We have made it so easy now to search for your dream home!  All you need to do is register now at http://www.stevebabbitt.rochestersagent.com/home/default.aspx

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View photographs, maps and full property details.  Our state-of-the-art operational systems mean that as soon as we know about a property, you know about it too!  You can email a friend the details and book an inspection straight from the RE/MAX Property Alerts.

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Register now for your personalized RE/MAX Property Alerts

2010 July Heat Wave in Rochester, New York

As we headed into the July 4th weekend, we were all hopeful that we would have good weather to celebrate! Little did we know tha it would be this sunny and this HOT!

We are heading into our 4th day in a row over the 90 degree mark and everyone is feeling it. People who don’t have air-conditioning are heading to the lakes and swimming pools to cool off. The City of Rochester has a cool down program where in designated areas they will open the fire hyrants for the children and some adults to run through.

The Red Cross handed our 250 fans to seniors who had no air-conditioning to help them survive the heat wave. They were gone in 30-minutes! It appears that the entire country is going through this weather pattern and is trying to cope.

The weatherman is telling us that there is relief coming on Friday with a thunderstorm.

As a Realtor, I am inside showing homes more than I am outside, but even so, I can hardly stand these temperatures! For my buyers, a house with no air-conditioning is an immediate cross-off the list! I don’t know how people work outdoors in these temperatures! And of course, it becomes an easy conversation subject to bring up!

Here are some thoughts about how you can cope with this intense heat and help others.

1. Stay out of the sun!

2. Go to a movie.

3. Go to the library.

4. Slow down, avoid strenuous activity.

5. Drink plenty of fluids.

6. Limit the intake of alcoholic beverages.

7. Keep shades down on the windows toward the sun.

8. Wear lightweight, loose-fitting clothing.

9. Wear a wide brim hat.

10. Never leave pets or children in a closed vehicle.

11. Check on elderly family members.

Until the weather breaks,  RochesterREguy says keep cool! 

The talk around the office is that everyone is taking off some time this 4th of July weekend.  The market has been good for us and we have all been working very hard, especially to get those sale contracts signed before the April 30th deadline and then to get them closed by June 30th so the buyers could take advantage of the Tax Stimulus.

The market has definitely slowed down and we are now in our summer mode.  Our market does this every year as we approach the 4th of July.

Some agents that I know are going camping.  There is the comforable full amenities way of camping by using a motor home or there is the “rough-it” way using a tent and cooking over a grill or campfire.

Then there are the locations to camp at.  You can drive to the Adirondacks for some awesome camping sites, or a shorter drive to areas camps, such as Stony Brook or Letchworth State Parks.

Other agents are heading are heading to the lakes.  This could be Charlotte Beach on Lake Ontario, or it could be Canandaigua Lake or Conesus Lake or one of the other Finger Lakes.

Others are staying home and catching up on some projects arond the house or gardens.  The only thing to be aware of is the hot temperatures we are going to have!  The weather forcast is calling for mid-nineties!  For us this is hot!!

I just got a call from a customer to show him a house that recently came on the market.  I’m sure other agents like myself are working in between taking some time off.

Either way, remember those who made this National Holiday possible and why we are celebrating July 4th!

On this day in 1776, the Declaration of Independence was approved by the Continental Congress, setting the 13 colonies on the road to freedom as a sovereign nation. As always, this most American of holidays will be marked by parades, fireworks and backyard barbecues across the country.

Whatever you are doing, be safe and have fun!

How safe is your deck?

Since we are having an early Spring this year, people will be out on their decks enjoying the weather and it may be time to look at the safety of your deck.  Decks cause more injuries and loss of life than any other part of your house.

The number of deck failures resulting in injuries has been increasing at an alarming rate!  Between August 2004 and December 2005, the US news media reported 225 injuries and one fatality from deck collapse caused by ledger connection failures.  many more deck injuries go unreported every year, some with and without injuries.

“Clearly, something needs to be done to tackle the growing problem of unsafe decks,” said Mike Beaudry of the North American Deck and Railing Association (NADRA) and that’s why we are supporting this month as Deck Safety Month.

One way to approach this problem is to have a professional inspection  done which will examine every inch of your deck, provide information on your deck’s capacity limits, identify any dangerous problem areas, and give you a idea of what to keep your eye on in the future.  If your deck is an older one, it might be good to schedule regular inspections.  This is because older decks were built before the code requirements were in place.  Some of these “pre-code” decks may have deck-to-house attachments using only nails which is more suseptible to pulling away from the house.

People to contact for a deck inspection would be a Home Inspector, a contractor that build decks, or your local Town Building Inspector.

Let us know if your deck is having problems so we can pass that information along to the consumers to help them look for those areas of concern.  Also, here are a few sites to visit for more information.

Annual Deck Inspection

Residential Wooden Decks

Deck Safety Month

To put it succintly, I was blown away by the incredible content of the couse as presented by Frank Serio! Hence the purpose of my blog, to try to present some of the info I received to help you to either avoid a bank foreclosure or to understand how to work thrugh it, if it has happened to you or you find yourself in this situation.

Here are some strategies to avoid foreclosure:

Be proactive about the problem when the first warning signs appear. Not only does this reduce the stres of not knowing what is going to happen, but it makes it easier for the creditors to work out a plan.

Contact your lender when you become aware that you have a problem. The last thing that a lender wants is to foreclose on the property. Financial institutions lose a significant amount of money by foreclosing on a property ($50,000+/-). Foreclosure is a lose/lose for the lender and the homeowner. It is important to be honest and forthright with your discussions and be prepared to discuss the reasons for your problems.

Read the mail! Not knowing does not solve the problem, it just delays the final result. By not reading the mail, a person avoids the opportunity to get help before it is too late.

Contact a HUD approved housing counselor or call a REALTOR for advice. Call 1-800-569-4287 to find a nearby counselor, or go to www.HUD.gov

Priortize your spending by paying for the necessities of life first. Always pay the house payment and health payment first.

Look for ways to generate cash. Sell those items that have value but are not used or needed, or seek a part-time job to get through the crisis. Not only does this reduce the emotional and financial stress, but it provides evidence to the lender that the borrower is proactively seeing a way to remedy a bad situation.

Don’t get scammed by a private “foreclosure prevention specialist,” instead go to www.HUD.gov to obtain valid information about foreclosure prevention.

Make an appointment with a REALTOR to discuss the problem and to get their advice.

2. Look at your income and expenses and set up a budget.

3. Start paying all your bills on time.

4. Work on one credit card balance at a time to pay off and then cancel.

5. Start using cash for your purchases. If you don’t have the cash, don’t buy it!

6. An older credit history improves your credit score, so don’t close those credit lines.

7. Don’t open new credit cards.

8. Review your credit report to see if there are entries that don’t belong to you.

9. Work with your local bank support staff to remove wrong information on your credit report.  Here is a site that offers credit repair.

10. Review your credit annually. You can obtain one free credit report per year at www.annualcreditreport.com.

During the week, the Chair of the Technology Forum organized a workshop, very much like a Real Estate Barcamp to help educate the members on different areas of Social Media and technology.  I was asked to participate in the area of Social Media for the agent.

The Technology Forum was under the Moderation of Bettie Meinel and the Round Table Discussion Leaders were:

Steve Babbitt, Broker Associate with ReMax Realty Group and 2010 President-elect of the Greater Rochester Association of Realtors
Topic: Social Networking – Agent’s perspective

John Reinhardt, Fillmore Real Estate President/CEO and 2010 President of the Brooklyn Board of Realtors
Topic: Social Networking – Broker’s perspective

Sean Dowling, NYSAR Network Administrator
Topic: Mobility Devices

Austin Moran, NYSAR Director of Information Technology
Topic: Video

Sal Prividera, NYSAR Director of Communications and Marketing
Topic: NYSAR.com

According to Sal Prividera, the feedback from the event was extremely positive and there will be more events like this in the future.

As I was summarizing my thoughts on the sessions to the group at the end, I said to them that they had just attended their first rebarcamp!

For our State Meetings in September in Rye Brook, NY, I plan to help organize and host a rebarcamp.

ROCHESTER, NY – January 25, 2010 –The Greater Rochester Association of REALTORS®
(GRAR) released its year-end statistics for 2009.

When compared to 2008, overall year-end activity remained relatively stable, with total sales slightly
down 1.3 percent. Pending sales were up at 2.3 percent. Median home prices decreased a mere 0.9
percent, from $117,000 in 2008 to $116,000 in 2009.

“Although sales in 2009 reflected a slight decrease over 2008, we still considered it as a somewhat
sturdy market,” remarked Ryan Tucholski, GRAR’s chief executive officer.

“We feel that we weathered the worst of the storm,” stated Carolyn Stiffler, GRAR board president.
“We are looking forward to a strong second quarter, with April being the month that I expect to carry the
quarter, in part because of the extension and expansion of the tax credit.”

Federal legislation not only extended the $8,000 tax credit for first-time homebuyers, but also included
an expansion to included current homeowners who are selling their home and who may be eligible to
receive a $6,500 tax credit for the purchase of another principal residence. In order to qualify,
homeowners must have used the home sold as a principal residence, consecutively for 5 of the previous
8 years. There are additional eligibility requirements that apply for first-time homebuyers and current
homeowners. Both must have a written binding contract to purchase by April 30, 2010, which is when
the tax credit expires. The purchaser will have until July 1, 2010 to close.

Significant increases in sales were realized specifically in Chili, which showed a 21.2 percent increase
and Wheatland, with a gain of 89.7 percent. Sales in the city of Rochester decreased 7 percent, but
showed a 14 percent increase in the median sales price.

The results cover the city of Rochester, all Monroe County towns and villages, and Genesee, Livingston,
Ontario, Orleans, and Wayne Counties.

GRAR will continue to support the local residential real estate industry through its Time2Buy marketing
campaign, which focuses on the benefits of owning a home and using the services of a REALTOR®
when buying and selling a home.

On January 20, 2010, FHA announced major changes to ensure its long-term financial soundness. FHA is trying to balance three fundamental objectives: 1) financial soundness of the FHA insurance fund - ensuring that its capital ratio returns above 2 percent, 2) fulfilling its mission of serving borrowers not adequately served by the private sector and 3) facilitating the recovery of the housing industry and the over-all economy.

By all accounts the new changes are a victory for home buyers. FHA has carefully balanced the need to make financial reforms with the need to keep FHA available to a large segment of consumers. This is evident by retaining the 3.5 percent minimum down payment requirement and allowing the up-front mortgage insurance premium to be financed.

FHA announced changes in the following areas:

· The upfront mortgage insurance premium (UFMIP) will increase to 2.25 percent up from 1.75 percent. Contrary to reports, FHA will continue to allow the financing of the UFMIP.

· Borrowers with a credit score below 580 will be required to have at least a 10 percent down payment. The minimum down payment will remain at 3.5 percent for all other borrowers.

· FHA will seek legislative authority to increase the annual premium (currently capped at .55 percent). Over time, increasing the annual premium may allow FHA to reduce the up-front premium.

· Seller concessions will be reduced to 3 percent from 6 percent.

FHA will make the following lender enforcement changes:

· FHA will implement credit watch terminations at lender underwriting.

· Public reporting of lender performance through scorecard system will be implemented.

· FHA will implement, through notice and comment, indemnification against lenders. Indemnification will be expanded beyond fraud and misrepresentation.

· FHA will seek legislative authority to enforce indemnifications against direct endorsed (DE) lenders.

· FHA will seek legislative authority to sanction lenders nationwide based on performance of local branch.

FHA is an integral part to the continued recovery of the real estate industry and the overall economy. NAR will continue to work with FHA, the Administration, and the Congress to ensure FHA can fulfill its mission while providing for the safety and soundness of the insurance fund. NAR is committed to assisting FHA as they balance risk management with creating homeownership opportunities across the country.

For NAR’s one-page summary brief on this issue, click here.