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Sitting on the fence wondering if you should purchase a home?
Wondering if real estate values will drop futher?
Wondering if mortgage interest rates will drop further? Hoping to take advantage of the $8,000 First Time Buyer Tax Credit?
If the $8,000 First Time Buyer Credit is important , the time to act is quickly approaching. To qualify, a First Time Buyer must close on their purchase by November 30, 2009. Again, that is close title on the purchase, not be under contract to purchase. With the recent changes in mortgage processing, a time frame of two months to accomplish everything and close on a real estate purchase will be close.
Coincidently, August under contract sales were extremely robust. Coincidently, buyer activity, contract offers and sales have been very robust the last week of August and into this end of Summer Labor Day weekend. Apparently, many other First Time Buyers are realizing that the time to purchase is now!
As important, mortgage rates are very favorable, currently hovering around 5.25 %, based on the buyer's mortgage loan program. Opportunities to otain such favorable mortgage interest rate financing like this cannot last much longer. If real estate sales and mortgage applications increase, as they have been in the past 3 months, how much longer will it be before lenders increase the mortgage interest rate?
What about real estate values? Yes, they are much lower then they were in 2006. Too much attention is given to when they will hit bottom. The bottom will only be known when prices begin to increase. More attention needs to spent on affordability, and affordabilty is a combination of purchase price, interest rates and, yes, having the opportunity to receive the $8,000 First Time Buyer Credit.
If purchasing a home is in your plans, invest some time now and meet with a REALTOR in the area you would like to move to and meet with a Mortgage Representative to see what mortgage options are available to you and obtain a Mortgage Pre-Approval.
Interested in viewing real estate statistics in Iselin, New Jersey, Colonia, Edsion or any other town in Middlesex County? There's lots of information here.
A Look at Real Estate in Middlesex County
Real estate values are local.
Home values differ from one neighborhood location to another. They differ from one Town to another, from one County to another and from State to State. Obtaining reliable local home sale real estate information is important, whether you are just curious about home values or are looking to buy or sell a home, whether the home is in Iselin, New Jersey, Colonia, Edsion, in Middlesex County or any other State.
Obtaining reliable local real estate home value information is important when looking to buy or sell a home. Real estate statistics are helpful, but they cannot provide market value estimates. When there is a need to obtain reliable information, contact a local REALTOR who can provide a detailed "Market Analysis"
I am providing real estate real estate sales information for one family homes and condos/townhouses in Middlesex County, New Jersey as provided by the Middlesex County Multiple Lisitng System.
View the May, 2009 Year to Date Sales Comparison Report for Middlesex County Real Estate.
For more detailed reports, visit www.RealEstateSalesData.DavidFialk.com.
Conditions in the Contract Offer
A contract to purchase real estate includes a sale price, a mortgage amount to be obtained and a closing date whether the home being purchased is in Iselin, New Jersey, in Middlesex County or any other state.
However, there is more to a contract to purchase than these details, and that includes the content language in the contract document. The form of the real estate contract prepared by a REALTOR® or real estate licensee can be different from one real estate company to another, from county to county and from state to state.
While price and terms are important, the most overlooked aspect and perhaps a very important consideration for the seller are the conditions in the real estate contract offer, if any. All real estate contracts have conditions. A condition in a contract offer can be more easily explained as a subject to event.
The most common condition is that the contract is subject to the buyer obtaining mortgage approval and a written mortgage commitment within a certain time frame in the amount required to purchase the home.
Another very common condition is that the buyer performs a termite inspection, home inspection and perhaps a radon inspection within a certain time frame. These type inspections are so common that they are pre-printed and included in the real estate contract. Read More
Terms of the Contract Offer
Initial Deposit
Be prepared to write a deposit check when making a contract offer to purchase real estate. Commonly referred to as a Binder, more commonly known as the initial deposit, this is the check made out to the Selling Real Estate Office when submitting a contract offer. In simple terms, it is a good faith deposit to express interest in purchasing real estate.
What is the required amount of a binder deposit? There is no law as to a required amount, but local real estate practices may determine what is acceptable. Common sense should prevail in determining the amount of the Binder deposit however. Writing a check for $100.00 shows good faith, but what kind of statement is that making to the owner when the contract offer is presented to them?
Would a more substantial initial deposit, say $1,000.00, make a stronger statement? How about $5,000 as an initial deposit, or even more? Wouldn't a larger initial deposit check make a stronger impression with a seller in making a decision to accept a contract offer or in contract negotiations?
The Binder is generally not deposited by the Real Estate Broker until there is offer and acceptance, a signed contract of sale. However, there are State Real Estate Licensing Laws which regulate how long a Real Estate Broker can hold a deposit check without depositing it into the Company's Trust Account. In cases where contract negotiations are prolonged, perhaps beyond five business days, most Real Estate Brokers will either deposit the check into their Trust Account during contract negotiations, or ask the buyer to write a new check as contract negotiations continue.
If the contract offer is not accepted, the Binder is returned to the buyer. If the contract is accepted and signed by the owner, the Binder will be deposited in the Broker's Trust Account and will be applied to the buyer's down payment and the purchase price.
Earnest Money Deposit
Commonly referred to as the second deposit, this is the additional upfront deposit made in the purchase of real estate and is also part of the buyer's total down payment. The earnest money deposit could be 10% of the purchase price depending on the real estate market the home is being purchased in, the price range or the total amount of the down payment being used by the buyer.
It is quite common in many real estate markets that homes are purchased where the total down payment is less than 10% of the purchase price. In these type real estate transactions, the earnest money deposit will generally be some portion of the total down payment, or perhaps the entire amount of the down payment in a transaction where the buyer has a total down total payment of 3.5 % to purchase a home. The amount of earnest money deposit is something that may eventually be determined during contract negotiations.
The earnest money deposit is generally paid within a certain time frame or after completion of Attorney Review. It is generally paid to the Selling Broker, unless local real estate practices provide otherwise, or there is a change made to the contract of sale during the Attorney Review process where the Seller's Attorney requests to hold all deposit monies in their Trust Account.
There are times when a contract of sale is terminated after Attorney Review, such as home inspection problems, mortgage denial and others. In those situations where a contract to purchase is cancelled in accordance with the terms of the contract, all deposit monies previously paid by the buyer are refunded.
Many buyers, and buyer agents, under estimate the importance of these two aspects of contract preparation, and the benefits they can provide in contract negotiation. The Initial Deposit and Earnest Deposit can be the difference in whether a contract offer gets accepted and signed by the seller, especially in multi-contract presentations.
Read More
The Contract Offer: What Price to Start With
When a decision is made to make an offer to purchase a home, be sure to go back and take a second look. It is so much easier changing your mind about a home before a contract offer is made than after a contract offer is accepted and signed by the seller. This second appointment would be a perfect time to bring along others who may have an impact on a buying decision, such as parents, friend, contractor, etc.
Go through the home a second time and look beyond the owner's décor, whether it was the home just previewed, the first one seen earlier in the day or the one previewed last week. Why? There are many reasons, but most importantly is seeing if the second look creates the same good feeling as the first, and then taking a closer look to see if there are aspects of the home missed during the first preview which may alter the decision to submit a contract offer.
So what is the right price to start with?
Some Preliminary Information
Be it the real estate market in 2009 or any other real estate market for that matter, the structure of a real estate purchase contract offer can be the difference in it being accepted or rejected. No, the offering price is not the only factor in negotiating a contract to purchase a home.
Regardless of the number of pages in the sales contract, a contract offer can be broken down into 3 separate parts which can be important to the seller: price, terms and conditions. Each has to be satisfactory in order to obtain seller acceptance. In some situations, full price offers are not acceptable due to the buyer's terms and conditions in the contract offer. In other instances, contracts get accepted and signed even though the offer was much lower in price than other competing offers, but was more favorable for the seller in terms and conditions.
What then is the secret in preparing and submitting a contract offer to buy real estate? This is where the value of an experienced Buyer's Agent is with providing assistance in preparing the contract offer and structuring the contract offer to purchase in a manner that does not create questions or concerns for the seller and their listing agent when it is presented to them.
There is more to purchasing a home than just looking at houses, whether the home is in Iselin or Colonia, New Jersey, in Middlesex County or any other state for that matter.
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Closed Real Estate Sales Data
Obtaining reliable current information is a very important aspect of searching for, or selling a home, in Iselin, New Jersey or any part of the County or State. I am providing Sales Data from the Middlesex County Multiple Listing System for one family homes and condos/townhouses comparing closed sales in 2009 to 2008.
This type of information can help you see the factual average trends of real estate sales and sale prices in particular Towns of interest as compared to reading about regional or national statistics.
Real estate is local. If you are thinking of buying or selling a home in Colonia, the real estate market there may not be same as in Edison or Woodbridge. Real estate values vary from Town to Town, and from one neighborhood or section of a Town to another.
Read More
April 1, 2009
Home News & Tribune
By Jarrod C. Grasso, RCE
The writer is the executive vice president of the New Jersey Association of Realtors.
Pundits and partisans alike are fiercely debating the benefits of the recently enacted federal stimulus bill, formally known as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. There is one thing they can all agree upon: the stimulus bill provides enormous incentives for families looking to purchase a home, especially for first-time home buyers.
In fact, the provisions incorporated in the new stimulus bill coupled with the rock-bottom mortgage rates make this the most advantageous time to buy a home in recent memory.
The best-known and probably most-powerful provision of the stimulus program is the $8,000 federal income tax credit that the bill extends to families or individuals who purchase their first home before Dec. 1. This tax credit would wipe out nearly half of the entire federal income tax obligation for a family with a combined income in the range of $100,000.
Unlike the previous $7,500 tax credit, new home purchasers who take advantage of these tax benefits are not required to pay them back to the federal government. In short, the new tax credit is both larger and more taxpayer-friendly. Like the previous tax credit, however, its full benefits are limited to individuals earning as much as $75,000 and couples earning as much as $150,000. The credit is phased out for filers earning more than those amounts and is reduced to zero for individuals earning more than $95,000 and married couples earning more than $170,000. It is available for first-time buyers, anyone who has not owned a principal residence three years prior to their purchase. There are other important benefits included in the stimulus bill that are particularly helpful for home buyers.
The stimulus bill, thankfully, preserves the 2008 limits for loans issued through the FHA, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The loan limits mean that these critical lending agencies are authorized to issue loans in most New Jersey counties of up to as much as $729,000 or $440,000, depending on the loan program. These loans are stable, too, as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are backed by the government. These generous lending limits are critically important in New Jersey, where housing values are typically above the national average.
A portion of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act authorizes the expenditure of an additional $2 billion on programs to stabilize and preserve neighborhoods where foreclosures have taken place. The program provides grants to states and municipalities to address problems that can occur when entire neighborhoods are decimated by foreclosures. These funds can be used to purchase, repair and resell abandoned properties.
The neighborhood stabilization aspects of the stimulus bill would also allow state and local governments to make loans for the purchase of distressed properties by low- and moderate-income individuals. Neighborhood stabilization programs like this can help to bring qualified families and individuals into the housing market while at the same time guard against the blight that can occur when neighborhoods are plagued by abandonment and foreclosures.
The stimulus bill also provides vast incentives for energy conservation, weatherization and the use of other green technologies. The bill provides tax relief and accelerated depreciation for small businesses and others who invest in energy conservation and the use of alternative energy in commercial buildings.
Homeowners can also benefit from grants to state and local governments for energy audit programs and for retrofitting homes in order to make them more efficient. These grant programs can significantly lower the monthly utility costs of owning a home.
Although the national economy is perilous, the underlying principles of the real estate market remain strong. Congress and the president were right to focus on housing as a key driver for the American economy. A vibrant economy depends upon a vibrant housing market. Assuring that Americans can purchase, own and maintain the homes in which they live and raise their families is fundamental not only to our prosperity but to the essential American value of owning a home.
Choice Realty Co. Celebrates 35th Anniversary
March, 2009
David Fialk, Broker Owner, is pleased to announce that Choice Realty Co. is celebrating its 35 Year Anniversary as a full service, independent, privately owned Real Estate Company. We would like to thank all of our clients for making the past 35 years as rewarding as they have been!
Established in 1974, Choice Realty Co. has been providing professional real estate services to home buyers and home sellers, with a commitment to service excellence since its inception.
 Located at 1144 Green Street in Iselin, New Jersey, Choice Realty takes great pride in the ownership of real estate as evidenced by the “Beautification Award” given us by the Woodbridge Chamber of Commerce in 1998.
Choice Realty’s primary market area includes the towns of Iselin, Colonia, Woodbridge, Avenel, Fords, Port Reading, Sewaren, Keasbey, Carteret, Edison, Metuchen, Rahway and the surrounding areas.
The real estate business and real estate industry has witnessed many changes since 1974. The most profound change occurred in 1995 with the advent of the World Wide Web, now commonly referred to as the Internet.
Seeing the benefit of what technology could provide in the marketing and selling of real estate, Choice Realty Co. launched their Website, www.ChoiceRealty.com in the fall of 1995. Back then, with dial up Internet connections and no digital cameras, photos of homes for sale had to be mailed to the Website hosting company to be placed on the Company Website. With that came our first sale to an Internet based customer inquiry, and a real estate closing on a listed property in Iselin in February of 1996.
So much has changed! Consumers now have instant information readily available to them on the Internet, whether they are just curious about real estate or are in the process of buying or selling a home. It is the content and timely delivery of this information to the consumer which becomes the challenge of the successful Real Estate Company today.
Providing information to the consumer, in a format and a manner they prefer, has now become the standard by which many real estate agents and companies are compared. It is a real estate business where simply putting out a sign, putting a home for sale in the MLS and putting an ad in the newspaper does not provide the marketing results of years ago.
Adapting to constantly changing technology and staying abreast of the rules and regulations in the real estate industry are probably the two most important concerns a Real Estate Broker needs to focus on in today’s real estate industry in order to have continued success, and Choice Realty Co. is looking forward to continued success as a Market Leader in real estate for years to come.
A real estate company can be judged by the professionalism and ethics of their Sales Associates and we are proud of the support, professional experience and length of service of our REALTOR Associates.
* Jennie Esposito * Donald Bence * Thomas Wood * Michael Kertes * Maryann Crowley
* Marie Morrell * Susan Lasky * Robert Andersen * George Balboa * Maureen Balboa
* Robert Denton * Mahendra Kamdar * Adnan Yousaf * Peter Cantillo * Bart Flanzbaum
* Devakaran Hunt * Dawn Damatta * Janine Piscadlo, Administrative Assistant
You can contact any of our REALTOR Associates for assistance with your real estate needs.
Choice Realty is a Member of the Middlesex County Association of REALTORS, New Jersey Association of REALTORS and National Association Realtors and provides real estate services through membership in the Middlesex County Multiple Listing System, Garden State Multiple Listing System and the Monmouth County Multiple Listing System.
Info@ChoiceRealty.com 732-283-2100 www.ChoiceRealty.com
I am a REALTOR®.
A REALTOR® is a real estate professional who is a member of the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® (NAR) and who abides by its Code of Ethics.
I am a Member of the Middlesex County Association of REALTORS®, New Jersey Association of REALTORS® (NJAR) and the National Association of REALTORS®.
Equally important to the Code of Ethics that all REALTORS® must abide by is the fact that these Trade Associations are the premier advocacy groups for private property rights for both the consumer and real estate licensees.
In case you missed some important news affecting private property ownership, I am providing Press Releases issued by the New Jersey Association of REALTORS®.
February 27, 2009
New Jersey REALTOR® Oppose Obama Plan To Slash Mortgage Interest Deduction
The New Jersey Association of REALTORS® (NJAR®) today said President Obama's budget proposal to reduce the amount of mortgage tax deductibility for families earning over $250,000 will negatively impact housing and economic recovery efforts in high cost areas like New Jersey.
"While New Jersey enjoys the second highest household median income in the nation, our taxpayers also bear the heaviest state and local tax burden in the country," said NJAR® Executive Vice President Jarrod Grasso, RCE. "In a high cost state like ours, reducing the amount of mortgage interest a family can deduct from their taxes will have a devastating impact on housing recovery efforts and limit many people's ability to achieve the dream of homeownership."
President Obama's budget proposal would limit the tax rate at which high-income taxpayers, those whose family income is $250,000 ($200,000 for singles) or more, to 28 percent for itemized deductions. Even though the proposal would apply only to households earning $250,000 or more, home prices across the board would fall as home buyers discount the value of the deduction in their purchase offers. This will lead to a drop in all home prices because a fall in home prices at the top end will eventually filter down to lower priced homes.
"At a time when both our federal and state governments are grappling with massive budget deficits and attempting to jumpstart our economy, this is exactly the wrong message to be sending," added Grasso. "Discussing President Obama's ill-advised plan will be at the top of our agenda when the NJAR® leadership team heads to Washington, D.C. next week. We are hopeful New Jersey's congressional delegation will see how this approach will undue the work they have already done to revitalize the housing market and work to change it."
The NJAR® leadership team will visit Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. next week to discuss key issues that have an impact on property owners and the real estate industry, including the proposed cut in the mortgage interest deduction.
March 10, 2009
Corzine Budget Proposal is an Assault on Property Owners
Today, to a joint session of the New Jersey Legislature, Governor Jon Corzine proposed the state's spending plan for the upcoming year. This year's budget proposal was an attack on property owners. Property owners took a major hit when he declared his goal to eliminate the property tax deduction next year on state income taxes for everyone but seniors.
Amongst the drastic cuts Governor Corzine announced was a 2 percent reduction in municipal aid, which is used to offset property taxes. He also stated his intention to gut the property tax rebate program. Property tax rebates would be maintained at current levels for seniors, the disabled and those earning less than $50,000 a year. Households making $50,000 to $75,000 a year would only receive two-thirds of the rebate they received last year.
Additionally, Governor Corzine is looking to increase payroll taxes for unemployment insurance, as well as place a one-year three-fourths of 1 percent rate increase on the taxes paid by residents with incomes of $500,000 or more. He is also seeking to make state workers take 12 days of unpaid furloughs.
Governor Corzine said the new state budget will be about $29.8 billion, approximately $3 billion below the current spending plan. He said budget decisions were made as a result of a shrinking revenue base due to a poor economy. The bulk of $2 billion New Jersey is set to receive from President Obama's federal stimulus aid will go to Medicaid and education.
NJAR® is gearing up for a legislative fight to oppose Governor Corzine's proposal to do away with the deduction of property taxes paid on state income tax filings, as well as other proposals that will lead to higher property taxes. Stay tuned as we will need all New Jersey REALTORS® to be united in their opposition to these ill-advised policies.
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David Fialk
Iselin,
NJ
More about me…
Choice Realty Co.
Address: 1144 Green St., Iselin, NJ, 08830
Office Phone: (732) 283-2100
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