31
Jan
DDA to list old fire hall with real estate agency (Tri-County Times)
Author: admin // Category: Real Estate News
Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.
31
Jan
DDA to list old fire hall with real estate agency (Tri-County Times)
Author: admin // Category: Real Estate News
Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.
31
Jan
Real estate transfer tax revenue down (Bucks County Courier Times)
Author: admin // Category: Real Estate NewsReal estate transfer tax money distributed to municipalities and school districts was down 29 percent in 2009, according to documents released by the Bucks County Recorder of Deeds.
Tiny Durham was the hardest hit town, losing 66.3 percent of the revenue it had received the year before. Five of the larger municipalities that each lost more than $500,000 and 40 percent included Bensalem, Buckingham, Middletown, Newtown and Warminster. The last one was down 60 percent.
“We absolutely did take a hit,” Warminster business manager Bob Tate said.
In pure dollars, the township lost more money year-to-year than any Bucks’ municipality.
Tate said the town has reacted much like a family would after revenue fell from $1.1 million in 2008 to $413,000 in 2009.
“You dip into cash reserves, tighten your belt and look for ways to cut costs and increase other revenues,” he said.
Every time a property changes hands, the county’s elected Recorders of Deeds office levies a tax of 2 percent on the property’s sale price, which is split evenly between the buyer and the seller. Of that 2 percent number, 1 percent goes to the state. The municipality and school district where the property is located split the other 1 percent. A drop in overall sales has meant a dramatic decrease of nearly 20 percent for local governments.
The total transfer tax remitted to Bucks townships and boroughs was down about $5 million in 2009, compared with the 2008 total of $17 million. In 2007 the total was $21 million.
The same goes for 16 school districts.
The biggest losers were Centennial (-50 percent), Neshaminy (-43) and Bensalem (-43).
“Everything is really down,” said Ed Gudknecht, Bucks Recorder of Deeds. “It’s hard to believe but homes are not selling. Hopefully, things will be better in the future but at this point it’s not happening.”
While towns and districts share the tax when a property is sold, it’s the municipality that’s impacted more since its budget is much smaller than a school district’s.
Warminster, for example, carries a $23 million budget compared with the $90 million annual outlays from Centennial.
“That’s true,” said Tim Vail, Centennial’s director of business affairs. “It’s only about 1 percent of our budget.”
In addition, he said, “we budget fairly conservatively and tend not to overestimate anticipated revenue.”
Districts and municipalities were flush with transfer tax money back in 2005 and 2006, splitting $105 million over those two years.
The $24 million shared by towns and districts in 2009 is the lowest since 1997.
Not all news was bad, however. Perkasie managed a 7.5 percent increase. Solebury (1.7 percent) and Bristol (1.4) were also up.
Among districts, Bristol was up that same 1.4 percent as the borough. Next best was Morrisville, which fell just 4.7 percent.
But the nation’s economic downturn, which cost 7.1 million Americans their jobs in the last two years, has devastated the housing market. Nationally, an estimated 571,600 housing units were authorized by building permits in 2009, 37 percent below the 2008 figure of 905,400.
Those numbers have hit home in Bucks County.
Because of a 47 percent loss in transfer tax revenue, Middletown has sliced its budget from $980,000 to $750,000, said Dennis Penko, the township’s business director.
“We had to, there was just too much pressure on the general fund,” he said. “We’re hoping the real estate market will improve, but it looks like 2010 is going to be another tough year.”
Buckingham, down 41 percent, had to lay off employees, said Finance Director Jill Pistory.
“We’ve tried to cut expenditures as much as possible,” she said. “The fact that we’re already a frugal municipality makes it more difficult because there’s not a whole lot of room.”
Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.
31
Jan
Real estate transfer tax revenue down (Bucks County Courier Times)
Author: admin // Category: Real Estate NewsReal estate transfer tax money distributed to municipalities and school districts was down 29 percent in 2009, according to documents released by the Bucks County Recorder of Deeds.
Tiny Durham was the hardest hit town, losing 66.3 percent of the revenue it had received the year before. Five of the larger municipalities that each lost more than $500,000 and 40 percent included Bensalem, Buckingham, Middletown, Newtown and Warminster. The last one was down 60 percent.
“We absolutely did take a hit,” Warminster business manager Bob Tate said.
In pure dollars, the township lost more money year-to-year than any Bucks’ municipality.
Tate said the town has reacted much like a family would after revenue fell from $1.1 million in 2008 to $413,000 in 2009.
“You dip into cash reserves, tighten your belt and look for ways to cut costs and increase other revenues,” he said.
Every time a property changes hands, the county’s elected Recorders of Deeds office levies a tax of 2 percent on the property’s sale price, which is split evenly between the buyer and the seller. Of that 2 percent number, 1 percent goes to the state. The municipality and school district where the property is located split the other 1 percent. A drop in overall sales has meant a dramatic decrease of nearly 20 percent for local governments.
The total transfer tax remitted to Bucks townships and boroughs was down about $5 million in 2009, compared with the 2008 total of $17 million. In 2007 the total was $21 million.
The same goes for 16 school districts.
The biggest losers were Centennial (-50 percent), Neshaminy (-43) and Bensalem (-43).
“Everything is really down,” said Ed Gudknecht, Bucks Recorder of Deeds. “It’s hard to believe but homes are not selling. Hopefully, things will be better in the future but at this point it’s not happening.”
While towns and districts share the tax when a property is sold, it’s the municipality that’s impacted more since its budget is much smaller than a school district’s.
Warminster, for example, carries a $23 million budget compared with the $90 million annual outlays from Centennial.
“That’s true,” said Tim Vail, Centennial’s director of business affairs. “It’s only about 1 percent of our budget.”
In addition, he said, “we budget fairly conservatively and tend not to overestimate anticipated revenue.”
Districts and municipalities were flush with transfer tax money back in 2005 and 2006, splitting $105 million over those two years.
The $24 million shared by towns and districts in 2009 is the lowest since 1997.
Not all news was bad, however. Perkasie managed a 7.5 percent increase. Solebury (1.7 percent) and Bristol (1.4) were also up.
Among districts, Bristol was up that same 1.4 percent as the borough. Next best was Morrisville, which fell just 4.7 percent.
But the nation’s economic downturn, which cost 7.1 million Americans their jobs in the last two years, has devastated the housing market. Nationally, an estimated 571,600 housing units were authorized by building permits in 2009, 37 percent below the 2008 figure of 905,400.
Those numbers have hit home in Bucks County.
Because of a 47 percent loss in transfer tax revenue, Middletown has sliced its budget from $980,000 to $750,000, said Dennis Penko, the township’s business director.
“We had to, there was just too much pressure on the general fund,” he said. “We’re hoping the real estate market will improve, but it looks like 2010 is going to be another tough year.”
Buckingham, down 41 percent, had to lay off employees, said Finance Director Jill Pistory.
“We’ve tried to cut expenditures as much as possible,” she said. “The fact that we’re already a frugal municipality makes it more difficult because there’s not a whole lot of room.”
Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.
31
Jan
Maybe last year wasn’t so bad for southern New Jersey’s real estate market (Press of Atlantic City)
Author: admin // Category: Real Estate NewsThe widespread belief that real estate had a terrible 2009 is
being disproved by the data for the southern New Jersey market
released this week.
Compared with the prior year, sales were almost even in Atlantic
and Cape May counties, and significantly higher in Cumberland
County. Prices fell, but by single digits, and the time it took to
sell homes remained about the same.
Real estate offices said the second half of 2009 in particular
was strong, and the momentum is continuing into this year.
“I thought we had a great year,” said April Puesi, broker owner
of Coldwell Banker Excel Realty in Vineland, estimating sales at
the agency were up 25 percent.
Prudential Fox & Roach’s HomExpert Market Report this week
showed 551 home sales in Cumberland County in 2009,
21 percent more than the year before. The median price fell
8.3 percent to $154,000, and the average days a house spent on
the market increased from 104 to 113.
Puesi said she’s starting to see prices rising, with appraisals
coming in higher than half a year ago.
“I think this is going to continue. We’ve seen it pick up in the
last two weeks,” she said. “December was dry, but in January we
went right back to normal compared to last year’s sales.”
In Atlantic County, home sales fell 1 percent to 2,602 last
year, according to the market report. The median price dropped 9.6
percent and days on the market inched up from 115 in 2008 to 119 in
2009.
“We increased our properties sold about 12 to 15 percent over
the previous year,” said Carlo Losco, president of Balsley Losco in
Northfield. “That’s not great because 2008 was not a hard year to
beat.”
But Losco said that after a weak first half of 2009, sales in
the second half were strong through December and continuing into
January.
“I’m projecting our agency will see another 15 percent increase
in houses sold, but I’m predicting housing prices will probably
remain at the same level,” he said.
Losco credited several factors for the improving market: low
interest rates, more aggressive lending by banks, pent-up housing
demand, federal tax credits and other incentives, and reduced
prices.
He said there are many buyers now “stalking the listings,” and
as soon as a home price is adjusted to what’s considered a good
deal, there are multiple offers for it.
In Cape May County, which isn’t covered by the market report,
the county Association of Realtors reported this week that 2009
sales dropped 1 percent to 1,879. The median price fell
8.1 percent to $296,000 and average time on the market was
unchanged at 221 days.
Steve Booth, market manager for Prudential Fox & Roach
Realtors in Ocean City, said his office sold more units in 2009 but
that was due in part to efforts in the primary home market outside
of the city.
“I think the Ocean City marketplace is starting to recover, but
the numbers across the board from last year in Ocean City itself
are still down,” Booth said.
The city is dominated by secondary and investment houses, he
said, which haven’t been helped by incentive programs aimed at
first-time home buyers and now existing homeowners as well.
“The general feeling is that the worst is over, not so doom and
gloom as it has been the past two or three years,” Booth said. “I
think we’ll see a gradual recovery in the secondary and investment
housing markets, but not a huge jump for the foreseeable
future.”
The HomExpert Market Report covered the Greater Philadelphia
area, southern New Jersey and northern Delaware.
For all of southern New Jersey, the report said sales were down
1.4 percent in 2009 and the median price declined 8.3 percent to
$199,000 from the prior year.
Contact Kevin Post:
609-272-7250
Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.
31
Jan
Maybe last year wasn’t so bad for southern New Jersey’s real estate market (Press of Atlantic City)
Author: admin // Category: Real Estate NewsThe widespread belief that real estate had a terrible 2009 is
being disproved by the data for the southern New Jersey market
released this week.
Compared with the prior year, sales were almost even in Atlantic
and Cape May counties, and significantly higher in Cumberland
County. Prices fell, but by single digits, and the time it took to
sell homes remained about the same.
Real estate offices said the second half of 2009 in particular
was strong, and the momentum is continuing into this year.
“I thought we had a great year,” said April Puesi, broker owner
of Coldwell Banker Excel Realty in Vineland, estimating sales at
the agency were up 25 percent.
Prudential Fox & Roach’s HomExpert Market Report this week
showed 551 home sales in Cumberland County in 2009,
21 percent more than the year before. The median price fell
8.3 percent to $154,000, and the average days a house spent on
the market increased from 104 to 113.
Puesi said she’s starting to see prices rising, with appraisals
coming in higher than half a year ago.
“I think this is going to continue. We’ve seen it pick up in the
last two weeks,” she said. “December was dry, but in January we
went right back to normal compared to last year’s sales.”
In Atlantic County, home sales fell 1 percent to 2,602 last
year, according to the market report. The median price dropped 9.6
percent and days on the market inched up from 115 in 2008 to 119 in
2009.
“We increased our properties sold about 12 to 15 percent over
the previous year,” said Carlo Losco, president of Balsley Losco in
Northfield. “That’s not great because 2008 was not a hard year to
beat.”
But Losco said that after a weak first half of 2009, sales in
the second half were strong through December and continuing into
January.
“I’m projecting our agency will see another 15 percent increase
in houses sold, but I’m predicting housing prices will probably
remain at the same level,” he said.
Losco credited several factors for the improving market: low
interest rates, more aggressive lending by banks, pent-up housing
demand, federal tax credits and other incentives, and reduced
prices.
He said there are many buyers now “stalking the listings,” and
as soon as a home price is adjusted to what’s considered a good
deal, there are multiple offers for it.
In Cape May County, which isn’t covered by the market report,
the county Association of Realtors reported this week that 2009
sales dropped 1 percent to 1,879. The median price fell
8.1 percent to $296,000 and average time on the market was
unchanged at 221 days.
Steve Booth, market manager for Prudential Fox & Roach
Realtors in Ocean City, said his office sold more units in 2009 but
that was due in part to efforts in the primary home market outside
of the city.
“I think the Ocean City marketplace is starting to recover, but
the numbers across the board from last year in Ocean City itself
are still down,” Booth said.
The city is dominated by secondary and investment houses, he
said, which haven’t been helped by incentive programs aimed at
first-time home buyers and now existing homeowners as well.
“The general feeling is that the worst is over, not so doom and
gloom as it has been the past two or three years,” Booth said. “I
think we’ll see a gradual recovery in the secondary and investment
housing markets, but not a huge jump for the foreseeable
future.”
The HomExpert Market Report covered the Greater Philadelphia
area, southern New Jersey and northern Delaware.
For all of southern New Jersey, the report said sales were down
1.4 percent in 2009 and the median price declined 8.3 percent to
$199,000 from the prior year.
Contact Kevin Post:
609-272-7250
Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.
VietNamNet Bridge – The real estate market will remain stagnant if the State Bank maintains its tight monetary policy through the first half of this year, experts warn.
However, this lull provides a good opportunity for people with real housing needs rather than speculators to buy properties, according to experts.
Nguyen Son Trung, director of HCM City-based Dat Nam Do Real Estate Company, says real estate transactions are only taking place in capital-mobilising projects because speculators only have to deposit 10 to 20 percent on an apartment that will take a long time to be completed.
Apartments that would be completed in Quarters II, III and IV this year are selling at base prices, but still unable to find customers, he says.
“People who are in need of houses should find themselves one in the next few months. It will be hard for people with little money to do so when the market recovers,” Trung says.
According to surveys conducted by the Vietnam real Estate Company (VietRees) – a local real estate information and research agency in Vietnam, the market segment of high-class apartments has seen prices lowered. Since October 2009, 37 projects have cut prices by 1-5 percent from the initial asking price. This marks a 30 percent reduction in prices of land and apartments from those demanded early last year.
The price reduction has also happened in the western area of Hanoi – a real estate hotspot. Duong Noi Apartment Complex in Ha Dong district is selling at base prices, after it went up by VND100 million earlier last year. The Mulberry Lane Ha Dong project has cut prices by US$40-50 per square metre, MegaLand by US$30-40, Bac An Khanh by US$30-40 and Usilk-City by US$50-70.
Real estate marketing agencies in the west of Hanoi say transactions in the area have fallen by 90 percent in comparison with the period between August and October 2009.
“If the situation does not improve, there will be a series of low-priced land and apartment properties launched into the market over the next two or three months, because speculators have to bargain away their investments to pay maturing loans,” says Nguyen Thi Giang, a real estate speculator in Hanoi.
Despite the weak demand, real estate developers are preparing for an early market recovery.
Besides hundreds of under-construction urban projects in the eastern area of the capital city, many urban projects and residential areas are being implemented in the northern and eastern districts, including Me Linh, Dong Anh, Long Bien and Gia Lam.
There are as many as 80 new projects under development in Me Linh District, half of them to build residential complexes, garden homes and villa. In the east of Hanoi, several major projects like the Eco Park, Villa Park, Viet Hung, Dang Xa, Sai Dong and Thach Ban are under construction.
Ho Van Hai, deputy general manager of the Dai Duong Joint Stock Commercial Bank (Oceanbak), says, ”Only when the State Bank loosens its monetary policy, will the real estate market become exciting again.”
The current state of stagnation will not be long because the global economy is recovering, says Trung from Dat Nam Do company in HCM City.
VietNamNet/VNS
Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.
VietNamNet Bridge – The real estate market will remain stagnant if the State Bank maintains its tight monetary policy through the first half of this year, experts warn.
However, this lull provides a good opportunity for people with real housing needs rather than speculators to buy properties, according to experts.
Nguyen Son Trung, director of HCM City-based Dat Nam Do Real Estate Company, says real estate transactions are only taking place in capital-mobilising projects because speculators only have to deposit 10 to 20 percent on an apartment that will take a long time to be completed.
Apartments that would be completed in Quarters II, III and IV this year are selling at base prices, but still unable to find customers, he says.
“People who are in need of houses should find themselves one in the next few months. It will be hard for people with little money to do so when the market recovers,” Trung says.
According to surveys conducted by the Vietnam real Estate Company (VietRees) – a local real estate information and research agency in Vietnam, the market segment of high-class apartments has seen prices lowered. Since October 2009, 37 projects have cut prices by 1-5 percent from the initial asking price. This marks a 30 percent reduction in prices of land and apartments from those demanded early last year.
The price reduction has also happened in the western area of Hanoi – a real estate hotspot. Duong Noi Apartment Complex in Ha Dong district is selling at base prices, after it went up by VND100 million earlier last year. The Mulberry Lane Ha Dong project has cut prices by US$40-50 per square metre, MegaLand by US$30-40, Bac An Khanh by US$30-40 and Usilk-City by US$50-70.
Real estate marketing agencies in the west of Hanoi say transactions in the area have fallen by 90 percent in comparison with the period between August and October 2009.
“If the situation does not improve, there will be a series of low-priced land and apartment properties launched into the market over the next two or three months, because speculators have to bargain away their investments to pay maturing loans,” says Nguyen Thi Giang, a real estate speculator in Hanoi.
Despite the weak demand, real estate developers are preparing for an early market recovery.
Besides hundreds of under-construction urban projects in the eastern area of the capital city, many urban projects and residential areas are being implemented in the northern and eastern districts, including Me Linh, Dong Anh, Long Bien and Gia Lam.
There are as many as 80 new projects under development in Me Linh District, half of them to build residential complexes, garden homes and villa. In the east of Hanoi, several major projects like the Eco Park, Villa Park, Viet Hung, Dang Xa, Sai Dong and Thach Ban are under construction.
Ho Van Hai, deputy general manager of the Dai Duong Joint Stock Commercial Bank (Oceanbak), says, ”Only when the State Bank loosens its monetary policy, will the real estate market become exciting again.”
The current state of stagnation will not be long because the global economy is recovering, says Trung from Dat Nam Do company in HCM City.
VietNamNet/VNS
Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.
30
Jan
South Lee County Real Estate Transactions from Jan. 18-22, 2010 (Naples Daily News)
Author: admin // Category: Real Estate NewsFeels Like: 66°
Humidity: 97%
Precip: 40%
Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.
30
Jan
Real estate seminars (Rochester Democrat and Chronicle)
Author: admin // Category: Real Estate News<!–Saxotech Paragraph Count: 4
–>
–>
First Time Homebuyer Seminar and Tax Credit: Wells Fargo Home Mortgage. 9 to 10:30 a.m. Jan. 30. Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, 300 Red Creek Drive. To register, (585) 267-8807.
Home Buyer Seminar: Avoid costly mistakes. Learn about the $8,000 and $6,500 tax credits. Presented by Jack H. Kronenberg and Esther Lafontaine. 5:30 p.m. Feb. 2 and Feb. 9. Exclusive Buyer Realty Inc., 375 Glen Ellyn Way, Brighton. Free. (585) 461-4610 or www.exclusivebuyerrealty.com or estherandjack@yahoo.com.
Home Buyer Seminar: Tax credit is available for first-time buyers and existing home owners. How to take advantage of this opportunity while avoiding mistakes. 6 p.m. Feb. 3 and Feb. 10. CNB Mortgage, 63 Monroe Ave. Suite A, Pittsford. Free. To register, (585) 385-2370, ext. 50962 or mwhalen@cnbank.com.
Seminar on a Career in Real Estate: Real estate sales career in your sights? Contact Dick Lippa at Century 21 Capital Realty for the next seminar or private interview session. 7 p.m. Feb. 8. Canal Park office complex, 31 Erie Canal Drive, Suite E, Greece. Free. To register, (585) 739-3422.
Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.