Welcome to our weekly update page. You will find a summary of significant updates and news concerning our lisitngs, including price changes, website developments and significant news for the week.

What is Credit Utilization? | Self

Credit utilization refers to the percentage of your available credit that you are currently using. It is a key factor in determining your personal credit score. Credit scoring models consider both your overall credit utilization across all your credit accounts and the utilization on individual accounts.To calculate your credit utilization, you divide your total credit card balances by your total credit card limits and multiply the result by 100 to get a percentage. For example, if you have total credit card balances of $2,000 and a total credit limit of $10,000, your credit utilization would be 20% (2,000/10,000 x 100).

Credit utilization is important because it is seen as an indicator of how responsibly you manage your credit. A lower credit…

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There are a number of variables that can affect the closing expenses, including the purchase price, the location of the property, and the type of financing. The following are some typical closing expenses you can face:

1. Legal costs for selling a home in New York: often between $1,500 and $2,000.
2. Transfer taxes: In New York City, the transfer tax is 0.4% for homes under $500,000 and 1% for homes over $500,000. The transfer tax varies from county to county outside of New York City.
3. Title check and insurance: Usually costs between $500 and $1,500.
4. The cost of the real estate broker commission could be reduced if you decide not to use a real estate agent.

When purchasing a home in New Jersey, there are a few costs to consider.

1. Mortgage…

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When compared to only images, property videos may be a very powerful tool in real estate marketing. The following engagement statistics back up this statement:

1. Greater Engagement: Research shows that videos get 1200% more social media shares than text and photos combined. More effectively than just images, property films may draw in prospective buyers and increase engagement.

 2. More views: A National Association of Realtors (NAR) survey discovered that listings with videos attract 403% more enquiries than those without. This means that a property listing with a video will likely receive more attention from potential buyers than one with only images.

 3. Prolonged Visit: According to the same NAR survey, users stay on websites with video…

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For the second month in a row now, home prices remained pretty much exactly the same. March’s average sale price came in at $614,312. This is less than $100 more than the prior month’s average of $614,253, and down from January’s record-breaking high of $628,652.


Housing Inventory Tightens


Yet, this comes along with reduced inventory, which normally pushes prices up. Active listings are down to a stunning 1,499. One year ago, 2,189 homes were up for sale here in Richmond County. This means available homes have dropped 32% in one year. But prices increased only 6% since 2020, when the average home sold in March for $578,773.

Home sales have surged nearly 70% year over year as well. In March 2021, 452 home sales closed, compared to…

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With listing activity down sharply this month, the market came back swinging toward sellers' favor in our latest figures.


Although the average sale price was down by 2% since January, it remains level with last year. The average Staten Island property sold for $614,253 in February, neck-in-neck with February 2021’s average price of $613,564. Most people will fixate on sale prices. But price is a trailing indicator.


We can predict the future in a way if we look at certain numbers. New real estate listings dropped by a full 32% to just 381. This is concerning since February and March kickstart the spring listing season. Last year, 560 homes were listed in February.


Next, let’s look at active inventory. Total active listings dropped 25%…

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Staten Island Market Report, Feb. 2021


January listings always dip each year, but this month was much sharper than last year thanks to a major boost in sales.

 

For months now, Staten Island’s housing market experienced a trend of dwindling inventory. With sales also dramatically up, fierce competition from buyers has pushed the average home sale price up again to another record high for February 2021.

 

Staten Island’s average home sold for $629,048 in the month of January. This is up 8% from last year when the average home sale price was $583,001. Available inventory is down to just 1,614 - an astounding 20% drop since last year.

 

With inventory this low, buyers are limited to fewer choices when searching for their…

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This week we sat down and went through the ins and outs of buying a home for the first time. It's a scary and nervous time for many, but also an exciting one. Finally, a place to call your very own! So, how do you get there?

Using his more than 10 years experience selling real estate in the Staten Island area, broker and co-owner Anthony Licciardello goes into some horror stories from the vault and gives some warning signs you should see as red flags right away!

We talk about mortgage programs around the US that are designed to help you afford your first home, though we mostly focus on the Staten Island and New York City markets.

Also discussed is the current state of the market and whether it is favorable to buyers or sellers. We talk…

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So much has happened over the last ten years in real estate! Between a recession that was in full force circa 2009, through the recovery, and into a rapidly accelerating market followed by a slowdown... we've pretty much seen it all.

So for our latest live video discussion, we decided to sit down and talk about the past decade and what lessons we have learned selling real estate in an ever-changing market. Broker and co-owner of RealEstateSINY.com Anthony Licciardello is interviewed to tell the story. He has been selling real estate since 2007, the onset of The Great Recession.

We talk about how home values fell during the recession, though not as much as you may think. The NY Metro area fared better than most of the country since New York is…

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Now that February's full stats are in, we were able to sit down and break them down for Staten Islanders in our latest Facebook live stream. This month had a few smoking guns!

Several of our market indicators were the slowest economic markers we have seen in 2-3 years. To start, home sales fell to an astounding 259. That's just 259 homes sold in the entire borough of Staten Island for the whole month! Comparing that to last February when 320 homes sold, this represents a 19% drop.

Cumulative days on the market is also at a two-year high. Homes take an average of 102 days to sell at this time. Last year, CDOM was 16 points lower at 86 days. So fewer and fewer homes are selling, plus they are selling more and more slowly.

SO... the fact…

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We're back after our month hiatus!! Since Anthony's health has improved enough to return to work, we're making up for lost time with January's market report rundown before returning shortly to cover the market's performance in February.

January 2019 saw a huge drop in sales over the prior year, falling to just 307 homes sold. Though the price increased a few thousand since the prior month, it is up just $10,000 over the prior year. This shows that homes are holding their value and not falling in price necessarily, but not rising like they were in prior years. The last January year-over-year comparison saw a striking $60,000 increase in average sale price.

With sales down so much and inventory also back up at 1,868, all indicators but…

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