Let us visit with your civic organization.

Let us visit with your civic organization.  REALTORS® love getting out in the community and sharing the real estate information with consumers.  If you are a member of a civic organization in Hinds, Madison or Rankin County and would like a guest speaker for one of your upcoming meetings,  one of us would love to come.  We can share current market statistics, tell you how to avoid real estate scams, explain some truths about real estate issues that are merely rumors, and answer any questions you may have about the buying or selling process.  Just contact our Association office at 601-948-1332 and we’ll be happy to schedule a REALTOR® into one of your meetings.  Johnny Brown, President, Jackson Association on REALTORS®.

How’s Our Market Doing?

How’s Our Market Doing? You’ll get a real headache listening to the national media telling you how many months in a row now housing prices are down. That may be so for California, Nevada and Florida but not so for the Jackson, MS area market. If you want the REAL scoop on how the market is doing, use the statistics always available for you by the local REALTOR Association. The Median Sales Price in our 7-county market increased 7.5 percent in March to $142,000. Our number of days on the market was down 1.5 percent to 114 days. Absorption rates improved as the months supply of inventory was down 18.2 percent to 9.1 months. From March 2011 to March 2012 the number of closed sales were up in all three primary counties and the median sales prices were up in Hinds and Rankin counties. So, the Jackson market is seeing some light at the end of the tunnel, unlike what you hear in the national news. See the stats for yourself at jacksonrealtor.com/Market Statistics. Johnny Brown, President, Jackson Association of REALTORS®.

REALTORS® will be working for you on Capitol Hill this coming week.

REALTORS® will be working for you on Capitol Hill this coming week. Thousands of REALTORS are expected to assemble on the grounds of the Washington Monument on May 17 to let Congress know that home ownership is worth fighting for. One of the numerous items they will be fighting for is keeping the mortgage interest deduction which is being threatened and touted as part of the deficit problem. The deduction, which has been in the federal tax code for nearly 100 years, benefits the nation’s 75 million homeowners. Eliminating the mortgage interest deduction is the same as a de facto tax increase for homeowners. The mortgage interest deduction facilitates home ownership by reducing the carrying costs of owning a home and makes a real difference for hard-working American families. REALTORS® loud voice on Capitol Hill could make the difference. Johnny Brown, President, Jackson Association of REALTORS®.

Renters Still Being Duped by Craigslist Scams

A three year old scam is still alive and well in the Jackson area and prospective renters are being duped by criminals.  If you are looking for a house to rent and see an ad on Craigslist that requires you to wire a deposit over the internet before you can see the inside of the house….  BEWARE.  It’s probably a scam.  Criminals are scraping information from websites where properties are legitimately listed for sale and are reposting the ads on Craigslist for rent with the objective of stealing money from uninformed potential tenants.  The first red flag should be the fact that you can’t see the property until you wire the deposit.  There’s always a sob story being told by the “fake” landlord or owner about why they should be trusted. Once the money is wired, it’s never seen again and the prospective tenants are without both the house and their money.  Before wiring or sending money anywhere, verify, verify, verify that you are dealing with a reliable person or company.  Johnny Brown, President, Jackson Association of REALTORS®.