kevin blasi: Big Plans For Downtown Scranton Renovation - 05/14/08 10:15 PM
Here we go! Scranton is transforming.
I can still remember watching "The Implosion". A long row of businesses on Lackawanna Ave were blown up from the inside. My brother and I watched as the buildings folded into themselves and came crashing to the ground. In what felt like a moment, the Steamtown Mall was upon us. The transformation of Downtown Scranton was in full swing.
Here we are again. We're back on Lackawanna Ave, but this time there are no explosions. Just celebration for the ongoing renovation project. You can expect to see restaurants with inside and outside seating along the … (0 comments)
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kevin blasi: "How Would 'House' Solve the Housing Crisis?" - 05/04/08 06:51 AM
There have been hundreds of posts about the current crisis of massive foreclosures. Most of them focus on firmly pointing and shaking a finger at one of the parties of the real estate transaction.
I love watching the TV show, "House" on Fox. I appreciate the way he handles problems. He attacks them logically and methodically. What would he do here? Well, he certainly wouldn't waste time complaining. He wouldn't devote any of his time or resources to whining about how this could have been avoided. He would have his team working on ways to fix the problem.
We all know that mortgage … (6 comments)
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kevin blasi: Tobyhanna FSBO With Many Upgrades and Private Pocono Setting - 04/22/08 11:29 AM
View the Virtual Tour
… (0 comments)
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kevin blasi: Closing Costs? Let the Seller Assist You! - 04/15/08 09:28 PM
Homes aren't cheap! The purchase of a home involves a transaction in the tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars. We talk about abstract theories such as payments, interest rates, and points. It's easy to lose focus on the big picture. All this negotiating and maneuvering takes place to put into a service a mortgage that you will spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on over the years.
Closing costs aren't cheap either. You can expect to use the services of a broker, title company, appraiser, inspector, etc. to help close your loan. When you see all the work being put into the … (0 comments)
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kevin blasi: NEPA Realtors: Scranton Mortgage Man Offers Free Marketing For Your Listings - 04/10/08 11:11 PM
The job of a Realtor can be quite difficult. There are many facts and figures you've got to keep at the top of mind at all times. A talented and successful Realtor is a person with an outward personality. Most of your day is spent talking to all kinds of people. You've got to relate to buyers, relate to sellers, and then be skilled enough to bounce between the two to create an agreement that satisfies everyone. A Realtor's day can be truly exhausting!
Relating to people isn't the only skill you need. A thorough knowledge of your market area is a must. You'll memorize, … (2 comments)
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kevin blasi: Scranton Hill Section Looking Up - 03/30/08 09:08 PM
The Scranton Hill Section is one of the most incredible areas in the country. Or maybe that's my biased opinion.
Just take a walk! You'll stroll through a quaint college campus at the University of Scranton. Step off campus and you'll find a mix of new and older commercial buildings with small shops to enjoy.
Start climbing up the Hill and the first thing you'll notice is abandoned properties, empty lots, and multi-family homes that have seen the wear and tear from the abuse brought on by wild college parties. Not the kind of place you'd want your small kids growing up. But … (0 comments)
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kevin blasi: Dalton FSBO Home With Lots Of Land and Priced To Move! - 03/25/08 11:18 AM
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kevin blasi: Lackawanna County Homeowners: Beware Equity Strippers! - 03/25/08 11:09 AM
I recently spoke to a man in Scranton who had been a victim of this atrocious act. I only wish I had met this man a year before. He had lost his house in the worst way. He and his family were driven out by an evil man who got away with it.
Just like so many others, Dan got behind on his mortgage payments when his Adjustable Rate Mortgage matured. The mortgage payments were late for so long that no one, not even his own mortgage company, could help him. He had to sell.
He was approached by a man that seemed … (0 comments)
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kevin blasi: I Heard Mortgage Rates Went Down Yesterday, Right? - 03/18/08 09:22 PM
No. The Federal Funds rate went down. This is a short-term interest rate so it affects the shortest term interest rates first. Credit cards and Home Equity Loans are based on an index that can change at a moments notice. These types of accounts will be affected first.
Mortgage rates can change instantly, but they don't follow indexes. I would say they follow expectations. This is similar to the stock market. A firm of analysts might report to a major media outlet that a company is expected to announce earnings that are higher than anyone expected. Woop! The stock jumps.
The analysts and … (0 comments)
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kevin blasi: Scranton and Wilkes Barre Business Owners: You Get Lower HELOC rates! - 03/10/08 09:38 PM
Equity Line of Credit. Home Equity Line. HELOC.
There are many names for this animal but they are all the same. "HELOC" is short for Home Equity Line Of Credit. It's a second mortgage that sits patiently behind your much larger first mortgage. Your first mortgage stays "as is". The HELOC is a second lien on your property. A normal HELOC has a rate that is tied to the Wall Street Journal Prime rate. As the Prime rate goes up, so does your rate. Your HELOC rate is usually a certain margin (usually about 1 point or more) ABOVE Prime.
Here's where this … (0 comments)
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kevin blasi: 3 Ways Your Construction Company Can Increase Profits Immediately - 12/14/07 11:48 PM
The goal of any business should be to maximize profit in any way. Cutting costs is one way to accomplish this. Increasing production is another. Real Estate Construction is no different than any business in these basic practices. These fundamentals apply for a builder whether you are building a home, a residential development, a commercial building, or a large scale project. The goal is to save money and increase your profit. Here are three ways that a builder can do this.
Decrease Cost of Materials and Supplies
You may say you are already doing this. You're getting the biggest discount possible at a … (2 comments)
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kevin blasi: Scranton / Wilkes Barre: The 4th Best Place To Buy Or Invest In Real Estate In The USA - 12/07/07 07:15 PM
It's official! There are only a few other places better than Scranton / Wilkes Barre to buy real estate property. Many of us knew this all along.
Local industry professionals like Realtors and Mortgage Professionals have seen it coming in the form of increased investment activity from the neighboring states of New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. We've seen residential and commercial property investors from these states come in and buy properties up by the block! These are smart investors who are seeing great gains on their investment
Now, this movement comes to light brought on by a study by the National Association of Home … (3 comments)
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kevin blasi: Scranton Crime - An Interesting Fact - 12/02/07 11:36 PM
When a family decides to relocate to a certain area, the first thing they should do is research the place they are moving to. A move is a drastic thing for any family to handle, so it's important to be sure that you will be happy with your new home. One of the first statistics that they look at is crime.
A crime rate gives you a general idea of the amount of safety you can expect at your new hometown. So, how safe can you expect to feel when you move to Scranton, PA? Well, that depends on what your safety … (0 comments)
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kevin blasi: A Tunkhannock Christmas Celebration - 12/01/07 03:35 PM
This is "Small Town America" at its best! Tunkhannock is a quaint town located 30-40 minutes from both Scranton and Wilkes Barre, PA in NEPA.
My lovely hometown of Tunkhannock is once again hosting its annual "Christmas In Our Hometown" on December 7th and 8th. I must admit that this will be the first one that I'll have attended. I'm very excited for a couple of reasons.
I've lived here in Tunkhannock for 4 years now and have seen every festival except this one. It just happens that I have always had to work or had a friend's Christmas party to go to. No … (7 comments)
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kevin blasi: Heyna or No? NEPA As A Second Language: Very Funny! - 11/24/07 01:37 PM
So, you want to live in NEPA (Northeast Pennsylvania)? Our Scranton / Wilkes Barre area is so enriched with culture that we happen to have our own language. And no, it doesn't sound anything like the characters on "The Office".
Scranton and Wilkes Barre are unversally different from eachother in so many ways. Even the small towns that surround them have cultures and identities of their own. This conglomeration of Irish, Italian, Polish, etc, culminates in a language that is all our own.
It sounds something like this:
So, if you decide you wanna come live up da NEPA, let me know … (3 comments)
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kevin blasi: Financing a Flip: Can You Really Do 100%? - 10/04/07 09:56 PM
Yes, I can.
As a mortgage broker I've been adapting my business to survive and suceed in this new real estate market.
Many people see leveling or declining values and increased foreclosures as the end of the world! Lending guidelines have been slowly tightening like the noose around the necks of those of us who have thrived by providing excellent service to first-time homebuyers.
I see the panic, but I also see opportunity.
Declining values represents the best time to purchase. You buy low, right? Increased foreclosures means more investment flipping opportunities with larger profit margins. Tightening guidelines means that many people with average … (13 comments)
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kevin blasi: Why Investors Should Be Looking at Commercial Real Estate for Profits - 07/05/07 09:43 PM
More or less, an investor is an individual that looks for profits. That is a very simplified definition but it is correct as it stands. What better place has there been to find profits than the Real Estate Market?
However, the Real Estate market is a volatile animal lately. The other thing that I know about investors is that most would like to avoid volatile situations.
The "Subprime Meltdown" threw everyone in this industry for a loop! All of a sudden, there was a large population of homebuyers that were no longer approved for financing. This shrunk the pool of homebuyers in … (2 comments)
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kevin blasi: Why Not Make An Investment In Scranton Commercial Real Estate? - 04/28/07 09:03 PM
Scranton, PA is a mid-major city located in Northeast Pennsylvania (NEPA). It seems that there are just as many bad things to say about the city as there are good things. Scranton has been the victim of a very bad reputation due to many citizens' complaints about government mismanagement, corrupt politics, and an increase in crime activity.
These are the types of situations that make real estate investors salivate. Scranton has been immune to the "housing bubble" that affected many of the major cities along the east coast. Scranton's property values never increased out of control so there was no crash … (2 comments)
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kevin blasi: This Sailboat On My Desk Keeps Me Sane - 04/23/07 11:08 PM
That's right. I have a sailboat on my desk. Well, actually it's a picture that I use as the desktop of my computer. Here she is...
It's not mine. That certainly isn't me in the cockpit right there. There is only one reason I keep this picture of complete strangers on my desktop, staring at me throughout the day: Motivation!
This is not a sailboat that I want to buy. This picture, to me, represents the pinnacle of my career; when I'm able to just buy whatever I want to buy and do whatever I want to do.
My father-in-law owns a boat on … (22 comments)
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kevin blasi: Is the Subprime Problem Really Just a Subprime Problem? - 03/19/07 08:30 AM
I'd say no, but it seems that Wall Street and the media want someone to blame. So, it's us.
Sure there were some nasty loan being done by shady brokerages and lending institutions nationwide. I imagine W2 stated deals were a big part of the problem. Loan Officers were looking to close loans even if they didn't "make sense". The Pay-Option programs were being sold to people that didn't belong in them and were hinging on increasing home values. I would like to say it's that simple, but it can't be.
Let's talk to some of the people who very unfortunately lost their … (3 comments)
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