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Personally I find it sad that perhaps the holiday that should be celebrated right along the 4th of July is delegated to having almost no role. Could there be a correlation between our lack of reverance for the Constitution and our present state today? I think it important we look at the most important part of the Constitution, The Preamble. We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence,... Read Full Post

I recently came across this on The Register. It seems Google is intending to build a navy. No, it does not appear Google is going into defense contracting it seems they are attempting to build a floating navy of datacenters. They recently filed for a patent to build these new datacenters. They are also planning to power the datacenters using wave energy. Free renewalable energy seems to have caught Google's interest. Google also claims the datacenters will be extremely useful in times of natu... Read Full Post

Interest rates are one of the most important factors in the housing market. That is why you often see a big deal on the news when the Federal Reserve or Fed cuts interest rates. As mystical as everyone makes it, the Fed cutting rates is rather simple. The rate the Fed cuts is the federal funds rate. It is essentially more complicated, but basically the Fed acts on the market to force this rate to lower. The federal funds rate is the rate banks can charge each other on overnight loans. Banks a... Read Full Post

As one will always tries to stay on top of my local Outer Banks Real Estate market, it is important to pay attention to what is happening nationally. This week a majoy announcement was made on the national scale. It is the bailout of government sponsored entities Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The bailout of both these institutions had been rumored for some time. The continued decline of US housing prices and the increase in foreclosures made this a more imminent problem. The big questions now a... Read Full Post

This summer we saw the beginning effects of rising energy prices throughout the US. Here on the Outer Banks it was no exception. In early summer as gas prices began to climb to the $4 a gallon and above offshore drilling began to make the news. Much postering was made back and forth by canidates for and against offshore drilling. It seems the effect of tourism dollars often are not factored into the expense of offshore drililng. A minor oil spill could cost the Outer Banks hundreds of million... Read Full Post

As someone who follows the local Outer Banks real estate market, I have noticed a steady decline in the value of homes. With the price of real estate falling to the same prices seen in 2004 and a meteoric rise in crude oil many are beginning to worry about the state of the US economy. Many home owners are seeing the value of their homes tumble in certain markets. Besides the loss in their home value, many Americans are forced to deal with fuel costs taking a larger portion of their budget. Th... Read Full Post

Before I moved to the Outer Banks, I like most people would constantly get caught up in running from one thing to the next. When you live that way It is amazing how much can pass you by. You never realize how unimportant many things are. So many of the things we think are of utmost importance are merely distractions. Since I moved to the Outer Banks I try to remind myself of the importance of everyday. Now when I wake up every morning, as my dogs and I are getting ready for our morning walk I... Read Full Post

Working in vacation rental management I take notice that many more companies are now embracing increased use of the Internet. This is a great thing. Every year a larger percent of the population is using the internet to book their vacation. This trend is not going to slow or stop. It will continue to rise. This forces many vacation property managers into uncomfortable waters. The Internet is now becoming the most important way you can advertise your vacation rental company. Unfortunately, for... Read Full Post

Every year the media reports that direness of the Outer Banks vacation season. The articles always convey the same general message, this year vacationers are going to wait until the last minute to reserve their Outer Banks homes and find the best possible deals. This invariably leads to many people waiting until the last minute and then finding there is not nearly the choice of homes they thought would be available. This year is no different. Each year the headlines are different explaining w... Read Full Post

I came across a great article this morning. It was by Robert Murphy an economist with the Instiitute for Energy Research. After reading his article I had to find this quote he used from CNBC. Here is the quote from CNBC, "Energy fell 0.2 pct, the largest drop since December, while food was unchanged in the month. Within the energy sector, gasoline fell 4.6 pct, the largest drop since December." I don't know about anyone else but I have not seen the price of gas in the Outer Banks drop. Everyt... Read Full Post