Long Island Real Estate Market

let's see if this works.

i posted in a regular forum but got absolutely no replies.  okay, so here goes.

please visit www.reixchange.com.  let me know, as a realtor, if you would even be interested in having your business information on a site that will eventually market to investors who are looking to buy out of their local market. 

if so, give me your feedback.  sign up if you want.  i'm just looking for general thoughts.

Real Estate Agents: Full time Vs Part-Time

I work a minimum of 13 hours a day, six days a week. That's a minimum of 13 hours a day too. I probably average 15 hours a day. I wake up at 5am and by 6 am, I'm working. I am usually in the office by 9:30am and I am in and out all day. I call people, meet homeowners in the neighborhood, and do many things throughout the day that hopefully keep me that much more ahead of my competition.

As a part-time real estate agent, I work (at the most) 40 hours a week. And that's if I'm a work horse. I know because I did it. To Put in hours like that on top of a full-time job takes a great deal of focus. I would say most part-time real estate agents, put in about 25 hours at the most. In order to provide comprehensive services, an agent must work a minimum of 40 hours a week.

Now if an agent sticks to working a small market area and takes on only two or three listings a month, then 25 hours a week will probably be okay. Why does this matter to a homeowner? Why does this matter to a buyer or investor? Ask yourself this, how can someone, who works less than 40 hours a week, possibly know the market and meet my needs in a comprehensive way? Certainly there are some agents out there that really can see to your needs and work part-time. But out of all the agents who are in this business (there are approximately 27,000 licensed real estate agents on Long Island) how many part-timers will be able to really give you the service you deserve?

Think about it. The average home sale is well over a quarter of a million dollars or $250,000. I wanted to use the phrase "quarter of a million dollars" to drive home a point. Twenty-five hours a week is going to be sufficient to see to it that your interests are fully represented? I mean, we're talking about a quarter of a million dollars (and most times, much more in the Long Island market).That's a lot of money when you sit down, take a deep breath and think about it.

Think about this, it's 6:34pm on a Wednesday. I'm taking 15 minutes to finish this article that I started a week ago at 1am on a monday. I've made sure all my phone calls have been made. I've contacted my buyers and my sellers to assure them that our appointments have been scheduled. I've been in and out of the office several times today, talking with homeowners, meeting with business owners and also managed to attend our team meeting. I've sent out 23 emails and printed and mailed over 30 letters.

I am not a part-timer, looking to "supplement" my income. I am a business. It's 6:42pm and I'm done - 7 minutes before schedule, time to check the local market and prepare for tomorrow's appointments!

(c) Copyright 2007, www.tommcgiveron.com

by Thomas McGiveron

I read an article recently entitled, "Positive news for Realtors in ‘08″ by Bernice Ross, national speaker and CEO of Realestatecoach.com. It was about how great ‘08 will be for Realtors as home prices continue to come down, while interest rates remain low.

Mr. Yun, who is the chief economist for the National Association of Realtors (NAR), points out several factors that appear to be indicating that 2008 will be a good year as the market settles down after being overcome with "greedy investors" which created the current mortgage crisis. Visit an interesting site here at http://ml-implode.com/. This site points out all the mortgage companies that have closed since 2006.

Rather than just paste the url of the article featuring Mr. Yun's insights, I wanted to highlight a few things he mentioned that I thought may be of interest to buyers.

While media coverage on the real estate market has been nothing but doom and gloom, Yun consistently has pointed out that looking at national trends in real estate is like having a national weather forecast. It just doesn't make sense. Real estate has taken a hit and for buyers going into 2008 appear to be in a good position to purchase property at lower prices.

Additionally, buying real estate allows the owner(s) to benefit from the tax advantages of owning real property. And when you can combine buying real estate at a discount with the overall advantages of owning it, this makes for a great combination, not to mention, being able to acquire mortgages with low fixed interest rates.

"...For those agents who represent reluctant first-time buyers, Yun points to some interesting research from the Federal Reserve. Between 1995 and 2004, the average renter accumulated $4,000 in wealth. In contrast, the average homeowner accumulated $184,400. Furthermore, the typical homeowner holds their property for six years. Within this period of time, NAR's research shows that approximately 97 percent of the homeowners will have a positive equity position after that period of time."

What this means for buyers is that getting in now, is a great time because we're certainly not at the top of the market. Prices have come down quite a bit.

Finally, I thought this quote was very interesting:
"...Bottom line: 2008 represents the best window that buyers will have to find excellent deals with excellent financing...If they wait, prices and interest rates will be higher and the reluctant buyer may be forced out of the market."

I went to a seminar hosted by national speaker, Steve Harney, former owner of National Homefinders. I was one of about only 70 Realtors on Long Island who attended! One of the things he kept saying was, "It's going to be great in ‘08!" I just want to add, "...It's going to be great in ‘08...for buyers!" And I would also add that working with the right real estate agent helps!

(c) Copyright 2007

by Thomas McGiveron

REALITY FORMS AROUND YOUR COMMITMENTS

________________________________ 

Desire is the starting point of achievement. Your desires are the precursors of the things which you are capable of doing or having.  These desires can in time externalize themselves into concrete fact. Your intense anticipation itself will transform your possibilities into reality. Weak desires will bring you weak results, just as a small amount of fire makes a small amount of heat. If you just care enough for any result, you'll almost certainly attain it. 

Nothing has more strength than dire necessity. The achievement of your goal is assured the moment you commit yourself to it.  If you have the will, you'll find a way.  

Copyright 2007 http://www.noobdogs.com/www.yourdailymotivation.com   Reproduce freely but maintain Copyright notice.

_____________________________________

My Comments:

Dire necessity is something that only the mind creates.  That's the weird thing about attaining goals, you've got to create the need in your mind to get the results you want.  I'm going to repeat this sentence.  You've got to create the need in your mind to get the results you want.

If in your mind you tell yourself repeatedly that something must get done, it will become a core value.  Take any basic core value you have.  Let's say it's watching football on Sunday.  It is something central to your core value system.  The result is, you set aside time specifically to accomplish your goal of watching football on Sunday.  You may even go to the store, buy beer or soda, have the number ready for ordering pizza and buy bags of chips and pretzels.  You may iron your team jersey and arrange, via phone calls, to have all your friends over to watch the game and on and on and on.

You make it happen because you are committed to this core value.  This used to be me with the football on Sundays.  I gave up doing this and focused this exact energy on making other things happen in my life.  Now on Sundays, I must go to church and then go out in the community, meet people and acquire customers for my real estate business.

Making money to provide for my family in an extraordinary way will not happen by sitting in front of a television.  Watching football does not make me money, therefore it is no longer a core value.  Do I watch some football, sure I do.  I like the Giants...but I don't have to schedule a day around watching some game that puts absolutely no money in my pocket and in fact used to take about $25 in cash from me every Sunday.  And now that I am making money by replacing that core value of watching football, the real cost to me in time and lost opportunity exceeds hundreds of thousands of dollars.  When I think of that, I feel robbed.

So copy and paste the above motivational.  Put it on your computer, print it up and place it in an area where you'll be able to see it everyday.  If you want it enough, you will make it happen.  If you have the will, you'll find the way.

(c) Copyright 2007 Thomas McGiveron

I recently spoke with a mortgage broker who talked to a bunch of us at the office. 

Time is money so I'll get right to it.

We all know how the collapse of the sub-prime market has effected many buyers, and thus sellers (because they can't find any qualified/approved buyers) due to increased lending restrictions.

However, he went on to discuss the core issue that faces many lenders - lack of liquidity.  The lack of having enough money (for a banker) to lend cash out to finance more real estate transactions has really impacted all types of buyers.  A "conforming loan" is a mortgage amount that does not exceed (currently) $417,000 (single-family).  For more information you can just use a search engine and search, "conforming mortgage amount".

Anyhow, with the fall out from the sub-prime market, brokers are finding that many of their lenders lack liquidity to fund financing because the investors that were buying the mortgage-backed securities have pulled the rug out from the entire market, see http://ml-implode.com/ to get information on the 166 mortgage lenders that have shut down recently. 

Now the lenders that are surviving this mess find themselves in a painfully interesting situation.  For single-family homes, where the mortgage amount exceeds conforming limits ($417,000), even with over 20% down and "A paper" applicants, the fact that the deal does not acheive a conforming status, many lenders are denying "jumbo loans".  Additionally, because we're witnessing a general lack of liquidity in the marketplace, lenders just don't have the cash to lend. 

I just thought this was a very interesting piece of information.  I'm finding that when I discuss this with clients, they really appreciate the insight.  I've spoken with several clients who have their home on the market in the higher-end range who mistakenly thought the people who would buy their home (say around 1 million dollars) would have "no problem" with financing the deal.  With this piece of important information, they've really responded by thanking me and I've gotten several appointments from these conversations.

Another example of why it's so important to keep re-educating yourself.  The market waits for no one.  If I'm "armed" with up-to-date information that my competitors lack, I'm that much more likely to increase my business. 

The following article is taken from www.teammusso.com, our team website.  It's good information to provide to fsbo prospects.  I've found that if I am genuinely helpful to people trying to sell their home themselves, then when they reconsider using an agent, they call me because I was helpful in providing support.

If you want to use the content, please ask first.  Enjoy!

How to Set a List Price for Your Home

Setting the list price for your home involves evaluating various market conditions and financial factors. During this phase of the home selling process, your REALTOR^® will help you set your list price based on:

• pricing considerations
• comparable sales
• market conditions
• offering incentives
• estimated net proceeds

Pricing Considerations - Find a Balance Between Too High and Too Low

When setting a list price for your home, you should be aware of a buyer's frame of mind. Consider the following pricing factors:

If you set the price too high, your house won't be picked for viewing, even though it may be much nicer than other homes on the street. You may have told your REALTOR^® to "Bring me any offer. Frankly, I'd take less." But compared to other houses for sale, your home simply looks too expensive to be considered.

If you price too low, you'll short-change yourself. Your house will sell promptly, yes, but you may make less on the sale than if you had set a higher price and waited for a buyer who was willing to pay it.

TIP: Never say "asking" price, which implies you don't expect to get it.

Price Against Comparable Sales in Your Neighborhood

No matter how attractive and polished your house, buyers will be comparing its price with everything else on the market.

Your best guide is a record of what the buying public has been willing to pay in the past few months for property in your neighborhood. Your REALTOR^® can furnish data on sales figures for those comparable sales and analyze them to help you come up with a suggested listing price. The decision about how much to ask, though, is always yours.

Competitive Market Analysis (CMA): The list of comparable sales a REALTOR^® brings to you, along with data about other houses in your neighborhood that are presently on the market, is used for a "Comparative Market Analysis" (CMA). To help in estimating a possible sales price for your house, the analysis will also include data on nearby houses that failed to sell in the past few months, along with their list prices.

A CMA differs from a formal appraisal in several ways. One major difference is that an appraisal will be based only on past sales. Also, an appraisal is done for a fee while the CMA is provided by your REALTOR^® and may include properties currently listed for sale and those currently pending sale. For the average home sale, a CMA probably gives enough information to help you set a proper price.

Formal Written Appraisal: A formal written appraisal (which may cost a few hundred dollars) can be useful if you have unique property, if there hasn't been much activity in your area recently, if co-owners disagree about price or if there is any other circumstance that makes it difficult to put a value on your home.

TIP: If you do order a market value appraisal, make it clear you don't need an elaborate, or full narrative report, i.e., the kind that's complete with photos of the house and neighborhood. Floor plans and a site map is sufficient in most cases.

Market Conditions - Is it a Buyer's Market or a Seller's Market?

A CMA often includes a Days on the Market (DOM) value for each comparable house sold. When real estate is booming and prices are rising, houses may sell in a few days. Conversely, when the market slows down, average DOM can run into many months.

Your REALTOR^® can tell you whether your area is currently in a buyer's market or a seller's market. In a seller's market, you can price a bit beyond what you really expect, just to see what the reaction will be. In a buyer's market, if you really need to sell promptly, offer an attractive bargain price.

If You Price High, Set a Schedule for Lowering the Price

Some sellers list at the rock-bottom price they'd really take, because they hate bargaining. Others add on thousands to the estimated market value "just to see what happens." If you want to try that, and if you have the luxury of enough time to feel out the market, sit down with your REALTOR^® and work out an advance schedule for lowering the price if need be.

If there haven't been many prospects viewing your home after three weeks, you may need to lower your list price. If that doesn't bring any prospective buyers, you may need to lower your list price again. Plan on doing that regularly until you find a level that attracts buyers. Make a written schedule in advance, before emotion takes over and you're tempted to dig your heels in.

Offering Incentives to Hasten a Sale

Sometimes cash incentives are as effective as lowering the price, especially in the lower price range where buyers may be "cash poor." You may offer to pay some or all of a buyer's closing costs and discount points required by the buyer's lending institution.

If you haven't had much traffic through your house and you're in a hurry to sell, you may want to add the offer of a bonus to the selling broker, in addition to their commission. An example of the wording for such an offer may be "to the broker who brings a successful offer before Christmas."

Estimating Net Proceeds

Once you've been given an estimate of market value by your REALTOR^®, you can get a rough idea of how much cash you might walk away with when the sale is completed. This can be particularly useful when you start looking for another home to buy.

To estimate your net proceeds, from the estimated sales amount, subtract the applicable costs in the three sections outlined below: seller's costs, buyer's/seller's costs and closing costs.

Seller's Costs: Subtract the following costs as applicable.

• payoff figure on your present loan(s)
• broker's commission
• prepayment penalty on your mortgage
• attorney's fees
• unpaid property taxes

Buyer's/Seller's Costs: Additionally, your REALTOR^® can tell you whether local customs or rules dictate whether the buyer or seller pays for the items listed below. Subtract the following costs, as applicable.

• title insurance premium
• transfer taxes
• survey fees
• inspections and repairs for termites, etc.
• recording fees
• Homeowner Association transfer fees and document preparation
• home protection plan
• natural hazard disclosure report

Closing Costs: As far as closing costs are concerned, you and your eventual buyer may agree on any arrangement that suits you, no matter what local practice dictates. Your REALTOR^® will assist you in estimating what your final closing costs will be.

Please Visit this site

type in  [YOUR NAME]  - then .  then  youaremighty.com

so for instance, my name is tom, so I'll type in my address -

tom.youaremighty.com

BUT TYPE IN YOUR NAME not mine!

Give it a shot!  Feel good! 

With all the tightening of lending practices and closings of the first major player in American Home Mortgage, I'm wondering how creative financing will change the game of real estate financing.  Will it become more of an accepted practice and will banks start to reconsider their stance on being so against assumable mortgages?

Throughout the entire country, places like New York, California, and other states are seeing a buyer pool that is diminishing by the day, as lenders pull back on the reigns of their lending practices.  I know, as a real estate investor myself, how frustrated I was working with agent after agent who talked down "creative financing" and treated any such discussion as a joke.

I think many will find that welcoming some investors into their sphere of influence might pay off sooner than they think.

I don't want this to sound silly so I'll keep it short.

I was thinking of the breakdown between "the agent that can" and "the agent that can't".

During a listing presentation, I went through this with the seller's and they seemed to really seem enlightened.

The agent that can has a cell phone with data (email and internet).  The agent that can has a lap top.  The agent that can has a home office.  The agent that can has a fax machine at their home office.  The agent that can is well-versed in the latest technologies and uses technology everyday to advance their business.  The agent that can uses data-based software to keep contacts, schedule appointments and run their business.  The agent that can is their business.

Now I'll focus on what happens when we talk about the agent that can't.  The agent that can't doesn't have instantaneous access to email or the internet because they use a $60 cell phone and they use it to take pictures of their kids or worse - your home, and use those pics in their marketing!  The agent that can't doesn't use a lap top or even a desk top, except in the office.  When the agent that can't leaves their broker's office, they're done for the day because they don't have a home office.  Sure they'll answer their phone (if you're lucky), but they won't get their emails until tomorrow (if they're "working" that day).  The agent that can't relies solely on what the broker provides, in terms of computers, faxes and phones.  

Now the agent that can, gets an email at 10pm and answers it.  The agent that can't, gets the same email and gets it the next day.  The agent that can emails their client on the way home from an open house, then gets home from an open house and immediately faxes feedback sheets to the seller (possibly a business client) as per the email they sent them.  Phone calls are made, contacts are followed up via email and contacts are uploaded to their data base.  They then get to work the next day at 7am (2 hours before the office opens), returning emails, reviewing their schedule for the day and preparing their business for the day. 

Everytime the agent that can't misses an opportunity to get things done, they fall further behind the agent that can.  If an agent walks into your home (and  you're a potential client) and you see them with a "regular cell phone", with printed papers for the presentations and you realize they don't have a laptop, ask yourself this question, "Do I really want to put my trust in this person to sell my greatest asset?" 

Without the necessary tools to get things done, the agent who is ill-equipped falls further behind those that have what it takes to do business in the world we live in today.  The difference between the agents that can vs. the agent's that can't is about 200% more productivity...at least.

The power to hold on in spite of everything, to endure,
this is the quality of a winner.
Your greatest glory is not in never failing,
but in rising every time you fail.

It's your constant and determined effort
that will eventually break down all resistance
and sweep all the barriers before you.
Persistence means taking pains to overcome every obstacle,
to do all that's necessary to reach your goal.

All great achievements require time.
Endurance is the crowning quality of success.

Copyright 2007 http://click.icptrack.com/icp/relay.php?r=6933797&msgid=148186&act=0RDQ&c=141159&admin=0&destination=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.yourdailymotivation.com Reproduce freely but maintain Copyright notice.