The Improvement Tax Exchange in a Nutshell

Can I do an improvement tax exchange with a property I’m building? What must the home’s value be? I’ll cover that and more in today’s overview of this type of tax exchange.  

Some of you have expressed interest in or have had questions about improvement exchanges in
the way of taxes. In light of this fact, today I’ll help you gain a richer understanding of how this
process works.

One such question I’ve received is, “Can I do an exchange while I build a new home?” As
a matter of fact, that’s precisely what these types of exchanges are for. For example, say you
sold a home for $600,000, and you subsequently bought a new home for $450,000. Then, during
the 45-day identification period, you decide that, because you have additional land you can build
on, you’d like to do so. Further, let’s say the additional unit will cost another $100,000, bringing your
purchase total to $550,000.

Unfortunately, you’d still be short of the requirement for an improvement tax exchange. If you’re
selling a home and would like to make this exchange, the replacement property that you
purchase must be of equal or greater value to the one you’re selling. One thing of
note, though: Having two units will amount to $900,000 as long as you close exchange escrow
(not to be confused with traditional escrow) in 180 days.  

As you make your way through the process, the exchange accommodation titleholder will hold
the title while you’re conducting construction improvement on the property and, after that 180-day
window is up, it will close. There doesn’t need to be a certificate of occupancy on the property
nor does it have to be completed; the only stipulation is that its value has risen.

The magic number for the home’s value is $600,000 or more—if you can meet or exceed
this, you can bank on your ability to carry out an improvement tax exchange. Although there’s
a little more intricacy and finesse involved than with a 1031 exchange, this is a totally feasible option
for a range of buyer types, such as someone looking to convert a commercial office building into a
medical office building.

If the prospect of making an improvement tax exchange on property intrigues you or you have further questions related to this, I welcome you to give me a call at 626-643-7090 or email me at ReoAgent@ShawnLuong.com. I’d be happy to sit down and speak with you!

Get Better Cash Flow With a 1031 Exchange

If you want to increase your monthly cash flow, it’s time to take advantage

of the 1031 Tax Exchange.

Did you know you can get up to 20% more monthly cash flow without spending a penny?
It’s true, and it’s as simple as implementing the 1031 Tax Exchange.

You’ve probably heard of the 1031 Tax Exchange in the past, but now’s the time to truly take to
heart what this strategy can do for you.

Through the 1031 Delayed Tax Exchange, you have 45 days after closing escrow to secure a
replacement property. You’ll also need to close escrow on the replacement property within 180 days
after closing on your home sale.

1031 Tax Exchanges allow you to avoid Capital Gains Tax upon the sale of your property assuming
you meet certain requirements. If you don’t pursue this strategy, there are three tax-related
concerns you’ll need to consider:

1. The State Tax. Depending on how much you make from your home sale, the amount you owe in
State property taxes may increase if you don’t use a 1031 Tax Exchange. To learn more about
what your taxes would look like without a 1031 Exchange, check out this calculator.

2. The Capital Gains Tax. When your sale is subjected to Capital Gains Tax, this means you could
lose a significant percentage of what you earn from your sale.
To learn more, check out this Capital Gains calculator.

3. The depreciation recapture rate. This is the federal tax rate that will be levied on the year that you file the tax return on a property sale without a 1031 exchange. The depreciation recapture amount is based on the cumulative depreciation that you have taken each year that you have owned the property and the rate is at 25%  on the total depreciation that you have expended on your tax returns.  For residential income property including apartment buildings over 5 units, the depreciation is taken over 27.5 years on the improvement value, not on the land.  For commercial properties such as retail, office, and industrial buildings, the depreciation is taken over 39 years. Check out this step-by-step guide to learn how to calculate a recapture rate for a given property.

If you have any other questions or would like more information, feel free to give me a call or send

me an email. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

How Should You Use the Equity in Your Home?

If you have a lot of equity in your home, keep reading. I’ve got some great tips for how you can use it to create even more wealth.

If you have equity in your home and you’re looking for different ways to use it, I’ve got a few
recommendations for you today.

First, you can get a line of credit. Depending on the institution you’re working with, you could
use that line to take out money via arbitrage. You could also invest in stocks, such as the S&P
500 Index, which returns about 9.7% per year historically.

One of the best ways to use your current equity to create more wealth is by investing in
real estate. Nowadays, you can get a great return cash on cash and with appreciation. Since 1980, we’ve
seen roughly 6% appreciation every year. A $500,000 home appreciating conservatively at 5% will gain you
$25,000 a year in value. That return is pretty spectacular on paper.

Finally, for those preparing for retirement, you can use your equity to get a reverse
mortgage. This will allow you to make one large down payment and not have to make a
mortgage payment. You will have to cover yearly property taxes and insurance, but there will be
no monthly payment.

As you can see, there are a ton of different ways to use your equity. If you have any questions for
me about this topic or about anything else related to real estate, don’t hesitate to give me a call
or send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

What’s the Best Way to Determine How Much Your Home Is Worth?

I’m offering you a free home evaluation that is much more accurate than a Zestimate.

Thank you all for your great feedback on my last blog post regarding the state of the market, where
I compared what we saw in 2018 to 2017.

As we have all learned, the market has pretty much reached its peak. Many of you have
done well in terms of your net worth by accumulating equity on your properties, though a few of
you have called me to say that while your equity looks nice on paper, it hasn’t given you any sort
of return yet.

Well, with that in mind, I have something to offer you:

I’m offering you a free home evaluation that’s accurate within 1.5% to 2% of the sales price
of the home. You might ask why you should go with my home evaluation instead of, say, the one
provided by the popular website Zillow’s valuation tool, the Zestimate.

The truth is that Zillow’s own site says that only 91.6% of the homes listed in the Long Beach area
sell within 20% of the sales price—that’s not a very high accuracy. Zillow may be a good tool
for a ballpark estimate, but you can’t rely on their Zestimates for an accurate estimate of your
home’s actual value. Remember that Zillow’s own CEO sold his home for 40% less than what
his Zestimate called for.

If you would like to know your home’s exact value, please reach out to me. I’m more than happy
to provide you with a complete report on your home so that you can review your current financial
information and prepare for the next step toward your real estate goals.

A Past Market Comparison & Update for 2019

We saw some considerable changes from the final six months of 2018’s real estate market compared
to that same time the year before. What were they?

First, I’m happy to report that average home appreciation rose from $623,000 in 2017 to
$658,000 last year. However, the total number of homes sold dropped off by 11.1%—total sales
reached 10,383 in 2017 and 9,229 the following year.

In 2017, home appreciation rose little by little between July and December without ever experiencing
a true surge. From November to December of that year, appreciation topped out at 0.5%.

Contrastingly, from July to December of 2018, prices seesawed up and down, and home
appreciation dropped by 3.3% to close out the year.  

So what’s to come for our market in 2019?   

Well, I expect appreciation to continue to be a little bumpy, with home prices rising to
somewhere between 4.5% and 5%. And I can say with certainty that no market crash is in sight.
Not only that, the market continues to flourish—unemployment is currently at an all-time low.

I’d love to hear your feedback, so don’t hesitate to text or call me at 626-643-7090 or email me at ReoAgent@ShawnLuong.com. I look forward to speaking with you!

3 Advantages to Having a Checkbook Control Self-Directed IRA, LLC

Today I’ll be shedding more light on checkbook self-directed IRAs, LLC after receiving some questions from a few of you.

Unlike more traditional self-directed IRAs, where your funds are held by a custodian who acts as
an authority on each transaction, the owner of a checkbook self-directed IRA, LLC possesses full
control, which is commonly referred to as “checkbook control.”

There are three benefits that set checkbook self-directed IRAs, LCC apart:

1. You’ll be able to keep more from a fix and flip. If you’re looking to use funds from your IRA
to fix and flip a piece of real estate, you’ll preserve 100% of your gains because you won’t have
that 40% taken right off the top due to the income tax you’d ordinarily incur from an ordinary fix and
flip.  

2. You can skip the excessively long process of a 1030 exchange. If you’re a rental property
owner and you want to upgrade to a new property, you would typically be stuck going through a
1030 exchange, which can be a slow-moving process. But with a checkbook self-directed IRA, LLC,
you’ll eliminate those long waiting periods because you’ll have full autonomy to write checks for
the necessary services and expedite the buying process.

3. You’ll have fewer fees to worry about. Rather than having to pay the litany of fees, such
as asset-based fees, that come with normal self-directed IRAs, you’ll simply pay an annualized
custodian fee that tends to be much more reasonable.  

If you’d like more information or would like to be pointed in the direction of a custodian to hold your
IRA, I’d love the opportunity to help you. Give me a call or email me today!

How to Take Advantage of Your Self-Directed Individual Retirement Account

I recently had the chance to meet with some old colleagues and friends of mine. During our
get-together, I was asked what I do with my individual retirement account (IRA) money.
I shared with them what I do.

I took my IRA money out and, combined with my wife’s IRA, we now have a self-directed

IRA. We've turned this into a checkbook controlled self-directed IRA LLC, and with our IRAs,
we are the owners and managers of the LLC. We’ve been using this fund since 2007 and
invested in a rental while most of the money goes toward flipping homes.

By using our own IRA money for the last 10 years, we’ve been able to grow our nest egg

by 300%. We just filed our tax returns and we can see the assets between 2007 and
2017, which showed about a 30% increase each year. My friends were definitely excited
after hearing what we were able to turn our IRAs into.

If you’re looking to leverage your IRA into a good income, I’d love to speak with you and go over your options. We can talk about getting a return by investing some of your retirement money. I look forward to hearing from you.

This Thanksgiving, I’m Thankful for You

With Thanksgiving just around the corner, now is the perfect time of year to pause and reflect and be
thankful. And one of the things I’m most thankful for in life is you—my valued friends and clients. I
appreciate the incredible support you’ve shown me this year, and look forward to continue serving as
your real estate resource in the new year ahead and beyond. I hope that you’re able to spend this holiday
season surrounded with those you love, and that you have a very happy Thanksgiving. To hear my full
message of thanks, watch this short video.

How to Prepare For Proposition 10 Rent-Control Changes

In our latest message, I’ll be discussing the potential changes of Proposition 10 and why you should consider increasing rent.

With votes being cast next month, Proposition 10 could potentially change the way rent control works
in Southern California. As the balloting comes closer, I’m being asked more and more about what
should be done in preparation for these changes.

The simplest solution? Raise rent periodically to reflect economic and market trends.

Employees receive wage increases for cost of living and inflation, and utility companies
increase price based on growing infrastructure costs. It’s no different in real estate—costs rise
over time.

Let me provide some examples:

The median price for a West Covina home in 2014 was $435,000 with an average price per square
foot of $278. In September 2018, the median price had risen to $568,000 with an average price per
square foot of $361.

To get a return of 5%, account for 6.5% to cover your costs of tax, insurance, and maintenance. In
2014, rent was around $1.50 per square foot per month, and for 2018 it’s up to $1.95 per square foot
per month.

In a recent survey, the median rent for a 3-bedroom house is $2,325 with a square footage of 1,400
square feet (about $1.65 per square foot per month). You can see the price increase from $1.50 in
2014 to $1.65 now.

If you’re a new buyer and are wishing you were at the $1.95 point, don’t worry! Over the past 35
years, home value has seen a roughly 6% appreciation. For the average owner who puts down 20%
on a new home, that appreciation of 6% amplified over 5 years is a substantial 30% return. On top of
this, a $60 monthly rental increase becomes $720 annually, adding even more value to your
investment.

If you’re looking for guidance in raising your rental prices, have questions, or need information,
contact me by email or phone and I’ll be more than happy to help. I look forward to hearing from you.

How to Avoid Probate Court and Settle Your Estate

There are many great San Gabriel Valley area homes for sale. Click here to perform a full home search, or if you're thinking of selling your home, click here for a FREE Home Price Evaluation so you know what buyers will pay for your home in today's market. You may also call me at (626) 643-7090 for a FREE home buying or selling consultation to answer any of your real estate questions.

Today I'm going to discuss a topic that a lot of people have been calling and asking me about. It's sometimes an intimidating and confusing topic because it involves real estate, law, and finance. However, I'm going to clear the air a bit for you.

Probate Law
Probate is a legal process that occurs after someone has died, which includes:

• Proving that the decedent's will is valid.
• Inventorying the decedent's property.
• Appraising the property.
• Paying debts and taxes.
• Distributing the remaining property in accordance with the will.

This can be a lengthy and costly process, but there is a way around it...

A Living Trust
Also called a revocable living trust, this is a way of avoiding probate court, which will always be costly to your beneficiaries. 

• This can help you to avoid probate court because when the trustmaker dies, the trust itself will live on.
• This allows for the successor trustee named in the trust agreement to legally take control of the trust and assume the position of the trustmaker, thereby gaining control of bank accounts and investments.

However, If You Are Stuck in Probate Court... 
If you are unfortunately stuck in the process of probate court, you can do something to help yourself.

• You can request the court or your attorney to file you as a full authority representative with the IAEA
• IAEA is the Independent Administration of Estates Act: If granted, this gives you the full authority to settle the estate with minimal interference from the courts.
• There are restrictions to this Act, so be sure to consult a real estate attorney if you are in this troubling situation.

I was once unfortunate enough to lose real estate property because I was not aware of the inner workings of probate court. I would be very disappointed to see this happen to one of my clients, so if you have any questions or require any assistance with this process, please contact me because I know professionals that would be willing to assist you. You can call me at (626) 643-7090 or email me at reoagent@shawnluong.com

Happy Chinese New Year: The Year of the Horse!

Today I'm changing my usual real estate theme on my video blog to something a little more important. Happy Chinese New Year!

I'd like to wish you a strong and energetic New Year.

Until next time, stay safe and happy. I look forward to visiting with you again soon.

2014 in real estate - from Orange to Riverside County

Welcome back and happy New Year. I hope 2014 is a year of prosperity, health and happiness for you. You may be wondering what is in store for the real estate market.

Price appreciation is still high. Bruce Norris, a noted real estate guru, believes Riverside County will do much better than Los Angeles.

FHA has decreased their loan limits. In Orange County and Los Angeles the limit dropped almost $100,000 and is now $625,000.  In San Bernardino and Riverside Counties the limit is $355,000.  However, there are some great new 5-year Adjustable Rate Mortgages available.

Happy Holidays!

Hello and happy holiday season! I hope this magical time of year finds you warm, happy, healthy, and full of the giving spirit.

The end of the year is quickly approaching, and you may be wondering if it's really worth putting your house on the market. The time is NOW! There's been a paradigm shift lately in the San Gabriel Valley within the housing market. During the last couple of years, we've seen a big increase in Asian (mostly Chinese) buyers; now comprising 1/3 of the market. It's Christmas season and New Year's is just around the corner. This means a bump in tourism and a much larger holiday market for sellers. Conventional thought dictated that the real estate buying season started in April, but jump onto this trend as a seller now and you'll be grateful!

Until next time, Happy New Year and a very Merry Christmas! 

HUD Home Program Update

 Hello everyone and thank you for joining me on my video blog. There has been an update in the Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Program for home buyers and I wanted to fill you in. You can see my original blog post on the HUD Program by clicking here.

As I detailed in my original post, the HUD program has to do with homes acquired through the consequence of foreclosure on an FHA Loan. There are two ways to take advantage of this service, first: law enforcement, firefighters, emergency medical technicians and teachers (k-12) can buy a HUD home in a nice area for up to a 50 percent discount on the list price. Second, when using the HUD Program the buyer has a 30 day period to purchase a home before anyone else in the marketplace.

However! This 30 day period, starting on the first of December, turned into a 15 day period! This means there is less time to take advantage, so act swiftly!

Finally, in addition to the HUD update I wanted to let all of you know that tickets are still available for my home buying class. Through the HUD program, completing this class makes you eligible for down payment assistance! Be sure to sign up if you live in the Covina, CA area and are in the market to buy a house.

Thank you for joining me on my video blog and have a safe and productive week! 

2013 Property Tax

Welcome back to my video blog. Thank you for joining me today. As many of you know, property taxes are due Dec. 10th. No one looks forward to this, but I have great news if you purchased your home anywhere between 2004 and 2008. There is a decline-in-value reassessment application.  

What does it do? It could save you thousands! It reassesses the value of your property. Just the other week I helped a client reduce his property tax from $14,000 to just around $8,000. Don't miss this chance and end up paying double what you should. You need to hurry, though. The deadline to file your assessment claim is Nov. 30th.

Give me a call at 626.643.7090 and I can email you the form. Also call if you have any questions! Thanks for watching!

HUD Homes

Welcome back to my video blog! Today, I wanted to share two well-kept secrets about the Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Program. What is the HUD program? It’s home acquired through the consequence of foreclosure on an FHA Loan. I have two secrets to help you fairly take advantage of the program.

The first is for the first 30 days a home is insured, owner occupants are able to purchase those homes before anyone else through FHA or conventional financing. The cash investor, who does not occupy the property, is shut out for the initial time period. You have a 2 to 1 advantage because 35 percent of the market is cash-buyers.

The second secret I have is for law enforcement, firefighters, emergency medical technicians and teachers (k-12). You can buy a HUD home in a nice area for up to a 50 percent discount on the list price. You don’t have to pay any interest on that 50 percent as long as you occupy the home for three years.

If you would like more information you can give me a call 626.643.7090

Thanks for watching!

Government Shutdown Risks Hurting The Housing Recovery

From: http://www.forbes.com/sites/morganbrennan/2013/10/01/heres-how-the-government-shutdown-will-affect-housing/

By:  Morgan Brennan, Forbes Staff

The government shutdown is here. Whether it’s not being able to get a new Social Security card or visit a national park, Americans will immediately feel the effects. But there’s one bright spot of the economy that stands to be affected as well: housing.

One of the biggest questions regarding the shutdown and how it will affect housing has revolved around the mortgage market, specifically prospective buyers’ access to new home loans. After all, more than 90% of all loan activity is underwritten, insured, or owned by the government and its affiliated entities.

Initially at least, the mortgage market is likely to be only minimally impacted. New loans will continue to push through most government agency pipelines. What will change is how long the process takes, as many agencies expect to experience delays.

Mortgages purchased and securitized by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will be unaffected because their operations are paid for by fees charged to lenders. And the Department of Veterans Affairs will continue to guarantee mortgages for Americans that have served in the military since these loans are funded by user fees as well.

But if the government shutdown of 1995-1996 is any indicator, the process will take longer than usual. “Loan Guaranty certificates of eligibility and certificates of reasonable value were delayed,” the VA warned in its September 25th contingency plan.

Where there has been mounting concern is the Federal Housing Administration, which currently endorses about 15% of the entire single-family mortgage market. Several media outlets recently reported that the FHA would be unable to endorse any single-family loans and that no staff would be available underwrite and approve new loans.

That prospect would be somewhat worrisome – if it were actually true. The FHA’s Office of Single Family Housing will indeed remain open for business, albeit with a smaller staff. “FHA will be able to endorse single family loans during the shutdown. A limited number of FHA staff will be available to underwrite and approve new loans,” the report now states. In other words, other lenders’ loans will continue to be insured and some in-house lending will continue to take place at a reduced rate.

The reason for that mix-up: the initial draft of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s contingency plan mistakenly stated that single-family loan operations would cease. The report was amended over the weekend.

The FHA’s single-family loan operations are funded through multi-year appropriations, meaning their budget is not tied to the government’s standoff over funding for the new fiscal year that starts in October. On the other hand, what will be more affected is the agency’s Multifamily Housing Office, which is funded through yearly appropriations.

“Because we are able to endorse loans, we don’t expect the impact on the housing market to be significant, as long as the shutdown is brief,” continues the HUD report. “If the shutdown lasts and our commitment authority runs out, we do expect that potential homeowners will be impacted, as well as home sellers and the entire housing market.”

One government lender that will indeed suspend its home loan activity, however, is the Department of Agriculture. The USDA says that no new housing loans or guarantees will be issued through its Rural Development programs in a shutdown. The department also warns that such a scenario could cause “a setback in construction start-up,” and if the shutdown lasts for an extended period, “a substantial reduction in housing available in rural areas relative to population.”

“The government doesn’t generally approve loans, they basically just insure them,” says Don Frommeyer, president of the National Association of Mortgage Brokers and a vice president at Amtrust Mortgage Funding. “For the most part you aren’t going to see much of a hit in the mortgage market unless it goes for a long period of time.”

If it does stretch on, he adds, the worry will be what mortgage rates do in a market shrouded in fiscal uncertainty and how that will affect the home buying, especially in light of recent rate spikes.

Home lending aside, many economists and real estate experts are keeping a close watch on how Americans will react to this shutdown. “Administratively everything should keep moving along, but it’s more about the confidence of consumers and whether they perceive that the government shutdown could lead to a recession,” says Lawrence Yun, chief economist at the National Association of Realtors.

Moody’s Analytics chief economist Mark Zandi recently told the Senate Budget Committee that a partial shutdown could shave as much as 1.4 percentage points off of fourth quarter economic growth if it drags on for several weeks.

Americans’ confidence in their ability to buy and sell homes hit a record high in May, according to a Fannie Mae survey. Since then, as mortgage rates jumped more than a percentage point, that confidence level has plateaued.  If prospective homebuyers fear that the country’s economic recovery will stall, or worse slip back into recession, they will pull back on purchases, worries Yun.

“Home sales is always the first housing variable that changes so one would see sales declining and that would naturally lead to more inventory on the market and eventually put pressure on prices,” he says. But that would be a worst-case scenario based on a long-term shutdown.

Jed Kolko, chief economist at Trulia TRLA +6.43%, notes that if the shutdown lasts longer than a few days, the first places to feel the impact will be local economies with large concentrations of federal government workers. Metro areas like Washington, D.C. and Bethesda, Md., where 19% and 13% respectively of total local wages go to federal employees, would be the feel the negative effects of unpaid furloughs and with them, tightened consumer spending and weakening local economic growth. Though not all will be equally affected, other metro areas like Virginia Beach, Va., Honolulu, Hawaii, and Dayton, Ohio are areas that Kolko is keeping an eye on: “Whether there is a big effect depends on how long the shutdown lasts, how long people think the shutdown lasts, and whether people get back-pay. All those things matter for the impact.”

Still others are worrying even more about the next fiscal standoff, in  mid-October, surrounding the debt ceiling debate and its accompanying threat of debt default by the U.S.  ”With the threat of an impending partial government shutdown and yet another battle over the nation’s debt ceiling, in particular, we are really messing with fire right now—even if it doesn’t seem to bother some legislators,” says Stan Humphries, chief economist at Zillow.

“But the effects of a government default associated with the impending debt-ceiling deadline would be more pronounced because of its greater impact on domestic and international markets. This will rattle consumers and investors alike, slow down the overall economic recovery and further slow the housing recovery, which is already undergoing a moderation in the pace of home value gains due to rising mortgage rates,” he warns.

Market Update Fall 2013

Thanks for visiting my real estate blog! The summer is over and I wanted to give you an update on how our market is compared to this time last year.

In 2012 at this time there were 665 listings, today there are 882 current listings. This means a lot of sellers have been taking advantage of our great market.

We have also seen a drop in the average days on market from 66 days to 30 days. The average days on market is from the day the home is listed on the market to the day it goes into escrow. Part of the reason this number has cut in half is because we have seen less short sales.

The average sales price has increased from $694,000 to $722,000.  The number of listings sold rose from 731 to 743.

Our market is steadily improving and you need to take advantage of it now. If you have any questions about your home please give me a call and I can do a market analysis.

Thanks for watching!

What's the Difference Between Down Payment Assistance and a Mortgage Credit Certificate?

Hello, everyone. Welcome back to my video blog!

Last time we talked about down payment assistance. Today, I wanted to talk about a mortgage credit certificate.

What’s the difference?

For down payment assistance, you must qualify. If your income is too high and if you have owned a home in the past three years, you do not qualify.

The mortgage credit certificate is available to both first time homebuyers as well as non-first time homebuyers in federally designated target areas. You do not have to be low income to qualify...up to $118,000 for a household of 3 and you do not have to buy a lower cost home....up to $823,000. Depending on the state, the credit certificate amount varies. It is a dollar-to-dollar tax credit available to you as long as you stay in your house and pay your mortgage. For example, in California they will provide 20 percent of tax credit on the mortgage interest you pay per year.

So, let’s say your mortgage interest per year is $20,000, you would save $4,000! In turn, because your payment is lower, you can qualify for a larger mortgage and purchase a nicer home.

When you close the home, you give the certificate to your tax accountant who will then calculate it into your taxes and you will receive a refund!

This is a great program and very few people know about it! So, if you have any questions either about a mortgage credit certificate or down payment assistance, please give me a call at 626-643-7090. I'd love to explain more about how the process works!

Be sure to check out our next post; I'll tell you about what's happening in our current market!