An Artist's Look at The Landing's Cabinet Shop

Every year The Landing, a living history museum in Shakopee, MN, celebrates the holidays by holding the Folkways of the Holidays. This event is held on weekends in December and shows visitors how Christmas and Hanukkah were celebrated on the Minnesota frontier during the 19th century.  My friends Kevin Alto, Dave Winter and I are always on hand to man the cabinet shop and demonstrate how woodcraft used to be done during the good ol' days. Dave, the shop's Scandinavian flat carver/instrument repairman/fiddler/bowl turner and general entertainer, has developed yet another trade: watercolors.  This weekend he captured the essence of yours truly as I busily worked away on a small hanging cupboard.  

Here I am at the bench cutting some dovetails on the cupboard's carcass.

Here I am "repairing" a 19th century glide rocking chair with
what appears to be a medieval battle axe.

I think it looks just like me, though I usually only use my battle axe on larger projects.


Thanks Dave!  I've never looked better!

New Bern Home Inventory down

The inventory of homes for sale in the New Bern area MLS is down substantially. Currently there are 1291 homes for sale. Throughout most of the year that number has been over 1500 homes. Percentage wise this is a decrease of 13%.

Although inventory typically decreases in December, this is more than we normally see. My take is folks are staying put with hopes of selling when the market improves. Whatever the reason, I hope that with less inventory, home prices will start to level off. If this happens we will all be better of in the long run.

Real Estate Update.

Steve Tyson’s Real Estate Update


For selected subdivisions

Neuse Harbour

Active homes for sale by price range

Current number of homes on the market=13

Pending sales=1

Active homes for sale by price range

$182,000-$200,000=1

$209,000-$250,000=6

$254,900-$300,000=2

$$300,000-$1,225,000=4

There was 1 home that sold and closed in Neuse Harbour in the last 12 months. The sales price was $232,800



Stately Pines

Current homes on the market=6

Pending sales=1

Active homes for sale by price range

$164,000-$200,000=3

$202,000=1

$669,500=1

$769,000=1

There were 10 homes that sold and closed in Stately Pines in the last 12 months. The most expensive house sold was $214,250.

Carolina Pines

Current homes on the market=22

Pending sales=2

Active homes for sale by price range

$107,500-$150,000=5

$157,900-$200,000=2

$229,000=1



There were 18 homes that sold and closed in Carolina Pines in the last 12 months. The highest priced home sold was $265,000.

Tucker Creek

Current homes on the market=4

Pending sales=3

Active homes for sale by price range

$110,000-$150,000=1

$165,000-$200,000=3

$245,000-$289,000=2

There were 15 homes that sold and closed in Tucker Creek in the last 12 months. The highest priced home sold was $275,000.

Total homes sold January 1-Nov. 29 2009=1118

Total homes sold January 1-Nov. 29 2010=1108

During the same time frame in 2011=1107 homes have been sold.

There are currently 1312 homes listed for sale in our multiple listing service. This number is down from about 1550 In prior months. We are selling homes at a rate of about 100 a month so there is still a large inventory on hand. A buyers market is defined as more than 6 months of home inventory. It is definitely a buyer’s market as we currently have 13 months worth of inventory.

On the plus side, interest rates are still incredibly low, prices have become more reasonable, and we have a nice selection of homes to choose from.

Feel free to call or email me if you would like to have a customized absorption rate or a Comparable Market Analysis for your property. Home sales in each neighborhood can vary greatly.




Realtor Steve Tyson

The Tyson Group Realtors

Tin Cans and House Paint in the 19th Century

Once in a while a seemingly simple invention or discovery ends up having significant and wide-ranging consequences.  One example is the tin can.  Today tin cans are so common that we give them little thought, but after the Civil War they were a novelty that truly revolutionized commerce, diet and help bring about a consumer society.  Among the many industries that cans changed was the production and marketing of  house paint, as they made it possible for the owners of Victorian homes and professionals alike to buy ready-mixed and colored paints.

At the beginning of the 19th century house paint had to be prepared by mixing ingredients such linseed oil, white lead, turpentine, driers and pigments.  Some of these ingredients were often only available in bulk containers such as wooden casks or barrels while the coloring pigments had to be ground by hand. This made it difficult for homeowners to mix small batches of paint for jobs around the house.  However, during the Victorian era tin cans not only made it possible for professional painters and homeowners to buy smaller amounts of paint, the paint was of better quality.  Since canned paints were mixed in factories in bulk, the quality was more consistent.  Whereas the color and consistency of hand mixed paints always varied slightly depending on the amounts and quality of the ingredients, commercial, ready-mixed paints were uniform.  Commercial manufacturers used  pigments that were finely ground by mills so the colors were even.  National brands such as Sherwin-Williams and John Lucas & Co. tested their different ingredients so they could avoid adulterated pigments and additives that were common on the consumer market.    

The John Lucas & Co. of Gibbsboro, NJ was one of the innovators during the last half of the 19th century and was among the first to package house paint in tin cans.  Founded in 1852 by the Englishman John Lucas, the company developed new pigments, improved the production process of white lead and was a pioneer in prepared and ready-mixed paints. 

This can of Indian red paint from around 1880 is an early example of John Lucas's ready-to-use paint.  The soldered lid was removed with a can opener and the contents poured into a bucket.  After additional boiled linseed oil was added to thin the paint, the professional painter or homeowner could brush it on the walls, ceilings and millwork.  Since the top was soldered, the can could not be resealed (Henry Sherwin patented the first resealable can in 1877) and all the paint had either to be used or the remainder stored in an airtight container.

A ca 1880 paint can (still full of paint).

Top of the paint can showing its soldered lid.

Although this little can might not look like much, it represents a revolution in the way house paint and hundreds of other products were marketed and used during the last half of the 19th century.  Small innovations certainly can have large and lasting consequences.

Steve Tyson’s Real Estate Update





Neuse Harbour

Active homes for sale by price range

Current number of homes on the market=5

Pending sales=1

Active homes for sale by price range

$279,000=1

$,334,000-$385,000=2

$ 775,000=1

$1,225,000=1

There was 1 home that sold and closed in Neuse Harbour in the last 12 months. The sales price was $232,000



Stately Pines

Current homes on the market=6

Pending sales=0

Active homes for sale by price range

$160,000-$200,000=2

$205,000-$210,900=2

$669,500=1

$769,000=1

There were 11 homes that sold and closed in Stately Pines in the last 12 months. The most expensive house sold was $214,25s0.

Carolina Pines

Current homes on the market=18

Pending sales=1

Active homes for sale by price range

$137,500-$$150,000=5

$157,000-$200,000=6

$215,000-250,000=6

$259,000=1

There were 18 homes that sold and closed in Carolina Pines in the last 12 months. The highest priced home sold was $265,000.

Tucker Creek

Current homes on the market=7

Pending sales=3

Active homes for sale by price range

$110,000-$150,000=2

$165,000-$200,000=3

$245,000-$289,000=2

There were 14 homes that sold and closed in Tucker Creek in the last 12 months. The highest priced home sold was $275,000.

Total homes sold January 1-Oct. 24 2009=982

Total homes sold January 1-Oct. 23 2010=1021

During the same time frame in 2011=981 homes have been sold.

There are currently 1387 homes listed for sale in our multiple listing service. This number is down from about 1550 In prior months. We are selling homes at a rate of about 104 a month so there is still a large inventory on hand. A buyers market is defined as more than 6 months of home inventory. It is definitely a buyer’s market as we currently have 13 months worth of inventory.

On the plus side, interest rates are still incredibly low. I have a customer that got a 3.75% rate in mid October. In the early 1980’s I remember rates went as high as 18% so it is a great time to buy and lock in a great rate.

Feel free to call or email me if you would like to have a customized absorption rate or a Comparable Market Analysis for your property. Home sales in each neighborhood can vary greatly.

 I can be reached at SteveTyson@NCmove.com And remember you can always visit me online at www.NewBern-NC.Info



Realtor Steve Tyson

The Tyson Group Realtors

U.S. house prices have plunged by nearly a third since 2006, and homeownership rates are falling at the fastest pace since the Great Depression.




The good news? Two key measures now suggest it's an excellent time to buy a house, either to live in for the long term or for investment income (but not for a quick flip). First, the nation's ratio of house prices to yearly rents is nearly restored to its prebubble average. Second, when mortgage rates are taken into consideration, houses are the most affordable they have been in decades.



Two of the silliest mantras during the real-estate bubble were that a house is the best investment you will ever make and that a renter "throws money down the drain." Whether buying is a better deal than renting isn't a stagnant fact but a changing condition that depends on the relationship between prices and rents, the cost of financing and other factors.



.But the math is turning in buyers' favor. Stock-oriented folks can think of a house's price/rent ratio as akin to a stock's price/earnings ratio, in that it compares the cost of an asset with the money the asset is capable of generating. For investors, a lower ratio suggests more income for the price. For prospective homeowners, a lower ratio makes owning more attractive than renting, all else equal.



Nationwide, the ratio of home prices to yearly rents is 11.3, down from 18.5 at the peak of the bubble, according to Moody's Analytics. The average from 1989 to 2003 was about 10, so valuations aren't quite back to normal.



But for most home buyers, mortgage rates are a key determinant of their total costs. Rates are so low now that houses in many markets look like bargains, even if price/rent ratios aren't hitting new lows. The 30-year mortgage rate rose to 4.12% this week from a record low of 3.94% last week, Freddie Mac said Thursday. (The rates assume 0.8% in prepaid interest, or "points.") The latest rate is still less than half the average since 1971.



Real Estate Tools at SmartMoney

Mortgage Calculator

Should You Refinance?

How Much Can You Afford

.As a result, house payments are more affordable than they have been in decades. The National Association of Realtors Housing Affordability Index hit 183.7 in August, near its record high in data going back to 1970. The index's historic average is roughly 120. A reading of 100 would mean that a median-income family with a 20% down payment can afford a mortgage on a median-price home. So today's buyers can afford handsome houses—but prudent ones might opt for moderate houses with skimpy payments.



For example, the median home in the greater Phoenix market, including houses, condos and co-ops, costs $121,700, according to Zillow.com. With a 20% down payment and a 4.12% mortgage rate, a buyer's monthly payment would be about $470. Rent for a comparable house would be more than $1,100 a month, according to data provided by Zillow.com.



Of course, all of this assumes mortgages are available—no given now that lending standards have tightened. But long-term data on down payments and credit scores suggest conditions are more normal than many buyers think, according to Stan Humphries, chief economist at Zillow. "If you have good credit, a job and a down payment, you can get a mortgage," Mr. Humphries says. "There's more paperwork and scrutiny than five years ago, but things are pretty much like they were in the '80s and '90s."



Not all housing markets are bargains. Mr. Humphries says Zillow has developed a new price/rent ratio that uses estimates for each individual property rather than city medians, to better reflect the choices facing typical buyers. A fresh look at the numbers suggests Detroit and Miami are plenty cheap for buyers, with price/rent ratios of 5.6 and 7.7, respectively. New York and San Francisco are more expensive, with ratios of 17.6 and 17.2, respectively. The median ratio for 169 markets is 10.7.



For investors seeking income, one back-of-the-envelope way of seeing how these numbers stack up against yields for other assets is to divide 1 by the price/rent ratio, resulting in a rent "yield." The median market's rent yield is 9.3% and Detroit's is 17.9%.



Investors would then subtract for taxes, insurance, upkeep and other expenses—costs that vary widely. But suppose total costs were 4% of the purchase price. That would still leave a 5.3% rent yield in the typical market. With the 10-year Treasury yield at 2.2% and the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index carrying a dividend yield of 2.1%, rents for residential housing in many markets look attractive.



A few caveats are in order. First, not all transactions are average ones. Even in low-priced markets, buyers should shop carefully. Second, prices could fall further. Celia Chen, a senior director at Moody's Analytics, expects prices to drop 3% before bottoming early next year and rising slowly thereafter. "If the economy slips back into recession, however, we could easily see a 10% drop," Ms. Chen says.

Tips to help your home appraisal

. October 11, 2011, 6:06 PM ET.Ten Tips for High Value Home Appraisals.Article Comments (12) Developments HOME PAGE ».EmailPrintTwitter

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close StumbleUponMySpacedel.icio.usRedditLinkedInFarkViadeoOrkut Text By S. Mitra Kalita



Reuters

Appraisal forms might not always capture a home’s true value, but there are ways to avoid disappointment.The appraiser was due in an hour. The beds were unmade, breakfast dishes in the sink and toys scattered about the playroom. Would she care?



I got moving—and cleaning. At 34 weeks pregnant, that’s not so easy.



After all, I know lowball appraisals can kill deals, something I’ve written about for The Journal.



They can also kill a refinancing application, which we are in the midst of for our 1920s Georgian-style house in Queens. If it comes in too low, it’s not worth refinancing or you might need to put in a whole lot more equity.



We don’t know how ours turned out yet but after talking to a handful of appraisers, I felt great regret at not doing more to plan and prep. Here are some tips based on those conversations.



Caution: Some of the advice—like home valuations themselves these days—might feel contradictory. But what they all agree on is to keep the look, feel and condition of the property as updated and cared for as possible.



1.Spruce the house up. But appraisers caution that you don’t need to deep clean under couches and that a few dirty dishes won’t hurt your value. Rats, cockroaches and that car you’ve been tinkering on might… “Things like overgrown landscaping, soiled carpeting, marks on walls — those do affect value and are part of the property’s overall condition rating,” said Dean Zibas, the president and chief appraiser for Zibas Appraisal in San Clemente, Calif. In other words, think broom clean, not set design for a home-decorating magazine.

2.Curb appeal also matters so mow the lawn, hack those weeds and trim those hedges. This can also help offset your house from unfair comparisons with foreclosures nearby. “In today’s climate I can’t stress enough condition, condition, condition,” said Doreen Zimmerman, an appraiser in Paradise, Calif. “An hour or two, for the most part, will set your home apart in the actual picture that the lender gets from the appraiser vs. the actual picture that the appraiser will provide of the (foreclosure) down the street.

3.Keep a list of all the updates you’ve made and be ready to hand it over; a sketch plan of the house indicating square footage also helps. “Have a list of updating done within the past 15 years. Itemize each update with the approximate date and approximate cost. Also highlight the notable features of the property,” says Matthew George, the chief appraiser of Eagle Appraisals Inc. in Denver, Colo. Remember the items that an appraiser might not notice, like a new roof or insulation. Don’t forget the minor items. For example, I mistakenly told the appraiser we hadn’t updated one bathroom but actually we had installed a new sink and had the tub sealed. That counts, according to the experts.

4.Have comps on hand. Yes, you say this is the appraiser’s job but every little bit helps, “especially if they are aware of a property that sold without the aid of a Realtor (i.e. for-sale-by-owner),” says Mark T. Smith, the owner and president of Smith Appraisal Services in St. Augustine, Fla. That can mean it wasn’t posted on the Multiple Listing Service, and result in other delays by the time it gets posted through other government data sources.

5.Be mindful of peeling paint. Government-insured loans such as FHA and veterans’ loans will require peeling paint to be removed in houses built before 1978. But don’t worry too much about a child’s scrawling on his bedroom wall, unless it’s going to require a whole new paint job.

6.Focus. “Don’t spend money that won’t yield a return on the investment. The best expenditures for most markets are paint, carpet, light and plumbing fixtures,” says Denver’s Mr. George. Prioritize what you do; if you’re the type of homeowner who has upgraded and fixed items as they broke, you should be fine.

7.Location still matters. If there have been changes to the neighborhood, mention them, from a new playground to a new Whole Foods. If the area’s just been declared a historic or landmark district, let the appraiser know.

8.Keep the $500 rule in mind. Appraisers often value houses in $500 increments so if there’s a repair over $500 that can or should be made, it will count against the property. Fix leaky faucets, cracked windows, missing hand rails and structural damage.

9.Also remember the concept of “effective age,” the age the appraiser can assign to a home after taking into consideration updating and condition. “Say you have a cracked window, thread-bare carpet, some tiles falling off the shower surround, vinyl torn in the laundry room, and the dog ate the corner of the fireplace hearth, these items could still add up to an overall average condition rating as the home is still habitable, however your effective age will be higher resulting in comparables being utilized which will have the same effective age and resulting lower value,” says Ms. Zimmerman, who wrote the book “Challenge Your Home Appraisal” and runs a web site by the same name.

10.Lock up Fido and Fifi. Appraisers say they get annoyed enough by homeowners following them around but a snarling, growling dog is even worse. Along the same lines, try to make the appraiser comfortable — if it’s cold out, put the heat on; hot out, the air conditioning. “If it’s 100 degrees out and you never put the air conditioning on, put it on for the appraiser so they don’t question that your unit is broken,” says Ms. Zimmerman.

With those things in mind, let the appraiser do his or her job. “Questions and banter may make the inspection go slow or make the appraise miss something,” said James R. Gerot, a residential appraiser in Ottumwa, Iowa. “My inspections have a rhythm to them so once I get started interruptions are just that. Save questions until after.”



Appraisal, Doreen Zimmerman, Eagle Appraisals Inc., James R. Gerot, Smith Appraisal Services

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9:37 am October 16, 2011

Dave wrote:

.I feel sorry for Zach, and believe he could benefit from a matchbook course in real estate appraising, as a start. Competent Appraisers are trained to be eyes and ears of the real estate market, listening, seeing, reading, viewing, accepting data from everyone, compiling information about the subject market that relates to the subject, and rejecting all that is not relevant.



Doing proper homework on comps, verifying their “arm’s length” transaction, is not a difficult task, just time consuming. The independence of appraisers arises out of how they treat all the data they receive, investigate, uncover, and analyze. Zach’s tub and sink issue is a micro analysis of a lengthy article with very apparent bias.



I began appraising in New England in 1984. I would have a wonderful time in court testifying in opposition to the comments by Zach. That HVCC is in force or terminated is not the issue. It is the aptitude and unbiased position of each appraiser. The industry is rampant with those that have neither, and lending institutions that use the cost of an appraisal and their own bias to choose appraisers. We cannot legislate morality or ethics.

.

8:27 pm October 15, 2011

Jon Putnam wrote:

.Zach: I agree with your thoughts on this article, and on HVCC in general. One small thing. It is perfectly acceptable to present comps to an appraiser. The appraiser must decide if the comps (or any other information) is relevant to the assignment.

.

5:55 pm October 15, 2011

DeeDee Riley, Realtor, El Dorado Hills CA wrote:

.Great input!

.

1:25 am October 15, 2011

Zach wrote:

.Felipe – Las Vegas poses a big problem to Las Vegas now days The appraisers just report market conditions. This is like saying the weather man makes it 80 degrees and sunny.

.

1:23 am October 15, 2011

Zach wrote:

.HVCC is not a problem. All of the brokers and lenders that coerced appraisers into inflating values was a problem.



The HVCC does have undeniable unintended consequences and the system could be better. The slant from the broker/lender community is so transparent it’s not even funny…they’re only upset because they can’t push appraisers to grease the wheels on their transactions. Any major lender that tracks their appraisal data will tell you that there is a lot more objectivity in appraisal values than there is in borrower’s estimates. How many borrower’s “estimate of value” is loan balance divided by 0.8? They estimate their home to be worth what they need to get a deal done…any lender has the data to show this.



I don’t know why this author feels so compelled to write about something he is completely unqualified to speak about. This article is absolutely ridiculous.



Added a new sink and sealed the tub? Are you kidding? Sealed the tub??? Ask 10000 appraisers and every single one of them will tell you sealing a bathtub will never make its way on to an appraisal report. Why? Because the appraiser has the luxury of inspecting every nook and cranny in the subject property, but has basic info (age, beds, baths, square footage, amenities, lot size, etc) for the comparables. How is an appraiser to gauge the typical buyer’s reaction to having a bathtub resealed or address the value of a new sink? We’re talking about a couple hundred dollars in general maintenance on a home that could be worth 1000 times that. I’ve heard about every argument, but this one takes the cake as the most ridiculous of all time.



Can you imagine the outrage if an appraiser made a negative adjustment to one of the comparables because they just put in a new sink and sealed their tub? This is where the double-standard of salespeople and borrowers becomes transparent. They want the appraiser to make positive adjustments for these kind of things on their property, but would crucify an appraiser for docking their value because a comparable had these things.



All features of a property are adjusted for relative to the comps. If you just dumped $50k building a 3-car garage on your property but all of your comps also have a 3-car garage, do you know how much that $50k adjustment will equate to in adjustments on your appraisal? Exactly zero.



The author also makes the profound statement that “Location still matters”. Really? Was that ever in doubt? Mention the new playground in the neighborhood? Why? If the comps are from the same neighborhood wouldn’t they benefit the same amount from the new playground?



Have comps on hand? I suggest Mr. Kalita get familiar with the Appraisal Independence Requirements. Suggesting comps to an appraiser is either (a) going to get ignore or (b) cause them to decline the assignment. How is pushing “comps” on them not attempting to influence value? I suppose we’re all to believe that the borrower will have access to local MLS, verify terms of these transactions, and verify with independent third parties? And, of course, the borrower is performing said search of MLS based on an objective analysis of market data and an unbiased view of their home’s physical characteristics? They would never search $300k-$350k and see what pops up and looks “similar”? If banks and investors want borrower-supplied comps, why not just let the borrower send to the underwriter?



The author continues to expose himself as the amateur that he is. Perpetuating these fallacies does more damage to the marketplace than the HVCC ever will. As a leading financial publication, I am shocked and disappointed that the WSJ continues to print these stories. And I say “stories” intentionally.

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New Homes sales-Bad News

Although existing real estate sales in our MLS have been down this year new home construction has been hammered. I think it is a result of banks not lending for speculative building and buyers finding homes that are almost new for much less than builders can build new homes for. Unfortunately this trend might last for some time. Consider the data below. The data below represents homes sales in each year, Jan.1-Oct.9

2006-586
2007-477
2008-303
2009-256
2010-254-
2011-190

In my next post I talk about what builders can do to get a competitive edge.

Mortgage News

DOW JONES NEWSWIRES


The number of mortgage applications filed in the U.S. last week rose 9.3% from the prior week, the Mortgage Bankers Association said Wednesday, as interest rates continued to slide following the Federal Reserve's latest stimulus measure.



Refinance activity climbed 11%, according to the MBA's weekly survey, which covers more than three-quarters of all U.S. retail residential mortgage applications. Purchasing grew by a seasonally adjusted 2.6% during the week ended Friday.



Borrowers have reacted cautiously to extremely low interest rates over the past few months, while tighter lending requirements continue to pressure new applications. But mortgage activity picked up last week after the Fed's latest move, dubbed Operation Twist, helped push rates even lower. The move was designed to help lower long-term interest rates by buying up more mortgage-backed securities.



The share of applications filed to refinance an existing mortgage rose to 79.7% of total applications from 78.3% the previous week. It was the highest share since the survey changed its benchmark in January.



The four-week moving average for all mortgage applications is up 1.96%.



Adjustable-rate mortgages made up 6.1% of activity last week, down from 6.7% a week earlier.



The average rate on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances edged down to 4.25% from 4.29%, while rates on similar mortgages with jumbo loan balances decreased to 4.51% from 4.55%. The average rate on FHA-backed 30-year fixed-rate mortgages slipped to 4.05% from 4.07%.



Meanwhile, the average for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages ticked up to 3.47% from 3.46%. The 5/1 ARM average decreased to 2.95% from 2.96%.



-By Drew FitzGerald, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2909; Andrew.FitzGerald@dowjones.com

The Greek Revival: America's First National Building Style

The Greek Revival has always been my favorite American building style.  I find its simplicity appealing while its strength and solidity remind me of the growing confidence and wealth of the new republic.  The Greek Revival was significant because it was America's first national style.  Although based on a European precedents, its American form was unique and was found coast-to-coast during the first half of the 19th century.  This popularity was due principally to the widespread use of several pattern books, including Minard Lafever's The Modern Builder's Guide (New York, 1833) and Asher Benjamin's Practical House Carpenter: Being a Complete Development of the Grecian Orders of Architecture (Boston, 1830).  These pattern books were written for carpenters and house joiners who used the books' descriptions and lithographic plates as models for their own designs.

The Greek Revival was a favorite with the burgeoning East Coast merchant class.  The Whipple House of Salem, MA was built in 1843 and is a classic example of the new style.  Jonathan Whipple prospered after he established a factory in Salem around 1835 which sorted and processed copal,  an African resin which was used to make furniture and maritime varnish.

The house has several features typical of the Greek Revival, including Doric pilasters at the corners, a recessed doorway with rectangular sidelights and transom, and a wide entablature running the length of the front.  The trim around the front door is particularly striking and closely resembles a plate from Asher Benjamin's book Practical House Carpenter.

Jonathan Whipple House, Salem, MA, 1843

The Ard Godfrey House was built in 1849 and is the oldest remaining frame building in Minneapolis, MN.  Godfrey was a millwright who moved with his family from Maine after  Franklin Steele, a prosperous speculator and mill owner,  asked him to construct a sawmill at the Saint Anthony Falls.  Godfrey was one of the first permanent settlers around Minneapolis and is notable for being the first to bring dandelions seeds to the area.

The proportions and  shape of the Godfrey House resemble those of  the Whipple.   The house is symmetrical with a  similarly pitched roof.  However, its ornament is less bold.  The Godfrey House has Doric pilasters like the Whipple, but they are narrower and molding on the capitals is simpler.  The front door is not recessed but has rectangular sidelights and is framed by a temple-like door surround with two pilasters and a simple but strong entablature.  The Godfrey has a simple frieze board along the top of the wall rather than the Whipple's more elaborate entablature.

Ard Godfrey House, Minneapolis, MN, 1849.

Although these houses were built over a 1000 miles apart, they share many characteristic features of the Greek Revival.  As such, the Godfrey and Whipple houses are excellent examples which show the national character of the building style.

Bright Spots in Real Estate.

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DAILY REAL ESTATE NEWS



September 14, 2011





5 bright spots in real estate recession

Mood of the Market

By Tara-Nicholle Nelson

Inman News™



Share ThisThe real estate market meltdown was much more severe and has lasted much longer than even the most bearish housing market observer would ever have predicted. Rather than values taking a dip, they've taken a double dip in many places; and the housing sector drama has infected the job market and the entire world's economy.



Yet, there are some very shiny silver linings to this whole mess -- a handful of ways in which our mindsets, habits, behaviors and approaches to money, mortgage and even life decision-making -- have been changed by this real estate market debacle. As I see it, here are the five best things about this otherwise terrible housing recession:





People now buy for the long term. Even Jeff Lewis, that reality TV house flipper extraordinaire, has declared that he's tapped out of the flipping business for the foreseeable future, trading in his real estate wheeling and dealing for the design business.



Recently, he mentioned having lost six homes in the real estate market crash. While Lewis flipped homes as his business, just five years ago, many Americans -- homeowners and investors alike -- took a short-term view on their homes, buying them with the idea that they could count on refinancing, pulling cash out or even reselling them anytime they wanted, at a profit.



Reality check -- those days are gone. Now, buyers know they'd better be prepared to stay put for somewhere between seven and 10 years (shorter in strong local markets, longer in foreclosure hot spots) before they buy if they want to break even. And this is causing them to take mortgages they can afford over time, and make smarter, longer-term choices about the homes they buy.









Dysfunctional properties are being weeded out and creatively reused. Municipalities like Detroit and Cleveland are demolishing blighted and decrepit properties in dead neighborhoods en masse, intentionally shrinking their cities to match their shrinking populations. These efforts are also eliminating breeding grounds for crime, and focusing resources on the neighborhoods that have a better chance of surviving and thriving in the long term.



In the so-called "slumburbias" of central California, Nevada and Arizona, McMansions are being repurposed into affordable housing for groups of seniors, artist communities and group homes.









American housing stock is getting an energy-efficient upgrade. The news would have you believe that every American has lost his or her home, walked away from it, or is now renting by choice. In fact, the vast majority of homeowners have simply decided to stay put.



Instead of selling and moving on up, homeowners are improving the homes they now plan to stay in for a long(er) haul. And this generation of remodeling is focused less on granite and stainless steel, and more on lowering the costs of "operating" the home and taking advantage of tax credits for installing energy-efficient doors, windows, water heaters and more. And while the first-time homebuyer tax credit is a thing of the past, the homeowner tax credits for energy-optimizing upgrades are in effect until the end of this year.









People are making more responsible mortgage decisions, and building financial good habits in the process. Buyers are buying far below the maximum purchase prices for which they are approved. They are reading their loan disclosures and documents before they sign them. And, thanks to the stingy mortgage market, they are spending months, even years, in the planning and preparation phases before they buy: paying down their debt; saving up for a down payment (and a cash cushion, so that a job loss wouldn't be disastrous); being responsible and sparing in their use of credit to optimize their FICO scores; and creating strong financial habits in one fell swoop.









Our feelings about debt and equity have been reformed. Americans no longer use their homes like ATM machines, to pull out cash, pay off their credit cards and then start the whole overspending cycle over again. Many can't, because their homes are upside down and cannot be refinanced in any event -- much less to pull cash out.



Others have been reality-checked by the recession, and are dealing with their non-mortgage debt the old fashioned way: by ceasing the pattern of spending more than they make, and applying the self-discipline it takes to pay their bills off.



Home equity, in general, is no longer viewed as an inexhaustible source of cash. Rather, we see it as a fluctuating asset to be protected and increased -- not so much through the vagaries of the market, but through the hard work of paying the principal balance down. Many of those refinancing into today's lower rates aren't doing it to pull cash out, as was the norm at the top of the market; instead, they are refinancing into 15-year loans to pay their homes off sooner than planned, or reducing their required payment so their extra savings can be applied to principal.



Of course, it remains to be seen how lasting these changes will be if and when home prices go up and mortgage guidelines loosen up. But since neither of these things look likely to happen in the short term, hopefully there's a chance that these behavior shifts will become part of a permanent mindset reset for American housing consumers.



Tara-Nicholle Nelson is author of "The Savvy Woman's Homebuying Handbook" and "Trillion Dollar Women: Use Your Power to Make Buying and Remodeling Decisions." Tara is also the Consumer Ambassador and Educator for real estate listings search site Trulia.com. Ask her a real estate question online or visit her website, www.rethinkrealestate.com.



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Time to buy a home?

I started my career in home construction and real estate in 1978. Home sales were brisk until the early 1980's when mortgage interest went up to as high as 18%. Talk about a challenge, try convincing someone that 18% was a good rate to pay for a home loan. Hign interest rates, high unemployment, and high inflation eventually bought the real estate market to a grinding halt.




Consider mortgage rates today, 9-13-11. You can get a 15 year mortgage for 3.33% if you have good credit. In North Carolina you can get a new 2000 square foot home for 200,000. If you borrowed $180,000 for 15 years at 3.33%, your payments, principle and interest, would be around $1271.81. You could rent a home for a comparable amount so which way should you go?



In my opinion, if you are going to be in a home only 2 or 3 years you might want to rent. Any longer buying might be the better option as we all know long term real estate will go up. It might be a few more years before the sub prime meltdown plays out but it will eventually work out and home prices will start to rise again.

Stupid Low interest rates

As someone that has been in the Real Estate business for over 30 years never thought I would see these interest rates.

Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey®


Avg. Fees & Points

Copyright 2011, Freddie Mac. Averages are for conforming mortgages with 20% down.

30YR FRM 4.12 0.7

15YR FRM 3.33 0.6

5YR ARM 2.96 0.6

1YR ARM 2.84 0.6

Interesting read on housing

RISMEDIA, July 29, 2011—(MCT)—Home prices in major U.S. cities increased in May for the second consecutive month, according to a closely watched index, although experts dismissed the uptick as seasonal while separate reports provided fresh evidence of a weak housing market.




The Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller index of home prices in 20 metropolitan areas rose 1 percent from April to May when left unadjusted for seasonal variations.



Prices often rise in spring because of changes in the types of homes selling: Foreclosures make up a higher proportion of sales during the winter as families take a break from home shopping and cash-rich investors dominate the market. Higher sales volumes also push up prices.

But compared with May 2010, home prices slid 4.5 percent, according to the index released Tuesday.



“Year-over-year, prices continue to deteriorate, although there has been a seasonal uptick over recent months,” says Stuart Gabriel, director of the Ziman Center for Real Estate at the University of California-Los Angeles. “This reflects a market that continues to be in search of a bottom.”



Chris G. Christopher Jr., an economist with consulting firm IHS Global Insight, said in a research note that the seasonal kick in prices will probably fade by October.



“Things do not look very favorable on the housing front since the employment situation has taken a turn for the worse in May and June,” he wrote. “The unemployment rate now stands at 9.2 percent, and consumer confidence is at depressed levels. Going forward, the Case-Shiller indexes are likely to post increases during the home-buying season, and then turn down again.”



The housing market began a renewed decline last year after the expiration of federal tax credits and has been limping along ever since. In March, home prices fell below their recession-era low, hit in April 2009, confirming a much-expected double-dip. Values have ticked up slightly since then.



One factor keeping housing weak is the high number of homes in foreclosure or headed into the foreclosure process. Then there’s the stalled jobs market, weak consumer confidence in the economy’s direction and the significant number of people saddled with mortgage debt that exceeds the value of their homes.



A separate report released Tuesday by Santa Ana, Calif., research firm CoreLogic indicated that the nation’s housing market is hampering the broader U.S. economic recovery. The report said that while several temporary factors have contributed to a slowing recovery, including high gas prices, U.S. floods and fading stimulus programs, “fundamentally, the recent slower economic growth illustrates that as the housing market goes, so does the economy.”



Housing influences the economy directly through residential construction, which typically gives a recovery a key boost. But with stiff competition from foreclosures, sales of new homes have been very weak for more than a year.



(c) 2011, Los Angeles Times.

Foreclosures

Foreclosure filings in the U.S. tumbled last month to the lowest in almost four years as banks weighed down by an increasing inventory of seized homes delayed processing defaults, according to RealtyTrac Inc.




A total of 214,927 properties received default, auction or repossession notices in May, the fewest since November 2007, the Irvine, California-based data company said today in a statement. Filings dropped 33 percent from a year earlier and 2 percent from April. One in 605 households got a notice.



Foreclosure filings have fallen for eight straight months on a year-over-year basis as banks rework their documentation procedures following claims they improperly repossessed homes. Weak demand from buyers is making it difficult for lenders to sell the properties that they already have on their books, known as real estate owned, or REOs, according to RealtyTrac.



“Foreclosure processing delays continue to mask the true face of the foreclosure situation,” James J. Saccacio, RealtyTrac’s chief executive officer, said in the statement. “Even at a significantly lower level than a year ago, the new supply of REOs exceeds the amount being sold each month.”



Unemployment and falling home values are limiting property sales and have pushed about 28 percent of mortgage holders underwater on their loans, meaning they owe more than the home is worth, according to Zillow Inc. The U.S. jobless rate rose to 9.1 percent in May from 9 percent the previous month, the Labor Department reported June 3.



Eight-Year Low

Home prices slid 3.6 percent in the first quarter to the lowest level since 2003 in the S&P/Case-Shiller index of values in 20 U.S. cities. Confidence among builders in June was at the weakest in nine months, as executives expressed pessimism about the prospect of higher sales, the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo sentiment index showed yesterday.



The inventory of distressed homes nationwide stands at 1.8 million, which would take about three years to sell at the current pace, Daren Blomquist, RealtyTrac’s communications manager, said in a telephone interview.



Default notices were filed on 58,797 U.S. properties last month, the lowest in more than four years and a 39 percent decline from a year earlier, according to RealtyTrac.



Auctions were scheduled for 89,251 properties, down 33 percent from May 2010. Lenders seized 66,879 homes, a 29 percent decrease from a year earlier.



States where courts oversee foreclosures showed a 45 percent decrease in filings from a year earlier, while non- judicial states had a 25 percent decline and accounted for almost two-thirds of the national total, RealtyTrac said.



Nevada, Arizona



Nevada had the highest rate of foreclosure filings per household for the 53rd straight month, with one in 103 getting a notice. Arizona had the second-highest rate at one in 210 and California was third at one in 259. Michigan, Utah, Georgia, Idaho, Florida, Illinois and Colorado also ranked in top 10.



Five states accounted for more than half of the U.S. filing total, led by California’s 51,906. Florida was second at 19,192 and Michigan third at 14,614. Arizona, Nevada, Illinois, Georgia, Texas, Ohio and Wisconsin rounded out the top 10.



RealtyTrac sells default data from more than 2,200 counties representing 90 percent of the U.S. population.



To contact the reporter on this story: Dan Levy in San Francisco at dlevy13@bloomberg.net

Real Estate Reports

Timely, local real estate data trumps national reports

Perspective: A call for more useful real estate statistics

By David Charron, Tuesday, June 14, 2011.



Inman News™



Broad housing market reports are a dime a dozen these days, and if you ask me, that's a good approximation of their worth. Markets are sliced and diced and compared across the board, drawing multiple -- and often conflicting -- conclusions with shaky, obsolete data. The market's up, or maybe it's down. It's good, it's bad, and it's confusing.



For most people, even with access to all this information the results are more inconsistent than ever, often dated and out of context. But they don't have to be.



Timely and accurate information, provided on a local level with a real-world perspective, is the real estate market's most important commodity -- and the ability of the public, government, financial institutions, investors and real estate professionals to make informed decisions on local housing markets is the cornerstone of an eventual housing recovery.



Isn't it time we stop trying to drive by, looking in the rear-view mirror, and insist on seeing just the facts, clearly, as they unfold?



Article continues below





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Considering the critical role that real estate statistics play in just about every housing-related decision, it is time for our industry to rally around better data. We owe it to ourselves, our clients and our profession to insist on timeliness and clarity while delving into the motivations and methodologies of every metric we disseminate.



The most recent Case-Shiller Home Price Index of May 31 is a perfect example: It noted, of all the U.S. markets it tracks, the Washington, D.C., metro area as the only market to experience an increase in housing prices for the first quarter of 2011.



While this index may be useful for Wall Street, it hardly constitutes breaking news. Improving market conditions were reported three weeks earlier in an index produced by an MRIS subsidiary.



Metric discrepancies are about more than selling products or securing a reputation in the marketplace -- they go to the heart of how we think about information. The one real estate mantra that has remained unequivocally true through some of the most tumultuous years in the history of our profession is that all real estate is local.



By focusing on broad market-to-market comparisons instead of individual markets, we undercut our value as real estate professionals. Instead of chasing fleeting affirmations that change day in and day out, we should ensure that real estate professionals know how to read and apply local data.



Let's focus more on whether single-family homes or condos are more prevalent in a single area, the variance of seasonal market shifts, or the changes in sales activity that often precede major trends.



Let's talk about the facts as they stand today and refrain from basing decisions on reports that are already five to seven months behind the market when they hit newsstands.



We're never going to move forward as a profession by basing decisions on old data, and we'll never overcome paralysis if we compare our local markets to every other market in the country without considering the context of local driving forces.



Most people won't buy stocks today based solely on six-month-old research, nor will they decide what to wear today based on the average temperature in New York. Why don't the same principles apply to real estate?



David Charron is president and CEO of MRIS, the largest multiple listing service in the nation. MRIS facilitates more than $100 million a day in real estate transactions in the mid-Atlantic region.



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Submitted by Leon d'Ancona, B.T.L., M.T.L. on June 14, 2011 - 1:29pm.

Mr. Charron is very correct. Case-Shiller is a rather narrow index based on the principal variable used for index calculation of the price change between two arms-length sales of the same single-family home. For each sales transaction, a search is conducted to acquire information on any previous sale of the same property. If an earlier transaction is found, the two are paired and considered a “repeat sales transaction”.



In the last 25 years I have found its results very rarely reflect true small city or neighborhood values.



To dispel some of the negativity of this benchmark have a look at www.happyrenews.com a free service we provide to negate the poor press of real estate values.



Leon d'Ancona, B.T.L.,M.T.L.

President/CEO IMS Incorporated

WWW.Realestatestatistics.com





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Submitted by Keith Byrd on June 14, 2011 - 1:53pm.

Consumers want facts. Our industry's image has taken a hit from all the "now is a good time to buy" comments from agents that don't have a clue what's going on in their local market. Guess it's the difference between being a Sales person that will say anything to sell a home vs. providing a Service.



In my area, the local paper writes about the local real estate market using a single piece of data from a stats company. This value is county-wide and lumps all residential properties in one bucket and is missing any foreclosure info. In my county, foreclosure rates of sold properties in cities range from 0% to 60%.



I've been reporting statistics on my website for years but it was a tedious process to gather and report the info. I recently developed an interactive tool that displays detailed info about the local market for the last 11 years. There are over 20,000 graphs of info that I now make available to consumers in an easy-to-use presentation that's updated every month.



Check em' out here:

http://www.slocountyhomes.com/dashboard.html



Keith Byrd

SloCountyHomes.com

San Luis Obispo, CA





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Submitted by C.H. Naamad on June 14, 2011 - 2:32pm.

I agree with you a 100%!!!

C.H. Naamad

Boston Luxury Residential

Cell: 617-407-9740

Ch@blrboston.com





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Submitted by Travis Wright on June 14, 2011 - 2:54pm.

Well put, David. I have seen the impressive data reports coming out of ARMLS and I bet yours are awesome, too. Here's hoping your wisdom sinks in to all MLS'. T.



Travis In Texas

travis-wright@comcast.net





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Submitted by Albert Clark on June 15, 2011 - 3:10am.

Tagging on Tip O/Neils line, All Politics is Local we know "All RealEstate is Local" We provide a unique e-newsletter service to agents and see many agents adding their local market data that is fresh and usually zip code specific. I can attest that the local data is the most widely clicked on feature in the newsletters. Everyone wants to know what's going on in their marketplace. Long and Foster provides very attractive and useful Market Minute Reports. MRIS agents (David's area) is really Amp'ing up the availability of local stats with www.rbintel.com. We show agents how to use this data as they become advocates for their clients and prospects. Local stats, at the zip and neighborhood are a powerful marketing and retention tool



Albert Clark

Home Actions Relationship Platform

Scranton, PA



570 510 3507

aclark@homeactions.net





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Selecting Doors for your Historic Home

One frequently neglected step when restoring a Victorian home is the selection of millwork that is appropriate for the building's age and style.  This includes interior and exterior doors, which are often hastily chosen after thumbing through a catalog or browsing in a showroom.  Few salespeople in home centers or millwork outlets know the differences between building styles such as  Queen Anne, Greek Revival, or Eastlake and are unable to help homeowners make informed decisions.  The result is doors that look out of place and detract greatly from the character of a historic home.

If you are considering replacing doors one of the first steps should be to identify the age of the originals.   Around 1700, frame and panel doors appeared in America and quickly replaced board and batten doors in all but the most rustic buildings.  Frame and panel doors are the type we see all around us today.  They are composed of vertical boards called stiles, two or more horizontal pieces called rails and a number of floating panels fitted into grooves.

Frame and panel door from The Practical Woodworker,  Bernard E. Jones, ed., showing stiles, rails, panels and the mortise and tenon joinery.  

One way to determine the age of a door is to find out whether it was hand-made by a house joiner (a joiner is the 19th century version of a finish carpenter who made and installed doors, windows, molding, stair parts, etc.) or was machine-made in a factory. Before about 1850 much millwork was still made by hand using saws, special planes and chisels. Hand-made doors from this era have a few characteristics that make them relatively easy to spot.

Hand-made doors often had pinned mortise and tenon joints where the tenon was secured in the mortise pocket with a  round or square wooden pin.  Joiners frequently used a technique called "draw boring" where a hole was bored through the mortise and tenon for a pin, but the hole in the tenon was bored slightly off to the side.  When the pin was driven through the mortise and tenon it pulled the joint together very tightly.

Circa 1855 door with two pins securing its tenon in mortise.

 Another way to identify hand- made doors is to look at the way the panels were raised (for an explanation of panel raising using hand tools, look at this earlier post).  Hand-made door panels from the Federal, Greek Revival, and Gothic Revival styles often show tool marks that indicate which tools were used to make them.   Hand planes often leave subtle marks called "tracks" where there is a line left by the edge of the plane's cutting iron.  These marks are especially visible in flatter, Greek revival doors where the cross-grain and long-grain meet at the corners of panels.  The edges on the raised fields of the panels are usually square rather than rounded (which was common on later, machine-made doors).

The faint horizontal lines on this ca. 1853 door  were made by the edges of a plane iron when the joiner raised the panels.  Note also the square edges on the raised panel field.

Planes marks can also been seen on the molding profiles, or sticking, in the rails and stiles surrounding the panels.  Unlike machine-made molding, which is perfectly even, hand-made molding sometimes will have slight variations, chatter around twisted grain, and the occasional "tracks".  

Industrialization quickly changed the way millwork was produced in the U.S.  Aside from  isolated, rural areas, most doors produced after the Civil War were either machine-made or a combination of machine and hand work.   Steam powered factory equipment was well suited to the production of stock doors as it eliminated the need to pay legions of craftsmen to cut, saw and plane hundreds of rails, stiles, mortises, tenons and molding.

One easy way to identify machine-made doors is to look at the ends of the tenons.  Rather than securing the mortise and tenon joints with pins, machine-made doors usually have two wedges driven into the ends of the tenons.  This causes the ends of the tenons to fan out slightly and hold the joint together.  Although wedging was done by joiners, pinning was more common in early hand work.

Although difficult to see under 120 years of encrusted paint, wedges have been driven into the ends of the tenon to secure it in the mortise slot of this ca. 1870 door.

 Another feature of machine made doors is the coped joints.  Machines that cut the molding in rails and stiles had two cutting heads: one struck the molded profile that was visible and another struck its exact opposite or negative.  This allowed the joints to fit together, where the oppositely struck piece was able to fit snugly over positively molded  section.  This is the way doors are machined today.

The right piece is the stile with a machined  cut molding profile.  The left piece is the rail with a machine cut coping profile, which is struck as a negative of the molding and fits snugly over the positive profile. 

 There are exceptions to this, however, as some plane manufacturers did make coping planes that were paired with door and sash molding planes.   These struck the opposite of the molding profile just as machines did.  However, these planes are rarely found today, suggesting they weren't used often.  When they were used, they were normally used to produce the muntins on windows.

I hope this quick primer will help you determine the age of interior and exterior doors.  Knowing these details will allow you select replacements that are appropriate for the age and style of your home.   The next step is to select the door configuration, including the number and arrangement of panels, the type of sticking or molding, and the dimensions of the rails and stiles.  If you are unsure what configuration you need, consult with a competent professional who is familiar with Victorian homes. 

From Steve Tyson-concerned citizen

Bob and Carol Mattocks have put over $1 million of their own money into the Tryon Palace in the last few years. The letter  below was written by Bob Mattocks and was sent to the County County Board of Commission today. To the many that believe the Tryon Palace is a irreplaceable part of New Bern and Craven County, I say if we go down lets go down fighting! Call the folks listed below and let them know the facts.


You may have heard by now that the North Carolina Senate Budget will both seriously compromise Tryon Palace’s operation beginning July 1, 2011 – as well as its very survival in 2012. In all, Tryon Palace’s appropriation will be cut over $1.5 million effective July 1, 2011 and nearly $3.7 million effective July 1, 2012.




Immediate action is needed if we are going have any chance of saving the Tryon Palace that we know and love.* This budget is expected to come up for a vote in the state senate as early as next week.



The budget cuts mean that for the new fiscal year beginnings a month from now, Tryon Palace will shut down most of the majority of its services to the public and close most of the recently opened North Carolina History Center. And, with the proposed 88.8% cut, all of Tryon Palace will close on or before July 1, 2012.



Tryon Palace does not have a source of funding to make up for these draconian cuts. We cannot raise ticket prices enough to recover 88.8% of our budget. Reducing public programs and services and closing exhibition buildings means our admission receipts and private contributions will decline at an alarming and unprecedented rate with the steep decrease in visitor attendance. Any suggestion that we can sustain higher ticket prices is tantamount to suggesting the dismantling of Tryon Palace – and it will mean the end of an investment in North Carolina that the administration of ten governors and hundreds of state legislators of both parties have supported and promoted since 1959.



This is a sad moment in the history of Tryon Palace and North Carolina. For more than 50 years, Tryon Palace has operated as a very successful public-private partnership between the citizens of North Carolina and their government. We are an important state asset in every meaning of the word. We are caretakers of 15 historic buildings and a collection of over approximately 7,000 priceless objects that belong to each and every North Carolinian. Private donors have contributed more than $136.5 million in private funds and earned income over 60 years. We are stewards of North Carolina values and the heritage they represent.



To the citizens of North Carolina, Tryon Palace represents the heart of our state’s cultural patrimony and the financial commitment made by their government to its preservation. To the 30,000 school children that pass through our doors each year, Tryon Palace is a beacon of engaging and stimulating history education – of a kind that is alarmingly missing from American classrooms today. To the more than 140,000 tourists and visitors from around the country and around the world who this year will come to learn about and explore our sites, we are ambassadors for North Carolina and for its greater role in our country’s legacy. To the many small business owners – the shopkeepers, hotel and restaurant owners in our greater community of Eastern North Carolina – the visitation generated by Tryon Palace represents a key part of a $41 million economic engine that enables them to remain in business and keep employing our fellow North Carolinians.



The proposed cuts to Tryon Palace are not targeting spending that is wasteful or expendable; they are unraveling the very fabric of North Carolina’s cultural and historic identity – and we will be paying both a moral and fiscal price for it. When we are forced to close the North Carolina History Center this June, we will not only be abandoning the cutting-edge exhibits and technology that are helping make the state of North Carolina a leader in 21st-century history education outside the classroom, we will be squandering an important investment of $42.7 million in state funds and a promise made to the citizens of our state to preserve their heritage and tell the stories of the deeds and courage of past North Carolinians. When we are forced to shut down Tryon Palace in 2012, we will be abandoning the challenge of passing on to a new generation our state’s history and, along with it, an understanding of the patriotic values that history represents. It is ironic and sad that our legislators seem to be turning against what they so adamantly profess to protect. There are indeed promises to keep and not all of them can be – or should be – measured by dollar signs.



You will find attached a short news release. Please watch your email for detailed talking points coming soon for your use in getting the word out.



*The Senate will vote on the budget next week so there is not much time left for response. I urge you to speak out against these cuts to our state’s heritage and our children’s patrimony. The State budget is on a fast track and it is imperative to contact your local senator and representatives and key House and Senate leadership as soon as possible to voice your position on this far-reaching budget reduction.



Key senators include:



Sen. Phil Berger (Guilford, Rockingham), President Pro Tempore, (919) 733-5708

Sen. Peter Brunstetter (Forsyth), Appropriations Co-Chair, (919) 733-7850

Sen. Neal Hunt (Wake), Appropriations Co-Chair, (919) 733-5850

Sen. Richard Stevens (Wake), Appropriations Co-Chair, (919) 733-5653

Sen. Tom Apodaca (Buncombe, Henderson, Polk), Appropriations Vice Chair, (919) 733-5745

Sen. Linda Garrou (Forsyth), Appropriations Vice Chair, (919) 733-5620

Sen. Don East (Alleghany, Stokes, Surry, Yadkin), NER Appropriations Co-Chair, (919 733-5743

Sen. David Rouzer (Johnston, Wayne), NER Appropriations Co-Chair, (919) 733-5748

Sen. Harry Brown (Jones, Onslow), Majority Leader, (919) 715-3034

Sen. Jean Preston (Craven), Caucus Liaison, (919) 733-5706





Key House members include:



Rep. Thom Tillis (Mecklenberg), Speaker, (919) 733-3451

Rep. Paul Stam (Wake), Majority Leader, (919) 733-2962

Rep. Dale Folwell (Forsyth), Speaker Pro Tempore, (919) 733-5787

Rep. Harold Brubaker (Randolph), Appropriations Chair, (919) 715-4946

Rep. Linda Johnson (Cabarrus), Appropriations Co-Chair, (919) 733-5861

Rep. Jeff Barnhart (Cabarrus), Appropriations Co-Chair, (919) 715-2009

Rep. Normal W. Sanderson (Craven), Craven County Local Representative, (919) 733-5853

Rep. William Wainwright (Craven), Deputy Minority Leader, (919) 733-5995




Every morning when the Palace gates swing open, the voices of generations of great leaders who built this state are heard again. Please, don’t let them be silenced.



Sincerely,



Bob Mattocks



Chairman

The Tryon Palace Commission

New Bern Home Sales

The Tyson Group Realtors-Steve and Jana J. Tyson want to thank you for the opportunity to market your property for sale. As part of this process, we are keeping you up to date with the current market trends. The tables below represent the closed sales in this market in the last 30 days; sales since the beginning of the year; and current inventory levels.



You will note that since the beginning of the year 87% of the homes sold in this market are under 250K and in the last 30 days 91% of the sales were under 250K.



It is definitely a buyer’s market and quite competitive. And, if you have a home over 250K, it is far more competitive. Sales over 250K represent between 10-11% of the total sales and 33.6% of the inventory. Positioning your home to outperform competitive properties is crucial, no matter what price range of home. As an example, look at sales in the last 30 days and compare to the data in the second table which represents the total percentage of inventory by price range.



Homes Sold in the 400-500K range represented 2% of total sales and 5.6% of total inventory. For that price range it is especially important to outperform the competition in order to get your home sold. The best price range compared to inventory levels is the 150-200K range with only 19.6% of the inventory and 30% of the sales.



It is also important to look at absorption rates. Looking at the best performing price range of 150K-200k, you will note that 30 units sold in the last 30 days and there are currently 312 units on the market. This represents a 10.4 month supply of inventory. This is calculated by taking 312 units on the market for that price range ÷ 30 units sold in a month. Keep in mind this is an average supply. The better-positioned properties might sell in two months while others may take 2 years. So, even in the best performing price-range, it is important to be competitive.



We want your listing to be one of those that sells quickly. Price it better than your competitors, make any necessary repairs, paint it, clean it, declutter it and stage it and we will get it sold!



We hope you find this information to be useful and ask that you compare where you stand in the market. Please call with any questions,



Steve and Jana J. Tyson

252-675-9595







PRICE-RANGES 1588 TOTAL Homes On Market 5/15/11 % of Current Inventory

0-100K 196 12.3%

101-150K 335 21.0%

151-200K 312 19.6%

201-250K 207 13.0%

251-300K 161 10.0%

301-350K 75 4.7%

351-400K 85 5.3%

401-500K 89 5.6%

501-600k 57 3.5%

601-700K 28 1.8%

701K & Over 43 2.7%

Home Prices

By NICK TIMIRAOS And DAWN WOTAPKA


Home values posted the largest decline in the first quarter since late 2008, prompting many economists to push back their estimates of when the housing market will hit a bottom.



.Home values fell 3% in the first quarter from the previous quarter and 1.1% in March from the previous month, pushed down by an abundance of foreclosed homes on the market, according to data to be released Monday by real-estate website Zillow.com. Prices have now fallen for 57 consecutive months, according to Zillow.



Last year, the housing market showed signs of improving as price depreciation slowed in some markets and stabilized in others. In response, a number of economists began forecasting that housing would hit a bottom in late 2011, then begin to recover. But the improvements, spurred by federal programs that gave buyers up to $8,000 in tax credits, proved fleeting. Sales collapsed when the credits expired last summer, and prices in many markets have been falling ever since.



While most economists expected sales to decline after tax credits expired, the drag on the market has been greater than many anticipated. "We expected December and January to be bad" as the market reeled from the after-effects of the tax credit, said Stan Humphries, Zillow's chief economist. But monthly declines for February and March were "really staggering," he said. They indicate "a reflection of the true underlying demand, which is now apparent because most of the tax credit is out of the system, and it's being completely overwhelmed by supply."



Mr. Humphries now believes prices won't hit bottom before next year and expects they will fall by another 7% to 9%. Other economists revised their forecasts. In April, the chief economist at mortgage company Fannie Mae, Doug Duncan, said home prices in the second quarter would be 5.3% lower than the previous-year period, down from his earlier estimate of a 2.6% decline.





Associated Press



An abundance of foreclosed homes on the market are pushing down home values.

.The estimates, which are based on data from the mid-1990s on, come from a proprietary computer program that takes into account sale prices for nearby homes that appear comparable, the size and other physical attributes of the home, its sales history and tax-assessment data, Mr. Humphries says.



Prices are decelerating in large part because the many foreclosed properties that often sell at a discount force other sellers to lower their prices. Mortgage companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have sold more than 94,000 foreclosed homes during the first quarter, a new high that represented a 23% increase from the previous quarter. More could be on the way: They held another 218,000 properties at the end of March, a 33% increase from a year ago.



The companies are bracing for more bad news: On Friday, Fannie reported a $6.5 billion net loss, largely as it boosted loan-loss reserves in anticipation of falling home prices.



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.Paul Dales, a senior U.S. economist with Capital Economics, says prices could fall by as much as 10%, down from his previous forecasts of around 5%. A March survey of more than 100 economists by MacroMarkets LLC forecasts a 1.4% drop in prices this year, down from the December estimate of a 0.2% decline.



Other home-price indexes also show weakness. The widely followed Case-Shiller index published by Standard & Poor's showed that prices climbed from April 2009 until last summer, when they started declining as tax credits expired. Today, prices are on the verge of reaching new lows, the index shows. The Case-Shiller index tracks repeat sales of previously owned homes using a three-month moving average.



According to the Zillow index, a handful of California markets and Washington, D.C., saw price appreciation last year, but that has since reversed. Mr. Humphries attributes the "double dip" in those markets, which include Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Diego, to the way in which the tax credit stimulated demand from buyers. When the tax credit went away, markets were left with rising supply from foreclosures but with less demand from buyers.



Detroit, Chicago and Minneapolis posted the largest declines during the first quarter of the top 25 metro areas tracked by Zillow, while Pittsburgh, Dallas and Washington posted the smallest declines.



To be sure, steep declines in home prices along with mortgage rates near their lowest levels in decades have helped make housing more affordable than at any time in the past 30 years, according to Zillow. Markets that have lower levels of foreclosures, such as Dallas, and those with better job-growth prospects, such as Washington, are faring better.



However, credit standards remain tight, posing another challenge for the housing market. Just as many unqualified borrowers received loans during the boom, "there are people today who probably could afford loans but can't get them," says David Berson, chief economist at PMI Group Inc. The average credit score on loans backed by Fannie Mae stood at 762 in the first quarter, up from an average of 718 for the 2001-2004 period.



Joe Sullivan, a real-estate agent in Stockton, Calif., is worried that more traditional buyers are seeing their loan applications canceled late in the process as lenders change qualification terms. If mortgage standards continue tightening, prices are "going to drop down to where only investors can get them, people with cash money," he said. Sales to absentee buyers, primarily investors, accounted for 47% of all Phoenix-area home sales in March, the highest level for any month in more than a decade, according to DataQuick, a real-estate research firm.



Christine Rice spent two years looking to buy a home in Los Angeles but found herself continually losing out to bids from investors offering to pay in cash. In September, she finally made a winning bid, paying $275,000 for a two-bedroom home. The prospect of falling prices "doesn't keep me up at night, but only because it was so cheap," says the 43-year-old tailor, who says she and her husband needed to move to have more space for their family. Her mortgage payments plus taxes are less than the rent she had been paying. "If it had been a stretch, then maybe I'd be worried," she says.



Buyers who qualify for mortgages are demanding bigger discounts as added insurance against further declines in values. Sellers, meanwhile, are balking. "More often, they don't want to take the first offer," says Jeffrey Otteau, president of Otteau Valuation Group, an East Brunswick, N.J., appraisal firm. "What they don't realize is, in an oversupplied market, the next offer is for less."



While some analysts have argued that home prices need to fall to "clearing prices" that will attract more buyers, price declines could also complicate any recovery by pushing more borrowers under water. Zillow estimates that more than 28% of borrowers owe more than their homes are worth nationally. Those numbers are much higher in hard-hit markets such as Phoenix, where more than two-thirds of borrowers owe more than their homes are worth.