I'm a little rushed this morning. It's been a busy few days and will be even busier as the week goes on. I was going through the real estate section of the Washington Post and saw this feature that I thought would be helpful to those of you planning to buy a home. Check it out.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/realestate/features/2006/finding-your-way/features/cheat-sheet/gallery.html

Enjoy the rest of your day.

Where's the bust?

It's the day after Thanksgiving and I hope all of you had a wonderful and joyous holiday. Donna and I spent the day with some of my family from Miss., Chicago and New York City. Two of my nephews, a niece and a grand-nephew were here visiting. It was so good to have them here, I usually travel to Miss. to see everyone on Thanksgiving so it was nice to be home for a change. It's amazing to interact with my nephews and niece as adults who have children of their own. It seems like yesterday that I was changing their diapers and now I have grand nieces and nephews. I think I mentioned here before that one of my grand nephews came five months early. The doctors didn't give him much chance of surviving. I am happy to report he is just fine. He was running around the house all day yesterday enjoying the heck out of himself. He sat at the table and ate mashed potatoes, squash, turkey and sweet potato pie. He's great! We're headed out shopping today before they get on the plane to go back to Miss. It's been a good week.

Not only did I have family here, I sold a house this week too. People are still buying homes even if some people think they should wait to see what the market is doing. Here's something from the Wall St. Journal that says the market slow down is over. I agree. http://www.realestatejournal.com/buysell/markettrends/20061122-izzo.html. This is absolutely the best time to be in the market. Please keep in mind that interest rates are still extremely low and there are more houses out there. Stop thinking about it and jump in.

Do you need any more reasons?

I mentioned here on the last post that now was an excellent time to buy a home. There are many reasons, there are more houses to choose from, interest rates are historically low and sellers are more willing to negoiate. The Washington Post business section had an article on Wednesday that addressed that. I agree with it's conclusions. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/14/AR2006111401253.html

Went to New Orleans last week for the annual convention of Realtors. Donna and I flew in on Thursday and headed straight to Cafe DeMonde for beignets and coffee. We then took a ride in a horse drawn buggy through the French Quarter. It was loads of fun. The area we were didn't show the signs of despair that we saw on tv last year. We didn't get to those areas but we were told that it's still awful and nothing has been done to rebuild and people are still waiting for help so many months later. Things are bogged down in red tape. What a shame. We did get to see Presidents Bill Clinton and George Bush. They were great. Bush was very funny and Clinton said that Bush's revenge on him (Clinton) was that he (Clinton) would forever be his (Bush) straight man. It was a great trip. Learned some things about buying and selling homes that I'll be able to use. The overriding theme was it's a good time to buy.

Why haven't you bought that house yet?

I've said it here many times, now is a perfect time t buy a home. There's inventory (more houses to choose from), interest rates are low (historically) and the market is becoming more normal. This past Saturday's Washington Post Real Estate section addressed that issue and I think it's worth noting here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/10/AR2006111000727.html. You can't win the game if you don't play the game.

I've been in New Orleans for the last several days attending the Realtor convention. I'll write abut it in my next post so stay tuned.

Enjoy the rest of your day and remember, you can rest when you die.

The buying season has begun

This is an excellent time to be out there looking for a house if you want to buy. The sky's not falling and nor is the bottom falling out of the housing market. There are lots of houses to choose from and if you're in the market, it's a great time to find the house you want. Interest rates remain low and that's good if you're on a tight budget. Interest rates are hovering around 6.3% these days which is very low.

If you plan to sell your home and you've decided you can do a better job than a Realtor, check out this article from Sat.'s Washington Post: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/03/AR2006110300666.html.

I've got a couple of new listings. One is in Brookland, it's for sale at $449,000. It's a two bedroom, 1.5 bath Cape Cod w/ granite counters in the kitchen, extra bedroom space in the basement, central AC, new windows and a garage. The address is 3212 14th St. NE. Call or email me if you want to see it. The photo's on the right.

The other listing is a rental in Tyson's Corner on Leeds Castle Dr. in Fairfax. It's a two bedroom, 2.5 bath condo renting for $1975. Photo is on the left. You can get more info on both by going to my website at http://www.angelajonesrealestate.com.

Enjoy your day!