Feb. 26, 2008 - Avoiding identity theft

Know how to fight back

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), in conjunction with the National Association of Realtors (NAR), wants to help you to deter, detect and defend against identity theft.

Identity thieves can only take advantage of you give them information or they obtain information about you.  Each year, millions of Americans have their identity stolen. Get the information you need to protect yourself against identity theft. This video can help you to minimize the risk of becoming a victim and reduce the emotional stress that often comes with identity theft.

Feb. 23, 2008 - Getting your finances together

The Mint.com can help

"We all need to know more about money and we need to absorb as much information as possible. That includes more than the top 10 lists that most blogs create. We then need to teach these lessons to our kids because at last check there was no Personal Finance 101 in high school (where it is desperately needed)." - Jay White of Dumb Little Man

Having said that, an excellent posting can be found on Mint.com.  It includes 30 free eBooks on personal finance that can be downloaded to your computer.

For those unfamiliar with the Mint site, it is an online money management tool.  This is how it works:  Mint is a secure web-based solution for managing your finances. And it’s free. You register anonymously using any valid email address, and then add the log-in information for the online bank, credit union and credit card accounts you want to consolidate in Mint. 

Even if you don't use all of the online tools, it is a great resource for gaining financial knowledge. 
Thanks to DumbLittleMan.com for the head's up!

Feb. 21, 2008 - Don't fall victim

Consumer Fraud Alert

As a CENTURY 21 Sales Associate, I find this fraud to be especially disturbing.  There is a rental scam involving the unauthorized use of the CENTURY 21® brand name, website and email address.

The scammer uses online classified ad services such as Craigslist.org to post bogus offers. The victim is told that the renter is “travelling”, “vacationing abroad” or “relocating”. The victim is required to pay a deposit via Western Union in exchange for the “keys” to the property.

In an effort to instill confidence in this transaction, the scammer fraudulently claims to have listed the apartment with a local CENTURY 21® office and arranges for a fraudulent email notification posing as a CENTURY 21® representative (and using CENTURY 21® logos) to be sent to the victim.

The scammer disappears once the deposit is received, leaving the prospective tenant defrauded.

For more information and tips to avoid such frauds, read more at: CENTURY21.com 

Click here to find a CENTURY 21 office or agent.  You may also search by map.

Feb. 19, 2008 - Realogy takes a giant step into web 2.0

Deals penned with Zillow.com, Cyberhomes.com, AOL and Homescape.com

In an announcement made earlier today Realogy Corporation, parent company of CENTURY 21®, Coldwell Banker®, ERA® and Sotheby’s International Realty® and Company-owned brokerages operated by its subsidiary, NRT LLC, will now post their 700,000 collective property listings daily via Cyberhomes.com, AOL Real Estate and Homescape.com. This deal also expands the exclusive posting of ERA listings to Zillow.com to the other franchises under Realogy's umbrella.  The deal squarely places Realogy ahead of the pack with web 2.0 positioning.

Today's press release builds upon marketing agreements that have, for nearly one year, loaded CENTURY 21®, Coldwell Banker® and ERA® brand property listings onto Google.com, Yahoo.com, Trulia.com search engine, OpenHouse.com and HGTV's Frontdoor.com; making it easier than ever for buyers to find the home of their dreams, while providing sellers with outstanding marketing exposure.

Google.com, Zillow.com and Trulia.com rank among the top real estate portals on the web.  

Richard A. Smith, vice chairman and president of Realogy Corporation.said, "More than 58 percent of all Internet searches on "real estate" and related terms are conducted on Google and its search partner sites*, while over 375 million unique global users conduct searches on Google.com each month." according to comScore, December 2006.

After my recent posting, Chillied on Zillow - Accuracy of local data is problematic, Drew Meyers from zillow replied, "Over time, as we get more updated home facts from agents and owners (over a million people have updated their home facts so far), our zestimate accuracy should improve."  It will be quite interesting to see how their "zestimates" for Franklin Township homes and the surrounding areas improve.

Feb. 18, 2008 - Straight to the point

Secrets of a Gen X'er with no shades of gray

I came across the talents of Daniel Rothamel of Real Estate Zebra a few months ago and was quite impressed with his Blog and what he had to say.  Just this morning, I "discovered" the musings of Mariana Wagner and her Colorado Springs Blog.

Daniel's video, "How To Sell Your House In Black & White", should be required veiwing for anyone even contemplating the idea of selling a home in a buyers' market. It will definitely become a part of my listing presentation.  It appears from positive reaction, it has garnered a second black & white video; this one on honesty.  I love the simple straight forward message, not to mention the great background music.

After reading Mariana's "The Secret Life of a “Generation X” Consumer … My Story.", it seems that although I'm a baby boomer I might very well also be a Generation X'er...with 27 years experience. Ha!  Here are a few traits that Mariana and I have in common:

• Show me what you offer and let me make my own decisions.
• I am more apt to support a business or business person that shares my point of view.
• We like facts – clear, precise, to-the-point, no-frills facts.
• We will go online for everything first. Your job is not to capture us and only give us your information. (If you missed it, take a look at 1000wattblog's video.)

I suppose this is all a result of spending time with multi-generational family, colleagues and friends, especially over the past 10 years. I've adopted some of the younger qualities that mesh with my own core beliefs and values.   I also learned a little about Echo Boomers; a term new to me, until now. A big thanks to both Daniel and Mariana for your fresh (at least to me) insights that help to keep me on track.  Ol' dogs really can learn new tricks!

Feb. 13, 2008 - You should act now

Upcoming Franklin Township library events

To para-phrase the New York Times'  subscription TV ad..."You should act now", if you don't want to miss out on these local free events!

Thursday, February 14th, 7:00 PM  South Asian Film Festival - The films being shown are Holly Bolly, Cosmopolitan, The Little Terrorist and Whose Children Are These? This is a free program open to all. It starts promptly at 7PM so please arrive early to be sure to get a seat for this limited seating screening. For more information please call the library at 732-873-8700 or visit the NJISACF website.

Feb. 13, 2008 - Bush signs stimulus package

Effects on the housing market

In a press release, earlier today, the White House released a fact sheet detailing housing benefits of the Economic Stimulus Act of 2008, signed into law by Prseident George W. Bush.  The press release also emphasizes other programs put into place to help some homeowners struggling to pay mortgage loans.

Yesterday, the new Project Lifeline initiative was announced, which will help more Americans keep their homes by giving HOPE NOW servicers a new tool to reach out to seriously delinquent homeowners. Project Lifeline offers, where appropriate, to "pause" the foreclosure process for 30 days while other longer-term solutions are explored. All HOPE NOW servicers are contacting subprime borrowers 120 days before their interest rate resets. The nationwide hotline is (888-995-HOPE).

In August, the President and his Administration launched a new initiative at the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) called FHASecure. FHASecure expands the FHA's ability to offer refinancing by giving it the flexibility to work with homeowners who have good credit histories but cannot afford their current payments.

In December, President Bush signed the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act of 2007, which will help Americans avoid foreclosure by protecting families from higher taxes when they refinance their home mortgages. This Act created a three-year window for homeowners to refinance their mortgage and pay no Federal taxes on any debt forgiveness they receive.(more)

The biggest winners in the rescue plan could likely be Americans with more expensive homes who will be able to refinance their mortgages at cheaper fixed rates. The stimulus package temporarily raises the limit on Federal Housing Administration loans and also raise the cap on loans that mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac can buy to a maximum of $729,750.  However, this mazimum limit applies only to "high cost" areas and is not a nation-wide standard. (more)

Feb. 12, 2008 - Chilled on Zillow

Accuracy of local data is problematic

It was bound to happen sooner or later.  Zillow.com has come to Somerset, NJ...warts and all. I received an email today informing me the "Zillow® Buzz" got a makeover and that I should click the links to check out what's there for Franklin Township.   Sadly, each of the direct links were dead. 

There's been long standing criticism of Zillow regrading the site's "zestimate" of home values and incomplete or inaccurate "data".  The critics still bear merit.  A glaring example is the limited number of Franklin Towship listings.

More than two years ago Nicholas Carr wrote on his blog, Rough Type, "The data's not reliable. As soon as I got onto the site, I did what I'm sure millions of other people did yesterday: I zillowed my own home. The house description, alas, was way out of date. It didn't include an addition that we put on three years ago, which meant that the room count, bath count, and square footage were all off."  I also love the comment on Valleywag.com; “The brilliant bit is that Zillow's best defense is, "Our system is inaccurate all over." 

After reading today's email, of course, the first thing I did was to zillow my house too.  In my case the information was woefully incomplete. All that is there is that my home is two stories with a one car garage and zestimates a value of $320,500.  Strangely, my northern next door neighbor's home, which shares the same floor plan, is valued at $3,000 more.  There are no exterior differences. My southern next door neighbor, who has one less bedroom, is valued at $6,500 more than my house!  And, this discrepancy doesn't credit the added improvements made to my home including granite kitchen counters, a custom back splash and hardwood and marble floors.

All is not bad at zillow.com.  The site offers some great resources for buyers and a few good "fear busters" for sellers.  Zillow still secretly thrives on overconfident users.”  All I can say is Caveat Emptor.

Feb. 8, 2008 - There, but for the grace....

Helping this week's tornado victims

Living here in central New Jersey we sometimes fall into a false sense of security when we hear news of tornadoes and earthquakes. It's not that long ago that a tornado swept through parts of Brooklyn, New York.  These forces of nature could very well happen here. 

The real estate community is joining forces to help the victims of 5 states who are affected by the severe tornadoes this past week. And, you can help too.  Through 1000wattblog.com I learned of the efforts of Agent genius to help our fellow citzens.

I join them both in encouraging you to give what you can and to help spread this message by word of mouth, your websites and/or blogs. 

Go to Bloodhound.com to find code that you can use to post buttons on your blog to help raise funds  They all incorporate Jay Thompson's Pay Pal interface.

Feb. 5, 2008 - January 2008 Residential Sales

Franklin Township Residential Sales

The month ended with 30 Franklin Township single family residences sold between January 1 - 31, 2008. These properties sold during this period at an average of 96% of listing price. 

The month ended with 496 active listings on the market, including 120 new listings.

If you have a question about a specific property in town, or stats for surrounding areas, please don't hesitate to contact me.

Source: Garden State MLS, L.L.C. **Info. deemed RELIABLE but not GUARANTEED - ALL Room Sizes are Approx.**

Feb. 3, 2008 - The hard sell

The Hard Truth

In yet another report about New Jersey real estate, yesterday's NJ.com blog highlighted James Bednar's blog New Jersey Real Estate Report.  This blog has been tracking accepted lowball real estate offers of at least 20% below the original listing price.  Frankly, these deals only point to unrealistic values home owners had originally placed on their houses that had no correlation to the marketplace. 

Some commentors to NJ.com's article attempt to place the blame for New Jersey's real estate slump on the backs of Realtors. Here is an example, "The realtors and builders are the ones to blame here--they are setting the pricing and none of it adds up. They have created a nightmare and is it fixable without the homeowners taking a loss?"

Let's be honest here. It is the homeowner who ultimately sets the listing price.  Some Realtors will accept a seller's perception of overpriced value simply to get the listing; knowing it will need to be reduced in order to attract a buyer.  I've lost business (aka money) to other Realtors because I have refused to play the "listing game" of telling the seller what s/he wants to hear.  I tell the seller what s/he needs to hear, which is simply the truth.  And...sometimes the truth hurts. 

Your house is not a bank. It was designed to provide shelter for you and your family. Your house may not be worth what you want to be worth and today's value has nothing to do with what you paid for it four years ago, or what you need in profits to move on to your next home.  It's worth is what a willing and able buyer agrees to pay for it.

Star-Ledger writer, Sam Ali, reiterates what was reported last week in the New York Times, "for buyers, however, the next six months could present a rare opportunity, with a combination of low home prices, low interest rates and a wide selection of homes offered by motivated sellers." Jeffrey Otteau, president of East Brunswick-based Otteau Valuation Group supports that premise stating, "We're all likely to look back five years from now and conclude that 2008 was a time when smart buyers took advantage of this unique opportunity by locking in both low prices and low interest rates."

So, buyers...Between now and this coming summer may be your best opportunity to get the home that you really want. 

Checking Just the Stats you will find that since the begining of my reports too you, Franklin Township has consistantly shown sales of homes within 96% to 98% of the listing price for single family residences.  That is not to say that prices aren't falling here too.

If you have specific questions, wish a Comparitive Market Analysis (CMA) or want more information regarding our local and surrounding areas, please, don't hesitate to contact me.  

Feb. 1, 2008 - The sins of a seller

Don't become guilty of these offenses

I've read that pyschologists and seminar speakers widely claim that we have only three to seventeen seconds (at most) to make a first impression.  If that is true, what does your house convey to potential home buyers the moment they drive up to the curb and enter the front door?

These are the 7 "deadly" deal breakers home sellers can make:

• Fail to thoroughly deep clean the home especially the kitchen and bathrooms
• Fail to de-clutter the entire home
• Fail to de-personalize your entire home
• Fail to use neutral colors when painting both inside and outside
• Fail to spotlessly clean the windows and window coverings
• Fail to make your pets seem to disappear
• Fail to spruce up your your landscaping

For more selling tips, or greater detail of the seller sins, feel free to contact me.