Keep one eye on Washington too.....

http://realtytimes.com/rtpages/20080204_investorreport.htm


You can't turn your backs people. This is info about 1031 exchanges and how Congress is trying to mess with them.

Please don't get so caught up in all this political action stuff that you forget to e-mail me and get your recipe book.

Happy House Hunting,

Karen

Call to action

Assembly
California Legislature

Anthony Adams
ASSEMBLYMAN, FIFTY-NINETH DISTRICT

REPUBLICAN WHIP


Dear Friends,

California faces a $14.5 billion budget deficit because the liberal politicians in Sacramento have spent too much for too long.

Instead of cutting wasteful spending in state government to pay down the deficit and balance the budget once and for all, there are those in Sacramento who want to punish every California homeowner by repealing the state home mortgage interest deduction!

They think that this important tax savings, relied upon by millions of Californians, is a “tax loophole” for the wealthy that must be closed.

What would repealing the home mortgage interest deduction mean for California homeowners?

It would increase a current homeowner’s state tax bills by hundreds of dollars or more every year.
It would make buying that first home much more difficult, if not impossible, for many young Californians struggling to scrape together enough money to buy their first home.
It would add one more burden to the many homeowners who have already lost substantial equity in their homes in the current market.

Some of these liberal Sacramento politicians have gone even further, suggesting repealing Proposition 13, which limits how much the state can increase property tax bills every year. Repealing or even amending Prop. 13 would be a disaster, leading to thousands of families losing their homes, millions of Californians seeing their home values drop further and billions of dollars in higher taxes. Enough is enough!
We need your help to stop the liberal politicians in Sacramento from following through with their threat to take away the mortgage interest deduction and impose a $5.3 billion tax increase on you and every other California homeowner!
Here’s what you can do to get involved and stop the mortgage deduction grab:

· Write or call Speaker Fabian Núñez today, and tell him to keep his hands off our mortgage interest deduction.
· Remind him that the mortgage interest deduction is not a loophole, but important tax savings that help millions afford their home.
· Urge him to cut wasteful spending in the budget, not raise taxes.

Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez
E-mail: Assemblymember.Nunez@assembly.ca.gov
Phone: (916) 319-2046

I hope you will join with thousands of your fellow Californians today by writing or calling Speaker Núñez and tell him to stop the mortgage deduction grab. Standing together, I know that we can make a difference and protect our homes, protect the mortgage interest deduction, and reform California .

New Give Away

Hello Blog fans,

I have a limited number of Pampered Chef Recipe books to give away, so send me your name and address and I'll put one in the mail to you.

Pampered Chef is a fun way to furnish that kitchen with great gagets and essentials.

If you want to host a party and get free stuff from them, call my favorite Pampered Chef guy,
Josh @ 760-486-7919. Or just call him to get a catalog and more great recipe books.

Happy House Hunting.

Karen


e-mail me at KarenSoldIt@yahoo.com for your free recipes

Another first home story

Our first home was a brand new property in Redondo Beach. We moved from La Puente. I was 7 1/2 months pregnant. We had one car, so I had to take my husband to work, which was about an hour away. The movers arrived a bit late, but we finally got everything out of our rental house and the move into our new two story house was well underway when I saw our two year old, by the fireplace with a coat hangar hanging out of her mouth. It wasn't just hanging there, it was attached. I probably heard her screaming before I saw her. Fortunately my mom had come to help. She stayed with the movers and I took my toddler to emergency at the hospital which was only 2 blocks away. She got mended and probably got a tetanus shot. Back to the house and the movers were still hauling boxes and furniture. Now it was time to pick up my husband. My mom, who did not like driving freeways or long distances had to go for him. Again, it was about an hour away. By the time they returned, the movers had left only a short time ago. My husband walked in and saw a huge stack of boxes in the dining room/ family room area, and made some comment about why was this mess still here. At this point I was exhausted emotionally and physically and started crying. He tried to calm me down and volunteered to go out and get some dinner to bring home. I said I was not hungry. Now he was really worried, because I do not skip meals. He went out and brought home split pea soup and something else. That soup tasted so good and revived me. The last time we had moved it was a much easier move, but I was 8 months pregnant that time. I decided if we only wanted two children that we had better not plan on moving again.

Housing Scams

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-01-13-mortgagescams_N.htm?se=yahoorefer

Housing stories are in the paper all the time. Our local paper even ran an article with good news, sort of last week about the housing market.

But the article from USA today is interesting and it just reminds us to beware and if it sounds to good to be true, it probably is.

Karen
E-mail me at
KarenSoldIt@yahoo.com

My First House

My husband and I are personally responsible for housing booms all over So. California. Every time we would move somewhere the housing prices would boom. So we finally make our way to the Victor Valley 17 years ago and we found our home. We lived in a few different houses since we've been here, but truly the Victor Valley is home and where we have raised our kids and have become part of the community.



We first moved up here because our daughter had allergies and was miserable in the LA basin. We came up over the hill and she cleared up and we knew then that this is where we were moving.



So we look around and we talk to lots of the new housing tracks and they all were $10,000 more than we felt like we could go for a house. So we started looking at the resale market.

We had the following ideas about where we wanted to live......

Near the freeway, my husband was commuting at the time.

The house needed to be light blue to match our picnic table,

and it needed a long hall for the family pictures.



We were out and about driving around and we ran into an open house one afternoon, it might have been because of an ad in the paper and we drive up to the house,

that is right off the freeway,

blue and white,

check and double check.

We go inside and meet the agent and do the tour of the house,

long hall way.

Check, check, check.



It was OUR house and we both knew it, I was jumping up and down in the hall way, hopefully out of sight of the agent saying, "I want it, I want it, I want it."

So we made our offer and the agent helped us get a loan.

They accepted it and we were on our way.



This all happened in Nov of 1991. My husband got his Christmas bonus in Dec, that was our down payment and New Year's Eve we moved in to our new home. We'll we didn't move in that day, but we slept in the house for the first time that night. We also made our first call to poison control. We were painting, the house was all closed up because it was winter. We had our 14 month old with us sleeping on the floor. Well to many paint fumes and not enough fresh air.
It really scared us more than did anything to her except to have her cough for a few minutes.
It's funny now but it wasn't then.



So we got our first house and had our second child there and made great friends with the neighbors. We still drive by it know and again. But I'd rather remember it the way it was rather than look at what the new people that live there now have done. It was a great first house and it left us with great memories.

How they got their first home

Hey blog fans,
I though you might enjoy stories of people buying their first or second homes. Here is our first story from Steve Hackney of Learning RX.................enjoy.



I had been driving and looking. We like older houses with "Character". I found one that looked interesting and called the agent we had been talking to. He did everything but refuse to show it. He told me I wouldn't like it, it was too old, too many repairs, etc.

The agent and his agent wife drove up, (in matching Mercedes), and opened up for us. We walked into a house with multiple broken windows, holes from the roof all the way through the ceiling, backed up plumbing, trash from transient occupants, (squatters), nasty carpet, holes in the walls, multiple unorthodox room arrangements and construction projects.

I walked through the house, turned to the agent and said, "My wife will love it!" He thought I was nuts, and continued to try to talk me out of it.

I called my wife. She drove over, walked in, looked around, and said, "It's us!" The agent and his agent wife were now convinced that we were nuts, but we bought the house anyway. We have lived there for just over 15 years, and it is almost done.

Steve Hackney
Director, LearningRx Victor Valley
16192 Siskiyou #1
Apple Valley, CA 92307
Office: 760-242-9893
Direct: 760-403-4084
s.hackney@learningrx.net

New Year's greetings

Hurray! Claudia in Victorville won the dinner for 2 to Mimi's. YUM!

She told me that she was going to be the winner.



Happy New Year to all the rest of you that gave it a shot.



Happy Home buying and have a GREAT 08!



Karen

This is IT!!!!!!!!!

Hello Blog Fans!

The first on to e-mail me @

KarenSoldIt@yahoo.com and tells me thanks for dinner, wins a dinner for 2 at Mimi's.

I need your address to mail it to so please include that in your e-mail also.

If you didn't get a calender and would like one, you could also let me know that.
I have a few left.

Merry, merry Christmas. My wish for you is a meaningful holiday season, full of love and loved ones.

Karen
Hamilton Landon GMAC

Interest Rates and Holding Title

Greetings blogger fans and a most heartfelt wish that are enjoying this holiday season and looking forward to a great 08.


My Realtor e-newspapers this AM were stuffed full of great articles. I wanted to share a couple links with you.

If you are waiting for interest rates to drop before buying you may want to check this out.
http://realtytimes.com/rtpages/20071210_farmrates.htm

Great now you've done it, you've signed your name countless times, read everyword of those 35 plus pages we've given you to sign to make an offer.

You've got the paper back with the acceptance line signed. Yahoo! You are heading to escrow. Then never mind the mountain of paper work you've generated for your lender. Now comes a stack of paper work from the title company. You may be filling them out, thinking like I did, I know I'm me, what's the big deal. But that's another blog. But in there is the how do you want to hold title question.

This is a link to an informative article about how to hold title.
Of course, it's a decision that has tax and estate issues attached to it so you need to make that decision with wise council. Talk to your tax and legal professional.
http://www.homepages.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=3a04ab3a-0b7f-4c2c-a3a7-bfcf4f7a469a

Would you like to share a thought with me?
KarenSOLDit@yahoo.com

Until we blog again,
Karen

Karen's Koupons

http://www.vvdailypress.com/news/cheyenne_3923___article.html/program_morrison.html

If you are interested in going to Learning RX, mention my name, Karen, to Mr. Hackney and he'll give you a discount on the testing.

When is the market going to turn?

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/how-spot-signs-housing-crisis/story.aspx?guid=%7BCA70400A%2DE313%2D47A1%2DB82F%2D4A61C3CF5968%

This is an interesting article about the key factors to watch for in the housing market.