There’s a lot of furious activity now. I assume it’s because people are trying to slip in under the Nov 30th deadline and get that eight grand from Uncle Sugar.

Most of the homes we saw had little or no interest for us, so I’m planning to write about those homes sometime soon. Right now, I’m also working on the July Sold Homes post. There were ten homes listed as being sold in July 2009 in Babylon Village, so it’s going to be a long post. I should be able to push it out this weekend.

This is an open discussion thread, so I invite any and all readers to pipe up and say something. Feel free to leave a comment and ask a question, make an observation, tell us what you’re up to or just introduce yourself and say hi.

I’m very interested in hearing fellow home shoppers, especially their impressions of any open houses that they’ve seen, but I’d also like to hear from any sellers and their experiences and observations.

I’m posting this “sticky”, which means that it will stay at the top of the page over the weekend even if I post new stuff afterward. If you’re accustomed to stopping by and glancing at the top of the page to see if there’s new stuff, scroll on down a bit before you click away.

Enojy your weekend, everyone. Happy hunting.

Homes in Babylon

We seemed to be hovering in the low to mid 90′s for total home in Babylon over the summer, but now the inventory is creeping up. 106 is as I as I’ve seen it in some time, maybe since last summer.

Unfortunately, the pickings are pretty slim at the lower end of the market. We’ve edged up our max price a bit to try and tried to look at a few more homes, but not much really appeals to us.

My feeling is that there’s a lot of “shadow inventory”, sellers waiting in the wings for a real estate recovery. My subjective observation is that there seems to be a higher percentage of estate sales, retirement sales and divorce sales in the mix than there was a couple years back. The recently purchased, nicely renovated homes on MLS have — to a certain extent — given way to the “charming” houses that have kitchens and baths from the Age of Aquarius and need “a little TLC”. In other words, the people who are selling now are the people who need to sell. Those who think they can hang on are hoping to ride out the bad real estate market.

Unfortunately, I’m looking to buy now…right now…and the possibility of better homes being available at lower prices some time next year isn’t helping me out here. For those of you who are still on the sidelines waiting, this coming spring could bring some serious deals.

Homes in Babylon

Numbers haven’t changed all that much since I last did this in April. Some interesting new house to look at this week, including 2 Edward Ave, 19 Nehring Ave and 40 Bacon Lane. There’s also 78 Wampum, a house that should be priced in our range but isn’t.

109 Washington is gone. A commenter reported it as being in contract. As I said in the open house report, I felt it was overpriced but I could see someone really overpaying for it. We’ll have to see what the numbers are when and if it finally sells.

90 The Crescent has been reported as being in contract, but it’s still on the MLS last I checked. There are issues with that house being sold that I’ve agreed not to talk about here. We’ll discuss it more once the sale is final.

This is an open discussion thread, so I invite any and all readers to pipe up and say something. Feel free to leave a comment and ask a question, make an observation, tell us what you’re up to or just introduce yourself and say hi.

I’m very interested in hearing fellow home shoppers, especially their impressions of any open houses that they’ve seen, but I’d also like to hear from any sellers and their experiences and observations.

I’m posting this “sticky”, which means that it will stay at the top of the page even if I post new stuff afterward. If you’re accustomed to stopping by and glancing at the top of the page to see if there’s new stuff, scroll on down a bit before you click away.

Enojy your weekend, everyone. Happy hunting.

Things have been a little quiet here at HIB. A new baby and a stagnant real estate market make for very light blogging.

Homes in Babylon

The total homes number is down by nine from the last report. There’s been very little new in the last month and absolutely nothing that I’d want to look at, even just for curiosity’s sake.

As we peruse the list of properties for sale, some of our old friends are still there. 43 Strong Ave is still sitting at $399K. 35 Cameron and 198 Cadman are at $389K. 27 Cedar Street is down to $419K, which would still be too much for that house, even if it wasn’t right across the street from a giant, cinder block, LIRR building.

Homes in Babylon

There’s not a lot new in the mix, certainly nothing to interest us. A lot high-priced, million-dollar range and up homes seem to have hit the market recently. I can’t help but wonder if it’s related to the Wall Street meltdown and issues with the credit markets.

As time goes on I feel that there’s less and less of a chance of us buying something this year unless there’s a really good deal on a house we love and I haven’t seen anything close to that yet.

On top of that, with foreclosures on the upswing, Fannie and Freddie in the dumper and a major recession looming, the thought that I might actually buy a house in this market and then see its value plummet like a stone is also freakout material.

On the other hand, home sellers must be freaking out in a big way right now. The summer is drawing to a close and their homes are still on the market. The hot real estate season is drawing to a close and all they have to look forward to is the chill of Autumn and the Fall bargain hunters.

Homes in Babylon

Not a lot of movement in the numbers since the last MLS report. There seems to be more condos for sale. I’m not all that interested in condos these days, but it’s interesting that they seem to be a drug on the market.

A lot of the same suspects are hanging around on MLS waiting for a buyer to come along and snatch the place up. I still see 43 Strong, 35 Cameron and 27 Cedar listed. 223 Locust seems to have dropped off MLS, but there’s no sale listed on MLS and no “Sold” sign on their lawn, so I’m guessing they just pulled ti off the market.

There are a few good prospects on the list, including a re-listed property from last year that we’re interested in seeing. I still have some open houses to write up. I hope to have those in a day or so.