November 20, 2008

As a Realtor® and owner of a nationwide relocation company, I am daily faced with the effects of the economic meltdown on our real estate members 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!

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Local Information for Lexington, KY

Latitude: 38.029632 -- Longitude: -84.494642

ZIP Codes for Lexington, Kentucky	40502 40503 40504 40505 40506 40507 40508 40509 40510 40511 40512 40513 40514 40515 40516 40517 40522 40523 40524 40526 40533 40536 40544 40546 40550 40555 40574 40575 40576 40577 40578 40579 40580 40581 40582 40583 40584 40585 40586 40587 40588 40589 40590 40591 40592 40593 40594 40595 40596 40598
Area Code for Lexington, Kentucky	859
Time zone for Lexington, Kentucky	EST

Other Area Cities: Lexington, KY Georgetown, KY Nicholasville, KY Versailles, KY Winchester, KY Richmond, KY

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Lexington, Kentucky, United States, known as the "Horse Capital of the World," is located in the heart of the Bluegrass region. It is the second-largest city in Kentucky, after Louisville, and the 70th largest in the United States. On January 1, 1974 Lexington became the first municipality in the Commonwealth of Kentucky to form a consolidated city-county government by merging with Fayette County. In 2005, the population estimate given by the U.S. Census Bureau was 268,080. Lexington is home to the Kentucky Horse Park, Keeneland race course, the Red Mile race course, a Jif peanut butter plant which produces more peanut butter than any other factory in the world, Transylvania University and the University of Kentucky (UK). The area code (859) spells out UKY. UK's basketball program is immensely popular in the city, and the University of Kentucky Wildcats basketball team have won more games than any other team in college basketball history. -- Source: Wikipedia.com

Kentucky 2000 Census Population Profile Map

	Lexington	Kentucky	United States
Population	260,512	4,041,769	281,421,906
Median age	33	35.9	35.3
Median age for Male	31.7	34.6	34
Median age for Female	34.5	37.1	36.5
Households	108,288	1,590,647	105,480,101
Household population	247,789	3,926,965	273,643,273
Average household size	2.29	2.47	2.59
Families	62,955	1,104,398	71,787,347
Average family size	2.9	2.97	3.14
Housing units	116,167	1,750,927	115,904,641
Occupied units	108,288	1,590,647	105,480,101
Vacant units	7,879	160,280	10,424,540

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November 20, 2008

Local Information for Lexington, KY

Latitude: 38.029632 -- Longitude: -84.494642

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