When the School Districts Matter in Real Estate

....the survey also revealed that a great school district is almost twice as important to those who search online for their dream home on a weekly or monthly basis than those who only search annually. -- Trey Garrison in HousingWire http://www.housingwire.com/articles/34750-trulia-where-schools-matter-and-where-they-dont-in-homebuying
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Just over half of Americans — 52% — say they are likely to buy a home in the next five years, according to the 2015BMO Harris Bank Homebuyers Report.

In addition, Americans surveyed are willing to pay an average of $296,000 for a home and will average a 21% down payment. -- Trey Garrision in HousingWire http://www.housingwire.com/articles/34749-survey-52-of-americans-likely-to-buy-a-home-in-next-five-years

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Shared by James Harrison, taken by A Lin, Kizhi, Carelia, Russia.


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Real gross domestic product (GDP) increased at an annual rate of 2.3 percent in the second quarter of 2015, according to today’s advance (first) estimate.  This follows a revised growth rate of 0.6 percent in the first quarter.     --Department of Commerce.

 

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Friday's employment report will be a flop, based on ADP's estimate for private payrolls which it sees rising only 185,000.
This is below the lowest analyst estimate for 190,000. It is also 20% lower than the 232,000 number ADP posited a year ago, and the weakest July since 2013. -- Trey Garrison in HousingWire http://www.housingwire.com/articles/34684-julys-employment-report-looks-ugly
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Shared and taken by Haris Vithoulkas, Athens, Greece.

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Distressed sales—real estate-owned and short sales—accounted for 9.9% of total home sales nationally in May 2015, down 2.8 percentage points from May 2014 and down 1.7 percentage points from April 2015, according toCoreLogic. -- Trey Garrison in HousingWire
http://www.housingwire.com/articles/34699-distressed-sales-accounted-for-10-of-homes-sold-nationally-in-may-2015 
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The percentage of consumers who believe it is a good time to buy dropped to 61%, an all-time survey low­, right as summer is about to come to a close.
And the share of consumers who believe now is a good time to sell a home didn’t fare too much better, dropping 7 percentage points to 45%. -- Brena Swanson in HousingWire http://www.housingwire.com/articles/34720-consumers-dont-think-its-the-right-time-to-buy
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Shared by Paul Richardson, taken by Henk Meijer, Neuschwanstein Castle, Bavaria, Germany.

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The National Association of Realtors’ pending sales index went into a skid in June, falling 1.8% — expectations were for a 0.9% gain — the biggest drop since December 2013. The pace of the drop was what alarms analysts.
But taken in the long-run, and you have to do that in housing — any slowdown in existing sales will be set against much stronger growth in new home sales. -- Trey Garrison in HousingWire  http://www.housingwire.com/blogs/1-rewired/post/34724-can-this-sickly-housing-recovery-survive-without-artificially-low-interest-rates
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The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which celebrated its fourth birthday earlier this week, won’t see its fifth birthday if Sen. Ted Cruz, R-TX, has his way. -- Ben Lane in HousingWire http://www.housingwire.com/articles/34552-sen-ted-cruz-introduces-bill-to-abolish-cfpb
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Shared and taken by Selim Ates, Istanbul, Turkey

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Excerpt from Josephine Country Cat

The goat recovered from his surprise. He moseyed over by Bill and cocked his head at the small white and black spotted cat rolling around on his ground.  He lowered his horns. Josephine paused in her bathing thinking he was going to butt Bill with his horns.  Instead, the goat bent down and took the skirt of the dress in his mouth, lifting Bill and all.  He started chewing the dress slowly. Bill started yelling.  She had protested Pearl’s grandchildren playing with her like a doll, but she knew this goat did not like cats.  Bill yelled and squirmed and kicked and wriggled. 

Josephine stopped washing.  Her eyes grew very round.  She knew Bill was in trouble.  Josephine dropped down from the pony’s rump and ran up to the goat.  She stood on her hind legs and beat a rat-a-tat-tat-tat on the goat’s face with her front paws.  Shocked, the goat dropped his jaw, releasing Bill.


Buy Josephine Country Cat!
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0996451307
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