Tag Archives: Waccabuc Homes for Sale

Lower consumer confidence and real estate | Waccabuc Real Estate

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LOWER consumer confidence could put a dampener on a housing market, which had shown strong improvements since the start of the year.

The latest consumer sentiment data from Westpac and the Melbourne Institute revealed that consumer confidence had fallen for the fourth consecutive month.

RP Data research director Tim Lawless said the index did move around a lot from month to month, so as a result following the trend was more important than the monthly result.

“However we have seen the index move lower over five of the past six months which indicates a softening consumer mind set,’’ he said.

Mr Lawless said consumer confidence and housing market conditions were highly linked.

“If a consumer is lacking confidence in their household finances they aren’t going to be as prepared to make a high commitment decision such as purchasing a property,’’ he said.

Mr Lawless said if consumer confidence continued at similar levels in the coming months, he thought the “exuberant’’ housing market conditions would taper off.

He said at the moment even though confidence levels had eased, consumers still viewed the housing market as a ‘wise’ place for their savings.

“Consumer confidence can be fickle, and we may see the consumer mind set bounce back to a more optimistic position if the jobless rate stabilises and economic data flows improve,’’ he said.

 

http://www.news.com.au/finance/real-estate/lower-consumer-confidence-could-put-a-dampener-on-the-market/story-fncq3era-1226858156877

How to Convince Buyers Your Listing is a Bargain | Waccabuc Real Estate

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When you’re trying to understand or influence human behavior—as you might do when, say, listing and marketing a home for sale—it’s important to respect the distinction between what people should do and what they actually do do.

This is the difference between economics and behavioral economics. Classical economics theory is based on the belief that people will behave rationally and that we can use reason and logic to predict the movements of the market. But the fields of behavioral economics and behavioral finance were created in the hopes of gaining a better understanding of how real people actually make real financial decisions in real life.

Here are a handful behavioral finance must-knows for listing agents, to help manage your clients’ mindsets and help them understand why and how you’re marketing your home to buyers.

1. Don’t let overconfidence lead to overpricing.

Real estate agents are the only commissioned salespeople I know of who spend much of their time trying to talk their clients down in pricing their product. Why? Because we know that listing a home at too high a price causes unnecessary woe, drama and failure. Set the listing price too high and a home will lag on the market, attracting lowball offers. The end result is often a price reduction or can even keep a hope from selling at all.

Overpricing can result from the same overconfidence and overoptimism that causes buyers to make lowball offers on great homes in a hot market. It’s the same overconfidence and overoptimism that inspires investors to day trade, erroneously thinking they have superhuman stock picking skills. In fact, when you study up on successful amateur day traders, it becomes clear that what they have is less innate skill and more the willingness to voraciously, constantly research the companies and the markets—many, for hours every single day. Many have also placed rules on themselves and their trades specifically to counter their own human emotions and irrational tendencies.

That’s precisely how home sellers can and should deactivate overconfidence when it comes to pricing.  Urge them to commit to sitting down with you and pore over local market data, recently sold homes in the area, average days on market, and the local price-to-sale price ratios. While you’re looking through the comps together, take pains to point out the potential rewards of a disciplined, data-driven approach to pricing.

 

 

http://www.trulia.com/pro/buyers/how-to-convince-buyers-your-listing-is-a-bargain/?ecampaign=tnews&eurl=trulia.com%252Fpro%252Fbuyers%252Fhow-to-convince-buyers-your-listing-is-a-bargain%252F

If you want to pay off a mortgage early, should you do it gradually or all at once? | Waccabuc Real Estate

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Q: I am wondering what your opinion is about paying additional money toward my mortgage principal to pay off the balance early. Is it better to put extra money into paying off the mortgage, or should I invest that same money in another investment or 401(k)? I’d like to be able to either pay off the mortgage in 10 years at age 66 or have the funds available from other investments or my 401(k) to pay off at that time. — Tami

I’m often asked whether it’s better to prepay a mortgage or invest the difference. But you’ve put a fresh twist on it: You already know you want to pay off your mortgage early and are just looking for the best way to do that. With that goal in mind, you need to consider your own level of financial literacy and comfort with investing.

THE RISK-FREE ROUTE

Putting money into your home is a simple and safe investment. You will effectively “earn” your net interest rate. So, if your mortgage interest rate is 4.5 percent, and you don’t itemize your deductions, every dollar you prepay earns an effective interest rate of 4.5 percent – a lot better than you’ll do if you keep the cash in a savings account.

The nice thing is you won’t lose any money on this investment. It’s risk-free. And you’ll be building equity in your home. Paying off your mortgage by the time you retire means you’ll reduce your living expenses just as your income is potentially diminishing.

 

http://homes.yahoo.com/blogs/spaces/q-a–pay-down-mortgage-gradually-before-retirement–or-all-at-once-003307696.html

The Dirty Little Secret About Guest Blogging | Waccabuc Real Estate

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So I was doing my daily blog reading routine when I encountered a  certain post. In it, the author was complaining about receiving a lot of guest  posts with clear “client links” in the bio boxes. In other words, guest posts  where the author wanted to promote a third-party company or website instead of  their own personal brand.

The blogger in question was kind of angry that these guest authors “would dare” to send such posts, instead of wanting to “share with the community  naturally.”

So the main question is this: Is guest posting on your client’s  behalf bad?

(Well, you can see my point of view in the headline, but I’m  curious to learn yours, so feel free to comment.)

Anyway, I’m going to tell you exactly why guest posting for clients  isn’t bad at all, and also, what you can do when dealing with bloggers declining  your posts just because your link points to a client.

Reality of guest blogging

There’s a lot of guest blogging advice circulating around. Most of  it portrays the whole practice as a fairy tale. The preachers use words like: “when you guest post, you get to add to the community, reach out to other  people, be part of something bigger than yourself.”

True.

But it’s not the whole truth.

Guest blogging is always an exchange between the writer and the  host.

The host gets a free post (unless they pay for guest posts, ekhm).  The writer gets an audience to speak to, the possibility to spread their brand,  and the chance to link some website of their choice. In a word, they get to grow  just a tiny little bit thanks to the guest post.

Now here’s the kicker, I honestly believe that if there was some  international law forbidding guest bloggers to link to their projects, we’d see  at least a 90% drop (not that I’ve done any research) in the volume of guest  posting done worldwide. And I’m not trying to judge whether it’s good or bad,  that’s just what would likely happen.

Now, since the above pretty much explains that most of guest  blogging is done to achieve the writer’s goals and pursuits (in other words,  it’s a case of “me marketing”), let’s move on to the next thing.

Read more at http://www.jeffbullas.com/2014/03/04/the-dirty-little-secret-about-guest-blogging/#muLSQhzkk9A4duHJ.99

Fixed Mortgage Rates Continue Gradual Climb Higher | Waccabuc NY Real Estate

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Freddie Mac today released the results of its Primary Mortgage Market Survey® (PMMS®), showing average mortgage rates mixed with the fixed-rate products moving higher for the fourth consecutive week, while adjustable rate mortgages eased.

News Facts

  • 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 4.37 percent with an average 0.7 point for the week ending February 27, 2014, up from last week when it averaged 4.33 percent. A year ago at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 3.51 percent.
  • 15-year FRM this week averaged 3.39 percent with an average 0.7 point, up from last week when it averaged 3.35 percent. A year ago at this time, the 15-year FRM averaged 2.76 percent.
  • 5-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) averaged 3.05 percent this week with an average 0.5 point, down from last week when it averaged 3.08 percent. A year ago, the 5-year ARM averaged 2.61 percent.
  • 1-year Treasury-indexed ARM averaged 2.52 percent this week with an average 0.4 point, down from last week when it averaged 2.57 percent. At this time last year, the 1-year ARM averaged 2.64 percent.

Average commitment rates should be reported along with average fees and points to reflect the total upfront cost of obtaining the mortgage. Visit the following links for the Regional and National Mortgage Rate Details and Definitions. Borrowers may still pay closing costs which are not included in the survey.

Quotes Attributed to Frank Nothaft, vice president and chief economist, Freddie Mac.

“Mortgage rates edged up with new home sales exceeding expectations and rising to a seasonally adjusted pace of 468,000 units in January, the strongest annual rate since July 2008. The 9.6 percent increase in new home sales for January followed an upward revision of 13,000 units in December. The S&P/Case-Shiller® 20-city composite house price index rose 13.4 percent over the 12-months ending in December 2013.”