Real Estate New York
Market Update December 2007
2007 Remodeling Cost vs Value Report
Rising remodeling costs coupled with an overall slowdown in housing activity nationwide combined to extend the general downward trend in Cost vs. Value data. After several years of accelerated remodeling spending and record housing appreciation, it is not surprising to see a moderating trend in the share of cost recovered for remodeling projects.
However, it is essential to have a firm estimate of what renovating a present home will cost versus what the improvements will add to the overall value. When considering a new home that would require remodeling this cost must be factored into the purchase price. In former years a positive return on remodeling costs could be expected on most projects. At present, the highest return for any improvement (wood deck) is 83% with most returns considerably lower.
Often the best solution is to buy a home in excellent or superior condition that will generally meet the needs of buyer without significant investment in remodeling.
click for complete article from Remodeling Magazine
Seven Mistakes New Home Buyers Make
Buying a new home is great! You get to choose where your home will be built, add a sunroom here, third garage bay there and before you know it you are moving into your dream home. With all the options to choose from it is very easy to overlook crucial elements to your new home buying experience that could cost you greatly in both time and money.
Click for complete article by Joshua Ferris
Single Women Buy Homes, Too!
More Single Women Buy Homes Than Ever Before - What Do Single Women Want?
Record numbers of single women are buying homes. If you're a single woman who wants to buy a house, the good news is the market is wide open for you. The stats from the Joint Center for Housing Studies say:
More than one in five home buyers is a single woman.
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Twice as many unmarried women are buying homes than single men.
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Single women make up more than one-third of the growth in real estate ownership since 1994.
Click for complete article by Elizabeth Weintraub
High Tech Homes
From advanced home sensors to computerized wine cellars, today's cutting-edge homes are starting to think on their own. Learn about the latest gadgets and trends.
George Jetson would be impressed if he could see the wide range of high-tech gadgets and systems that are on the market for today's homes.
Though holographic phones and flying cars are still probably a few years off, today there are more space-age products than ever to improve safety, energy efficiency, and overall quality of life for home owners.
Click for Complete Article from Realtor.org
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Commuter Expense Calculator
Upstate New York is a rich tapestry of enduring urban centers, thriving suburbs and charming villages. The choice of where to live often turns on personal preference balanced with ready access to the job markets. The calculator below puts a dollar value on the daily commute as applied to housing costs, which generally rise in proportion to the proximity of employment--the further out you go the less a home costs but the more you spend on the commute.
© 2007-2008
Market Update
Market Statistics as of December 1, 2007
This graph represents average sale versus list prices
December stats show an upturn in the average list and selling prices. However, the difference between what sellers are asking and what the buyers are paying has increased a bit to 96.77%
In addition, both the average sale price and list prices are still above both 2005 and 2006 average sale and list prices though the number of sales has declined significantly to 498.
Mortgage Rates and Trends
The link to up to the minute New York State mortgage information seems to work better than presenting the actual graph.
Click for up to the minute mortgage rate information
Buyers' versus Sellers' Market Report
The graph above shows the number of sales in a given month divided by the number of homes on the market in the four main counties of the Capital Region. This ratio can be used to determine whether we are in a buyers' or sellers' market as indicated in Dennis Maier's article on Market Timing featured in eZine Real Estate. In general, if it would (theoretically) take less than 6 1/2 months to sell the current inventory it's a sellers' market. If it would take more than 9 months to sell all the homes on the market it's a buyers' market.
As you can see, last month was more of a balanced market. As of December 1, the market has turned back toward favoring the buyer.
Archives
We've been asked to again include links to past market updates. But since our stories link to other web sites over which we have no control we only want to link to our most recent issues. Otherwise, the article links may fail to work as they once did.
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