First, the Seattle Mariners are really struggling lately. They just lost another game today, 2 - 3 against the Rangers. Felix gave a great performance. We lost the game in the last innings, when Brandow Morrow couldn’t hold back the Rangers. After a brilliant start to the season that was filling fans with hope, the team is now losing games. Wakamatsu needs to find the formula for winning again. On a lighter note you can go to the official web site and watch commercials for the team and vote for your favorite.
We are staying free of the H1N1 flu in Mason County, but warned to “stay vigilant. ” Lots more hand washing going on in our office. When you have visitors coming and going, it is good to remember the simple basics of good hygiene.
The news last night on local TV was about finding treasure in Puget Sound. This news caught my attention because living in Mason County means living near miles and miles of salt waterfront, and up toward Hoodsport is Mike’s Diving School. When driving up in that area you will often see people coming or going in their wet suits. Puget Sound and Hood Canal are very popular with divers. I found an article on the “Treasure” on the KOMO web site.
Has anyone else noticed that people are beginning to express more confidence in the economy lately? I hope this trend continues. Those of us in real estate know that people need to feel confident if they are going to make one of the biggest decisions in their lives, and buy a home. No one is expecting a quick fix of the economy, but it is good to know that at least there is this growing sense that we are on the right track.
I listened to the president talk about getting some regulations in place on credit card companies. I bet he is going to get fierce resistance. Credit card companies have us over the barrel. You have to have a credit card if you are going to establish good credit, and if you want to stay in a hotel, reserve a flight, rent a car, buy anything over the Internet, or do any number of things. Somehow we’ve reached that place where we simply have to have at least one card to function in society. Then the companies can do whatever they want in regard to that card so they can start raking in the money — piles and piles of it– straight out of our pockets with fees and higher interest rates. The companies are also fouling up credit scores by lowering credit limits. This is very frustrating to those trying to get a loan. I have no confidence that these companies will give up this easy money easily.
Does anyone else think it is weird that we have to consider the profits of Insurance companies, and make sure they still get to keep making those profits, when we seek to reform health care? I don’t know about you but I pay hundreds of dollars a month just to have a catastrophic health care policy. You know, the kind where you have this huge deductible, large co-pays, and no prescription drug coverage. Almost makes me want to get seriously ill just so I can get some of the thousands and thousands of dollars I have given to the Insurance company back again. I don’t like the idea of this Investor Class that gets in between me and my doctor all the time either. I have to go to the doctors on their list, and also I have to get their permission if I need to see a specialist for anything. Once they get “their” money, they don’t like paying out for actual medical care. I can hardly wait until I’m old enough for Medicare. And then there’s that ad against health care reform that warns us that we don’t want to have government bureaucrats in between us and our doctors. What nonsense. Those on Medicare (a government program) have a better choice of doctors than I do, and my Insurance bureaucrats get in between me and my medical all the time. The other thing I never liked was getting my health care through my employer. That meant I was tied to my employer like the serfs of old were tied to their landlords. If you wanted to leave, you would lose your health care, and maybe not get it at the next place. Phooey on that!
From listening to Republicans and Democrats lately, I am getting this picture of what sides they are on:
- Republicans = the individual and his money (especially big corporate money)
- Democrats = the common good; we are in this together
In the real estate world there is not much news in our area. We still have too many foreclosures in the area, and a concern that banks are holding some back that are going to come flooding out at us at any moment. The ratio of active to pending listings was 10-1 for the month of April. Still not very good. Back in April of 2006 agents sold 103 homes in Mason County; this year agents sold only 48 homes. Sales are down 19% in Mason County. It is worse in some other areas. For example, I wouldn’t want to be a real estate agent in San Juan county lately. The decrease in sales there was 56%. You can see a complete Market Report on our Broker’s web site. He does a report every month, and it is very helpful.
Tags: credit card, economy, health care, mariners, Mason County
