WNY Deal Estate

Record Foreclosures, A Time To Buy??

2008-01-09T14:51:00.000-05:00

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Countrywide Financial Corp (CFC.N), the largest U.S. mortgage lender, said on Wednesday that foreclosures and late payments rose in December to the highest on record, though it made more loans than expected in the fourth quarter.

You would think that this is a great time to be buying investment property. The pool of attractive tenants grows bigger and bigger every day. The people that have been foreclosed on and the marginal mortgage applicants will all need to rent for the forseeable future. Property is still undervalued in Western New York and rents are increasing along with the pool of good tenants. Mortgages are still available to investors with good credit and cash is always king. You can buy nice homes all day for 30,000 and rent them out for 600-700/month.

What are you seeing, hearing, thinking of all this...

2008-01-05T08:26:00.000-05:00

Some notable housing prices from the National Association of Realtors top 149 metro area markets

Metropolitan Area
Median home price
% Change

San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA
$865,000
8.8%

Raleigh-Cary, NC
$225,100
8.4%

Charlotte-Gastonia-Concord, NC-SC
$207,300
8.3%

Trenton-Ewing, NJ
$313,900
8.1%

Pittsfield, MA
$230,900
8.0%

San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA
$846,800
7.6%

Gary-Hammond, IN
$137,800
7.3%

Buffalo-Niagara Falls, NY
$103,300
6.7%

6.7% and the lowest median price. It is hard to imagine that San Jose's median home price is @ 8x what it is in Buffalo.

Surprised??

2008-01-05T08:10:00.000-05:00

Top 10 Most Expensive Cities To Heat Your Home - Winter 2007 - 2008
October 26th, 2007 — Top 10 Real Estate Lists
The cost of heating your home has a great deal of variables. Obviously heating ones home in Atlanta, Georgia is less expensive than in Buffalo, New York. But did you know the cost of heating your home varies greatly in the northern cities as well. Due to government taxes and distribution costs, natural gas can vary in price drastically depending on which state you live in. The same is true for heating oil.
Then their is the age of construction that homeowners have to deal with. Older homes that are more drafty and use heating oil will cost more than a new construction with natural gas. So Washington DC in a more temperate climate will cost more to heat a home than New York City because most of DC is heated with electric heat, while New York is using the less expensive heating oil.
Top 10 Most Expensive Cities To Heat Your Home - Winter 2007 - 2008
Boston, $1,635.94
Buffalo, N.Y., $1,618.27
Minneapolis, $1,475.11
Washington, D.C., $1,461.11
Philadelphia, $1,370.12
New York, $1,269.14
Cleveland, $1,154.77
Detroit, $1,149.12
St. Louis, $1,058.72
Denver, $1,053.91
via Forbes

Amherst, NY one of the Top 10 safest

2008-01-04T21:17:00.000-05:00

Top 10 Safest Cities in the United States in 2007

Mission Viejo,
Clarkstown, N.Y.
Brick Township, N.J.
Amherst, N.Y.
Sugar Land, Texas
Colonie, N.Y.
Thousand Oaks, Calif.
Newton, Mass.
Toms River Township, N.J.
and Lake Forest, Calif.