Heath's Blog

Hollywood East is offering another acting class! The acting coach for the Plymouth Rock Studios will be holding another pre-opening acting class. It is scheduled for April 1, 2009 (a Wednesday) at 6 pm in Plymouth, MA.

The video below is of the acting coach explaining the class objectives. The studio has plans to help local people get trained as actors, extras, and in other needed movie production functions. Look out California! There's a new movie production studio in town.

Find more videos like this on Hollywood East TV

Happy listing and selling!

The tax incentive for buying real estate has made it out to the public.  It is a credit or a loan.  It has to be paid back, or not.  It can used in 2008, 2009, or both.  Simply put, it may or may not, you can or can not, you do or you do not, maybe.

If you didn't own a house for three years prior to the closing date of your new property, you get to claim either the credit or the loan, but not both.  You get the loan if you took ownership in 2008.  You get the credit if you took possession in 2009 before some date in November, but if you sell this property before that last day of the next thirty-six months, the government comes after you.

Possession means living in, even if you haven't closed yet.  So anyone who started in 2008 on a lease option, or renters who were already living in the property and then bought from a landlord, or buyers who got to move in, in 2008 but didn't close until 2009, are all in the 2008 category.  That would be the loan version.  Apparently.

Those who close and move in, in 2009 before November sometime, and who have not owned another property they called their primary home in the previous 3 years, get the credit.  Unless they sell the property they claim the credit for in the next 36 months.  Then Uncle Obama will knock on the door with his hand out.

But wait, there are income restrictions.  If your adjusted gross income (one of the lines on an IRS form) is above specific levels, you can't claim either the whole loan or the whole credit.  And, if you are above another level of income you get squat. Inherited property, property transferred between family members, non-citizens' purchases are also not eligible for either the loan or the credit.  

But, if you can claim the credit because you took possession in 2009 before November something, you do get to claim the credit on your 2008 taxes.  For some that would mean amending your 2008 taxes.  However, if your income went down in 2009, claiming it on the 2008 return might not maximize the dollars you can get.

See, it's simple!

Happy listing and selling!

Here's what I think you need to know about your own site before you answer the latest email you received from the "greatest seo guru".

First, are you in control of your code?  If you are using a template, you may not be able to change much of the seo coding.  If you have control over the code, how much?  Can you change the layout? Can you change the links? Colors? What?  It is not necessary to know how - just know what you can do with your site.  You have to know before you know what a programmer can fix.

Second, who are you trying to be found by?  How do they think?  What search engine are they using?  What are they typing into the search box?  Check your site logs to see how people are already finding you.  Know a little about how you think you will be found.

Third, google or leapfish or search some site for "SEO for real estate".  There are many who will say "I got this one guy, Umm, to like the top of the, like, search results in like three days, man".  What they don't say is that it was for the search term "tangerine ear rings."  Learn what some people are doing to seo for real estate so you can discuss that with a programmer.

Real Estate is one of the most (if not the most) competitive searches on the Net.  Think of all the agents in your own company who have their own site.  They are competing with you for the same results.  Then add all the other agents and brokers in your own little town.  Then add all the programmers that have sites so they can sell you leads.  Then add all the big dollar sites that can spend more on advertising in a day that you can in a year.  Now you see how hard it is to optimize for real estate.

But it can be done - and done without "black hat" or clandestine programming methods. 

Happy listing and selling!

Real Estate in MA is still moving.  There are pockets of good and not as good.  Last year the Attorney General of MA put foreclosures on a 90 day hold.  It appears that had both a calming affect and now a downward influence on pricing once again.

As many of those properties that the banks could have foreclosed on, are now being taken by banks, prices are seeing another decrease.  The number of owners learning how to "ask for the note" when their property is in foreclosure is increasing so we may see another delay in the foreclosure process.  Maybe by the time those are resolved, the anticipated interest rate decrease will have happened and buyers will be solidifying the market.

The OFHEO report from the end of last year wasnt too good for real estate MA.  Areas around Boston and even in some parts of Cape Cod showed decreases in pricing.  There were some positive areas though as there are in any market.

The new numbers from the OFHEO come out soon for the starting quarter of 2009.  It will be interesting to filter through that report and see what they say is happening.

Happy listing and selling!

I am often asked what the tax rates on the Cape are.  While we do have a state income tax, we don't have a lot of taxes that other states do. 

Here are the latest tax rates for the towns on Cape Cod.  The residential rates are set by the towns and approved by the state/commonwealth.  They are published on the MA state web site, but the last updates were in 2006.

These are the residential rates per $1000  (the rate x the assessed value = tax bill)

BARNSTABLE  6.31          BOURNE   6.5          BREWSTER  5.58          CHATHAM  3.73
 
DENNIS   4.26                EASTHAM  4.69        FALMOUTH  5.43          HARWICH  5.89
 
MASHPEE  6.34               ORLEANS  4.16       PROVINCETOWN  5.05   SANDWICH  9.36
 
TRURO   4.4                  WELLFLEET  4.59     YARMOUTH  5.93

Happy listing and selling!

Bourne's Pond isn't actually a pond the way I understood one growing up, because it opens to the Atlantic Ocean.  But here in MA a pond is defined a little differently - especially on the coast.  Here a pond is a body of water smaller than a lake, usually fed by a stream, but mostly still. 

Bourne's "Pond" has tidal action and lots of coming and going of water, but it is 2 miles from the top inlet to the bottom ocean outlet so maybe some of it moves more than the rest.  We canoe out here and catch/release a few fish every now and then.

The swans come here in great numbers.  This morning I counted 25.  There have been more so that isn't a record.  Here are some pics.  There is a lot of bird watching on the Cape, and Falmouth is a great place to see birds.

Happy listing and selling!

Recently the Wampanoag Indian Tribe was recognized by the US government.  For decades, the tribe has worked toward recognition.  As the Indians who helped the Pilgrims survive in a new world, their place in history has always been fact.

Their web page http://mashpeewampanoagtribe.com/ has useful and informative history, culture, and current articles.  There are updates about the tribe's business activities, events, and agendas on the website.  They have videos and pictures about various topics.

If you are coming to Cape Cod for the summer, see if they have a local event planned.  The annual Pow-Wow every summer is an interesting view of history and culture.  Indians from all over the US and other Americans come to participate.

Mashpee MA has been developed over the years as a summer resort area on Cape Cod.  There are beaches nearby, shopping, boating, fishing, and lots of great food.  Whether you visit the Mashpee Commons for food, shopping and a movie, or New Seabury for golf, or Popponesset for concerts and boating, or the Wampanoag Pow-Wow for history in July (4-6), there is a lot to enjoy in the land of the Wampanoags.

Happy listing and selling!

I have a solution for the "bonus" problem at AIG and other similar companies.  Instead of dealing with all the BAD publicity, why not donate the funds to organizations that are rebuilding New Orleans homes?  They could donate to construction groups, to groups that house volunteers, or to groups that feed people.

If the AIG bonuses were donated - $165 million -  that would go a long way to help Louisiana real estate!  It would also help turn the bad publicity into GOOD publicity!  Who would argue with helping to rebuild the Katrina areas.  (3 of my daughters have been down there to help rebuild.)

So if you are reading this, consider flagging it as notable.  Consider writing your own blog on this topic.  Tell your local newspaper (if it still exists).  Twitt er it.  Call the people who read the TV teleprompters on the evening "news".  Get the word out!  We can make a difference! 

Happy listing and selling!

It seems that because of Mark to Market, some of the bail out money given to banks has only helped re-balance their out of balance ratios.  They still can't make new loans because that would cause their ratios to move out of balance again.  The ratios I am speaking of are the deposits to loans ratios every bank is required to maintain.  Those ratios are for banks like the old 28/36 ratios were in the old days for buying real estate.  Less than 28/36 meant you were a buyer.  29/37 meant you were out of balance.

Simply put, "Mark To Market" is an accounting method that became law.  It ended up affecting banks in ways that had not been carefully thought through.  "Mark to Market" is a value accounting of assets based on the Market value at a given time.  It does not allow for a cash flow value, or any other type of valuation.  It is only a measure of value based on a point in time.  So the problem with that is...?

It seems that the intent of the law wasto make everyone account for value the same way.  What it didn't foresee was that when a big move happened either way, all values were affected.  When some went up, they all went up.  When some went down they all went down.  If this was done in real estate, all the values on one street would be the value of the last sale on the street.  If someone was willing to pay more than the last sale, all the values would be changed upward.  If someone had to sell and sold below the last sale price, every the price would go down.  There would be no consideration for location, condition, style, gross rents, etc..

The problem with that is, the point in time is not necessarily a correct measure, but the law does not allow for alternatives.  When values of some assets of began to fall, all were affected.  This made every company revalue their assets, even if their own assets were stronger than those causing the change.  All companies lost value, even if their portfolio was solid.

Why did this law come into being?  Because before it existed, some accountants were playing fast and loose with asset values in companies like Enron.  So lawmakers were trying to reign in the accountants and investments businesses to close those fast and loose loopholes. 

The way I understand it is, Company B has B grade assets.  Company A has A grade assets.  B company, that held a more risky asset package, had to sell at a fire sale prices because some of their assets started to default.  According to law, Company A had to reduce the value of their assets correspondingly, because of B company's fire sale.  The accounting laws made all values directly dependent on each other, rather than dependent on the individual make up of the assets relative to normal valuation methods of the past like cash flow, condition, location, etc.. 

Banks had to start "Mark To Market" their loan portfolios.  As some loan groups started to fall, the Mark to Market affects caused the ratios of otherwise solvent banks to be outside of approved levels, even when their assets were stronger.  That made stocks fall, which caused more distress, and then another Mark to Market, and more distress...

So when then the govt handed out money to increase some banks' ratios, those funds weren't lendable.  If the bank made loans with those new funds, their ratios get out of whack again.  So maybe the Mark To Market law/rule/procedure needs to get fixed.  But, we all know how fast things move in the law making arena.  It may be a way to free up some lenders.

Happy listing and selling!

When you are tired of all the time you spend on all the social sites, what do you do to end your account?  I was surprised to find out that it isn't always easy to delete yourself.  Of course the time you spent updating them all should now be taken up by all the increased listing and buying activity you are involved in!

There was an article today in PC Magazine called "How to Delete Accounts from Any Website" that is pretty interesting.  The list of sites they address goes to show how many different places can take up your time.  Because we are all getting back to listing and selling real estate, I though I'd reference the article here as a one stop guide.

There are 23 different sites in this list.  Of course AR is not in the ones to remove yourself from. How many others are there that people are filling their time with?  And then there is the question, "Can you really delete yourself?"

Happy listing and selling!