This week in the news.....

The Market

Wall Street has struggled lately on worries that the U.S. government's various plans to soften the recession won't work in the face of an accelerating global slowdown. The market slumped to a more than 6-year low today, as fears of a prolonged recession sent stock investors heading for the exits. The Dow had dropped as low as 7,447 during the session.

Investors are still sorting through the details of the $787 billion economic stimulus plan, which President Obama signed into law on Tuesday. Also unveiled was the $75 billion multi-pronged plan that seeks to help up to 9 million borrowers suffering from falling home prices and unaffordable monthly payments.

General Motors (GM, Fortune 500) and Chrysler asked the government for another $21.6 billion to stay afloat, but the final tally for the auto bailout could be a lot higher.

Yesterday the Federal Reserve lowered its forecast for the first half of the year, noting that the economy will continue to shrink and unemployment will continue to rise. Thursday's reports demonstrated that forecast.

Falling home prices

Obama is venturing into new territory to deal with a serious problem plaguing millions of Americans, even those who remain current on their loans. The mortgage meltdown has prompted a steep decline in prices, leaving many homeowners owing more than their house is worth. Nationwide, prices have fallen 17.5%, back to the level they were at in fall 2004, according to Zillow.com.

The administration, which is marketing its plan as help for "responsible homeowners," estimates it can help up to 5 million people. The plan would help borrowers who owe more than 80% of their home's value to refinance and reduce their monthly payments. Lenders generally won't refinance people who have less than 20% equity in their homes.

But only those who are current on their payments and whose loans are held or guaranteed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are eligible. Also, the new mortgage, including refinancing costs, can't exceed 105% of the current market value of the property, excluding many of the hardest hit. So if your mortgage is $210,000, your property can't be worth less than $200,000.

The program, which begins March 4, allows borrowers to refinance into 15-year or 30-year fixed-rate mortgages at the current market rate, which hovers around 5%. This could benefit those whose mortgages carry higher rates or those in adjustable-rate or interest-only loans, groups of people who could see big rate spikes in the future. The plan, however, will not reduce the loan balance.

Stimulus Bill

As you probably have heard, both the House and Senate have passed the Stimulus bill Tuesday. The President unveiled the housing plan that is meant to help up to 9 million borrowers who are struggling amid falling home prices and unaffordable mortgages. Analysts say the fix will help many, but not all.

The final provisions of the bill include:

· Tax Credit

· Restoration of 2008 Mortgage Limits

· Increase of Reverse Mortgage Limit to $625,500

· Rural Housing Service Funding

Ø Tax Credit

Below is the link to the tax credit provision. (page 24)

http://thomas.loc.gov/home/h1/Recovery_Bill_Div_B.pdf

The 2008 tax credit provision has been amended as follows:

a. Tax credit is increased to $8,000

b. The income limits remain the same: ($75,000 for an individual; $150,000 for a couple).

c. First-time homebuyers and principal residences only.

d. Tax credit is available until December 1st (previously it expired on July 1st).

e. Waiver of recapture (i.e. no repayment requirement) for properties purchased in 2009 prior to December 1^st

Ø The provision is retroactive to purchases made on or after January 1, 2009.

Ø Recapture section does apply to properties sold in first three years.

f. Waiver of prohibition on financing by mortgage revenue bonds is included

Ø FHA & GSE Mortgage Limits

Below is the link to the mortgage limit provision. (page 282)

http://thomas.loc.gov/home/h1/Recovery_Bill_Div_A.pdf

a. The bill restores the 2008 mortgage limit for an area if it is less than the mortgage amount currently in effect.

Ø The cut-off date is the same as occurred in 2008.

1. FHA: Borrower “Credit Approval” by December 31^st.

2. GSEs: “mortgages originated” during 2009

Ø Effective date: The law appears to be effective immediately upon signature by the President. Moreover, since the 2008 mortgage limits are available, the implementation of these changes should occur quickly. We expect the Obama Administration will move quickly to implement this change

b. Reverse mortgage limit is increased for 2009 (page 285)

Ø For 2009, the bill increases the reverse mortgage limit up to $625,500 (150% of the Fannie/Freddie limit)

Ø There is expected to be a purchase option which will help the beach with Retiree’s buying homes with no proof of income & no monthly mortgage payment.

Home Improvements Weak, But Future Holds Opportunity

A growing number of home builders are diversifying into remodeling hoping to find jobs to tide their businesses over until the home buying market returns, but remodeling over the short term continues to display weakness of its own as home owners pull back from major improvements to their property.

Economists at last month’s International Builders’ Show in Orlando noted that consumers have lost significant amounts of both confidence and wealth and are not in a spending mood. Even for most remodelers, who haven’t taken as much of a drubbing as home builders, the goal will be to survive another difficult year as they prepare for opportunities that will emerge on the other side of the recession.

The Leading Indicator of Remodeling Activity from the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University projects that home owner improvement spending will be declining at an annual rate of 12.1% by this year’s third quarter, moving to $109.5 billion. Home owner spending on improvements peaked at an annual rate of $141.9 billion in the second quarter of 2006.

The market has seen steady declines since the middle of 2007, although recently the rate of decline has flattened, the Harvard index shows. “While we may be nearing the bottom of the remodeling cycle, there is little to push spending back into a growth phase until the economy recovers,” said Kermit Baker, director of the Joint Center’s Remodeling Futures Program.

Expenditures on owner-occupied units were responsible for 84% of the remodeling market’s $326 billion in activity in 2007. Improvements — as opposed to more routine maintenance and repair — accounted for 70% of the total.

“Despite the gloom today, remodeling is still viable,” said William Apgar, senior scholar at the Harvard Joint Center, even in the absence of conditions favorable for upper-end discretionary jobs. Expenditures in that category grew 23% in 2005 and 7% in 2007, compared to 13% and 6%, respectively, for total remodeling activity.

While the current remodeling downturn is more severe than in previous cycles, the industry is performing notably better than home building. As of the third quarter of last year, home improvements were down an estimated 15.5% compared to a far steeper 52.6% slump for single-family construction.

A new Joint Center study, “The Remodeling Market in Transition,” notes that exterior replacements, system upgrades and disaster repairs — which vary little from year to year — are creating a floor for spending in the home improvement market.

“While upper-end discretionary projects are responsible for most of the volatility in home owner spending, even at their inflated 2007 share, these projects accounted for 30% or less of total expenditures,” the study says. “As a result, even if some discretionary projects were deferred and others were downsized, the impact on overall remodeling expenditures would be much more modest than the decline to date on the construction side.”

Apgar cited the decline in home equity, a major funding source for projects, as a significant factor behind the remodeling slowdown. From its recent $12.5 trillion peak in the final quarter of 2005, owner equity in household real estate has declined by roughly $4 trillion, or almost 32%. Even so, this “will stabilize,” he said. Home owners “still have equity of $8.5 trillion, a lot of wealth,” he said. “But people want to see where the end is before they commit.”

Another drawback for remodeling is the current slowdown in home sales; existing home sales were off nearly 30% in the third quarter of 2008 from their recent peak. “New buyers engage in a lot of remodeling activity,” Apgar said. “The patterns of recent buyers are different from longer-term owners.”

According to the Joint Center, households that relocate spend an average 20% to 25% more on improvements than otherwise similar households that do not move.

Apgar also observed that “there has been a definite decline in the past four to five years in the likely recovery of remodeling expenditures when the house is sold.” During the peak of the boom, some remodeling projects actually increased the selling price of the house by more than $1 for every $1 spent. Average cost recovery declined steadily from 87% in 2005 to just over 67% in 2008, according to Remodeling magazine and the National Association of Realtors®.

The share of cost recovered from home improvement projects typically increases when house values are rising and decreases when values are falling, says the Joint Center report.

The good news, Apgar said, is that those who do make it through another difficult year can expect to have some strong fundamentals on which to build new remodeling business.

The new Joint Center report identifies three sources of demand that are most likely to boost improvement spending once a remodeling turnaround begins to materialize:

• The increasing need to upgrade the rental housing stock. “Years of underinvestment have left the nation’s rental stock, at an average age of 36 years, in desperate need of improvement and repair,” said Baker. In 2007, almost 10% of rental housing — more than 3.6 million units — were structurally inadequate.
  
  “The poor condition of the rental inventory reflects years of neglect,” the study says. While expenditures on the owner- and renter-occupied stock moved in tandem throughout the 1970s and 1980s, their paths began to diverge in the early 1990s. “Average per unit improvement and maintenance expenditures for rental units fell by almost 40% in inflation-adjusted terms between 1990 and 2007, while expenditures on owner-occupied units increased by almost 30%.”
  
  Spending will be focused on replacements and system upgrades, as well as maintenance, the study says. However, current housing market conditions are likely to delay the process of significant reinvestment in the rental stock. For the time being, the glut of vacant for-sale units that have at least temporarily been converted to rentals is reducing rents and dampening the demand for older units, “discouraging rental property owners from making improvements in the near term.”
  
  
• Ongoing growth in the immigrant home owner market. “Foreign-born home owners, who currently account for more than 10% of home improvement spending, are heavily concentrated in their 30s and 40s, ages when families are growing and changing the use of their home,” Baker said.
  
  “Immigrants are key to the future growth of the U.S. home improvement industry,” according to the Joint Center report. “In 2007, foreign-born households spent about $23 billion on improvements on their homes. Their spending levels have grown almost 13% per year since 2000 — well in excess of the 7% among the domestic-born population.”
  
  Immigrants are concentrated in gateway cities along the California coast, in Texas and southern Florida and along the Northeast corridor, the study says. “In these high-cost housing markets, owners devote a relatively large share of their incomes to home improvements. In the 12 metropolitan markets where foreign-born home owners spent at least $500 million on home improvements in 2007, the immigrant share of expenditures was well above the national average of just over 10%. In five metro areas — Houston, Miami, San Diego, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. — immigrants contributed more than a quarter of all remodeling expenditures.”
  
  The report also notes that immigrants have dispersed to an increasingly broad array of housing markets.
  
  
• Emerging interest in sustainable remodeling projects. “If we are going to meet the nation’s energy goals, we have to continuously search for ways to improve the residential built environment,” said Mohsen Mostafavi, dean of the Harvard University Graduate School of Design, where attention to green design is a growing focus in the classrooms and studios. “Maximizing energy-efficiency in existing housing may be one of our greatest challenges, but also one of our greatest opportunities. Consumer demand for sustainable design is on the rise. Architects and planners can lead the way in devising appropriate solutions.”
  
  In 2007, home owners devoted more than $52 billion of their improvement expenditures to energy-related projects such as replacing appliances and lighting systems, upgrading their HVAC systems and increasing insulation — up from less than $33 billion in inflation-adjusted terms a decade earlier, the study says.
  
  “Motivated by broader environmental concerns, consumers have demonstrated a growing interest in products and projects that meet additional green goals: quality and durability, environmental performance, and safety and disaster mitigation,” the report says.
  
  In a survey, the Joint Center asked full-service remodelers how frequently they installed green products that met at least one of these criteria, focusing on 10 products listed by the Partnership for Advancing Technology in Housing as having the “most promise for making our existing homes more durable, stronger and more resource-efficient.” The respondents indicated that they were no more likely to install energy-efficient products than products promoting the other goals. About 40% said they regularly or occasionally installed products in each of the four categories. “Some products with energy-saving properties, such as high-performance windows, were used almost universally, while others such as tubular skylights had not yet penetrated most markets.”
  
  To gauge future trends, the survey also asked the contractors to identify products for which consumers have expressed increased interest. “Here again,” the study says, “there were no major differences between products promoting energy efficiency and those meeting other green objectives.” However, there were wide differences in interest in specific products within each category. For example, among energy-efficient products, “more than 80% of contractors noted greater consumer interest in compact fluorescent lighting, but only half saw greater interest in wireless lighting and temperature controls.”

The Joint Center also notes that when housing markets recover, foreclosed properties will provide opportunities for home improvements. Banks and new owners will renovate and repair these properties and state and local governments will make use of the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008, which allocated $4 billion for the redevelopment of abandoned and foreclosed properties.

Despite today’s downturn, the Joint Center reports that, “Remodeling still rests on a solid foundation with 130 million homes — and one to two million added yearly — in continuous need of maintenance, upgrades, repairs and adjustments to meet the nation’s changing preferences and lifestyles.”

For your Sussex County, Delaware home improvement project, please visit www.yourhoneydoman.com

Gardening boosts older adults' self-esteem

MANHATTAN , Kan., Feb. 4 (UPI) -- Gardening has been shown to help older adults stay in shape, but U.S. researchers also found it improves hand strength and self-esteem.

Candice Shoemaker, a Kansas State University professor of horticulture, said older adults who are gardeners have better hand strength and pinch force, which is a big concern as you age.

Shoemaker and colleagues Mark Haub, an associate professor of human and nutrition, and Sin-Ae Park, a research associate in horticulture, said the current research comes from an earlier study that assessed 15 areas of health in older adults, from both those who garden and those who don't. The researchers looked at measurements like bone mineral density, sleep quality, physical fitness, hand strength and psychological well-being.

The study, appearing in HortScience, found that with gardening tasks older adults can, among other things, improve their hand strength and self-esteem.

"There's a lot of natural motivation in gardening," Shoemaker said in a statement. "For one thing, you know there's a plant you've got to go out and water and weed to keep alive. If we get the message out there that older adults can get health benefits from gardening, they'll realize that they don't have to walk around the mall to get exercise."

NAR's Take on the Housing/Obama Stimulus Package

Here's our take on the Stimulis Bill and Treasury announcements made this week. We look at the Stimulis package AND the Treasury's package holistically, in compliment with each other - mostly because that's how the Obama team is looking at it. Your representatives, the NAR Board of Directors, asked us in November to do 4 things (with an unspoken but clearly understood mandate to PRESERVE what we already have). Here they are: 1) get loan limits raised for high cost areas, 2) make the $7,500 tax credit NOT a loan, 3) try to find ways to push interest rates down (which are higher than they should be due to systemic risk right now) by 200 basis points, and 4) help provide solutions to the foreclosure/short sale problem.

So here's what we have achieved: 1) the loan limits will be raised to $727,000 in high cost areas, 2) the tax credit will be raised to $8,000 with NO payback [a true credit], 3) interest rates have come down 125-150 basis points, and 4) the bill has over $50 billion in it for foreclosure mitigation, with Geitners Treasury plan signaling that the second half of TARP and TALF will be used to mitigate foreclosures through a government guarantee, drive down interest rates by buying another $200-300 billion of mortgage paper from the GSES's thereby freeing them up to do the same with new mortgages, and Fannie has just agreed to lift the cap of 4 investment properties eligible for loans and raise it to 10.

In addition, we preserved what we have - which some tend to forget is always on the table when these negotiations start up again - mortgage interest deductability, real estate tax deductability, and the $250,000/$500,000 cap gains exclusion (an overall package worth more than $100 billion and for some a very attractive funding source for their pet projects).

We did make a run at the $15,000 credit -- and we would have loved to have gotten that or the Homebuilders $22,000 credit idea as well as their 5 year loss carryback deal, but they were considered too rich for this program. What it did do though is totally take the debate off of whether a tax credit should be reinstated at all (it expired last year) and whether it was a true credit or a repayable loan, and kept the conversation on how much it should be. It also kept the debate off of 'what we are willing to give up to get a $15,000 tax credit' and kept the debate again, on how much it should be. It's pretty hard to complain when they give you what you ask for and you lose something you never had.

While we study the Treasury specifics on their major role in providing the rest of the housing solution -- there is much more to come and we are working diligently with the Administration to help 'unclog the pipeline' and get capital flowing into housing again.

Stimulus Provisions to Help Put Housing on the Right Track

The $787 billion economic stimulus package signed into law on Feb. 17 by President Barack Obama contains elements that will bolster housing and the economy, according to NAHB.

“While we believe that includinga more enhanced home buyer tax credit in the final legislation would have been the best way to spur housing demand and move the economy forward, the new law does include several provisions that should help to put housing and the economy on the right track,” said NAHB Chairman Joe Robson.

Chief among these is an $8,000 first-time home buyer tax credit for qualified home purchases in 2009. To encourage prospective home buyers to get off the fence, the tax credit:

• Does not have to be repaid
  
  
• Is fully refundable
  
  
• Will remain in effect until Dec. 1, 2009 so that consumers can utilize it during the critical summer and fall home-buying months
  
  
• Allows tax credit home buyers to participate in the mortgage revenue bond program
  
  
• Permits state housing finance agencies to help buyers at closing by advancing the credit amount as a loan using tax-exempt bond proceeds

More information on the first-time home buyer tax credit can be found at www.federalhousingtaxcredit.com.

Other important components in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 will help small businesses and bolster the housing market. The legislation will:

• Help home borrowers by restoring the higher 2008 FHA, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loan limits through the end of this year (the limit will return to $729,750 from the current $625,500 in the highest cost markets, and will also rise in many other areas because the 2008 maximums were based on a more generous formula and, for most areas, higher median prices)
  
  
• Temporarily allow exchange of Low-Income Housing Tax Credit allocating authority for tax-exempt grants and it appropriates $2 billion in HOME funding for affordable housing projects
  
  
• Provide up to a 10-year deferral of tax due to business debt restructuring
  
  
• Expand the net operating loss carry-back period from two years to five years for small businesses (businesses with average gross receipts of no more than $15 million over the prior three years) for losses arising in tax year 2008
  
  
• Extend the 25C existing home remodeler credit through the end of 2010, increase the credit rate from 10% to 30%, raise the lifetime cap from $500 to $1,500 and expand the set of qualifying property
  
  
• Provide an Alternative Minimum Tax patch for tax year 2009
  
  
• Increase bonus depreciation and Section 179 small business expensing for business investment in 2009

To view a one-page summary of the key housing provisions in the legislation, click here.

The housing sector still faces significant challenges, said Robson, including a severe credit crunch, particularly for acquisition, development and construction lending; skyrocketing foreclosures; and stimulating demand for home buying to stabilize housing markets.

“We look forward to working with Congress and the Administration to build upon the provisions of the new economic stimulus law to address these pressing needs and, ultimately, lead the nation’s economic recovery,” said Robson.

New Energy Tax Credit to Boost Demand for Renovation Jobs

Beefed-up tax credits for energy-efficient home improvements in the new economic stimulus package are expected to help increase demand for green renovation projects this year and next.

The IRS Section 25C tax credit for existing homes, which had expired at the end of 2007, was reinstated as part of the economic rescue package passed by the Bush Administration last fall. Installing energy-efficient windows, doors, roofing and insulation as well as furnaces, air conditioners and heat pumps all qualified for the credit.

But remodelers found that the terms of the 25C credit — equal to only 10% of the cost of each product and with a lifetime cap of $500 — weren’t quite strong enough to get enough home owners off the fence and into a contract.

Under the stimulus legislation signed by President Obama, the percentage of the cost and lifetime cap have been tripled to 30% and $1,500, respectively; the list of eligible improvements has been expanded and the deadline for applying has been extended through the end of 2010.

The new tax credit also is in alignment with industry research showing that remodeling and retrofitting the nation’s older homes will have a far more significant impact on reducing residential energy consumption than meeting even the most aggressive efficiency goals for new homes, according to Greg Miedema, CGR, CGB, CAPS, chairman of NAHB Remodelers.

“These new tax credits are another way that the home building industry can combat the potential effects of global climate change by encouraging home owners to make energy-efficient improvements to their homes,” said Miedema.

A 2008 California study showed that homes built before 1983 were responsible for 70% of the greenhouse gas emissions related to single-family envelope energy consumption.

The study also found that spending $10,000 to retrofit a 1960s home could save 8.5 tons of carbon at a cost of $588 to $1,176 per ton, depending on existing tax credits and incentives. By comparison, increasing the energy efficiency of a new home 35% over current state requirements would cost about $5,000 and would reduce emissions by 1.1 tons at a cost of $4,545 per ton.

The bottom line is that retrofitting existing homes with energy-efficient features is four to eight times more carbon- and cost-efficient than adding further energy-efficiency requirements to new housing, the study showed.

Tax Credit How-to

Details on qualifying improvements will soon be available at the IRS Web site.

Remodelers should familiarize themselves with the model types and products that qualify for the tax credit so they can advise their customers. However, they do not need to give their clients the product sales receipts to verify the claim. A certification statement such as Energy Star qualification — part of the manufacturer’s product information — will suffice.

Home owners should submit the appropriate schedule forms with their tax returns and should retain records that include:

• Name and address of the manufacturer
• Identification of the component
• Make, model or other appropriate identifiers
• Statement that the component meets the 25C standards
• Climate zones for which the criteria are satisfied
• Additional information for storm windows, if applicable
• A declaration that the certification statement is true

Reported on Nations' Building News, http://www.nbnnews.com/NBN/issues/2009-02-16/Front%2BPage/3.html

Housing Market Bottom in Sight

US housing markets from Florida to California have suffered price drops of 50 percent or more from their peak, but now, at long last, a bottom is within sight, likely in the fourth quarter nationally, according to a report from Moody's Economy.com.

By the end of the housing downturn, nearly 62 percent of the nation's 381 metropolitan areas will have experienced double-digit-percent declines in house prices, peak-to-trough, says the report by chief economist Mark Zandi and a team that includes Celia Chen, senior director of housing economics.

The declines will exceed 20 percent in about 100 metro areas, according to the report, scheduled to be discussed in a Webcast on Thursday. An advance copy was given exclusively to Reuters.

Despite the gloomy data, the report, by an independent subsidiary of Moody's, paints an improving picture of the housing market, which is in the midst of its worst downturn since the Great Depression and is both the source and a major casualty of the world credit crisis.

An improvement could portend a turnaround for the world's largest economy and help stanch losses at U.S. banks, hit hard by soured mortgage securities.

"Despite the darkening national economic outlook and the weak conditions in the housing market, some positive signs give hope that a bottom in the housing market is coming into view," the report said.

"More than three years since the market began correcting, inventories are flattening, prices are coming back down to earth, and sales are approaching stability," the report said.

The outlook, however, assumes stronger action by U.S. policymakers and says that even with further government intervention, the recession will keep the housing market from fully recovering until the end of this year.

With this help, sales are probably at bottom, stabilized by foreclosure sales, while construction will hit bottom in the first half of this year, although the pace of housing starts will remain very depressed until 2011.

From the peak to the trough, total single-family home sales will have declined by 40 percent and housing starts by 70 percent.

Zandi's analysis of the impact of the U.S. economic stimulus package has been cited by some of the Obama administration's top advisers.

The Moody's Economy.com report—titled "Housing in Crisis: When Will Metro Markets Recover?"—says home prices in the United States will hit their nadir in the fourth quarter of 2009, with the National Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller Home Price Index expected to show a 36.2 percent peak-to-trough decline.

The peak was reached in the first quarter of 2006.

House prices have fallen in about 70 percent of all metro areas over the past several years and although prices in most metro areas declined modestly during this period, price depreciation from peak exceeded 5 percent in 116 metro areas and exceeded 20 percent in about 50 metro areas.

Those metro areas with the most exposure to subprime and investor lending, which consequently experienced the greatest run-up in prices during the boom, are suffering the greatest declines on the downside of the housing cycle.

Punta Gorda, Florida, is one of the hardest hit U.S. markets.

Its house price declines are expected to reach a bottom in the second quarter of 2010, with a peak-to-trough decline forecast at 65.4 percent.

The peak was reached in the first quarter of 2006.

House price declines in Stockton, California, are expected to reach a nadir in the fourth quarter of 2009, with a peak-to-trough drop forecast at 67.1 percent.

The peak was reached in the first quarter of 2006.

Moody's Economy.com, based in West Chester, Pennsylvania, provides economic research and consulting services to businesses, governments and other institutions.

Reported by Reuters, www.cnbc.com http://www.cnbc.com/id/29028031/

126 Beaver Dam Reach, Rehoboth Beach

Beach to Bay Real Estate Center is a full service real estate brokerage servicing buyers, sellers and renters at the Delaware beach areas. We handle all forms of real estate, including residential, commercial, and lots and land, in addition to bank owned, short sales and auctioned properties and representation; mortgage needs including refinances, new home purchases, second homes, first time homebuyer programs and reverse mortgages; maintain professional relationships with local settlement attorneys, insurance companies, contractors, and inspection companies; and are affiliated with a preservation and restoration company. Beach to Bay services all of Sussex County, and southern Kent County, with a strong focus on the beach resort areas of Rehoboth Beach (19971), Lewes (19958), Bethany Beach (19930), Dewey Beach (19971), Milton (19968), Millsboro (19966) and more.

3313 Sanibel Village, Rehoboth Beach

Beach to Bay Real Estate Center is a full service real estate brokerage servicing buyers, sellers and renters at the Delaware beach areas. We handle all forms of real estate, including residential, commercial, and lots and land, in addition to bank owned, short sales and auctioned properties and representation; mortgage needs including refinances, new home purchases, second homes, first time homebuyer programs and reverse mortgages; maintain professional relationships with local settlement attorneys, insurance companies, contractors, and inspection companies; and are affiliated with a preservation and restoration company. Beach to Bay services all of Sussex County, and southern Kent County, with a strong focus on the beach resort areas of Rehoboth Beach (19971), Lewes (19958), Bethany Beach (19930), Dewey Beach (19971), Milton (19968), Millsboro (19966) and more.

3307 Sanibel Village, Rehoboth Beach

Beach to Bay Real Estate Center is a full service real estate brokerage servicing buyers, sellers and renters at the Delaware beach areas. We handle all forms of real estate, including residential, commercial, and lots and land, in addition to bank owned, short sales and auctioned properties and representation; mortgage needs including refinances, new home purchases, second homes, first time homebuyer programs and reverse mortgages; maintain professional relationships with local settlement attorneys, insurance companies, contractors, and inspection companies; and are affiliated with a preservation and restoration company. Beach to Bay services all of Sussex County, and southern Kent County, with a strong focus on the beach resort areas of Rehoboth Beach (19971), Lewes (19958), Bethany Beach (19930), Dewey Beach (19971), Milton (19968), Millsboro (19966) and more.

Throw food to the ducks from the private balcony

Beach to Bay Real Estate Center is a full service real estate brokerage servicing buyers, sellers and renters at the Delaware beach areas. We handle all forms of real estate, including residential, commercial, and lots and land, in addition to bank owned, short sales and auctioned properties and representation; mortgage needs including refinances, new home purchases, second homes, first time homebuyer programs and reverse mortgages; maintain professional relationships with local settlement attorneys, insurance companies, contractors, and inspection companies; and are affiliated with a preservation and restoration company. Beach to Bay services all of Sussex County, and southern Kent County, with a strong focus on the beach resort areas of Rehoboth Beach (19971), Lewes (19958), Bethany Beach (19930), Dewey Beach (19971), Milton (19968), Millsboro (19966) and more.

30665 Shell Road, Dagsboro

Beach to Bay Real Estate Center is a full service real estate brokerage servicing buyers, sellers and renters at the Delaware beach areas. We handle all forms of real estate, including residential, commercial, and lots and land, in addition to bank owned, short sales and auctioned properties and representation; mortgage needs including refinances, new home purchases, second homes, first time homebuyer programs and reverse mortgages; maintain professional relationships with local settlement attorneys, insurance companies, contractors, and inspection companies; and are affiliated with a preservation and restoration company. Beach to Bay services all of Sussex County, and southern Kent County, with a strong focus on the beach resort areas of Rehoboth Beach (19971), Lewes (19958), Bethany Beach (19930), Dewey Beach (19971), Milton (19968), Millsboro (19966) and more.

26423 Rudder Road, Millsboro

Beach to Bay Real Estate Center is a full service real estate brokerage servicing buyers, sellers and renters at the Delaware beach areas. We handle all forms of real estate, including residential, commercial, and lots and land, in addition to bank owned, short sales and auctioned properties and representation; mortgage needs including refinances, new home purchases, second homes, first time homebuyer programs and reverse mortgages; maintain professional relationships with local settlement attorneys, insurance companies, contractors, and inspection companies; and are affiliated with a preservation and restoration company. Beach to Bay services all of Sussex County, and southern Kent County, with a strong focus on the beach resort areas of Rehoboth Beach (19971), Lewes (19958), Bethany Beach (19930), Dewey Beach (19971), Milton (19968), Millsboro (19966) and more.

33985 Cornflower Lane, Lewes

Beach to Bay Real Estate Center is a full service real estate brokerage servicing buyers, sellers and renters at the Delaware beach areas. We handle all forms of real estate, including residential, commercial, and lots and land, in addition to bank owned, short sales and auctioned properties and representation; mortgage needs including refinances, new home purchases, second homes, first time homebuyer programs and reverse mortgages; maintain professional relationships with local settlement attorneys, insurance companies, contractors, and inspection companies; and are affiliated with a preservation and restoration company. Beach to Bay services all of Sussex County, and southern Kent County, with a strong focus on the beach resort areas of Rehoboth Beach (19971), Lewes (19958), Bethany Beach (19930), Dewey Beach (19971), Milton (19968), Millsboro (19966) and more.

709 South Spinnaker La, Milton

Beach to Bay Real Estate Center is a full service real estate brokerage servicing buyers, sellers and renters at the Delaware beach areas. We handle all forms of real estate, including residential, commercial, and lots and land, in addition to bank owned, short sales and auctioned properties and representation; mortgage needs including refinances, new home purchases, second homes, first time homebuyer programs and reverse mortgages; maintain professional relationships with local settlement attorneys, insurance companies, contractors, and inspection companies; and are affiliated with a preservation and restoration company. Beach to Bay services all of Sussex County, and southern Kent County, with a strong focus on the beach resort areas of Rehoboth Beach (19971), Lewes (19958), Bethany Beach (19930), Dewey Beach (19971), Milton (19968), Millsboro (19966) and more.

111 Beaver Dam Reach, Rehoboth Beach

Beach to Bay Real Estate Center is a full service real estate brokerage servicing buyers, sellers and renters at the Delaware beach areas. We handle all forms of real estate, including residential, commercial, and lots and land, in addition to bank owned, short sales and auctioned properties and representation; mortgage needs including refinances, new home purchases, second homes, first time homebuyer programs and reverse mortgages; maintain professional relationships with local settlement attorneys, insurance companies, contractors, and inspection companies; and are affiliated with a preservation and restoration company. Beach to Bay services all of Sussex County, and southern Kent County, with a strong focus on the beach resort areas of Rehoboth Beach (19971), Lewes (19958), Bethany Beach (19930), Dewey Beach (19971), Milton (19968), Millsboro (19966) and more.

20454 Old Meadow Lane, Lewes

Beach to Bay Real Estate Center is a full service real estate brokerage servicing buyers, sellers and renters at the Delaware beach areas. We handle all forms of real estate, including residential, commercial, and lots and land, in addition to bank owned, short sales and auctioned properties and representation; mortgage needs including refinances, new home purchases, second homes, first time homebuyer programs and reverse mortgages; maintain professional relationships with local settlement attorneys, insurance companies, contractors, and inspection companies; and are affiliated with a preservation and restoration company. Beach to Bay services all of Sussex County, and southern Kent County, with a strong focus on the beach resort areas of Rehoboth Beach (19971), Lewes (19958), Bethany Beach (19930), Dewey Beach (19971), Milton (19968), Millsboro (19966) and more.

112 Beaver Dam Reach, Rehoboth Beach

Beach to Bay Real Estate Center is a full service real estate brokerage servicing buyers, sellers and renters at the Delaware beach areas. We handle all forms of real estate, including residential, commercial, and lots and land, in addition to bank owned, short sales and auctioned properties and representation; mortgage needs including refinances, new home purchases, second homes, first time homebuyer programs and reverse mortgages; maintain professional relationships with local settlement attorneys, insurance companies, contractors, and inspection companies; and are affiliated with a preservation and restoration company. Beach to Bay services all of Sussex County, and southern Kent County, with a strong focus on the beach resort areas of Rehoboth Beach (19971), Lewes (19958), Bethany Beach (19930), Dewey Beach (19971), Milton (19968), Millsboro (19966) and more.

2 Chatham Road, Rehoboth Beach

Beach to Bay Real Estate Center is a full service real estate brokerage servicing buyers, sellers and renters at the Delaware beach areas. We handle all forms of real estate, including residential, commercial, and lots and land, in addition to bank owned, short sales and auctioned properties and representation; mortgage needs including refinances, new home purchases, second homes, first time homebuyer programs and reverse mortgages; maintain professional relationships with local settlement attorneys, insurance companies, contractors, and inspection companies; and are affiliated with a preservation and restoration company. Beach to Bay services all of Sussex County, and southern Kent County, with a strong focus on the beach resort areas of Rehoboth Beach (19971), Lewes (19958), Bethany Beach (19930), Dewey Beach (19971), Milton (19968), Millsboro (19966) and more.

Sussex County, Delaware Home Sales - as of February 10, 2009

Spring is in the air! The snow is melted, the windows are opened, and the jackets are left at home. At least for a couple more days until we get the threat of "the white stuff" again...

But, with warmer weather comes more real estate activity. Historically, Spring has always been the busiest time of year for real estate, and that usually starts at the very end of February. We have had a respectful amount of homes sell in the past 41 days, and I have a good feeling we will only see these numbers rise. Below is a break down of all the closed real estate transactions in 2009 thus far.

Single Family - 73

Condo / Town Home - 22

Mobile - 8

Multi-Family - 1

Lots / Land - 27

Commercial - 4

For a total of 135 closed real estate transactions. I do not have the averages for January yet, but will post those as soon as they become available.

Beach to Bay Real Estate Center is a full service real estate brokerage servicing buyers, sellers and renters at the Delaware beach areas. We handle all forms of real estate, including residential, commercial, and lots and land, in addition to bank owned, short sales and auctioned properties and representation; mortgage needs including refinances, new home purchases, second homes, first time homebuyer programs and reverse mortgages; maintain professional relationships with local settlement attorneys, insurance companies, contractors, and inspection companies; and are affiliated with a preservation and restoration company. Beach to Bay services all of Sussex County, and southern Kent County, with a strong focus on the beach resort areas of Rehoboth Beach (19971), Lewes (19958), Bethany Beach (19930), Dewey Beach (19971), Milton (19968), Millsboro (19966) and more.