Jan 10, 2014 | Around The Home
While many people claim every January that they are going to exercise more, a lot of them give up after the first couple of months. It takes a great deal of effort to make it to the gym before work or have the energy to go afterward.
So don’t make a New Year’s resolution you know you won’t keep. Set yourself up for success by bringing the workout to you. Build your own home gym.
Designate A Space
The ideal situation would be to dedicate an entire room to your new home gym. That way you can close the door, crank up the music, block out the children arguing and focus on you.
However, a section of your garage or the back of your basement will also work. You just need enough room for a set of weights, a mat, a bench and a cardio machine, if you have one.
Prepare The Area
Put down a rubberized floor, especially if you’re in a basement or garage with concrete surfaces. You can purchase them pretty cheaply in foot-by-foot interlocking squares. Then hang mirrors.
This is important so you can watch your form when lifting weights. Also, you might want to put in a stereo system and TV for when you want to listen to music or watch instructional videos.
Decide How Much To Spend On Cardio Equipment
Cardio machines can get expensive and there are many types to choose amongst. If you’re a marathon runner, then you’ll probably want a treadmill. However, you can choose as many or as few as you want, such as an elliptical, stair stepper or stationary bike.
If you don’t want to break the bank for a fancy machine, then a good old jump rope will do the trick.
Choose Your Weights
You can go with a barbell weight system with resistance pulleys or just a set of dumbbells. Make sure you get a bench, so you can vary your lifting routine and properly stabilize yourself for certain exercises.
Make Space For Your Yoga Mat
Yoga mats are great for padding your knees, hands and back when doing abs and stretching — or for actually practicing yoga.
Many people don’t take the time to stretch after a workout, but it’s extremely important in order to improve flexibility, correct posture and prevent injuries. If you create a defined plan to limber up, then it’s more likely to become a regular part of your routine.
Jan 9, 2014 | Home Selling Tips
When you sell your home, you want it look as good as possible. To do this, your real estate agent will help you stage your home or, if needed, help you find a professional to stage your home.
This means de-cluttering your home, re-arranging furniture, and de-personalizing each room.
A staged home is more appealing to buyers and helps to highlight your home’s positive features. However, staging is not meant to cover major flaws in your home. Some things just have to be repaired.
Roof Problems
It doesn’t matter how pretty your home is, your buyer is going to expect you to fix roof problems or adjust your price to cover them. Your roof is one of the most important parts of your home.
Cracked Tile
Of course, you can use throw rugs to cover cracks in your tile, but chances are your buyers are going to look under them. Then they may think you are trying to hide a serious problem like a shifting foundation. Save yourself the headache and have your floors fixed.
Broken Windows
You have to expect your buyers to walk around your home checking out the views from the windows. They’re going to notice any cracks. If you have the budget, consider upgrading your windows and making your home more marketable. At the very least, you should have the glass replaced.
Torn Screens
If you have torn screens, your buyers may think you don’t take care of your property. Yet, screens are fairly easy to fix on your own. With the right supplies from your local hardware store, you can have new, sleek screens in less than a day.
As your agent, I will make sure your home is ready to sell fast. Call your trusted real estate professional today.
Jan 8, 2014 | Uncategorized
By Amy Tierce
In the pile of Beatles paraphernalia that our youngest son got for Christmas this year was a fascinating book describing the creation and recording of every single Beatles song. The book is about 700 pages!
We shared the book around the table and began to wonder how they knew how many 
‘takes’ to take with each recording.
Some songs took only one shot or “take” at recording and the song was DONE. The most number of takes we found was 117. Many recordings took multiple takes. Remember, these were the days of live recording, little editing capabilities, and the early development of ‘tracks’.
So how did the band know that they got it right with one take when they recorded “Hey Jude”, “Michelle” or “If I Needed Someone”? How did they know it was time to stop after 117 takes on “Sexy Sadie”? It took them 32 attempts to record “Octopuses Garden.” Did they feel that that last one was just right or did they just give up? What does perfection look like? Would take 13 on “Help” have been better – but they stopped at 12?
It made me think a lot about “takes” in and on the New Year. How many takes do we get, how often in life can we undo, rewind and re-do…. When are we satisfied with one take and ready to move on, when do you give up after 52 “Your Mother Should Know” or 70 “Happiness Is A Warm Gun”?
Thinking about how this applies to business, relationships, projects creative and otherwise, and life in general, here are my thoughts:
- Trust your gut and follow it
- If your gut is not speaking seek wise counsel for advice
- Then Trust your wise counsel
- know when you cannot make it better
- Know when to drop it all together
- BEST of all, know when you hit it on the first take and are ready to move on
We have multiple takes available to us, use them wisely or get stuck seeking perfection.
Happy New Year one and all!
Here’s to many “One Take” successes in 2014.
Amy Tierce
Regional Vice President
Fairway Independent Mortgage
(781) 719-4665
amyt@fairwaymc.com
www.fairwayindependentmc.com
Jan 7, 2014 | Housing Analysis
The Case-Shiller 10 and 20-City Home Price Indices for October were released on December 31. Although home prices in most cities continued to show year-over-year gains, the pace of home price appreciation is expected to slow in 2014.
Year-over-year increases have been in double digit territory since March 2013, but month-to-month readings suggest that the rate of increasing home prices is slowing.
According to David Blitzer, Chairman of the Index Committee at S&P Dow Jones Indices, “…the monthly numbers show that we are living on borrowed time and the boom is fading.”
The 10 and 20 city indices are showing that home prices some cities that were showing little or no growth in 2013 are posting higher rates of appreciation, while growth in cities that have shown very high increases in home prices are beginning to lose momentum.
Year-over-Year Growth In Double Digits
The 10-and 20-city indices each posted year-over year gains of 13.60 percent between October 2012and October 2013. These were the highest year-over-year gains since February of 2006.
Home prices recovered to mid-2004 levels in October, but remained 20 percent lower than peak home prices seen in June and July of 2006.
Here are figures for 10 cities showing the highest increases in home prices year-over-year in October 2013:
City Y-O-Y Growth Rate
Las Vegas, NV 27.10 %
San Francisco, CA 24.60%
Los Angeles, CA 22.10%
San Diego, CA 19.70%
Atlanta, GA 19.00%
Phoenix, AZ 18.10%
Detroit, MI 17.30%
Miami, FL 15.80%
Tampa, FL 15.20%
Seattle, WA 13.10 %
Home prices in the 10 and 20-city indices have gained 23.10 percent and 23.70 percent since home prices reached their lowest points in March 2012.
Month-To-Month Readings Indicate Slower Growth
Month-to-month readings show a slowing trend in home price growth. 18 of 20 cities included in the S&P Case-Shiller Home Price Indices showed slower growth in October as compared to September’s readings.
The Federal Reserve will begin tapering its asset purchases this month and will continue doing so unless economic conditions slow to a point where the Fed considers tapering counter-productive to economic growth.
Concerns over the tapering of “quantitative easing” and higher mortgage rates are seen as contributing to slower gains in home prices.
Although some analysts have identified indicators of economic growth, most seem to agree that home prices are likely to increase by single-digit percentages in 2014.
Jan 6, 2014 | Mortgage Rates
The last week of 2013 brought relatively good news in view of the economic roller coaster rides caused by legislative impasse. A brief shutdown of federal government agencies, and nail-biting suspense over if and when the FOMC of the Federal Reserve would taper its quantitative easing program.
Last week’s news was not high in volume due to the New Year holiday, but it does suggest that a general economic recovery is progressing and that housing markets are leading the “charge!”. Here are the details:
The NAR’s data of month-to-month reading of 0.20 percent showed an increase of 0.20 percent over October’s reading of -1.20 percent, which was the lowest reading for pending home sales in five months.
Lawrence Yun, chief economist for NAR, said that “…the positive fundamentals of job creation and household formation are likely to foster a fairly stable level of contract activity in 2014.”
November’s year-over-year reading for pending home sales was 101.7 against a reading of 103.3 for November 2013. The good news is that November’s reading exceeded a 10-month low of 101.50 for October 2013.
Rapid Rises In Home Prices May Have Peaked
The S&P Case-Shiller 10 and 20- city home price indices for October was released Tuesday with positive results for both indices showing year-over-year gains in average home prices at 13.60 percent.
On an un-adjusted basis, the 10 and 20 city indices each gained 0.20 percent between September and October. The indices each showed a 1.00 percent gain in home prices on a seasonally adjusted annual basis. Case-Shiller cautioned that home prices are expected to rise at single-digit rates during 2014.
Consumer Confidence Rises, Housing And Manufacturing Sectors Improve
December’s consumer confidence reading gained 6.1 points for a reading of 78.1. This also exceeded the expected reading of 76.2.
The prior two months had shown decreased in readings thought to have been caused by the government shutdown in October. Consumers indicated that they are more confident about the economy than they have been in five and a half years.
Housing and manufacturing are leading the recovery, which reflects stronger housing, production and possibly manufacturing jobs, which have lagged behind increased production.
The national unemployment rate stood at 7.00 percent last week, which remains 0.50 percent above the Federal Reserve’s targeted rate of 6.50 percent.
Weekly jobless claims came in lower than expectations of 342,000 jobless claims at 339,000 new jobless claims. The prior week’s reading showed 341,000 new jobless claims.
Although a small decrease in new claims, last week’s reading further suggested that the economic recovery is on track.
Mortgage Rates
Thursday’s mortgage interest rate survey showed incremental increases in mortgage rates; concerns over continued tapering of the Fed’s QE program may have been a factor in the slight uptick in last week’s rates.
Average rates for mortgage loans rose as follows. The rate for a 30-year fixed rate mortgage increased from 4.48 to 4.53 percent with discount points rising from 0.70 percent to 0.80 percent.
The rate for a 15-year fixed rate mortgage was 3.55 percent with discount points unchanged at 0.70 percent. The rate for a 5/1 adjustable rate mortgage rose by five basis points to 3.05 percent with discount points unchanged at 0.40 percent.
Economists seem to agree on continued improvement in the economy for 2014, however rising mortgage rates and high unemployment remain as obstacles for faster economic recovery.
