Virginia Beach Real Estate

This Friday I want to share with you childrens writing about the ocean..

1) - This is a picture of an octopus. It has eight testicles.  (Kelly, age 6)  

2) - Oysters balls are called pearls.  (Jerry, age 6)  

3) - If you are surrounded by ocean you are an Island . If you dont have ocean all round you, you are incontinent. (Wayne, age 7)  

4) - Sharks are ugly and mean, and have big teeth, just like Emily Richardson. Shes not my friend any more. (Kylie, age 6)  

5) - A dolphin breaths through an asshole on the top of its head. (Billy, age 8)  

6) - My uncle goes out in his boat with 2 other men and a woman and pots and comes back with crabs.  (Millie, age 6)  

7) - When ships had sails, they used to use the trade winds to cross the ocean. Sometimes when the wind didnt blow, the sailors would whistle to make the wind come. My brother said they would have been better off eating beans.  (William, age 7)  

8) - Mermaids live in the ocean. I like mermaids. They are beautiful and I like their shiny tails, but how on earth do mermaids get pregnant? Like, really? (Helen, age 6)  

9) - Im not going to write about the ocean. My baby brother is always crying, my Dad keeps yelling at my Mom, and my big sister has just got pregnant, so I cant think what to write. (Amy, age 6)  

10) - Some fish are dangerous. Jellyfish can sting. Electric eels can give you a shock. They have to live in caves under the sea where I think they have to plug themselves into chargers. (Christopher, age 7)  

11) - When you go swimming in the ocean, it is very cold, and it makes my willy small. (Kevin, age 6)  

12) - Divers have to be safe when they go under the water. Divers cant go down alone, so they have to go down on each other. (Becky, age 8)  

13) - On vacation my Mom went water skiing. She fell off when she was going too fast. She says she wont do it again because water fired right up her big fat ass. (Julie, age 7)  

14) - The ocean is made up of water and fish. Why the fish dont drown I dont know. (Bobby, age 6)  

15) - My dad was a sailor on the ocean. He knows all about the ocean. What he doesnt know is why he quit being a sailor and married my mom. (James, age 7)

What do you think of when you hear the word ocean? Maybe how much you would like to own a home close to the ocean? Search all Virginia Beach homes for sale.

Freddie Mac today released the results of its Primary Mortgage Market Survey®in which Virginia Beach interest rates remained steady. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 6.05 percent for the week ending May 8, 2008, down very slightly from last week when it averaged 6.06 percent. Last year at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 6.21 percent.

“Despite a weak housing market, mortgage rates remained almost unchanged this week based on better-than-expected economic data releases that indicated the economy still has some staying power,” said Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac vice president and chief economist. “Job losses lessened in April and conditions in both the manufacturing and service industry outperformed market forecasts. Worker productivity also rose in the first quarter as increases in labor costs diminished.

“The housing market is still struggling amid falling house prices and stricter lending standards. Coupled with higher delinquency and foreclosure rates, a smaller share of families own their homes this year. The national homeownership rate held at 67.8 percent in the first quarter of 2008, down from its recent peak of 69.0 percent in the third quarter of 2006 and was the lowest rate since 67.6 percent in the second quarter of 2002, according to the Census Bureau.”

Experts predict the Feds cut in interest rates last week is the last cut we will see for awhile due to a fear of inflation. With Virginia Beach interest rates holding steady and no additonal cut anticipated, this is a great time to buy a home in Virginia Beach. Interest rates are near historical lows, prices are flat and sellers are negotiable. Search Virginia Beach homes for sale or get New Listing Alerts and recieve email notification of new homes for sale as they hit the market.

We know that the Baby Boomers account for a large part of the Virginia Beach home owning population.  But did you know that they may be the latest trend-setters in Virginia Beach real estate also? 

Sounds unlikely, but it is very true!  As this article in the Wall Street Journal explains, designers and architects are catering more and more toward this fast-growing segment of the population. New innovations include: 

•    ¢ Stoves that monitor pots to prevent boiling over
•    ¢ Adjustable appliance control panels
•    ¢ Use of levers instead of knobs
•    ¢ Dishwasher drawers  

Redesigning products for aging consumers seems to make good business sense. There are 78 million U.S. baby boomers, and roughly one-third will be 62 years old or older by 2013, says AARP. 

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You have probably seen ads for Virginia Beach real estate that read, 'Value is in the land¦a structure sits on the land but is beyond repair, giving the structure no value. No more! In todays 'green conscious society, not only is there a moral obligation not to destroy and discard, but to recycle and reuse.

The eco-friendly 'unbuild has now become an option to the traditional 'tear-down of Virginia Beach real estate, according to a Wall Street Journal article. A house can be carefully disassembled, piece by piece, and the parts used for a new house and/or donated for reuse elsewhere. Whatever is donated can be deducted from income tax.

'Unbuilding a Virginia Beach home may be the right thing to do for many reasons, but saving time and money is not top of the list. It will take longer to 'unbuild, but at least a couple of weeks and may end up being more expensive in the long run, even after any tax deductions. But, other benefits are the reuse of materials such as beautiful aged brick from fireplaces, stone foundations, custom woodwork, decorative tile or antique fixtures and working appliances.

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The expected happened last week: the Federal Reserve cut the federal funds rate by 25 basis points to 2%. Immediately afterwards, many commentators started wondering aloud if this was the end of a series of rate cuts that began last August. The growing consensus is that it could be. Markets are already betting that further cuts in the fed funds rate are unlikely, and more economists are warning of the unintended consequences of taking the rate down too far and keeping it there for too long.

The chief unintended consequence is inflation, which continues to push higher. Consumer price inflation is running at an annual rate of 2.6%, while the core inflation rate, which excludes food and energy prices, is running at 2.2%. With oil prices rising to unprecedented levels and food prices surging, its only a matter of time before inflation challenges economic growth for top spot on the Feds priority list.

On the day the Fed cut the fed funds rate, first quarter numbers for U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) were released. Contrary to widespread expectations for contraction, GDP actually grew during the quarter, albeit at a snail-like annual rate of 0.6%. Lest we get too excited, it should be noted that growth was almost entirely due to a build-up in inventories, which added 0.8 percentage points to the growth rate. Since such a build-up occurs when producers overestimate sales, the normal course of action is to cut production, which could mean slower growth in coming months.

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