For serious home buyers, the quality and comprehensiveness of online information is a major reason they turn to the Internet to help them with their open house search. Unlike newspapers that generally show just one photo and a basic property description, online real estate sites provide much richer information. From multiple photos, to neighborhood and school data, to local price trends, today’s savvy consumers want to do their homework and get a more comprehensive view of a listing before they make a decision to visit. From an agent’s perspective, these are more qualified home buyers than newspaper visitors who stroll into open houses based on the number of beds and baths alone.

Another major reason consumers search for open houses online: convenience. Trulia recently partnered with McGuire Real Estate in San Francisco to find out why their open house attendees used the sources they did to find open house information. Many buyers reported ease of use as a major reason they search for open houses online. As San Francisco home buyer, Cammy, wrote, “I search online because I usually only have time to do my research late at night. I don’t do newspapers!” Similarly, Danny, another buyer who searches for open houses online, responded with just one word: “easy.”

And, let’s not forget about mobile phones. Since launching Trulia’s iPhone application with open house search last summer, we consistently see spikes in usage on Sundays-the most popular open house day of the week. Consumers want to search “on the fly” for information and, as nationwide adoption of smart phones increases, we expect to see mobile devices become a major source of open house information.

So, how can you target serious home buyers online to make sure you’re maximizing your open house attendance?

1. Post open house information on your personal website, your broker’s site and highly trafficked, national real estate sites. (Bonus for sites that offer mobile open house search).

2. Pique consumer interest in your listings by showing multiple photos, detailed property descriptions and links to more information. Serious home buyers want comprehensive information before they make the decision to visit.

3. Ask each and every open house attendee where they found your open house and focus your marketing efforts on the most popular results. After all, if an open house is advertised in the newspaper and nobody reads it, did it happen? RE

Sami Inkinen is COO and co-founder of Trulia. For more information, visit www.trulia.com.

RISMedia welcomes your questions and comments. Send your e-mail to: realestatemagazinefeedback@rismedia.com.

“Outdoor cooking is a popular American past time, especially on the Fourth of July,” said Leslie Wheeler, HPBA Communications Director. “From appetizers to mainstay hot dogs and hamburgers, to delicious desserts, outdoor cooking is a fun, easy and appetizing way to celebrate the holiday with family and friends.”

In addition to friends, family and food, two key ingredients for outdoor cooking include common sense and safety. To ensure a successful Fourth of July celebration, HPBA recommends the following food and safety tips for consumers.

Before you fire it up:

- Evaluate your grill and consider replacing it if you have rusted or wobbly legs, or if the manufacturer’s safety guidelines are not being met.
- For gas grills, visually inspect hoses for abrasion, wear, and leaks before each use. A soap and water solution may be used to test for leaks. Never use a flame to check for gas leaks. Replace faulty hoses using a parts replacement kit before operating the grill.
- For charcoal grills, never use gasoline, kerosene or highly volatile fluids as a starter. As an alternative lighter fluid, use an electric, solid, metal chimney or other starter specifically made for lighting charcoal briquets or wood chunks.
- Electric grills should be connected to a ground fault interrupter (GFI) outlet in accordance with local codes. Electrical cords should always be secured during operation to protect against damage or personal injury.

When cooking outdoors:

- Position your grill, fryer or smoker in an open area away from buildings and high traffic areas.
- Never leave your grill, fryer or smoker unattended.
- Wear clothing that does not have hanging shirt tails, frills or apron strings.
- Always use long-handled utensils to avoid burns and splatters.
- Be ready to extinguish flames. Use baking soda to control a grease fire and have a fire extinguisher handy. A bucket of sand or a garden hose should be near if you don’t have a commercial extinguisher.

In order to handle food safely:

- Trim any excess fat from meat and poultry to help prevent grill flare-ups.
- Turn food often with tongs to prevent charring.
- Do not press, flatten or pierce the meat - flavorful juices will be lost and may cause flare-ups. Should your meat become charred, remove those areas before eating.
- Proper temperature is critical for cooking delicious, flavorful food.
- Use medium heat to avoid overcooking or charring meat, poultry or seafood.
- Use a meat thermometer or an “instant read” digital thermometer inserted horizontally into the side of meat, poultry and seafood to check doneness.

Recommended Internal Temperatures:
Poultry: 165 degrees F
Ground beef: 160 degrees F
Pork: (chops, ground, tenderloin) 160 degrees F
Large cut pork roasts: 150 degrees F
Beef roasts, steaks, seafood and lamb: 145 degrees F

For easy clean-up:

- Before lighting the grill, apply non-stick spray on the grates. The protective spray cuts down clean-up time afterwards.
- For charcoal grills, line the bowl with aluminum foil. After grilling, and once the grill and coals are cool, simply discard the foil with the coals and ash, then wash and reline with foil for next time.
- Squirt grease-cutting dishwashing detergent on grill and grates (once cool). Scrub with brush or abrasive pad, then rinse. Repeat as necessary.
- Don’t forget to place a grill pad or splatter mat beneath your grill before cooking. These naturally heat resistant pads will protect your deck or patio from any grease that misses the drip pan and will keep your outdoor living area clean and looking like new.

Did you know? Fun barbecue facts:

- The most popular foods for barbecuing are: burgers (82%), steak (79%), chicken (72%) and hot dogs (71%).
- The most commonly prepared side dishes are: corn (42%), potatoes (38%) and other vegetables (37%).
- The most popular flavors of barbecue sauce are hickory, followed by mesquite, honey, and then tomato-based. The most common ingredient added to barbecue sauce is garlic, followed by brown sugar.

For more outdoor cooking tips and tidbits, as well as recipes, visit www.hpba.org.

RISMedia welcomes your questions and comments. Send your e-mail to: realestatemagazinefeedback@rismedia.com.

A joint venture relationship is defined by Wikipedia as: “A relationship formed between two or more parties to undertake economic activity together. The venture can be for one specific project only, or a continuing business relationship such as the Fuji Xerox joint venture.”

One of the greatest recent examples of joint venture would be between Apple and AT&T for the sale of Apple’s iPhone. AT&T benefits from the joint venture because they get millions of new cell phone subscribers without incurring any marketing cost. The new subscribers are delivered to them when someone buys an iPhone. Apple benefits because they receive a commission from AT&T for a portion of the new subscriber’s phone bill. This additional revenue helps Apple offset its costs to market the iPhone.

In the big picture, both businesses benefit from the joint venture relationship. The main benefit of a joint venture relationship is a lower cost of sale.

We real estate agents have the opportunity to use joint venture relationships for our businesses to reduce our cost per sale and our cost per lead. This lead generation strategy is especially important in today’s market because of the lower volume of home sales. Agents are struggling with cash flow and need to generate leads inexpensively. Joint ventures should be an integral element in your marketing.

Let me give you an example. I put together a joint venture relationship with my attorney. I drew up a letter that he could mail to his database offering them a free gift, which was a copy of my book. Any of his clients who wanted their free copy had to call my message center and leave their name, address and phone number. I handled the mailing on my end and sent the letter to about 200 clients of his. The mailing generated about 40 leads for a cost-per-lead of about 40 centers. And because this letter was an indirect endorsement of me by the attorney, these clients were “pre-sold” and the leads were consequently high-quality leads.

The attorney benefited from the joint venture in three different ways. The first was that we referred our clients to him for asset protection and estate planning. I recommended his practice in our client newsletters and featured one a couple of his articles. The second benefit for him was he was able to offer a special gift to his database without having to spend any money or take time to do any work.

The letter was from him, but we took care of everything for him. The third benefit was that many of the people who requested my book called him to ask about us. This gave him an opportunity to talk to clients he hadn’t talked to for a while. This was a win/win relationship. It helped both of our businesses. We each generated leads and clients inexpensively through our relationship.

If you think about this for a minute, you might realize that this little joint venture strategy could be repeated with lenders, insurance agents, financial planners, accountants, home inspectors, home staging specialists, interior designers, contractors and other local businesses in your marketplace. You could offer to send a letter to your database promoting your joint venture partners and they would obviously send a letter to their database promoting you. This would help you create win/win relationships.

OK, I know what you’re thinking …

“I don’t have my own book!” But you don’t need your own book to put this strategy in play, just something of value. A free report, a complimentary audio CD, or you could set up a conference call with a joint venture partner and record it. Interview each other and market the call to both your databases. A great conference call right now would be:

- “Three Costly Legal Mistakes Buyers Make When Buying a Foreclosed Home”
During the call, you and your attorney could highlight some of the mistakes buyers make. At the end of the call, you both could have a special offer for listeners. This same strategy could be repeated over and over again with different joint venture partners:

“Three Costly Mortgage Mistakes Buyers Make When Buying a Foreclosed Home” - Lender JV
“What You Must Know About Insurance When Purchasing a Foreclosed Home” - Insurance JV

Hopefully you see how powerful joint ventures can be in your business. They do require work, but they are very valuable lead-generation tools. You’ll generate high-quality leads inexpensively, and you’ll be able to attract more “pre-sold” clients to your business. Set a goal to launch one joint venture promotion per month for the rest of the year. Once the first promotion is set up, it will be simple going forward because you’ll just reuse marketing pieces with each new joint venture!

Rob Minton, who reinvented his real estate sales business to sell 269 homes to a limited number of clients in one year, has written a very practical book on how real estate agents can sell more homes. For a limited time, you can download this book for free by visiting www.renegadehomesales.com.

RISMedia welcomes your questions and comments. Send your e-mail to: realestatemagazinefeedback@rismedia.com.

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1. The best know what they truly want. At some point in their lives, the best have a “Eureka!” moment when their vision becomes clear. Suddenly they realize what they really, truly want to achieve. They find their passion. When that happens they are ready to strive for greatness. They are ready to pay the price.

2. The best want it more. We all want to be great. But only the best of the best are willing to do what it takes to be great. The best don’t just think about their desire for greatness; they act on it. They have a high capacity for work. They do the things that others won’t do, and they spend more time doing it. When everyone else is sleeping, the best are practicing and thinking and improving.

3. The best are always striving to get better. They are always looking for ways to learn, apply, improve, and grow. They stay humble and hungry. They are lifelong learners. They never think they have “arrived”-because they know that once they think that, they’ll start sliding back to the place from which they came.

4. The best do ordinary things better than everyone else. For all their greatness, the best aren’t that much better than the others. They are simply a little better at a lot of things. Everyone thinks that success is complicated, but it’s really simple. In fact, the best don’t do anything different. They just do the ordinary things better.

5. The best zoom focus. Success is all about the fundamentals, and the fundamentals are little and ordinary and often boring. It’s not just about practice, but focused practice. It’s not just about taking action, but taking zoom-focused action. It’s about practicing and perfecting the fundamentals.

6. The best are mentally stronger. Today’s world is no longer a sprint or a marathon. It’s a series of sprints combined with a boxing match. You’re not just running; you are getting hit along the way. The best are able to respond to and overcome all of this with mental and emotional toughness. They are able to tune out the distractions and stay calm, focused, and energized when it counts.

7. The best overcome their fear. Everyone has fears. The best of the best all have fear, but they overcome it. To beat your enemy, you must know your enemy. Average people shy away from their fears. They either ignore them or hide from them. However, the best seek them out and face them with the intent of conquering them.

8. The best seize the moment. When the best are in the middle of their performance, they are not thinking “What if I win?” or “What if I lose?” They are not thinking “What if I make a mistake or miss the shot?” They are not interested in what the moment produces but are concerned only with what they produce in the moment. When all eyes are watching, they rise to the occasion. As a result, the best define the moment rather than letting the moment define them.

9. The best tap into a power greater than themselves. The best are conductors, not resistors. They don’t generate their own power, but act as conduits for the greatest power source in the world. It’s not always politically correct, but you can’t talk about greatness without talking about God. It would be like talking about breathing without mentioning the importance of air.

10. The best leave a legacy. The best live and work with a bigger purpose. They leave a legacy by making their lives about more than them. This larger purpose is what inspires them to be the best and strive for greatness over the long term. It helps them move from success to significance.

11. The best make everyone around them better. They do this through their own pursuit of excellence and in the excellence they inspire in others. One person in pursuit of excellence raises the standards of everyone around them. And they do this in both their work and life. …The point is to strive to be your best and inspire others to be their best, because it’s in the striving where you find greatness, not in the outcome.

RISMedia welcomes your questions and comments. Send your e-mail to: realestatemagazinefeedback@rismedia.com.

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Costa Poulopoulos, Broker of Record/Owner
Mary Johnson, Salesperson/Owner
Realty Executives Elite
London, Ontario

Years in the industry: Poulopoulos: 22; Johnson: 12
Years as business partners: 13
Number of offices: 1 head office in London; 1 satellite office in the city
Number of agents: 45 sales Executives/agents (at time of publication)
Region served: London, Ontario-nestled between Detroit, Michigan and Toronto, Ontario
Average sales price in your market: $210,000 (Canadian dollars)
Average listing time: Between 60 and 90 days
Facebook? Twitter? LinkedIn? Yes, about 75% of the sales Executives here are using social networking forums. It’s hard to track, but our associates say they’ve gotten a listing/sale from Facebook because, for example, they were friends with someone on Facebook who was friends with someone who needed an agent.
Our brokerage is unique because…At Realty Executives, even though most agents operate under an independent contractor status, we’re interdependent. When you compete with someone, you either win or lose. When you cooperate with somebody, everybody wins. That’s what has happened in our brokerage.
One way we help our agents stand out is by…The office we built. It’s an environment that lends itself to collaboration and sharing amongst our sales Executives. We’ve worked hard to make our office inviting and professional with marble floors, a fireplace, an espresso machine, boardrooms, client rooms, sitting areas, etc., that are all available for use by anyone, at anytime. It doesn’t matter if you’re buying a $70,000 condo or $700,000 home-everyone’s treated equally. You get by giving; you don’t give to get.

What’s the best strategy to get the best possible price for sellers?
In different pockets of the city you have to price properties properly and a lot of that has to do with experience. We offer a caravan every Monday, where the sales Executives tour homes just listed or homes that are going to be listed within the next seven days. During the caravan, from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m., the agents in our brokerage go out and tour and preview all of these listings and, at end of day, they put comments about what should be done to the homes-whether it needs to be staged, pricing, adjustments as far as appearance, etc. They offer objective comments, so instead of one agent giving an opinion, the seller has 45 sets of eyeballs on it.

How are you keeping your meetings productive in today’s market?
We have monthly luncheon meetings at hotels. It’s a working lunch that’s exclusively just for our sales Executives. A week before the meeting we ask them if they have any items they want to discuss. It’s their meeting and we’re there to facilitate, so any topics, concerns, new business, etc. that they want to discuss is forwarded via e-mail. We then circulate our full-blown agenda prior to the meeting. It’s a formal meeting, so we do introductions and offer name tags because, even though we all work in same brokerage, we don’t see everyone every day. We all brainstorm and trade secrets and implement ideas that are legal, ethical and good for the brokerage.

What’s your biggest challenge in today’s market and how is your company taking it on?
The fear of the economy. Today, both the buyers and sellers have to adjust to the fluctuation of market prices. The market has changed and it’s no longer a matter of listing on the MLS and, within a week, getting a sold sign put out front. Now is the time where agents are worth more and, when the market changes, you have to pull together as a team and as an expert. It’s our job to explain to the client and seller that you have to spend money to make money. It’s our job to market, stage, arrange prelisting inspections, etc. Based on that, we have to convey to sellers that our fee is this, but you’re hiring a professional who knows who to market your property. And when you do it collectively, with a big group of people that go out during the caravan, that’s the biggest asset we’ve found. It’s more than using a CMA, it’s using professionalism and sensitivity to relay the recommendations of the sales Executives in our brokerage. Do you spend $5,000 to get the price you want or put it at a price to sell as is? It’s all about tact professionalism and sensitivity.

What type of marketing sends the right message to consumers in today’s economy and real estate market?
Realty Executives has such an amazing tech-based marketing campaign that the tools and technology are light years ahead of other companies. We have digital magazines that entail taking a property and putting it in a digital magazine with photos-nobody else in our market is using this. When you send a property brochure digitally, the response we’ve had has been phenomenal. We also use a coffee table listing book. As an Executive with Realty Executives, you create your copy, select the number of pages and create a bound book that sits in the seller’s home. Buyers are going through the house and looking at it. They’re impressed. When sellers sell the house, they keep this book and take it with them. They’ll leave it in their bookcase; it has the sales Executive’s face and company name in it, helping to generate tremendous interest for more business.

How are you communicating with agents today?
We are using technology. When you go to our website, there’s an “Executive Access” login area. If we want to communicate with each other, we use the discussion board. This works because, out of 45 Executives in our office, there may only be 10 who have offices in the brick-and-mortar building. While we do have an area for them to use when they come into the office, when they work from home, they can use the discussion area. You can login and post that you’ve got a buyer looking to move into a particular area under $200,000, before you put on MLS, give me a call. Say I log on and see your post, I can send you a private message with the listing information and tell you to give me a call, etc. It’s like a virtual office.

RISMedia welcomes your questions and comments. Send your e-mail to: realestatemagazinefeedback@rismedia.com.

Gas Grill Cookout Preparation & Safety Tips:

Make Sure Your Tank is Ready:

- A damaged tank - consumers should not try to repair damaged tanks.
- Obsolete tanks - tanks with round- or star-shaped handwheels do not contain Overfill Prevention Devices (OPD) and can no longer be filled.
- Empty tanks - You can get a fresh, ready to grill tank that includes an OPD.

Transport Your Tank Safely - After you buy your tank, secure it upright in a well-ventilated area of your vehicle. Take it directly to the point of use.

Check for Leaks - When attaching your tank to the grill, use soapy water to check the tank and valve for leaks. Open the valve but leave the appliance off while testing. Don’t use a match or open flame to check for leaks. Blue Rhino includes safety and leak checking information on the side of your tank to help.

Lighting Your Grill - Before lighting, always refer to the grill manufacturer’s safety and operating instructions.

Tank Storage - When you store a tank, be sure to keep it in an upright, vertical position. Never store tanks in a garage, building, or enclosed area. Never store an extra tank under your grill.

For more tips, visit www.bluerhino.com.

RISMedia welcomes your questions and comments. Send your e-mail to: realestatemagazinefeedback@rismedia.com.

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Residents at 500 Fourth Avenue will be greeted by a dramatic double-height lobby featuring an inlaid trail of river rocks, limestone flooring, backlit white onyx and suede-wrapped wall panels surrounding a striking fireplace. The 24/7 attended lobby will boast storage space for cold and dry storage deliveries and provide access to the building’s on-site parking garage.

500 Fourth Avenue will feature 156 studio-, one-, two- and three-bedroom residences ranging in size from 539 to 1,456 square feet and priced from $342,000 to $1,077,000. The building will also feature an approximate 3,000 square-foot duplex townhouse priced at $1,426,000, providing a unique opportunity to own a new-construction townhouse in this historic Brooklyn neighborhood. All homes will benefit from a 15-year, 421-A tax abatement.

Sun-drenched residences will feature high end finishes throughout which consistently include exquisite limestone, Italian marble, and rich natural white oak flooring. Kitchens feature a full Viking appliance package complete with commercial-grade ovens and separate cook tops, French-door refrigerators with filtered water system, microwaves and dishwashers. Manhattan Calacatta honed marble countertops and custom-made grey oak hardwood cabinetry with space saver pullouts and soft-closing drawers are set against a stunning snow and ice honey Onyx and frosted glass backsplashes. All residences will be wired for telecommunications and will be equipped with a Unitone video intercom system allowing seamless communication with the full-time doorman, emergency personnel, and taxi service at the touch of a button. A majority of residences also boast spacious balconies.

Spa-like master baths are adorned with polished Gaudi marble floors and walls of Lagos gold-honed limestone with accents of mosaic toffee and shimmering millennium glass. Larger units offer double sink vanities with separate Zuma soaking tubs and frameless glass shower stalls.

“500 Fourth Avenue features everything a home buyer could want; incredible amenities and services, exquisite high-end finishes, set in one of New York City’s most sought after neighborhoods, while maintaining low common charges, a 421-A tax abatement, all at unbelievable prices, providing excellent value.” said Joyce Kafati-Batarse, Senior Vice President of Prudential Douglas Elliman. “Every detail of the building was meticulously planned offering a true home for residents.”

As an extension of each home, 500 Fourth Avenue will offer an extraordinary 5,000 square feet of amenity space. The Club 500 lounge allows residents to have the ideal space to host a social event, business meeting or private screening and will boast a large LCD television, kitchenette, plush seating and a gaming area with a pool table, all of which can be sectioned off to suit all of residents’ entertaining needs.

Adjacent to Club 500 will be a 2,500-square-foot landscaped terrace, perfect for entertaining or as a respite from the stresses of everyday life. Boasting stylish seating and sophisticated landscaping, the terrace is the perfect location for friendly gatherings, or quiet retreats.

At 500 Fourth Avenue concierge services will also be available to all residents to assist with everything from move-in services; preferred restaurant, hotel and night club reservations; tickets for theater, concerts and sporting events; massage/salon bookings; referrals for interior design, nutritionists and contractors; housekeeping; childcare; in-home catering and more.

Additional amenities at 500 Fourth Avenue include a state-of-the-art fitness area; solarium for yoga, dance, meditation and stretching; and a children’s playroom.

Park Slope, long-known for its charming streets, historic buildings, top-rated restaurants, bars, and shops as well as close access to Prospect Park, Brooklyn Academy of Music, the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, the Brooklyn Museum, the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music, and much more, offers endless possibilities for entertainment, dining and leisure. Accessible on every level, 500 Fourth Avenue is steps to the F, M and R subway lines and gives residents easy access to the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway. Nearby Atlantic Terminal also provides connections to the 2, 3, 4, 5, B, D, N and Q trains, as well as to the Long Island Railroad.

The Kafati-Batarse Group at Prudential Douglas Elliman is the exclusive marketing and sales agent for 500 Fourth Avenue.

For more information, call 888.321.5004 or visit www.500FourthAve.com.

RISMedia welcomes your questions and comments. Send your e-mail to: realestatemagazinefeedback@rismedia.com.

Take a small sip and swallow. Then scoop some habanero jelly onto a cheap cracker, chew, sip the rest of the wine and swallow the whole mess.

Sure enough, it is delicious - sweet, spicy and salty, finished with a bright, dry alcoholic flourish. But wouldn’t that make the French wince?

“Yeah, they wouldn’t like it one bit,” said David King, 50, the bushy-haired redhead pouring samples in Dry Comal’s quaint, low-ceilinged tasting room. “But it’s a flavor combination we discovered a long time ago. Quite tasty.”

They do things their own way at Hill Country wineries, and it is a distinctly Texas kind of way. Pride and craft are obvious in most bottles. With few exceptions, the wines I sampled at half a dozen tasting rooms were memorable for one good reason or another. But Hill Country wineries remain rooted in a laid-back Texas casualness.

Fifteen years ago there were a handful of Hill Country wineries; now there are more than 60, 10 of which opened last year. Because the dirt is shallow and rocky, few grow all their own grapes, and some grow none, buying from farmers elsewhere in Texas or some other Western state. A few refuse to dabble in the grapes that won’t grow in their finicky soil, such as cabernets or merlots.

But if not always a broad palate, Hill Country has something else that fuels its burgeoning industry: People want to be there. Unlike dusty and desolate west Texas or smoggy, sprawling Dallas and Houston, Hill Country - a plot in the south-central part of the state - is lush by Texas standards, cut by miles of diving highways, rocky cliffs and twisted junipers. Most of the wineries encourage long, relaxed tasting sessions, offering five or six samples for about a dollar a glass. Some have bed-and-breakfasts. The Texas Hill Country Wineries tourism bureau encourages a road trip of it, offering passports to be stamped at every new vineyard.

“When my sister told me we were going wine tasting in Texas, I said, ‘Oh, that should be great,’” said Stacey Roesberry, 24, of Portland, Ore., recounting her sniff of sarcasm. “But it has been great.” Indeed: Her passport was full.

Then there are the locals who swear they are privy to wine’s finest secret, such as Texan Robert Gornichec, 47, of Boerne, who stopped by the Sister Creek Vineyards in the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it town of Sisterdale, 45 miles north of San Antonio, on a weekday afternoon.

“I was a French-wine snob,” Gornichec said. “This gives it a run for its money.”
Hill Country Texans seem to think a wine rivalry is forming with California - and, dare it be said, France - though, of course, the Californians and French probably would laugh, sneer or both at the thought.

“Texas has outdone Napa,” a Sister Creek employee told me. “They would probably disagree, but I have a lot of customers from Napa.”

One thing Hill Country might have over Napa - and France - is a refreshing earthiness. Take, for example, the Driftwood Estate Winery, which sits at the top of a steep dirt and stone road just outside the town of Driftwood. It doesn’t look like much at first. Then you come upon the cozy tasting room and expansive vineyard below, and realize you’ve found a gem of a place. There you can spend a couple of hours relaxing in the warm Texas sun with a bottle of whatever catches your attention that day, a block of cheese and a box of crackers.

“I tell people never to apologize for the wines they like,” said Phyllis Metzger, 59, who poured samples the day I visited. “We get people here saying, ‘I like sweet wine.’ Don’t apologize! There are no wine snobs here.”
(Driftwood did have one or two sweet wines.)

Places such as Driftwood are fostering a new generation of wine drinkers. Niki Bertrand, 28, of suburban Austin, who is a funky mix of attitude, charm, tattoos and blond dreadlocks, became a Driftwood member during her first visit and now gets free tasting privileges when she visits.

“I’m no expert, but I know what I like - no Kendall Jackson or Beringer,” said Bertrand, a landscape architect. “I like this.”

It’s hard not to savor the weird joy of wine in Hill Country. Especially when you leave a winery with a couple bottles and hear, “Thanks, y’all.” Won’t hear that in Napa.

If You Go:

Texas Hill Country is home to more than 60 wineries, and most are worth checking out. You will like some better than others, but the search is half the fun. Several also have bed-and-breakfasts, giving you a place to lay your head after a long day of wine tasting. Here were some of my favorites:

-Becker Vineyards, Stonewall: beckervineyards.com, 830-644-2681
-Driftwood Estate Winery, Driftwood: driftwoodvineyards.com, 512-858-9667
-Dry Comal Creek Vineyards and Winery, New Braunfels: drycomalcreek.com, 830-885-4076
-Grape Creek Vineyards, Fredericksburg: grapecreek.com, 830-644-2710
-Mandola Estate Winery, Driftwood: mandolawines.com, 512-894-3111
-Sister Creek Vineyards, Sisterdale: sistercreekvineyards.com, 830-324-6704

More information is available at www.texaswinetrail.com.

©2009, Chicago Tribune.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

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“We’re so excited GreenPlus has been positively received over the past year. At this point, selling thousands of these options has surpassed our expectations,” says Marc Roth, CEO and President of HWA.

GreenPlus covers the refrigerator, dishwasher, clothes washer, heating system and water heater for an additional $6.25 a month or $75 a year. When homeowners with GreenPlus encounter a covered piece of equipment that cannot be repaired, they receive an ENERGY STAR qualified replacement, which is typically a higher end model than their existing one.

“We wanted to create a product that allowed our customers to reduce their energy consumption and save money while helping the planet at the same time. We know Realtors and homeowners want innovation from us in our products and are increasingly interested in being able to choose environmentally friendlier options,” added Marc Roth.

HWA said they are looking to develop more innovative options in the near future.

For more information visit www.hwahomewarranty.com or call 1-888-492-7359

RISMedia welcomes your questions and comments. Send your e-mail to: realestatemagazinefeedback@rismedia.com.

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“Realtors are busy people,” says NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® (NAR) President Charles McMillan, a broker with Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage in Dallas-Fort Worth. “Realtors FCU offers convenient, accessible financial services to our members when and where they need it. Realtors FCU is friendly to Realtors and truly a partner that members can trust.”

Dedicated to the Unique Financial Needs of Realtors

Realtors FCU, a new partner in NAR’s Realtor Benefits Program and a major component of NAR’s Second Century Initiatives, offers a full range of products supporting the professional and personal interests of Realtors.

“What makes us unique is that we understand Realtors,” says Realtors FCU President Tom Glatt. “They are who we serve. We understand what it means to run a small business or sole proprietorship and the peaks and valleys of the revenue cycle.”

100% Virtual Credit Union

The first completely virtual credit union, Realtors FCU opened for business on May 1, 2009. To accommodate Realtors’ busy schedules, the credit union is open seven days a week, offering 24-hour online account access and member care that provides friendly service and trusted advice by phone or online. Members also have access to thousands of surcharge-free ATMs nationwide and secure online banking and bill pay.

“We’re not some lumbering giant like a big-box bank,” explains Glatt. “I used to work with the Navy, and the admirals used to say that it takes eight miles to turn around a battleship. We’re more like a speedboat. We’re getting instant feedback from members and can turn around on a dime to respond immediately to their needs.”

Full Range of Financial Products and Services

Realtors FCU offers competitive rates on savings and lending products, access to surcharge-free ATM networks and many additional services for members. These include traditional and money market savings accounts; fee-free eChecking with overdraft protection and MasterCard® Debit Card; flexible personal loans and lines of credit; new and used vehicle loans; home loan financing; home equity loans and credit lines; and share certificates. Funds are federally insured to at least $250,000 and fully backed by the U.S. government.

More Services in the Future

Realtors FCU is growing quickly and has a number of products and services planned for the future, including Rewards Checking accounts, Health Savings Accounts (HSAs), Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs), Simplified Employee Pension Plans (SEPPs) and business services.

More Information

NAR members and their families are eligible to become members of Realtors FCU and access their unique financial services. Apply online at REALTORSFCU.ORG.

About the Realtor Benefits Program

The Realtor Benefits Program is offered as a benefit of NAR membership. NAR has partnered with industry leaders to provide Realtors with value-added offers and significant savings on products and services they use every day.

For the most up-to-date list of Program partners, please visit www.REALTOR.org/REALTORBenefits.

RISMedia welcomes your questions and comments. Send your e-mail to: realestatemagazinefeedback@rismedia.com.

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Since then, the standard remotes that most viewers get with their TVs or when they sign up for cable have changed little, adding buttons but retaining the same basic design and button format in an effort to keep costs low.

But as technology improves and gets less expensive - and the remote manages a wider range of content - it’s finally ready for a makeover.

Several companies are working on major upgrades to the remote as the number of viewing options grows and Internet content migrates from the PC to the TV.

Everything from touchpads to voice control will soon come to your humble remote.

Expensive, high-end remote controls have been around for years from independent companies such as Logitech. But when it comes to the low-cost remotes bundled with a TV or provided by a cable or satellite service, the basic layout would be recognizable to any time-traveling couch potato from 1956.

Juergen Schroter, an executive director with AT&T Labs, said current remotes aren’t going to cut it for much longer.

“The options for the typical viewer are exploding,” he said.

Schroter said that the conventional response to this growing array of options would be to just keep adding buttons.

“That leads to a very heavy hammerlike device with lots of keys,” he said. “We believe here in the labs that speech will basically make it possible to leapfrog all this and just tell the system what you want to watch.”

So rather than adding buttons to the remote, AT&T’s solution is to take buttons away.

“The nice thing about the voice capability is that it’s one switch,” said Mazin Gilbert, also an executive director in AT&T Labs.

“It’s something that even a 1-year-old can understand. You press (a button) and say what you want.”

AT&T’s prototype of the voice remote that will eventually be available to its U-verse TV subscribers is built around the company’s “Watson” speech recognition technology.

“The goal of what we do is not to recognize speech only, but also to understand what the user is saying,” Gilbert said.

“If you press the switch and you say, ‘Action movies with Harrison Ford,’ the goal here is not just to recognize that. The goal here is to understand that action movies are types of movies and Harrison Ford is an actor, or he could be a director, too. That’s what the technology we have in place does.”

While voice-controlled remote controls are not new, AT&T says its Watson devices will recognize hundreds of thousands of words, compared with a few dozen in competing models.

AT&T already has functioning prototypes of its voice remote, Gilbert said, and consumers will probably be getting them in a few years.

Voice isn’t the only upgrade coming to the basic remote.

Dish Network Corp. is releasing its HD DuoDVR SlingLoaded ViP 922 digital video recorder this year.

And bundled with the DVR is a touchpad remote with an underside trigger that does away with the traditional keypad altogether.

EchoStar Corp. developed the DVR and remote for Dish.

Although EchoStar is using different technology than AT&T, it’s addressing the same issue.

“The customer doesn’t want to have to keep looking down at a 50-button remote control and then look up at the screen,” said Gregg Martch, vice president of hardware engineering in the EchoStar Technologies division. “They just want to look at the screen.”

Rethinking the remote was particularly crucial on the 922.

In addition to offering a standard DVR and Sling functionality for streaming recorded shows over the Internet, the 922 also has a Web browser.

A standard remote just wasn’t going to work with all those options, Martch said.

“We see it as a paradigm for future products,” he said of the new remote. “Obviously 922 is our first offering with this kind of technology, and it’s a grand experiment.”

Martch noted that keeping costs down was a big concern when designing the remote, but some of the cutting-edge technologies reduce overall costs.

For example, the 922’s remote has a two-way radio so it can transmit data back and forth with the receiver.

A simple on-screen guide lets users program the remote to control additional devices, such as a DVD player, rather than having to hunt through a paper booklet for that device’s code and manually program it in.

And that automation reduces the number of calls to Dish’s customer service department, which cuts overall expenses.

Not everyone is convinced that the remote needs a face-lift, though.

Verizon Communications Inc., for example, says it will handle the growing number of viewing options on its FiOS TV service by improving the on-screen menus.

Verizon spokesman Lee Gierczynski said the on-screen keyboard available through the FiOS interactive media guide works fine with current remotes.

“In the future, if a customer wants to find Internet content, they could potentially use our current search function with our current remote control,” he said.

“Some cable companies don’t have an advanced search function within their media guides to handle searches in this manner.

“So basically, it is not the remotes that will change in the future, but the interface we provide customers.”

But Schroter at AT&T said the number and complexity of TV viewing options is growing too fast to be managed by traditional remote controls.

“The technology curve makes our life more and more complicated,” he said. “We’re trying to simplify that.”

©2009, The Dallas Morning News.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

RISMedia welcomes your questions and comments. Send your e-mail to: realestatemagazinefeedback@rismedia.com.

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A. “How much security do I need?” is a great question that is essentially unanswerable in the abstract, said Jeff Crume, an IT security expert and IBM distinguished engineer.

The amount of security you need depends on the value of the data you’re trying to protect, how vulnerable your system is to attack and, most important, your tolerance for risk.

Brands aside, a standalone antivirus product is not sufficient for most uses.
“That would be analogous to having only a hammer in your toolbox, which only works if every problem you face involves nails,” he said.

In addition to a full-fledged antivirus scanner, you need a personal firewall and spyware scanner, at a minimum. Some security suites include all of these but in stripped-down versions, which Crume would not recommend.

“Others throw in all the tools plus the kitchen sink, which may only introduce more problems down the road,” Crume said.

The best approach, he suggested, is to make sure you are getting full-strength security tools, and skip some of the less useful add-ons if the installation process will allow that level of flexibility.

One option you may want to look at is Microsoft Morro, the software giant’s new, free security package, which it soon will be releasing as a beta, or draft, version for public consumption and experimentation.

The software will provide protection from malware, including viruses, spyware, rootkits and Trojans.

Rootkits were a new term for me. According to Spamfighter.com, a rootkit is a malicious program designed to take control of an IT system or personal computer.

Microsoft says that its new solution was designed to use fewer computing resources, making it workable for systems with low bandwidth or for less-powerful PCs.

You may notice that Morro provides the antivirus and spyware protection that Crume suggests, but not the firewall.

The Windows operating system actually includes a firewall, but geeks recommend using a product such as ZoneAlarm instead. Get it for free at CNET’s download.com.
© 2009, The News & Observer (Raleigh, N.C.).
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

RISMedia welcomes your questions and comments. Send your e-mail to: realestatemagazinefeedback@rismedia.com.

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Home affordability, as defined by the National Association of Realtors’ Housing Affordability Index, stands near all-time highs, thanks to declining prices and historically low mortgage rates. Yet, while some consumers hold off on purchases as they attempt to catch the home-price bottom, they could miss the mortgage-financing opportunity of a lifetime.

Consider the weekly average yield spread between Fannie Mae’s 6.5-year bond to the “benchmark” 10-year Treasury note, a classic relationship that involves the cost of making mortgage loans to consumers. Before disarray in the financial markets, the spread ran about 1% above Treasury bonds, reflecting investors’ confidence that owning debt of bonds backed by Fannie and Freddie is nearly as safe as owning government bonds.

The spread began widening in July 2007 as the global financial crisis unfolded, then spiked to above 2% during the next year as the U.S. economy seized and credit grew scarce. It grew to a startling 2.5% late last year as bond investors’ skittishness about continued delinquencies and defaults-and that the risk of these mortgages had not been properly assessed-resulted in higher risk premiums and higher costs to borrowers.

Late last year, however, the Federal Reserve Bank stepped in with a promise to purchase $500 billion in Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae mortgage-backed securities, and raised that figure to $1.25 trillion in March. The move, combined with loan-modification initiatives and other federal intervention, restored investor confidence in the secondary market and mortgage rates declined rapidly. The yield spread in March dropped to 1% and zero and then fell to an unprecedented minus 0.5% by early May.

This condition is certainly unique and, likely, short-lived. Statistically, when the yield spread deviates from historical norms, the chances are great it will return to those levels. That could quickly drive mortgage rates higher. How much is anyone’s guess, but if the cost of making a mortgage goes up by 1.5% so, too, might mortgage interest rates.

Yet, factor in some additional variables. The marketplace for bonds relies heavily on purchases by offshore buyers who remain skeptical as the global economy continues in flux. Then there’s the inflation-deflation conundrum. Many fear a deflationary spiral-with falling prices for goods and services that lead to falling wages-can still drag down a stabilizing U.S. economy.

Conversely, others believe inflation will kick in, ushering in higher consumer prices, including higher mortgage rates. How this issue shakes out will have important implications for interest rates.

One thing is crystal clear: the odds that mortgage interest rates will rise are much greater than any continued mortgage-rate decline. And for most home buyers, the cost of mortgage financing can be as important as the price of the home itself.

Real estate sales professionals can help their customers make the best long-term decisions by demonstrating the degree to which housing prices and mortgage interest rates could move from this point forward. Customers waiting for the absolute lowest price on a house could miss a golden financing opportunity and the lowest overall cost of homeownership.

Andrew Downs is executive vice president at Prudential Real Estate and Relocation Services.

For more information, visit www.prudential.com/realestate.

RISMedia welcomes your questions and comments. Send your e-mail to: realestatemagazinefeedback@rismedia.com.

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Despite a tough residential real estate market, it looked liked smooth sailing for Gartzke, who already had his eye on a bigger house in Richfield for him and his family.

Then the appraisal came in.

The appraiser concluded the house was worth $190,000, a judgment based in part on information about sales of “comparable” area homes. In turn, the buyer’s mortgage lender didn’t want to finance a house for more than its appraised value.

After the appraiser refused to reconsider what Gartzke and his real estate agent considered a flawed valuation, they were left to try to salvage the sale with a new deal.

The buyer ultimately was able to come up with another $1,000 for the down payment, and Gartzke reluctantly lowered the selling price to $191,000.

“Honestly, had we not had another house lined up that we wanted to purchase, we probably would have just called the whole deal off and tried our luck with another buyer and another appraiser,” Gartzke said.

Gartzke’s case isn’t an isolated one, real estate and mortgage professionals say. They contend home values, already hurt by the bad economy, sometimes are being worsened unnecessarily by low appraisals stemming from new rules meant to prevent the kind of puffed-up valuations and conflicts of interest that helped fuel the housing bubble.

Under an industry code of conduct that took effect May 1, mortgage brokers, real estate agents and loan officers are prohibited from selecting home appraisers. In order to avoid trouble with the rule, called the Home Valuation Code of Conduct, many lenders are hiring companies that put together pools of appraisers and then assign them to individual housing transactions, they say. The code applies to mortgages that will be sold to Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac.

Real estate agents and mortgage brokers say it has led to an increase in questionable or stingy valuations by appraisers who are leery of producing estimates that are too high, or who may be from outside the housing market and unfamiliar with the nuances of neighborhoods to which they’re sent.

“On one of the condos we just got an accepted offer for in the West Bend market, the appraiser that went out there was somebody from Racine,” said Scott Stortz, the owner-broker of Star Properties in Jackson.

Home appraisals that come in at lower-than-agreed-upon sale prices can kill deals, some say. At the very least, industry professionals say, they are delaying sales and undermining momentum that the housing market needs to regain. They say the drop in appraised values often is particularly large for high-end homes for which there now are few recent comparable sales, and argue the appraisal can cripple plans to sell or refinance — even when everything else seems in order.

“The appraisal is really the one and only subjective item in the loan file because it’s the opinion of the appraiser,” said Brian Wickert, president of Accunet Mortgage in Butler.

Nationwide impact

Last week, Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the National Association of Realtors, said poor appraisals are “stalling transactions” nationwide.

“Lenders are using appraisers who may not be familiar with a neighborhood, or who compare traditional homes with distressed and discounted sales,” Yun said. “In the past month, stories of appraisal problems have been snowballing from across the country with many contracts falling through at the last moment. There is danger of a delayed housing market recovery and a further rise in foreclosures if the appraisal problems are not quickly corrected.”

Congress has been listening to testimony on the issue.

The appraisers, however, say their valuations simply reflect what’s happened to the market over the last few years.

Bill Garber, director of government and external relations for the national Appraisal Institute, said appraisals are meant to be a risk-management tool for lenders “who typically don’t want to lend beyond what the value of the collateral is worth.”

Late last week, Representatives Childers (D-MS) and Miller (R-CA) introduced legislation requesting an 18 month moratorium on the Home Valuation Code of Conduct (HVCC).

“The introduction of this legislation is a victory for consumers and members of the industry alike,” said NAMB President Marc Savitt, CRMS. “We thank Congress for recognizing the need to address the issue of appraiser coercion without causing undue harm to borrowers or diminishing competition in the marketplace.”

NAMB has taken an active stance against the HVCC since its introduction in March of 2008. “We urge Congress to pass H.R. 3044 as soon as possible to ensure that more borrowers will not be negatively impacted by this de facto rule,” stated Savitt. “In the period of time since its implementation, the HVCC has increased costs to consumers and decreased the quality of appraisals and has provided a level of uncertainty in an ailing housing market. Tens of thousands of consumers have already been robbed of their opportunity to enjoy historically low rates by Attorney General Andrew Cuomo’s rule.”

“Appraisers don’t make the market. They simply report what is occurring within the markets, and they are sort of the eyes and ears of the lender,” said Garber, whose organization is the nation’s largest association of appraisers. “In the end, it’s really a lending decision.”

Garber said that failure to enforce rules meant to keep appraisers separate from real estate agents and mortgage brokers-who, of course, make money when home sales and refinancings are successful-had put appraisers “under fire from these parties with a vested interest for many years.”

“People who stand to benefit by the closing of these loans are no longer in the position they once were in terms of dictating the appraisal process,” Garber said.

Response too late

There’s little doubt there was collusion nationwide in past years between some appraisers and lenders, which led to abuse, said Steve La Due, vice president of business development for Waterstone Mortgage in Pewaukee. It wasn’t widespread here, he said, but everyone must obey the new rules.

“The government’s response to appraisal problems is they are locking the barn door after the horse is gone in a big way,” he said.

Mike Polega of Re/Max Realty 100, who was Gartzke’s Realtor, said he’s concerned that low appraisals are having a negative effect on a real estate market that had been picking up.

“I’m not proclaiming that a half-million homes or more were lighting the world on fire, but that engine at the lower end was starting to build back up and there was some confidence-building going on. It’s this kind of thing that dampens that kind of spirit,” Polega said. “To me, that’s the bigger consequence of this.”

Copyright © 2009, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

RISMedia welcomes your questions and comments. Send your e-mail to: realestatemagazinefeedback@rismedia.com.

The Refinance Index decreased 30.0% to 1482.2 from 2116.3 the previous week and the seasonally adjusted Purchase Index decreased 4.5% to 267.7 from 280.3 one week earlier. The Refinance Index is at its lowest level since November 2008.

The four week moving average for the seasonally adjusted Market Index is down 9.2%. The four week moving average is unchanged for the seasonally adjusted Purchase Index, while this average is down 15.2% for the Refinance Index.

The refinance share of mortgage activity decreased to 46.4% of total applications from 54.0% the previous week. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity increased to 4.3% from 4.1% of total applications from the previous week.

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased to 5.34% from 5.44%, with points increasing to 1.12 from 0.99 (including the origination fee) for 80% loan-to-value (LTV) ratio loans.

The average contract interest rate for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased to 4.81% from 4.93%, with points increasing to 1.04 from 0.92 (including the origination fee) for 80% LTV loans.

The average contract interest rate for one-year ARMs decreased to 6.52% from 6.54%, with points increasing to 0.13 from 0.11 (including the origination fee) for 80% LTV loans.

The survey covers over 50% of all U.S. retail residential mortgage applications, and has been conducted weekly since 1990. Respondents include mortgage bankers, commercial banks and thrifts. Base period and value for all indexes is March 16, 1990=100.

For more information, visit www.mortgagebankers.org.

RISMedia welcomes your questions and comments. Send your e-mail to: realestatemagazinefeedback@rismedia.com.

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The Pending Home Sales Index, a forward-looking indicator based on contracts signed in May, increased 0.1 percent to 90.7 from an upwardly revised reading of 90.6 in April, and is 6.7 percent higher than May 2008 when it was 85.0. The last time there were four consecutive monthly gains was in October 2004.

Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, cautions that there could be delays in the number of contracts that go to closing. “Closed existing-home sales have improved but are coming in lower than expected because some contracts are delayed or falling through from the application of new appraisal rules for many transactions,” he said. “Rises in contract activity show buyers are becoming more active even as they face much more stringent loan underwriting standards. Speedy clarification of the appraisal rules could smooth a housing market recovery and support the overall economy.”

The Pending Home Sales Index in the Northeast rose 3.1 percent to 80.9 in May and is 6.8 percent above a year ago. In the Midwest the index slipped 1.3 percent to 89.2 but is 11.4 percent above May 2008. The index in the South declined 1.7 percent to 92.6 in May but is 7.9 percent higher than a year ago. In the West the index rose 2.2 percent to 96.9 and is 0.7 percent above May 2008.

NAR President Charles McMillan, a broker with Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage in Dallas-Fort Worth, said the appraisal issue is complicated. “We see that distressed homes often are selling for 20 percent less than normal homes in the same area, but some appraisals don’t distinguish between traditional homes and distressed property,” he said. “In many cases appraisers from outside the area are being used, but as everyone knows real estate is local and appraisals should be done by an expert with local expertise.”

McMillan said sellers shouldn’t hesitate to speak with an appraiser about their home. “Sellers should feel free to tell an appraiser about improvements and renovations to their home, and how it compares with other homes in the neighborhood,” he said.

“Also, if recent sales in the neighborhood were discounted, but not similar to your home in terms of quality or condition, that should be pointed out. It wouldn’t hurt to put all this in writing, especially if an appraiser is not familiar with your area. A Realtor® could offer guidance and information to help you with this process.”

NAR’s Housing Affordability Index remains at historic highs. The affordability index fell to 171.6 in May from an upwardly revised 178.8 in April, which was the highest on record dating back to 1970. “Under these conditions the typical family would devote only 14.6 percent of gross income to mortgage principal and interest, which is one of the lowest percentages on record,” Yun said.

The HAI is a broad measure of housing affordability using consistent values and assumptions over time, which examines the relationship between home prices, mortgage interest rates and family income.

A median-income family, earning $60,800, could afford a home costing $296,700 in May with a 20 percent downpayment, assuming 25 percent of gross income is devoted to mortgage principal and interest. Affordability conditions for first-time buyers with the same income and small downpayments are roughly 80 percent of what a median-income family can afford. The affordable price was significantly higher than the median existing single-family home price in May, which was $172,900.

The first-time buyer tax credit also is benefiting the market. “Strong activity by entry level buyers is helping to absorb inventory and allow some existing owners to make a trade,” Yun said.

Existing-home sales should trend up through the end of the year, with normal local market differences. “The big question is how much the appraisal issue will impact the ability of contracts to go to closing,” Yun said. “We are currently conducting a study to assess the degree to which new appraisal rules are impacting home sales.”

For more information, visit www.Realtor.org.

RISMedia welcomes your questions and comments. Send your e-mail to: realestatemagazinefeedback@rismedia.com.

The state Legislature set aside $30 million to create the Florida Home buyer Opportunity Program, aimed at first-time buyers and others who have not owned a home for at least the past three years. To qualify, an individual cannot earn more than $75,000 a year, while couples can’t earn more than $150,000.

“Here in Florida, rather than qualified buyers waiting to get the tax credit on the tail end of the process, in the form of a credit after they have filed the tax returns, it will allow them to get it upfront and let them use it for down-payment assistance and fees,” said David Hart, vice president of legislative and government affairs for the Florida Home Builders Association. He estimated that about five states are taking a similar approach.

The state’s program takes effect Wednesday, though the money isn’t expected to be available until later in July or August. The funds are being distributed through local government and nonprofit agencies that already provide down-payment help through the State Housing Initiatives Partnership, known as SHIP. Qualified home buyers are entitled to $8,000 or 10% of the property’s purchase price, whichever is less.

18 months to repay

Buyers who receive a down payment must file for the tax credit on their federal tax return next year and then repay the agency that lent them the assistance, according to the program, which was proposed by state Sen. Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey. The program gives buyers who qualify and get funds 18 months in which to repay the state, which allows them plenty of time to realize the benefits of the tax credit, part of the federal government’s massive stimulus package, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

The state program is intended to boost Florida’s slumping housing market. While the number of existing-home sales locally and statewide have been up for months now compared with a year ago, prices continue to be down 30% or more year-over-year depending on the market, according to the Florida Association of Realtors.

To receive the state’s down-payment assistance, the buyer must close on a property by the end of November. Housing agencies are still working out the details of how to distribute the funds, and state officials caution that four or five months is a relatively short time in which to qualify, find a home, obtain a mortgage, close on the property — and use the money. Qualified buyers who do not take advantage of the state program may still take the federal tax credit, which is currently set to expire in December.

Some local homebuilders are hopeful the state’s decision to convert the tax credit into upfront money will help spur the slumping market. George Glance, who oversees operations for KB Home in Central Florida, said that, while historically low interest rates and falling home prices are enticing many first-time buyers into the market, many of them struggle to come up with a down payment.

“Allowing the federal tax credit to be used toward a down payment would be a great advantage to a first-time home buyer trying to obtain the dream of homeownership,” Glance said.

One consumer advocate considers the state program flawed, however, because of the way the state is distributing the money. Walter Dartland, director of the Consumer Federation of the Southeast, said he fears some Florida cities and counties will run out of cash before the end of November, even as others wind up with excess funds that won’t get used.

Will it be used?

“Each county or municipality gets a share of the money. In smaller counties, no one is going to buy any houses-there’re so many for sale,” Dartland said. “The concern I have is that it won’t be used. If there’s any money left on deck, it won’t stimulate anything.”

He proposed that the money all come from a single, statewide pot. But state officials said they must abide by rules set by the Legislature, which call for the funds to be distributed through local housing agencies.

Mary Shanklin can be reached at mshanklin@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5538.

Copyright ©2009, The Orlando Sentinel, Fla.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

RISMedia welcomes your questions and comments. Send your e-mail to: realestatemagazinefeedback@rismedia.com.

Electricity is essential energy - it keeps us cool in the summer, lights our house, keeps the refrigerator cold, and runs the TV, stereo and computers. But you can create dangers with electricity. It doesn’t take much power for someone to hurt themselves - an adult can be killed with less than one-fifth of the electricity it takes to light a bulb.

Children often do not understand the dangerous situation that they can create with electricity. Take some time to get down and view the surroundings from a child’s vantage point to identify possible dangerous situations. For safety outdoors, PECO recommends children and adults follow these rules:

- Always assume that electrical equipment is energized. Stay away from electrical equipment on the ground and overhead. Never climb a utility pole or tower. Don’t play on or around pad-mounted electrical equipment. Electrical power poles and utility equipment should never be used as a playground.
Never climb trees near power lines. Even if the power lines aren’t touching the tree, they could touch when more weight is added to the branch.

- Fly kites and model airplanes safely away from trees and overhead power lines. If a kite gets tangled in a tree that’s near power lines, don’t climb up to get it.

- Never go into an electric substation. Electric substations contain highly dangerous high-voltage power equipment. Don’t retrieve a toy or rescue a pet that goes inside.

- Look up and around you. Always be aware of the location of power lines, particularly when using long metal tools like ladders and pool skimmers.

Doug Mokoid, PECO safety manager, suggests adults teach what they know about electrical safety. In most instances, Mokoid said, if potential safety concerns are taken into consideration and handled proactively, accidents could be avoided. “Electricity and water can be a dangerous combination for people,” he said. “Caution children and family members about the danger of using electrical appliances in wet areas - even wet grass can create a dangerous condition.”

- Supervise the use of extension cords outside, check them carefully for exposed wires, and make sure they are in good shape, and not frayed or cracked. Use only extension cords that are rated and marked for outdoor use, and are large enough to handle the current needed for the device you are using.

- Check that the prongs on the extension cord plugs are clean, not broken or bent. Make sure the ground prong is intact in a three-prong plug, and avoid use of adapters.

- Summertime is water recreation time for millions. While enjoying water activities, don’t create a dangerous situation that will dampen your summer fun. According to the federal Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), deaths and serious shocks occur in and around swimming pools each year.

- Never touch an electrical appliance if you are wet; always dry off completely. And, never swim during a thunderstorm. If children wish to play with sprinklers or hoses, reinforce that they should be set up well away from any electrical outlets or appliances.

- Be careful using electrical appliances outdoors. Whether it is a bug zapper, an electric charcoal lighter, or a radio or CD player, caution must be exercised. Use battery operated, rather than electrical, appliances near swimming pools. Keep electronics and electrical appliances and tools at least 10 feet away from pools, ponds and wet surfaces.

- Be sure you use outlets that have weatherproof covers and ground fault circuit interrupters (GFCI) to prevent serious shock injuries. Any electrical outlets within 20 feet of a pool or spa should be equipped with a GCFI, or ground fault circuit interrupter. Use portable GFCIs for outdoor outlets that don’t have them.

- Never install pools underneath or near power lines. Watch for and stay away from overhead power lines when cleaning pools, sailing or fishing. Pools and decks should be built at least 5 feet away from all underground electrical lines, and at least 25 feet away from overhead electrical lines.

- Summer is often a peak season for one of the nation’s deadliest weather phenomena-lightning. That is why the National Weather Service has adopted the saying: When Thunder Roars, Go Indoors! Lightning can strike up to 10 miles from the area in which it is raining, even if you don’t see clouds. This means that if you can hear thunder, you’re within striking distance.

“If thunderstorms and lightning are approaching, the safest location is indoors away from doors and windows with the shades drawn. Stay away from water, electric appliances and other objects that could conduct electricity, and use only cordless or cell phones to make emergency calls,” said Mokoid. Phone use is the leading cause of indoor lightning injuries in the U.S.

A direct strike is not necessary for lightning voltage to enter your home through phone lines, electrical wires, cables and plumbing. Turn off and unplug appliances well before a storm nears - never during. Don’t expect a surge protector to save appliances from a lightning strike, unplug it as well. More information on lightning safety can be found at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration website at www.lightningsafety.noaa.gov.

Based in Philadelphia, PECO is an electric and natural gas utility subsidiary of Exelon Corporation.

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