Thursday, September 6, 2007

Current Market

As I am sure most everyone knows that there has been a major downturn in the local market over the past several months as evidenced by the extended time on market of currently listed homes. But there may be hope in the near future. Phones at the office have begun to ring in the past few weeks and our office has more properties under contract than I can remember seeing all summer. Add this to all the buzz about the Federal Reserve contemplating lowering interest rates at their September meeting and we may begin to see things turn around.

This is all great news but the reality of it all is that the interest rates have not really changed much over the past two years. Yes they have increased but they are still hovering around all time lows. My view is that the banks are to blame for the current state of the market. For years they would give a loan to anybody who could make it through their doors. I don't know about you but I think that a payment on a $300,000 loan should be a little more than $100. Okay, that is a little extreme but I know that each one of you has received a flier in the mail advertising some extreme loan like this. The banks had to know that foreclosures woud go up so why would they do this to themselves.

Hopefully the above example is a thing of the past but a real estate goes in cycles predatory lending is sure to make a comeback!

Wednesday, September 5, 2007

Welcome to my Blog

Well here it is. I have been thinking about begining a blog for quite some time. I guess that I finally found the nerve to take that final plunge. My intentions are to give the average home buyers and sellers information that they will find both informative and useful that they will be able to apply in future real estate transactions.

I guess I should give you some information about me. I have been in the real estate business for over two years as a salesperson, although I dabbled in real estate long before that. Currently I am working on my hours to obtain my appraisal license and hope to have all of the work complete by the end of the year. I currently work for The Goodfellow Agency located in Frostburg, Maryland. My company services both Allegany and Garrett Counties with future plans to offer services in both West Virginia and Pennsylvania. I offer both seller and buyer agency (although not in the same transaction) and strive to give my clients honest and reliable service.

All area listings can be found on my web site donnycarter.com where you can also find informative information about purchasing or selling a home as well as other information and links to area attractions. Should you have any questions on any real estate matter or any other topic please feel free to contact me. I look forward to hearing from you!