Ithaca Real Estate Blog

Well it is that time of year again. Country is in turmoil from war, elections, poisonous toys from China. Now we have return to full return to market value in Tompkins county. How do you feel about this??. Please click on link to see Ithaca Journal article below.

/Apps/PageManager/CEIFrame.aspx?URL=www.theithacajournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080126/NEWS01/801260306/1002

Amid all the hubbub on Wall Street, home mortgage interest rates are falling through the floor. Freddie Mac says that rates for 30-year fixed rate loans reached 5.69 percent with .5 points.

With FHA mortgages, your cost basis will be the interest rate plus that pesky .5 percent monthly insurance premium. Even so, rates are falling at such a pace that it may well be possible to get an FHA loan with an effective cost at or about 6 percent. If you look at interest rates during the past five decades, today’s rates are remarkably low.

We now have the most pro-borrower real estate environment in years, but is it enough to cause rising home sales and more marketplace demand?

Or, do buyers generally think we have reached a false bottom, a point where prices and rates are lower than a year ago but not as low as we will see in the coming 12 months? If that’s the case, then don’t expect purchasers to flood the market anytime soon.

Below is the Freddie Mac release from January 17th:

30-Year AND 15-Year FRM At Lowest Level Since July 2005

McLean, VA – Freddie Mac (NYSE:FRE) today released the results of its Primary Mortgage Market Survey® (PMMS®) in which the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 5.69 percent with an average 0.5 point for the week ending January 17, 2008, down from last week when it averaged 5.87 percent as well. Last year at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 6.23 percent.

The 15-year FRM this week averaged 5.21 percent with an average 0.4 point, down from last week when it averaged 5.43 percent. A year ago at this time, the 15-year FRM averaged 5.98 percent.

Five-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs) averaged 5.40 percent this week, with an average 0.6 point, down from last week when it averaged 5.63 percent. A year ago, the 5-year ARM averaged 6.04 percent.

One-year Treasury-indexed ARMs averaged 5.26 percent this week with an average 0.6 point, down from last week when it was 5.37 percent. At this time last year, the 1-year ARM averaged 5.51 percent.

(Average commitment rates should be reported along with average fees and points to reflect the total cost of obtaining the mortgage.)

“The latest retail sales report indicated that shoppers scaled back spending in December, as retail sales declined by 0.4 percent from November’s level,” said Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac vice president and chief economist. “Particularly weak were sales of building materials, garden equipment and supply stores, which fell by 2.9 percent from the previous month. The declines aggravated concerns about the well being of the economy and exerted downward pressure on mortgage rates.

“Mortgage rates moved down across loan products for the third consecutive week. Average rates on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages (FRMs) and 15-year FRMs are at their lowest since July 2005. The results from this week’s survey mark the first time in seven years that the average rate on the 15-year FRM is lower than the average rate on 1-year adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs).”

 (Comic Relief. Please leave a comment)

If you consider it a sport to gather your food by drilling through 36 inches of ice and sitting there all day hoping that the food will swim by, you might live in Upstate New York.


If you're proud that your region makes the national news 96 nights a year because Saranac Lake is the coldest spot in the nation, and Syracuse  gets more snow than any other major city in the US, you might live in Upstate NY.

If your local Dairy Queen is closed from October through May, you might live in Upstate NY.

If you get 131 inches of snow in a week and you comment that 'winter's finally here', you might live near Ithaca in Upstate NY.

If you instinctively walk like a penguin for six months out of the year, you might live, bundled up, in Ithaca NY.

If someone in a Home Depot store offers you assistance, and they don't work there, you might live in Ithaca NY.
 
If your dad's suntan stops at a line curving around the middle of his forehead, you might live in Upstate NY.

If you have worn shorts and a parka on the same day, you might live in Ithaca NY.

If you have had a lengthy phone conversation with someone who dialed a wrong number, you might live in Upstate NY.

YOU KNOW YOU ARE A TRUE ITHACAN WHEN:

"Vacation" means going South past Binghamton for the weekend.

You measure distance in hours.

You know several people who have hit a deer more than once.

You often switch from "heat" to "A/C" in the same day and back again.

You can drive 65 mph through 2 feet of snow during a raging blizzard, without flinching.

You install security lights on your house and garage and leave both unlocked.

You carry jumper cables in your car and your girlfriend/wife knows how to use them.

You design your kid's Halloween costume to fit over a snowsuit.

Driving is better in the winter because the potholes are filled with snow.

You know all 4 seasons: almost winter, winter, still winter, and road construction.

You can iden tify a southern or eastern accent.

Down South to you means Binghamton.

Your neighbor throws a party to celebrate his new shed.

You go out for a fish fry every Friday .

Your 4th of July picnic was moved indoors due to frost.

You have more miles on your snow blower than your car.

You find 10 degrees "a little chilly" and 55 is shorts weather.

We have had so many articles published recently about Ithaca as being the up and coming place for retirees, young families etc. For a small town we were even featured in a recent NY Times article as the town with the lowest foreclosures in the nation. Rock on Ithaca. Please click on link for article.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/04/weekinreview/04fess.html?_r=1&ex=1194930000&en=95a3dba2ece740bd&ei=5070&emc=eta1&oref=slogin