Montclair has long been seen as a destination for families of all shapes and colors. Those of us who have raised children here know that our kids all have friends with two moms or two dads - as far as they're concerned, it's just another family. How heartening it is to think that soon that may become the sentiment in suburbs all across [...]
As a New Jersey Realtor, I am a member of the National Association of Realtors (NAR). Last week I read a news release on the NAR website that confirmed what I've been seeing over the past several years: [...]
As a New Jersey Realtor, I read a lot of material relating to housing markets both state- and nationwide. Recently I read an especially interesting blog post on the National Resources Defense Council website. The NRDC is an environmental advocacy group, but in this post, staff member Kaid Benfield actually blogs about economics.
According [...]
With the start of the new year, why not make a new New Year's resolution? Instead of vowing to exercise more or eat healthier (not that these aren't worthy goals), you might want to resolve to become a homeowner. If you've previously been a renter, buying a home may seem overwhelming. This really is the perfect time to buy a home, though: [...]
I've been reading a lot lately about our national housing crisis, and there are definitely some sobering statistics out there. According to a recent article in The Wall Street Journal, home ownership is falling at the fastest rate since the Great Depression. There is a silver lining, though: now is a really good time for renters to buy a [...]
Real estate is always a "good news-bad news" business. The most obvious example of this is an overheated market: great news for home sellers, lousy news for home buyers. An article I read recently in [...]
Here's a scenario: New home buyer-client comes to me to find a house. My first question to them is always "how important is it that you can walk to the train and to shopping?" My second question is then "Have you been pre-qualified for a mortgage?". If it's from a lender I'm familiar with we're all set to go look at houses. If it's from [...]
A recent New York Times article discusses the rise in short sales in Manhattan due to the recession. One market analyst said "2010 might well be dubbed the Year of the Short Sale nationally. 'A short sale is going to be the only way for many people who bought at the peak and who are now underwater to move on with their lives if they have [...]
Despite both the state Assembly and Senate voting to approve a tax credit for NJ home buyers, Gov. Christie vetoed the program on July 23. The NJ Home Buyer Tax Credit Program would have allowed home buyers could claim a credit of either $15,000 or 5% of the home purchase price over the course of three years following the home purchase in [...]
The US Senate and House of Representatives have both voted to extend the deadline for closing on houses bought by April 30 from June 30 to September 30 in the hopes of allowing around 180,000 home buyers to complete their transactions and still qualify for the tax credit. While this does not extend the period in which home buyers could [...]
