Tag Archives: South Salem Homes for Sale

Spring cleaning for spring sales | South Salem NY Real Estate

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Those of you who know me know I love every single day – each is its own special blessing. But I have to say the days of spring make me especially grateful. And this spring is proving particularly pleasant for Realtors because of a strong seller’s market and interest rates that are continuing to hover at historic lows for buyers.

These two factors alone can make your spring selling season bloom with business – if you’re ready. To get ready, you need to think about the tradition this time of year – spring cleaning.

To take full of advantage of this market, it helps to stop for a moment and consider what’s working and what’s not. This is a time to clean out the closets, a time to get back to the basics – because we know those basics work.

So with that said, here are some tips I’d like to offer to help make your spring fresher, brighter and, of course, more profitable.

  1. Dust off your operations – Pull out the dust rag and wipe down your operations to get a good look at them — give ‘em the old white glove test. First, make sure all of your operations focus on the customer. Remember, we’re talking basics here. You run a small business and the goal of business is to get and keep customers. If any one of your operations doesn’t help you complete that goal, get rid of it. You might start with this question: What can you change to make it easier for your clients to get what they need?

  2. Sweep out any bureaucracy – Over time businesses, and all organizations really, tend to sprout ugly little patches of bureaucracy – like nasty weeds. Put all of your policies and procedures under the microscope and look for anything that gets in the way of serving customers. Grab the broom and sweep out any and all inefficiencies. Ensure everything in your office points directly at the customer and gets them what they need – without any hassles.

  3. Vacuum up time wasters – So what’s your most valuable commodity? Time. If you’re not using it wisely, you’ll fail. It’s just that simple. And if you’re not using your time to get and keep customers, you’re not using your time wisely. My boss and the CEO of the company I work for, Bob Corcoran, always says the four tasks Realtors should always be doing are: listing, prospecting, selling and negotiating. I couldn’t agree more. Take a quick timeout to audit your day. List all the activities you typically do and then get rid of (or delegate) anything that doesn’t fall under one of those four tasks. Do that and you’ll do fine this spring – and the rest of the year.
via housingwire.com

Real estate agents among the happiest professionals | South Salem Real Estate

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Real estate agents apparently are a cheerful bunch these days, relatively speaking. They’re ranked No. 1 on CareerBliss’ 2013 list of the 10 happiest professions in America.

The list, released last week, was based on a survey of more than 65,000 professionals nationwide last year, who rated their job happiness based on factors such as company culture, compensation, daily tasks, growth opportunities, and relationships with bosses and co-workers, writes Baltimore Business Journal.

via housingwire.com

Distressed neighborhoods fall behind in housing recovery: Bernanke | South Salem NY Real Estate

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Despite improvements in the overall economy, America’s lower-income communities continue to face hard times, said Ben Bernanke, chairman of the Federal Reserve. 

As a result, aiding low-income neighborhoods requires a “multipronged approach” focusing on various aspects, including housing and employment.

“While employment and housing show signs of improving for the nation as a whole, conditions in lower-income neighborhoods remain difficult by many measures,” the chairman said.

He added, “Resilient communities require more than decent housing, important as that is; they require an array of amenities that support the social fabric of the community and build the capabilities of community residents. The movement toward a holistic approach to community development has been long in the making, but the housing crisis has motivated further progress.”

Bernanke also stressed the vital role played by local leaders in revitalizing lower income communities, citing research by the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston of towns that have managed to turn positive.

“Substantial coordination and dedication are needed to break through silos to simultaneously improve housing, connect residents to jobs, and help ensure access to adequate nutrition, health care, education, and day care,” he said.

The 2008 collapse of the housing market and resulting deep recession has deepened the dilemma of many lower-income communities.

Thus, solutions will have to be tailored to whether a low-income neighborhood is urban, suburban or rural.

“Community development leaders have no shortage of commitment to their goals, but with the insights you provide, together with the opportunities to learn from the experiences of other communities, they will be better prepared and thus more successful in meeting the very difficult challenges they face,” Bernanke concluded.

via housingwire.com

Low Mortgage Interest Rates Masking High Home Price-to-Income Ratios | South Salem NY Real Estate

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Zillow has noticed a trend that could become problematic for both the U.S. housing market and policymakers in coming months.

By looking at two metrics — an affordability index and a price-to-income ratio — Zillow researchers have determined that low mortgage rates that make homes appear incredibly affordable are overshadowing a bigger overall trend in which the overall prices of homes are actually significantly more expensive than historic norms relative to annual incomes.

The affordability index measures the percentage of a homeowner’s monthly income devoted to housing (mortgage) payments. In the pre-bubble period from 1985 through 1999, homeowners spent 19.9 percent of their monthly income on mortgage payments. But because of historically low interest rates currently in the 3 to 4 percent range, at the end of Q4 2012, homeowners were spending only 12.6 percent of their monthly incomes on housing payments — or roughly 37 percent below historic norms. Low interest rates have translated into more purchasing power for homeowners, as the cost to finance homes has gone down.

The price-to-income ratio looks at the total cost/price of a home relative to median annual incomes. Historically, the typical, median home in the U.S. cost 2.6 times as much as the median annual income (so if the median income in an area was $100,000, the median price of a home would typically be about $260,000: $100,000 * 2.6).

While historically low mortgage rates are translating into big savings for homeowners, those same low monthly payments are masking a troubling trend. While home values have been on the rise for the past year — in some areas appreciating by 15 percent or more annually — median wages haven’t kept pace. As a result, home price-to-income ratios in many areas are climbing.

Because wage appreciation has failed to keep pace with home value appreciation, once rates rise and the illusion of affordability driven by smaller monthly payments disappears, the market will be left with homes that could potentially be too expensive to afford on the typical median wage.

“The days of historically high levels of housing affordability are numbered,” said Zillow Chief Economist Stan Humphries. “Current affordability is almost entirely dependent on low interest rates, and there’s no doubt that rates will begin to rise in the next few years. This will have an undeniable effect on demand for housing, as home buyers will have to spend more of their incomes to buy a home. Home values will have to either remain stagnant while incomes catch up or, quite possibly, home values will have to fall in some markets. This will especially be the case in some markets that have seen strong home value appreciation.”

Homeowners in 24 of the 30 largest metros covered by Zillow were paying more for homes in the fourth quarter of 2012 relative to their region’s median income than they were from 1985 through 1999. Metros with the largest difference between their pre-bubble and fourth quarter 2012 price-to-income ratios included San Jose (52.1 percent more), Los Angeles (48.8 percent more), Portland, OR, (45.4 percent more), San Diego (44.6 percent more) and Denver (40.8 percent more).

Of the 30 largest metros covered by Zillow, only Cincinnati (3.1 percent less), Chicago (3.9 percent less), Cleveland (6.7 percent less), Atlanta (13.9 percent less), Las Vegas (14.6 percent less) and Detroit (25.5 percent less) posted price-to-income ratios in the fourth quarter of 2012 that were less than historic norms.

Metro Area% Of Monthly Income Dedicated to Mortgage Payments, 1985-1999% Of Monthly Income Dedicated to Mortgage Payments, 2012 Q4Median Home Price Relative To Median Annual Income,
1985-1999		Median Home Price Relative
To Median Annual Income,
2012 Q4
UNITED STATES

19.9%

12.6%

2.6

3.0

New York

30.7%

21.9%

4.0

5.2

Los Angeles

35.3%

29.0%

4.6

6.8

Chicago

21.4%

11.4%

2.8

2.7

Dallas

16.6%

9.3%

2.1

2.2

Philadelphia

17.5%

12.4%

2.3

2.9

Washington, DC

20.4%

14.9%

2.7

3.5

Miami

18.9%

13.5%

2.5

3.2

Atlanta

17.3%

8.1%

2.2

1.9

Boston

27.0%

19.0%

3.5

4.5

San Francisco

38.0%

28.8%

4.9

6.8

Detroit

15.8%

6.5%

2.1

1.5

Riverside

23.1%

14.9%

3.0

3.5

Phoenix

20.1%

12.7%

2.6

3.0

Seattle

25.0%

17.2%

3.3

4.1

Minneapolis-St. Paul

18.3%

11.2%

2.4

2.6

San Diego

31.3%

25.0%

4.1

5.9

Tampa, FL

17.5%

10.4%

2.3

2.5

St. Louis

15.6%

10.0%

2.0

2.4

Baltimore

19.5%

13.6%

2.5

3.2

Denver

20.2%

15.7%

2.6

3.7

Pittsburgh

14.3%

9.7%

1.9

2.3

Portland, OR

21.3%

17.3%

2.8

4.1

Sacramento, CA

25.9%

15.8%

3.4

3.7

Orlando, FL

18.5%

10.7%

2.4

2.5

Cincinnati

18.0%

9.6%

2.3

2.3

Cleveland

18.7%

9.7%

2.5

2.3

Las Vegas

21.7%

10.2%

2.8

2.4

San Jose, CA

35.2%

29.5%

4.6

7.0

Columbus, OH

17.5%

9.9%

2.3

2.3

Charlotte, NC

16.2%

10.9%

2.1

2.6

via zillowblog.com