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        <title>Real Estate Blog</title>
        <link>http://www.heartmontana.com/blog/</link>
        <description></description>
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            <guid>http://www.heartmontana.com/blog/7-moving-expense-tax-deductions-you-need-to-know-before-your-next-move.html</guid>
            <link>http://www.heartmontana.com/blog/7-moving-expense-tax-deductions-you-need-to-know-before-your-next-move.html</link>
            <author>bonnie@heartmontana.com (Bonnie Martin  Designated Broker)</author>
            <title>7 Moving Expense Tax Deductions You Need To Know Before Your Next Move</title>
            <description> <![CDATA[ 
Moving can be a costly ordeal. Fortunately, the Internal Revenue Service allows you to deduct certain expenses from your taxes, so long as certain criteria are met.


1) Do You Qualify? you can only deduct if the move is job related.  2) 39 Weeks: you must be employed full time for 39 weeks.  3) 50 Miles Rule: your commute must be 50 miles longer to qualify.  4) Employer Assistance: you can only write off what your employer isn't paying. 5) Self Employment:  you can still qualify if you are self-employed, but you must meet all the requirements.  6) Married Couples:  only one of you have to meet the criteria.  7) Deductible Moving Expenses.


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            <pubDate>Tue, 21 May 2013 08:49:24 -0600</pubDate>
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            <guid>http://www.heartmontana.com/blog/home-appraisals-no-longer-derailing-sales.html</guid>
            <link>http://www.heartmontana.com/blog/home-appraisals-no-longer-derailing-sales.html</link>
            <author>bonnie@heartmontana.com (Bonnie Martin  Designated Broker)</author>
            <title>Home appraisals no longer derailing sales</title>
            <description> <![CDATA[ 
Consider this one more sign that the housing market is heating up: Appraisers are putting higher values on homes again, allowing for more deals to go through.


During the housing bust, sales were often derailed by low-ball appraisals that fell far shy of a home's selling price.


For example, if a home cost $500,000 and required a 20% down payment of $100,000, the buyer would need to finance $400,000. But if the appraiser valued the home at $450,000, the buyer would only be eligible for a $360,000 loan -- making the home too costly for some buyers.


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            <pubDate>Mon, 20 May 2013 09:04:27 -0600</pubDate>
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            <guid>http://www.heartmontana.com/blog/list-price-and-inventory-increases-point-to-continuing-housing-recovery.html</guid>
            <link>http://www.heartmontana.com/blog/list-price-and-inventory-increases-point-to-continuing-housing-recovery.html</link>
            <author>bonnie@heartmontana.com (Bonnie Martin  Designated Broker)</author>
            <title>List Price And Inventory Increases Point To Continuing Housing Recovery</title>
            <description> <![CDATA[ 
The home buying season shifted into high gear last month as inventory and home list prices on realtor.com® increased by 4.12 percent and 2.63 percent, month over month, respectively. As of April, homes are on the market nationwide approximately 81 days—a decrease of nearly 11 percent since April 2012—highlighting that while new homes are entering the market they are not available for long.


Despite the increase in inventory month over month, nationwide inventory declined year over year in all but 11 of the 146 markets realtor.com® monitors. Approximately 36 markets registered a decrease of listings by 20 percent or more, still highlighting near records lows of available homes.


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            <pubDate>Fri, 17 May 2013 09:27:01 -0600</pubDate>
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            <guid>http://www.heartmontana.com/blog/mortgage-rates-in-us-rise-to-highest-level-in-six-weeks.html</guid>
            <link>http://www.heartmontana.com/blog/mortgage-rates-in-us-rise-to-highest-level-in-six-weeks.html</link>
            <author>bonnie@heartmontana.com (Bonnie Martin  Designated Broker)</author>
            <title>Mortgage Rates in U.S. Rise to Highest Level in Six Weeks</title>
            <description> <![CDATA[ 
U.S. mortgage rates rose, pushing borrowing costs for a 30-year loan to the highest in six weeks.


The average rate for a 30-year fixed mortgage climbed to 3.51 percent in the week ended today, up from 3.42 percent and the highest since early April, McLean, Virginia-based Freddie Mac (FMCC) said in a statement. The average 15-year rate increased to 2.69 percent from 2.61 percent.


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            <pubDate>Thu, 16 May 2013 10:19:19 -0600</pubDate>
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            <guid>http://www.heartmontana.com/blog/us-home-builders-feeling-fairly-upbeat.html</guid>
            <link>http://www.heartmontana.com/blog/us-home-builders-feeling-fairly-upbeat.html</link>
            <author>bonnie@heartmontana.com (Bonnie Martin  Designated Broker)</author>
            <title>US home builders feeling fairly upbeat</title>
            <description> <![CDATA[ 
nbcnews.com - U.S. home-builder confidence in the market for single family homes rose in May amid rising home prices despite increasing building materials costs, an index showed on Wednesday.


The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market index edged up three points to 44, from a downwardly revised 41 in April. Economists in a Reuters survey were expecting a reading of 43. Any number over 50 indicates that more builders view conditions as good than poor.


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            <pubDate>Wed, 15 May 2013 10:37:00 -0600</pubDate>
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            <guid>http://www.heartmontana.com/blog/mortgage-rates-rise.html</guid>
            <link>http://www.heartmontana.com/blog/mortgage-rates-rise.html</link>
            <author>bonnie@heartmontana.com (Bonnie Martin  Designated Broker)</author>
            <title>Mortgage Rates Rise</title>
            <description> <![CDATA[ 
After nearing historic or near-historic lows over the past month, key fixed-rate and adjustable-rate loans rose across the board this week.


The average rate of a 30-year fixed mortgage ticked slightly upward to 3.42% up from 3.35% last week according to the latest survey by mortgage buyer Freddie Mac. Previously, the average rate on a 30-year fixed loan had come within 0.04% of the historic low, 3.31%, achieved in November.


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            <pubDate>Tue, 14 May 2013 09:04:46 -0600</pubDate>
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        <item>
            <guid>http://www.heartmontana.com/blog/make-moving-easy-with-a-moving-checklist.html</guid>
            <link>http://www.heartmontana.com/blog/make-moving-easy-with-a-moving-checklist.html</link>
            <author>bonnie@heartmontana.com (Bonnie Martin  Designated Broker)</author>
            <title>Make Moving Easy With a Moving Checklist</title>
            <description> <![CDATA[ 
The first thing Niamh Cahill did after she signed a contract to buy her new home in New Jersey was to map out a moving checklist."I had to break it down, to think small at first," she said. "If I thought about the whole move, I would have been completely overwhelmed." So she called the movers, set a date, and then started planning.There is no one-size-fits-all strategy for counting down to moving day. The important thing is to make a plan, says Audrey Dickson, quotation analyst with U-Pack, a national moving company based in Fort Smith, Ark.


To read more of this article, and get the checklist, click th link below:


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            <pubDate>Mon, 13 May 2013 09:49:39 -0600</pubDate>
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        <item>
            <guid>http://www.heartmontana.com/blog/today-chat-advice-for-homebuyers-and-sellers.html</guid>
            <link>http://www.heartmontana.com/blog/today-chat-advice-for-homebuyers-and-sellers.html</link>
            <author>bonnie@heartmontana.com (Bonnie Martin  Designated Broker)</author>
            <title>TODAY Chat: Advice for homebuyers and sellers</title>
            <description> <![CDATA[ 
It’s a seller’s market in many parts of the country right now. That’s a big change from the past six or seven years. With buyers competing for the same property, home prices are going up. It’s a good thing mortgage interest rates are at historic lows.


“If you want to get the home of your dreams, you need to be really serious,” advises real estate expert Ilyce Glink,author of the book Buy, Close, Move In. “You've got to get pre-approved, not pre-qualified for your purchase. You have to know what you want and how much you feel comfortable spending (it may be less than what the bank suggests). If you know what you want and how much you want to spend, and you've spent a lot of time in your neighborhood of choice, when the right property comes up, you can pounce.”


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            <pubDate>Fri, 10 May 2013 12:51:20 -0600</pubDate>
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        <item>
            <guid>http://www.heartmontana.com/blog/sentiment-shift-home-prices-to-rise.html</guid>
            <link>http://www.heartmontana.com/blog/sentiment-shift-home-prices-to-rise.html</link>
            <author>bonnie@heartmontana.com (Bonnie Martin  Designated Broker)</author>
            <title>Sentiment shift: Home prices to rise</title>
            <description> <![CDATA[ 
A monthly survey by mortgage finance firm Fannie Mae found 51% of those questioned in April believe prices will rise in the next 12 months, while only 35% are projecting a drop in prices. It is the first time in the three-year history of the survey that a majority said they expect prices to increase.


A year ago, 49% were expecting further price declines while only 32% said they though prices were on their way up.


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            <pubDate>Fri, 10 May 2013 12:42:58 -0600</pubDate>
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        <item>
            <guid>http://www.heartmontana.com/blog/expecting-higher-home-prices-fannie-mae-says-youre-not-alone.html</guid>
            <link>http://www.heartmontana.com/blog/expecting-higher-home-prices-fannie-mae-says-youre-not-alone.html</link>
            <author>bonnie@heartmontana.com (Bonnie Martin  Designated Broker)</author>
            <title>Expecting Higher Home Prices? Fannie Mae Says You're Not Alone</title>
            <description> <![CDATA[ 
The April edition of Fannie Mae's National Housing Survey revealed increasing optimism in American attitudes toward both housing and the overall economy.  Virtually every positive indicator in the survey ticked upward.


More than half of survey respondents now expect home prices to climb within the next 12 months.  Fifty-one percent said they expected such improvement, up 3 percentage points from March and 19 points higher than in April 2012.   Expectations of how large that increase will be remained at an average of 2.7 percent for the second month in a row.


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            <pubDate>Wed, 08 May 2013 20:29:05 -0600</pubDate>
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