New Appraisal Rules

 In Bergen County New Jersey as well as the rest of the country, new appraisal rules went into effect as of September 1, 2011.


The aim is to standardize the way appraisals are done and is being required by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. This most assuredly will cause massive confusion, delays and cost more.

Property conditions will be rated utilizing a number system. This is based on what the appraiser knows and sees in his experience. My question is, who is to say that all are qualified to make these judgments. In explanation, a wet spot on a ceiling could mean many things and may not be a negative for the home. Does this mean to say that we are all subject to something other then the numbers an appraiser may work with?

The above is not to say that appraisers are not adept and good at what they do, but now we bring into the fray more of an objective idea than a subjective numbers crunch and knowledge of the market. They say the reason for this is that real estate agents are not prepared for the market we are in at this time and that there is a need for standardization in that profession.

Just more stuff to deal with, more rules, regulations. When will it stop?

Let me know what you think! Please comment on this.

For the complete story as written on Boston.com, here is the link:  
Appraisers say new rules will cause confusion

Bergen County Housing to be weaker in the Fall of 2011? Can’t be!

 
According to a report by RISMedia on June 17, 2011, the NAHB is predicting that the cost of credit will increase. Beginning October 1, 2011 there will be a decrease in the GSE-Government Sponsored Enterprises such as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (Freddie?) or any loans insured by the FHA. This means that there will be tighter conditions for credit requiring higher down payments and higher interest rates.


Okay so the simple question is, how does this affect us in Bergen County? NAHB’s analysis of this will “…affect 204 counties, containing 1.38 million owner-occupied homes in the affected price ranges.” These affected price ranges and 204 counties affect 27% of the homes in the nation.

How does this affect Bergen County? While we are in a bad situation, it affects everyone, including Bergen County Home sales tremendously. While the County has remained stable in pricing, on average as compared to the rest of the state, it means nothing. Prices have not stabilized as yet. Realty Trac has stated that they expect prices to stabilize by the end of 2011 and then we can start moving forward.

Foreclosures are going to be released into the market shortly as all of the problems have finally been resolved here in New Jersey. This makes matters worse even worser (  :-)  ). Our friends at Realty Trac have confirmed that New Jersey is the worst state when it comes to litigating these foreclosures. That’s one reason, it will be harder than it should be or should have been. It can take 900 days to finalize a foreclosure in New Jersey

What this really means is that our government, you know the ones we elected, don’t get it. They are ignorant. Ignorant to the fact that the housing market, that is real estate and the purchase and sale thereof, makes the world go round! When will they start doing something that will help rather than tightening up restrictions, they should be figuring out what will help rather than hurt. How about get the bums out Washington and put some of these high priced executives and politicians in jail for getting fat over the last 10- years. Let’s get businessmen to run the country rather than pontificators. They broke the law, but we don’t see any of these people going to jail. Madoff went to jail, big deal!

Oh, I forgot, they gave us the tax credit thing last year. That hurt us more than helped us. How, you ask? Simple, it accelerated the buying decisions for the year of home buyers as well as incentivized sellers to sell faster than they normally would have. The effect was that the majority of home purchases happened before and in the first 2 quarters of 2010. No more homes were sold in 2010 because of the tax credit-NONE. It cost us, the taxpayers, a LARGE fortune.

Hey Washington, wake up and use the education your parents paid for!

Bergen County Real Estate and the explanation of the situation.

 
Here in Bergen County New Jersey, we find a situation where the market, on average, has been stable. This is simply because we have such a broad price range in Bergen County real estate from lows of $50,000 a unit to highs of millions. We find that people with money are spending it for the higher priced homes and other people with money, a job and good credit are buying in the mid range. This doesn’t mean that the “stable” word is a good thing.


The word I use-stable- is simply the average is stable. There are towns doing well and there are towns doing poorly, which averages out to stable on the whole. Confused? Most are!

While we can not utilize many of the market statistics this writer usually uses to determine what is happening in the Bergen County real estate market, we can look at the overall factors. The reason for this is the great debacle known as the tax credit the government gave the country last year which ended on April 30 of 2010. This was a debacle simply because it did absolutely nothing for the housing market or the economy. All it did was accelerate the buyer’s decisions to buy sooner, than later in the year to get that 8 grand! It is then possible to look at the usual statistics to make a statement on the state of the market.

Core Logic says that January, 2011 was the 6th month in a row that showed a year over year decline in prices. Remember, Robert Shiller of Case/Shiller came out a couple of months ago and said he wouldn’t be surprised if prices dropped 25% this year. Enough of this guy!

Here are some true facts:

• 23% of American homeowners owe more on their homes than the mortgage amount;

• 11.1 million properties were in a negative equity position;

• 2.5 miilion homeowners have less than 55 equity in their homes.

So here it is. Home loans get harder to get because of tightening of funds and tightening of qualification rules. Inventory is up due to foreclosures and short sales. And the most important factor is that the equity position of homeowners, has limited the mobility of some because they simply can’t sell their homes and move up, down or laterally to a new home. The equity they had, they ain’t got no more.

These facts are no different in Bergen County as they are in the rest of the country. The bright side is coming. Jobs growth is happening and unemployment is down a little. While we need to beware of the shadow inventory(distressed properties yet on the market), we also need to be confident that things are happening in a positive direction.

If you are in one of these equity poor positions and need to do something or you need to avoid foreclosure or short sale, please make sure you utilize an expert that has been trained and has experience!

Excerpts taken from “DS News” April, 2011

Quality of Sales Talk: Are you interesting?

As a salesperson comes into your home or you go to the mall and need to buy something but don’t know exactly what brand or model to buy, is it important for the salesperson to grab your attention? Of course it is important for them to grab your attention with their knowledge of products. This goes for real estate sales people as well. To perform in a presentation for a home seller is the manner in which the salesperson will show that they have the right stuff to sell the house
Having the knowledge to discuss real estate or products is essential to the “sales process.” Let’s face it, the process of selling and being able to convince someone to part with money for a feature that will benefit them is the basics of sales. So why do sales people talk so much? They have to or maybe they are insecure or maybe they want to impart the knowledge they have worked so hard to memorize.
The simple fact of the matter is that if someone keeps talking to you trying to sell you something, they have missed the point of sales. They are too busy trying to be interesting than interested in what you the customer-client really needs and wants.
When one is interested in the other’s desires, relationships get built. Being interesting is not the important part. Listening and caring is the most significant part of the “sales process.”
In discussions in our skills sessions with the sales people I work with, I ask the question, “What percentage of the time are you talking in a presentation?” If you are discussing pertinent facts, the customer should care and that is important. Listening and caring about what the customer is saying is extremely important. The salesperson’s reaction and answer will and should impart the knowledge of the market, the product and then be able to do the right thing and perform their job extremely well.
If you are interesting with your knowledge of the product or market, great-you should be. However, never over estimate the value of the relationship between the salesperson and customer. Be more interested than interesting if you want to exceed in sales. In other words, more ears than mouth. Your customer will love you!

A Great Lawyer

> YOU GOTTA LOVE THIS LAWYER > > A New Orleans lawyer sought an FHA loan for a client who> lost his house in Hurricane Katrina and wanted to rebuild.> He was told the loan would be granted if he could prove> satisfactory title to the parcel of property being offered> as collateral. The title to the property dated back to 1803,> which took the Lawyer three months to track down.> > After sending the information to the FHA, he received the> following reply.> > (Actual letter):> "Upon review of your letter adjoining your client's loan application, we> note that the request is supported by an Abstract of Title.> While we compliment the able manner in which you have prepared and> presented the application, we must point out that you have> only cleared title to the proposed collateral property back> to 1803. Before final approval can be accorded, it will be> necessary to clear the title back to its origin."> > Annoyed, the lawyer responded as follows.> > (Actual Letter)> "Your letter regarding title in Case No. 189156 has> been received. I note that you wish to have title extended> further than the 194 years covered by the present> application. I was unaware that any educated person in this> country, particularly those working in the property area,> would not know that Louisiana was purchased, by the U.S.,> from France in 1803, the year of origin identified in our> application. > > For the edification of uninformed FHA> bureaucrats, the title to the land prior to U.S. ownership> was obtained from France, which had acquired it by Right of> Conquest from Spain. The land came into the possession of> Spain by Right of Discovery made in the year 1492 by a sea> captain named Christopher Columbus, who had been granted the> privilege of seeking a new route to India by the Spanish monarch,> Isabella. The good queen, Isabella, being a pious woman and> almost as careful about titles as the FHA, took the precaution of > securing the blessing of the Pope before she sold her jewels to finance > Columbus' expedition. Now the Pope, as I'm sure you may know, is the > emissary of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and God, it is commonly> accepted, created this world.> > Therefore, I believe it is safe to presume that God also> made that part of the world called Louisiana.. God,> therefore, would be the owner of origin and His origins date> back to before the beginning of time, the world as we know> it AND the FHA. I hope you find God's original claim to> be satisfactory. Now, may we have our damn loan?"> > He got the loan.

Real Estate is a Contact Sport:
This is our Competitive Advantage

Bergen County Real Estate is a Contact Sport

Buying and selling residential real estate in Bergen County can be looked at as a contact sport. At our company, it is all about CONTACT!
Every real estate company and every real estate agent have many tools at their fingertips to utilize to help their clients. Our question at CENTURY 21 Eudan is: Why don't they use them? It's simple. They either don't know about them, don't have the patience to learn about them or they just don't want to spend the money to represent their clients in the utmost and best manner.
CENTURY 21 Eudan utilizes many tools that no other company or agent uses in Bergen County and I would say most of the State of New Jersey.
We use: 24 Hour On Demand Marketing with our hotline extensions for every listing. We use specific web sites for each of our listings. We enhance our listings by showcasing them on Realtor.com. We make videos of our listings and upload them to You Tube and 30 to 40 other sites to attract attention and eyeballs. Our website, Century21Eudan.com is the quickest website in the East, by having our visitors only clicking once to see homes available in the town they want!
All in all, these tools get us more leads for our buyers and our agents. What else does the consumer need....Just us!