Tag Archives: South Salem Real Estate for Sale

Stricter rules make mortgages hard to get | South Salem NY Real Estate

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A new set of tighter mortgage rules designed to prevent the kind of lending frenzy that led to the 2007 housing crash are being established, but some worry they could dampen Southwest Florida’s budding housing recovery.

that is because the new rules, aimed at protecting consumers from abusive lending practices, could wind up making it even harder for some borrowers to obtain mortgages.

“Lenders are very careful now. People who should get loans are getting loans, but it is a more difficult process for everyone,” said David Hunihan, director of sales at homebuilder Neal Communities.

“My fear is that the legislation is too far reaching, that people who should get loans won’t be able to, and that’s not good for anyone,” he said.

Borrowers already are facing uphill battles for mortgage loans, a reaction to free-wheeling lending practices that pushed consumers to buy homes they could not afford during the real estate boom of the mid-2000s.

Cash buyers, meanwhile, who have been key players in the revival of the region’s housing market, also are elbowing out those who must borrow money to buy a home, said Lois Seropian, a Realtor with Coldwell Banker on Siesta Key.

“Most of our deals are cash,” she said. “Mortgages are very hard on us. Even though rates are great, you have to have perfect credit.

“When those buyers go up against a cash buyer, the seller will take the cash. A mortgage is going to take six to eight weeks, while with cash you close in 10 days,” she said.

via heraldtribune.com

 

Trulia reveals best home-searching season | South Salem NY Real Estate

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Online real estate marketplace Trulia ($24.32 0%) revealed its latest survey findings Wednesday, showing the seasonal patterns of home search activity based on its search traffic.

The research, which was based on all home searches on Trulia from 2007 to 2012, was used to determine whether a state’s search activity in each month is above or below the annual average for that state.

The study revealed that post-holiday motivation pushed many potential homebuyers and renters back into full-on search mode at the beginning of the year. Nationally, online real estate search activity surged in January and usually reaches its peak around March or April.

Typically May sees a slight dip, but is directly followed by a second yearly peak during the summer months. Home searches usually dip the lowest in December.

“Home-search activity swings with the seasons in every state. Buyers and sellers can use these ups and downs to their advantage,” said Jed Kolko, chief economist of Trulia. “Sellers looking for the most buyers should list when real estate search traffic peaks. Buyers, however, should think about searching off-season, when there is less competition from other searchers.”

While most online home searches at the state level correspond with typical seasonal patterns, local markets are completely different depending on the market.

In Hawaii and Florida, January has home search activity 10% above the average; however, Maine reports a 10% decrease in activity compared to the average.

Typically, search activity peaks during the summer in the South and for a few states in the Northwest and Northeast. However, Montana and Oregon don’t peak until August. By the time October rolls around, every state is below its annual average in search activity, and every state drops even lower in December.

“Local weather patterns have a big impact on when people search for homes online. If it’s too cold or wet to check out open houses, people search less online,” said Kolko. “Search activity in warm-winter states, like Florida and Hawaii, peaks in January and February. But for most of the country, search traffic is highest in March or April, especially in regions where summer brings rain. In general, people search more online when it’s warm and dry outside.”

via housingwire.com

How—and Why—to Make Your Blog Print-friendly | South Salem Realtor

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When crafting your blog, it is easy to neglect how it might look to someone who wants to print your articles and posts.

After all, with huge monitors, smart phones, tablets, and the bevy of other ways people can access your content, who’d want to print it out on a piece of paper like it’s 2004?

Well, it’s the hallmark of a good designer to not assume how someone will want to digest what you have to offer, and it’s so easy to make your blog print-friendly that there is really no reason not to.

You’d be surprised by how many people will choose to print useful articles, especially if they contain some useful information that they would like to refer to when they’re not near a computer.

Printing from scratch

For the code-skittish, there are some special tools and plugins you can use to help get your print-ready blog set up, and we’ll get to those shortly. If you want to customize it exactly how you want—for example, adding a print-only message to the bottom of the page—the best way to do it is coding it yourself with CSS.

Start in the file called header.php in your theme, and look for the line below:

<link rel=”stylesheet” href=”<?php bloginfo(‘stylesheet_url’); ?>” type=”text/css” media=”screen” />

That line tells the browser what style it should use based on the way the user is viewing the page. Most of the time, it will be viewed on a screen. Below that line, add this one:

<link rel=”stylesheet” href=”<?php bloginfo(‘template_directory’); ?>/print.css” type=”text/css” media=”print” />

This directs the browser to use a different stylesheet, called print.css, if the content is being printed. Of course, print.css does not exist yet, so open up your favorite text editor and save a new file called print.css, dropping it into your theme’s directory (the same place you can find your theme’s main stylesheet).

If someone is printing your article, they want just the content of the article. Excessive images that don’t add real value to the content usually wreak havoc on printers and ink supplies, so you’ll want to remove your site’s header, menus, and advertisements (you won’t be making any cash from printed out Internet ads, anyway).

How can you do this? Take a look at your page code, and find the div id of the section you would like to remove (e.g. <div id=”comments”>). Then, simply add the following rule to your print.css file:

#comments {display:none;}.

The reader wants the article formatted to fit the piece of paper it is being printed on, so scrap any sidebars and footers that might cause unnecessary white space and extra pages.

Finally, remove anything that a reader of a printed sheet cannot use. This includes comment sections (as we’ve just seen), navigation bars, and anything else that requires some sort of user action, like related articles links.

You can test your stylesheet as you modify it using your browser’s print preview function. Just keep removing stuff until it looks like something you’d want to come out of the printer!

Using tools and plugins

WordPress and Blogger are the two most popular blogging platforms, and for those who are not comfortable digging into code and writing a stylesheet themselves, both platforms have plugins that can quickly get you a serviceable print-ready page for every article on your blog.

For WordPress, the easiest option is WP-Print.

A very simple plugin, it gives you a few basic options about how your print page should look, including which links to include, what images should stay in the page, how to handle videos, and an option for a disclaimer.

Your user will simply see a Print button next to your articles exactly where they expect it to. Some other, more complicated tools might offer other functionality, such as printing a page to a PDF, emailing it to friends, or integration with social media like Twitter and Facebook.

If you run a Blogger site, the website printfriendly.com asks you to make a few simple choices, such as the appearance of your Print button and the inclusion or exclusion of features like email and PDF printing. It then gives you a link to download a Blogger widget you can install directly on your site, as well as code you can copy and paste directly where you want the button to show up.

Looking good … in print!

In the end, whatever method you choose, you will have an attractive print-friendly version of every page on your site with only a few minutes’ work.

It might not be the most used feature you ever offer, but for the occasions when a visitor does want to print out something you wrote, they will undoubtedly appreciate that you spent the time to accommodate them.

via problogger.net

Current Confidence Index for Single-Family Homes Steady | South Salem NY Real Estate

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The majority of REALTORS® continued to report rising home prices and improving days on the market.  However, REALTORS®   reported that  the market remains hampered by a “demanding and rigid loan qualification process”  that  has made mortgage underwriting  “a nightmare”  and “the toughest hurdle.” This has led to cash  buyers and investors easing out  first time buyers using mortgage financing.   Low inventory  persists and REALTORS® have reported homes selling above the list price.  Policy uncertainty on a variety of economic and and tax issues, mainly due to the tepid job growth and  measures to avert the the fiscal cliff  — continues to dampen  the market. Hurricane Sandy also caused a temporary market slowdown in the affected areas, although a recovery is anticipated in the coming months.

What Does This Mean for REALTORS®?

Concerns over the residential home sale market are probably reflective of  current economic uncertainties.  In fact, the home sales markets have been recovering in price and sales in many areas, and mortgage rates are low—although finding a mortgage may take a number of applications.  REALTOR® confidence is well above its level two years ago, and prices and sales are slowly increasing.  Assuming that the economy continues  and that the fiscal cliff issue is addressed — which is the assumption of most economists  —  one would expect a continued expansion of home sales.

via economistsoutlook.blogs.realtor.org

The Difference between Strategy and Tactics | South Salem Realtor

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Apple World

The purpose of this post is to clearly delineate the distinct differences between strategy and tactics, and show how they work in tandem for your organization.

Often, we use the terms strategy and tactics interchangeably and in a haphazard manner.  When probing at online definitions and dictionaries, they often share many of the same characteristics, making them difficult to differentiate.  Rather than debate Greek military etymology, Sun Tzu philosophy, or latest publication from the Harvard Business Press, here’s strategy and tactics delineated by their associated actions:

[The difference between strategy and tactics: strategy is done above the shoulders, tactics are done below the shoulders]

While a tweet-worthy catch phrase, this metaphor risks glib over-simplification. To explore deeper, let’s dissect strategy vs tactics in the following breakdown:

Breakdown: The Difference between Strategy and Tactics

StrategyTactics
PurposeTo identify clear broader goals that advance the overall organization and organize resources.To utilize specific resources to achieve sub-goals that support the defined mission.
RolesIndividuals who influence resources in the organization. They understand how a set of tactics work together to achieve goals.Specific domain experts that maneuver limited resources into actions to achieve a set of goals.
AccountabilityHeld accountable to overall health of organization.Held accountable to specific resources assigned.
ScopeAll the resources within the organizations, as well as broader market conditions including competitors, customers, and economy.  Yet don’t over think it, to paraphrase my business partner Charlene Li, “Strategy is often what you don’t do”.A subset of resources used in a plan or process. Tactics are often specific tactics with limited resources to achieve broader goals.
DurationLong Term, changes infrequently.Shorter Term, flexible to specific market conditions.
MethodsUses experience, research, analysis, thinking, then communication.Uses experiences, best practices, plans, processes, and teams.
OutputsProduces clear organizational goals, plans, maps, guideposts, and key performance measurements.Produces clear deliverables and outputs using people, tools, time.

Strategy and Tactics Must Work in Tandem
These two must work in tandem, without it your organization cannot efficiently achieve goals.  If you have strategy without tactics you have big thinkers and no action. If you have tactics without strategy, you have disorder.  To quote my former business partner, Lora Cecere, she reminds me that organizations need big wings (strategic thinking) and feet (capability to achieve).

Examples:
To illustrate, here’s some specific examples across different industries of how strategic goals can be communicated with clear tactical elements, in a linear and logical order:

  • Strategy: Be the market share leader in terms of sales in the mid-market in our industry. Tactics: Offer lower cost solutions than enterprise competitors without sacrificing white-glove service for first 3 years of customer contracts.
  • Strategy: Maneuver our brand into top two consideration set of household decision makers. Tactics: Deploy a marketing campaign that leverages existing customer reviews and spurs them to conduct word of mouth with their peers in online and real world events.
  • Strategy: Improve retention of top 10% of company performers. Tactics: Offer best in market compensation plan with benefits as well as sabbaticals to tenured top performers, source ideas from top talent.
  • Strategy: Connect with customers while in our store and increase sales. Tactics: Offer location based mobile apps on top three platforms, and provide top 5 needed use cases based on customer desire and usage patterns.
  • Strategy: Become a social utility that earth uses on an daily basis. Tactics: Offer a free global communication toolset that enables disparate personal interactions with your friends to monitor, share, and interact with.

Action: Using Strategy and Tactics to advance your Organization
First, educate your staff and colleagues on the differences of terms and how they vary.  Next, ensure that all tactics align to business strategy, and all strategies take into account tactics on how they will be achieved.  Finally, cascade in all communication how strategy and tactics work in tandem, advancing how your organization can see the larger goals, and better utilize resources to achieve.

That’s my take, but please expand the conversation with your perspective, in the comments below.

Image credit: “Telescope” by Kristin Marshall, used within creative commons licensing.

via web-strategist.com

New Jersey plays catch-up in foreclosure market | South Salem NY Real Estate

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foreclosure-nj Joe Raedle Getty Images.JPG Foreclosures are down nationwide, but linger in New Jersey. Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Despite a drop in foreclosures nationwide, New Jersey continues to play catch-up.

A report today from RealtyTrac showed foreclosure activity dropped signnificantly as banks have been encouraged to work with homeowners to find ways to kep them in their homes or unload them through short sales, in which the property is sold for less than the debt owed on it.

Bank repossessions were down 17 percent nationally last year, according to RealtyTrac. Foreclosure filings dropped 3 percent. That represents a drop of 36 percent from a peak in 2010, the firm said.

But foreclosures surged in New Jersey by 55 percent over last year. New Jersey, along with Florida and Illinois, saw the largest increases in foreclosure activity.

So-called judicial states like New Jersey, in which the process must go through the courts, take longer to resolve cases. A backlog built up in 2011 when courts ordered the the mortgage industry to address charges the companies employed questionable procedures in order to streamline the process, often hurting homeowners.

In New Jersey, the foreclosure process can take up to three years to complete, leaving a larger than average backlog.

While foreclosure activity declined last year, the inventory of homes in some stage of foreclosure or in banks’ possession climbed 9 percent to 1.5 million homes, RealtyTrac said.

Florida accounted for the biggest share of foreclosure inventory last year, or 20 percent of the national total.
The Associated Press contributed to this report

via nj.com

For-sale Inventory Only Half of 2006 Level | South Salem NY Real Estate

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Only half of many homes in America are listed for sale compared to the height of the housing  boom in 2006 while median list prices are about the same as they were a year ago.

The size of the inventory declined steadily in 2012, with the number of for-sale properties in December roughly 50 percent below the levels observed at the height of the housing crisis.  The national for-sale inventory continued to decline in December, falling by -6.51 percent over the month and by -17.32 percent on an annual basis. The large year-over-year decline in the for-sale inventory is a positive sign that the market has worked through much of its excess inventory, which should help to bolster housing prices and potentially set the stage for additional growth.

However, while list prices also increased significantly over the first half of the year, they have declined in recent months, with the median list price in December now roughly the same as it was one year ago.  In addition, a growing number of housing markets-primarily in older industrialized areas-are registering year-over-year list price declines, according to December data from Realtor.com

These potentially off-setting trends suggest that house price appreciation in the upcoming year is likely to be more moderate than it was in 2012. The median list price in December ($187,900) was essentially the same as it was a year ago despite the significant gains that occurred earlier in the year, when the median list price rose to as high as $195,000 in June 2012.

On a year-over-year basis, December median list prices were up by 1 percent or more in 66 of 146 MSAs, and up by 5 percent or more in 49 MSAs.  Median list prices were down by 1 percent or more in 49 markets, while 14 experienced a decline of more than 5 percent.  The remaining 31 markets have not experienced significant changes in their median list price compared to a year ago.

Over the past few months, the number of markets experiencing year-over-year price declines has steadily increased, while the number experiencing list price increases has steadily declined. In fact, compared to one year ago, the number of markets ending the year with a year-over-year price decline has more than doubled (49 in December 2012 vs. 20 in December 2011) and a significantly lower number of markets have a year-over-year price increase (66 in December 2012 vs.101 in December 2011).

California markets continue to dominate the list of areas experiencing the largest year-over-year increases in their median list prices.  In addition, Phoenix, AZ, Atlanta GA, and Seattle, WA are among the top performers. The 10 markets with the largest year-over-year list price increase are shown below.  All but one of these markets (Phoenix) experienced year-over-year declines in their for-sale inventories of -20 percent or more, while six of these markets had inventory declines of 40 percent or more.

For more than a year, older industrialized markets that never experienced the rapid run-up in prices that led up to the housing crisis have been registering the highest rates of list price declines.  This pattern continued in December.  While Jersey City and Chicago had year-over-year inventory declines of -31 percent and -22 percent respectively, most of the remaining areas experienced inventory declines that were well-below the national average (-17 percent).

The median age of inventory of for sale listings was 111 days in December,  up by 9.90 percet from November, but -9.01 percent below the median age one year ago (December 2011).  While the median age of the inventory is highly seasonal, the year-over-year decline is consistent with other data showing a general tightening of market conditions over the year.

via realestateeconomywatch.com