Travis A Martinez, Real Estate Consultant

You are not alone.  Rest assured that many people are in your shoes.  Does that make you feel better?  I did not think so. So what are you going to do about it?  Homes are not selling, property is staying on the market for longer and longer.  I anticipate that this will start to turn around next year.  But that ...

I recently completed all of the pre-licensing requirements to obtain my property management license.  Why would a real estate salesperson want to spend the time, effort, and money to property manage?  Well, quite simply, I owe it to my clients.  Many people have had their homes on the market for sometime now.  Many are stuck ...

The short answer is NO! In today's issue of the Ravalli Republic there is an ad by the local Windermere real estate company that states "Windermere is the only western Montana Real Estate company associated with www.trulia.com" This concerned me.  Through Point 2 Agent (a great web hosting site for ...

As many of you may be aware, the President signed the Housing Stimulus Package last week.  What does this mean for you? Well if you are a first time homebuyer this could mean that you get a $7,500 tax credit.  If you are a FHA buyer this increases your loan limits.  If you are in Foreclosure this new law could provide for some ...

The prevailing interest rate is often referred to as the "cost of money."  Or more simply put the amount that you have to pay to use someone else's money.  Typically long tern money (30 year mortgages) is more expensive then short term (10 or 15 year mortgages) money.  Another way of looking at this is as an ...

This weekend was not only beautiful it was a furry of activity.  There was the Spring Fair at the Fairgrounds, lots of yard work to do, and yeas even people looking at property.  Not only did I show property to some buyers that I have been working with, but I also got some activity on my listings.  By activity I not only mean ...

In an effort to give my clients the best marketing service for their home I have stumbled upon the newest thing in home marketing.  VIDEO TOURS.  Rather than a panoramic still photo that we use as a virtual tour (View an Example Here), this is like using a camcorder to do a walk through of the house.  This gives more of a first ...

I was a little appalled this morning when watching the Today show that they had a gentleman that said "Don't you dare buy now!"  He was a TV personality that you often see on shows like CNBC's Mad Money,  he was also the co-founder of TheStreet.com, Jim Cramer.  He obviously has a background in investing in Wall ...

Everything in the lending market changes quite frequently.  That is why I am in the selling side of real estate.  My take on the situation based on different conversations with mortgage brokers and investment planners is this: Some companies made some poor decisions in lending to people that did not have good credit.  Because of ...

As many of you heard yesterday as I did the stock market took a turn for the worse.  This appears to be due to the foreclosure rate going up as much as 25% (based on what source you look at) mainly from sub prime lending.  What is sub prime lending?  Well, it is when some one has less than good credit (usually a score of less ...