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Show Real esvave marfrev is opvimisvic A gradual feeling of optimism is jpiig through Ashley Valley Real ".e .Agencies. Most agents say the i"set is still slow, but is gradually -proviEg. factors contribute to an improv-Pfal improv-Pfal estate market. Kay Labrum, of 'Tza Realty World says the last 10 -:iss have been the slowest time dur--5 '-ae past eight years she has been seated with real estate in the .Ashley Eveo so, said Mrs. Labrum, World has continued to move sand commercial development as Recently things have been very ' interest rates down she ex-things ex-things to pick up even further. istfTest rates are nw at 12 per sad FHA will currently finance a jf for as little down as 3 percent . conceivable now for a person to be "a new home for as little down r'4 including closing costs. & B the time of creative financing," un? Peterson, of Hacking Realty, le have come to realize many about loans and interest. For it;; turned the 30 year loan - only way to g0 Recent v have come to realize that by increasing the amount of their monthly payment by as little as $50 to $100 they can cut the term of the loan in half. Currently a 15 year FHA loan will be extended at 11 percent per-cent rather than 12 percent as on a 30 year loan. Over the course of the contract a home owner is capable of saving as much as $100,000 on a $65,000 house. With the depressed economy building materials went down over the past several months, but as the economy is now beginning to pick up building costs are also increasing. Since January lumber prices have increased 25 percent to 37 percent. This increases the cost of building a home between $300 and $500. This may be a sign of things to come. When lumber hit its lowest point there were many mills which went out of business. As demand increases for lumber related products, prices will naturally go even higher, especially with fewer sources now available. There are several subdivisions now in progress in the Ashley Valley. Many real estate agencies are offering solar heating systems in the homes now being built. Many buyers look at solar heating as an alternative to paying escalating utility costs. Even though the Ashley Valley is cold and receives a large amount of snow every year it has been shown that solar heating systems are still 80 percent to 85 percent efficient. Solar houses cost about 20 percent more than non-solar houses to build, but even with the necessity of a back up system solar heating and water heating is capable of a savings of thousands of dollars a year in utility bills. With solar, utility bills will never again increase in proportion to a home using conventional heating systems. In the past 10 years natural gas has increased Li r - v "i . ' . ( ' ' ft -rr- ( ;, - ' ' . - r r ( i--.' ;" J. " 1 1 - .mr . V V r . : '' I ' ,' A ! I WHERE THhRE is running water, there will be a group of kids especially on a sunny afternoon. U.S. Geological Survey personel predicts there will be plenty of water this spring as streams and reservoirs are full. 900 percent. There are also tax incentives for using solar heating systems. Through 19S5. between bet-ween federal and state allowances, a person per-son may deduct as much as S5.000 from his income tax by installing a solar system. This allowance is based on the difference between what a regular system would have cost and what the solar system did indeed cost. Right now single dwelling houses in the $60,000 to $70,000 range are selling best. Condominiums have been overbuilt. Currently Cur-rently there are condominium units which have been available for months and not selling. This is a similar situation situa-tion to what has happened to apartments. During the boom of recent years apartments apart-ments and condominiums were being built in an attempt to keep up with demand. de-mand. When the boom ended developers were still building, and got stuck with units already under construction. |