I HATE TO SAY THIS, BUT on January 28 this year The Oracle spoke, predicting a new real estate market upturn and substantially increased sales beginning… yes, specifically on April 28, 2008. Did it happen? Yes, right on time. Bay Area sales are up 27%.

Boy, can I gloat, but then again… Cassandra is my middle name. I can predict the future accurately, but no one listens!

The Oracle Speaks again: Bay Area sales will go up month by month until in August the market will be HOT through November 2008.

BUT by April 2008 mortgage interest rates for fixed rate will be 8.5%-12%, and the market will plummet, again. And rates will stay high.

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I’VE NEVER HAD A SLITHER PUP.  The Montana “Newton” Pup Dog likes to really stretch out and “slither” along the carpet.

Never have I seen a dog slither.  Now I have a “Slither” dog.  Maybe the slithering will scare intruders?

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WEATHERED WOOD home components are expensive to replace. Weathered wood like barge rafters, siding, rafter tails, and trim are areas without paint, with surface cracks in the wood and ridges in the wood between old tree rings. Weathered south facing barge rafters are a common problem. Recently I had an “opportunity” to restore extensive weathering on a classic Craftsman home for a friend. Here is what it looked like: An example of weathered lap siding. Restoring weathered wood expecially barge rafters and siding is difficult multistage process. Both Home Inspectors and Wood Destroying Organism Inspectors call for weathered wood to be replaced, which is expensive. Especially if it is the entire exterior, as in this case. Southern exposure barge rafters are particularly susceptible to weathering. Here is how to restore weathered wood: 1. Pressure wash or wash and scrub off dirt and old paint; 2. Scrape the entire weathered area with a good paint scraper; 3. Wire brush the weathered wood throughly;  4. Where more than one layer of paint has pealed off, heavy sand the area with 60-100 grit sand paper, with a belt or orbital sander; finish sand with 120 grit finish sandpaper with a finish sander or by hand; 5. Apply one or more coats of filler paint undercoat; 6. Finish sand the filler undercoat to a smooth surface, if not smooth, apply more coats of filler paint; 7. Apply paint to the weathered area. Restored Lap Siding! What a difference! Now that you’re exhausted, you know how to restore weathered home components! Its labor intensive, but far cheaper than thousands spent on new wood! Subscribe to Realestateblocks.com!

PHOTOS OR THE LACK THEREOF ARE IMPORTANT home listing data as this post at 3 Oceans by Cindy Lin in this great post. Read the whole thing.

What I’ve noticed on Craigslist homes for sale listings is that many agents simply place an ad on Craigslist as an afterthought, and don’t take the time to import one or more photos.

Buyers use home photos to eliminate homes from their tour list. This was the point of Cindy’s post. The lack of photos puts the buyer and buyer’s agent in the position of needing to tour a home to eliminate it as a possible buy. Experienced agents understand.

I’ve noticed that experienced agents deliberately leave photos out of listing information. Where the home has some major defect, like front elevation, interior, or other major defect experienced agents leave photos out of listing information to pull in the best buyer’s brokers who know that they must see every listing that might fit their buyer clients needs, and so must tour the home without photos. I’ve toured hundreds of homes on behalf of buyers precisely because there were no photos. Diligent agents do tour these homes just to make sure the home does not meet their buyer’s criteria.

The lack of photos tells a buyer out shopping that either the listing agent is lazy, or more likely there is a major defect or defects with the home.

Sellers should also be aware that buyers and buyers agents particularly use photos negatively to eliminate home from their tour list. Photos should show the homes features, not just a beautiful photo so buyers will tour the home.

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SHOPPING FOR FOOD YESTERDAY for food my weekly costs for the same items have increased about 20%; at Home Depot the cost of metal products, like the mailbox I was going to buy, doubled, and the cost of gas at the pump everyone notices.

The Cost of Living Index, CPI, is complied from data almost three months old.  It appears that inflation this year, as measured by CPI will be in the double digits.  Mortgage interest rates historically must be 3% over the rate of inflation for mortgage lenders to make money on fixed rate loans, and of course non-fixed rate loans are indexed.

What all this means is higher mortgage interest rates in the near future. Probably just after the coming November election.  Home buyers major cost is interest.  The time to buy using a fixed rate loans is now, today.

It is entirely possible before Christmas mortgage interest could be over 10%.  This will not do the housing recovery any good as sales will slow, again.  What homeowners are going to learn is that home prices are tied to mortgage interest rates.  As interest rates go up, home prices will go down.

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