Investment

For the longest time I have heard that real estate is an investment that is guaranteed. In today’s market with declining home values those ideas seem questionable. Home prices will not decline forever just like they cannot rise forever. There are investments with guarantees. They are in the world of insurance and provide guarantees on principle and income base. Visit for more information.

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Extra Payments? Why…

One of the pieces of advice given in the real estate industry is to make extra payments to payoff your home early. This sounds good and makes sense. However, do you want to pay extra into a home and see the equity evaporate as home prices drop? No of course not. You will cut down the amount of interest you pay and as a result payoff sooner. This is all good and advice that is sound. Pay more principal and less interest. This can be done without gambling on equity that may or may not be there. If instead of making extra payments, those amounts went into a variable universal life policy, the cash value that accumulates can overtake the amount of interest saved by making extra payments. The catch is that the homeowner must stick with the plan and invest long term. You do this when you purchase your home, why wouldn’t you do this to eliminate the debt on your home? You can then draw on the cash value of the policy and make one lump sum payment to eliminate your home payment. For new home owners wanting more information visit . Select Contact us and fill out a form with your specific information. I will be happy to illustrate what I can do to help you.

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The impact of Financial Bubbles

If there is anything that the tech bubble and the housing crisis has taught us, it should be that Financial Strategies must be long term. Yes you can make and lose money with short term trading. However there must be a foundation for the long term. In other words a plan for saving and where future income will come from when you want to no longer have to work. Annuities can provide this plan and prevent short term trends from putting a plan off course.

The housing bubble taught us that you have to manage the amount of debt you assume. You cannot expect prices to always head up. The idea that as housing prices fall people are paying more for a house than it is worth is sad. However, the thought that the consumer should let the house go into foreclosure is entirely against the reasons most people buy homes. If it was an investment then I would agree with the cut your losses philosophy. However, with a house the investment for most people is the ownership of the home not just the asset itself. The ownership is more than just equity. It has an intangible characteristic that should override the idea that a person would cut their losses as the asset lost value. The idea that people cutting their losses are ending in foreclosure is a headline catcher. Those ending in foreclosure have deeper rooted issues. The loss of a job, bad debt management, or just plain financial chaos.

The truth behind the housing debacle is that homeowners lost the ability to tap into the equity in the house which was a big phenomenon as interest rates continued to be forced down by the Fed. Yes this benefit of homeownership disappeared and yes before the benefit left it led people away from debt management and into positions where they thought financial decisions had no consequences. Even money managers made bad decisions in the auction rate markets which resulted in huge sums backed by home equity ending up on their balance sheets. With zero demand for these securities and having supported markets as market makers the managers found debt backing up on their books. This portrayed the lack of integrity at these financial houses as they placed their interests ahead of their fiduciary responsibilities. I will be glad to discuss these and many more financial topics with you tailored to your individual situation. Visit
my website at www.jimmerrick.metlife.com

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Blog Probes Real Estate Models

www.REALonomics.net is a blog that is asking serious questions about where the real estate industry is going. More specifically, REALonomics poses challenges to the broker/owners to adopt models that will allow their organizations to become more transparent.

REALonomics.net advocates that the industry open up the property information portals to consumers and upgrade its approach to how it is interacting with the consumer by implementing more social networking such as www.CityBlogUSA.com, a community blogging network for every city in the USA.

Visit www.REALonomics.net.

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Condos in Town?

Are there any condo projects in Louisville, Kentucky and are there any that are on golf courses? What is the condo price range? Are there any age restricted condo communities?

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Real Estate Companies

Louisville has a lot of real estate companies. Which one is considered the best company according the Louisville, Kentucky residents? Who are the best real estate agents in Louisville, Kentucky? Historically, which company has been there the longest? Do any of the real estate companies also have title and mortgage companies?

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Foreclosures in Town?

Can anyone speak to the issue of foreclosures in Louisville, Kentucky? Foreclosures are up around the country due to the sub-prime lending practices. Is there any foreclosure impact on real estate in Louisville?

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