Apr

18

Long Island Real Estate Market On Facebook: Join The Revolution!

Filed Under Buyers, Sellers, Sellers & Buyers | Comments Off

I don’t know about you, but I’m starting to get a little offended at what’s happened to Long Island in the last few years…as a Long Islander of course. I’ve decided to take “the battle” to the streets and created the Long Island Real Estate Market Fan Page on Facebook to start making Long Island great again!

Okay – What’s Facebook?

Now I’m sure if you’re on the internet more than one time in your life, you’ve heard of the website facebook.com. It is the “cleaner” version of myspace.com, and by that I mean, it’s just less advertisements and more connecting with friends, family and more importantly, topics of interest and information.

When I first learned about facebook, I only saw it for one thing, connecting online with…whomever. The more I learn about facebook, the more I see it’s a place to find any kind of information, company, service, product…just anything you can think of. It’s the social “google” if you will.

It’s All About Long Island…

Rather than type into a boring search engine, I can connect locally with a company or a local expert. And that is why I’ve decided to create the Long Island Real Estate Fan Page.

The more I can share with you and vise versa, about this great place to live, the better off we all are, as we educate people on how great it is to live on Long Island (despite high taxes!). And a note about those high taxes, I say it’s like anything else; You get what you pay for! If you want to live where the taxes are $600.00 a year, well then knock yourself out. I did and let me tell you, there’s no comparison! I’d rather pay $6,000 a year or more and live in the best place in the country.

From the climate, to the location to New York City, to the convenience of the ocean and magnificent waterways…Long Island is just a great place to live.

And when this economic “ice age” settles and we survive past 2012 (Nostradamus and Mayans eat your heart out!), Long Island will thrive!

Do we need government officials who believe in spending less and lowering taxes – you better believe it, but let’s get there one fan at a time. I urge you to join me on the Long Island Real Estate Market fan page.

One of the best things about the facebook platform is, the news and information is there when you want it. It’s not like receiving e-newsletters you don’t want or commercials you don’t want to see on Television. If you become a fan and bounce around on there once in a while, for any topic or fan page, it’s so easy and it’s free.

If you’ve read my web articles or gone through my websites, you know that I post pertinent information that can be valuable to the person who’s interested in real estate. That’s what I will be posting on the Long Island Real Estate Market fan page.

I’m also going to be posting things on there from all over the internet. I hope you do as well.

If you’ve got a cause you believe in and it’s local and important, bring it on and share it on Long Island Real Estate Market on facebook.

Again, that’s what’s so powerful about the facebook environment. It’s a community sharing local information from local people.

Now is this a “revolution” on the fan page…Yes it is!

We’ve got to come together and start making it clear that Long Island is better than Tennessee, Georgia, Utah, Colorado, etc. People are leaving here – young people – and we’ve got to help our community grow with youthfulness, not perish with age. That’s what this fan page is all about. I’ve posted the link enough. Just join and let’s start making Long Island great again!
(c) Copyright 2010 www.tommcgiveron.com
By Thomas McGiveron, LSA
Join the Discussion Too – Health Care Or Economy: Which is more important?
Share

For Email Marketing you can trust

Apr

17

What’s Going to Happen to Mortgage Rates: You’re Going to Pay More

Filed Under Buyers, Mortgage Matters, Sellers, Sellers & Buyers | Comments Off

So you’re wondering what’s going to happen to mortgage rates. If you’re a buyer, you’re wondering that because you are trying to figure out how much the cost will rise for your monthly payment. If you’re a seller, you’re thinking about a lot of things and saying to yourself, “I should have sold 3 years ago”. But I digress.

When we look at information available to us, we see that mortgage rates are going to rise and we wonder, how that might impact the Long Island real estate market. Well just like any other market, when rates rise and demand remains lower than supply, prices must drop in order for someone to sell their home.

But let’s really look at the added costs of an increased mortgage rate.

Mortgage Rates

Now this graph is packed with a lot of different information about mortgage rates.

The Impact On Buyers
Well first thing you must realize is that in order for you to buy a home and pay about the same price per month for that home as the rate goes up, you’ll notice that the price of the loan must go down significantly. Let’s say you’ve been looking for a while and you see a few houses or one in particular that you love. But for some reason, you’ve held back for reasons such as…well to put it bluntly, fear.

Let’s face it, this economy has many people a little uneasy about the future. So you hold back for whatever reason, you want to wait until you get married, you need to “save more for the down payment”, prices are still too high, taxes are too much, the dining room is too small, and on and on.

Well look at that graph and ask yourself this: Do you honestly believe that this house you’ve seen or these few houses that are “potentials” will be there 10% from now? What I’m saying you to ask yourself is, will this same house or houses be on the market for sale 5 months from now when rates are quite possibly 1 full percent higher than they are now? Maybe. But more than likely, if you’ve got your eye on a nice house that you really like or love, chances are so does someone else. And if they’re a little less afraid than you, guess what, they’re buying it.

Another thing for buyers to look at is simply the savings. Paying 6% on a loan as opposed to paying 5% on a mortgage rate is a no brainer. You will save more money. And again, this graph is based on prices dropping as the rate goes up. Just because the rates goes up, doesn’t mean that the home(s) you like has to sell (or can sell for that matter – given the likelihood that they have a mortgage to pay off).

The Impact On Sellers
The cold harsh reality of the market is that prices are going to continue to see-saw in a downward spiral. Every economic and real estate expert out there predict a further decline in prices. Here on Long Island, the simple curve of supply exceeding demand will absolutely keep prices from appreciating for the near future (6 to 18 months).

With the flow of homes off and back on the market and increases in foreclosures, this extra supply, as it comes in waves, will continue to keep prices from going up.

Now this graph adds an element that is not seller-friendly. Historically, a 6% mortgage rate is incredibly good. However, given the current economic situation, decreased consumer spending and high unemployment (currently over 7% on Long Island), a 6% rate might as well be 8 or 9% in a “normal economy”.

Buyers on Long Island, with the high taxes and cost of living that exceeds about 90% of the rest of the country, living here isn’t cheap and many buyers don’t have $80,000 to buy a modestly priced home of $300,000. Remember, the standard, “good loan” for a home is 20% down (on $300,000 that’s $60,000) and the other $20,000 is for the very high closing costs associated with buying on Long Island.

So looking at the graph, as the mortgage rate goes up, if you need to sell, you will absolutely be forced to drop your price as the rate goes up. There is no question about this. Why? Because the buying market won’t have buyers to purchase your home at a 6% mortgage rate at the current prices of today (April 2010). And please note, that I’m not even mentioning the home buyer tax credit that is expiring in 2 weeks that’s helping home values remain somewhat stable. Without that, prices will drop.

But there’s definitely hope in that if you hire the right agent, who uses cutting edge technology to market your home, buyers will check out your home more often than just having it sit idle on mls, overpriced. Oh by the way, that “right agent” – that’s me – click here and let’s get started!

So What About The Mortgage Rate Anyway?

Let’s look at what experts are saying.

Where are mortgage rates going

From Moody’s Economy.com to Credit Suisse to Barclay’s Capital, we see that the experts are predicting increased mortgage rates. Why? Read my article on what’s happened in the last month with the Fed.

National speaker and residential real estate guru, Steve Harney, talks about how since 2006, April to July months have seen mortgage rate volatility.

mortgage rates

So to close this discussion out, I think it’s particularly important for buyers and sellers to consider their options. Information like this is invaluable and I hope it helps you make the best decisions for you and your families. If you have any questions at all, I can always be reached at (631)831-9048.

By the way, if you missed the commission discount I’m offering for home sellers, please click here.

(c) Copyright, 2010 www.tommcgiveron.com
By Thomas McGiveron, Licensed Real Estate Salesperson
Join Me On Facebook
Share

For Email Marketing you can trust

Apr

13

Home Buyer Tax Credit Update: April 12th Through April 20th Is Contract Week

Filed Under Buyers | Comments Off

In this video, I will discuss how important this week in April really is for anyone who wants to capitalize on the home buyer tax credit. I think there are a lot of people who mistakenly believe they can find a home in the last week of April and make it into contract before April 30th.
One sad thing to point out is that I was speaking with a fellow agent just the other day and they thought buyers had until June 30th to be in contract. Wow! Who ever you’re working with, make sure they know what they’re doing or they could cost you $8,000 dollars!
Here’s the video.

Below is a general guideline for getting into contract. Call me today in order to increase your chances of making it happen!

(631)831-9048

For Email Marketing you can trust

Apr

5

Mortgage Interest Rates: Get In Now

Filed Under Buyers, Mortgage Matters, Sellers, Sellers & Buyers | Comments Off

If there was a bar called Mortgage Interest Rates Place, right about now, the lights would be getting turned on and it would be last call.

The Fed did what they set out to do – purchasing $1.25 Trillion in Mortgage Backed Securities, and succeeding in their plan to lower home loan rates and help stabilize the housing sector. And even though they stretched out the length of the program slightly – in order to soften the impact of the end of the program – the training wheels are now off, the safety net is gone, and home loan rates have already moved higher.

In fact – as the Fed will now gradually become a seller of their massive holdings of Mortgage Backed Securities – rates are very likely to continue to move higher.

Even after home loan rates took a jump higher last week, they still remain at reasonably low levels – which makes right now a crucial time to take advantage of the opportunities that exist, including the Homebuyers Tax Credit which is down to its last month.

To take advantage of the generous credit, purchase contracts must be signed by the end of April. If you or someone you know has questions about this credit – please don’t wait to get in touch with me.

For Email Marketing you can trust

Apr

18

Long Island Real Estate Market On Facebook: Join The Revolution!

Apr

17

What’s Going to Happen to Mortgage Rates: You’re Going to Pay More

Apr

13

Home Buyer Tax Credit Update: April 12th Through April 20th Is Contract Week

Apr

5

Mortgage Interest Rates: Get In Now

Buying A Home?

Selling A Home?

REAL ESTATE MARKET UPDATES

AVOID FORECLOSURE

Helpful Real Estate Books

Categories

Archives

Links

Admin

Search