Through the internet, on the airwaves, in the papers, there’s plenty of real estate news. The problem is much of it is based on trends. The key is to know the “local” real estate market, your real estate market. Whatever town you plan on buying a home, that’s your local real estate market.

When it comes to real estate, we can’t emphasize strongly enough that all real estate markets are local. It’s always important for those involved in a real estate transaction, particularly home buyers, to be knowledgeable about the actual conditions in their own market. Currently negative, but even when it’s positive, often reports on the “National” housing market don’t accurately reflect the conditions in your local market.

As a proud member of the NYSAR – New York State Association of REALTORS, we get quick access to excellent information. When it comes to getting information on the local area you are targeting, the Long Island and Queens’ multi-listing neighborhood info is a great place to start, http://www.mlsli.com/neighborhoodinfo.cfm. Simply, put in the town or zip code and a slew of information appears.

While the MLSLI tool is excellent, do more research. You can never go wrong with RealtyTrac.com and of course contacting BBBR is always your best bet.

Despite over a year of poor realty news, in May, New York’s housing market continues to outperform the national statistics in terms of sales. While the National Association of REALTORS reported a 1.6% increase in May 2008 sales compared to April 2008, New York State sales were up nearly 12%. While I won’t jump on the bandwagon, in a recent NYSAR column, National Association of Realtors economist Lawrence Yun states, “home sales and prices throughout most of the country are poised for improvement in the second half of 2008″. He also adds, “the recovery will vary by market.” Which is why we say, don’t be lazy, do your homework, KNOW YOUR MARKET!!!

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Best Buyer’s Broker Realty is an Exclusive Buyer Agent specializing in Long Island real estate (Nassau and Suffolk properties) and neighboring Queens County properties.

We don’t take any seller listings (yet we have more homes for you to see than most agents) and never have any potential conflict of interest like other agents who also represent sellers. We represent buyers only, 100% of the time. We can show you more homes for sale because we have access to MLS, FSBOs, Exclusives (homes that agents try to keep secret), foreclosures and homes not on the market that may be of interest to you.

We are not your traditional real estate agent. Our goal is to advise and protect home buyers and help them obtain the lowest price and best terms on their dream home. Call us at 516-887-6901 to see how we can help you save time and money. Or visit our sites at www.bestbuyersbroker.com or www.bestbuyerbroker.com

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This new segment of BBBR Reports was inspired by a holiday gathering with family and friends and our desire to keep our readers well informed. It went like this:

It was a cloudy July 4th, yet we still had the dogs grilling, the beers chilling and even had veggie burgers for the non-meat eaters. Amongst the many conversations was a quirky one about ‘Bad Beats Stories’ at the World Series of Poker. Simply, gambler pays two bucks to tell listeners at table (2) about their bad beat. I don’t know why, must be the 20+ years in realty, but I immediately thought, forget bad beats in poker, how about the bad beats in real estate?

There are many reasons that could cause a real estate transaction to fall into the ‘bad beat’ department. The purpose of this BBBR segment is to give you an understanding of how different things can affect your real estate transaction in hopes of preventing you from making the same mistakes that others have made.

If you have a Real Estate ‘Bad Beat’ Story and would like to have it posted here, please send your story via email to ira@bestbuyersbroker.com. I welcome agents, home buyers and sellers to submit their stories. Try to include how your ‘Bad Beat’ could have been prevented. Please refrain from including names of specific companies or people so we don’t run into legal issues.

BBBR – Best Buyer’s Broker Realty has one goal. To be the most informative source of information for home buyers. Before you get caught up in the tangled real estate web, contact BBBR.

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Best Buyer’s Broker Realty is an Exclusive Buyer Agent specializing in Long Island real estate (Nassau and Suffolk properties) and neighboring Queens County properties.

We don’t take any seller listings (yet we have more homes for you to see than most agents) and never have any potential conflict of interest like other agents who also represent sellers. We represent buyers only, 100% of the time. We can show you more homes for sale because we have access to MLS, FSBOs, Exclusives (homes that agents try to keep secret), foreclosures and homes not on the market that may be of interest to you.

We are not your traditional real estate agent. Our goal is to advise and protect home buyers and help them obtain the lowest price and best terms on their dream home. Call us at 516-887-6901 to see how we can help you save time and money. Or visit our sites at http://bestbuyersbroker.com or http://bestbuyerbroker.com.

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If your credit problem isn’t too serious, you may still be able to get a traditional loan. First, you should correct any errors on your credit report, and challenge any entries you think shouldn’t be there. This is your legal right. If you can get it changed, then once those changes are reflected in your credit score, you may be able to apply again and get a loan for that home.

You also can go only to lenders who hold their own loans “in house.” This means they don’t sell them into the secondary market, which means the loans don’t have to meet certain requirements. A bank which holds its own loans can make their own rules (to an extent). Ask around to see if some of your local banks or credit unions keep mortgage loans in their own portfolio. Few do these days, but some still do. It pays to ask.

A more creative way to overcome bad credit is to buy a house with another person. This isn’t only for married couples. Any two people can buy a home together, and the lender will look at both credit histories. It might be tricky to buy a house with a friend, but it can be better for both compared to renting. For example, you might have a down payment, and your friend could have good credit. You could agree to sell the home five years later to recover your down payment and each of your respective shares of the equity that is built up from appreciation and the paying down of the loan.

Seller financing is another way to buy when you can’t get a loan because of bad credit. Some homes have sold without credit checks and even with nothing down by sellers who financed the purchase. Their motivation is usually to get a higher price and/or to sell a problem property, but this doesn’t rule out a good opportunity for you. When sellers don’t offer terms, find out if they own their houses free and clear. If so, you could make an offer that involves payments to the owner rather than getting a loan from the bank.

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Best Buyer’s Broker Realty is an Exclusive Buyer Agent specializing in Long Island real estate (Nassau and Suffolk properties) and neighboring Queens County properties.

We don’t take any seller listings (yet we have more homes for you to see than most agents) and never have any potential conflict of interest like other agents who also represent sellers. We represent buyers only, 100% of the time. We can show you more homes for sale because we have access to MLS, FSBOs, Exclusives (homes that agents try to keep secret), foreclosures and homes not on the market that may be of interest to you.

We are not your traditional real estate agent. Our goal is to advise and protect home buyers and help them obtain the lowest price and best terms on their dream home. Call us at 516-887-6901 to see how we can help you save time and money. Or visit our sites at http://bestbuyersbroker.com or http://bestbuyerbroker.com.

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