First Day of Spring

Spring is here, but it must be hiding on the other side of the mountain range. The snow is melting and you can almost see the entire parking lot. Weatherman Dave says we're in for alot of snow these next few days. I think he watches the Denver station, as his last 5 or 6 predictions have been wrong.

Alpenglo has been a beehive of busy this last week with phone calls and showings. The "season" is gearing up.

Gloria Good at First Horizon emails a wonderful market report weekly and I have taken the liberty of quoting from it for all of the economists out there:

BEWARE THE IDES OF MARCH! Or so said a fortune teller to Julius Caesar, prior to his assassination on March 15th, which makes whatever the "Ides" are sound pretty ominous. But here's a translation: the word "Ides" comes from a Latin word that means to divide, and so the "Ides of March" simply refers to March 15th. So now that we've gained an interesting fact to bring to our next social outing...let's do some translating of the events last week, and how they helped home loan rates improve by about .125%.
First, Retail Sales numbers for February were weak. Where was the love? The weakness appeared to be spread across most types of retail outlets, including autos, gasoline, furniture, and clothing. Remembering that weak economic news tends to benefit Bond pricing and home loan rates, this helped home loan rates improve.
Next, the Consumer Price Index (CPI), which is a widely watched measure of inflation, came in slightly lower than expectations. It appears that price inflation at the consumer level during the month of February was relatively mild, with price declines in energy, food, and clothing offsetting higher prices in air fares, housing, and medical care. Controlled inflation is good news for Bonds, so this also helped home loan rates improve.
On the housing front, some mixed news. New construction slowed down a bit in February...but were better numbers than what the experts were anticipating. And January's Housing Starts number was revised higher, to a 12-year high! So...where again is that housing bubble? During 2006, it is likely that the pace of appreciation will cool – particularly in states where employment is weak. Yet although the media still loves to beat the drum of fear surrounding a housing bubble, the data just doesn't back it up.

Colt Ferguson (son of Allen & Caroline Ferguson, grandson of Allen & Mary Rutherford Ferguson, and brother of Caleb Ferguson) just turned 4 on Saturday. Happy Birthday Colt!

Happy Spring to All

Maggie Palmer

Home Price Growth Continues at Robust Pace

I found the following news report pertinent to our Sublette County Real Estate Market. Our local Home Prices, as reported by several Appraisers, is climbing at 1 to 1 1/2% increase per month.

Inman News Reports:

Home Price Growth Continues at Robust Pace
Index shows annual rise of nearly 13% nationwide

House-price appreciation continued at a robust pace at the end of 2005, with average home prices increasing 12.95 percent from the fourth quarter 2004 through the fourth quarter 2005, according to the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight.
Appreciation for the most recent quarter was 2.86 percent, or an annualized rate of 11.4 percent, according to OFHEO's figures released last week. The increase during 2005 is similar to the revised increase of 12.55 percent for the year ended with the third quarter of 2005, showing no evidence of a slowdown in average prices.
"Despite recent indications that a slowdown may be forthcoming, house-price appreciation during 2005 continued to hover at near-record levels," said OFHEO Chief Economist Patrick Lawler.
House prices continued to grow considerably faster over the past year than did prices of non-housing goods and services reflected in the Consumer Price Index. House prices rose 12.95 percent, while prices of other goods and services rose only 4.3 percent.

Lisa Marchetti at Wells Fargo Home Mortgage in Rock Springs just faxed us her recent Price Blast. A 30 Year Fixed Conforming Conventional Loan up to $417,700 is at 6.25%. Her fax quoted Holden Lewis, Sr. Reporter at Bankrate.com, "We should see a big bounce in the coming week because mortgage rates are lagging behind a rise in bond yields."

Check out Gloria Good's, First Horizon Loans website at www.gloriagood.com

It's another beautiful day in Sublette County.

Welcome To Our New Real Estate Blog-Keeping Our Promises

Alpenglo is excited about all the new and upcoming changes over this next year. Coming March 9th, Alpenglo announces it's "Keeping Our Promises" campaign. Watch for it in the Build-It special edition to the Pinedale Roundup. Watch for our new website (reported to be the best Real Estate site in Wyoming) coming around April 1st.

Alpenglo's professional and caring agents promise to:

Keep you updated on showings, advertising, and information requests on your property. Through the use of Lucero Summit Real Estate Office Management software, agents can track your listing, make changes to our website, and keep you informed of any updates.

Return telephone calls promptly.

Never make you an empty promise.

Actively and innovatively promote your listing.

Represent your best interests.

Appreciate our customers. We know you have a choice in Realtors.

Proudly subscribe to the Realtor Code of Ethics. Give us a call...we'll get your a copy.

Walk you through the Real Estate Process at Your Speed, not ours.

Provide Our Services with the Utmost Professionalism and Confidentiality.

Give us a call today and let us begin by Keeping Our Promises.

Maggie Palmer, GRI
Broker, Alpenglo, LLC