In January we celebrated our 8th anniversay. In those 8 years, the Charles Rutenberg Realty office in Clearwater, Florida alone, has grown to be the 30th largest real estate company in the United States according to the National Association of Realtors. Below is a video of the arrival of John Nestor, the founder of Charles Rutenberg Realty, at his surprise 8th anniversary party held January 19th in Tampa, Florida. We now have offices in the Chicago area; Clearwater, Ft. Lauderdale and Orlando in Florida; Long Island and Manhattan in New York; and the Atlanta, Georgia metro area.

This morning I was at an economic forecast presentation sponsored by the Naperville Chamber of Commerce. The consensus of the speakers, all of whom were very qualified to speak on economic issues, was that, while we are in a recession, it is a mild recession and that the economy has strong fundamentals that will allow us to recover from this mild recession in short order.

Now, what about housing? That, it appears, is a little more difficult, but it was acknowledged that it is now a very good time to buy. Supply is up, prices are down and interest rates are very favorable. The only hurdle is that loan qualification standards are much more rigid than in the recent past.  All in all, if you have a need for a home now is the time to act because the housing market and economy will be trending back up in the coming months.