While conducting it 2009 home design trendssurvey of 500 architecture firms and home buyers, the American Institute of Architects has discovered home buyer prefer smaller, better designed homes.   Following is a summary of the survey: 1. There will be a  shift toward “smaller, better-designed homes”. 2. Open floor plans will still be popular. 3. Since many two-income couples are now working at home, there has been an increased demand for extra office space. 4. Younger home buyers are more interested in affordable, eco-friendly homes. 5. Buyers favor making full use of their living space, including outdoor areas. Which include outdoor living enhancements such as fire pits and kitchens as popular incentives so buyers may enjoy as much of their property as possible. Overall, buyers want a... 12/20/2009

According to recent figures released by the U.S.Treasury Department, since the end of November approximately 4 percent of home owners who requested loan modifications have received them. Bank of America Corp. has the least amount of completed loan modifications with a total of 98. While GMAC Mortgage had completed the most with a total of 7,100. Many lenders have stated that its lack of success is in part on the failure of borrowers properly completing the necessary paperwork . For more valuable information please go to Making Homes Affordable. If you are struggling to pay your mortgage and are facing a future of uncertainty, a Certified Distressed Property Expert (CDPE) can help you work through any housing related crisis. Don’t live your life with worry about the heartache of a possi... 12/20/2009

Weekly statistics 12/6/09- 12/13/09 9 condos went into contract. 11 condos closed last week. As of today, there are a total of 136 Hoboken properties pending to close. Here are last weeks deals… Firm accepted offers: Studio & 1 bedroom 1 accepted offer - 90 days on market. CONDO-COOP - Pending ADDRESS Area Sq Feet Bath Beds DOM     LP SP 123 WILLOW AVE Hoboken   648 1 1 90 $349,000   Total Listings         Avg     Avg Avg 1         90 $349,000     2 bedrooms  5 condos had an accepted offers - Average days on market was 101 CONDO-COOP - Pending ADDRESS    Area Sq Feet Baths Beds   DOM      LP SP 109 HARRISON ST Hoboken    1050 1 2    59 $456,000   135 GARDEN ST Hoboken     850 1 2   112 $404,997   1425 GARDEN ST Hoboken    1493 2 2   107 $719,000   109 HARRISON ST H... 12/20/2009

With the recent extension of $8,000 First-Time Home Buyer Tax Credit, now is the time to take advantage of the many great opportunities for the first-time home buyer in Hoboken. Below you will find one of the lovely available condos located in Hoboken.  As a top Hoboken REALTOR, I can help you through the entire process of buying your first home. If you are looking for assistance in finding the perfect home in Hoboken, contact Eddie Perez at (201) 344-2886 or go to Hoboken Condo Expert. 12/14/2009

With the recent approval of the new Home Buyer Tax Credits and the recent low rates available for mortgages, today may be the ideal time for you to purchase a home. 30-year fixed-rate mortgage have fallen again, for the week ending Dec. 3, the 30-year rate was 4.71. The 15-year loan rate was 4.27. Do not pass up this opportunity, we may not see rates this low again for a long time. It was the fifth consecutive week that interest rates have fallen. This is another great incentive to take the steps to become a homeowner. For more great information go to First Time Home Buyers Are Leading The Way. If you have been patiently waiting to buy a Hoboken home, now is the time to do it. All of the key factors are in place to ensure that your home purchase will be a major, positive life changing ... 12/14/2009

Another attempt is being made by the U.S. Treasury to prevent more foreclosures by trying to speed up the short sale process. Short sales are when a bank agrees to let a homeowner sell a house for less that is owed. Short sales could cut lenders’ losses and will not damage a person’s credit as much as a foreclosure. According to the National Association of Realtors, there have been about half a million short sales, or 10 percent of total sales. The program is scheduled to begin on April 5, 2010. New guidelines require lenders to decide within 10 days if they will accept a short sale request. Currently, the biggest problem with short sales is that it has been six months or more for the lender to approve an offer. One of the key elements of the new short-sale guidelines is that lenders h... 12/14/2009

Are you searching for an amazing home in Hoboken. If so, your search may be over with this incredible home right here in Hoboken. For more great homes for sale in Hoboken go to Look What Buys You $334,000. If you would like to take a tour of this lovely condo or you are looking for assistance in finding the perfect home in Hoboken, contact Eddie Perez at (201) 344-2886 or go to Hoboken Condo Expert. Additional questions? Contact exclusive listing agent Eddie Perez at 201.344.2886 or email him at eddie@InvestNJ.com. http://www.InvestHoboken.com Robert De Ruggiero Inc., Realtors 12/06/2009

Another new initiative is coming from Fannie Mae to help stabilizeneighborhoods and encourage purchases by owner occupants and low-income buyers. Fannie Mae’s new program is called “First Look” and is intended for buyers who are living in a home an opportunity to purchase the home during the first 15 days the property is on the market. Investors can only make an offer after the first 15 days have passed. Following are more details: Buyers can receive up to 45 days to close – this is15 days more than is usually permitted for purchases of Fannie Mae-owned properties. The earnest money/deposit requirement will be waived by Fannie Mae for public entities using public funds to purchase a Fannie Mae-owned property. For an individual home buyer who has qualified for public funds and wants to ... 12/06/2009

What is the best way for a real estate web site to make itself stand out from its competitors? It seems like everybody in the real estate industry is adding large amounts of data to their sites that may pertain to school ratings, crime statistics, foreclosure filings and everything and anything in between that could potentially interest prospective home buyers. While trying to deliver more information to potential buyers, when does it become too much information? By overloading househunters with too much information may drive them away to more user-friendly, quick information sources. Consumers need balance by providing them as much practical information as possible, presented with the simplest interface. For more great information go to First Time Home Buyers Are Leading The Way. Now ... 12/06/2009

Major mortgage servicer Wells Fargo, which owns one in six U.S. mortgages, has nearly doubled its staff working on restructurings, by adding nearly 7,000 employees this year. Citigroup has increased staff by about 54%, adding 1,400 positions. The new companies that have been formed in response to the home-mortgage crisis also have been hiring. Private National Mortgage Acceptance Co., also known as PennyMac, was founded in 2008 by former executives of Countrywide Financial Corp. and now employs about 120 people. The newly hired modifiers will present a number of options to a customer, with the goal of lowering a customer’s monthly payment to roughly one-third of their household income. If you are someone you may know is struggling to pay their mortgage, please contact Eddie Perez, Brok... 11/29/2009

Since the new home buyer tax credits have been approved a lot of possible buyers have questions regarding how the new credits work.  Following you will find answers to good questions that you as a potential buyer may have. As a current home owner how can you apply for the $6,500 credit? A buyer must have lived in their home for at least five out of the last eight years. The home they will purchase must serve as their primary residence, but the buyer will not need to sell their previous home. The previous home could be used as a rental, or a second home and still claim the credit. Does a buyer need to purchase a new home that is more expensive than the one the buyer currently owns? You can downsize to a lower priced home, but if the property sells for more than $800,000, a buyer will no... 11/29/2009

According to data released by the Mortgage BankersAssociation, approximately one in seven American households with mortgages is behind on payments or in foreclosure. Sadly, only ten years ago it was one in ten. The report stated that 14.4% of first-lien mortgages on one-to-four-family homes in the third quarter were 30 days or more overdue or in the foreclosure process. That is the highest rate since 1972, and has potential for 7.5 million people to be at risk of losing homes. Loan defaults have been rising for more than three years. A major part of the blame falls on faulty lending practices during the housing boom that had millions of people buying homes they simply could not afford. Along with rising unemployment, which hit 10.2% in October, has made matters worse. It is possible th... 11/29/2009

Major mortgage servicer Wells Fargo, which owns one in six U.S. mortgages, has nearly doubled its staff working on restructurings, by adding nearly 7,000 employees this year. Citigroup has increased staff by about 54%, adding 1,400 positions. The new companies that have been formed in response to the home-mortgage crisis also have been hiring. Private National Mortgage Acceptance Co., also known as PennyMac, was founded in 2008 by former executives of Countrywide Financial Corp. and now employs about 120 people. The newly hired modifiers will present a number of options to a customer, with the goal of lowering a customer’s monthly payment to roughly one-third of their household income. If you are someone you may know is struggling to pay their mortgage, please contact Eddie Perez, Brok... 11/29/2009

Attention first time home buyers, don’t miss out on this very charming condo located in Hoboken. This is a great opportunity to take advantage of the $8,000 First-Time Home Buyer Credit. Act now before it’s gone!  Remember, now the credit is $8,000 for first timer and $6,500 for repeat buyers. See Home Buyer Tax Credit site for information. For more great homes for sale in Hoboken go to Look What Buys You $334,000. If you would like to take a tour of this lovely condo or you are looking for assistance in finding the perfect home in Hoboken, contact Eddie Perez at (201) 344-2886 or go to Hoboken Condo Expert. 11/22/2009

With the extension of the $8,000 credit and the addition of a credit for those who have owned and lived in their home for at least five of the last eight years.  With rates falling and beginning in January 2010, those who have the equity and can afford to refinance are taking advantage of the low rates. The refinance share of the loan market climbed 11.3 percent to 71.5 percent recently. The 30-year fixed rate is at 4.69 percent and is the lowest since May 15. The average 15-year rate is 4.33 percent. The rate for a 1-year Adjustable Rate Mortgage was 6.85, up from 6.83 For more information on the new plan, visit the Homebuyer Tax Credit site For more valuable information on current housing issues, please go to Making Homes Affordable. Since there is more time to utilize the $8,000 tax... 11/22/2009

Home sales will increase 15 percent to a potential of  5.7 million units and REALTOR® income will be up 20 percent in 2010, according to NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun. The home buyer tax credit brought in up to 400,000 first-time buyers into the market who would not have bought otherwise. This created smaller inventories of starter homes and helped reduce households’ fear over further price drops. Yun also says that the supply of homes will stabilize to the typical norm of six to seven months. Homes above $500,000 will remain elevated in the short term future, but it will also be offset by a big drop in starter-home inventories. For more information on the credit to help homeowners, visit the Homebuyer Tax Credit site For more great information go to Look What $334,000 Buys You in H... 11/22/2009

Congress passed a bipartisan measure extending the $8,000 home buyer tax credit to April 30, 2010. The extension is estimated to contribute approximately $22 billion to the economy. The legislation, which is part of a larger bill that also extends unemployment benefits. The law also includes a $6,500 tax credit for buyers who are current home owners and have lived in their home for five of the past eight years. Income limits for eligible home buyers were also expanded to $125,000 for single buyers and $225,000 for couples, up from $75,000 for individuals and $150,000 for couples. Qualifying home prices are capped at $800,000. For more valuable information please go to Making Homes Affordable. Since there is more time to utilize the $8,000 tax credit, make this your opportunity to find ... 11/15/2009

The Department of Housing and Urban Development is making an attempt to simplify the process of looking for a loan. On Jan. 1, 2010, a new Good Faith Estimate form, or GFE, will be introduced that will outline the costs of a loan, including a revised settlement statement which shows your final loan costs and is signed at closing. HUD has made the estimation that an average borrower will save nearly $700 because they can now clearly define costs and compare loans. For many buyers it can be difficult to understand the costs that are built in to their loan. If a buyer is given a loan where the cost is very clear it will make it easy to compare other loans and make informative decisions. While shopping for a loan we all need to take the time to compare the different loans that are availabl... 11/15/2009

As reported by the National Association of REALTORS® pending home sales have risen for an eight consecutive month making this the longest period of growth since 2001. The Pending Home Sales Index,* a forward-looking indicator based on contracts signed in September, rose 6.1 percent to 110.1 from a reading of 103.8 in August, and is 21.2 percent higher than September 2008 when it stood at 90.9. The gain from a year ago is the largest annual increase on record, and the index is at the highest level since December 2006 when it was 112.8. For more great information go to Look What $334,000 Buys You in Hoboken. As a top Hoboken REALTOR, I can help you through the entire process of buying your first home. If you are looking for assistance in finding the perfect home in Hoboken, contact Eddie... 11/15/2009

An investigation has been started by the U.S. House committee to determine whether lenders used the property boom to encourage people to buy by using deceptive tactics. The central part of the investigation will focus around Countrywide Financial Corp. Countrywide was bought by Bank of America in July 2009 and was considered the largest U.S. mortgage lender. Find the latest update regarding the First-Time Home Buyer Tax Credit. For assistance in navigating your way in the complicated process of purchasing your first home, please contact Eddie Perez at (201) 344-2886 or go to Hoboken Condo Expert. 11/08/2009