John Picciurro

Cash for clunkers, bailouts, billions of dollars paid out for all the things the Government says will bring about a faster and more stabilized recovery, not to mention the money for health care debate.

I agree, that all this is important at some level, but what happened to the home ownership issue. It has slid back to the bottom of the pile, with only some private companies trying to re-create it, with little help from the Government.

Brokers, banks and others are trying to pull the home-buying numbers up from it's low level, which by the way puts many Realtors on the unemployed list, but without the unemployment checks others get.

This brings me to a point. If you want buyers to jump back into the home-buying process, why not give the $8,000 to them to buy a house during the process. It could be in the form of a voucher, that has a monetary worth which can be submitted to the Government for payment, after an successful closing and pre-verification of eligibility. Maybe the voucher could go right into the deal to cover some costs incurred by the purchaser.

Waiting for a tax credit to maybe come down the road is in no way helping to pump up the real estate market right now. Maybe the Government feels it's not ready just yet to spend money on such a trivial thing. Let's face it, even the media doesn't ask whats holding up home buying in this country.

The Government did not tell Wall Street, the banks or the automobile industry, that they could take a tax credit to get them by for now. Why then should the real estate industry have to wait. Isn't it a priority too?

LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK TOO.

Well the stimulus bill has been signed by the President, and the stock market watches the pot to see when the water is boiling.

Let's take a close look at all this money that's being doled out - to whoever. To begin with, we have to understand the value of money. Simply put, the value of money is what we say it is. Just today, NASA says that a $250 million dollar space craft failed to obtain orbit, so it crashed into the ocean, and now it's a man made reef for the fish. $250 million dollars is a lot of money, right? No it's not. Somewhere over the past six months our government has stopped using the word "millions". It's just too small of a number to describle money these days.

If you want to talk about money, please start with at least "billions", because anything smaller is an insult! We have gone past that now, "millions" is just throw away money now. It's what dimes and nickels were to us years ago when we were kids. You know, small change for pitching against the stoop with your friends. "Don't talk to me if your speaking millions, because that's chicken feed in this time of stimulus.

To add insult to injury, when we talk "billions" you start with a nice round number, like 10 of these "billions". Anyhing less than that, well it's is too close to "millions", and we don't want to confuse the two.

For it seems that each day that goes by, the "billions" get to be more and more. Moving away from the "millions" at record speed. Can you say 800 "billion" - now that's a double round number?

It dosen't stop here, because you see, 800 "billion" is too close to a "trillion", and we don't want to confuse these two, do we? So why not just use "trillion". It's so much easier that way, and besides a "trillion dollars" is a quanity of money that most of us heard about in school, but could'nt count that high. You know, back when we were pitching nickels and dimes against the stoop. PS: I'll tell you a secret. I only had pennies to pitch!

DOES ANYONE KNOW WHAT'S GREATER THAN A "TRILLION"? If we wait long enough, we'll find out!

I imagine that by now you have heard enough talk about the economy going to hell in a hand basket, and the last thing you wanted to get was another lecture from a Realtor. Well, I don't blame you one bit!

Who hasn't heard that the real estate market has softened a lot? What really matters though, is where and how much. We also learned that lenders are making loans only to very qualified buyers. That is really not the case, and besides it's not a bad thing either. Banks are looking more closely at the home buyer's ability to pay back the loan. The FHA, along with some New York State housing agencies are making funds available to first time home buyers, Veterans, low income and others. Money from the Feds is being inserted into the mortgage industry right now, and Realtors are hearing from lenders that mortgage money is coming available again. This was not the case over recent months, as hardly any loans were made, even to qualified buyers.

Right now noble plans to fix the economy are being put into action, such as the capacity for banks to lend mortgage money. As banks begin to relax some of the lending qualifications to credit worthy home buyers, others will provide loans to lesser qualified buyers who must now survive a beginning to end underwriting process. This issue alone had a direct effect on the number of buyers qualified to purchase homes in the second half of 2008. We will begin the year with new leadership in the country, and hopefully a whole new direction in the housing sector.

I believe the housing market will change for the better as level headed decisions are made, and stronger safeguards are put into place. It's a real priority now in this country, and everyone's watching. By keeping mortgage interest rates low, we will see a better housing market and a more stabilized economy. Sellers, who experienced no sale in this slow market, may soon have better luck. I equate the current economy mess to the Titanic disaster. Now that we know what an iceberg can do, let's not hit one, again.

Sellers and buyers are anxious right now, with some putting off plans, and others who will continue with their plans because it's what they need to do.

If the government can get most of this squared away, then maybe the real estate industry can do their part and start putting more people into homes. I know that I am looking forward to a better year!

So if you require real estate assistance, or have any questions and would like to get in touch with me, you can e-mail me at: john@viprealestate.net.

My direct number is 347-712-2190, and my office phone number is: 718-967-26004 Ext:304.

There was a time when selling bank owned property was a hobby to many Realtors. Almost all Realtors sold resale homes with owner occupied status. Bank property was usually a run down property with rat poison signs around the yard.

But that has changed now. At our office meetings we are now holding classes on selling bank foreclosures and the pitfalls associated with them. Why? Because the big drop in listings created by the economy situation that has plagued this industry for the past year, and left many agents with little to show their clients. We now see foreclosed homes filling the void.

My heartfelt sympathy goes out to all these families who tried to get the American Dream for their families. The kids who started in a new school and religious institutions, made new friends and parents who got new jobs to pay for their mortgages, have now been caught up in the ongoing drop in house values, and the failure of name brand banks, plus the overwhelming failure of our government to protect them. And most of these homeowners attempted to do the right thing, and they lose along with the unscrupulous buyers who schemed on their application, and deserve to lose.

But when has happen, is that many good homes that have been cared for by their owners have managed to find their way into the bank foreclosed category. What a shame. For us real estate professionals though this has created a new source of inventory to show our clients and customers. And as time goes by, banks have started to recognize that if they don't want to keep their properties forever, they have to bend a bit. Bank owned homes that our office presented decent offers for which were rejected in the beginning, are now getting more sensible counter offers from the banks. But still they take too long to respond when they do.

At our office we will continue to provide training to our agents about how to work foreclosures. I think we will continue to see a lot more of them. Personally, I liked the old way of listing and selling owned occupied homes. There was a lot of happiness to go around.

As we all sit here waiting for the Congress to finish their bail out bill, I wonder what it means to us Realtors. I listened to all the media asking who caused this problem. The list is long and distinguished, with Realtors at the top of the list in the beginning. Remember, we referred buyers to our chosen mortgage Brokers to put un-qualified buyers into homes, only to have them loose the homes because they never could afford them in the first place. Forget the checks and balances that the bank was supposed to have in place to protect themselves.

Now let me see how that worked. A Realtor found a home that suited a buyer, we may or may not have referred a lending company, and then we twisted the arm of the lender to give the mortgage. Does that sound right to you? Well, it seems now that Congress put in place the programs that gave away money to anyone that seemed to need it. Can anyone say "no money down". Did the Association of Realtors come up with this program, or was it the Association of Senators and Congressman in our government. Maybe they need continuing education to keep their jobs.

We Realtors are hurting bad with this current market, and tens of thousands of hard working Realtors are suffering with income too. How about a bail out for us. Congress can just send checks out to all the Real Estate companies in this country, (tax free of course) so that we can feed our families.

Remember, Realtors make up the biggest association of professionals in the country. We are trained and experienced in helping families obtain their dream of home ownership, just the way Congress wanted it to be.

Maybe, just maybe this bailout will set us on a better course than the one we have been on. I just hope the money finds it's way into the homebuying economy, and not into making rich people more rich.