Scott Donnellan

Relocating to Massapequa, NY

If you are thinking about or looking into relocating to Massapequa, NY, it's always good to have a friend on the other end. I am a Massapequa native, and would be more than happy to show you the best opportunities we offer.

Despite the large population of 25,000 residents, Massapequa has a small-town feel. Our tight-knit community reaches out to its inhabitants regularly. When relocating to Massapequa, NY, you will find it located in the town of Oysterbay, on Long Island's South Shore. Containing four school districts, Massapequa host's several different family friendly events throughout each season. When relocating to Massapequa, NY, your family will have many opportunities for fun activities to attend, such as The Firecracker Run for the 4th of July, fireworks or the holiday each year. A beautiful place to raise a family and be included in, if you're looking for a fun, positive, community-oriented neighborhood, you will find relocating to Massapequa, NY, to be your best decision.

Walking down Park Blvd in Massapequa Park is a trip down memory lane for some, taking you back to the "good ol' days" of the 50's, with arrays of small-town shops and family owned restaurants. If you are relocating to Massapequa, NY, this is a fun, relaxing way to spend the afternoon. This neighborhood consists of those mostly born and raised here, but once people move in or are relocating to Massapequa, NY, they normally stay here for life.

Relocating to Massapequa, NY, is good news to all nature lovers. This area is home to beautiful and lush greenbelts, for those exhilarating nature hikes or bike rides, the  trails will take your adventure straight through to Bethpage State Park. We are 15 minutes from the ocean beaches, but there's also various beaches along the shores of the southern portion of town that can be used to launch your jet ski or kayak, a great thing to keep in mind when relocating to Massapequa, NY.

A unique feature this town provides is the wide varieties of homes, locations, and price ranges, making it easy to find a place to call home on any budget or style to those relocating to Massapequa, NY. Styles available range from Hi Ranches, Capes, and Split-levels, to massive sprawling Ranches and Center Hall Colonials; and pricing varies from low $300K in East Massapequa, to properties worth over $2 Million plus in Harbor Green by the water.

So, no matter what finances you have to work with, or flavors you have to indulge, consult with me - I will find you exactly what you need when you're relocating to Massapequa, NY.

Its come to my attention that there are alot of terms being thrown around in Real Estate today that nobody heard of 4 years ago. Although these things existed at that time they were not as prevalent as they are today and due to this mainstream America was not familiar with these terms. Today it can be very confusing to be a buyer as these terms are being thrown around all the time, and many times being used incorrectly. Let me start by saying that most of these types of sales are not for the weak of heart and for many traditional buyers you are better off at looking at traditional sources of sales, estates, divorces, retiring etc. These sales will usually go through with very few bumps.

The discount sales. This brings me to my purpose of writing this. We now have a category of sales that are discounted because there is distress and the possibility to get a "good" deal as a buyer. These sales are making up approx 30% of the us real estate market. This is not the case in Massapequa as we have still not seen the decimation that many other communities have. One type of sale in this category is short sales. A short sale is a sale in which the seller owes more on the house than the house is worth, this sale is tricky as it involves the bank agreeing to accept less than they are owed and 90% of the time releasing the seller from making up the difference (see my blog post from last week). The benefit to the seller is that there are no fees paid by them and in most cases they are able to get out from under a bad situation with dignity intact and not too much damage to their credit. To the buyer the benefit is buying a house for slightly less than market value, that has not been destroyed bc someone is still living in it unlike a bank foreclosure.

The next category is REO which stands for real estate owned, this is the category which everybody is now grouping foreclosures and bank owned into. The major difference between these types of sales and short sales is that the bank has already foreclosed and took ownership of the property. In many cases these properties have had severe damage inflicted on them by the homeowner who was forced to leave the home and in a bitter fit of rage decided to destroy it. Many times even if the homeowner has not destroyed the house it has sat abandoned which brings its own issues. These homes are sold at considerable discount, but in many cases these houses have been so damaged that a traditional mortgage will not work and many times the discount that was achieved for the traditional buyer is \not worth it because of the cost associated to rehab. These homes tend to go to investors who have cash to buy, and the resources to complete the renovation on their own.

If you would like more information please contact me at 516-655-3860 or email me at sdonnellanre@gmail.com

You can search for foreclosures, short sales and traditional homes by clicking here.

Home buyer's credit now also includes a trade up credit of up to $6500 in addition to the first time home buyers credit for $8000. Get off the fence and start making offers. This is a credit and amounts to free money. Everyone should be looking to take advantage of this! This can amount to redoing a bathroom on your next house. Call me for any details.

It looks as if Congress has extended the home buyers credit until April of 2010. What they did to make it even better for first time buyers was that they said as long as you are in contract by the end of April that you qualify for the credit. Another Interesting caveat is the fact that they also are including a $6500 tax credit for other people who are buying. I think this is a great thing because it potentially can lead to more trade up and trade down buyers. The credit was very successful for 2009 and I believe that it should be strong through 2010 as well.

Although the Real Estate picture throughout the country seems to be all gloom and doom, our local Long Island Market, and our Massapequa market in particular are still seeing homes sell for close to asking price. As buyers are searching for homes everybody seems to be looking for "deals", the problem with this deal hunting is that many buyers feel that they can steal someone's house from them! This is not the case. While there are still bargains to be had in the pre- foreclosure motivated seller market who has positive equity in their home, the majority of homes are being sold at market value. It is also still possible to see homes that go for over ask. With that said as a buyer if you can afford to buy a home for $400000 do not waste time seeing houses that are listed at $475,000. The seller will usually not take an offer that is 75k off asking price. Even if the house is over priced it pays to wait until the seller drops his price to a striking distance number! I would define striking distance at a number that is under 10% of ask price meaning if you want to pay $400,000 you should look at homes no higher than $430,000. That would put you at 93% of asking price if you can get your $400000 offer accepted and is within the market limits for a seller to consider. With this said if a home is priced well, or priced to sell, or if the home is in mint condition and it is at $430,000 you will probably have to pay $425,000 or maybe even ask price. To put it simple if a house is mint and you want it don't mess around by low balling the home owner, if the home is worth it don't be afraid to pay for it because of the "tough" market chances are the homeowner could have received alot more for his home 3 years ago so the deal is already in the price!