Slocum Realty is proud to announce that Bob DeGregorio, Mark McHugh & Nick Slocum all received the Circle of Sales Excellence – Bronze Award.

This means that they all individually sold between $3,000,000 & $4,900,000 of Real Estate in 2011!

Great year you three!

www.NickSlocum.com

www.BobDHomes.com

www.MarksRIhomes.com

 SOURCE:

Feel free to pick up a copy to take a look first hand at the complete list or read below to see the excerpt from the magazine breaking down the selection criteria and process.

“Five Star Professional partnered with Rhode Island Monthly to determine the real estate agents in the Rhode Island area who provide exceptional service and overall satisfaction.  The Five Star Professional research team contacted clients, peers and industry experts and asked if they had experience working with a real estate agent.  Those who participated in the research provided the name of a real estate agent and rated that individual according to criteria such as integrity, communication and customer service. The survey data was collected and scored, resulting in the list of 2011 Rhode Island Five Star Real Estate Agents.  The research methodology allows no more than 7 percent of real estate agents to be named a Five Star Real Estate Agent. This year’s winners are listed and profiled in the following pages.

Research Disclosures:

• Five Star Professional surveyed Rhode Island area residents who purchased a home priced at more than $100,000 within a 36 month period (November 2007 to November 2010) and 5,000 subscribers of Rhode Island Monthly.  An additional 250 surveys were sent to mortgage and title companies.
• The final list of 2011 Rhode Island Five Star Real Estate Agents is a select group, representing less than 7% of real estate agents in the area.
• The 2011 Five Star Real Estate Agents do not pay a fee to be included in the research or the final list.
• Each real estate agent is screened against state governing bodies to verify that licenses are current and no disciplinary actions are pending.  The list is reviewed by a panel of industry experts before it is finalized.  Safeguards are built into the review process to reduce the ability to influence the final list on the basis of company affiliation.
• The inclusion of a real estate agent on the Five Star Real Estate Agent list should not be construed as an endorsement by Five Star Professional or Rhode Island Monthly.
• The research process incorporates a statistically valid sample in order to identify the real estate agents in the local market who score highest in overall satisfaction.  Real Estate agents are not included on the list unless their score is statistically valid.
• For more information on the Five Star award and the research/selection methodology, go to: fivestarprofessional.com”

-Excerpt from September 2011 Issue of Rhode Island Monthly

Thank you for reading and for your continued support.  As always, please don’t hesitate us or Nick Slocum at anytime.

Regards,

Slocum Realty

“The good news is that our prices are up, but sales activity is not as vigorous as we would like it to be. ”The weather was a factor in the winter months and we didn’t have the benefit of the homebuyer tax credits like we did last year, but the biggest factor may be financing,” commented Stephen Antoni, President of the Rhode Island Association of Realtors. “Though mortgage rates remain under five percent and homes are more affordable than they’ve been since 1970, extremely stringent lending standards seem to be holding sales back.”

The condominium market fared slightly better than the single family market with median price rising four percent to $177,000 and sales declining only eight percent.  The number of distressed sales fell 11 percent year to year.

Despite a ten percent gain in median price among multi-family homes, sales activity decreased 38 percent.  The number of properties sold through short sale of foreclosure dropped 46 percent.

To continue reading this article, click here.

Source:

RHODE ISLAND ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®, INC.

Press Release 05/03/2011

There are many logical reasons to get pre-approved before you begin the search process. The first is to find out how much you can afford and even more importantly, where your payments would be COMFORTABLE.  Just because you can technically afford a $400,000 mortgage, does not mean that’s the range you necessarily should be looking in.  Take into account all of your interests and expenses in life and determine where you think you could live comfortably.

The next reason is so that once you & your Realtor® find the home of your dreams, you’re ready to act as soon as possible.  Most agents and sellers require that a pre-approval or at least pre-qualification form is attached with any offer to prove that you can afford the home that you are interested in making an offer or bid on.  By having this prepared ahead of time, you won’t risk the possibility of another interested buyer coming along and scooping out the home from under your feet while you are working on getting your pre-approval taken care of.

Typically mortgage brokers/lenders will need these documents in order to pre-approve you for a mortgage:

• Recent Pay Stubs
• W2′s (typically for the last two years)
• Tax returns for the last two years if you are Self-Employed
• A few months of your most recent bank statements
• If you currently own a home, your loan documents
• Other documents may be required based on your specific details

Thank you for reading and if you’re ever looking for a referral of some mortgage brokers/lenders that we have had success with in the past, don’t hesitate to give us a call or email us at info@slocumrealty.com.

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The Obama administration announced on Friday plans to reform the housing finance market, including winding down government-controlled mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and turning most of the market over to the private sector, as well as requiring larger down payments. The White House proposed three approaches to replacing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac rather than offering up one final plan.

The administration’s proposal is expected to reshape the way Americans buy and own homes.
Among the plans outlined in the administration’s “white paper”:

▪ Shrinking the size of the portfolio of mortgages held by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac by at least 10 percent a year.
▪ Creating an insurance fund for mortgages, supported by premiums paid by lenders.
▪ Winding down government subsidies of mortgages by raising the fees charged to cover the risk of default.
▪ Raising fees for borrowers and requiring larger down payments for home loans.

The administration also recommended measures to make government-backed mortgages more expensive in order to allow the private-sector to better compete in the mortgage market. For example, it called for reducing by this fall the size of mortgages Fannie and Freddie may purchase from $729,750 to $625,500.

Raising Rates?

Some critics of the proposal are concerned that the administration’s overall plan would raise mortgage rates.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said that mortgage costs likely will rise in the coming years, as government support is withdrawn and the private sector takes on a bigger role. Credit Suisse has estimated that rates on a 30-year fixed mortgage may rise as much as 2 percentage points if the government withdraws its backing of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Higher borrowing costs could be a thorn for a recovering housing market, since interest rates greatly affect how much buyers can afford, experts say.

“Reducing the government’s involvement in the mortgage finance market is necessary for a healthy market, but should not be done at the expense of the economy or home buyers,” NAR President Ron Phipps said in a public statement in response to the Obama administration’s plan. “Any proposal for increasing fees and borrowing costs beyond actuarially sound levels will only make it harder for working, middle-class individuals to achieve home ownership, and only the wealthy will be able to achieve the American dream.”

NAR’s economists estimate that a retreat of capital from the housing market will negatively impact the economy too. For every 1,000 home sales, 500 jobs are created for the country, NAR notes.

Geithner estimates that reducing the government’s role in the mortgage market may take five to seven years for the transition.

“Most people in Congress understand that this is a very political, contentious issue,” says David Berson, a former Fannie Mae chief economist. “It’s going to be a very volatile ride as we move toward what ultimately will be the future of Fannie and Freddie. It’s hard to know what that’s going to be.”

Source: “NAR: Secondary Mortgage Market Needs Improvement,” National Association of REALTORS® (Feb. 11, 2011); “Winners and Losers in the Obama Housing Plan,” Reuters News (Feb. 11, 2011); “White House Wants Fannie, Freddie to Go,” MSNBC (Feb. 11, 2011); and “Obama Report on Fannie, Freddie Plan May Boost Mortgage Rates,” Washington Post (Feb. 11, 2011)

Published: February 22, 2010

From energy tax credits to vacation home deductions, check out these tax tips for homeowners looking ahead to 2010 returns.

Claim remaining energy tax credits

It’s time to get cracking if you didn’t exhaust your full allotment of residential energy tax credits during 2009. Although tax credits for big projects like residential wind turbines and solar energy systems have no upper limit and are good through 2016, energy tax credits capped at $1,500 expire at the end of 2010. Eligible capped projects include new windows and doors, insulation, roofing, water heaters, HVAC, and biomass stoves.

Here’s how it works with capped federal credits: You can earn energy tax credits worth 30% of the cost of qualifying improvements, but the total tax credits can’t exceed $1,500 combined for 2009 and 2010. So if you only took, say, $700 worth of capped energy credits on your 2009 tax return, you’re still due for another $800 in credits in 2010. Some projects include the cost of installation–a furnace, for example–while others, such as insulation, are limited to the cost of materials.

Max out tax benefits of a vacation home

Use a vacation home wisely, and it’ll provide a break from taxes as well as the hustle and bustle of everyday life. The rules on tax deductions for vacation homes can get a bit tricky, but understanding and adhering to them can yield many happy tax returns.

If your vacation home is truly a vacation home meant for your personal enjoyment, as opposed to a rental-only income property, you can usually deduct mortgage interest and real estate taxes, just as you would on your main home. You can even rent out the home for up to 14 days during the year without getting taxed on the rental income. Not bad.

Now, let’s say you want to rent out your vacation home for more than 14 days in 2010, but also use it yourself from time to time. To maximize the tax benefits, you need to keep tabs on how many days you use your vacation home. By restricting your annual personal use to fewer than 15 days (or 10% of total rental days, whichever is greater), you can treat your vacation home as a rental-only income property for tax purposes.

Why is that a big deal? In addition to mortgage interest and real estate taxes, rental-only income properties are eligible for a slew of other tax deductions for everything from utilities and condo fees to housecleaning and repairs. Deductions are limited once personal use exceeds 14 days (or 10% of total rental days), so get out your calendar now to strategically plot your vacations.

Take advantage of tax breaks for the military

In salute to members of the armed forces serving overseas who want to purchase a home, the IRS is extending a lucrative tax perk for military personnel. If you spent at least 90 days abroad performing qualified duty between Jan. 1, 2009, and April 30, 2010, you have an extra year to earn a homebuyer tax credit. In addition to uniformed service members, workers in the Foreign Service and in the intelligence community are eligible.

Thanks to this extension of the homebuyer tax credit, qualifying military personnel have until April 30, 2011, to sign a contract on a new home. The deal must close before July 1, 2011. Just like non-military buyers, first-time homebuyers can earn a tax credit worth up to $8,000, and longtime homeowners can earn a credit of up to $6,500. The same income restrictions and $800,000 cap on home prices apply.

Military personnel can also get a break if official duty calls and they’re forced to move for an extended period. Normally, the homebuyer tax credit needs to be repaid if you sell your home within three years, but this requirement is waived for uniformed service members, Foreign Service workers, and intelligence community personnel. The new extended duty posting doesn’t need to be overseas, but it must be at least 50 miles from your principal residence.

Challenge your real estate assessment

You can’t do much about the rate at which your home is taxed, but you can try to do something about how your home is valued for taxation purposes in 2010. The process varies depending where you live, but in general local governments conduct a periodic real estate assessment to determine how much your home is worth. That real estate assessment figure is used to calculate your property tax bill.

You can usually appeal your real estate assessment if you think it’s too high. Contact your local assessor’s office to find out the procedure, and be prepared to do some research. There’s often no charge to request a review of your assessment.

Look for errors. You probably received an assessment letter in the mail, and many local governments provide the information online as well. Make sure the number of bedrooms and bathrooms is accurate, and the lot size is correct. Also check the assessed value of comparable homes in your area. If they’re being assessed for less than your home, you might have a case for relief.

Even if your assessment is accurate and comparable homes are being taxed at the same rate, there might be another route to tax savings. Ask your assessor’s office about available property tax exemptions. Local governments often give breaks to seniors, veterans, and the disabled, among others.

This article provides general information about tax laws and consequences, but is not intended to be relied upon by readers as tax or legal advice applicable to particular transactions or circumstances. Consult a tax professional for such advice; tax laws may vary by jurisdiction.

Mike DeSenne is Online Managing Editor for taxes, finances, and insurance at HouseLogic.com, and the former Executive Editor of SmartMoney.com. He likes to do his taxes by hand, much to the dismay of his accountant.