Better get that Hoboken Condo closed fast.  Yes. that goes for the Jersey City condo buyers too.  Obama and the sycophant politicians in Washington can always agree on one thing.  Save their own bacon while kicking the taxpayers in the shorts.   Here’s a great article about how they are doing it this time.

Two Things You May Have Missed

by Dean Hartman on February 16, 2012

Before the end of the year, Congress and the President agreed to extend the payroll tax cut. In that bill, there were two items of interest for those involved in real estate.

1.) The hike in the Guarantee Fees charged by the GSEs Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

The 10 basis point increase in the fees has translated to a .375% to .5% increase in mortgage rates for conventional loans. Many customers who started their loans a couple of months ago are being “surprised” with higher than expected rates. Heck, everything you read in the papers says rates are at historic lows and will likely stay there through 2014. Many consumers feel as if their lender is being unscrupulous. However, your lender has fallen victim to the increase in Guarantee Fees and how the secondary market is passing on the cost. What looks like possible lender greed is just a passing on of the increased expense imposed by the government. Sadly, the increased revenue isn’t even being used to help aid an ailing Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. It is being turned over to the US Treasury to cover the temporary extension of the payroll tax cut.

2.) Permission for HUD to increase the insurance premiums they charge on FHA loans.

If you remember, HUD charges two insurance premiums – a monthly one and an up-front one that is usually added into the loan. Most recently, they reduced the up-front mortgage insurance premium (UFMIP) and dramatically raised the monthly fee (MMIP). It is widely anticipated that, maybe as soon as April, we will see a hike in the UFMIP with no adjustment to the MMIP. While this will help shore up the reserves in the insurance fund, it will simultaneously make buying a home more expensive. No one knows the effective date or amount of the increase. Buyers should look to buy before the increase in fees.

We always hear how our government officials tuck away things in their bills. In this case, while the headlines during the holidays praised Washington for preserving the payroll tax cut, they may have hurt us more in the long run.

Now that I’ve returned from the burn unit at Hoboken Hospital lets talk Absorption Rate.

One bedroom condos: 3.5 months

Two bedroom condos: 4.6months

Three bedroom condos 2.4 months  Not a misprint!

Call 911 this town is on fire.

The new January 2012 Hoboken Real Estate Report update is now available.

Available Hoboken condos on the market today: 205

Model of 1450 Washington

Hoboken condos: The new construction of 151 conods at 1450 Washington Street by Toll Brothers is cranking.  Here are the latest updates.

Condos sold at 1450 Washington….  over 50%.

First Closing schedule by Toll Brothers….Feb 15th.

Get my 2011 Hoboken Real Estate Report with a list of every Hoboken condo sold during last year.

If you are holding off until after the holidays to sell your Hoboken Condo…are you nuts man??? And Larry Bird was called the hick from French Lick.

???

Here are some of the highlights…

Forty Three Condos sold in Hoboken in 2011.  This compares with fifty four condos sold in Hoboken last October.   The real number to look at is the available inventory has dipped below 275.

under contract chart Hoboken condos

 

Get it all. Every Month. Free

So don’t hold your breath.

Brian Murray

Here’s a great article on the program

Is your Hoboken Condo under water?

Hoboken Condo ownership

Hoboken Condos: Better Than Gold

While I have a friend that wants a toilet seat made out of gold (but it isn’t in the cards), Midas has nothing own Mr. & Mrs. Homeowner. 80% of those homeowners plan to buy another. I am hoping it is a bigger condo in Hoboken but I will settle for a brownstone too.  Forget the 401k that  is now a 201k.  Own a condo. You can live in it. Buy a bigger condo. Those shares in Google won’t hold a crib or home office.

My October Hoboken Real Estate Report will be out this week. Order your free copy today.

From Inman News:

Editor’s note: The results of a biannual survey, released this week by real estate search and marketing portal Trulia, found that 80 percent of homeowners plan to buy another home, and that most survey participants view homeownership, and placing money in a 401(k) or other retirement account, as the best long-term investments. Market research firm Harris Interactive conducted the survey, which drew responses from 1,392 homeowners and 758 renters, from Aug. 30, 2011, to Sept. 1, 2011.

While there are 339 Hoboken condos on the market today, I am focusing on Hoboken Business today.  Forget the 4 falafel places.  All better than the next.  Forget the dozens of pizza places all crammed next to each other.  Forget the tourists  who wait in line for a pedestrian cannoli and then head out of town without either pizza or falafel.  Here’s the latest.  A spin center.  Spin Bikes.  I saw a place today in a remote part of town where only beer by the liter is likely to draw consumers.   This new spin center had 20 or so bikes in a room for 20 or so bikes.  I know what the neighbor pays in rent and it got me thinking. What’s the business plan here?  Let’s see doing some back of the envelope math.  20 bikes, 4 classes a day, 7 days a week, that’s like 560 bike hours.   If each rider buys a 3 rides a week pass for oh say $50 per month, it’s about $9400 per month in revenue.  Let’s round up to $10k per month.  This is $120k in revenue a year BEFORE expenses.  rent, heat/cool,electricity, staff, etc.   I don’t get it.  Even if the owner works every shift (and that’s a lot of riding), what could he be pulling on $8ok BEFORE taxes.

Doomed Hoboken business?

Don’t blink or this business might ride right on by.   Best yet.  I heard that another Bill Gates is creating a rowing machine center in the same building. Only with twice the space and rent.  Makes perfect sense because the one rowing machine at the gym is always in use.   It sat idle so long I had to ask a trainer what it was for.  Maybe NYSC suckered this guy into buying all they have.  Here’s to hoping that the these new exercise specific places last longer than the Harvest Cuisine.