Thanks!!
I am a blessed man. A few years ago I was led to make a change in my career to move from Engineering and Industrial Automation to Real Estate. Some of you know the story and some of you don’t but that is not the point. The point I want to make is that I am blessed to have so many people in my life that have helped me make that change. I could not have done it without my family, friends, clients and co-workers.
You have sent me referrals, listened to me, coached me, guided me, held me accountable and celebrated with me. You have supported me when times are tough and encouraged me to keep on going. Life is good if you choose to make it that way. We all struggle, scratch, bite and kick in this life and frankly it would be boring to live a life without challenges. Sort of like playing football with only one team on the field. Boring!!!
I just want to tell each of you THANKS!!!! I would not be where I am or who I am without you. May God bless you and guide you to move into His purpose for your life where He will bless you even more. God is the author of life and I believe He wants to bless us. Take a few minutes during this holiday weekend and seek His will for you. He will bless you for it.
Thanks for listening,
Jerry W. Robertson
Leonid Meteor Shower TONIGHT!!
Leonid meteor shower is coming. You can check it out by clicking here.
Yeah, you’ll have to get up before the sun but it will be worth it. Spend a little time and focus on something bigger than your problems.
Live a Good Life!!
Jerry Robertson
16Nov09 Technology Tips
Here are a few tech tips that can help. Check them out and remember, I am never too busy for your referrals!!
Back Up; Back Up; Back Up:
Forty-three percent of people lose irreplaceable files every year.
• Only 3 out of 100 stolen laptops are ever recovered.
• Thousands of files are lost each year to fires, floods and other disasters.
• Up to 13% of hard drives crash in their first year.
Understanding Your Medications: You need to know side effects and dosages. It is also essential to understand drug and food interactions. Check out the Physician’s Desk Reference for this valuable information. This is the guide that doctors use.The publisher has a site for laypeople. PDRhealth provides information about prescription medications. You’ll also find information on over-the-counter medications, herbals and supplements. They can also cause side effects and interactions. This site is valuable for anyone with health questions. Of course discuss any concerns with your doctor. http://www.pdrhealth.com/home/home.aspx
Flash and External hard drives Don’t Offer Much Security: Thieves wouldn’t have much trouble viewing most of them. Encryption scrambles data using complex algorithms. A key unscrambles the data so it can be read. Password protection also uses a password to prevent access to data. But the data isn’t necessarily scrambled. http://www.truecrypt.org/
Meal Planning Can Help With Organization: Plan your meals ahead of time will take a big bite out of time stresses during the day. Supercook can help with this along with planning healthy meals and shopping. Start by entering ingredients. The site finds a recipe that uses all or some of them. Pay attention to the “Do you have” box, too. Supercook is a new recipe search engine that finds recipes you can make with only the ingredients you have at home. The more ingredients you add, the better the results will be http://www.supercook.com/
Once LIFE Magazine Brought The World to our Mailboxes: Google is archiving LIFE Magazine. It first added a collection of LIFE’s photography to its Images site. Now, Google has placed the magazine on its Books site. Google Books offers every copy of LIFE between 1936 and 1972. That’s 1,800 weekly copies. Each copy is available in its entirety. You can read every story and view every photograph.There’s a contents page for each issue. It has navigation links, for easy access http://books.google.com/books?id=N0EEAAAAMBAJ&source=gbs_navlinks_s#all_issues_anchor
Thanks for listening,
Jerry Robertson
Tech tips courtesy of Rick DeLuca http://www.RealEstateIdeaClub.com
Housing shortage coming!!!
Hmmmmmm. Did I make you look?? Sorry to tease you like that but I wanted to let you know what I see coming down the road and maybe not all that far away.
No, we don’t have a shortage now but there are places and prices where inventory has dropped very low. Lower than 6 months of inventory. Lower than 3 months of inventory. Remember that we see 6 months of inventory as a balanced market; neither buyer nor seller has much advantage at 6 months of inventory. Several areas in Gwinnett county are below 6 months of inventory and I think we are in for a shortage in about 12 to 18 months down the road.
Some would warn us of the ‘glut’ of foreclosures coming into the market or the ‘hidden’ inventory that banks are holding on to but they don’t take into account that there is almost NO new construction taking place and we are still a growing population coming into the area (remember NCR?). New construction will take about 12 – 24 months to ramp up once they see the need (there are a few builders starting now) but that will be too late to meet it.
To add to the demand of a growing population is the extension of the $8000 tax credit for 1st time buyers and the expansion to a repeat buyer in for $6500 if they are buying a new primary residence and have lived in their home 5 of the last 7 years. There are income limits but they are higher than they were so more buyers qualify. Affordability index is lower than it has ever been (down around 15% of income to buy a house) so many people are getting in the market further consuming the inventory. Now most of that reduction in inventory is taking place in the under $250,000 price range and we will have more higher priced inventory for a while but if we get things moving again then we will create more jobs, build more homes and see more growth as a result.
Not everyone agrees with me but I felt like I needed to tell you what I see happening and maybe be a carrier of hope. The American Economy is an anvil that has worn out many hammers and it will wear this one out too. It is already happening. We are on track for over 5,000,000 (that’s 5 Million) transactions in this economy. That is considered a healthy housing market. Yes the average sales price is down but it is beginning to rise. Yes there is still 10% unemployment but that is showing signs of recovery and while there are many that will say we are in for a hard time to come I don’t see it in the housing market.
If you want to talk about it call me. I re-discovered a fresh perspective on coffee. I remember now that it creates time. Time to build relationships and forge friendships. One of my friendships got stronger yesterday!! (Thanks Chris.) Anyone want to get a cup tomorrow?? I have some time.
Thanks for listening,
Jerry Robertson
Welcome
