How many things are we missing?

Such a great message!   A Washing Post experiment but I found it via one of the great professionals in our business, Tom Tognoli of Inter Real Estate in CA.  Enjoy.

Mon. Feb 1st | Tom Tognoli

Grab your cup of Joe and watch this video first (double click on the image below)…then read this week’s MOJO.

A violinist playing in the Washington DC Metro Station on a cold January morning in 2007. He played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time approx two thousand people went through the station, most of them on their way to work.

After 3 minutes a middle aged man noticed there was a musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds and then hurried to meet his schedule.

4 minutes later:
The violinist received his first dollar: a woman threw the money in the till as she quickly walked by.

6 minutes:
A young man leaned against the wall to listen to him, then looked at his watch and started to walk again.

10 minutes:
A 3 year old boy stopped but his mother tugged him along hurriedly, as the kid stopped to look at the violinist. Finally the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk, turning his head while he walk away. This action was repeated by several other children. Every parent, without exception, forced them to move on.

45 minutes:
The musician played.  Only 6 people stopped and stayed for a while. About 20 gave him money but continued to walk their normal pace.
He collected $32.

1 hour:
He finished playing and silence took over. No one noticed. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition.

No one knew this but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the best musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written, with a violin worth $3.5 million dollars. Two days before Joshua Bell sold out a theater in Boston where the seats averaged $100.

This is a real story. Joshua Bell playing incognito in the metro station was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste and people's priorities.

The questions asked:

1. In a common place environment at an inappropriate hour, do we perceive beauty?
2. Do we stop to appreciate it?
3. Do we recognize talent in an unexpected context?
   

One possible conclusion reached from this experiment could be:

If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world playing some of the finest music ever written, with one of the most beautiful instruments...

How many other things are we missing?

Listen to Joshua Bell's complete Metro Station performance.

Just came across this article from a trusted professional in the financial field.....happy to pass it along!  Donna Fuscaldo has written about personal finance for more than 10 years at the Wall Street Journal, Dow Jones Newswires, and Fox Business. She’s currently remodeling her home—and aiming to make a profit on it one day.

It’s no secret that finishing your basement will increase your home’s value. What you may not know is the money you spend on this type of so-called capital improvement could also help lower your tax bill when you sell your house.

Tax rules let you add capital improvement expenses to the cost basis of your home. Why is that a big deal? Because a higher cost basis lowers the total profit—capital gain, in IRS-speak—you’re required to pay taxes on.

 The tax break doesn’t come into play for everyone. Most homeowners are exempted from paying taxes on the first $250,000 of profit for single filers ($500,000 for joint filers). If you move frequently, maybe it’s not worth the effort to track capital improvement expenses. But if you plan to live in your house a long time or make lots of upgrades, saving receipts is a smart move.

What counts as a capital improvement?

While you may consider all the work you do to your home an improvement, the IRS looks at things differently. A rule of thumb: A capital improvement increases your home’s value, while a non-eligible repair just returns something to its original condition. According to the IRS, capital improvements have to last for more than one year and add value to your home, prolong its life, or adapt it to new uses.

Capital improvements can include everything from a new bathroom or deck to a new water heater or furnace. Page 9 of IRS Publication 523 has a list of eligible improvements. There are limitations. The improvements must still be evident when you sell. So if you put in wall-to-wall carpeting 10 years ago and then replaced it with hardwood floors five years ago, you can’t count the carpeting as a capital improvement. Repairs, like painting your house or fixing sagging gutters, don’t count. The IRS describes repairs as things that are done to maintain a home’s good condition without adding value or prolonging its life.

There can be a fine line between a capital improvement and a repair, says Erik Lammert, tax research specialist at the National Association of Tax Professionals. For instance, if you replace a few shingles on your roof, it’s a repair. If you replace the entire roof, it’s a capital improvement. Same goes for windows. If you replace a broken window pane, repair. Put in a new window, capital improvement. One exception: If your home is damaged in a fire or natural disaster, everything you do to restore your home to its pre-loss condition counts as a capital improvement.

How capital improvements affect your gain

To figure out how improvements affect your tax bill, you first have to know your cost basis. The cost basis is the amount of money you spent to buy or build your home including all the costs you paid at the closing: fees to lawyers, survey charges, transfer taxes, and home inspection, to name a few. You should be able to find all those costs on the settlement statement you received at your closing.

Next, you’ll need to account for any subsequent capital improvements you made to your home. Let’s say you bought your home for $200,000 including all closing costs. That’s the initial cost basis. You then spent $25,000 to remodel your kitchen. Add those together and you get an adjusted cost basis of $225,000.

Now, suppose you’ve lived in your home as your main residence for at least two out of the last five years. Any profit you make on the sale will be taxed as a long-term capital gain. You sell your home for $475,000. That means you have a capital gain of $250,000 (the $475,000 sale price minus the $225,000 cost basis). You’re single, so you get an automatic exemption for the $250,000 profit. End of story.

Here’s where it gets interesting. Had you not factored in the money you spent on the kitchen remodel, you’d be facing a tax bill for that $25,000 gain that exceeded the automatic exemption. By keeping receipts and adjusting your basis, you’ve saved about $3,750 in taxes (based on the current 15% tax rate on capital gains). Well worth taking an hour a month to organize your home-improvement receipts, don’t you think?

Watch out for these basis-busters

Some situations can lower your basis, thus increasing your risk of facing a tax bill when you sell. Consult a tax advisor. One common one: If you take depreciation on a home office, you have to subtract those deductions from your basis. Any depreciation taken if you rented your house works the same way. You also have to subtract subsidies from utility companies for making energy-related home improvements or energy-efficiency tax credits you’ve received. If you bought your home using the federal tax credit for first-time homebuyers, you’ll have to deduct that from your basis too, says Mark Steber, chief tax officer at Jackson Hewitt Tax Services.

This article provides general information about tax laws and consequences, but is not intended to be relied upon by readers as tax or legal advice applicable to particular transactions or circumstances. Readers should consult a tax professional for such advice, and are reminded that tax laws may vary by jurisdiction.

  What is a credit score?

A credit score is a number that reflects your credit risk level, typically with a higher number indicating lower risk. Your credit score is a fluid number, and it changes as the elements in your credit report change. For example, payment updates or a new account could cause your score to fluctuate.

FICO ® scores are your credit rating. Scores can range from 300-850, higher is better. Your FICO® score is calculated based on your rating in five general categories:

What information impacts my credit score?

Generally, credit scores are affected by elements in your credit report, such as:

• Number and severity of late payments

• Type, number and age of accounts

• Total debt

• Recent inquiries

What are score factors? Score factors are the elements from your credit report that drive your credit score.For example, such elements as your total debt, types of accounts, number of late payments and age of accounts are what determine the outcome of your credit score. Score factors can have a positive or negative effect on your credit score.

• Payment History

• Amount Owed

• Length of Credit History

• New Credit

• Types of Credit Used

How do I improve my credit score?

• Paying your bills on time is the single most important contributor to a good credit score. Even if the debt you owe is a small amount, it is crucial that you make payments on time.

• Minimize outstanding debt, avoid overextending yourself and applying for credit needlessly.

• Use the credit you already have to prove your ongoing ability to manage credit responsibly. Applications for credit show up as inquiries on your credit report, indicating to lenders that you may be taking new debt.

• If you do have negative information on your credit report, such as late payments, a bankruptcy, public record item or too many inquiries, your best strategy is to pay your bills and wait. Time is often your best ally in improving credit.

Disclaimer: 

Credit bureau-based scores cannot use demographics prohibited under the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, such as race, color, religion, national origin, gender, age, marital status, receipt of public assistance or exercise of rights under Consumer Credit Protection Act. Scores used by individual lenders may use such elements as income, occupation, and type of residence in determining their own custom credit score.

Happy New Year!!  Well, the McGowan Team here at Prudential Ga Realty survived in 2009!  I only use the word "survived" because our industry saw a mass exodus from the real estate business and although it's never a good thing to see folks having to leave one business/job/profession and try to move to another, I'd have to say it's not all bad for this to have happened in our market.

Too many people/"wana be agents" think/THOUGHTbecoming a real estate agent was a way to make eeeezzzy money with little to no work and little to no emphasis on striving to enhance their knowledge and skills to become a true professional.  In addtion, too many of these "agents" did not work to or even thought to build a true business that prepares for and survives( there's that  word again) the cycles that almost all business go through.  Well, some agents may have actually been able to make some $$ and get by, and think they were hot stuff along the way, by NOT being a professional during the boom years of 2001-2006 but guess what?   Reality set in and slapped those who practiced real estate in this lackluster manner right upside the head!  Way to go reality!

Being a 3rd generation Realtor, I've never viewed this profession, and real estate is a profession unless you were one of those aforementioned slackers, in this manner and most of my professional counterparts who continue to operate their real estate businesses today, never have either.  It takes oooh so much more than a nice car and yard signs to be a true professional and I salute those in my market (those with my company and those with other companies)that continue to better themselves and their businesses in order to better serve their clients and our community as a whole!

Hold on....this blog post was about the impact that First Time Home Buyers had on the Atlanta market thru most of 2009 and especially in November!  I got a little of course above but I'll get back on track!

Happy New Year and hope to hear from you soon!

First-Time Home Buyers Are Buying!

The facts continue to show that first-time home buyers are getting more active in the national and local real estate market.  The National Association of Realtors reports that 51% of purchases in November were first-time buyers.  Remember, the definition of a first-time home buyer is ”a buyer who has not owned a primary residence in the last three years.” 

 

Here in metro Atlanta, the story is similar.  SmartNumbers reports that 43% of local buyers in November were first-time buyers.  Their data shows that first-time buyers were 37% of the market prior to 2003.  In 2003, we saw that new home prices began escalating and essentially started pricing these buyers out of the market.  Now that prices have dropped, these buyers are able to afford properties that were previously unrealistic for them.  In the 3rd quarter of 2009, we saw first-time buyers return to historically normal levels.  Of course, the $8,000 Tax Credit and low mortgage rates are also driving this behavior.  In November, we saw the numbers jump to 43% and would expect that momentum to continue to the spring market.

 

Atlanta 1st Time Buyers Return To Market!

 

 

One of the biggest obstacles for many first-time home buyers is the fear of losing their job.  They know that there are fabulous properties available, low mortgage rates and tax incentives.  But they are worried about losing their job and then losing their new home.  Prudential Georgia Realty is pleased to offer Job Loss Protection which provides a “nest egg” of $10,800 to cover 6 monthly payments of $1,800 in the event of an involumtary job loss.  Conatct your local Prudential Georgia Realty agent for details – and get started now!  These low rates and exceptional properties will not be there forever.  The clock is ticking on the $8,000 Tax Credit which expires on April 30th 2010.  See our video channel for details of the Job Loss Protection program, Tax Credits plus other local real estate news – at www.AtlantaRealEstateChannel.com.

 

Are Vaulted/Cathedral ceilings a "feature" of the past?

Interesting renovation a ran into today in a home I’ve been asked to help market in the near future.  This particular house was built in the early 90’s and had what a good many of these homes had when when built, a two-story/vaulted ceiling in the main level living area.  Nice feature and at that time, a “must have” with any high end /luxury home…some would still say this feature is a must in the upper tier home market.

However, with the Green Movement we are experiencing and the country’s overall effort in reducing energy costs and consumption, high ceilings may be headed down!

So, back to this particular home…..a few years back, the current owners decided they did not want to heat and cool, thus “waste” energy and $$$, on a large space that did not provide any real “value” to them.  Even though the vaulted ceiling provided nice natural light and the feeling of openness, these owners felt it was really wasted space…and $$.  So, they ended up turning that space into another full bedroom and bath to coincide with the upstairs!  Now that 3 bedroom / 2.5 bath home is a 4 bd / 3.5 bath and becomes much more valuable to the “market” and for resale! And, much for energy efficient ( how much?  not sure exactly but I’m sure there is a way to measure the direct $$ if you charted before and after numbers)The main level living area is still very attractive…now having an 11 ft coffered ceiling!

So, I do love those high, vaulted ceilings but it makes you wonder if the new construction homes coming to market over the next few years will be more valuable with or without those guys…….  

Love to hear your thoughts!  respond or hit me directly via www.realestatewithjames.com!     

Being a residential real estate consultant allows to me assist others who might be looking to lay roots in Atlanta just like me!  And when they are interested in the Brookhaven area, I have triple the excitement to assist!  I’ve lived in Brookhaven for over 13 years and LOVE IT!  In addition, I specialize in assisting home buyers and sellers, and investors, with their real estate needs in Brookhaven.  From time to time I like to quickly put out/tweet/blog a few reasons why I’m passionate about Brookhaven ( my team also specializes in, and is PASSIONATE about, the areas/nb’hoods of Va Highlands, Buckhead, Dunwoody, Chastain Park, Sandy Springs, and Midtown).

Today’s 3 reasons you’ll love Brookhaven also are:

1. Haven restaurant on Dresden drive in the Villages of Brookhaven.  This has been a home away from home for my wife and I since the first night it opened!  Not only great food but  great people.  The owners, Michael and Tanya Arnette, are super friendly and will make you feel at home!  Gary is behind the bar and is one of those cool guys you only meet ever so often.
2. Ashford Park Elementary - our own little private “diamond in the rough!”  Awesome and quaint school located in the middle of Ashford Park n’hood.  Principal Toni Fallon and all the new teachers truly care and continue to improve all aspects of this close knit community school!
3. Location Location Location……such easy access to Hwys I85 and 400, a stone’s throw to Phipps and Lenox Malls, and 3 huge grocery stores( and everything else you’ll ever need) all within .5-2 miles!!! 

Well, that’s it for now……many more to come!  As always, you can contact me directly to discuss Brookhaven or any other metro ATL neighborhoods…or visit my website www.realestatewithjames.com to begin home searching on your own!

Make it a PASSIONATE day!