Westchester County Home News

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Posted via email from WESTCHESTER COUNTY DISTRESSED PROPERTY INFORMATION

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Attention Homebuyers: Double-Barrel Stimulus Deadlines

The great author and speaker Og Mandino once said, "I will act now. I will act now. I will act now."

This is great advice for prospective homebuyers over the next 45 days, as two key government programs that have kept home ownership more affordable than ever wind down to their completion.

First, the Federal Reserve's Mortgage Backed Securities (MBS) purchase program will come to an end on March 31, just two weeks away! Without this program home loan rates could have been at least 1.00% higher...and potentially even higher...over the last year. Throughout 2009, the Federal Reserve was the primary buyer for MBS, purchasing as much as 80% of the supply in a given month. When this program ends, a lack of willing buyers will likely cause MBS prices to drop and rates to rise as a result.

The second shot will come on April 30th, which is the deadline for purchasers to get under contract to qualify for the Home Buyer Tax Credit program, which has been providing a tax credit of up to $8,000 to first time homebuyers and up to $6,500 to repeat purchasers.

Just How Much Will Waiting Cost?
While no one knows for certain what the future holds, two things appear clear. Home loan rates will likely be higher in the future, and free money from the government will be gone. These deadlines will affect both affordability to purchase and the opportunity to refi.

In a recent Wall Street Journal article, it was estimated that 37% of all borrowers with a 30-year fixed rate have interest rates of 6% or higher. The article also quotes Credit Suisse that more than half could lower their rate by nearly 0.75%.

For prospective homebuyers, any increase in interest rates erodes your purchasing power. In other words, a 1% increase in rate represents an approximate decline in purchasing power by 10%. For example, if rates increase by 1%, people who qualify for a $200,000 purchase price today may only qualify for a purchase price of $180,000 afterwards.

If you or anyone you know is looking to purchase or refinance a home, waiting could be costly! Act now...so you can save later!

THE CRECCO COMPANIES

Real Estate Remodeling Social Media

Anthony J Crecco

Short Sale and Loan Modification Expert

Thornwood NY 10594

914.269.8184

www.CreccoRealEstate.com

Your Home Sold Guaranteed or I will Buy it for Cash

SEARCH THE MLS LIKE AN AGENT

Posted via email from WESTCHESTER COUNTY DISTRESSED PROPERTY INFORMATION

Friday, March 12, 2010

Fixing Up Your Home: Protect Your Housing Investment

Your home is an investment in living as well as in savings. If neglected, it will pay no dividends. If properly maintained and improved, it will pay a high yield in comfort and usefulness for your family and in avoidance of costly repair bills. Home improvements also tend to raise neighborhood standards and, as a result, property values. From an economic standpoint, home improvements mean higher employment, increased markets for materials and home products--and therefore a more flourishing community.

If You Do It Yourself

If you are handy with tools and have the experience, you can save money by doing many jobs yourself. But unless you are skilled in wiring, plumbing, installing heat systems, and cutting through walls, you should rely on professionals for such work.

When you buy the required materials, it pays not to skimp. Good materials are not necessarily the most expensive. What you need are products that look good, are easy to maintain, and last a long time. Buy only from reliable dealers.

If You Use a Contractor

If you plan to use the services of a dealer or contractor, take care to choose one with a reputation for honesty and good workmanship. There are several ways to check on a contractor:

Consult your local Chamber of Commerce, the Better Business Bureau, or Local Consumer Protection Agency.
Talk with people for whom he has done work.
Ask your lender about him, if you plan to finance the project with a loan.
Check his place of business to see that he is not a fly-by-night operator.
Find out, if you can, how he rates with known building-product distributors and wholesale suppliers.
Ask friends and relatives for names of firms that they could recommend.

Compare Contractor Offers

Before deciding on a contractor, you may want to get bids from two or three different firms. Make sure that each bid is based on the same specifications and the same grade of materials. If these bids vary widely, find out why.

Many contractors offer package plans that cover the whole transaction. Under such a plan the contractor provides all materials used, takes care of all work involved, and arranges for your loan.

Your contractor can make the loan application for you, but you are the one who must repay the loan, so you should see that the work is done correctly.

Understand What You Sign

The contract that both you and the contractor sign should state clearly the type and extent of improvements to be made and the materials to be used. Before you sign, get the contractor to spell out for you in exact terms:

How much the entire job will cost you.
How much interest you will pay on the loan.
How much you will pay in service charges.
How many payments you must make to pay off the loan, and how much each of these payments will be.

After the entire job is finished in the manner set forth in your contract, you sign a completion certificate. By signing this paper you certify that you approve the work and materials and you authorize the lender to pay the contractor the money you borrowed.

Beware of Fraud

Most dealers and contractors conscientiously try to give their customers service equivalent to the full value of their money. Unfortunately, home improvement rackets do exist. Here are a few common sense rules to follow:

Read and understand every word of any contract or other paper before you sign it.
Never sign a contract with anyone who makes fantastic promises. Reputable dealers are not running give-away businesses.
Avoid wild bargains. The best bargain is a good job.
Never consolidate existing loans through a home improvement contractor.
Do not let salespeople high-pressure you into signing up to buy their materials or services.
Be wary of salespeople who try to scare you into signing for repairs that they say are urgent. Seek the advice of an expert as to how urgent such repairs are. High-pressure and scare tactics are often the mark of a phony deal.
Avoid salespeople who offer you trial purchases or some form of bonus, such as cash, for allowing them to use your house as a model for any purpose. Such offers are well-known gimmicks of swindlers.
Never sign a completion certificate until all the work called for in the contract has been completed to your satisfaction. Be careful not to sign a completion certificate along with a sales order.
Proceed cautiously when the lender or contractor demands a lien on your property.

THE CRECCO COMPANIES

Real Estate Remodeling Social Media

Anthony J Crecco

Short Sale and Loan Modification Expert

Thornwood NY 10594

914.269.8184

www.CreccoRealEstate.com

Your Home Sold Guaranteed or I will Buy it for Cash

SEARCH THE MLS LIKE AN AGENT

Posted via email from WESTCHESTER COUNTY DISTRESSED PROPERTY INFORMATION

Thursday, March 4, 2010

"Find a Reason to Believ

The boss sings about it. Self help gurus write about it. Setting goals is the ideal way to live your best life and most of my clients get that. However, how do you get to the point where you get that gusto to want to be a goal setting machine?

The bottom line is, exactly how do you find reasons to believe when most of what is going on in your life causes nothing short of disbelief?

I have to confess, over the last few months or so, I have become very superstitious. Not the bad kind of superstitious, like worrying about black cats in my path or steering clear of ladders; I have become a believer in luck. This may counter act much of my "you are what you think" mentality and how we control our own destinies stuff, but I have had some fun with this stage in my life. There is a level to my persona that likes to test the barometers of thinking outside the box and to see what happens. This is when my fixation with dimes began.

A good friend of mine explained to me the significance of a "dime sighting" as we call it. She explained that each time you find a dime means good luck and a great financial future. She went on to say that it signified a loved one that had passed on was looking out for you.

In the beginning, I have to admit, I thought she might be a little silly ending an email or two confirming her good luck by the dime she found that day. "Geez", I thought, "I have heard of pennies being good luck, but dimes?" I hate to say it, at first, I was a dime skeptic.

She continued to find dimes and to be honest with you, she is a dynamic person who really does seem like good luck sits on her shoulder each day -- professionally and personally. So, I thought, why not? I was in on this dime thing. Behind closed doors, I was officially proclaiming myself to be the Sherlock Holmes of ten cent sightings.

Ironically, dimes started appearing out of nowhere! On my nightstand when I would go to bed, in the middle of my bedroom floor after the painter had just left (and I swore up and down that it was not there when I had vacuumed) and so on. Dimes were appearing everywhere! I was on a lucky streak and loved it!

Each and every time I found a dime I felt that all was going right in my coin-seeking world.

My business had never done better, my phone was ringing off the hook and it seemed that each day, my life was smooth sailing. I was working out again, sleeping well, new clients were emailing me daily and kids were helping out around the house (And I thought the heavens would part for that to happen!).

This is the life, I thought. Where the heck have all these dimes been hiding? However, I didn't want to seem ungrateful for their present day appearances and did not want to look a gift horse or rather coin fairy in the mouth.

Until one day, the reality of it all came crashing down rattling me to my coin-hunting core.

A few days ago, I was out on my deck telling my dime story to my kids and a few of their friends. As usual, I had a handful of nay-sayers but mostly, the younger ones were intrigued and wanted in on this good luck venture. Then, I noticed out of the corner of my eye the look my son, Jake, gave his girlfriend. Feeling my stomach churn I was thinking, "He is just embarrassed that I believe in all this stuff" and shook it off. But that wasn't it as I looked into the big brown eyes of his sweetheart of a girlfriend who simply had to spill it, "Jake did it, Mrs. C."

"Did what?" I panicked.

"I have been planting dimes around the house for months!" As he expressed in his every so smooth 15 year old demeanor -- Not!

"What?!" I said, heart pounding, beads of sweat coming off my forehead trying to rationalize how a kid that doesn't even pay attention to which end of the bed he is going to sleep on actually cared about his mom's preoccupation with silver coins.

My daughter, her friends, Jake's girlfriend, all paused for a moment to see how I would react. Was I going to hit him over the head with the deck umbrella or shun him from family dinners for a month? What was I going to do?

Then it hit me. Yeah, it was great fun finding those dimes and thinking about my dime guardian angel who put them there. (I was sheepishly thinking of my aunt each time I found one.)

That's when my AHA moment hit me! Dimes or no dimes, my luck was still the same! I could still say I had a dynamic month at work, my finances were steadily on the rise, and personally, my guy, as well as my kids, was doing terrific! I still was able to own that good luck -- dimes or not.

Most of us have good luck charms, believe in silly superstitions and little rituals that we hope to bring us good fortune and hope for tomorrow. And it's what all of these things symbolize that really matters.

We are finding reasons to believe.

In a world that can throw us a curve ball or two at times we may not feel like taking a swing, look for reasons to believe in your life. Little moments that create hope for a better tomorrow. It could be the power suit that gives you the confidence when doing a presentation at work, or the belief that a dime means new clients are on the way -- at the end of the day, it just reinforces your reason to move forward and live your best life.

So, go ahead, and go out and search for your dimes today. Whether you find 2 or 20, I guarantee that you will feel a little lighter, hopeful and conscious of the good in your world prior to your coin lookout days. And, if all else fails, you will inevitably be a few cents/sense richer.

"Still at the end of every hard earned day people find some reason to believe."

Bruce Springsteen

THE CRECCO COMPANIES

Real Estate Remodeling Social Media

Anthony J Crecco

Short Sale and Loan Modification Expert

Thornwood NY 10594

914.269.8184

www.CreccoRealEstate.com

Your Home Sold Guaranteed or I will Buy it for Cash

SEARCH THE MLS LIKE AN AGENT

Posted via email from WESTCHESTER COUNTY DISTRESSED PROPERTY INFORMATION

Monday, March 1, 2010

Last Week in the News

Economic News Update

The Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller 20-city housing price index rose a seasonally adjusted 0.3% in December. It was the seventh consecutive monthly gain and follows a 0.2% increase in November.

The consumer confidence index fell to 46 in February from an upwardly revised 56.5 in January. Economists had anticipated a reading of 55. The index was benchmarked at 100 in 1985, a year chosen because it was neither a peak nor a trough in consumer confidence.

The Commerce Department reported new home sales fell 11.2% in January to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 309,000 units from a rate of 342,000 units in December. Economists had expected a pace of 354,000.

Initial claims for unemployment benefits rose by 22,000 to 496,000 in the week ending February 20. Continuing claims for the week ending February 13 rose by 6,000 to 4.617 million.

Orders for durable goods — items expected to last three or more years — rose 3% in January after a revised 1.9% increase in December. Excluding volatile transportation-related goods, orders posted a monthly decrease of 0.6%.

Existing home sales fell 7.2% in January to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.05 million units from 5.44 million units in December. The inventory of unsold homes on the market fell 0.5% to 3.27 million, a 7.8-month supply at the current sales pace, up from a 7.2-month supply in December and a 6.5-month supply in November.

The Commerce Department announced that gross domestic product — the total output of goods and services produced in the U.S. — increased at an annual rate of 5.9% in the fourth quarter of 2009, rather than the 5.7% increase initially reported last month.

Upcoming on the economic calendar are reports on construction spending on March 1, and factory orders and pending home sales on March 4.

THE CRECCO COMPANIES

Real Estate Remodeling Social Media

Anthony J Crecco

Short Sale and Loan Modification Expert

Thornwood NY 10594

914.269.8184

www.CreccoRealEstate.com

Your Home Sold Guaranteed or I will Buy it for Cash

SEARCH THE MLS LIKE AN AGENT

Posted via email from WESTCHESTER COUNTY DISTRESSED PROPERTY INFORMATION

Are Foreclosures a Bargain???

Is Buying a Foreclosure Really a Bargain? What You Need to Know

In today’s tumultuous economy, it’s no surprise that there are foreclosure properties to be found in just about every community across America—even ours. While a terrible hardship for homeowners to endure, foreclosures can present a unique opportunity for first-time home buyers and investors looking to purchase a “bargain-priced home” with the potential for building instant equity.

As experienced real estate professionals, we want to advise you to tread carefully when it comes to foreclosures—they might not be quite the bargain you expect. Here are some important facts you need to know before venturing out into the foreclosure market:

- Homeowners faced with foreclosure are understandably stressed and resentful, which can often lead to neglecting routine maintenance on a home. Sometimes, even deliberate damage is done. Assessing the home’s condition, therefore, is a must.

- Foreclosure properties have often been vacant for an extended period of time. Look for problems caused by damp conditions, such as mold.

- Get a thorough home inspection before bidding on the property. Once the damage/disrepair of the home is assessed, factor this in when bidding on the home.

- Contact a real estate professional—like me, a Member of the Top 5 in Real Estate Network®—or my team, who is well steeped in the community and can provide information about pre-foreclosure properties, that is, homes that have been scheduled for foreclosure but have not yet gone to auction or been sold off. These homes need to be sold quickly as owners are trying to avoid foreclosure and its impact on their credit.

-Last but not least, go to www.hud.gov for information on how to buy homes acquired by the U.S Department of Housing and Urban Development as a result of foreclosure action on an FHA-insured mortgage. The site also has information on special programs and opportunities for teachers, law enforcement officers and others.

While buying a foreclosure property takes patience and research, the results can be well worth your time and effort. For more information, please e-mail our team, and please pass this on to anyone you know who might be interested in exploring a foreclosure purchase.

Sincerely,

Anthony Crecco & Joanne Ricciardella
Crecco Real Estate
Office: 914-449-6547
Mobile: 914-469-1861
anthony@creccorealestate.com
http://www.CreccoRealEstate.com

THE CRECCO COMPANIES

Real Estate Remodeling Social Media

Anthony J Crecco

Short Sale and Loan Modification Expert

Thornwood NY 10594

914.269.8184

www.CreccoRealEstate.com