States with highest number of ID Theft

An interesting tidbit, according to the Federal Trade Commission, the highest number of ID thefts goes to California with 43,389 thefts last year. Second runner up was Texas with 26,454 reported cases.

3rd, 4th and 5th place are;

• New York 17,680
• Florida 16,062
• Illinois 11,138

Reminder: double check your credit report before - house hunting. It can save a lot of headache if proplems are found before beginning the loan application process. If you do find a discrepency, talk to your agent. He should have valuable information about repairing credit problems. For a free credit repair kit, please contact me via e-mail at john.wall1@century21.com.

Long Beach, Realty Report for September 22, 2005

Realty Report for Long Beach, September 22, 2005. Six closed sales
today, with prices ranging from 264,000 to 430,000. These were smaller
houses and condos in the 700 square foot range to 1200. Typically 2 or
3 bedrooms and one or two baths.



For August 22, 2005 through today, there were around 266 closings of
single family houses (not condos) the prices are across the board at
205,000 to 3,000,000+.  I thought that interesting because we're
hearing that condos are becoming the only affordable housing for new
buyers but according to the hot sheets, SFR's are turning over in
greater numbers.  With creative financing and buyers who are open
to a little compromise and flexible in there desires, it is very
possible to purchase a single family home even on a shoe-string budget.



If you would like an analysis of your buying potential here in Long
Beach, Please give me a call. I'd be happy to prepare a comprehensive
report and go over home-buying options with you. I can be reached by
calling 562-433-1914 or e-mail at
John.Wall1@Century21.com.

How to get rid of telemarketers and Junk Mail

I know almost everyone is tired of telemarketers and mass mailers. When
I came across these steps to discourage this invasion into our lives, I
just had to share it with you... [Caveat, these will only work if lots
of people decide to do it - and this isn't another invitation to join
the FTC's Do Not Call
List (which you should do also)]



When a telemarker calls you, politely say "Hold, On Please..." Than put
your phone down and walk away. Don't hang up. If we do this - Time
spent on each call (at the telemarker's expense of course) would sky
rocket while, sales plummet. Thereby making telemarketing a waste of
time... Literally.



When you get a call and there is noone on the other end, repeatedly and
rapidly press the # sign on your phone. This will confuse the computer
system that is calling you. Note, this is not a telemarketing call -
Its an automated call that allows a computer to log when you actually
answer the phone so a real live salesperson can call you later.



When you get ads with your utility bills (like I always do) return them
with your payment. Its only polite to return that which you won't use,
right?



Don't just throw away "junk mail". Most of it comes with a business
reply envelope for which the sender pays when you use it. So why
deprive them of the same great deals that are offered to you? Pack
those reply envelopes and mail them right back. But don't just return
the same ads. Why not do a public service? Who knows, you credit card
company might be looking for a cheap set golf clubs and Dominoes would
love to get a few orders from the bank right?



Do this, and do it often soon it will become so expensive for companies
to inundate us, they'll stop. Also, as pointed out in a recent article
from a trade magazine, the post office claims it needs to continue to
raise postage rates because of the lost business to e-mail... Utilizing
those business reply envelopes keeps the post office busy and the
marketers paying effectively eliminated the need to raise the price of
a stamp again!





Cheers-



John Wall

Century 21 Results

562-433-1914

Greenspan continues to hold interest rates hostage.

More signs interest rates are continuing to rise. I was reading the
paper again this morning (I really should stop doing that), AP covered
a FED story about our friend, Alan Greenspan raised the shorth term
interest rate again to 3.75 %. He's continuing the FED's ongoing 15
month rate-raising plan.



When asked about the effects of Hurrican Katrina on the US economy -
Policy makers were quoted as saying, fallout from the storm doesn't
pose a threat to the economy.



Why do I post this information in The Realty Report? Because, I like to
and its fun. It doesn't really have much to do with Real Estate other
than to demonstrate the superior investment quality of Real Estate and
long term holdings. If you recall the archived articles, we've learned
the short term rate doesn't really effect mortgage rates as much as
some media outlets imply (not by fault).



°°°°°

Anyone want a g-mail account? I've got some invites left.

Housing "CRISIS" in California

In an article of  the Long
Beach Press Telegram today, the discussion was made about our
"Housing Bubble". According to

Christopher Thornberg of UCLA, 'It appears to us we're at the peak of this
market, but it could take off again,' You bet it could Chris.



In his forcast, Christopher predicts prices will flatten, but at a
nominal rate, and, there is likely to be slow down in new construction
in the region. Hmmm. Historically, this is good for the real estate
market, at least for sellers. A slow down in new construction 
means less inventory available, which could mean a strong upturn in
prices for existing homes. Now is that going to happen? We'll have to
see if the new construction actually does slow down. It will of course,
I can style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline;">ALMOST
guarantee it. Contractors and laborers are lining up to move out of
California, at least temporarily. In the United States, we are gearing
up for the largest re-building project ever in our nation's history.
Hurricane Katrina did one thing that may be a ray of sunshine -
Creating an environment where there will be lots of work available for
people who are skilled in any level of home building. The folks with
those skills would be wise to take a trip to those affected areas and
guarantee themselves some steady, well paid jobs. Translation,
California will see a drop in available, skilled, homebuilders -
thereby creating the slow down in new construction here.



Chris also said, "I think this is a market today where people are
buying a monthly payment. They aren't buying houses.". Isn't that the
way it always was? Unless you have enough capital to finance the entire
purchase price, you're most likely buying a mortgage. (did I mention
that I dislike "experts" who say dumb things and point out the obvious?)



So, bubble or not, we're in a seller's market and it seems that it will
stay that way,  for a while at least.



Regards,



John Wall

Century 21 Results



The Realty Report