By Bruce Gatewood April 18, 2009
We hired Bob Idakaar of Prudential NJ Properties to sell our home. He was there with us through the whole transaction. He smoothed out the problems, he negotiated price, closing, repair items like an artist!, He helped us with every detail including recomnending a wonderful attorney for us. If I could give a sure thing kind of endorsement; it would be to Bob Idakaar or Prudential that if you are looking to sell or buy a home, you can be rest assured your best interests are important to him. We have recomended him to friendds and family in Chatham, Madison, Randolph, Succasunna/f Roxbury Township and, Mt Olive Township and beyond for their Real Estate needs and each one has thanked us! ...read more
Here we are in April, tax time and hopefully Spring is really here! The housing market and the economy have both seen better days. This is the reality that we are facing and in addition: the world is in 3 wars, the continuing tradegy in Japan and our own Government not being able to work together! Still life moves on and by God's grace our day to day needs and experiences keep moving forward. So, with all that laid out; are you seeking to buy a home? Great rates and really great prices make it a good time to look and find your dream home. Now, if you are going to stay put for a while, it is a tremendous time to purchase a home. You must keep in mind that your home is your center, your lifes core and sanctuary. So the decision for home ownership needs to be a careful one and a committed one. On the other side of the coin; are you thinking of selling your home? Downsizing, retiring, relocating? The good news is that there is strengthening consumer confidence and yes homes are being bought and sold. Sellinmg or buying in the market? Please contact me with your concerns or questions. Happy Spring! Bob Idakaar GRI PRUDENTIAL NJ PROPERTIES WWW.BOBSHOMES.NET WWW.ROXBURYHOMEPRICE.COM ...read more
By WWW.BOBSHOMES.NET April 10, 2011
Is the housing market on the verge of recovering? Is it recovering already? If you're not sure whether you believe the economists and pundits who think they can see the future, here are some tools that will help you make up your own mind. In Pictures:5 Simple Ways To Invest In Real Estate Pending Home SalesAccording to the National Association of Realtors, pending home sales, or the number of homes that are under contract and in the process of selling, rose by 8.2% in February (the most recent month for which data are available). The index is also an encouraging 17.3% over what it was a year ago. Pending home sales are considered a leading indicator, meaning that they can forecast the direction the economy is headed. Leading indicators cannot truly predict the future, though, so they should be taken with a grain of salt. (To learn more about leading indicators, readLeading Economic Indicators Predict Market Trends.) The increase in pending home sales could be less indicative of a genuine improvement in the housing market, however, and more indicative of the pending expiration of the homebuyer tax credit, which requires homes to be under contract by April 30. (To learn more about the homebuyer tax credit, readClaim the Homebuyer Tax Credit Before It Expires.) Housing StartsHousing starts are an important leading indicator of not just the housing market, but the economy as a whole, because people are more likely to start new residential construction projects when things are looking good. Housing starts don't look promising right now - the U.S. Census Bureau reported that privately owned housing starts in February were 5.9% below January and 0.2% above February 2009. (Learn more about housing starts inEconomic Indicators: Housing Starts.) New and Existing Home SalesNew home sales reached a record low in February with 308,000 sales, according to the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB). In 2005, 1,283,000 new homes were sold per month on average. The good news is that new home sales increased by 20.8% in the West, one of the regions hardest hit by the housing crisis. More good news comes from statistics on existing home sales. About 5 million existing homes were sold in February, up from about 4.7 million a year ago. (For more on this subject, readEconomic Indicators: Existing Home Sales.) Home InventoryHome inventory is another leading economic indicator. A greater supply of homes-for-sale indicates weak market conditions. The NAHB also reported that as of February 2010, there were 236,000 new homes, or 9.2 months' supply, on the market, the worst number since May 2009. There was also 8.6 months' supply of existing homes on the market, the worst number since August 2009. However, these numbers are better than those from a year ago, when the supply was 11.1 months for new homes and 9.7 months for existing homes. Housing AffordabilityThe National Association of Realtors reports that in February 2010, the median price of an existing home in the United States was $164,300 and the average mortgage rate was 4.99%. With median family income at $60,498, a family's housing payment would only be 14.2% of its income, well below the 25% cap many financial experts recommend for keeping the monthly budget under control. Compare these figures to 2007 averages, when a house cost $217,900, mortgage rates were 6.52% and median incomes were about the same at $61,173. While falling home prices aren't good, improved home affordability could help the recovery by putting home ownership within reach for more families, especially the first-time buyers who have historically helped end housing slumps. However, credit is still difficult to obtain, and unlike investors, most families can't buy homes without a mortgage. What's more, despite how far prices have fallen, there are still plenty of people in high-cost-of-living cities who can't afford to buy anything. Mortgage ApplicationsThe Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) issues its Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey that reports on the number of people applying to borrow money to buy a house. For the week ending April 9, mortgage applications declined by 9.6% over the previous week. The four-week moving average, which is helpful in smoothing out the ups and downs of the weekly figures, was down 6.2%. The MBA stated that an increase in mortgage insurance premiums for FHA loans, which are attractive to buyers because of their low down payment requirements, may have contributed to this decline. Mortgage Interest RatesFor the week ending April 9, the MBA reported that the average contract rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage was 5.17%. Mortgage rates have been at historic lows for months, wavering between 5% and 6%. Low mortgage rates help entice buyers, but they can't fix a bad housing market on their own. The Consumer Confidence Index, a survey of how optimistic or pessimistic people feel about the economy, has been up and down in 2010, and consumers still feel pessimistic about the job market. The thousands of Americans who are unemployed couldn't get a mortgage even if rates were 1%. (For related reading, seeConsumer Confidence: A Killer Statistic.) Real Estate Mutual FundsAccording to Morningstar, real estate mutual funds returned 9.4% in the first quarter of 2010, one of the highest return of any mutual fund category. Over the last year, they have also led all mutual funds with a gain of 105.3%. Shares of Vanguard's REIT ETF (VNQ), which invests in a wide range of real estate companies, gained 10% in the first quarter of 2010 and over 69% in the last year. These returns show investor confidence in the overall real estate market. REITs are not limited to investing in the residential housing market, however; VNQ's largest holdings, for example, include Simon Property Group, which owns numerous shopping malls; Vornado Realty Trust, the owner of many office and retail buildings; and Public Storage, the well-known storage unit rental company. Mixed SignalsMajor housing market indicators currently provide mixed signals about how the housing market is doing. High unemployment rates, the continued difficulty of obtaining credit and the pending expiration of the homebuyer tax credit make it hard to tell where the housing market is headed at the moment. Keep an eye on these indicators and wait for clear and consistent signals to emerge before you consider the housing market to truly be recovering. WWW.BOBSHOMES.NET Original story -8 Signs Of A Real Estate Rebound ...read more
By WWW.BOBSHOMES.NET October 11, 2010
AFTER 11 YEARS BEING A SUCCESSFUL AND PRODUCTIVE REALTOR WITH PRUDENTIAL NEW JERSEY PROPERTIES; IT'S TIME TO SHARE A LITTLE INSIDER PERCEPTIONS ON THE CURRENT REAL ESTATE CONDITION! MANY PEOPLE ARE THINKING IT IS NOT A GOOD TIME TO BUY BECAUSE PRICES ARE STILL DROPPPING A LITTLE EACH MONTH.MANY OF THE GREAT ANALISTS OF OUR REAL ESTATE AND ECONOMIC COMMUNITIES MIGHT NEGATE THAT MENTALITY AND SAY IT IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY.WELL, IT IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY! LOW, LOW INTEREST RATES, NEGOTIATING ROOM WHEN YOU MAKE AN OFFER. OF COURSE THE GOLDEN RING ANSWER IS: HOUSING HERE IN MORRIS, WARREN, SUSSEX AND ESSEX COUNTIES IS BECOMING WAY MORE AFFORDABLE! I HAVE HAD THE PRIVLEDGE OF HOME OWNERSHIP FOR MANY YEARS AND MADE MONEY ON EVERY HOUSE I EVER OWNED.EVEN IN THE SLOWER TIMES OF PREVIOUS TROUBLED MARKETS.THE TRUTH OF THE MATTER IS WE ALL NEED A PLACE TO LIVE.WHY NOT THAT PLACE BE YOUR OWN PLACE? WHY PAY SOME LANDLORD INSTEAD OF YOUR OWN MORTGAGE?GOOD ENOUGH REASON?WELL, THE BEST REASON IS "THERE NO PLACE LIKE HOME" AND ESPECIALLY WHEN IT IS YOUR HOME.THE HOUSING MARKET AND ECONOMY WILL RECOVER AND WHAT YOU BUY THIS YEAR WILL BE WORTH A LOT MORE THAN YOU THINK IN THE NEXT COMING YEARS.THAT IS NOT JUST CONJECTURE.IT IS A FACT AND THE REWARD OF A GOOD INVESTMENT.STILL JUST THINKING OF BUYING?TIME TO TO TAKE ACTION AND FIND THAT DREAM OWN AND BE ABLE TO AFFORD IT COMFORTABLE TOO.GOOD HEALTH, GOOD FEELINGS AND A GOOD FUTURE TO US ALL!GOD BLESS!BOB IDAKAARWWW.BOBSHOMES.NETPRUDENTIAL NJ PROPERTIES1-877-744-4663 ...read more
By WWW.BOBSHOMES.NET April 18, 2009
Are you looking to buy a house? When you go to look at houses, you will quickly see that realtors do not use street addresses as a method of identifying houses. They use an MLS number which allows them to quickly access information about a property for sale. Using a street address gives you some infor... ...read more
Finding the perfect place for your business can take a great deal of time and research. You may want to lease a building rather than rent it. Leasing a building helps you build equity in the building. Depending on your location, commercial property may be listed for lease differently than traditional ... ...read more
