| |  | Your Guide to Nyack and Rockland County
Move-to-Nyack.com is a real estate website that provides comprehensive professional services and advice for buyers, sellers and veterans in the greater Nyack/Valley Cottage area, and all of Rockland County. | |
| Call Me Day or Night
John Kovencz
Better Homes and Gardens/ Rand Realty
46 South Broadway
Nyack, NY 10960
Mobile: 914-523-2953
Email: john@movetonyack.com
Let's have a discussion on the Rand Blog:
www.randrealty.com
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VETERANS: Call or email me about my collaboration with Rockland County and visit the County Clerk's site for a list of merchants and their discounts through the "Return the Favor" program.
www.rocklandcountyclerk.com
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| Thank you for visiting my online real estate resource and I hope you find it to be a useful tool in your search for real estate and that it answers some of those questions you might have about the process. Whether you are a first time buyer, an experienced investor or selling your home, you will find this combination of current, clear information, exceptional service and solid expertise, invaluable when the time comes for you to make that all important decision. Welcome to Nyack/Valley Cottage and Rockland County.
"WHERE DO YOU WANT TO BE?..LET ME HELP YOU GET THERE."
FOR ALL MY REAL ESTATE FRIENDS:
click on www.randrealty.com for general real estate info. Saw a house and want to know the price? Want to ask me a question about the local market here in Rockland County? No question too silly. Send your question to:john@move-to-nyack.com
RECENT NEWS:
June 1, 2009
FHA issues guidelines allowing consumers to use $8,000 tax credit toward downpayment.
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Shaun Donovan announced at the NAR Mid-year Meetings that the FHA would permit the federal $8,000 first-time homebuyer tax credit to be used toward a purchaser’s downpayment. This week, the FHA finalized the rules that allow state housing finance agencies and some non-profits to monetize the credit, officially making the credit available to be used toward a downpayment.
According to HUD, the new rules allow FHA-approved lenders to “monetize” the tax credit for use as part of a downpayment or for closing costs, which can help achieve a lower interest rate. Borrowers can immediately apply the funds toward their down payments in excess of the required 3.5 percent. Previously, borrowers applying for an FHA-insured mortgage were required to make the minimum downpayment and lenders could not monetize the tax credit for use as an additional downpayment.
www.randrealty.com?postid=1022
APRIL 30, 2009
Survey 1st Quarter of 2009.
The real estate market in Rockland County experienced a shock to the system in the first quarter of 2009, with significant declines in activity and pricing in the survey. The number of homes sold in the quarter was the lowest in the decade, and pricing is now close to or below 2004 levels.
Observers often underestimate the effects of the changing of the seasons on the real estate market. Transactions fluctuate seasonally – going up in the Spring and Summer months, and going down in the fall and winter months. So it is not unusual for the first quarter of the year to generate the smallest number of homes sold during the year, with the closings reflecting contracts signed amid the distractions of the holiday period of November and December and the first full month of winter.
The activity in the first quarter of 2009 was also undercut by the economic anxieties created in the financial crisis of September and October and the uncertainties generated by the presidential election in November. As a result, home sales were down almost 38% in the region from last year, with Westchester down 41.7%, Putnam down 31.8%, Rockland down 12.0%, Orange down 19.4%, and Sullivan down 17.9%.
This reduced level of activity had a tremendous impact on pricing throughout the region, with the median sales price down in every county in the Report between 10% and 15%. In some cases, the average sales price fell by as much as 25%, but that largely reflects the mix of properties sold in the region during the fall and winter. The market was particularly sluggish in the high-end as a result of the difficult financing environment that prevailed through most of the fall and winter. Even while interest rates were at virtually historically low levels for conforming loans up to $417,000, the rates for non-conforming (or “Jumbo”) loans in our region were significantly higher for most of that time period. As a result, purchasers of higher-end properties had difficulty securing reasonable financing, reducing high-volume transactions and distorting the average sales prices. Accordingly, we put more faith in the median sales prices for each county, which still show a significant double-digit depreciation from last year.
So where do we go from here? Essentially, what we saw in the last two quarters were transactions of circumstance. That is, the only people who were buying or selling in the last four or five months were people who had to by circumstances such as a new job, a marriage, a relocation, or the more dire circumstances of economic duress. What we did not see were many transactions of opportunity – people moving because they found a home they liked more than the one they were living in. In a more favorable economic climate, people move because they want to out of opportunity; in the economic climate in the fall, people moved (either buying or selling) because they had to out of circumstance.
The question now becomes whether we will see opportunistic buyers come into this market to take advantage of the more attractive pricing levels throughout the region and the favorable financing climate. In our view, sales have probably hit bottom in the Hudson Valley real estate markets. Certainly, we expect that in the near future we will see the numbers of homes sold increase in the Spring and Summer months, simply due to the seasonal rhythms of the market. And when transactions go up, the increased buyer activity is likely to stabilize average and median sales prices near their current levels.
Essentially, we believe that fundamental economic principles of supply and demand are going to stabilize the regional real estate market for the rest of the year. Prices have now come down over 25-30% from their highs, bringing pricing back down almost to 2003 levels. Moreover, the cost of money is now even lower than it was in the seller’s market, with conforming loan rates in the sub-5.0% range. Although the pool of buyers is diminished both by more restrictive loan guidelines and the economic recession, we believe that we are going to see opportunistic buyers taking advantage of the high levels of inventory, attractive financing rates, and lower pricing levels.
APRIL 22, 2009
The Rand family and all of our agents and managers are proud to announce our new affiliation with the Better Homes and Gardens® Real Estate network. For twenty-five years, we have operated the Rand real estate brokerage in the Hudson Valley, helping clients sell or buy over $15 billion in real estate in over 40,000 transactions. As a result, we’ve become one of 60 largest real estate companies in the country, and the largest family-owned and –founded broker in the region.
Now, as Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate/Rand Realty, we are proud to be affiliated with one of the legendary franchise systems in the industry, and a real estate network deeply committed to a greater quality of life for individuals, families, and communities. We believe that the Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate organization is the future of real estate, and we are delighted to become a part of it.
We also wanted to reassure you that everything else about the Rand organization is the same. You will still have the same agent, working out of the same office, with all the same tools, programs, and resources that we have always had. All the phone numbers are the same, although you should update your email address book and bookmarks to replace "prudentialrand.com" with "randrealty.com."
We hope and expect that it will be a smooth transition, but if you have any questions or concerns you would like to let us know. We thank you for your trust and confidence, and appreciate all the support you have given the Rand family and our agents over the years.
Joseph Rand.
MARCH 10, 2009
THE $8000.00 TAX CREDIT:
The federal economic stimulus package passed in February 2009 provides for an $8,000 tax credit for first-time home buyers. The program defines a “first-time home buyer” as someone who has not owned a home in the three years prior to his or her purchase, so even if you have previously owned a home you can still qualify if you haven’t owned your principal residence for the past three years. Click on Money link below for more info.
www.mymoneyblog.com
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Information contained here-in deemed reliable, but not guaranteed.
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