INVESTING

Have you heard the saying buy low and sell high?

When do most people buy? When prices are at their peak - everything looks rosy, prices are rising so it must be a good time to buy, right??? Probably NOT!

The housing market just capped a tremendous run of several years of double digit appreciation. Did you know that 1 out of 3 home sales have been second home purchases?

There are currently 40,000 homes on the market in the Twin Cities, up from 36,000 homes this time in 2006. It was a buyers market then, what about now???

From 2006 levels, weekly home listings are UP 20%. However, weekly home sales are DOWN 20%!

Going back to my opening statement. People are shying away from the market right now because it's down. I'd say now is exactly the right time to buy! The market is flooded & sellers are feeling a little desperate to say the least.

If you're renting, you should look at buying something, ANYTHING, just to start building equity for yourself rather than the man.

If you are thinking about investing, think about the following:

- fixer-upper (look closely at neighboring homes to determine value)

- buy a rental (duplex or a home in an established area)

- buy a home for your college age kids to live in

- buy a vacation home or vacation property

More to follow in an up-coming article on these choices.

Get in the game, NOW is the time!

LaCrosse-the Minnesota Swarm

How many of you have been to a National LaCrosse League game?

I went to a game Saturday night - the Minnesota Swarm against the Arizona Sting. What a blast! My wife doesn't care too much for sports but she loved watching lacrosse-it was quick and filled with lively commentary.

In addition to the fast-paced play, there was entertainment during the brief intermissions and the announcers kept it lively with interviews with the fans and even with players on the bench during play. In the 2nd quarter, the Swarm scored a team-record NINE GOALS! It was crazy-they were scoring every 1-2 minutes!

Contrary to what we had heard, I thought it was less rough than a hockey game and easy to keep track of the ball, even from the "nose-bleed seats" we were in. The fans were very diverse-lots of young singles and couples but also quite a few what appeared to be grand-parents with their grandkids too (a hint to my parents if they are reading this).

Tickets were very reasonable from $5 to $20 for most tickets and you can park almost free as long as you don't want to park within a block of the St. Paul Xcel Energy Center.