Wow…Hmmm.  What else can I say?  Well, I guess not much considering I haven’t said anything for the last 3 months on my blog.  Which is absolutely terrible but given the circumstances and the market conditions over this time period, I don’t think I knew what to say.  O.K. that’s not exactly true.  I had a lot to say about the economy and the real estate market, but chose not to.

For the most part, I try to put a positive spin on things.  Watching the stock market and seeing the upheaval would have made me look hypocritical if I painted a rosy picture. 

In the last few months, I’ve taken in the big picture and been dumbfounded.  I don’t know why because the writing has been on the wall.  Everyone loved the ‘90’s and the boom in the economy.  We were buying nice cars, nice homes, nice boats… basically whatever we could get our hands on.  It was a great time and quite honestly most people were overspending.  Mortgages were a dime a dozen and people who were getting credit had little to no down payment were doing so with ease. 

Oh yeah, and let’s not forget about the A.R.M.s (Adjustable Rate Mortgages).  Hey, I’m not going to put down people who took advantage of the ARMs because I was one of them.  However, I did refinance and change over to a fixed loan within a couple of years.  The system worked for me, but for others not so well.  I know of several individuals that are stuck in these type of mortgages and now are unable to refinance because of the downturn in the market and lack of equity in their homes.  One gal was going up to 10% interest rate at which she mentioned to me that because she was unable to refinance, she would no longer be able to afford her home and would probably go into foreclosure.  Sad story, but true.

So with this story and other friends and family losing their jobs, what should we expect when we have overextended ourselves and our budget. 

1)      (I’m probably not going to make many friends with this statement!) The American public in general is to blame because they did sign the papers, they did overspend, and they are now financially paying for it with homes that are foreclosed upon, cars that are repossessed etc…

2)      Let’s give credit where credit is due… banks and mortgage companies were too loose in their guidelines allowing people who shouldn’t have been granted credit or those who have good credit, TOO MUCH credit.

O.K. looking back that’s easy to see and as we continue to progress, we still have a long way to go to dig us out of the hole, now as a nation. 

Looking forward and in my OPTIMISTIC point of view, I do see good things around the corner.  Not sure how long it will take to turn the corner, but here’s some things that can be said:

1)      Not to sound like a broken record BUT if you have money, it seriously is the time to invest in a home.  Interest rates are at all time lows, homes are at all time lows, and with everything else, the housing market will return a good investment.

2)      I hope that with the pain of the economy, people will learn to spend within their limits and our headlines can stop talking about all the foreclosures because there won’t be as many.

3)      P.S. Did you know that we have always had foreclosures?  Foreclosures are not a new thing, it’s just that more people are aware of them now.  Also, we will continue to have foreclosures in the future as well.  Let’s hope that it’s not your home!

So, while I didn’t give you my whole take on the economy and the politics behind it, I made my points.  Banks and lending institutions are easing up a little bit from the very strict guidelines that were put in place with the economy/real estate market fiasco, which should make it easier for buyers to qualify for a loan again.  Somewhere there has to be a happy medium in the lending field and we may be getting a little bit closer to it.  I guess it’s all in time and we shall all see what happens in the future together!

  Lately, I had the priviledge of being interviewed in the Business Review.  It's a little bit intimidating especially since you don't know exactly what or how your words were interpreted, but it came out pretty well.  I, of course, kept a copy of the newsprint for my records which contained my pretty little picture but thought you might want to read the online version (which doesn't have my pretty little picture but one of Kari Bliss, a great REALTOR for Bazzani that is also a GREEN REALTOR.)  Oh well, still a good article that I think you should read but of course, I would think that since it was a write up about me, right?  :)

Here's what you need to know. 

Everyone wants to know the Best Deals... Well, here you are!  Check back weekly for the latest deals and steals in West Michigan.  If you have any questions regarding these homes or any other ones, please call me at (616) 318-6101.