payment vs. leaving that money in a savings account, as well as the availability of rentals in certain parts of the country. Aind first-time home buyers have advantages -- they don't need to sell a place before they buy -- and create additional movement in the housing marketing by opening up opportunities for other homeowners to move on.

Author Ron Lieber also mentions that since real estate is local, this is not the case everywhere, but overall, this article is worth sharing with prospective home buyers, especially first-timers. Continue reading the article.

Posted on December 9 at 11:05 AM | Permanent Link | Add a Comment (1)

by Hilary Marsh, Managing Director, REALTOR.org

I'll be attending Inman's Real Estate conference in NYC next month and will be blogging from there. What do you want to know about? I'm accepting ideas to make sure that everyone in this community can gain knowledge along with me.

Posted on December 5 at 12:35 PM | Permanent Link | Add a Comment (4)