For those of you who are interested, little Aurora Jane is officially the light of my life. Mom and baby are doing well as we all adjust to our new circumstances. I’m back to blogging, so let’s get caught up.

After all my complaining about the MLSLI Sold Properties tool not working, I was able to get it to work on my wife’s laptop, a fairly generic Dell running Windows XP.  Just for the record, I’ve attempted to get that page to work on at least a half dozen different machines, running Windows XP and 2000, using Firefox, Internet Explorer and the new Google Chrome browser with no joy. I even attempted to run it on one of my HPUX workstations at the lab with no success.

I suspect a subtle bug in the JavaScript, but the guys at MLSLI obviously wouldn’t know a subtle bug in their JavaScript if it painted itself purple and jumped about on a harpsichord screaming, “I’m a subtle bug in your JavaScript!”

That’s a Blackadder reference, for those of you playing along at home.

Anyway, I was able to extract data on sold homes in September and will soon be writing a brilliant post on that very subject. Watch for it here.

Here are some quick hits from my saved links over the last couple weeks.

• Apparently there will be group art show at the Conklin House this Friday, October 17th.  Artist Sara Furey notes that she’ll be there. She links to the Conklin House Blog. I’m interested in the idea of a Conklin House Blog, but the current iteration is less that useful since it only has one post.
• Over 5000 people showed up at a recent foreclosure showcase in Uniondale looking for bargains in the teeth of the real estate blowup. The big attraction was an auction of 35 foreclosed homes.

  A warning to bargain hunters, these types of auctions can end up being no bargain at all for the buyer. You are often buying these properties sight unseen and may even be responsible for evicting the current occupants before you can take possession or settling outstanding liens. In this market, it’s generally better to buy a REO (bank-owned home) directly from the lending institution. You can inspect the home and be assured of getting clear title.

• Realtor Tom McGiveron advises people to Sell Now Or Hold On…For A Long Time. It’s rare to find a working Realtor who understands and accepts what the Case-Schiller housing index says about current real estate market.

  The short version is that historically, housing prices go up about 5% to 6% per year. In the boom years, 2000-2005, housing went up at about three times that rate. Since there was no fundamental reason for house prices to go up that much, except for a lot of bad loans chasing the market, house prices won’t go back up until those unearned gains are eaten up by price drops or  time and inflation.

  Read the whole thing. Tom makes it nice with multicolored charts, graphs and other visual aids. And while you’re there, check his October foreclosure report.

I got this graph from Matt Ygelesias.

Home loan troubles break records again

The Mortgage Bankers Association said Friday that more than 4 million American homeowners with a mortgage — a record 9 percent — were either behind on their payments or in foreclosure at the end of June.

But how are things here on Long Island? Newsday says, not so good.

Long Island’s real estate market generated $6 billion less in sales in 2007 than it did just two years before, costing the region millions in tax revenue, consumer spending and incomes, along with thousands of jobs, a Newsday analysis has found.

A few more than 26,000 homes were sold on Long Island in 2007, compared to more than 40,000 in 2005. Median prices, too, have fallen. As a result, 2007 sales generated $16.4 billion, compared to $22.4 billion in 2005 – a 27 percent decline, Newsday found.

Median prices can be be a bit deceiving. Changes in median price of sold homes, especially if you look at a small area (like Babylon) with relatively few sales, can reflect a change in the mix of homes sold more than prices moving in one direction or another. But there’s no arguing with sales volume. We’re riding that roller coaster down, people. Hold on to your hats.

Also, a bit from the same article about “priced to sell”.

Debbie Ballantine is hoping that’s the case for her center hall colonial in East Hills. In the spring, she priced the four-bedroom home at $999,999 and hoped for a deal that would close by this month. She and her husband, Toby, can’t buy in Florida until they sell here.

When they first listed the house, their real estate agent, Michelle Cohen of Century 21 Laffey, said it was “priced to sell.” But it didn’t. Recently, the Ballantines lowered the price to $899,000. An open house produced a lot of interest – but so far, no buyers.

Everyone thinks their house is “priced to sell”. I see this on MLS a lot. What’s the alternative, “priced to sit on MLS forever”? If your house isn’t selling, then it isn’t priced to sell.

Of course, not everyone is on about the doom and gloom. Some realtors still think it’s a great time to buy.

After this weekend of the federal Government taking over the two big mortgage giants we are seeing an interest rate drop of three eight of a point and it will continue to go lower

that is great news for all of us, specially for the new york real estate region, because that is where I’m working!!!!!!!

There’s nothing better for convincing a potential client than using a lot of exclamation points.