Happy Holidays from Camille Burns

4 Steps to a Pet-Friendly House

The family pet is an integral member of many households - and an integral factor when buyers are looking for a new place to call home.  62% of U.S. households own a pet, according to the American Pet Products Association's 2009-2010 National Pet Owner Survey.  Dogs are most popular in 45% of households, followed by cats in 38% of households.

Here are 4 tips to ensure that the property you are looking for meets the needs of your furry friends:

Give your realtor the basic information about your pet(s):

Let your realtor know your pet's breed, weight, age and exercise regimen.  If you are planning to add more pets, be sure to inquire about any restrictions on number of animals allowed in multi-family buildings or homeowner associations.  This information will also help in determining the type and size of property you need. 

Do your homework!

The home you are looking at may have a marvelous chef's kitchen and upgrades galore, but if your pet isn't comfortable, you won't be happy!  Let your realtor know what specific amenities or features you are seeking for your pet.  That gives the realtor time to do research to find out if the property or community you are interested in has any pet restrictions.

Work closely with your realtor:

Your realtor will be able to provide you with a pet resource list for your market area. Included on that list will be veterinary clinics, emergency clinics, boarding facilities, dog parks, walking paths, grooming facilities, pet supply stores and pet friendly restaurants.

Consider the property's layout:

Let your realtor know of any little extras you may want to have for your pet, such as a laundry room with space enough to wash your pet, under-window benches to store pet toys, extra kitchen storage for pet food, fenced-in yard, etc.

It's Time to Buy Again!

Forget Stocks.  Don't bet on gold.  After four years 

of plunging home prices, the most attractive 

asset class in America is housing!

If all the noise you're hearing about housing has you totally confused, join the crowd.  One day you'll read that owning a home has never been more affordable.  The next day you'll see news that housing starts h ave plunged to nearly their lowest level in half a century, as headlines announced in March.  After four years of falling prices and surging foreclosures, it's hard to know what to think.

Even Robert Shiller and Karl Case can't agree.  The two economists, who together created the widely followed S&P Case - Shiller Home Price indices, are right now offering sharply contrasting views of housing's future.  Shiller recently warned that the chances were high for a further double-digit drop in U.S. home prices.

But in an interview with Fortune, Case took a far brighter view:  "The lack of new home building is a huge help that a lot of people are ignoring," says Case.  "People think I'm crazy to be optimistic, but housing is looking like the little engine that could!"

To see where real estate is truly headed, it's critical to keep your eyes firmly on the fundamentals that, over time, always determine the course of prices and construction.  During the last decade's historic run-up in prices, Fortune repeatedly warned that things were moving too fast.  In a cover story titled, "Is the Housing Boom Over?", this writer's analysis found that the basic forces that govern the market - the cost of owning vs. renting, and the level of new construction - were in bubble territory.  Eventually, reality set in, and prices plummeted.  Our current view focuses on those same fundamentals, only now they're pointing in the opposite direction.

So, let's state it simply and forcibly:

HOUSING IS BACK! 

Two basic factors are laying the foundation for dramatic recovery in residential real estate.  The first is the historic drop in new construction that so amazes Castleman.  The second is a steep decline in prices, on the order of 30% nationwide since 2006, and as much as 55% in the hardest-hit markets.

The story of this downturn has been an astonishing flight from the traditional American approach of buying new houses to an embrace of renting.  But the new affordability will gradually lure Americans back to buying homes.  And the return of the homeowner will start raising prices in many markets this year.

Excerpts taken from article in the Fortune Magazine April 2011

 To read the complete article, go to:

http://finance.fortune.cnn.com/2011/03/28/real-estate-its-time-to-buy-again/