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      | February 2006 | A Publication of ELLIOTT® 
      & Company Appraisers    |  
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      | ELLIOTT® TO HOST "THE 
		CHANGING WORLD OF APPRAISING" |  
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			 For 
			the 11th consecutive year, ELLIOTT® & Company Appraisers will 
			continue to host a continuing education seminar. The next seminar, 
			which we have entitled, "The Changing World of Appraising," will run 
			March 2-3 (Thursday and Friday) at the conference facility of 
			Greensboro Regional Realtors Association at 23 Oak Branch Drive in 
			Greensboro, NC. 
 Joe Durrer, MAI, SRA, of Roanoke, VA, will conduct the seminar, 
			which is good for 14 hours of continuing education credit in North 
			Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia. Mr. Durrer has served as 
			chairman of the Virginia Real Estate Board and president of the 
			Virginia Association of Real Estate Appraisers during his 
			illustrious five-decade career and is widely respected as an author 
			and instructor in his profession. His entertaining, as well as 
			professional, style of teaching has made him popular with appraisers 
			in our past seminars.
 
 The first day will be devoted to the national USPAP Update. On the 
			second day, Mr. Durrer's courses will be "Your State Appraisal Board 
			Speaks to You" and "Trending of Data Due to Demographics and/or 
			Market Changes."
 
 The seminar will be good for 14 hours of continuing education credit 
			in North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia.
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      	U.S. HOMEOWNERSHIP RATE APPROACHING 70% |  
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      	 Soon, 
		if not already, 70% of the households in the United States will own the 
		homes they live in. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the 
		homeownership rate was 69.1% in 2004, the latest year with statistics 
		available. In 1950, the homeownership rate was 55%. 
 In the Midwest and the South, more than 70% of the households already 
		own their homes. In the Midwest, 73.8% of the people live in homes they 
		or their family breadwinners own, while in the South, that figure is 
		71%.
 
 Both the West and Northeast have a homeownership rate of just above 64%, 
		according to the Census Bureau. Rapidly rising home prices, which are 
		increasing faster than income levels in theses regions are to blame for 
		the lower homeownership rates in these regions. This is particularly a 
		problem in California, where the homeownership rate is 54.3% and New 
		York where barely more than half of the households own their homes.
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				1 MILLION U.S. HOMES 
				WORTH AT LEAST $1 MILLION |  
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                |  According to the latest issue of Ultimate Homes Magazine, there 
				are at least 1 million homes in the United States that are 
				valued at $1 million or more.
 
 According to the magazine, the most expensive home currently on 
				the market is a mansion in Palm Beach, FL, owned by Donald 
				Trump. The high-profile billionaire is asking a cool $125 
				million for the Florida pad.
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                QUOTES OF WIT & 
                WISDOM |  
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                    "Management cannot be expected 
					to recognize a good idea unless it is presented to them by a 
					good salesman."   -- David Ogilvy
 "An Englishman is a person who does things because they have 
					been done before. An American is a person who does things 
					because they haven’t been done before."   -- Mark Twain
 
 "If I have lost confidence in myself, I have the universe 
					against me."
 -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
 
 "It is not a bad idea to get in the habit of writing down 
					one’s thoughts. It saves one having to bother anyone else 
					with them."   -- Isabel Colgate
 
 "The opposite of the religious fanatic is not the fanatical 
					atheist, but gentle cynic who cares not whether there is a 
					god or not."   -- Eric Hoffer
 
 "I’m tired of all this nonsense about beauty being only skin 
					deep. That’s deep enough. What do you want, an adorable 
					pancreas?"   -- Jean Kerr
 
 "Home computers are being called upon to perform many new 
					functions, including the consumption of homework formerly 
					eaten by a dog."   -- Doug Larsen
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