p13, v7.32 — Business News & Trends

Business News & Trends

Mountain Views News Saturday, August 10, 2013

MVNews this week: Page 13

BUSINESS NEWS & TRENDS

Mountain Views News Saturday, August 10, 2013

ARCADIA (August 6) –
Investors have played a key
role in the California housing
market recovery for the past
four years. Low mortgage rates,
attractive home prices, and low
yields on alternative assets have
fueled demand for investment
properties, particularly
where distressed homes have
dominated sales.

According to the Arcadia
Association of REALTORS® , In
keeping with common wisdom
that today’s real estate market is
ideal for a long-term investment
strategy, two-thirds (64 percent)
of investors who worked with
a REALTOR® indicated they
are going to keep the property
for more than a year, while
about one-third (36 percent)
of investors intend to flip the
property within a year. This
is based on information from
the California Association of
REALTORS® “2013 Investor
Survey.”

Additionally, three-
fourths of investors are of the
small mom-and-pop type,
owning 1-10 other investment
properties, with 15 percent
owning just one property, 46
percent owning 2-5 properties,
and 14 percent owning 6-10
properties, the investor survey
found.

Of the properties purchased
by investors, single-family
homes were the preferred
property type, with 78 percent
of transactions involving single-
family homes. Multifamily
properties comprised 14
percent, 7 percent were other
property types, and bulk sales
made up only 1 percent.

The median sales price of
an investment property was
$272,500. More than eight out of
every 10 investors made repairs
to their investment properties,
spending a median of $10,000
– or 4 percent of the median
sales price. Investors spent a
greater percentage (4.2 percent)
of the sales price rehabilitating
properties costing $250,000 or
less than they did on properties
costing $500,000 or more (3.4
percent).

Among the reasons
investors bought or sold
now include profit potential
(34 percent), good price (26
percent), low interest rates
(10 percent), personal reasons
(6 percent), and location (4
percent).

Additional findings from
C.A.R.’s “2013 Investor Survey”
include:

· More than two-thirds (67
percent) of investor buyers paid
cash.

· Twenty-seven percent of
investors were foreign investors,
with China, India, and Mexico
being the top countries of
origin.

· The majority of investors
(59 percent) found their
property on the MLS.

· Three-fourths of buyers
intend to keep the property for
less than six years.

· More than two-thirds of
the properties are managed
by the owners, rather than
professionally managed.

· The median rate of return
on investment was 14 percent.

C.A.R.’s “2013 California
Investor Survey” was conducted
in April 2013 in an effort to
learn more about the role of
investors in the California
housing market. The survey
was emailed to a random sample
of REALTORS® throughout
California who had worked with
investors within the 12 months
prior to April 2013.

For the full survey report, visit
www.car.org/MarketData.

Representing local Realtors®
in the San Gabriel Valley
for 89 years, the ARCADIA
ASSOCIATION OF
REALTORS® (www.TheAAR.
com) is one of the oldest trade
organizations in CA. The AAR
is dedicated to the advancement
of professionalism in real estate
and is an advocate for private
property rights. A.A.R. is
headquartered in Arcadia.

HOUSING INVESTORS FUEL THE MARKET RECOVERY,
FAVORING BUY AND HOLD OVER FLIPPING, A.A.R. FINDS

DON’T CHASE THE
MARKET

Buyer's market or seller's market - the simple fact is that your home is worth only what a buyer will
pay for it. The simple law of supply and demand usually determines the final sale price. If there are
fewer homes for sale in your area, then buyers must compete for those listings, making it a seller's
market.

However, when there is a glut of homes for sale, buyers have more choice and more power to dictate
price and terms, creating a buyer's market. Many communities are seeing large inventories of homes
for sale, due to economic conditions and defaults.

So if your home is to get attention in those conditions, you've got to price aggressively against your
competition. Do not overprice your home, because you may end up making even less money than
if you had priced properly from the start. Why? Because sellers who overprice have to keep chasing
the market down by reducing their price.

While setting a price is ultimately your decision and your decision alone, do some research and
educate yourself first. Order an appraisal and consult with a real estate professional to get a realistic
figure for your home's value. If you choose not to comply with current market value, then you won't
be a seller, you'll just be an owner with a For Sale sign in the yard.

BUSINESS TODAY

The latest on Business News, Trends and Techniques

By La Quetta M. Shamblee, MBA

THE AFFORDABLE CARE ACT & SMALL BUSINESS

Starting in 2014, businesses in California with 1 to 50 employees will have access to affordable
health care insurance for their employees through the state’s health exchange known as “Covered
California.” No small business of this size is required to participate, nor are the owners required to
provide insurance or contribute toward premiums for their employees. Businesses with fewer than
25 employees may qualify for a special tax credit that can be used to offset up to 50% of the cost of
employer-paid premiums for employee health insurance benefits.

Known as SHOP (Small Business Health Options Program), the program provides access to a variety
of health insurance plans designed to fit the needs and budget of employers and their employees.
Employers have a choice four categories of health plans that have been classified as bronze, silver,
gold and platinum. These categories make is easy to compare different plans. The percent of medical
expenses that a health plan will cover increases in tandem with the increased value in its associated
metal value. The lower the metal value, the lower the monthly premiums.

Basically, the bronze plan will have the lowest monthly premium, but it will also require a higher
out-of-pocket expense for health services than a plan with a higher metal value. In contrast, the gold
and platinum levels will cover the highest percentage of expenses for health services. Covered CA
allows the employer to select the metal category that fits within their budget, which is based on a
fixed amount or as a percent of total cost to their employees. Employees will get to select one of the
participating insurance companies of their choice.

If an employer chooses not to participate, their employees will still be able to access the same
coverage options by enrolling with Covered California to purchase health insurance as individuals.
Sole proprietors that have at least one other employee paid under a W-2 also qualify for SHOP,
however sole proprietors with no employees will be enroll as an individual to purchase insurance
through Covered California.

For more information, visit the official consumer website at www. Covered CA.com

NOTE: CoveredCalifornia.com is NOT affiliated with the insurance exchange set up by the State
of California.

WHY ISN’T MY FACEBOOK PAGE
SHOWING UP IN GOOGLE?

One of the benefits of having a Facebook page for your business is that it will
show up in search engines. Sometimes these pages don’t show up and that can be very frustrating. It
might take some time for Google to index your Facebook page but there might be some other reasons
your page isn’t showing up in the list:

Country and age restrictions

A common reason why a page will not show up in a search is because there is a restriction on age or
country in the page settings. Make sure to select “Anyone(13+)” in the age restriction area and don’t
set any country restrictions. NOTE: there may be cases where you need to set the age and country
restrictions based on the type of product or service you sell (i.e. alcohol) but know that this restriction
will not allow your Facebook page to be indexable in the search engines.

There are no links to your page

It is important to promote your Facebook page and link to it from other areas of the web. Add links
on your web site or blog, comment on other blogs with your Facebook link. These back links will let
Google know your page exists.

Facebook Username

Creating a unique Facebook page username can help too. To set up your username, go to www.
facebook.com/username. Sometimes these usernames will show in a search result instead of the actual
page name. NOTE: depending on the type of page you have, you may not be able to create a username
until 25 people have “Liked” your page.

Key Words

Make sure the “About” section of your Facebook is filled with lots of good keywords that are relevant
to your business. Think of words or phrases people would use to search for your product or service.
If you don’t have any content in this
area, the search engines have nothing
to find.

Your page is neglected

Search engines like activity. If you are
only posting to your page every once
in a blue moon, you will find that your
page will not show up in search. Keep
feeding your page with good content
and soon other people will engage with
it. Pages with a lot of action get noticed
in Google search.

Facebook pages can serve as a
secondary, interactive web site for a
lot of businesses. They help others to
find your products and services more
easily. You don’t have to be a member
of Facebook to see the content on
these pages. An active page filled with
keyword-rich content might even show
up before a business’s web site.

If you’d like to learn more about using
Facebook for business, join HUTdogs
for a hands-on Facebook BootCamp
on September 7, 2013 (see schedule
at: www.hutdogs.com/workshops/
schedule )

About MJ: MJ and her brother David
own HUTdogs, a creative services
business that specializes in Internet
Marketing strategies. They are known
for providing valuable information at
their Social Media and Email Marketing
classes. “Like” them on Facebook for
trending news in social media, internet
marketing and other helpful tips, www.
facebook.com/hutdogs.