Last week we hosted our first Vendor Appreciation Luncheon at La Hacienda Ranch to show and tell our Vendors just how much we appreciate them for providing exceptional service to all of our clients. We also shared with them our vision for the 2012 Christmas Party and how our team has taken the challenge this year of "Going From Better To Best!" We are overjoyed with the wonderful responses we received from our vendors telling us how much they appreciate working with us.

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We all gathered in Hot Springs Village last week for our 2012 business planning retreat and discussed how we can improve our service and ourselves. The theme was "Going From Better To Best!" We took the 11 traits of what the best do better than everyone else and applied them to ourselves personally and to our business practices and systems. Then we had a coach/facilitator come in and help us all identify what was holding us each back from being "the best". It was a very eye opening experience. We all left feeling empowered to passionately pursue being "the best" in 2012.  By the way, the book we're reading to go along with this theme is "Training Camp" by Jon Gordon. We'll be sharing more with you as we go through the book and the year about how what we're learning and how we're improving. It's exciting to work with such a passionate and caring group of people whose hearts are truly to serve our clients with excellence.

Here's one of my favorite quotes:
 "Enthusiasm is one of the most powerful engines of success. When you do a thing, do it with all your might. Put your whole soul into it. Stamp it with your own personality. Be active, be energetic and faithful, and you will accomplish your object. Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm."

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

30 year fixed mortgage rates dropped to their lowest levels in 39 years according to a new survey released by Freddie Mac, the second largest mortgage finance company.

Interest rates on 15 year fixed rates and hybrid adjustable rate mortgage rates reached fresh lows as well.  While record low rates and high housing affordability helped the housing market gain ground over the last year, the sector is struggling since the popular home buyer tax credit expired on April 30th.

According to a Freddie Mac survey, the average 30 year fixed rate for conventional (non-FHA and VA) mortgages averaged 4.69 percent for the week ended June 24th and is the lowest since Freddie Mac started the survey in April 1971.  Still, Freddie Mac's data is at least a week old before they publish it and it has been another week since then.  15 year rates are below 4%. Rates do vary depending on credit, debt ratios, down payment, area of the country, property type, points paid and many more factors.

We’re smack in the middle of prime house-hunting season! More people are looking to buy a home during the summer than any other time of year. That means your house has the greatest potential to sell during the summer. Follow these essential tips to get your home listed for sale and to make the best impression on summer buyers.

It's very important to prepare your home well for showings. The decision to buy a home is based on emotion, not logic. Fixing up and cleaning the space generates the greatest emotional response. Doing so allows buyers to imagine themselves living in your home. Leaving your kid’s toys in the floor and closets cluttered with junk makes it difficult for buyers to imagine themselves as owners.

So clean like you’ve never cleaned before! Pick up, straighten, scrub, scour and dust. Fix everything no matter how unimportant it may appear. Present your home to get a “Wow!” response from buyers.

If you aren't sure where to start or what to do please call us. We'll be happy to come by and walk through your home and give you a list of things to do to prepare your home to sell.  In the past year our clients who've had the best results selling their home quickly and for top dollar are the ones who have taken our advice gotten their home in tip top showing condition. We also work with a professional staging company who can take it to the "next leveland " of showing condition.

This patriotic benefit is not only great for those service people who can use it , but also for our housing industry. The tax credit incentive really boosted home sales. We were working contracts up until right before midnight last Friday night, the April 30th deadline.  How many of you think it would be a good idea to extend or reactivate the tax credit? Let us know your thoughts and opinions.

Home prices are one factor in determining your cost of ownership, but so are interest rates and financing availability. Even though interest rates have gone up in the last six months, they are still near historic lows. Since your monthly mortgage payment is a combination of paying down your principal and paying the interest owed, if home prices come down a little further but interest rates up, it could cost you even more to service a mortgage on an identical home!

While a home is a major investment, it is also the center of your personal life. It's important to live in a home that reflects your taste and values, yet is within your financial "comfort zone." To that end, it may be more important to lock in today's relatively low interest rates and low home prices, rather than to hope for a further break in prices in the future.

Please give me a call if I can be of any assistance in determining how much home you can afford in today's market.