Bergen County NJ Real Estate Blog

Congress’ recent $170 billion economic stimulus plan is centered around new tax rebates; unfortunately, the details of the plan are foggy at best, leaving

Bergen

County NJ real estate owners and taxpayers with questions about the rebates and how they will benefit.

The details are still being worked out by the Treasury Department and the IRS, but here are some facts that have been made available:

• To be eligible for a full rebate, single tax filers must have 2007 adjusted gross income (AGI) below $75,000.  These filers will get rebates up to $600.
• Joint filers must have AGI below $150,000 and are eligible to receive rebates of up to $1,200.
• Parents will receive $300 rebates per dependent child and there is no cap on the maximum number of children eligible.
• Filers who do not owe income taxes because of various credits and deductions but who do have at least $3,000 in income (can include Social Security or disability payments) will get $300 rebates per person or $600 per couple.
• The rebate is a one-time tax cut – an advance on a credit you’ll receive on your 2008 return.

If you make the IRS deadline and file your taxes by April 15 (that’s NEXT WEEK!), you can expect to receive a rebate check in the mail sometime between May and July.Why not put your 2007 tax rebate toward the purchase of a new home?  To learn more about

Bergen

County NJ real estate, please visit PaulaClarkRealtor.com or begin searching for homes here.  For more personalized service, please call me at 201-930-3070.

The best chance for selling your Bergen County home is within the first seven weeks. Studies show that the longer a property stays on the market, the less the seller will net. Listed below are the five main factors to accomplishing this goal.

Step 1: Pricing

It is very important to price your property at a competitive market value right when you list it. The market is so competitive that even over-pricing by a few thousand dollars could mean that your house will not sell. It’s interesting, but your first offer is usually your best offer. Here are reasons for pricing your property at the market value right from the start in order to net you the most amount of money in the shortest amount of time.

An overpriced home:

* Minimizes offers
* Lowers showings
* Lowers agent response
* Limits financing
* Limits qualified buyers
* Nets less for the seller

80% of the marketing is done when we decide on what price to list your home. If you are unwilling to list at current market value, you would be better off not putting it on the market at this time.

Step 2:  Cleanliness

Most people are turned off by even the smallest amount of uncleanness or odor when buying a home. Bergen County home sellers lose thousands of dollars because they do not adequately clean. If your house is squeaky clean, you will be able to sell your home faster and net hundreds, if not thousands of dollars more. If you are planning on moving, why not get rid of that old junk now so that your house will appear larger? Make more space. Odors must be eliminated especially if you have dogs, cats, or young children in diapers or if you are a smoker. You may not notice the smell, but the buyers do! Most agents have a difficult time communicating to their sellers about odor. If you employ an agent to get the most amount of money for you, please don’t take offense if he must confront you about odor problems.

Step 3: Easy Access

Top selling agents will not show your home if both the key and access are not readily available. They do not have time to run around town all day picking up and dropping off keys. They want to sell homes! The greatest way to show a house is to have a keybox accessible to real estate agents!
Step 4: Showtime

When your home is being shown, please do the following:

* Keep all lights on
* Keep all drapes and shutters open
* Keep all doors unlocked
* Leave soft music playing
* Take a short walk with your children and pets
* Let the buyer be at ease and let the agents do their job

Step 5:  Paint & Carpet

Paint is your best improvement investment for getting a greater return on your money. Paint makes the whole house smell clean and neat. If your house has chipped paint, exposed wood, or the paint looks faded, it is time to paint. If your carpet is worn, dirty, outdated, or an unusual color, you may need to seriously consider replacing it. Many Bergen County homes do not sell because of this problem. Don’t think that buyers have more money than you have to replace carpet. They don’t. They simply buy elsewhere.

Step 6:  Curb Appeal

Your front yard immediately reflects the inside condition of your house to the buyer. People enjoy their yards. Make certain that the trees are trimmed so the house can be seen from the street. Have the grass mowed, trimmed and edged. Walkways should be swept. Clean away debris. Remove parked cars. This all adds to curb appeal. If a buyer doesn’t like the outside, they may not stop to see the inside.

Interested in the current market value of your home? Or what other homes in your area have sold for? Or just want to tlak, give me a call at 201-930-3070.

On the lighter side this week, I’ve dug up some fun and random facts & figures about the Bergen County NJ area.  Whether you’re a Bergen County homeowner, or just interested in learning more about the area, I think you’ll find these tidbits interesting:

• Dutch Colonial architecture once dominated Bergen County
• Washington’s retreat from the US Revolutionary War began in Bergen County
• When the Cloisters museum was built in New York City, John D. Rockefeller also purchased land on the NJ side of the Hudson River to keep the wooded view from the medieval museum undisturbed
• Fort Lee was the first center of movie making in the United States
• Mary Higgins Clark is from Bergen County and enjoys setting some or all of her mysteries in and around the area
• John Travolta grew up in Englewood
• Alan Alda commuted between his home in Leonia and Hollywood while he was starring in M*A*S*H

To learn more about Bergen County NJ or Bergen County real estate, please call me at 201-930-30704 or visit PaulaClarkRealtor.com.  You may also begin searching listings here.

A continuation of soft market conditions is forecast for existing-home sales in the months ahead, with improvement expected by the second half of this year if loan limits are increased, according to the latest forecast by the National Association of Realtors®. 

Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said sales activity is expected to remain soft through the first half of the year despite a generational low in mortgage interest rates.  “Existing home sales have moved narrowly since last September, but when the full impact of higher loan limits for conventional mortgages begins to impact the market there is likely to be a notable rise in home sales and prices,” he said.

This would seem to indicate that now would be a great time to be a home-buyer in the national marketplace. Let’s take a look at the sales statistics for Bergen County in January to see how the year started off:

January 2008 home sales in Bergen County decreased 25% compared to January 2007, with market times increasing 3%, 104.89 days vs. 101.46 days.

The median selling price increased by $10,000 to $490,000 and the average sales price increased 17% to $721,362.

If you are planning to buy or sell a house in 2008 or want to learn more about Bergen County real estate, please contact me at 201-930-3070 or visit PaulaClarkRealtor.com.

May your Thanksgiving be blessed with the bounty of the season and the love of family and friends! 

We’ll be back next week with more of the latest Bergen County NJ real estate news and information!  In the meantime, please feel free to contact me at 201-930-3070 or visit PaulaClarkRealtor.com.

We have all heard and read the daunting news about the ongoing rise in the foreclosure rate across America, thanks to increasingly tightening credit standards and rising interest rates.   

Many homeowners are lulled into believing that it can or will not happen to them, but would you know what to do if you could no longer pay your mortgage?  It is important to know your options so that you can make an informed decision on the best way to move forward in a stressful situation such as foreclosure. 

This article from FreddieMac.com does a great job outlining the terms associated with foreclosure and the steps to take if you think you may soon be facing foreclosure.  Among the topics covered in this helpful article:

• What to do if you can not pay your mortgage

• What if you can no longer afford to keep your home

• Beware of scam artists

I would also add to the list of steps to take when facing foreclosure – contact an experienced Realtor!  Along with a reputable lender, an experienced Realtor can help explain your options and guide you through whichever choice you decide to make.

 For more information about Bergen County NJ real estate, please call me at 201-930-3070 today or visit PaulaClarkRealtor.com, I would be happy to help you. 

Thanks to today’s tightening credit standards, you may need more paperwork than ever when applying for a new home loan.  To try to make the process less daunting, I’ve put together this list of items you may be required to bring along when you visit your lender to begin the loan application process:  (please note, all lenders are different and may require more or less paperwork!) 

Employment/Income-          Addresses of employers for two full years-          Gross monthly income, proven by last two pay stubs-          W-2’s, if available-          Proof of pensions, retirement, disability, or Social Security-          Proof of income from rentals, investments, etc.-          Proof of child support or alimony paid/received-          Self-employed: two years 1040 tax returns-          Current year profit and loss statement 

Creditors-          Each creditor’s name and type of account-          Account numbers-          Monthly payments and approximate balances-          Amount of child care expenses 

Banking-          Names of checking & savings institutions-          Account numbers and current balances-          Last two months bank and savings statements 

Miscellaneous-          List of assets in stocks, bonds, land-          Life insurance cash value-          Social Security numbers for all parties-          Veterans: Certificate of Eligibility & DD-214 or Statement of Service-          Divorce Decree and/or Separation Agreement if applicable-          Child support documentation if applicable-          Bankruptcy papers if applicable 

This may seem like an unreasonable amount of work to have to do on your part just to apply for a home loan.  But imagine if you were about to lend hundreds of thousands of dollars to somebody – you’d probably want a pretty good idea of that person’s ability to pay you back! 

Please click here to download TripleCalc software that will allow you to compare three mortgages at one time.  You can also visit my website or email me to learn more about

Bergen County NJ real estate.  I’m here to help!

When was the last time you really thought about the soil that your home is sitting on?  It may seem like just an afterthought when you’re in the market for a new home or adding on to your existing one, but investigating the soil upon which your home is built can tell you a great deal about the history and future of the property that you have invested in and live on. 

No need to go out shopping for test tubes, Petri dishes, and microscopes!  The US Department of Agriculture has already done the “dirty” work and has put together an extremely comprehensive Web Soil Survey website that contains digital maps and unbelievable amounts of digital soil data that has been methodically collected.  Just type in your address and then explore almost anything you ever wanted to know about the soil upon which your home is sitting including chemical properties, erosion factors and likelihood, and its drainage class. 

This is truly invaluable information if you are considering building an addition to your existing home or are concerned about the dirt that your little ones inevitably become covered in after playing outside. 

To receive a complimentary analysis of your home’s value, please click here.  Or visit my website or email me if you would like to learn more about

Bergen County NJ real estate.  I would love to help you invest in your future.

In data released by the National Association of REALTORS last spring, vacation- and investment- home sales both set records in 2005, with the combined total of second home sales accounting for four out of 10 residential transactions.

In listing the reasons for purchase, 41% of vacation-home buyers said, “to use as a family retreat” and 28% “to diversify investments.”

Typical vacation-home buyers in 2005 were 52 years old, earned $82,800, and purchased property that was a median of 197 miles from their primary residence; however, 47% of vacation homes were less than 100 miles and 43% were 500 miles or more.

In describing characteristics that vacation home buyers value about their property, 40% wanted to be close to an ocean, river or lake; 34% close to family members; 27% close to preferred recreational activities; 27% close to their primary residence; 26% close to mountains, 24% close to a preferred vacation area; and 17% close to a job or school.

 This Report is brought to you by Paula Clark’s Monthly Real Estate Newsletter for Bergen County’s Pascack Valley and Northern Valley from The Gooder Group.

While the term “condotel” is nothing new, its meaning has changed dramatically since the hotel-condominium hybrids were introduced 30 years ago. Back then, a condotel unit might look - and feel - like a cramped, converted hotel room.

Today’s condotels - privately owned condominium units available for short-term rental - are more spacious, with some properties boasting up to 4,000 square feet and amenities such as business centers, retail shops and restaurants, spas and exercise facilities.

For buyers looking for a vacation property with rental-income potential, condotel units can be priced lower than traditional condominiums, and many are completely furnished and equipped, making them ideal for out-of-town owners. Those same “feels like home” qualities appeal to vacationers seeking an alternative to the traditional hotel room. In fact, popular vacation “hot spots” such as Las Vegas, Orlando and Waikiki are seeing a surge in condotel development with some hotels being embarked for conversion to condotel units and other properties being built exclusively for the short-term rental market.

 This Report is brought to you by Paula Clark’s Monthly Real Estate Newsletter for Bergen County’s Pascack Valley and Northern Valley from The Gooder Group.