Brooklyn Real Estate Q&A and Info

If you are a New York City, New York State or Federal employee, and you want to purchase a home, you’re in luck. Through its conservative funds management, New York City’s Municipal Credit Union (MCU) has plenty of money to lend even though most financial institutions are hurting because of today’s economic woes.

For 92 years, MCU has been providing its members with everything from checking accounts, credit cards and auto loans to fixed, adjustable and jumbo home loans.  MCU has several loans tailored for the needs of the first time homebuyer that include minimal down payments and very competitive rates.

Are you looking to purchase an investment property?  MCU also offers mortgages for multifamily homes for properties up to 4 families.

For its members that have credit problems, MCU has credit counseling that can help qualifying members get on the right track towards financial health and home ownership.

MCU’s mission is to help civil servants purchase homes, and they have the money and several different mortgage products to help them do just that. 

For more information about the Municipal Credit Union, go to their website at www.nymcu.org.

This question comes up all the time, especially when I am working with a buyer who is looking to purchase a property that has “rent regulated” apartments, a term that encompasses both rent controlled and rent stabilized apartments.

The New York State Division of Housing and Community Renewal (DHCR) is responsible for the enforcement of the rent regulation laws, and can reduce rents and/or penalize owners that break them.

Rent Control

The older of the two rent regulation laws, rent control generally applies to buildings constructed before 1947.  It limits the amount an owner can charge tenants for rent, restricts their ability to
evict tenants, and ensures that they provide their tenants with essential services.

A maximum base rent (MBR) is established for each rent controlled apartment and if the landlord provides essential services and has no violations, every two years the rent can be adjusted up to 7.5 percent to reflect changes in operating costs.   Tenants can challenge the rent adjustments if they are not receiving the services they are entitled to.

With DHCR approval, rents can also be increased because of increased fuel costs, owner hardship, if the owner increases services or equipment, makes capital improvements to the entire building, or makes improvements to an apartment.

Rent Stabilization

Generally, rent stabilization covers buildings built after 1947 and before 1974, and apartments removed from rent control.  There are approximately one million rent stabilized apartments in New York City.

Rent stabilization also limits the amount an owner can charge tenants for rent, restricts their ability to evict tenants, and ensures that they provide their tenants with essential services.  Once a year the Rent Guidelines Board sets rates for rent increases in stabilized apartments.

Like rent control, rents for a rent stabilized apartmnet may be reduced if the owner fails to provide required services.

So, as you can see, there are not a lot of differences between rent control and rent stabilization.  For even more information about rent control and rent stabilization, go to DHCR Factsheets.

The mortgage doom and gloom that’s circulating around these days has scared a lot of buyers (and sellers) out of the market. The truth is, this is a great time to buy (and if you need to sell your home, its a great time to sell) thanks to FHA.

The volume of FHA loans being written has tripled, according to Realty Times, in the last few months, and as long as you can meet the FHA guidelines, there is still money to be had.  And FHA is not just for first time home buyers.

So, what do you need to qualify for an FHA Loan?

1. Right now, you need to be able to put 3% down. Starting January 1, 2009 the requirement will be 3.5%.
2. A credit score of 550 or better.
3. You can still use a co-signor (or non-occupant co-borrower) to purchase a home with an FHA secured loan.
4. In Brooklyn, the FHA loan amount maximum for a single family home or condo is $729,750, a two family home $934,200, and a three family home loan for no more then $1,129,250.
5. Verifiable income.

So, don’t let the dire news scare you.  If you’ve got the income, the credit score and the down payment, get out there and buy a home.  Interest rates are extremely low and you can get a fantastic house at bargain basement prices.

Want to know more?  Give me a call at 917-544-2662, or click here to email me.

With all the dire financial news, it might seem that the wisest course would be to sock your money away in a mattress, but that is far from the case. The wise person knows that the best investment is something tangible like real estate.

654 people and groups purchased property in Brooklyn during the month of September. Are the numbers down from the same time last year? Yes, but still, the best investment when the stock market is unstable and interest rates are fluctuating is real estate.

For full information on house, condo and coop sales in Brooklyn in the month of September, click here.

According to the Real Estate Board of New York’s (REBNY) 2nd quarter statistics, DUMBO, which is an acronym for Down Under The Manhattan Bridge Underpass, is now the most expensive neighborhood in Brooklyn. At a whopping $917 dollars a square foot, it is no longer the little haven of the artistic type it was just 10 years ago. The long standing most expensive neighborhood, Brooklyn Heights, came in at $834 a square foot, and Park Slope rounded out the top three at $801 at square foot.

If you’ve got the income and are looking for a modern condo that has all the amenities like fitness centers, concierge service, hair salons and the like, with spectatcular Manhattan views to boot, then DUMBO is the place for your.

The mortgage meltdown that we are experiencing at this time makes it all the more important for anyone thinking about purchasing a home to make sure he or she does everything possible to improve his or her credit score.  Here are seven things that you can do to increase your FICO score.

1. Pay Off As Much Debt As You Can - This is the best and quickest way to improve your credit score.
2. Pay Your Bills On Time - It may sound like a simple thing, but few things will adversely effect your credit score like having late payments.
3. If You Are Behind On Payments, Catch Up - Do everything you can to get current on all payments to your creditors and stay current.  The longer you keep paying your bills on time, the better your score will be.
4. Having Trouble Paying Bills?  Get Help - If you find that you just can’t keep up with all your bills, contact your creditors and see if you can make arrangements or contact a credit counselor.
5. Do Not Open Any New Credit Accounts - Having the ability to borrow money doesn’t effect your score, but owing a lot does.  Don’t tempt yourself.  Open new accounts only when absolutely necessary.
6. Do Not Close Old, Paid Off Accounts - Closing those accounts lowers the total credit available to you and makes the balances you do have loom larger in credit score calculations.   Also closing older accounts can shorten the length of your reported credit history and make you seem less credit-worthy.
7. Keep Track of Your Credit Score - You are allowed to get a free look at your credit report with all three credit bureaus (Experian, Equifax and TransUnion) once a year.  Any one of the three credit bureaus will calculate your FICO score for a nominal fee.  Should you find any errors, follow the credit bureau’s instructions on how to get the problem corrected as soon as possible.

These seven tips can help you increase your FICO score (remember 850 is the best and 300 is the worse), and improve your chances of getting a loan with the lowest possible interest rate.   Happy House Hunting!

If you want to send potential buyers running for the hills, having offensive odors meet them at the door is a great way to do it.

I recently had an open house at a home that always smelled fine on all the other occasions that I visited it, but this particular Sunday afternoon, the house smelled like pee.  As tactfully as I could, I asked the homeowner about the “slight urine smell”.  She quickly answered that her youngest son often peed the bed, and she just didn’t have time to do laundry that weekend.  Sure enough, as I went toward her son’s bedroom, my eyes began to water.  Air freshener didn’t help, and removing the offending linen seemed to be too little too late.

Needless to say, the home was not sold that day.  First impressions in real estate sales is almost everything (pricing is more important, but that’s another blog entry), so when you’re planning to sell your home, give it a good sniff in every room (don’t forget the basement).  If you can detect any bad odors such as mold, cat or dog smells, cigarette or cigar smoke, or strong food odors like garlic, then its time to take measures to correct the problem.

Often times, a good scrubbing is all your home needs.   Soft surfaces hold odors so cleaning carpets, curtains, bed linens and other fabrics will often solve pet and food odor problems.   Cleaning (or removing) ashtrays, mopping floors and wiping down walls, in addition to cleaning all soft surfaces, will often eliminate or reduce the stale cigarette smell left behind by smoking.  However some odors require the replacement of old carpets or the priming and painting of walls to remove them.

If you want to get the best possible price for your home, preparation before every showing is essential, and part of that preparation is to eliminate any offensive odors.

“What exactly is a short sale?” you ask.  A short sale is when a lender willingly forgives part of a debt owed on a house.  Or in other words, the bank is shorted some of the money they are owed.

For example, a home owner is over 90 days late on their mortgage payments with no hope of catching up.  Eventually they will be foreclosed on.  Their total mortgage amount and arrears is $500,000.  The bank agrees to let a buyer purchase the property for $475,000 causing the bank to lose $25,000.

There are many banks and other lending institutions out there, and each has its own short sale procedure and requirements. The one thing they all have in common is that the short sale processes takes a very long time.

Why would a bank agree to this?  If the bank concludes that foreclosing on the property, maintaining it while they try to sell it, and dealing with the cost of selling it (transfer taxes, Realtor fees and so on) is going to cost more money then the amount they are being asked to forgive, the bank may choose to cut its loses and agree to a short sale.

Buying a short sale property is not an easy task.  Here is a great article from the New York Daily News Website that explains the process in detail.

Are short sales available in Brooklyn?  Yes they are.  To find out more click here or give me a call at 917-544-2662.