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 House rejects $700 billion bailout
 In a stunning rebuke to President Bush, congressional leaders and Wall Street, the House rejected a $700 billion financial bailout package Monday, with a coalition of conservative Republicans and liberal Democrats refusing to grant the government sweeping powers to buy up distressed loans.
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$700 Billion...for what?
A massive $700 billion bill will be fast-tracked through Congress this week to give the U.S. government the authority to buy bad mortgages off the books of Wall Street firms. People are calling it the 'mother of all bailouts' and the 'biggest bailout in the history of mankind.' What does NAR Economist Lawrence Yun think? Read more >>
What would have happened if Paulson had taken Zell's advice?
As usual, Sam Zell, chairman of Equity Residential, has some strong opinions about real estate economics. He has little sympathy for those who created aspects of the current financial market crisis, but on the positive side, he thinks real estate will come back by next spring after some further down turn, and he isn't worried about commercial real estate. Read more >>
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Liability for inaccurate square footage
A Texas court rules that buyers relied upon erroneous square footage information provided by listing broker.
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IRS provides homeowners credit guidance
Let your first-time buyers know about the IRS allowance of a $7,500 homeownership tax credit. The IRS material, IR-2008-106, explains how individuals who use the credit will reflect it on their tax returns and receive the benefit from any refund. Read more >>
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Lois Yeager passes
 We are sorry to report that REALTOR Lois Yeager passed away Sept. 25, following a lengthy lung illness. Yeager, was a vice president with Sibcy Cline Inc., who turned life on a farm without electricity into a career that included an appointment from two governors to the Ohio Real Estate Commission where she served as OREC President.
Her husband, Ralph, served as OAR President in 1965. Ralph passed away in June 2000.
View obituary >>
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Ohio cities make 'Most Affordable Cities for Owning a Home' list
 The cost of buying and maintaining a home is pretty reasonable if you live in certain Midwestern or Southern cities, according to Forbes magazine's new report.
To determine America's least expensive places to own a home, Forbes used data from the U.S. Census Bureau's 2008 American Community Survey, released Tuesday.
The survey reported the 2007 median monthly housing costs in the country's metro areas with a population over 65,000. Housing costs include monthly mortgage payments, real estate taxes, various insurances, utilities, fuels, mobile home costs and condominium fees.
Here are the top-10 cheapest cities to own a home:
- Cleveland: $978 a month
- Columbus, Ohio: $1,060 a month
- Pittsburgh: $1,187 a month
- San Antonio, Texas: $1,216 a month
- Indianapolis: $1,232 a month
- Nashville: $1,256 a month
- New Orleans: $1,296 a month
- St. Louis: $1,299 a month
- Charlotte, N.C.: $1,336 a month
- Cincinnati: $1,353 a month
Source: Forbes, Lauren Sherman
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REALTOR Magazine online
Ethics Q & A: Be open about other offers...Telling buyers about competing offers can prevent unpleasant surprises. Read more >>
Work smart scripts: How to ask for referrals...Telling buyers about competing offers can prevent unpleasant surprises. Read more >>
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Selling: Prevent financing failures
Eleventh-hou r financing fiascoes seem to be happening more often these days. Here's how to make sure everything moves along smoothly at the closing table.
True story: A buyer in Roxbury, N.J., was approved last fall for a loan from a local mortgage company to purchase a home listed with Weichert, REALTORS. She'd visited the lender's office less than 48 hours before her scheduled closing to finalize the paperwork.
At the closing, however, the funds had evaporated. The buyer's salesperson called the lender. No answer. The salesperson jumped in the car and drove to the lender's office. She found the doors locked and the furniture and company sign gone. Read more...
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Save with OAR and NAR
Your membership in the Ohio Association of REALTORS allows you to take advantage of a number of member benefits. For questions about member offers and benefits contact Greg Stitz at stitz@ohiorealtors.org.
In addition, the National Association of REALTORS also provides its members many more benefits and offers.
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Tech Tips
Exporting Contacts...If you have ever tried to export contacts from Outlook, you know that it wants to export all of them. If you were trying to export just your Sphere of Influence group so that you could send your mailing list this might have frustrated you.
It's not hard if you know the steps.
- Create a new folder called export contacts
- Select contacts to be exported (click on first one and scroll down and hold shift key while clicking the last record)
- Right click the selected group and drag to export contacts folder
- Select the "copy" menu item
- All items will be copied to the export folder
- Click File, Import and Export
- Follow the steps in the wizard identifying the export contacts folder when the choice appears.
- After you've exported the names, delete the names from this newly created folder so that you won't accidentally maintain the duplicate contact record. The next time you need to export the group, repeat the same process.
Don't forget OAR's free Tech Hotline service...
866.478.TECH (8324) New EXPANDED hours of operation: M-F: 8 am - 8 pm ... S-S: 10 am - 4pm
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Education
Resorts & Second Home Markets...This 2-day course, held on Oct. 16-17, will teach the essentials of buying, selling or managing second homes. Register today!
30 hours online...Take your real estate continuing education hours online. You can take 3, 6 or all 30 hours in any combination...Sign-up today...
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