How Job Losses Can Help People Afford More !

On the first Friday of each month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics releases its Non-Farm Payrolls report.

More commonly, it's called the "jobs report".

The jobs report is a sector-by-sector look into the U.S. economy and whether businesses are hiring -- or firing -- workers. This is one of the reasons why its release is so hotly anticipated each month -- the jobs report can reveal a lot about the state of the U.S. economy.

Last month, the economy shed 62,000 jobs.

Now, many people will assume that job losses like this are terrible for the U.S. economy. Sometimes, that's true.

This month, it's not.

Given the ongoing tug-o-war between inflation and recession, markets are somewhat pleased with the June job loss figures because job losses reduce the likelihood of inflation in the U.S. economy.

Inflation is considered by many -- Ben Bernanke included -- to be among the top threats to the U.S. economy -- it devalues the dollar and leads to increases in the Cost of Living.

Inflation also threatens home affordability because mortgage rates tend to rise when inflation is present.

June's job losses -- while bad for those impacted -- is helping to relieve inflationary pressures on the economy and that is boosting markets performance this morning. Stocks are slightly up, and mortgage rates are slightly down. Whenever mortgage rates trend down, the amount of house a buyer can afford increases, and in a time of stable prices, that means more house for your dollars.Publish Post

(Image courtesy: The Wall Street Journal)

I'm breaking with my habit of not publishing duplicate posts. I just wrote this for the holiday post at REReflections, my other blog, but I liked it enough that I didn't want to write another- I hope you like it as well

I love being from Philadelphia. It is a place of opportunity. As an example, when I was kid I touched the Liberty Bell. Like uncounted Philadelphia children before me, I walked right up to it, and stuck my little fingers in the crack, below the bolt holding the crack from widening. I still remember the cold feel of the metal and the angled metal of the crack. It was a school trip to Independence Hall, the former Pennsylvania State House, and coincidentally the place where the Second Continental Congress met , and ratified the Declaration of Independence on July 4th her, 1776.

It didn't mean much to my family when it happened, because they were is different parts of Eastern Europe living lives that ranged from tough to marginal to unbearable. About 100 years later however, the actions of those men, in that place, meant they had an option. There was a place where they could live their lives as they wished, raise their children, and succeed if they worked hard. So they came to what they called the Golden Medina (the Golden Country). They worked hard, they learned English, and they raised their children to love their adopted country. And love it they did, with a deep and abiding passion that impelled them to make sacrifices in defense of the country when called on, and to pass that passion on to their children and Grandchildren.

Its July 4th, and I'm feeling real grateful and sentimental. I'm spending the weekend on holiday, celebrating our country's birthday with millions of my fellow Americans. I was on the road to the New Jersey shore yesterday behind a car with a bumper sticker that said "My son's a Marine - Sleep Well America, He's Got your Back!".

It made me want to call every person serving in our armed forces and thank them personally for allowing me to live in a place where my daily concerns revolve around whether Twitter is working well, or if duplicate blogs are a problem, or buying blog content is a difficult moral issue. I need to thank them for allowing me the privilege of living in a place where getting dressed well and going into an air conditioned office is considered hard work, and where I can whine about single digit mortgage rates.

Its easy to take for granted where we live ,how we live, and the rights we enjoy every day without thinking. And with gas at record prices and a tough economy, every day can be a challenge. But under the worst of circumstances we still live in the best place in the world. A place where we can speak, blog, and create as we wish. A place where home ownership is achieved by a huge number of our citizens, and everyone has potential to achieve and excel that is matched in few places around the world.

As a favor to me , just for today, be grateful for what we have and the opportunities that await us in the future. After traveling to many wonderful places in the world, I truly believe that we live in one of the best places anywhere with a system, that no matter how imperfect, beats the pants off the alternatives, - and it all started in Philadelphia.

Happy Birthday Everyone - Hope We all share lots more of these.

Exclusive Marketing from CENTURY 21 Advantage Gold

In our current real estate market, the job of the Agent to create traffic through their listing inventory becomes more crucial. If a property is not viewed by potential buyers, then it obviously has a harder time getting sold, so the job of the agent or their company is to someohow make the the listing stand out of the crowd, much like a shiny penny does in a pile of duller ones.

With that thought in mind, our company, Century 21 Advantage Gold created a unique program called the 21K Gold Advantage Program. This program is based on two concepts -

1. No one buys a home that they don't see




2. No one Sees a home their agent doesn't show them.

In a market where there are many properties with bonuses from$500 to $5,000 we wanted a way to make well priced listings stand out, like the shiny penny in a pocketful of change. At the same time we were sensitive to the expenses incurred by the seller in this market

We decided that we would try this marketing program to see how the property marketing was impacted. What we found out, during the first 50 sales of properties in the program was that 21K properties sold faster then competiting properties.

After completing the first round of 21K properties and having our breakfast veent, where a selling agent was awarded a $21,000 check for participating, and reviewing the feedback from agents with other companies who do not have such an innovative program, we've decided to continue the program.

For information on whether your property might be elgiible to participate in the 21K program, and more details on the program go to http://www.c21ag.com/ and contact one of our agents.

Announcing Philadelphia Real Estate's Newest Blog

MovePhilly and ReReflections have become places for me to personally provide consumer information and real estate industry views respectively.

Now the time has come for our company to join the Social Media revolution by creating a Multi-Author Blog called C21AGVoices. The Blog is exactly what it says it is. A platform for the agents and management team of CENTURY 21 Advantage Gold to provide their views on the real estate industry and our company while providing consumers with information, and a chance to meet some of the best REALTORS in our marketplace (if not the entire planet)

We hope that you'll join us at C21AgVoices as we learn together how best to communicate about our market, our careers, and our lives.

Selling Smelly Houses is Hard!

Neutralizing home odors is an important part of preparing a home for sale but it's not always so easy. Every home has a unique odor that's ground into carpets, walls, fabrics. Cooking at home plays a big role, too. And people being who we are, we become accustomed to those smells because we are exposed to them every day, but a potential buyer who walks into our home msy hsve s different tske on those odors!

Remember, just because a home is listed for sale doesn't mean that the kitchen is off-limits. You still need to live and using that kitchen may generate smells that are attractive to you , but to an outsider, not so much!

This 2-minute video from About.com offers a bunch of smell-related kitchen tips, including:

• Removing "the fish smell"
  
  
  
• Fighting the aroma from deep-fried foods
  
  
  
• Getting stubborn smells from hands

When your home for sale, the last thing you want buyers paying attention to is your dinner from the night before. Watch the video, read the transcript, and cook fear-free in your own home -- listed for sale or just planning on company.