Is the economy recovery here?

Many economists have specified that the U.S. economy is a real estate driven machine. When housing it hot, so is our growth and when it's not; we fall into recession. Well it's safe to say at this point in time that the housing market for the past 3-4 years has been cooling off considerably. Most of this can be attributed to the financial lending landscape. It wasn't that long ago, in order to borrow money from a bank or financial institution, you needed to prove that you were able to pay that money back. Then the roaring '00s changed all that. The banks weren't looking at the long term implications of HOW one might repay a loan, and instead were focused on the HOW MUCH CAN I MAKE NOW.

In today's real estate market, it has become much more difficult to obtain a loan or even re-finance an existing loan. Many loans taken out in 2005-2008 were ARMs and they're coming to a head where the interest rates are going to jump creating a problem for many home owners that maxed out their limits to purchase said home. To make matters worse, some of those home owners lost their jobs when the economy slowed down taking a maxed out (2) income home and making it a stressed out (1) income home. Luckily for everyone involved, home owners, home buyers, and developers; June 1st is the date they should all have on their calendar as legislation has been passed to make the Short Sale process much faster allowing many home owners to get out from under upside down mortgages and new home buyers and developers to get some great deals.

To learn more about this click on the link and see how this process can be a turning point for the real estate market and possibly our economical outlook.

http://money.cnn.com/2012/04/19/real_estate/short-sales/index.htm

- Design is what you make it.

Sign of the times or Women gone mad?

Last Thursday marked a special occasion, the Somerville Swap. Located in the Somerville Armory, over 250 women turned out for a swap-a-thon. What drove these women to an event where you can swap your clothing for another's clothing? Is it the economy? Is it a woman's instinctual ritual of locating a great find? We all know women who will buy things on sale even if they don't need it just because it was ON SALE! I want to hear from the ladies out there. Is an event like this attractive to you? Allow you to rid yourself of your tired clothes for some new threads? What say you?

http://www.boston.com/yourtown/somerville/gallery/202011Swap/

- Design is what you make it.

Hear ye, Hear ye...Construction to start again!

You heard it here first (second if you read the NY Times). In 2011 it is anticipated that construction in and around the country should start to begin again. In the Boston area specifically, there are numerous apartment rental buildings in the works and some large private office buildings are set to get underway. While the commercial building sector is still at a stand still, the residential rental market looks strong as many "potential homebuyers" are weary of the real estate market still and opting to rent rather than buy.

How does all this news affect you? Well as we saw some nice boom times in the early to mid-2000's, the U.S. economy truly is driven by the construction industry. The more construction that is going on, the more trickle down effect should be felt regarding jobs and drop in unemployment. It may be too early to jump up and down saying the financial woes are gone, however it is a bright spot on the horizon and I for one am going to use as much optimism as I can muster because it feels much better to think positively than it does to worry.
Check out the article attached below for more information on this:

http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2011/01/02/construction_will_start_to_pick_up/

- Design is what you make it.

Rosy Forecast for 2011 Construction Industry - Big Win for the Economy

You'll have heard it here first, well technically second since I am linking a great article about the 2011 forecast for the construction industry. As everyone knows by now; most did not prior to this economical collapse we've been living through the past couple years, the economy is an engine that is powered by the construction industry. With the financial crisis, obtaining loans for new construction endeavors has become increasingly more difficult. It appears, according the article released by McGraw-Hill, that things could be looking more rosy come 2011.

Check out the link, I found it very enticing and hope you enjoy it too.

http://enr.construction.com/business_management/finance/2010/1029-OutlookForcast.asp

- Design is what you make it.