1. HARP - Have you heard of the recently extended HARP program? HARP stands for the Home Affordable Refinance Program which was created for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in 2009.

If you currently have a mortgage that you would like to refinance to a lower interest rate but are not able to because your home is now worth less than what your mortgage balance is, this may be the program you have been looking for.  There are some criteria that must be met to qualify so if you have questions on the program, do not hesitate to call or email me for more information. I will be happy to help you determine if you qualify to refinance and save money under this program.

2. Bell Ringers Wanted - “We wish you a Merry Christmas, We wish you a Merry Christmas…”  That is right, I am looking for some singers to join us in ringing the bell for two hours on December 9th in Shakopee for the Salvation Army.  Okay, I will take anyone, you don’t have to be able to sing.  You just have to be able to put up with the rest of us singing!

Last year, the National Association of Realtors rolled out the Realtor Ring Day program.  I was too late to sign up last year but as soon as I saw the announcement that we were doing it again this year, I jumped all over the opportunity.  Newman’s Neighborhood signed up for the 5-7pm time slot at the Cub Foods in Shakopee on December 9th.

Jessi and I and the kids plan on ringing the bell and may even do a little singing that evening. We are looking for some help and ask that you consider joining us!  I will even provide the Caribou coffee and hot chocolate if you come out and spend some time with us giving back to the community for an extremely good cause.

If you would like to join us, search for “Newman’s Neighborhood” on Facebook and post your commitment to join us on our wall.  While you are there, don’t forget to “like” us!

Hope to see you all for some caroling on the 9th of December!

2. Minnesota Housing Outlook – I had the privilege of attending a Broker Management Real Estate conference last week featuring the chief economist for the National Association of Realtors, Dr. Lawrence Yun.  Dr. Yun‘s presentation was extremely beneficial and shed a lot of light on what is ahead for us in the local and national real estate market.  I thought I would share a few of the slides that Dr. Yun presented along with a short recap of some of the positives.  Click the photo of the slide below to view the graphs and charts that correspond with my thoughts below.

Out of all of the Midwest states, Minnesota has more people moving in from the surrounding states than all others. This bodes well for our future housing market. As you can see by the first chart that we are at sales unit levels similar to those we saw back in 2000-2001.  Prices have not yet stabilized in the Twin Cities but buyers are back in the market!

So when will prices stabalize? That is a great question that is extremely hard to answer however, according to Dr. Yun, there is definitely light at the end of the tunnel. Many of us in the real estate industry gave up on predicting the bottom of the price fallout after being proven wrong a handful of times. There is however some solid statistical data that we can lean on that points to potential pricing positives.

While there is the potential for short sales and foreclosures to be a factor in our market for the next couple of years, it appears we could be heading toward a housing shortage possibly within that same time period.  Minnesota new construction permits are currently at a 40 year low. As you can see from the chart, Minnesota has added less than 10,000 new homes each year for the last few years. Before that there was consistently well over 20,000 homes built each year starting back in 1983. That together with the fact that we are selling the same amount of homes as we did back when there were 50 million less people, we may be headed for some pent up demand which should naturally lead to some price improvements.

Jobs and economic growth are more positives to watch. The U.S. has seen a modest recovery with 1.3 million jobs being added in the last 12 months. Minnesota is following that trend and has started a recovery of its own.

I included one last slide from Dr. Yun’s presentation and it has to do with mortgage defaults. I have heard concern from buyers about the foreclosure problems and how they “do not want to be a foreclosure statistic.” Have no fear,a great majority of the foreclosure problems have stemmed from mortgages that were given between 2006-2008. Very few homes that were purchased before 2006 and in 2009 to the present have fallen into foreclosure status. This is of course a testament to the loose lending policies that were running rampant during the housing boom.

Still need some reassurance that now is the time to buy? With interest rates at all time lows, great prices, and a solid inventory, there is absolutely no reason to wait! In addition, the “smart money” has begun to leave the stock market and now is even leaving the gold market for a destination known as real property.

Thank you Dr. Yun for some fantastic information and a great presentation!

2. Recovering Market? – Are we in a recovering market? This article believes we might be seeing a “modest glimmer of hope.”  I have been tracking local market stats for quite some time and I have definitely seen a trend toward positive news over the course of the entire summer and fall.  Transactions on a weekly basis in the Twin Cities have almost been double each week when compared to the same week the year before.  Don’t take my word for it, check this Star Tribune article out.

If you are willing to join us to donate the gift of life, you can sign up by clicking the following link:  http://www.mbc.org/searchdrives

You will need to enter sponsor code 1242 and hit submit. You will then click on the October 26th, 2011 link on that page.  You simply need to enter your email address and birth date and select a time slot.  The process only takes a few minutes.

2. Investment Properties – Have you ever been intrigued by investing in real estate but didn’t quite know where to start? Well, if you have ever considered owning a rental property, now just may be the time.  With one of the best rental markets that we have seen in recent years, low prices, and even lower interest rates, there may never be a better time to invest in real estate.

Think I might be a little biased? Check out this article I recently found from CNN Money.

If you are interested in investing, give me a call.  I would love to consult with you on your possible new venture.  I have rental property investment calculators that I can run on specific properties that show you your estimated return on investment.

Don’t forget, there may be an opportunity to roll IRA money into a self directed IRA allowing you to use those funds to invest in real estate. If you have questions on that I would also be happy to point you to a highly recommended accountant and financial planner who could help you with that as well.

This all sounds great you might say! Except for the toilets and the fact that I would be a “landlord.’  No worries, I have access to some top notch rental management companies  who can help you find a tenant and take care of everything for you including the toilets.

Bottom line is that if you have ever considered owning a rental property, it is definitely worth exploring your options. Have a great week and I will look forward to hearing from you and to answer questions.

Dick’s/Lakeville Sanitation has partnered with the American Cancer Society and the Angel Society to help “curb cancer.”  You can purchase a pink bin and $5 will be donated to the American Cancer Society locally in the Twin Cities.  You can also participate in the monthly matching program.  For $1 per month, Dick’s will match your donation and contribute a total of $2 per month to the Angel Society.

For more information on how to sign up, click the pink bin below!

2. A New Adventure – Today is the one week anniversary of a very exciting new adventure for me.  Last Tuesday I took over as the new manager of the Coldwell Banker Burnet – Minnetonka office.  I am very excited about my new position and have been thoroughly enjoying getting to know my agents and staff.

My new office is located at 19400 Highway 7 in Excelsior.  If you are driving by, stop by to see me!

Aerating – It is a great time of the year to aerate. In fact spring and fall are usually considered the best times in Minnesota.  Three of my neighbors asked if I wanted to get in on sharing a rented aerating machine this past week.  We split the cost and it ended up being $18 each. The bonus was that two of the other guys picked it up and dropped it off!  So how often should I aerate? Evidently I should have read up on this a long time ago.  In seven years I think this is my 2nd time aerating my yard.  I recently read a blog that stated experts say every 1-3 years is good however if you have pets you may even want to aerate twice each year.  Well that partially explains not being able to control those beautiful golden spots all over my yard.

Sprinklers – I just shut my sprinklers off this past weekend for the season. My next step is to contact my irrigation guy and have him come out to winterize the system.  I start my system up each year but I don’t mess with winterization.  No sense in unnecessarily cracking sprinkler heads.  Speaking of which, it’s a great time to check your heads for leaks and replace as needed. I like making the fixes in the fall so in the spring I can start them up and away we go!

Snowblowers – Don’t put yourself in my situation from last winter. I was helping neighbors clear their driveways after an exceptionally wet and heavy snowfall when I suddenly smelled the pleasant aroma of burnt rubber.  Shortly thereafter the snow was falling out of my chute rather than soaring through the air.  Let me tell you, the small engine service centers are a little busy after heavy snow falls! I just sent my snowblower to the service center to have belts replaced and the oil changed.  I plan on dominating those snow banks this winter!

2. The September Skinny – Did you know that pending home sales in the Twin Cities were up in August almost 50%? Did you know that the Twin Cities housing inventory was down in August by 21%? Are we headed toward a balanced market where there isn’t an advantage to either buyer or seller? This month’s skinny video sheds some more light on our current market conditions:

Well, here it is, the debut of my Two On Tuesday fitness segment.  Okay, not really but I did come up with something that has turned into a little bit of a rivalry complete with a lot of fun.

A year or so ago my company had a fitness campaign going where they offered pedometers to the first 2000 employees who requested them. I thought what the heck, sent the email off, and shortly after a pedometer arrived in the interoffice courier.  I didn’t know what to expect from my little experiment and only knew that approximately 10,000 steps daily is what you should shoot for.

I soon found out how addicting a pedometer can be!  If you haven’t tried one yet, you need too! I learned that mowing my yard is equal to approximately 2500 steps, a day at Disney World can earn you 27,000 steps, and email and computer catch-up makes you think your battery must be dying because “this thing isn’t picking up all of my steps.”

So here is where the fun comes in.  I temporarily lost my pedometer a month or so ago so I quickly ordered a new one after an aggressive search yielded a negative result. The new one showed up a day after my son found the missing one.  With two identical pedometers in my hand a light bulb went on.  I knew my sister-in-law who lives with us also recently received one (from us) for her birthday.  I thought a daily challenge (now known as Pedometer Wars) between my wife, sister-in-law, and me was in order.

I thought wrong. I didn’t think through the fact my sister-in-law was soon starting a fitness internship and my wife is a member at the YMCA. Let’s just say that the days that I am in the office are not conducive to me winning this war.

The timing of this post couldn’t be any better as my sister-in-law lost her pedometer this past weekend. I am still losing to my wife but I am smoking my sister-in-law!

You can follow our antics by searching #pedometerwars on Twitter.

Pedometer Tip of the day: Check the reviews and don’t buy the cheapest pedometer.  My first two broke and I found out after the fact they were quite inaccurate.  My third one has been the charm.  I absolutely love it and you can pick it up for around $20-$25.

So what model do I own? The Omron HJ113.  You can pick one up online at Amazon.com.

I bought mine on sale from HeartRateMonitorsUSA.com.  I also just did a search today and found a brand new one on eBay for $16.60.

2. Chelsie Lopez Production & Marketing -

You may at first glance think that Chelsie and her business may appeal more to the Realtor crowd reading this but in fact, Chelsie might have a solution for just about all of you.  From “How well do you know your fiance’” bachelor and bachelorette video games to retirement videos to property tour videos, Chelsie has a very well rounded business going.

Here is a snippet I found on Chelsie’s website,

“In the fast-paced world of social media there seems to be a need for affordable, personalized, creative and easy-to-share marketing…

Chelsie Lopez Production and Marketing partners with business people to communicate their “story” in new ways, in an easy-to-share format that will ultimately help to grow business. “Communicate. Share. Grow.” is the concept.”

I worked with Chelsie on her very first property video tour and I have to say it turned out to be fantastic.  Okay, maybe I am a little biased but check it out for yourself:

Check out more of her work on her blog.  You can also follow @chelsielopez on Twitter.