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Showing posts with label budget. Show all posts
Showing posts with label budget. Show all posts

Thursday, June 16, 2016

How to Sell your House by Yourself in Orlando: A Short Guide - written by Eugene Hoffman


How to Sell your House by Yourself in Orlando: A Short Guide


The City of Orlando is nicknamed “The City Beautiful” and its symbol is the fountain at Lake Eola. Orlando is also known as “The Theme Park Capital of the World” and in 2014 its tourist attractions and events drew more than 62 million visitors
Selling your house is something you’ll have to do maybe just a few times in your life.  And unless you know a local Orlando real estate agent who will sell your house for free or a hugely discounted commission… it can be a real pain in the rear and an expensive process for you as well.
So… you landed on this page about “How to sell your house by yourself in Orlando Florida” because of a few reasons I’m guessing…
  • You have no or very little equity in your house so you can’t afford to pay a real estate agents commissions
  • You have equity but want to try to save money selling the house yourself before you resort to hiring an agent
  • You’re in foreclosure (or heading that way) and just need to sell fast without incurring thousands in agent commissions
  • You can’t wait the months and months it sometimes takes to sell a house in the Orlando area in this market so you want to try to sell it more quickly
Whatever one you land in… there are ways to sell your house yourself here in the local Orlando real estate market.
Since 2013, the housing sector has been experiencing a major recovery. Selling your house at this time will definitely be profitable if you do it right. In most cases, it is about using smart marketing strategies and being realistic about your expectations on what you want to achieve with this sale.
This article will provide some guidelines to help you sell your Orlando area house yourself.

How To Sell Your House By Yourself In Orlando Florida – Let’s Dive In

Know The Orlando Real Estate Market Well 
The first and most important step is doing a market research on your neighborhood in the Orlando Florida area. This step involves visiting various home marketing sites (Zillow,Eppraisal the Chase home value estimator, etc), calling a real estate agent or two to see what your home is worth, or reading about the various market pricing techniques.Proper homework on these issues will allow you to come up with a right price for your house and also helps you to avoid making certain selling mistakes.
If you don’t want to hassle with trying to come up with a home value yourself… give us a call at (407) 781-7312 and we’ll give you an honest fair valuation of what your house is worth on the retail market (if you’re going to wait the 3-6+ months to find the perfect retail buyer). And if you want to… we’ll make you a fair all-cash offer on your house to give you that option of selling quickly (we can close in as little as 7 days if you want to).


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Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Rent Increases have outpaced Income growth 2 to 1 by Zillow

If rent is rising much faster than the growth of income there is only two possible outcomes in the long run. Either income will have to catch up with the debt load American families are taking on or the economy will force deflation to occur at a quick pace. Families will not be able to pay for the curent American lifestyle.

The world is facing a slow down. The economist say the main reason for the falling price of gasoline is because of slow down in demand world wide. The falling price of gasoline is not enough of a stimulus to drive an increase in spending in most parts of the world. Debt loads are way up everywhere. Because of the deflation and lower demand soon American exports will decrease and jobs lose will occur.. Very soon many oil well rigs will begin shutting down and a large number of people will loose high paying jobs. There are 1500 rigs drilling for oil in America today, but according T. Bone Pickens more than 30 percent of wells will lay down and layoff crews.

The question of the day is what will happen to rising house prices and will families and communities be able to cope with a decline in revenues?

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Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Investors closely monitoring Pimco after internal strife

The thirty year bull market for bonds maybe ending soon. The bond market is a huge market. Currently billions of dollars are leaving bonds. Soon interest rates rates will creep up because people will want their money to work for them. The dollars will chase higher returns and interest rates will go up. Many people believe the stock market has peaked. I am suggesting this will have a domino effect in the next two months. Get out while you can and find a safe place for your money.

The investors, including retirement systems, have formally put Pimco on "watch lists," a signal that they will keep a much closer eye its performance than usual. It could eventually lead to reductions in the amount of money they allocate to funds at the firm, whose full name is Pacific Investment Management Co and which has $1.91 trillion in assets.

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Thursday, February 6, 2014

Why the Housing “Recovery” is a Farce – Illustrated by Two Charts By: Louis Cammarosano

The economic recovery has been touted in terms of stock and real estate market gains while employment and wage growth have been non existent. During the housing “recovery” the home ownership rate has fallen to an eighteen year low.
We have blamed this unsustainable high price/low sales housing “recovery” dynamic on the Federal Reserve’s quantitative easing programs (QE) whereby the Fed buys trillions of dollars worth of U.S. Treasuries and Mortgage Backed Securies (MBS’s) from the Too Big Too Fail (TBTF) banks with money they print out of thin air with the ostensible purpose of stimulating the economy by keeping interest rates low. In reality, QE has been an enormous continuation of the 2008 Troubled Assest Relief Program (TARP) bailout whereby the Fed continues to remove MBS’s from the TBTF banks’ balance sheets by spending trillions of dollars to buy them from the TBTF banks.

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Monday, February 3, 2014

'Time Is Short' On Debt Ceiling, Treasury Secretary Says By Mark Memmott

Warning that "simply delaying action on the debt limit can cause harm to our economy," Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew repeated Monday that he believes Congress should act soon to raise that limit so the federal government avoids even looking like it might default on its debts.
"Time is short," Lew also told an audience at the Bipartisan Policy Center, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit organization founded by four former Senate majority leaders — Republicans Howard Baker and Bob Dole; and Democrats Tom Daschle and George Mitchell.

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Saturday, February 1, 2014

Paper Money vs. Gold Money by Michael Edward and Vincent Cate

This article is very easy to follow and states the facts about the future value of our fiat money printing.

In 1913 the US took a big step away from gold when it authorized the Federal Reserve to issue paper notes that were only 40% backed by gold while claiming they were fully convertible. This fell apart when people tried to exchange their paper money for gold in 1933. Instead of admitting the central bank was bankrupt, the government confiscated everyone's gold, made it illegal for them to hold gold, and devalued the paper to $35 per oz of gold. At Bretton Woods the US agreed that central banks around the world could redeem $35 US for 1 oz of gold. As countries tried to exchange their dollars for gold it became clear US did not even have enough gold to back the dollars returning from overseas. Instead of admitting the central bank was bankrupt, the US said it was "closing the gold window". In reality this was stealing from billions of people. By the time the dollar:gold ratio went from 35:1 to 800:1 the government was able to stabilize the dollar by buying up dollars using gold and raising interest rates to 20%.

"I'm not upset that you lied to me, I'm upset that from now on I can't believe you" - Friedrich Nietzsche.

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Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Derivatives: The $600 Trillion Time Bomb That's Set to Explode by Keith Fitz-Gerald

Do you want to know the real reason banks aren't lending and the PIIGS have control of the barnyard in Europe?

It's because risk in the $600 trillion derivatives market isn't evening out. To the contrary, it's growing increasingly concentrated among a select few banks, especially here in the United States.

In 2009, five banks held 80% of derivatives in America. Now, just four banks hold a staggering 95.9% of U.S. derivatives, according to a recent report from the Office of the Currency Comptroller.

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Saturday, January 25, 2014

My opinion of inflation looking at housing prices. The Case Shilling History of Home Values


What is the True rate of Inflation



http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/2011-Case-SHiller-updated.png


The inflation rate reported by the US Government has been more or less 3% since 1990. Three factors may effect our "Standard of Living" regardless of the CPI calculations. One is the rising cost of housing shown by the Case Shilling "History of Home Values. The CPI is calculated based on the "House Price - Rent Ratio. The second factor is the "Declining Median Household Income adjusted for Inflation". A Third factor  is the staggering cost of education.



 Housing cost almost doubled between 1995 and July 2006. The chart to the right is from The Case Shilling Report. Housing cost typically make one-third of a family's budget. If the biggest part a family's budget rises eight percent a year the "True Cost of Inflation" must be much higher than the 3% stated value of CPI the government is reporting. It is true that housing values came down fifty percent in many parts of the US, but in 2013 the median housing cost rose again by nearly thirty percent.

The American family's "Standard of Living" has been declining because of improving productivity (overseas jobs and robotics).  The chart below shows both the actual median income and the "True Value" after adjusting for inflation.

For more information
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Median Household Income in the United States




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First off - what is median household income?

Paycheque - IllustrationAccording to the U.S. Census Bureau, "household median income" is defined as "the amount which divides the income distribution into two equal groups, half having income above that amount, and half having income below that amount."

The U.S. Census Bureau currently publishes median household income data from 1967 until present day.


YearNo. of HouseholdsNominal $Inflation Adjusted $
2012122,459,000$50,099$51,017
2011121,084,000$49,158$51,100
2010119,927,000$48,415$51,892
2009117,538,000$48,916$53,285
2008117,181,000$49,406$53,644
2007116,783,000$49,341$55,627
2006116,011,000$47,317$54,892
2005114,384,000$45,496$54,486
2004113,343,000$43,544$53,891
2003112,000,000$42,560$54,079
2002111,278,000$41,624$54,127
2001109,297,000$41,458$54,766
2000108,209,000$41,262$55,987
1999106,434,000$39,985$56,080
1998103,874,000$38,127$54,702
1997102,528,000$36,210$52,784
1996101,018,000$34,704$51,720
199599,627,000$33,238$50,978
199498,990,000$31,338$49,429
199397,107,000$30,210$48,884
199296,426,000$29,473$49,122
199195,669,000$28,875$49,529
199094,312,000$28,506$50,994
198993,347,000$27,391$51,681
198892,830,000$25,693$50,776
198791,124,000$24,489$50,389
198689,479,000$23,339$49,764
198588,458,000$22,109$48,063
198486,789,000$20,948$47,181
198385,407,000$19,494$45,760
198283,918,000$19,032$46,082
198183,527,000$17,974$46,205
198082,368,000$16,542$46,995
197980,776,000$15,090$48,520
197877,330,000$13,575$48,655
197776,030,000$12,132$46,842
197674,142,000$11,311$46,548
197572,867,000$10,531$45,788
197471,163,000$9,921$47,019
197369,859,000$9,226$48,557
197268,251,000$8,520$47,596
197166,676,000$7,896$45,641
197064,778,000$7,651$46,089
196963,401,000$7,292$46,449
196862,214,000$6,673$44,785
196760,813,000$6,140$42,934






-- U.S. Median Household Income Chart - 1975 - 2010 --

  

A popular topic of conversation at the dinner tables in 2013 has been "the Rich are getting Richer and the Poor are getting Poorer". Huge blocks of people in certain demographics are being squeezed possibly on three fronts. Students graduating before 2006 were able to get a fair paying job, get married and then buy a house at double the cost(after adjusting for inflation) of the previous generation. Also the chances are in 2009, when the foreclosures started this same demographic had huge student loans along with a high mortgage.  Many of these same people lost their job in 2009 so they lost everything, including their homes. Why then does not the CPI rate of inflation show this triple threat to our "Standard of Living?


A possible answer is the CPI rate is based on the price of home rentals. The price of renting a home rose at a steady rate until 2006/07 rents started rising faster. When the housing market crashed in 2009 rents only slightly declined. Renters had leases that stabilized their rent price. In 2010 when it was time to renew their leases people moved in two directions. The group of renters that lost their good jobs moved their families in with family or friends. The group of people who kept their job upgrade their home but was able to keep the same rent price range. That means people without income did not rent and people with income paid the same amount of rent. Therefore the calculation of rent prices for the CPI indicator calculates the inflation rate of housing at a low rate of inflation.

The people hurt by this effect were low-rent landlords and people who had both a high mortgage payment and student loans. In 2010 when people moved out of the leases many people were able to move into a much nicer neighborhood with better schools for the same rent price. Thousands of low-rent landlords had houses they could not rent. Landlords had long term vacancies and were not able to sell their properties for any price. Remember nobody was buying houses in 2010, The pace of existing home sales fell twenty-seven percent.

In conclusion three factors destroyed the "Standard of Living" for millions of Americans. Any one of the three factors may have affected the financial prosperity of millions of Americans, but some people experienced all three. Whether paying too much for a house during during the feeding frenzy for a seven year period or loosing a job during the "Financial Melt-down" combined with debt from credit cards or student loans caused millions of Americans to live with lower discretionary income. The time may have come where paying for a college education will not provide the life style benefits as the previous generation did.

Take a look.


Cost of education in 2013 dollars. This is staggering rate of inflation not shown in the CPI inflation

rate.

Read more about college tuition.

from: Home
 

Friday, January 24, 2014

The Boom And Collapse Of America's 'Subprime Generation' by Chris Porter

Talk about an amazing reversal of fortune! This may be the most amazing, underreported demographic fact today.
  • 30-34 year olds in 2012 had the lowest homeownership rate of any similarly aged group before them!
  • Five years prior, this exact same group had the highest homeownership rate at 25-29 years old than any group before them!

Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Vancouver’s housing prices 2nd most unaffordable in the world By Peter Meiszner


An urban planning think tank says Metro Vancouver has the second-highest housing prices in the world when compared to local incomes.
Demographia compared urban areas with over 1,000,000 residents in OECD countries around the world.
They say Vancouver’s “strong urban containment policies” have caused the city’s affordability to “deteriorate markedly.”

The average house price in Metro Vancouver is $670,300, which would require 80 per cent of the average median household income to service the mortgage. That’s more than 2.5 times the 32 per cent guideline set out by Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation.

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Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Foster Introduces Legislation To Reduce Burden For Underwater Homeowners by Congressman Foster

Posted By Rep. Bill Foster, Community Contributor 3:08 p.m. CST, January 14, 2014 Washington, D.C. – Today, Congressman Bill Foster (IL-11) introduced H.R. 3856, the Homeowners Debt Relief Extension Act. The legislation would reduce the tax burden for underwater homeowners by extending the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act of 2007. “With millions of struggling homeowners still underwater on their mortgages, now is not the time to cut off this tax credit,” said Foster. “We shouldn’t be offering up millions in tax breaks to oil and gas companies, while leaving working families, still struggling to recover from the recession, with a bigger tax bill.” A recent report showed that a third of Illinois homes are still “deeply underwater,” meaning that more is owned on the mortgage than the home is worth. When homeowners receive loan modifications through their lender, or sell their home for less than they owe, the reduction or cancellation of debt is considered taxable income. Since 2007, Congress has extended this tax relief to homeowners who have received such modifications, so that they are not liable for taxes on the difference between the house’s value and the loan modification or sale amount. Unfortunately, this tax relief expired December 31, 2013, leaving struggling homeowners under more financial stress. The Homeowners Debt Relief Extension Act would extend the tax relief for underwater homeowners until January 1, 2016 for debt forgiven after December 31, 2013. These costs would be offset by repealing a break in taxes for oil and gas companies under the Internal Revenue Code’s Section 199. These deductions are no longer necessary for oil and gas companies, which are making billions in profit each year.

Sunday, January 19, 2014

Investor Animal Spirits Spread to Companies Worldwide By Simon Kennedy and Rich Miller

Companies around the world are starting to share the exuberance that inspired investors last year.
As executives gather in Davos, Switzerland, this week for the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting, business confidence is rising, with a weekly gauge compiled by Moody’s Analytics Inc. at its highest level since the survey began in 2003.

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Thursday, January 16, 2014

Reasons Why Existing-Home Sales Slowed in November

Sales of previously owned homes fell 1.2% in November compared to one year ago, the first year-over-year drop in nearly 2½ years, the National Association of Realtors said on Thursday.
The report shows that the overall tally of home sales in 2013 will exceed last year’s level, even though December’s figures won’t be completed for another month. This is largely because of exceptionally strong sales gains during the three quarters of 2013. Sales have declined in each of the last three months at a seasonally adjusted annual rate.
Here are five reasons why sales have slowed:

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