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As you might expect, refinancing activity is way up, now at a 13-month high, but even then, they are nowhere near historic levels. For one thing, many homeowners already refinanced last year when mortgage rates first dipped below five percent, while others simply can’t qualify for refinancing because they owe more on their homes than the properties are worth.

Flood Insurance

A big development this week for homeowners, buyers and sellers across America!

The House has voted to reauthorize the National Flood Insurance Program for another 5 years, a move that would provide coverage to more than 5 million homeowners and businesses in flood-prone areas.

The bill would increase both premiums and deductible levels for coverage to help recover the nearly 19 billion dollars in debt to the US Treasury created in 2005 by Hurricane Katrina and several other major storms.

The flood insurance program operates under the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and has existed for more than 40 years, but it had not been updated since the mid-90’s.

The bill has the backing of THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS ®, which argues the bill is critical to homeowners in nearly 20-thousand communities, who need the insurance in order to secure mortgages. The bill now heads to the Senate.

We are expecting to see a similar pattern in the June figures, because many buyers pushed their contract decisions to the very last moment prior to the April deadline, and the sheer number of deals caused a backlog of closings that lenders are still trying to catch up on. That backlog is expected to drive a strong June, but beyond that, the picture gets pretty murky.

When we look at pending sales for May, we see the monthly index from THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS ® dropped 30 percent from the previous month, and nearly 16 percent from the previous year. This index is a reliable indicator of where sales are heading in the near future, and it’s clear the nation’s housing market put much of its energy into the Federal tax credit program.

But we also need to point out that is not a universal truth. There were, in fact, some markets, such as Jacksonville, Florida and Portland, Maine, where contracts actually increased after April 30th. And in places like the San Francisco Bay area, inventory is already so tight that the tax credit was little more than an afterthought.

The federal tax credit certainly helped to stabilize home prices, and to rid the nation’s housing stock of a lot of excess inventory, but its impact is quickly coming to an end. Economists from THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS ® do expect sales to take a substantial drop later in the summer, before recovering later this year. But even that projection has a big asterisk attached to it. Home sales will only rise as the nation’s employment picture improves.

Next week, we’ll have a complete breakdown of those June existing-home sales numbers for you, and let you know which parts of the country fared the best.

The only way you’re going to get through this is to become organized. To some of you, this will come quite naturally. You know who you are. You’re the people whose cereal boxes are lined up alphabetically in the pantry. We’re not going to worry about you.

For the rest of us, it’s really a matter of using the tools we already have to get our acts together. Those tools can be as sophisticated as the calendar app in your smart phone, or as simple as a pocket planner or even a desk calendar to keep your dates straight as moving day approaches. In any event, whether you’re using your index finger and a touch screen or a number two pencil and a piece of paper, find what works for you and create your own master calendar – a bible, so to speak, for your big move. You’ll need it to keep track of your own personal punch list of appointments, phone calls and other nagging details that will come to you in the dead of night.

You’ll also want to keep a file folder handy to stick all of your various letters, forms and receipts into – a kind of catch-all place to handle all of the vital paperwork that you will be needing in the weeks ahead. Isn’t it wonderful, by the way, that we now live in a paperless society? If only life was that simple!

Moving to a new home certainly isn’t simple at all. But millions of people survive it every year, and so will you – especially with the help of your REALTOR®. He or she will guide you through the entire process, and can even help you remember what you need to remember between now and the time you’re handed the keys to your new home.

There are, however, the times when a good fence is not enough to make a good neighbor. In fact, a concrete wall, barbed wire and a moat are not enough to keep out the proverbial neighbor from hell. We say proverbial because we’re taking it that your neighbor does not actually pay the toll on the bridge across the river styx to get to work.
That sort of neighbor can reduce the value of a property by as much as 20%.

Usually hard feelings come because of choices they make that you would not. Just this week, The Los Angeles times did a story about a La Crescenta , California woman who painted her house neon green with bright purple trim. Neighbors trying to sell their home say they haven’t had one showing since this giant live-in lime appeared on their block. What can you do when you have a neighbor even Mr. Rogers might not have wanted in his neighborhood?

Sid Davis wrote “A Survival Guide to Selling a Home,” and he has some tips.

First, reason with your neighbor. By the way, that’s what the folks are doing who live on the block where it’s not easy being green. They’re trying to stay positive and showing how her taste in colors has affected not just their sensibility [that may get too personal and just start a fight], but their pocketbook, something most people can understand. Starting out with a smile and saying “I’m sure we can resolve this together,” gives you more of a chance to get somewhere, because it is less a personal attack than making the neighbor realize that they depend on your good taste and cooperation as much as you do on theirs.

Davis also suggests that if they say….well, I just did all this work, then you volunteer to do the work that will resolve the problem. Yes, I know, why should you paint their house, or trim their tree or whatever? Well, because if it does help your home’s value, you might just as well be working on your own home. It’s a good investment in both property value and keeping the peace. Sometimes when the neighbor’s property is ill-maintained, it’s not because they don’t care, but because in this economy they can’t afford to do the work, or maybe they are elderly or disabled.

If you are turned down by your neighbor, don’t be afraid to call your REALTOR®. What? Your REALTOR ®? Yes, they may have sold that person their house and have a relationship with them, or know the person who did. They also may know how similar situations have been resolved and have some good tips or who the person in the know at city hall is who is good at this stuff.
Davis writes that lawsuits are a last resort. Lawsuits do lasting damage , cost you money and unless it’s a zoning dispute or a violation of codes may not get you anywhere. Some communities have mediation services that do a good job with these sorts of disputes.

A little effort can go a long long way. No names here, but we had a neighbor known for being…well, quirky. Kept to himself, his yard was always in disarray and everyone complained about him. One day he got sick, an ambulance came for him and though we had never exchanged two words, I went to the hospital to check on him. He was so moved, he changed completely. We became friends, and when either one of us went away we looked after the other’s plants, pets and homes.

Sometimes just coming over with some cookies when you first move in comes under the heading of preventive maintenance. It’s amazing how much help down the road can be bought with a few chocolate chip cookies at first acquaintance.

Yes, there are problem neighbors, but mostly they are people who share your concerns about neighborhoods, schools, police and fire protection. They collect the paper from the driveway when you’re away and offer you a ride when the car breaks down.

Good fences can make good neighbors, but good neighbors can make you forget why you even have a fence. They are, in many ways, one of the best things about being a homeowner.