Only in Harrison, Arkansas!

Today was the official last day of school for the Harrison Arkansas School District. At our little girl's school, Skyline Elementary, the teachers helped the kids put on a meet with different races for all the kids to participate in.

I met a guy, who works for the Ron Hutchcraft Ministries here in town. He remarked that if anyone needs medical attention today they might be hard pressed. It looked like half of the doctors, nurses, etc. were out there enjoying their children's lives.

But the truth is I was there, he was there, there was a man who runs a flooring store, FedEx people there, a legal secretary, etc. That same guy said that he moved here in '99 with the ministry from New Jersey and said that we don't know how lucky we've got it here in Harrison.

He's right! To be able to take the time to go out and enjoy a little part of our children's lives is amazing! What we have here is a little slice of heaven on earth.


I hope everyone gets to enjoy a moment like this in their lives. Thank you God.

Understanding Mortgages Before You Get a Mortgage

The modern mortgage market offers a variety of mortgage loans catering to the needs of homebuyers. The titles and details of these plans can become confusing, especially as new types are introduced continuously. You can make sense of these loan types, however, if you understand the basic principles that govern all mortgage loans. Again, you can look to your real estate professional for assistance.

What to know about lending and mortgages before you buy

Basic Principles of all Mortgage Loans

• The home is used as security to back up the loan. A lender can force sale of the home if the borrower defaults by failing to make scheduled payments.
  
• The larger the loan compared to the value of the home, the more risky for the lender and, often, the more expensive the loan will be.
  
• Interest earned by the lender always is equal to the periodic interest rate times the outstanding principle balance of the loan. The periodic interest rate is the annual interest rate divided by the number of payments in the year (usually one per month).
  
• The required payment usually is a bit larger than the interest due so that some of the loan principal is repaid with each payment. This process is called Amortization and is why most mortgage loans can be retired when all the monthly payments have been made.
  

All mortgage loans have one of the following features:

• Fixed payment and fixed interest rate - fixed rate mortgages
  
• Fixed rate but variable payment - graduated payment mortgages
  
• Variable rate and variable payment - adjustable rate mortgages

As you learn more about the types of financing available, you will notice that some loans appear to have more favorable terms. That may indicate that those loans are, indeed, bargains (and it does pay to shop around), but usually it means that those loans could have some feature that is less appealing to borrowers. For example, shorter-term loans often have slightly lower interest rates compared to longer-term loans. However, the monthly payment for the same amount of principal may be higher because of the shorter term. Variable rate loans usually have much lower interest rates to compensate for the risk the borrower accepts that interest rates will rise in the future.

Holding On to the Mortgage You Already Have

Learn What You Can Do To Protect Your Home

• If you feel like you may be in danger of facing foreclosure and need immediate help, call 888-995-HOPE or visit www.995hope.org. Homeowner's HOPE™, a counseling service provided by the Homeownership Preservation Foundation, can work with you to find a solution.
• How to Avoid Foreclosures and Keep Your Home (PDF: 1.7Mb)
  You're not alone if you're having trouble paying your mortgage. The housing boom led to a record homeownership rate of nearly 70 percent, but some home owners now face problems making their mortgage payments and can't refinance their loans. This brochure will help you understand your options and give you tips on how to avoid losing your home--regardless of what kind of mortgage you have. Text-only version available (PDF: 71Kb)
  
• How to avoid foreclosures (HUD)
  
• Foreclosure Assistance Programs by State
  
• Help for Homeowners Facing the Loss of Their Home (HUD)

Credit Counseling is Available

• HUD Housing Counselors: A list of counseling agencies by state
• NeighborWorks® America: Find a NeighborWorks® counseling organization in your community
  Under a partnership with NeighborWorks® America, NAR is a founding sponsor of the NeighborWorks® Center for Homeownership Education and Counseling (NCHEC). NCHEC's mission is to work with industry partners to train, certify, and support home buyer educators and housing counselors nationwide.
  

NAR's Position on Subprime Lending

Above everything else remember you're not alone. This can happen to anyone anywhere. Please don't be too embarassed to seek help.

© Copyright NATIONAL ASSOCIATION of REALTORS® I Headquarters: 430 North Michigan Avenue, Chicago, IL 60611
DC Office: 500 New Jersey Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20001-2020 I 1-800-874-6500

Harrison's A Great Place to Raise Kids!

Since moving to Harrison in 2001 I’ve wondered how our schools compared to others both across the state and the nation. From interacting with my kids teachers and talking with my kids I’ve felt that our schools here are some of the best. So instead of just relying on my gut feeling and relaying that to you I decided to do some research.

In order to first give you an idea of the learning standards that are in place in Arkansas here is an excerpt from arkansased.org:

Arkansas Ranks 8th in Nation on the 2008 Annual Quality Counts Report Published by Education Week

• The U.S. Department of Education in 2007 recognized Arkansas as being at the forefront in implementing rigorous learning standards for students. In a study mapping standards for proficiency on the Arkansas Benchmark Exam to the National Assessment for Educational Progress (NAEP) standards for fourth and eighth grade literacy and mathematics, Arkansas ranked as high as fourth and consistently ranked in the top 10 for all four tests. In a June 2007 Op-Ed piece, U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings wrote: “States that have shown true leadership, such as Arkansas and Massachusetts, can inspire others to act.”

• Arkansas is recognized as a leader in the high school redesign movement, being one of 10 states to receive a $2 million matching grant from the National Governors Association.

• The College Board touts the “Arkansas Model” for the state’s policies regarding Advanced Placement classes. Arkansas requires that all high schools offer AP classes in the four core areas – math, English, science and social studies — by the 2008-2009 school year. The state also pays for AP exams at the end of courses for students. These measures prompted Arkansas to have the largest increase in students taking AP exams in AP history (a 108 percent increase from 2004 to 2005). In 2006, only New Hampshire tied with Arkansas for having the largest increase in students scoring a 3, 4 or 5 on AP exams on the 1-5 scale. Participation rates and the number of students scoring a 3 or higher on AP exams continued to climb in 2007.

• The National Math and Science Initiative awarded Arkansas in August 2007 a $13.2 million, six-year grant to allow schools to implement research-proven training and incentive methods to improve the performance of students in Advanced Placement (AP) and Pre-AP courses so that they are better prepared for college-level work in math, science and engineering. Only seven states received the NMSI grants.

• Arkansas is considered a leader in terms of implementing technology in the education system, being one of the first states to develop individual student identifiers. This process provides a longitudinal tracking system for academic achievement as well as electronic transcripts that follow students through Arkansas public schools into the state’s higher education system. Arkansas was one of 14 states selected to receive a U.S. Department of Education grant ($3.2 million) to further these efforts and was lauded for achieving the majority of the 10 elements the department said were necessary for a quality data system.

Wow! So if I’m reading this correctly the state of Arkansas is a great place to have children enrolled in school right now. So how about some numbers comparing Harrison to the state of Arkansas?



Now that's even more encouraging to me. Hopefully it is to you too. I've pulled these numbers from NORMES Arkansas School Performance Reports which are available to view on the web at http://normessasweb.uark.edu

Here's some more numbers that I've pulled from NORMES: In Harrison there was a lower number of students assaulted: 0.6% compared to the state of Arkansas: 2.8%. Consider some more numbers: Harrison spends $7,270 per child to educate them while the state spends $7,992 all while Harrisons' teachers are paid on average $46,325 vs an average of $44,493 state-wide.

So my kids are safer, our schools spend their money more effectively, and our teachers are better paid. I do believe our teachers and administrators deserve a huge round of applause and our sincere thank-you.

Sales Numbers in Harrison for April 2008

April in the Ozarks has come and gone and the weather almost feels more like March - windy and cold in the morning but great in the afternoon! As promised I'm posting the sales numbers. Here are the latest numbers:


Anyway you look at it the numbers are very interesting. I am an optimist and like to look at the best side of the numbers. Although total sales are down both in numbers and dollars the total number of listings is down as well. But even an optimist has to be reasonable because the total dollar amount of listings is up.

So what now? The thing to keep in mind is that people always need homes. People will move in and out of Harrison with jobs, etc. We've seen a pull back in sales from last year and are likely to see this for a little while longer. But life will go on.

I'm hoping people will start reading this and enjoying the information that we're putting out there. Make sure to put your two-cents worth in and let us know what you would like to see.