Archive for December, 2008
Rockland Condo Quick Search
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OR search by neighborhood. The Red Star * means there are no condo developments in these locations or neighborhoods.
Rockland County Real Estate Marketing
How Will We Market Your Property ?
This is a password protected page, Please contact us for further details if you are thinking of selling your property and would like more information on this topic.
What did That Rockland Condo or House Sell For?
Click here to use LoHud’s great search tool. If it is a very recent sale you won’t see it, but bookmark the page and come back every week or so. Or just call me and I’ll tell you quickly.
Rockand Real Estate Positive Signs
30 Year Fixed at a 37 Year Low.
Yes Virginia, there “is” a Santa Claus. Well that’s how I felt yesterday when I saw that mortgage interest rates had adjusted downward again. Below is a reprint from the Freddie Mac Site, but I saw that Provident Bank yesterday had a 30 year conforming rate of 4.875 (with 1 point). I had an email from a colleague where they saw a mortgage broker at 4.75 with no points. So . . . let the games begin!
Compilation of Weekly Survey Releases for 2008
| December 11, 2008 | 30-yr | 15-yr | 5/1-yr ARM | 1-yr ARM |
Rates: |
5.47% | 5.20% | 5.82% | 5.09% |
| Points: | 0.7 | 0.7 | 0.6 | 0.4 |
There are other positive signs in the marketplace as well. Remember the huge bailout plan to purchase troubled mortgages? Well part of that plan is being shelved. Lawrence Yun, NAR Chief Economist writes (Source GHVmls economic and market watch report/Oct) that “Instead the money will be used to support securitization for consumer financing.” Yun adds that the goal is to get capital to lenders so that they can start issuing loans to consumers and companies. Yun shares that LIBOR rates (the key rate measurement of liquidity flow in the financial system) have begun to thaw. But those stubborn residential mortgage rates carry a high spread above Treasury rates, commercial mortgage loans are non-existent and the banks are still not lending to small businesses.
The notwithstanding the above information, the most important thing I want to communicate is YES THERE ARE LOANS OUT THERE ! If you have good credit, (read my post on FICO Scores here)a stable job and some $ to put down, you can get mortgage money. Property values have digressed to levels not seen in years. Improved affordability has led to improved home sales. The huge inventory is being worked off. As I’ve told you for months now, a shrinking inventory is another sign that the real estate market is stabilizing. Yun goes on to warn though that while these signs are encouraging, more must be done.
NAR, the National Association of Realtors has proposed that the government buy-down mortgage interest rates to ensure fixed low rates for home buyers. NAR has also presented a plan to Congress that would eliminate the repayment feature of that $7500.00 first-time home buyer tax credit. NAR has proposed that this credit be offered to all buyers and that higher FHA and conventional loan limits be made permanent. This should greatly aid in the housing recovery.
We all know that consumer confidence is at an all time low, but we also know from history that the journey to wealth accumulation begins with owning ones own home.
News Alert
Gas Prices in Rockland Dip Below $2.00 a gallon. Hooray! Time for a roadtrip?
Just in time for our holiday shopping. There are plenty of places to go. Head South to New York Cit or North to Woodbury Commons . . . At this writing only 11 more shopping days to go. So, let’s go shopping. Anyone want to buy a house for Christmas? Now wouldn’t that be a unique Christmas Gift.
Hey how would you wrap a house if you gave it for Christmas?
New City $499,900 5BR, 3.5Bth 3 Car Gar. Expanded Cape Ranch
OUR PICK OF THE WEEK:

$499,900 A DIAMOND IN THE ROUGH!
Almost 1 Acre . . . This home offers lots of potential with its over-sized rooms, additional detached 3-car garage with studio & rough plumbing, fantastic property, neighborhood & location! Roof 2007; interior/exterior video-camera security system.
Hurry!

The data relating to real estate for sale on this web site comes in part from the REDXSM Program of the Greater Hudson Valley Multiple Listing Service. Real estate listings held by brokerage firms other than Rockland County Real Estate are marked with the REDXSM logo.
Copyright 2008 Greater Hudson Valley Multiple Listing Service. All Rights Reserved.
News Alert
How’s the Nov. ‘08 Rockland Real Estate Market ?
Strong Buyer’s market
November 2008 - Market Update Newsletter
Report compiled utilizing statistics from the Greater Hudson Valley Multiple Listing Service (MLS)
To Give You Some Perspective,
here are Year end statistics
for 2006 through 2008
Click here for the December 2008 Report.
How’s the Rockland Real Estate Market?
Strong Buyer’s market
December 2008 - Market Update Report
OCAR Housing Market Snapshot
Report compiled utilizing statistics from the Greater Hudson Valley Multiple Listing Service (MLS)
The Directory to the right shows archived reports.
School Info
Five Clicks to find any K-12 public school in America!
A Wonderful Resource for Rockland County NY Home Buyers & Sellers. Infomation about SchoolTree.org offers listings for over 130,000 public schools, charter schools, private schools, and school districts for anyone to search for free!To Start: Click on the image at the left; go to the homepage and click any state you wish to search. From there click on a county then a city then a school.







