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7 Tips for Staging Your Home Make your home warm and inviting to boost your home’s value and speed up the sale process. Read The Value of Home Maintenance Regular home maintenance is key to preserving the value of your house and property. Read Visit houselogic.com for more articles like this. Copyright 2011 NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®

Michele Lerner, author of Homebuying: Tough Times, First Time, Any Time, offers reasons why real estate is likely to improve in 2011. Here are five reasons she thinks consumers should consider a home purchase next year: ▪ Mortgage rates will stay low. Even with rates climbing — maybe to as high as 6 percent by 2012 — they are still well below where they have been historically. ▪ Tax cuts could help. Extending the tax cuts could encourage a more rapid recovery for the economy. ▪ Americans want to be home owners. A recent Fannie Mae survey showed that Americans still believe a home is a safe and desirable investment. ▪ Builders are about to begin building. Home builders have been sitting on the sidelines. This year, they think pent-up demand will create an appetite for new homes. ▪ Homes are shrinking. Homes are getting smaller, which has made them more affordable. Source: Investopedia, Michele Lerner (12/24/2010)

I am compelled to write about this topic today because my buyers had to terminate their contract yesterday. Their contract was signed at the end of March on a short sale in Illinois. They were renting and their lease was up at the end of this week. They were very patient, but their patience did not make up for what was happening. Their loan approval from the seller's side was at a stand still. Our attorney kept in contact with them, but nothing was being accomplished. Week after week, no word. Finally two weeks ago we received word that their bid was too low, almost three months after the contract was signed. To make matters worse, my clients were at risk for losing out on the tax credit because of the deadlines . I am relieved to say that there is an extensio n for those people in similar situations. However, it was too late for my clients. They terminated their contract and are now forced to rent again. I take any role I perform seriously, whether