Hi! Well we made it through the Thanksgiving Holiday and the shopping madness that followed on the following Friday. The peak Hunting Season for Deer was last week, although we all probably know of friends that have hunted deer out of season with their vehicles this year.

As we approach the Holiday Season and the New Years celebrations I look back over the events of the past year, and along with many others look very forward to a brand new year. Compared with those who grew up before the internet age and the resulting instant worldwide news coverage, the average American is constantly informed about global events, housing , credit markets, and the stock markets. Unfortunately, the Media sells more papers and attracts more viewers when the news is bad than when the news is good. Sometimes I wonder which direction our economy would head if everyone would not read or listen to the news for one month? Of course this won't and shouldn't happen, it is our nature now to be on top of every news worthy story, especially when it concerns our money and savings. Saying that, it is each of our responsibilities to read or listen to the news and find the objective points and if possible get rid of the negative slant and replace it with a positive one. Ask yourself how the story pertains to you and your life, because I still feel that the major reason the economy is still dragging, and we continue to hear of major issues affecting the economy (snowballing events) is because of our lack of confidence, Americans need to be assured that everything will be fine, we need to have certainty for what tomorrow will look like. Look what happened with the $4.00 plus gas prices, Americans reached the point that the price of gas increased to far- so we all started to be aware of travel instead of just getting in our cars and going, the result of course was Billions of miles less traveled and the dramatic reduction of gas prices. We can fix this economy-we just have to rid ourselves of the negativity and be confident that we will recover. The Wall Street Journal article dated 2 December 2008 by James Hagerty states "Over the past few years, Americans have had a brutal lesson in the risks of real estate. House prices have crashed more than 35% in some parts of the country, millions of people are losing their homes of foreclosure, and banks are failing. The takeaway? Many Americans still see real estate as their best shot at wealth. In survey after survey, people expect prices to bounce back--in some cases, as soon as six months from now." Here in Maryland it was announced that foreclosures had a 16% reduction last month, while others had increased.

Last week news leaked out that the Treasury was working on a plan to offer a loan rate of 4.5% to certain segments of the housing markets for the purchase of limited type mortgages. So what happened, all of the potential buyers that were on the fence for the past few months, and were anxious to purchase something, heard this possibility of a lower rate -decided to wait a little longer. Now I won't pretend to know what tomorrows interest will be, but what I do know is that the offered interest rate as of today is 5%!!! What are we waiting for, these rates won't be around forever. I remember paying a mortgage rate of 18% in the early 80's, and I also remember my Dad paying 5% rate in 1955! How much better does it have to get? Even so, there will be those who wait, despite the possible restrictions the treasury might place on the loans, and who knows that might turn out to be a great move-why take the chance for a 1/2 percentage point?

I predict that years down the road our conversations with our families and friends will brag of going through the really tough times when markets struggled, gas prices soared, property values fell, and how we had to watch how we spent the little money we had. Not too much different from the conversations of our parents that suffered the times of the Great Depression. We won't get as bad as the 1930's, Americans are much too instant now, we move on to the next moment at once for that immediate gratification.

We live in a great country with great people-enjoy! and have a HAPPY HOLIDAY!