National Association of Realtors Proposes Housing. November 20, 2008 As a Realtor® I am daily faced with the effects of the economic meltdown on our industry all over the country. Consumer confidence is at an all time low which is adding to the current housing crisis. Buyers who have stable jobs and good income are postponing purchasing a home due to fear. We need action by lawmakers NOW - not in January. Hopefully the lame duck Congress will listen to reason, and pass some meaningful bills! Bills that will RESTORE CONSUMER CONFIDENCE so that homebuyers are not frozen by fear! Even in areas which have a strong economy (low unemployment, healthy job outlook, no real estate bubble bursting) buyers are holding off buying – waiting for a lower interest rate, or the assurance that they'll buy at the absolute bottom price. They are also frustrated with the current lending environment that places a variety of barriers to getting a mortgage. This further impedes sales and price stabilization of the housing market. A recent consumer survey conducted by Realogy Corp. (a National Association of Realtors ® member) stated how important housing is to this country's economic recovery. The survey found that nine out of 10 homeowners believe that owning a home is still the best long-term investment. But this same survey said that most people are not buying right now because of uncertainty about the market. Recently the National Association of Realtors® sent a letter to U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson outlining steps he could take to stabilize the housing market. They also presented this plan to the House Financial Services Committee on November 18th. The four steps the recommended are: 1) Make the $7,500 first-time homebuyer tax credit available to all homebuyers and eliminate the repayment requirement. 2) Make the increased 2008 FHA, Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac loan limits permanent so that all American families can find a safe and affordable mortgage when buying a home. 3) Get the $700 billion Treasury relief program back on track and focused on providing stability to the nation's housing markets and reducing foreclosures. 4) Bar banks from real estate brokerage and management activities permanently, to avoid exposing consumers and the economy to more unnecessary risks. NAR also provided an economic analysis demonstrating that a reduction, or a buydown, of interest rates by just 1 percentage point could result in up to 840,000 additional home sales and reduce the inventory of homes by as much as 20 percent. Substantially lower mortgage rates would stimulate both existing- and new-home sales. These are great first steps to getting home sales going again. It was Richard Nixon who said, "A recession is anytime people lose confidence in the future." Now is the time to restore confidence, people! Posted by Dennis L. Slama on December 28, 2008 at 05:16 PM About Dennis L. Slama I am a life-long resident of Lincoln, NE. My knowledge of Lincoln and its history will enable me to provide for your future home and business needs. I help people find homes. Pointing people to houses is one thing, but helping people find homes is another thing entirely. Knowing this region and truly getting to know my customers helps me make the best use of our time together. By focusing on your specific needs and circumstances I can truly work for you. Our time together is best spent by refining your needs, not just pointing to lots of houses. I'm here to help you, whether to offer expert advice and market information on listing and selling your house, or assisting you as you find and purchase the home of your dreams. It will be my pleasure to serve you. As of 12/03/09 the Dennis L. Slama RePage is ranked at 21 with 19,310 points. The monthly top RePage owner will receive a cash prize. Help this agent by bookmarking this site and posting it to blogs and other Web pages and encourage others to visit.

Local Information for Lincoln, NE

Latitude: 40.809868 -- Longitude: -96.675345

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Lincoln started out as the village of Lancaster, which was founded in 1856, and became the county seat of the newly-created Lancaster County in 1859. The capital of Nebraska Territory had been Omaha since the creation of the territory in 1854; however, most of the territory's population lived south of the Platte River. After much of the territory south of the Platte considered annexation to Kansas, the legislature voted to move the capital south of the river and as far west as possible. The village of Lancaster was chosen, in part due to the salt flats and marshes nearby. However, Omaha interests attempted to derail the move by having Lancaster renamed after the recently-assassinated President Abraham Lincoln. At the time, many of the people south of the river had been sympathetic towards the Confederate cause and it was assumed that the legislature would not pass the measure if the future capital was named after Lincoln. -- Source: Wikipedia.com