Friday, December 14, 2012


Short sales jump ahead of tax hike

A soon-to-expire tax break for troubled homeowners is helping drive a spurt in "short sales."

-December 6, 2012 - During the three months ended Sept. 30, short sales in which homeowners had fallen behind on mortgage payments soared 22% over last year, according to a report released Thursday by online marketing company RealtyTrac. By comparison, short sales by people current on their payments went up 17%.
In a short sale, homeowners sell at a price that is less than what they owe the bank, and the bank agrees to absorb the loss. The bank unloads the house and the homeowner gets out of a mortgage he can't afford.
And currently, homeowners don't have to pay federal tax on the unpaid mortgage debt because of a bailout-era law known as the federal Mortgage Debt Forgiveness Act.
But the act expires on Dec. 31 and, unless it is extended, the IRS in January will start treating unpaid mortgage debt as taxable income for many borrowers. The average amount of forgiven debt in a short sale is about $95,000, according to Blomquist. The tax on that could go as high as $33,250, even more if the Bush tax cuts expire.
Read the rest of the article here and let us know how we can help you navigate through a short sale!
-Daniel Barli, Esq.


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Tuesday, November 27, 2012


Tips on landing a home equity line of credit

11/16 - Property Management Software 
As home prices began their long slide, banks pulled the plug on home-equity lending. Homeowners who had already snagged home-equity lines of credit lost out, too, as many received notice that their lines of credit had been frozen. Home-equity loan originations are still 80% below their peak, according to a recent report from Moody’s Analytics and Equifax. But as the housing market emerges from the doldrums, home-equity borrowing is beginning to perk up, too.
Pick your flavor. A home-equity loan, which usually comes with a fixed monthly payment and interest rate, is best for projects or purchases with a one-time, fixed cost, such as con­solidating debt. Home-equity lines of credit, or HELOCs, make sense for ongoing expenses, such as long-term home-improvement projects or college-tuition payments. HELOCs usually have a variable rate that’s tied to the prime rate, plus or minus some percentage. On a fixed-rate loan, a borrower with good credit (with a FICO score of about 720 to 740) may pay 6.5%; that same borrower would likely pay the prime rate (currently 3.25%) plus 1.5 to 2 percentage points on a HELOC, says Keith Gumbinger, vice-president of HSH.com, a mortgage-information site.
Shop smart. Compare terms from several lenders, including banks with which you already have accounts or loans. Those lenders may be willing to give you a break on rates or fees, says Nessa Feddis, vice-president and senior counsel of the American Bankers Association.
HELOC shock. With a home-equity line of credit, you can usually choose to pay only interest during the draw period, which typically lasts five or ten years. After that, payments of interest plus principal kick in for ten or 20 years.
If you qualify to refinance the first mortgage, lenders that hold home-equity loans or HELOCs will typically work with you, Arnold says. If you’re not able to refinance your first mortgage, you may be able to negotiate to pay less than the full balance on your second loan.
You can read the entire article here and don't forget to let us know how we can help you with any situation you are facing.

-Daniel Barli, Esq.


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Thursday, November 15, 2012


“Thank You” Thursday: Daniel Barli of Barli & Associates

Posted on November 15, 2012 
Looking for an attorney who can work with you and explain the process of buying a home in your native tongue? Daniel Barli is trilingual in English, Spanish, and Russian! As a member of both the New Jersey and New York State Bar and leader of his firm, Mr. Barli provides each and every client with years of expertise.
This Thursday, our big “Thank You!” goes to Daniel Barli of Barli & Associates!
Call Mr. Barli today at: 201-741-3627

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Sunday, November 11, 2012


Working CO, smoke detectors are mandatory

November 1, 2012, NORTHERN VALLEY SUBURBANITE
"Ask the Realtor" is a weekly column from the 3,000+ member RealSource Association of Realtors.
Q: My Realtor told me that if the smoke detectors are too old that they will need to be replaced for the town inspection and that I need carbon monoxide detectors. Is that true?
Roberto A.

A: Your Realtor is correct. You will need to have working smoke and carbon monoxide detectors in order for the issuance of a certificate of occupancy (CO) and the successful transfer of a home in New Jersey. Any owner of real estate who sells, leases or otherwise permits occupancy of a dwelling unit without having working smoke and carbon monoxide detectors will be subject to a fine. Even though I'm confident your Realtor mentioned this, it is always recommended that you check the rules and regulations of local governments when it comes to smoke and carbon monoxide detectors. For example, town rules could require such things as: 1) smoke detectors be on every level of a home including the basement, excluding crawl spaces and unfinished attics, 2) smoke detectors in the basement should be placed on the ceiling at the bottom of the basement stairs, 3) smoke detectors on the first floor should be placed on the ceiling above the first step going up to the second floor, and 4) smoke and carbon monoxide detectors should be no more than 10 feet outside from each bedroom door.

If you have any questions that you would like us to post the answers to, please email us here. 

-Daniel Barli, Esq.
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Sunday, September 30, 2012


Mortgage rates hit record low, AGAIN!

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Mortgage rates again fell record low levels this week, as the Federal Reserve's decision to buy billions in home loans for the foreseeable future continued to lower costs for would-be home buyers.
Mortgage finance backer Freddie Mac's weekly survey showed the average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage fell to 3.40% from 3.49% the previous week, which had matched the previous record low set in July
The fixed-rate 15-year mortgage also hit a record low of 2.73%, down from the previous record of 2.77% a week earlier.
The Fed announced Sept. 13 that it would be buying $40 billion in mortgage-backed securities each month for the foreseeable future. The idea of the purchases, popularly known as QE3, is to spur economic activity by pumping more cash into the economy and driving down rates. Those taking out new home loans, either to purchase or refinance, will be among the first beneficiaries of the Fed's policy.
Read the rest of the article here and let us know how we can help you with your purchase of a home!

-Daniel Barli, Esq.


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Monday, September 3, 2012


Home prices signal recovery may be here


CNN - "A sharp boost in home prices during the spring could signal a recovery in the long-suffering U.S. housing market, according to an industry report issued Tuesday.
The S&P/Case-Shiller national home price index, which covers more than 80% of the housing market in the United States, climbed 6.9% in the three months ended June 30 compared to the first three months of 2012.
"We seem to be witnessing exactly what we needed for a sustained recovery; monthly increases coupled with improving annual rates of change," said David Blitzer, a spokesman for S&P, in a statement. "The market may have finally turned around."
Read the rest of the article here.
This is GREAT news and would really be a boost for our economy. Don't hesitate to let us know how we can help you with your purchase of sale.
-Daniel Barli, Esq.

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Sunday, August 26, 2012


Basements can frighten homebuyers

August 26, 2012, BY  JENNIFER V. HUGHES

As Irene Bressler lists her Ridgewood home for sale, she's touting the updated kitchen, the luxurious great room and the large wall of windows that overlook the half-acre property.
What she won't be bragging about is the basement — there isn't one. And that's just fine with her.
"I think it's a blessing that we don't have a basement," said Bressler, whose home is in the town's Salem Ridge neighborhood, which has many basement-less homes. The five-bedroom colonial is listed for $658,000.
Bressler loves the fact that she never worries about flooding and jokes that it helps her keep a lid on clutter.
"Everyone has stuff they haven't used in five years, but I think we have less stuff," she says, noting that the home has ample storage in the upstairs bedrooms and closets as well as the garage. "It forces you to not use your basement as a catchall."
Basements can be somewhat polarizing in the world of real estate.
"People have very definite tastes about basements," said Bressler's real estate agent, Beth Freed, a broker-associate at Prominent Properties Sotheby's International Realty in Ridgewood.
For every buyer who worries about flooding, she says, there's a buyer who desperately wants the basement for a home-entertainment room or a play space for the kids, a man cave or extra storage. Still, many real estate agents say buyers are wary about basements, especially when they are finished, wondering what lies behind that drywall.

 Read the rest of this interesting article HERE and don't hesitate to let us know how we can help you and protect your legal interests.
-Daniel Barli, Esq.



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Sunday, August 19, 2012

Tax consequences of selling your property depend on if you lived there

 - August 19, Bergen Record
Q. I recently sold a town house and was concerned about how much tax I would be responsible for paying. I sold it for $375,000. There was no mortgage on the property, and I hadn't lived in it since 2007.
I had done a lot of improvements on it to increase its value for sale and had hopes of claiming it on my taxes for 2013. Is there some sort of estimated formula I could use to estimate how much I could expect to pay in taxes?
If this had been your primary residence, we would be happy to tell you that you don't owe any tax. In fact, if you had simply lived in the home for two of the last five years, or through 2009 if you sold it in 2012, you still wouldn't owe any tax as long as your profit was less than $250,000 if you're single or $500,000 if you're married.
However, that doesn't seem to be the case here. You didn't supply all of the information we need to assess your situation, but we can make some educated guesses about what has happened and point you in the right direction.
Let's start with how profit and the cost basis are calculated. When you sell a home, the IRS wants to know not only how much you paid for the property, but what capital improvements you made to the property (adding a room or replacing the roof, as opposed to painting a bathroom), and how much it cost to sell. If you add up the costs of purchase, sale (including the commission) and capital improvements, you will get your cost basis. The profit is calculated by subtracting the cost basis from the total sales price....

Read the rest of the article here and let us know how we can help you in the sale (or purchase) of your home!


-Daniel Barli, Esq.


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Thursday, July 12, 2012


Mortgage rates smash old record


(CNN, July 5, 2012) - Les Christie
Mortgage rates fell again this week, smashing previous record lows, according to a regular weekly release from mortgage giant Freddie Mac.
The rate for a 30-year, fixed-rate loan, the most popular mortgage product, dropped to 3.62% from 3.66% last week. The rate has matched or hit a new low for 10 of the past 11 weeks, Freddie Mac said. Meanwhile, the 15-year fixed rate fell to 2.89%, down from 2.94%.
"Recent economic data releases of less consumer spending and a contraction in the manufacturing industry drove long-term Treasury bond yields lower over the week, and allowed fixed mortgage rates to hit new all-time record lows," said Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac's chief economist.
The 15-year fixed-rate mortgage is popular among homeowners who are seeking to refinance or to trade-up and minimize their total interest payments. At the current rate, a borrower financing $200,000 would pay $1,370 a month and spend a total of just under $47,000 in interest over the 15-year span of the mortgage.

This is GREAT news for anyone considering to buy a home. Read the rest of the article here and let us know how we can help you achieve your goal of home ownership!
-Daniel Barli, Esq.


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Friday, July 6, 2012


New Agency Plans to Make Over Mortgage Market

- NYTimes, July 5, by Edward Wyatt

Over the next six months, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a newly formed regulator vilified by the right, intends to overhaul the home mortgage market as a first step toward improving its fairness and clarity. 
The goal is to remake the process of getting a mortgage, making it easier for borrowers to understand the kind of loan they are getting and its cost.

Read the rest of the article here, but what great news if this can happen the way it's being discussed. Please don't hesitate to let us know what we can do to help you with this process.


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Sunday, July 1, 2012


New rules speed up short sales

July 1, by Jennifer Hughes, The Record - New federal regulations designed to speed up the process for many short sales went into effect last month.
Some real estate agents and experts are excited about the prospect of new deadlines for these deals that are made when a bank permits a seller to accept an offer for less than the outstanding mortgage on a property. But others are dubious about how much effect the rules will really have on a process that has a reputation as long and tortuous.
Under the new guidelines by the Federal Housing Finance Agency, if a loan is owned or backed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, the servicer of the loan — often your typical bank — now has to follow a set of deadlines including:
  • Acknowledge that they received the short sale offer within three business days.
  • Respond to the initial request for a short sale within 30 days.
  • Make a final decision on the short sale in no more than 60 days after the buyer's request is made.

Read the rest of the article here, but this is great news for distressed homeowners and all buyers!

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Friday, June 29, 2012

After Years of False Hopes, Signs of a Turn in Housing 


NYTimes - Announcements of a housing recovery have become a wrongheaded rite of summer, but after several years of false hopes, evidence is accumulating that the optimists may finally be right.


The housing market is starting to recover. Prices are rising. Sales are increasing. Home builders are clearing lots and raising frames.



This is GREAT news for everyone in our country and in the NJ/NY/PA area. You can read the rest of the article here. Don't hesitate to let us know what we can do to help you with the purchase or sale of your home.



-Daniel Barli, Esq.


http://www.barlilaw.com
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Sunday, June 24, 2012

Mortgage debt forgiveness preventing foreclosures

This is the whole premise behind what is known as short sales. The forgiveness of any debt on the mortgage prevents banks from foreclosing, saving everyone time and money.

http://money.cnn.com/2012/06/22/real_estate/mortgage-debt/index.htm


Let us know how we can assist you with executing a short sale.


-Daniel Barli, Esq.


http://www.barlilaw.com
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Thursday, May 10, 2012


6 things to do before putting your home up for sale (Part 4) - by JENNIFER V. 

Here is the last part of the 6 things to do before putting your home up for sale:

Pre-inspect your home
Everyone knows that the buyer will bring in an inspector to take a thorough look at the home, but many sellers are also doing it themselves. The idea behind a seller's inspection is not to hide anything but to head off potential deal killers.
"You want to correct and address any major issues so they don't create a problem," said Craig Sharf, owner of HomeTeam Inspection Service in Closter. He said he has been seeing more preinspection work, "but not enough."
"It's funny because it's like getting the answers to a test beforehand," he said. "It's finding out what to do to make your buyer happy from the beginning."
Sharf said a preinspection can cost $375 to $500. Not long ago he said he did a job in Tenafly where the sellers were shocked to find water in the crawl space of the home they had lived in for 25 years.
"They had no idea it was there," Sharf said. "I'm sure it would have frightened away some buyers."
Instead, the sellers had a new drainage system and pump installed.
Sharf said a preinspection can also head off other problems. Say you know you have some problems with your deck. With a preinspection you can get repair estimates.
"That way you know it's a $700 repair and if a prospective buyer says, 'Oh we need $10,000 to fix that deck,' you can say that you have an estimate already," he said. "Knowledge is always power."
Hire another professional
In addition to a real estate agent, today's seller should also consider what other professionals to hire. Whether you pay for it directly, or whether it's considered part of the services provided by your agent, a stager is a must for many sellers.
Karen Parziale, owner of The Real Estate Staging Studio, said that beyond staging, she is getting more requests for organizing and decluttering.
"People say, 'I want you to help me stage, but first I need help to figure out what is going to stay and what is going to go,' " she said. "It helps the seller to prepare to move for sale energetically."
Parziale said that for about $400 she can do a five-hour walk through of the home to give tips on what needs to be done to get the home to sell.
Other options are a housekeeping service, a landscaper or a handyman to make small repairs.

Work the Web
Susan Laskin, a sales associate at Coldwell Banker in Hillsdale, said one of the keys that sellers should focus on is how the agent plans to market the property on the Internet.
She uploads videos to YouTube and on her blog and to other general real estate blogs and websites.
"You want to get as much Internet exposure as you can," she said.
Many real estate companies have their own YouTube channel or Facebook page. Search "Bergen Countyreal estate for sale," on YouTube and you can come up with more than 500 hits. Facebook has more than a dozen hits for real estate in Passaic and Bergen counties.
"You never know where the buyers are looking," she said, "but you know they are looking on the Web."

You can read the entire article here and don't hesitate to let us know how we can help you.


-Daniel Barli, Esq.
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Sunday, May 6, 2012


6 things to do before putting your home up for sale (Part 3) - by JENNIFER V. 

Here is the third part of the 6 things to do before putting your home up for sale:

Pre-appraise your home
Jon Rosa, owner of Palisades Appraisals, said he is doing more work for sellers requesting appraisals of their homes. In some cases the request comes from the real estate agent who needs to get sellers to open their eyes to the reality of the market.
"A lot of times the broker has to talk the seller into having an appraisal done because they are so far off on price," he said.
About a year ago, he worked with a broker on a home in Franklin Lakes. The sellers were insisting on a $3 million price tag; Rosa said it should be $2.1 million. The sellers didn't budge, and the property remains unsold.
The other customers Rosa said he is seeing more of are sellers who want to work without an agent and need a firm idea of how they should price the home. Usually, for-sale-by-owner properties are in a range of $800,000 and under, he said.
"They're trying to save that 5 or 6 percent commission and do a sale by owner, so they need to know what to sell for," he said.
A prelisting appraisal for a for-sale-by-owner home will cost $300 to $400. If the home is larger and more expensive, it can cost upward of $1,000.

If you need to know the rest of the suggestions, you can read all 6 items here.


Don't hesitate to let our office know how we can help you.


-Daniel Barli, Esq.
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Friday, May 4, 2012


6 things to do before putting your home up for sale (Part 2) - by JENNIFER V. 


Here is the second part of the 6 things to do before putting your home up for sale:
Shop for a real estate agent
You should ask friends for recommendations and interview at least three agents before choosing one. Look for someone who's honest about your home and realistic about the asking price. If one agent suggests a price that's much higher than the others suggest, be wary. It might be tempting to try the higher price, but it's probably a waste of time. Buyers are too smart to overpay for a house, and banks won't write a mortgage on an overpriced house.
Ask the agent how she is going to market the property. The home should be listed on the multiple listing service and also advertised extensively on the Internet. Some agents even create a website just for the house. Open houses for the public and real estate agents also open the door to more buyers.
"You want to know what exposure the agent is going to get for you," Wilke said. "In the past all you had to do is put the house on the market and there were bidding wars. It's not like that anymore."
Wilke said to ask for the agent's statistics comparing the listing price with the sales price and how many days their properties spend on the market.
It's also a good idea to ask agents for the names of previous clients and call them to see if they were happy with the agent's work.


Again, if you can't wait, you can read all 6 items here.


Don't hesitate to let our office know how we can help you.



-Daniel Barli, Esq.
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Thursday, May 3, 2012


6 things to do before putting your home up for sale (Part 1) - by JENNIFER V. HUGHES

You've been thinking of selling your home for several years, so you can downsize or head off to retirement bliss. But the depressed housing market had you spooked, so you delayed your plans — until now.
You're finally convinced the market has hit bottom and will head up again, albeit slowly. So you are ready to take the plunge and put your house on the market.
What to do?
By now you probably have a long list of to-do items, some obvious, others maybe not. Conversations with North Jersey real estate agents and other housing professionals turned up this list of a half-dozen tips on what to do before you put your house up for sale.
Consider a home warranty
Not long ago, the real estate agent Barbara Wilke was working with a seller in Ridgewood on a home that was in decent condition, but older.
"The house had been pretty well maintained, but there were not many updates. Things were pretty old," said Wilke, broker and sales associate with Keller Williams Village Square Realty.
The seller decided to offer a home warranty that would cover most of the cost of repairs if something broke down.
"A single mom wound up purchasing it," said Wilke. "That gave her a year of comfort knowing that if anything happened, like to the heating system, it would be repaired, and she didn't have to worry about the cost."
Wilke said she's definitely convinced the home warranty pushed the sale through more quickly.
"It was just a few hundred dollars to the seller, but it really made the difference," she said.
Offering a home warranty is just one of several things a seller can to do try to make a home really stand out in a soft market.
You'd pay a contract fee — either in one lump sum, or spread out over a year — to offer the coverage. You can chose to cover everything in the home from the HVAC system to the appliances, or pick and choose. Contract costs are about $300 to $500, said Peter Tosches, senior vice president of corporate communications for ServiceMaster, parent of the home warranty company American Home Shield.
If the new buyer ends up having a problem, they'd have to pay a small service charge. That price varies depending on what's broken, but Tosches said it can range from $65 to $100.
"It definitely adds a great deal of value when people are trying to sell, especially when there are a lot of properties on the market," said Tosches. "It can really set your home apart from the competition."
Tosches said it is good to have that piece of mind, especially in today's shaky economy, when everyone is nervous about the future.
Before buying a home warranty, it's a good idea to check out the warranty company with consumer officials and the Better Business Bureau. According to the online review company Angie's List, home warranty companies have consistently gotten the worst grades among service companies for seven years, with homeowners complaining about the coverage limits and the quality of repairs..."


If you can't wait to find out the rest of the items, the article can be found by clicking here:


Please let us know how we can help you with the sale of your home.



-Daniel Barli, Esq.
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Wednesday, April 25, 2012


Fannie and Freddie Set Timeline Requirements for Short Sales

Beginning June 15, real estate agents working with distressed homeowners whose loans are backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac should expect to receive a decision on a short sale offer within 30-60 days.

The GSEs issued new guidelines Tuesday that fall under the Servicing Alignment Initiative rolled out last fall and aim to bring greater transparency to the short sale process and expedite decisions related to these pre-foreclosure sales.

This is GREAT NEWS for everyone and should help with the properties that are in foreclosure. Read the full article here and let us know how we can help you.


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Friday, April 20, 2012


Take advantage of record housing affordability

-April 20, 2012, Clifton Journal
You've likely heard it before: Low interest rates and attractive home prices make it a good time to purchase a home. What you may not know is that despite several years of favorable housing conditions, affordability has arrived at an entirely new level. The National Association of Realtors (NAR) recently reported that its Housing Affordability Index reached a record high of 206.1 in January. This was the first month since the index began in 1970 that it has hit or surpassed 200.

"This means that houses are more affordable now than at any point in the last 42 years," said Jim Weichert, president and founder of Weichert, Realtors. "To put it in perspective, let's look at NAR's methodology. A Housing Affordability Index of 100 represents a median-income-earning family's ability to exactly afford a median-priced, existing single-family home. With the index at 200, that means a family earning the median family income has 200 percent – or twice – the income necessary to qualify for a conventional loan covering 80 percent of a median-priced existing single-family home."

Read the rest of the article here and please let us know how we can help protect you!


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