Tom McGiveron has a new post up on foreclosure statistics in Nassau and Suffolk from RealtyTrac. RealtyTrac doesn’t have the best reputation for accuracy, but even still there’s bad new all around Suffolk county.

The big shock, 34 homes in foreclosure right here in Babylon. That may not seem like a lot. Looking at the numbers, there are 176 homes in foreclosure in Tom’s backyard of Deer Park.

But Babylon isn’t Deer Park. Not only is it smaller, it’s a much more upscale and exclusive community. There are no real bad or undesirable parts of Babylon. I’d guess that there’s not a lot of sub-prime lending here. The next time a Realtor tells you that Babylon is “holding it’s value”, tell them about the 34 foreclosures.

As for me, I’m waiting for the REOs that should be showing up in the spring. Until then, I’ll be hiding under my desk.

Photo by Flickr user Respres used under a Creative Commons license

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.