RE/MAX In Motion

"Help! We want to buy our dream home, but need to sell our house first. What do we do?"

At RE/MAX In Motion we use the ‘Sale of Home Contingency' in the best interest of our clients and we know how important it is to make sure that our clients are not at risk.

When a sale of home contingency is properly written, explained, negotiated, and advocated for, with the right terms, it can be a WIN/WIN for both buyer and seller. Most offers with this contingency make it to a successful closing.

New policies at the Ithaca NY Board of REALTORS have made it possible for sellers' properties to remain in ‘active' status even with a sale of home contingency offer in place. This means continued exposure of your property. This allows buyers to continue to see your property & make purchasing decisions. If this makes sense for you, ask your REALTOR.

At RE/MAX we know how important the next chapter of your life is.

Re/Max In Motion is supporting Musical Artist, Derek Rose in the global One Billion Fans Contest sponsored by Tribe of Noise.

Derek describes his sound as, "True homemade music without any modern technology, with good vibes and feelings."

We acknowledge that we can't do justice to his sound by just describing it - we can have the technology to do much better - here's a link to his on of his original songs, Painted Boots:

http://www.tribeofnoise.com/listen.php?h=ba7b6c3fa8d2c1361bbc5feb384077eb&l=f

Derek has a chance to win the One Billion Fans and an even better chance if you vote for him - please click here http://www.tribeofnoise.com/dereckrose and click on the stars. Thanks.

As the winner of the One Billion Fans contest, Derek Rose would have his image on the world's largest digital billboard, in Times Square in New York City. Cool huh? Please take the time to vote - we appreciate it!

The contest is being sponsored by Tribe of Noise.com. It is the first and only website solely using the Creative Commons license and user agreements to share music for commercial purposes. The musicians' need a platform to have their music heard and you or someone you know may be looking for hip, cool, new sounds in which you don't have to worry about copyright hassles. There is a component to the site which allows marketers/advertisers/gamers/video/movies/bloggers to use the music with no copyright hassles. There is also another side to the site which allows fans to click in and hear fabulous originals in all kinds of genres. It is a great tool - spread the word.

Thanks!

http://jvhomes.typepad.com/propertycast_madison/2008/10/nov-4th-is-election-day--stephen-colbert-picks-the-winner.html

RE/MAX is leading if you count signs :-) RE/MAX...more signs, more exposure, more sales...

By Barbara Blanchard, Licensed Broker Associate, GRI with RE/MAX In Motion

We are fortunate enought to live in an area with a stable economy spearheaded by Cornell University and Ithaca College. We never fell victim to the three primary causes that created the housing crisis.

1. Corporate builders saturated areas with thousands of new homes, primarily in states with low property taxes and heating bills.

2. Buyers came, along with the speculators. In some areas, houses doubled in value in a short period of time. Speculators purchased more homes with little cash out of pocket, hoping to cash in on inflated housing prices after holding the houses for a short period of time.

3. As prices rose at an unhealthy rate, many buyers couldn't afford to purchase homes using conventional mortgages. Instead of letting the market correct itself, banks came up with ways to loan people more money than they could afford, using tactics like negative amortization, adjustable mortgages with low starting rates, lowering credit standards, and raising debt to income ratios. They also gave risky loans to speculators. Many of these loans were sold to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, who used investors' money (pension funds, 401ks, mutual funds, foreign funds, etc) to purchase them. Builders kept building, speculators kept buying, driving housing prices up, until the market was oversaturated. The builders discounted their unsold houses, bringing down the price on others in the neighborhood: the speculators defaulted on their loans and many people with adjustable rate mortgages, that had reset at a much higher payment, lost their homes to the banks. The banks discounted the houses, driving down prices in those areas causing housing values to drop significantly in those areas. Other people, who had nothing to do with the mess, couldn't sell their homes because they owed more than the adjusted value on their homes, causing more foreclosures. With all the non-performing loans, some banks lost money, as did the investors who purchased the mortgage backed securities.

In our area, real estate is a stable investment that allows us to enjoy a comfortable lifestyle with those we love. If you are thinking about buying or selling a home, just give me a call.