Military Appreciation Mondays
Supports
Our Military Kids

April is national Month of the Military Child.

I hope you can come out for this month’s Military Appreciation Mondays event at the Old Brogue which will be in recognition of the contributions made by the children of our Servicemen and Women.  I am particularly proud to be bringing back the truly special program – Our Military Kids. These dedicated folks provide support to children of deployed National Guard and Reserve personnel as well as to children of injured service members through grants for enrichment activities and tutoring.  Such activities help these children cope with the stress of having a parent in a war zone or recovering from injury at home.  OMK grants are made to honor the sacrifices that military families make and to ensure that their children have access to sports, fine arts, or academic tutoring programs.
To show your support, simply come out and have dinner at the Old Brogue in Great Falls.  Myself and my cosponsors will each be contributing a 10 percent match (typically a total of an 80 percent match) of your dinner tab to Our Military Kids.

You can also show your support through:
A. The purchase of door prize entries. (ALL Proceeds go directly to Our Military Kids.)
B.  Our buy a vet dinner initiative.  A minimum donation of $25 to OMK entitles you to purchase dinner for one of our vets.
C.  Or you can make out a fully tax deductible donation to Our Military Kids.

Be Certain to make a Reservation for
Either the 5:30 or 7:30 Seating by Calling
The Old Brogue at:  (703) 759-3309

Hope to See You There

Feel Free to Post the Attached Flyer in Your Office
and forward this email to whomever you think may want to attend.

We Would Love to Break 150 Attendees

I am proud to say that last month’s event in support of the Lift Me Up! therapeutic horseback riding program for our injured vets had approximately 125 people in attendance and raised approximately $4,500. This was our best total to date.  I would like to particularly thank Col. Pete Hilgartner (USMC Ret.) for helping out with a book signing at the last two events.  Let me know if you would like to purchase a copy of Colonel Hilgartner’s book “High Pockets War Stories”.  A $10 donation will be made to OMK with each sale.

Please be certain to support my co-sponsors whenever you have a chance.

Mercury LLC

Knight Point Systems

Shiner Roofing and Siding

James Gaudiosi – Wells Fargo Home Mortgage

Danny Ott – George Mason Bank

LSA Title Services

Gary Kaihara, DDS

The Old Brogue

and our door prize donors:

Mr. Wash

Golds Gym

Dominion Title

Turner Framing

Maison Du Vin

Adeler Jewelers

Casa Noble Tequila

Home Equity Builders

Campbell Mechanical

Elite Fitness Concepts

PF Chang’s Restaurant

Great Falls Design Build

Lodgecliffe Bed and Breakfast

Join us for dinner at

The Old Brogue in Great Falls

Monday, March 29th

Seatings at 5:30 PM and 7:30 PM

Reservations Highly Recommended

(703) 759-3309

Approximately 90% of your dinner bill

will be matched and donated to this month’s charity.

Lift Me Up! Therapeutic Riding

Door Prize Drawings will be held

Also Ask About Our Buy a Vet Dinner Donations

Hosted by

The Bob Nelson Team

Previous Co-sponsors Include:

Bob Nelson

Knight Point Systems

Terry Nelson – Mercury LLC.

Kevin Shiner – Shiner Roofing and Siding

James Gaudiosi – Wells Fargo Home Mortgage

Danny Ott – Wells Fargo Home Mortgage

Chris Melnick – LSA Title Services

Gary Kaihara, DDS

The Old Brogue

Previous Door Prize Donors include:

Golds Gym

Dominion Title

Adeler Jewelers

Casa Noble Tequila

Elite Fitness Concepts

Campbell Mechanical

PF Chang’s Restaurant

Great Falls Design Build

Lodgecliffe Bed and Breakfast

Daily Real Estate News                                                                                                      November 23, 2009

Driven by the home buyer tax credit, existing-home sales showed another big gain in October with a strong uptrend established over the past seven months, according to the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®.   At the same time, inventories have continued to decline.

Existing-home sales – including single-family, townhomes, condos and co-ops – surged 10.1 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 6.10 million units in October from a downwardly revised pace of 5.54 million in Sept., and are 23.5 percent above the 4.94 million-unit level in Oct. 2008.  Sales activity is at the highest pace since Feb. 2007 when it hit 6.55 million.

Tax Credit Fuels Surge

Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, was surprised at the size of the gain. “Many buyers have been rushing to beat the deadline for the first-time buyer tax credit that was scheduled to expire at the end of this month, and similarly robust sales may be occurring in November,” he said.  “There is still a large pent-up demand that can be tapped before the tax credit expires. Our recent consumer survey further shows that 13 percent of successful first-time buyers had a previous contract that was canceled or fell through. There likely are many more buyers who were attempting to purchase but simply ran out of time,” Yun said. (Four of my current first time home buyers can personally attest to this!)

Historically low interest rates also are boosting the market. “Mortgage interest rates last month were the third lowest on record dating back to 1971,” Yun noted. According to Freddie Mac, the national average commitment rate for a 30-year, conventional, fixed-rate mortgage fell to 4.95 percent in Oct. from 5.06 percent in Sept.; the rate was 6.20 percent in Oct. 2008.  Last week, Freddie Mac reported the 30-year rate dropped to 4.83 percent.

Inventory Declines

NAR President Vicki Cox Golder said strong demand by first-time buyers is creating some unusual conditions. “In parts of the country, especially in Southwestern states but also in Florida and suburban Washington D.C., we’ve been getting many reports of multiple bids in the lower price ranges with foreclosed properties getting absorbed quickly,” she said.  “In fact, low-end inventory has become very tight in many areas and in some cases buyers are becoming more aggressive. In this kind of environment it’s important to work with a REALTOR® who can walk you through the process and help you negotiate a satisfactory deal,” Golder said.

Total housing inventory at the end of Oct. fell 3.7 percent to 3.57 million existing homes available for sale, which represents a 7.0-month supply at the current sales pace, down from an 8.0-month supply in Sept. Unsold inventory totals are 14.9 percent below a year ago.

“The supply of homes on the market is now at the lowest level in over two-and-a half years – we’re getting closer to a general balance between buyers and sellers,” Yun said. The last time the relative housing inventory was this low was in February 2007 when it also was at a 7.0-month supply. (Note: Some zip codes in Northern Virginia have been running as low as a 1.4 month supply! In a normal economy this would be considered a strong sellers’ market. That said, we are seeing prices being bid up by as much as 5-10 percent in those areas.)

“In the second half of 2010, if home values show consistent stabilization or even a modest increase, then home sales could remain at normal healthy levels because consumers would no longer be worried about a price over-correction,” Yun said.  He added that low home prices also are contributing to extremely favorable affordability conditions. “With the abnormal drop in home prices over the past few years, the price-to-income ratio has fallen below the historic trend line,” Yun said. “This is adding to the buying power of the typical family, with affordability conditions this year at the highest on record dating back to 1970, but prices are beginning to flatten and are poised to rise next year.”

Single-family home sales rose 9.7 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.33 million in Oct from a pace of 4.86 million in Sept, and are 21.4 percent above the 4.39 million-unit pace in Oct 2008. Existing condominium and co-op sales surged 13.2 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 770,000 units in Oct from 680,000 in Sep, and are 40.8 percent above the 547,000-unit level a year ago.

Please be sure to mark your calendars and invite friends to this month’s Charity Tuesday event, which will be held on September 29th at the Old Brogue in Great Falls.  This month, all proceeds will benefit the grass roots organization Operation Second Chance. The group provides assistance to our wounded service men and women.  

The pictures below show a few of the outings provided by OSC to our vets.

Last month we had over 100 people come out to support Our Military Kids.  Regretably we had to turn several folks away.  To accommodate what I hope will be an even larger turnout, we are planning on doing two seatings.  Please be sure to call the Old Brogue (703-759-3309) and let them know if you would prefer a 5:30 or 7:30 seating.  When making your reservation be sure to mention either  Bob Nelson or Charity Tuesday.

To show our sincere gratitude towards America’s men and women in the Armed Forces, I am adding a new feature this month.  We have invited several active duty service men and women and veterans to join us for dinner.  If you would like to have one of these TRUE HEROS sit at your table, you can do so by committing to donate $25-50 to Operation Second Chance.  (You will also be asked to buy them dinner.)  You can either donate cash or make out a tax deductible check to Operation Second Chance.  Please send me an e-mail or call to let me know if you wish to sponsor a soldier.  You are also encouraged to send on donations to OSC by going to their website.

For those of you who have het to attend an event, you simply come enjoy dinner at the Old Brogue in Great Falls.  The Bob Nelson Team and our co-sponsors make a contribution to OSC in the form of a 70 percent match of you dinner tab.  So Please come and eat hardy.  In addition to enjoying the food and great company, we also have door prize drawings.  Since we nearly filled the restaurant last month, I ask that you be sure to make reservations early.

Thanks so much to our co-sponsors:

The Old Brogue
Danny Ott – Wells Fargo Home Mortgage
James Gaudiosi – Wells Fargo Home Mortgage
Chris Melnick – LSA Title Services
Mike Muehr – Merrill Lynch
Gary Kaihara, DDS

And to those who have agreed to donate door prizes.

PF Changs Restaurant

Elite Fitness

Golds Gym (Tysons Corner)

Dominion Title

(Door prizes will be update as new ones keep coming in.)

This month’s charity night at the Pub in Great Falls will be in support of the American Diabetes Association.  The decision to choose this particular charity was in direct response to a request by Mary and Kevin Crabtree who will actually be settling on the purchase their new home in Reston.  Those of you who have attended previous events may recall that Mary actually won drawing for the Tiffany bowl donated by Toll Brothers.   If you are unfamiliar with how the event works, 20 percent of the cost of your meal is donated to the monthly charity.  We do not ask for any type of donation.  Simply come, have a great dinner and enjoy the company.  I would strongly encourage you to bring any friends or relatives.   These events take place on the last Tuesday of the month (May 26th) at the Pub in Great Falls.  We will begin at approximately 7:00 PM.  If possible, please call the Old Brogue to make a reservation and be sure to ask that you are seated with our group.  Simply print out the coupon and bring it with you to insure that the ADA is credited and you will entered into our monthly drawing.  Click here for a printable coupon.  This month’s door prizes include a bottle of top shelf  Casa Noble tequila donated by Otto Hoernig, a Delft Virginia Tobacco Jar by Doris Leadbetter with Keller Williams Realty and a gift basket donated by Dominion Title of Great Falls.  Thanks to Todd Jarvies, Operating Partner at PF Changs Restuarant for adding an additional door prize of a $50 gift certificate for PF Changs Restaurant in Tyson’s Corner. 

I hope you can make it.