Here’s what December’s Jobs Report showed...
and what it means for home loan rates.

The Labor Department reported that 103,000 jobs were created in December, and private job growth was 113,000. While these numbers were below the recently ramped up expectations, they do show that the trend in the labor market is improving. Also noteworthy are the upward revisions to the prior two months readings, showing 70,000 more jobs created than had been previously reported.
And yet, the real shocker in the report was a significant decline in the unemployment rate to 9.4%, which is the lowest unemployment rate since May of 2009.
So what did we learn from this Jobs Report?
1. While positive news, this Jobs number was still soft enough to support the Fed continuing on their plans for a full dosage of QE2 for the economy... and this won’t be good for Bonds and home loan rates, as it carries along some real inflation threat down the road.
2. The recent tax package and lower tax rate extensions have not yet had enough time to be seen or felt in the economy, so those factors should help provide further improvement in the labor market in future months... but also will create inflation - bad news for Bonds and home loan rates.
To Brainstorm about Real Estate or general lending questions email Denise Wambsganss at dwambs@msn.com or call 303-880-8771

ROI on Remodeling

2010 Was a GREAT Year

to purchase a home, OR purchase an investment property OR stay put and remodel

Prices were low AND Interest rates were VERY low. Lee and I obtained our first investment property in 2010 and plan to purchase at least one more in 2011. Many of my clients were buyers who sold their property and purchased a higher priced property.

I am finding a lot of inquiry about investment properties and will be obtaining my Certification to become a Certified IRA Real Estate Specialist helping people invest by using their IRA money.

Feel free to give me a call 303-880-8771 or email dwambs@msn.com if you want to brainstorm about anything to do with Real Estate !! Denise Wambsganss

With that being said there are many people who decided to stay put in their present home and put money into remodeling.

I have received a lot of questions like…. What is the ROI if I remodel.

So the following information shows

the Best bang for the remodeling buck

(scroll all the way down to the bottom
to see breakdown of many remodel costs and ROI)

The article below is from the INMAN NEWS, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2010.

Sal Alfano, editorial director of Remodeling magazine, a trade journal that each year conducts an extensive study of the typical costs of home-remodeling jobs, compared to ballpark estimates of how much of those expenditures homeowners would recoup at sale time.

Many people are saying, 'I can't really sell this place for what I'd like to get, so I might as well remodel it.

Four things to know about what seems to have a payback -- and what doesn't -- in home remodeling:

The magazine studied on a national and regional basis, as well as for many cities.

The study was conducted in collaboration with the National Association of Realtors, whose members offered payback estimates based on re-sales in their geographic areas.

Full results can be seen at remodeling.hw.net.

The top four "moderate projects" with the strongest payback at resale time, returning 72.2 percent or more of their cost: steel entry-door replacement (at a cost of about $1,200); garage-door replacement ($1,000); wooden deck addition ($11,000); replacing 10 insulated, wooden windows clad in vinyl or aluminum ($12,000); an attic bedroom addition ($51,428).

2. The best bang for the buck was garage-door replacement, Alfano said. It was the first time that project had appeared in the survey, though it made sense because consumers seem to have a strong interest in curb-appeal projects these days.

3. Two projects with chunky price tags held their own in the ratings. The full remodels of basement and attic stayed in the top 10, despite their costs.

In the survey, the basement rehab typically cost $64,500 and returned 70 percent at sale time, the study said. (Although the researchers wrote a lengthy and detailed description of the project in order to gain a consistent cost estimation, the basic job, for purposes of the survey, was to finish the lower level of a house in order to create a 20-by-30-foot entertaining area with a wet bar and a 5-by-8-foot bathroom; walls and ceilings were of painted drywall, exterior walls were insulated, and wiring and plumbing were new.)

The attic bedroom carried an average price tag of $51,000 and returned 72.2 percent of the cost, according to the study. (This task was to convert unfinished space to a 15-by-15-foot bedroom and 5-by-7-foot bathroom with shower. The plan would include a dormer, four new windows and closet space, with new insulation, heating and air conditioning, and wiring to code.)

4. There's probably no such thing as a cheap kitchen remodel. But by the magazine's terms, the minor remodel takes a functional but dated 200-square-foot kitchen with 30 linear feet of cabinetry and countertops and leaves the cabinet frames in place, replacing their fronts with new, raised-panel wooden doors and drawers. The room also gets an energy-efficient wall oven and cooktop, laminate countertops, mid-priced sink and faucet and resilient flooring.

Again, the key here is not messing with the footprint in order to conserve costs -- no walls or plumbing were moved. The average cost for such a job was about $22,000, with a likely return of 72.8 percent of the cost, the magazine estimated.