Snipes Properties a Featured Manager with AllPropertyManagement.com

Snipes Properties announced today that it is now a Featured Manager with online property management resource AllPropertyManagement.com The website allows property owners to get information on local property management companies and recieve free online quotes. “We find the service extremely valuable and our clients really like the ease of use of the site,” comments Carter Snipes of Snipes Properties. When it comes to Property Management in Richmond, Va – Snipes Properties is the fastest growing provider of Rental and Property Management services for owners of Single Family Homes.

Snipes Duo chosen to present at Chamber Event

The Richmond Chamber of Commerce is putting on a First-Time Buyer Seminar for area Young Professionals as part of their H.Y.P.E. program. (Helping Young People Engage) Carter and Annie Snipes were selected by Laura Lafayette, the CEO of the Richmond Association of Realtors, to represent the group because of their knowledge and experience in the First-Time Home Buyer market. “We’re really excited about the opportunity,” says Annie Snipes. “We have been helping a lot of first-time buyers navigate the foreclosure process recently and there are a lot of risks.” She continues “But the opportunities for buying in this market far outweigh those challenges, so it’s great to share this with other young professionals.”
The event is sponsored by Ukrops Supermarkets.

Annie and Carter Snipes ranked #6 Team in Richmond

Annie and Carter Snipes were ranked #6 Team in Richmond by Transactions for 2008 by the Richmond Association of Realtors. They also were awarded the Diamond Award for achievement in Sales Transcations. Together they completed over 75 transactions last year and are on track to achieve that goal again for 2009. This puts them in the Top 2% of all Realtors in the Richmond area.

Economy Faring Better than Expected

WASHINGTON (AP) — Despite persistent layoffs, the economy seems to be faring better than it was at the start of the year.

The Labor Department said Thursday that new jobless claims jumped unexpectedly last week. And the number of people continuing to receive unemployment aid rose more than expected.

The figures indicate that jobs remain scarce even as the economy shows some signs of recovering from the longest recession since World War II.

A revised reading on gross domestic product – the broadest measure of the nation’s output – said the economy posted a 5.5 percent annualized decline from January through March. That was slightly better than the 5.7 percent estimate made a month ago. Economists generally think the economy is shrinking at a slower pace – about 2 percent – in the current quarter.

The main forces behind the small upgrade in the first quarter: Businesses didn’t cut stockpiles of goods as much, and imports dropped more sharply than previously estimated.

On Wall Street, investors shrugged off the unexpected rise in jobless claims and focused on positive earnings reports from homebuilder Lennar Corp. and home furnishings store Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. The Dow Jones industrial average added about 145 points in afternoon trading. Broader indices also rose more than 1 percent.

Initial claims for jobless benefits rose last week by 15,000 to a seasonally adjusted 627,000. Economists had expected a drop to 600,000. Several states reported more claims than expected from teachers, cafeteria workers and other school employees, a Labor Department analyst said.

The number of people who are continuing to receive unemployment insurance rose by 29,000 to 6.74 million, slightly above analysts’ estimates of 6.7 million. The four-week average of claims, which smooths out fluctuations, was largely unchanged, at 616,750.

Most economists still expect the number of initial unemployment insurance claims, which reflects the level of layoffs, to decline slowly in coming months as the recession bottoms out.

“We still firmly believe that the underlying trends in claims is downwards, but it is slow and uneven,” Ian Shepherdson, chief U.S. economist for High Frequency Economics, wrote in a client note.

The number of people continuing to receive unemployment aid remains below the peak of 6.8 million reached May 30. That means job losses are likely slowing, economists said.

Meanwhile, the rebound in consumer spending in the first quarter was slightly less vigorous than previously reported. Consumers boosted their spending at a 1.4 percent rate, down from a 1.5 percent growth rate estimated last month.

Still, that marked the strongest showing in nearly two years and a huge improvement from the fourth quarter, when skittish consumers slashed spending by the most in nearly three decades.

The nation’s unemployment rate hit a quarter-century peak of 9.4 percent last month when employers eliminated 345,000 jobs. Joseph LaVorgna, chief U.S. economist at Deutsche Bank, forecasts that employers will have cut a net total of 325,000 jobs this month and the unemployment rate will rise to 9.6 percent. The June employment report will be released July 2.

—-

Snipes Properties is a Richmond, Va based Real Estate Sales & Property Management Company.