Jul. 28, 2009 - Open House at Home in Lansing NY School District
Come to visit the open house at the new listing located at 9 Horvath Drive in Ithaca, just off North Triphammer Road, on Sunday, August 2 from 1:00 to 3:00 pm. Spacious 5 bedroom 3 full bath raised ranch that has been recently renovated with new kitchen, baths, and more! Lower level has apartment for extended family, au pair, or rental. Visit the virtual tour at http://tinyurl.com/9HorvathDriveIthaca.
Jul. 23, 2009 - New Listing in Dryden Located on the Second Fairway
Location is everything! This nineteenth century 2-story Colonial is located in the Town of Dryden with the 2nd fairway of Dryden Lakes Golf Course in the back yard. With 4 bedrooms and 3 baths, this home has plenty of space with just over 2400 sq. ft. and is sited on 2.5 acres. Also nearby is Dryden Lake and 5 miles of marked hiking trails known as the Finger Lakes Trails.
May. 9, 2009 - Price Reduction for Contemporary on 9 acres
For those of you looking for a great deal on peace and privacy , you've come to the right place! This 2 bedroom Contemporary getaway is located at the end of a winding driveway in a wooded setting in Groton. Nice artist retreat, first time home buyer investment, or second home! Only $179,900! Come to the open house on May 16 from 2 to 4 pm and see for yourself!
Feb. 20, 2009 - Ithaca NY Real Estate Market Statics for January 2009
Get your copy of the January Ithaca Area Real Estate Statistics by following the link from my homepage at www.IthacaAreaHomes.com. Although the market experienced a downturn last month, we are finding that February sales seem to be rising and with the new $8,000 tax credit available for first time home buyers, the spring market in Ithaca will be a busy one! If you have any questions feel free to contact me. And for the latest news in the Ithaca real estate market, follow me on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/IthacaAreaHomes.
Dec. 26, 2008 - Podcast for First Time Home Buyers - High Level Overview
Buying a home for the first time (or first time in a long time) can be daunting. I've prepared this podcast for home buyers so they can get a high level overview of the process and will feel more comfortable knowing what the progression of events are in buying a home. This may seem like an overwhelming amount of information, but remember your Realtor will guide you each step of the way and keep you on track.
Dec. 10, 2008 - Maple Ridge - A New Community in Dryden NY
Maple Ridge in Dryden is a Community within a Community allowing its residents to choose from a 2 to 4 bedroom townhome or single family home. The building is in Phase One and will include sidewalks and streetlights. You can have your home built to fit your lifestyle, tastes and desires. Contact me for sample house and floor plans, or to set up an appointment to meet our builder and developer. The following video will give you a flavor of the community.
With current low interest rates for mortgages and many price reductions on existing inventory of homes in the Ithaca area, now is the perfect time for the savvy buyer to look seriously into making that real estate investment.
For a bit of entertainment and enlightenment, click on this video of the U.S. Home prices, adjusted for inflation, mapped out as a Roller Coaster ride beginning in the year 1890 to present. Make sure to scroll down to view the graph a History of Home Values. Enjoy!
The Ithaca area residential real estate statistics are out for November 2007.
The average selling price in November was $157,352 as opposed to $183,184 in November 2006 (down 14%). 166 listings went under contract in November 2007, up 3% over November 2006. Average days on the market went up slightly to 134 from 130. New listings on the market are down 7% from 87 to 81. The average selling to list price was 92.560%, down 3% from last November.
If you would like more information about specific data by school district, or what impact current market statistics have on the value of your home, feel free to contact me. Knowing the value of your home is important information if you are planning to move, if you are considering refinancing, or for estate planning.
Today's post is about
the Dryden area real estate market and the Dryden community in
general. The following video focuses on a new Dryden listing on
Livermore Road, as well as a few area photos so you
can get the flavor of the community. I'll be
spotlighting different markets in subsequent blog
articles.
In the past week, there is one new Dryden property on the market
listed at $189,000 and five homes were sold. To see what sold,
paste this link into your browser - clicking on it will not
work!
Interested in the demographics of the
community? ZipSkinny is new site I found and cannot
vouch for the accuracy, but it's interesting never the less. A
great resource for information about Dryden on an almost daily
basis is the blog Living In
Dryden by Simon St. Laurent, an editor with O'Reilly and
Associates. At the bottom of the page are a gazillion (yes, I
counted) links to his posts about Dryden about politics, emergency
services, Dryden Schools and more. The Village of Dryden has its own site
as does the Town of Dryden.
Dryden has been one of the most active real estate markets in the
past few years, and having lived there for several years I can
vouch for the fact that it is a great place to live!
Aug. 3, 2007 - Ithaca NY Real Estate is Alive and Well
I haven't posted to my blog in a while for a variety of reasons; one being that I have been extremely busy because the real estate market in Ithaca is not suffering the same downward turn as in other areas of the country, and generally doesn't.
A recent article in the Ithaca Journal dated July 18 espoused the discouraging news about the difficulty that first time homebuyers have. As pointed out in a letter to the editor by my esteemed colleague and good friend, Peggy Haine, even first-time homebuyers have the great good fortune to be able to avail themselves of services provided by Ithaca Neighborhood Housing Services for Tompkins County and also the SONYMA program that allows first time homebuyers, that qualify, to take advantage of, among other perks, a lower interest rate.
So the sky isn't falling. The real estate market always experiences fluctuations, By and large, real estate prices are reflective of the uniqueness of a property competing against other properties at a given time. If there are several similar homes on the market at one time, prices tend to go down. Because of the transient nature of the Ithaca population, we have more buyers than other areas (particularly in the spring) to absorb the excess housing and competition for the declining number of homes will cause the selling prices to escalate.
Buying real estate is not risky and is a great way to build wealth over the long run. Don't buy into all of the doom and gloom about the poor state of the real estate market. We're doing just fine in the Ithaca area.
Apr. 17, 2007 - A Good Credit Rating for Purchasing Real Estate
I recently read a great article by Eric Bramlett, an Austin, TX Realtor in which he takes a look at the spending habits of people with great credit scores. It seems they all had 7 habits in common.
1. Never Pay Cash - The only way to make your purchases (and payments) known to the big three bureaus is to pay with a credit card. I'm dating myself here, but I remember standing in line at a grocery store behind someone purchasing an item under $10 with a credit card and thinking that they probably couldn't afford to pay cash. This is no longer the case! These purchases are known to credit card companies as "micro-purchases" and can boost your score. Use it for movie tickets, soft drinks, and gum.
2. Never Use a Debit Card - Debit cards will not build your credit score. In addition, if you lose your debit card, you aren't protected against fraudulent purchases as you are with a credit card.
3. Pay Off Your Balance(s) - Try not to carry ANY balance. Pay them off every month.
4. Put Yourself on a Bill Payment Schedule - Make sure you are consistent. Schedule one day each month to pay your bills.
5. Consistently Request Higher Credit Card Limits - If you consistently borrow money and pay it off, credit card companies will easily raise your credit limit. It is best to have the balances of your cards below 35% of the cards limit. Higher limits make you eligible for special promotions on occasion.
6. Never Close a Credit Card Account - The age of your credit card matters to credit bureaus. If you over spend and have difficulty paying off a card, but eventually do get it paid, you lose the history of paying off on that card if you close the account.
7. Never Rent - The biggest impact on your credit score is the purchase of a home. A first-time home buyer after they close on their new home will see their credit score jump around 50 or more points within a few months.
Apr. 5, 2007 - 2006 Ithaca Area Real Estate Statistics
The Ithaca Board of Realtors has just released the Annual Statistics Report for Residential Properties to its members. There were no big surprises. The real estate market in Ithaca has remained fairly steady over the past 12 months as the statistics bear out. Traditionally, the market value of homes in Ithaca continues to increase, albeit only slightly some years. This is possibly because of the transient nature of our residents due to the college population.
Tompkins County saw 1,041 closed sales in 2006 (there were 1,040 closed sales in 2005). The average selling price was $193,506 in 2006 and $184,026 in 2005. The average selling price to list price was 96.8% last year, and 96.6% in 2005, and the average days on the market was 61 in 2006 and 55 in 2005.
The Belle Sherman School District saw the most closed sales, followed by the Dryden Central School District and then Caroline. By dollar volume, Cayuga Heights came in first, followed by Belle Sherman and then Lansing Central.
If you have any questions about sales of properties in areas of interest to you, I'd be happy to talk to you!
The Ithaca Board of Realtors and The Ithaca Journal are co-sponsoring an event, Home Within Reach: A Housing Opportunities Fair, for the community which promises to be fun, informative and educational. There will be seminars and workshops for first-time homebuyer financing, programs to help homeowners keep their homes energy efficient, information on assessments, and more. The event will be held next Saturday, March 24 from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. at the Ithaca High School. Admission is free. Stop in and meet with Ithaca area realtors, mortgage lenders, home inspectors and attorneys regarding the home buying process!
I'm asked quite often by clients, particularly those buying their first home and will be taking advantage of financing, why they should prequalify for a mortgage even before they look at their first potential home. They tell me that where they came from, this was not necessary and even feel it is an invasion of their privacy. I could write volumes on this subject, but I'll try to be succinct.
Prequalification is quite simple and can often be done via fax or over the phone in 15 minutes. The lender gathers information on your assets and liabilities and checks your credit report. And you don't have to obtain your mortgage from the same institution that you received your prequalification from. Among other things, you'll discover during the prequalification process the following:
Your level of comfort. After gathering your financial information, the lender will discuss with you your level of comfort in terms of monthly payments. Perhaps you qualify for a mortgage in the range of $250,000, but your level of comfort with monthly payments for a home in that range might be more than you are willing to take on, especially when you consider taxes, homeowners insurance, utilities, and other expenses inherent to owning a home. They might also help you explore ways in which you can come up with a bigger down payment and lower those payments.
Available financing products. You may qualify for SONYMA, FHA, adjustable rate mortgage, no money down mortgage (that's another show - don't get me started), conventional mortage, etc. You're making an important investment. You need to be properly educated.
Those unwelcome surprises. I have a client that made arrangements with a credit card company to pay her bills as she traveled abroad, only to find that the company had made some kind of error (and blamed her, of course) and wasn't paying the bills. Another friend found when he started the prequalifying process that he was the victim of identity theft, which took him a year to straighten out before he could qualify for a mortgage at a decent rate. By the way, have you checked your credit reports lately? It's free. Enter "free credit report" in the search engine of your choice.
Avoid wasting your time. Why would you want to spend time looking at houses either out of your range of comfort or homes that are less than you can afford and don't offer the amenities that you want?
Be prepared to make an offer quickly. In the Ithaca area, it is a standard practice to submit the Letter of Prequalification with your purchase offer. It's the beginning of the spring market right now. Let's say it's Friday evening (your bank is closed). I show you THE house. You want to submit an offer. This is a great house and we know that there will be other offers, so you want your offer to be as strong as possible because it is likely that other offers will be submitted this weekend. You didn't get prequalified. Another offer is submitted with a comfort letter. The seller has until Saturday at 5:00 p.m. to make a decision. The offers are identical, but the other buyer has proof they will be able to obtain financing. Guess whose offer will be accepted?
If it were your house... I work primarily as a Buyer's Agent. As such, I owe my full loyalty to my buyer, as well as other fiduciary responsibilities. Often I am finding a new home for my buyer as well as selling their current house. In this case, my client wants me to bring only qualified buyers to view their home. They don't really want to hurriedly pick up clutter, do the dinner dishes, and leave for an hour so their home can be shown to someone who not only is not prequalified to make an offer on their home, but has just always wanted to know what the house looked like on the inside!
This will explain why I insist that the buyers I take out get prequalified before we look at even one house. It just makes sense. Did I say I was going to be succinct?
Feb. 25, 2007 - Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Closing...
I walked into my office a few weeks ago to find an esteemed colleague in a state of total shock, amazement and disbelief. To give you some background, my colleague had a fabulous old victorian listed that was totally renovated and was truly a showcase property, except for one thing. The trees planted in the front of the house to provide privacy from the road were dead, obviously doing nothing to enhance this lovely home's curb appeal. This was discussed with the sellers, and from a conversation with them it was assumed that the trees were replaced.
In a few hours the closing was to take place on this home. Now, as a normal part of the closing process, the buyer does a pre-closing walkthrough with their Agent. In the Ithaca area, this is usually done about an hour prior to the closing, but can be done the night before. Before signing on the dotted line, the buyer and their Agent check to make sure the home is in the condition that they expect it to be, that all conveyances contracted for are in the house (stove, refrigerator, etc.), that lights are working, the appliances are working, the seller has finished moving their belongings out, etc.
The Listing Agent is preparing to leave for the closing when the phone rang. It was the Buyer's Agent. The trees which had been assumed to be replaced looked a bit odd so they took a closer look and found they were instead spray painted green! (This is most likely the seller's only claim to having any sort of green thumb, and probably index finger.) I assured the Agent that someday we would laugh about this, and a successful closing ensued never the less.
This was a bizarre occurrence and I'm not suggesting that buyers walk the property to ensure that all evergreen trees are what they seem. By and large the pre-closing walkthrough goes off without a hitch. This is presented more as a humorous aside to an otherwise normal part of the closing process. But I do take my digital camera to a walkthrough, just in case!
Feb. 20, 2007 - Why You May Want to Wait Before Buying
I got an email from someone yesterday that is trying to decide if this is a good time for her to buy. I responded to her that it is sometimes a good idea to hold off on purchasing a home and to contact me if she needed help in deciding. I like to earn a living as much as the next person, but not at the expense of my clients! If I feel it isn't a good idea for a client to buy a home at a given time, I will tell them. When the time is right, I will still be here.
When is it NOT a good idea to make an immediate purchase? Several reasons come to mind. Here are a few:
Your life is in transition or in a period of instability. Perhaps you are in the process of changing jobs or your current company is in a downsizing. Or you may be in the midst of a divorce and this causes a significant change in your finances, or even impairs your ability to emotionally go through the process of buying a home. These may be a good times to stay in contact with your realtor and continue to receive market updates from them.
You won't be in the area for long enough to realize an appreciation on your home. Fortunately, the Ithaca real estate market enjoys a climate where homes traditionally appreciate more than homes in neighboring communities. In the worst case scenario, you don't have a good down payment to put on a home or you have a "no money down" mortgage. Two years pass and it is time to move. Not only do you not have any equity built up in your home, but you may not have enough money for closing costs. Again, my advice is to stay in contact with your Realtor, have them inform you of new listings that fit your criteria when they come on the market and keep you apprised of real estate market conditions.
There's no better feeling than investing in a new home at the right time. As I said before, when the time is right, I will be here.
When viewing a potential home with a buyer, I am asked 99.9% of the time, "why are they selling?" I am 99.9% sure that their motivation in asking the question is pure. They are not trying to gain a negotiating advantage if, say, the homeowner must sell the house quickly due to an imminent relocation. Perhaps they are worried about buying a home that is in need of major repairs. Let me put your mind at ease.
In these days of full disclosure when buying a home, the seller almost always completes a four-page Property Disclosure Statement giving potential buyers information about the age of the roof and furnace, presence of wetlands, and various other property data. And I always advise buyers to get a home inspection. Home Inspectors in New York State are required to be licensed and will check the structure, electrical system, plumbing system, roof, appliances, additional structures, and more.
If you are buying a fixer upper or an historic or simply older home, you will most likely know you will be putting money into renovations, but you will also most likely have a good idea of how much it will cost.
Buyer's and seller's agents are required to disclose material and latent defects if they are aware of them. Not only is it a requirement, I WANT my buyers to know of any areas in need of renovation or repair. A portion of my business comes from referrals by satisfied clients. Why wouldn't I want my buyers to be happy? Armed with all of this information, the buyer in most cases can feel fairly confident about the soundness of the home they are purchasing.
Please contact me if you would like to receive a quick checklist of due diligence items when purchasing a new home. I would be happy to help!
What makes a "good neighborhood" for one person is not necessarily what makes a "good neighborhood" to another home buyer. And before I go any further, you should know that it would be unethical and unlawful for me to steer home buyers to what I deem a good neighborhood. In fact, I could and most likely would, lose my license to buy and sell real estate if I were to steer buyers to or away from neighborhoods with characteristics protected by the Federal Fair Housing Act. I cannot and will not tell you if I think a neighborhood is safe, is in a good school district, or if the residents of a particular neighborhood are primarily of a partiular political, ethnic or religious persuasion - nor would I want to.
Have you ever recommended a doctor or attorney that you thought was exceptional to a friend, only to have that friend get the exact opposite impression? Homebuyers should start with the statistics, not well meaning advice from a friend. The Community Reports section of my website will give you statistics on demographics, school systems, crime rates and statistics on area schools. I can also send you a useful school report guide put out by The Ithaca Journal each year called, Grading our Schools. Simply email me and request a copy of that report.
Dec. 28, 2006 - Predicted Trends for Homebuyers in 2007
I've been reading about some interesting trends in features homebuyers may be looking for in 2007 and beyond. From an article by Realtor Mark Nash in BrokerAgent News come the following predictions:
Pricing homes sharply is back in vogue. Gone are the record high prices.
The bridge between working from a home office and the local coffee shop will be the officetels. These third places will be spaces that provide technology, privacy and a conference-style atmosphere.
Along the same lines, buyers will look for a home with two home offices for families where two people have given up the commute to work.
New homes will offer snoring rooms. This bedroom will be adjacent to the master and will be the saving grace to many relationships!
Wired homes are in. Technology savy buyers will want homes that are wired with coaxial TV cable, Cat 5E voice and data lines, distributed radio, security cameras, and home network centers.
The Ithaca Area is a great place to live! This blog is designed to be a resource for buyers, sellers, homeowners, and those relocating to and from Ithaca and surrounding areas. Your comments are welcome! I would be delighted to help you with your real estate needs. Just contact me by phone (607 220-5416) or email (msnow@IthacaAreaHomes.com). And don�t forget to visit my website at www.IthacaAreaHomes.com.
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