Since you and I aren’t going to get bailout money from Washington, let’s make sure that Washington helps the Myrtle Beach real estate market recover.  Tell Washington to direct more of the bailout funds toward alleviating challenges in real estate and everyone affected by it.

The National Association of Realtors issued its Four Point Plan today, which would:

1. Make the $7500 first-time homebuyer tax credit available to all buyers, and eliminate the repayment requirement. The credit’s limited availability and repayment requirement severely limit the credit’s use and effectiveness.

2. Make the 2008 FHA, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loan limits permanent. New rules set to take effect in 2009 will reduce them. Now is not the time to limit mortgage affordability.

3. Get the Treasury relief program back on track and target more funds to mortgage relief. Create a federal mortgage interest buy-down program to make below-market rates available and stabilize home prices.

4. Permanently bar banks from engaging in real estate brokerage and management. The banks have proven they have enough to do to simply manage the loan process. Banks should not manage home sales and purchases.

If you agree, make your voice heard!

If you’re looking for the “deal of the year” in Myrtle Beach real estate, today is your lucky day.

Here’s the bottom line:  3 bedroom home in Carolina Forest, move-in ready, with access to all of the amenities in Bellegrove, priced at just $149,900.

Did that grab your attention?  Good. All of the details and pictures are at www.BellegroveHome.com

We’ve been telling you for months to stop listening to the media talking heads convincing the public of the evils of real estate.  Today we have three new reasons why the talking heads are wrong and Myrtle Beach real estate is still king.

1. The numbers are up. Tom Maeser, real estate market analyst for the Coastal Carolinas Association of Realtors, said that prices for single family homes were up 11% in September over the same period a year ago. Over the summer we reported that prices were stabilizing, and now the numbers show that the tide has turned.

2. Learn from history.  During the late 1970’s and early 1980’s, if you were lucky enough to purchase a home, you paid as much as 22% interest in a financial environment of 13% inflation. Savings & Loans (mortgage lending banks of that era) were failing all over the country and were taken over by the government (remember the Resolution Trust Corporation?).  Foreclosures were rampant and put today’s mole hill into perspective.

3. Who do you trust?  If you are considering jumping into real estate (or jumping back into real estate), whose advice should you follow: (a) the ratings-driven nattering nabobs of the media, or (b) two of the most successful real estate “people” in modern history?  Warren Buffett and Donald Trump have been buying for almost a year. Builders and MLS report decreasing inventory. Now we have prices moving in the right direction. A year from now, nobody will care what the media said, but you can be sure that Warren and Donald will have been in the right place, at the right time, again.

And we told you so.

They’ve done it again.  Actualy, they do it every few days.  If you regularly fly to Myrtle Beach (or want to) for real estate reasons or just for fun, you really should check out Spirit Air’s sales as well as DirectAir’s sales.

The Dow opened under 8,000 this morning.  The last two weeks is what’s known as Time Travel for Investors… trouble is, your time machine is going in the wrong direction!

So what are we supposed to do when five years of our retirement savings disappear almost overnight?

The “gurus” tell us to keep saving money away, but since October 12, 2007 the Dow went from 14,093 to under 8,000 today - which means that the gurus have lost close to 40% of your money! “Keep working hard…this will all blow over!” they repeat over and over.  Meanwhile, banks are dropping like flies! We only hear about the big guys - WaMu, IndyMac, Wachovia… but the number of bank failures in 2008 stands at 30 and we’re not done yet.  How much more stress can our banking system handle?

Do you believe anyone who tells you not to worry, since you’ll have Social Security and Medicare?

So what SHOULD you do?

Here’s some free advice.  Don’t stick your head in the sand…take action!  A good, solid plan using in-demand Myrtle Beach real estate to build cash flow and long term appreciation is more useful today than ever before.  Do YOU have a plan?

Our Carolina Income For Life members do.