Tag Archives: Waccabuc Homes

Signed contracts to buy existing homes dropped 8.7 percent in December as abnormally cold weather hit much of the U.S., according to a new report from the National Association of Realtors.

The plunge caught economists by surprise. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast pending home sales would tick up 0.3 percent.

This pending home sales index fell to 92.4 from a downwardly revised 101.2 in November. These signed contracts are an indicator of sales in January and February, and are at the lowest level since October 2011.

“Home prices rising faster than income is also giving pause to some potential buyers, while at the same time a lack of inventory means insufficient choice. Although it could take several months for us to get a clearer read on market momentum, job growth and pent-up demand are positive factors,” said the association’s chief economist, Lawrence Yun.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/101377134

Sharp Drop In December Pending Home Sales | Waccabuc NY Real Estate

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The number of U.S. homes in contract fell to the lowest point in 20 months last month. Unseasonably cold weather and low home inventory may have temporarily slowed housing growth nationwide.

For home buyers, the drop may present an opportunity. Homes had sold quickly through most of 2013 so the rapid, year-end slowdown may help give buyers leverage. Plus, mortgage rates have been dropping. Today’s rates are their lowest in more than 10 weeks.

The spring market looks ripe to rebound. The best deals of this year, then, may be the ones you find today.

Pending Home Sales Index : A “Future” Housing Indicator

The Pending Home Sales Index (PHSI) is a monthly report, published by the National Association of Realtors® (NAR). It measures homes under contract, and not yet closed.

The Pending Home Sales Index is unique among the “common” housing market metrics. Whereas most metrics report on how the housing market did perform, the Pending Home Sales Index reports on how the housing market will perform. The index is “forward-looking”.

This is because, according to the National Association of Realtors®, 80% of homes under contract “close” within 2 months.

In this way, the Pending Home Sales Index is correlated to the Existing Home Sales report. Homes under contract become homes sold. We should expect the February Existing Home Sales report, then, to show a similar drop-off as last month’s Pending Home Sales Index.

In December, the Pending Home Sales Index slipped 9% to reach 92.4. The drop marks the largest one-month change since May 2010, which was the month after the end of that year’s federal home buyer tax credit.

http://themortgagereports.com/14334/pending-home-sales-index-buyer-opportunity

30-Year Fixed Mortgage Rate Declines Slightly | Waccabuc NY Homes

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Mortgage rates for 30-year fixed mortgages fell this week, with the current rate borrowers were quoted on Zillow Mortgage Marketplace 4.18 percent, down from 4.23 percent at this same time last week.

The 30-year fixed mortgage rate remained stable for the majority of the week, peaking on Wednesday at 4.26 percent before dropping to the current rate over the weekend.

“Last week, rates dipped abruptly after China’s lackluster manufacturing report triggered concerns about the health of the global economy,” said Erin Lantz, director of mortgages at Zillow. “This week, markets will look to Wednesday’s Fed announcement about unwinding its stimulus program and Thursday’s GDP numbers as indicators of whether the U.S. economy can continue to improve. Mortgage rates could be affected by either or both.”

Additionally, the 15-year fixed mortgage rate this morning was 3.18 percent and for 5/1 ARMs, the rate was 2.80 percent.

What are the interest rates right now? Check Zillow Mortgage Marketplace for mortgage rate trends and up-to-the-minute mortgage rates for your state.

http://homes.yahoo.com/news/30-fixed-mortgage-rate-declines-slightly-190915610.html

Top 10 WordPress Plugins That You Need To Be Using In 2014 | Waccabuc NY Realtor

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If you’re running a WordPress-powered website or blog, then you’re always searching for a way to innovate and make your site easier to use –for both you and your visitors. This is one reason why WordPress plugins are so unbelievably awesome, because they seem like quick little cheats and hacks that take little-to-no time to learn, install, and use.

One of the most important parts of the plugins we chose is that all ten of them can help just about any blog in some way. Also, we wanted high functionality, low cost, ease of use, popularity, and simple installation. To make the cut, they basically have to be foolproof and downright powerful.

Well, it is now the year 2014, and this top-10 list of the year’s best plugins has arrived. If you haven’t yet download these plugins, your life is about to get a whole lot easier…

Here are top 10 WordPress Plugins you should consider using in 2014.

#1: WordPress by Yoast

With over 7 million downloads to date, that makes this one of the #1 WordPress plugins for its power, ease-of-use, and functionality for optimizing your posts for search engines. Basically, the plugin works the way it sounds: simply download it, install the plugin, and it goes to work getting your blog or website search engine optimized. According to the raving customer reviews, this plugin is not to be overlooked.

#2: WP Google Drive

Don’t get caught in a sticky situation. Backing up the files from your WordPress site is just as essential, as it is easy with this plugin, called WP Google Drive. Backup plugins for WordPress are a dime-a-dozen; however, the fact that this backs up to Google Drive makes it unbelievably simple and convenient.

#3: Ebyline WordPress Payments

Ebyline is an industry leader in connecting freelance writers and clients who need content creation. Thus it makes sense that they would develop a plugin that allows clients to pay freelance writers directly from their WordPress dashboard. Not only is this convenient, but the plugin even keeps track of W9 tax information too. Clever. Very clever.

#4: Google Analytics Dashboard

If you need to track your traffic, but don’t want to navigate away from your WordPress dashboard, then you can do it with this plugin: Google Analytics Dashboard. The convenience of this plugin is monumental, giving you a realtime picture of what your traffic is doing, directly from inside WordPress.

#5: Shareaholic

If you want one of the best plugins in the history of blogging, you’ll need to download Shareaholic. It’s basically a platform, from which you can get your blog posts noticed, via social networking media. Not only will this work with Facebook, but you can also use it with LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest, and even Google+. Also, it will provide the usual Facebook buttons, just so you can increase your blog post’s ‘shareability’. In addition, its sleek design cuts down on the clutter, helping your blog get noticed and stand out. Few plugins are this powerful.

#6: Thank Me Later

Have you ever posted a comment on a blog, or provided your email to a site –then receiving an email mere seconds from doing so? You automatically think, “Well either that’s the most obsessive blog admin on the web, or this is an auto-generated email.” Well, with Thank Me Later, you can make your ‘Thank you,’ emails far more personal through the ability to customize certain fields, and the best part… you can tell it to send hours after you the signup. The beauty of this is the fact that it provides a much more personal touch to the emails that are programmed to be sent to new commenters and visitors.

#7: Akismet

Of course, not all comments are generated without ulterior motives. Having to deal with spam and those annoying ad comments is synonymous with the success of a blog… until now.

Askimet is a WordPress plugin that will filter junk comments and sift through the real ones and the spam. Simply set it and forget it, but you can moderate all comments if you wish. Also, your use of Askimet will send reports and help improve the plugin to provide better filtering.

#8: Contact Form 7

Basically, Contact Form 7 is a WP plugin that provides one of the most functional, simplest, and easiest contact forms for blogs. If you’ve recently filled out a contact form on a blog, then there’s a good chance it was one powered by Contact Form 7. Also, do you remember how we talked about those annoying spammers in #7? Well, CF7 even works with Askimet, so that you can rest assured –those spammers aren’t going to abuse your contact form.

#9: Simple Pull Quote

If you run any kind of a research-based blog or write about anything concerning current events, then it is important to be able to quote your sources. However, quoted sources are often overlooked by readers. One great way to keep people reading (even your quotes) is to make the quote ‘stick out’.

Simple Pull Quote is a plugin that simply adds a button to your post dashboard, which allows you to highlight the text that was pulled from another source. The visitor then sees a clear, concise quote that sticks out. Simple.