The question on many peoples' minds is "Have we hit bottom yet?" This is not an easy question to answer. My belief is that there are some areas in the country that have not hit bottom yet and there are others that are darn near close. On Long Island we have seen some drastic reductions in price compared to just one short year ago. Homes that had sold for $400,000 in early 2007 are now selling for $300,000. For buyers this should seem to be good news however there still is a segment of buyers... Read Full Story

It seems as if Long Island is losing more buyers than it is gaining. Why is this happening when we all know what a beautiful place Long Island is? The short answer can be found in our ridiculous property taxes. It seems that even if you are one of the lucky few seniors who have paid off your mortgage, so what? You still will most probably have to pay real estate taxes that may be in excess of $1000 per month and you can still count on outrageous homeowner's insurance policy costs associated w... Read Full Story

Wikizines are interactive magazines that anyone can create or edit - and this one is called "Long Island Real Estate Market". Here you can find fresh voices and respond in real time. Some members write articles about recent news and trends related to the wikizine's topic, others recount relevant personal stories or share their favorite pictures and video clips. Got an interesting idea or story to share with other members of this wikizine? Well, then put on your journalist's cap and add your... Read Full Story

It seems that everyday there is some more news concerning the housing market. Yesterday the news appeared to be good, more buyers were getting back into the game. This news caused the stock market to rally. Today's news wasn't so good. Home prices fell to historically low levels with the average market dropping more than 10% from last year with Florida and Nevada suffering losses of close to 20%. Yesterday's good news had the National Association of Realtors saying that prices may begin to... Read Full Story

As an active Real Estate Investor and Buyer's Agent I have the opportunity to view a whole lot of homes (via MLS) on a daily basis. What is very interesting is that there are many homes that have been on the market for a very long time and they are dropping in price in gigantic increments. It is no longer unusual to see $50,000 to $100,000 price drops. Many of these properties are either in foreclosure or going into foreclosure. The banks holding these non-performing loans in their... Read Full Story

Greetings everyone. I am thrilled to be alive and well and still practicing real estate. It's been a difficult past year in the market place. Lots of changes have taken place and are still taking place as we speak. It's much more difficult to get a mortgage today however the interest rates are very low which should be very attractive to anyone who plans on buying or refinancing in the next few months. I do not see rates trending higher since the economy is in the dumps and there is a... Read Full Story

Well, Tis the Season. So what will be under your Christmas tree or your Chanuka bush? It is that time of year when everyone is in such an utter state of panic to make sure that holiday cards are sent out, presents are bought, travel plans are made and menus are planned that most of us forget the true purpose of the holiday season. It is a time to reflect back on the past year and to also look ahead to the New Year. It is a time for gratitude and appreciation for all that is in your life and... Read Full Story

Every day the news get a little worse. The War in Iraq is still claiming lives on a daily basis. Suicide rates are jumping for returning veterans as well as their homeless rate. Foreclosures are at their highest level in years. The National Association of Realtors have forecast that we will be in for another tough year. Every day I get a call or two from desperate people who need to refinance or sell their homes. Every week I get a new notice from another bank I've done business with that... Read Full Story

I normally don't get into discussions on social service programs but I find the following information to be totally disgusting. Did you know that there are countless families living in homeless shelters on Long Island right now? Did you also know that there is no need for many of these families to live in such overcrowded and awful situations? Here is the problem in a nutshell. A family gets into financial difficulty because they don't make a lot of money. They get paid minimum wage and this... Read Full Story

It's getting awfully tough to find ready, willing and able buyers these days. It's getting very easy to find desperate sellers. Yet so many buyers are still sitting on the sidelines waiting. I wonder what they are waiting for. I went out to look at several properties this past week and I saw some pretty good deals. I just put in an offer of one of those homes. I looked at another home this morning w/a good friend of mine who wants to get into the real estate game of investing. We both liked... Read Full Story