The real estate blog.

by Phoebe Chongchua
Realty Times

Less is more when it comes to pools, at least when you’re referring to depth. Industry experts say a trend in pool construction is leaning to smaller and shallower pools.

“People are looking more for a family-friendly pool, a sports pool — where they go from three and a half feet to five and a half feet deep,” says Josh Lawson, General Manager of San Diego Pools.

This trend is also helping to keep temperatures stable throughout the entire pool. “With a deeper pool that bottom couple of feet is always a lot cooler than the upper feet depending on circulation,” says Lawson.

Click here to read the entire story.

BY CHRISTOPHER O’DONNELL
Herald Tribune

Some Florida condo owners are fearful of legislation that they say could make it easier for developers to force them to sell their properties.

Right now, many condo projects are safe from a hostile purchase by developers because of contracts that say all owners within the project must agree to a sale.

In particular, those contracts have protected aging waterfront condo projects that are targeted by developers who want to buy them, tear them down and build vastly more expensive and profitable new condos in their place.

Click here to read the entire story.

I’m not one that believes in black magic or fortune telling, but the horoscope section in the Salt Lake Weekly, the local independent paper usually has some gems for me I can’t ignore.

As I read the news today that the Stock Market had set yet another record, I was reminded of something Keith at Housing Panic said the last time the market took a dip at the end of February.

If you remember, the Dow had been on a tear and set a new record around 12,400. Then it dropped like a hot rock. The record was gone. It looked bad.

Keith warned -

YOU ONLY HAVE DAYS TO PREPARE.THE EPIC HOUSING CRASH IS UNDERWAY.THE GREAT UNWINDING IS HERE. THE BIGGEST BUBBLE, EL FINANCIAL MANIA GRANDE, IN HUMAN HISTORY HAS BEEN PIERCED.IT HATH BEEN FORETOLD.PEACE OUT. GOOD LUCK. FULL STOP.

I hope many of you, not because of HP but because of reality, have made the moves in your lives to prepare not just for what’s happening, but for what is to come. The Dow could go back up 500 points tomorrow (it won’t), but that’s not the issue.
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I had a question posed to me yesterday, “with all that’s going on in real estate, is it wiser to invest in stocks?”

That’s an interesting question. While I’m still bullish on the Salt Lake real estate market, finding a good investment property from a cash flow perspective is very hard to do. Personally, I have a sizable investment in my primary residence, but I’ve put my surplus capital in stocks.

The main reason I chose stocks is if a real estate deal comes along, I’d like to be liquid enough to access my money quickly. The author of the primary question wonders how many people out there have sold all their real estate investments and reinvested into stocks. I don’t know. I haven’t really seen much mention of that on the housing boards.

Sure people who haven’t owned
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CNN reports existing home sales declined in March over February.

Sales of existing homes fell 8.4 percent to an annual rate of 6.12 million in March from February’s 6.68 million rate, the National Association of Realtors said. It was the biggest one-month drop since January 1989. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com had forecast sales would fall to an annual rate of 6.45 million in March.

On top of slower sales, the median existing home price dropped by .3% to $217,000.

The median home price slipped 0.3 percent to $217,000 from a year earlier, the group said. It was the eighth straight month that measure has fallen and the ninth decline in the last 10 months.

To make things even worse, year over year sales volume dropped by over 11% according to the Washington Post, “it was also 11.3 percent below the number of units sold in March 2006.” This is coming off three straight months of increases.

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One of the biggest challenges of being a home owner are the little projects that come up. Do you do it yourself or do you hire out the work?

It depends on the project and depends on your finances. In the case of tiling, I actually enjoy the work, though I hate the time it takes.

This past weekend, I decided I would put down the tile in the master bathroom I’ve been putting off for, well, a year. To be fair, I did set the tile and paint the other upstairs bathroom, so it’s not like I haven’t done anything myself in this house.

When it comes to do it yourself home improvement projects, I’ve learned there are three immutable rules to a project.

1. It’s not really a project without an injury.
2. It’s not really a project without a trip to the hardware store, usually several.
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Yes folks, despite what the media is saying, home sales are on the rise! Below are actual sales stats taken directly from the Manatee MLS of homes that have sold and closed in the past few months in Manatee County.

Properties that SOLD in January 2007:
Single Family Homes = 128
Condos = 34
Average Sales price for SFH = $347,200
Average Sales price for Condos = $326,697

Properties that SOLD in February 2007:
Single Family Homes = 179
Condos = 44
Average Sales price for SFH = $354,732
Average sales price for Condos = $255,672

Properties that SOLD in March 2007:
Single Family Homes = 209
Condos = 61
Average Sales price for SFH = $399,378
Average Sales price for Condos = $224,339

The
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A collection of memorable quotes by a collection of memorable Islamic personalities.__________________________________________
“The accomplishment of a world without America and Israel is both possible and feasible”.
Mahmoud AhmadinejadPresident of the Islamic Republic of IranOccupation: politician

“The Jews are a cancer which is liable to spread again at any moment. There is no solution to the conflict between Islam and the Jews except the disappearance of Israel. Put a knife in your shirt, get close to an Israeli and then stab him. And, furthermore, let the entire world hear me – our hostility to the Great Satan is absolute. I encourage all Muslims to take suicide bombings worldwide. Don’t be shy about it “.Sheik Sayyed Hassan NasrallahSecretary General of HezbollahOccupation: terrorist

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Is there any such thing as a realtor-client privilege? An article of interest particularly to fellow Realtors.

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In any Listing Agreement there is a point in time when the agency relationship ends.

A Listing Agreement, as it is widely known, is none other than a contract between the rightful titleholder of an interest in land (the ‘Principal’) and a duly licensed real estate firm (the ‘Agent’), whereby the firm stipulates and agrees to find a Buyer within a specified timeframe who is ready, willing and able to purchase the interest in land that is the subject matter of the contract while acting within the realm of the authority that the Principal confers onto the Agent, and wherein
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