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Jobs & Why Orange County is a great place to live

Are topics covered in my interview with Orange County Executive Ed Diana.

Mr. Diana gave a presentation to members of the Hudson Gateway Association of Realtors.   Following the meeting he took time to share  his thoughts on jobs,  the benefits of living in Orange County and on his vision for his job and county government.     I appreciate his doing the interview and hope you’ll find it interesting and the information useful.

Interested in a home with an abundance of living space, in very good condition and priced as a great value? Then check out this new listing at 11-13 Independence Avenue in Middletown on a spacious Double Lot. This home is in clean, top-notch condition with many improvements as you’ll see in this video.

11-13 INDEPENDENCE AV, Middletown, NY 10940 (MLS # 525687)

View Virtual Tour

Well cared for this home has 5 bedrooms, 3 baths and is set on a double lot with a large detached garage. This home is very clean and in move-in ready condition. Recent upgrades include a renovated and modern kitchen. With almost 2,500 square feet of living space you'll like the large room sizes. If fact this home has potential for an extended family or in-law use. The second and third floors feature additional living space along with the bedrooms. There's also a lovely patio and walkways as part of the well manicured yard. The driveway has plenty of parking spaces and the 2 car garage has a useable loft. The good condition and spacious setting of this home make one to see.

Property Type(s): Residential

Last Updated	4/28/2012	Tract	n/a
Year Built	1915	Community	Middletown City
Garage Spaces	2.0	County	Orange County
Total Parking	2	Walk Score ®	54

Schools

Additional Details

Features

Location

Listing information deemed reliable but not guaranteed. Read full disclaimer.

Listed with CB/Lazier Realty

(view all details for MLS #525687)

The Town of Warwick, Middletown, and New Windsor are leading the way in pending home sales.  In totals for March these towns had the highest numbers of home sales going into pending or contract status. We’re checking on pending sales because its a good indicator of future sales and market performance. The chart is interactive. Put your cursor on any data point for more information. Don’t forget to take our one-click survey below!

Take our quick one-click survey on why you think more buyers may be coming into the market.

Interactive chart of Orange County pending home sales by month.

Pending Home Sales show what’s in the pipeline for real estate in the months ahead. Pending sales for March in Orange County show there is some activity starting to flow. Give us your thoughts on what is causing buyers to take action now. Check out our quick survey below.

Interactive Chart– Place your cursor over any data point and it will show the total pending sales for that month.
Homes going into pending status, also known as being under contract, usually take about 8 to 10 weeks to get to the closing table here in Orange County. The spurt of pending sales for March will be showing up as title transfers in late May and June.

The chart looks like it has a crater.  Real estate agents and the sellers they are working for may have been feeling they were right down in it. I’m hoping the upward trend with buyers and pending sales continues. We’ll be keeping track of it right here.

Check here tomorrow: What Orange County communities had the most activity with pending sales in March? Tomorrow we’ll have the details on where the action is.

An Historic Opera House Stage could become a truly unique apartment; luxury living or working space.  Bring your ideas.

The former historic Bull Opera House in Downtown Middletown is ready for ideas for its future use.

It could happen as more people are deciding they want to live downtown.

Who would have thought office space originally built in the late 1800′s through the 1930′s for use by doctors, dentists, and attorneys would become luxury apartments.   If this was New York City , even Jersey City or Hoboken, sure, but Middletown, NY?

Middletown is primed for it.

Years ago Middletown, was the commercial hub for its area. Most of its downtown space has remained intact. Building owners often with some help from the city’s economic development office and administration are renovating their properties to include great apartments.

Two buildings worth bringing to your attention are:

26 North Street Middletown's Tallest Building undergoing major upgrade.

23 West Main Street the 4 story historic former Bull Opera House.

Middletown’s tallest building known as the “Bank Building” located at 26 North Street  at the intersection of North and King Streets.

Penthouse dining and great views are in store at this new rooftop restaurant proposed at 26 North Street.

This building will now have a roof top restaurant and lounge and what are billed as the most luxurious apartments in Orange County.

The other is 23 West Main Street.

Nina's the award winning restaurant at 23 West Main Street

This building has a top rated restaurant on the first floor, 4 brand new apartments on the second floor, and a great opportunity to create a multi bedroom and bath apartment with truly unique living space in what was the stage area of an opera house built 140 years ago.

Got Ideas for the Opera House Space?

Lobby of the former opera house

Check out the pictures. The landlord would like to preserve the historic theatrical aspect.   For the last several years it has been rented by a digital animation company.  It used the former opera house stage area in the creation of digital effects for films, videos and commercials.

Inspired by the Theatrical/Historic Aspect of the Space?  The landlord/owner hopes that someone seeing these pictures of the space with its theatrical past will be have ideas for making it into a truly unique living and or working space.   The landlord is open for proposals.  Bring your designer and get your creative ideas going.   There are 2 floors of space to work with.  The landlord says 4,000 to 5,000  or more square feet could be available for this project.

Interested and want to see it for yourself?   If you would like to see the space in person please contact me.   I’ll be happy to set up a showing of the property for you.   Art Livesey,Associate Real Estate Broker  Coldwell Banker Lazier Realty    845-476-7093  ArtLivesey@ArtLivesey.com

Home Sellers Get Ready

More warm spring days that are coming on fast.  Its the kind of weather that traditionally brings out the buyers here in Orange County, NY.   If you are a seller, you won’t want to miss the buyers when they want to look at homes.

Sellers Be Ready!  Make sure buyers don’t rule out your house just because it isn’t properly priced. Today buyers are drawn to properties by compelling prices.   Ok, What is a compelling price?  It is a price that makes buyers once they’ve seen your house say to themselves,  “This is a good deal, if I don’t make an offer somebody else will.”.   This is what you need buyers to be saying about your house if you want to get good offers it.   Homes priced at a “compelling price” 99 out of a hundred times sell faster and at a higher price than homes priced above their market value. 

Homes are selling  As you can see by this latest NAR ( National Association of Realtors)  latest nationwide statistic graphic above.   This is a excellent reason to make sure the home you want to sell is ready for the market and and will be priced to get you buyers and offers. If you’ve got questions,  need assistance, I’ll be glad to help.

Home built fracking system, injector and receptor units, in Middletown backyard.

4/1/2012 Middletown, NY….Using an alias of Fritz the Fracker, and not disclosing his actual address to protect his technology, a Middletown man says he has begun fracking for natural gas.

The pictures you see on the website he says show how he’s getting gas from beneath the city limits.   He explains the pictures show injector and receptor units he built for the fracking system in his back yard.

Don’t you need a lot of high tech equipment for this kind of project?   He answered that he is a long time tinkerer.   He said he used a hydro drilling method he read about in the Mother Earth News in the 1980′s, along with garden hose and parts from an old power washer and was able to drill deep enough to reach gas.  His drilling guidance system he noted was a laser light pointer and hand held GPS.

What about the fracking fluid?    Isn’t that dangerous?    He said he’s heard commercial industrial fracking installations have had problems.   He said he uses small amounts of water from an ornamental fish pond on his property.    He says the fish living in the pond release just enough ammonia and nitrates into the water.  He slowly pumps this water to the substrata where it agitates the gas molecules.  This releases the gas and it rises and is collected by his receptor units.

How much gas do you recover?   He said his is a small operation.  Home brew type he said.  Not connected to the gas grid.  So far he only uses the gas for cooking on his gas barbecue grill he says.

Experimental fracking system injector and receptor units.

Do you envision expanding your system?   Now that we know how to recover this kind of gas maybe it’s best we leave it until we really if ever need it, he said.   He added, right now there seems to be plenty of gas available.   I’m thinking of other projects, he noted.  Perhaps a wind turbine up between the two maple trees.   Or maybe I’ll use some of the under ground fracking tubing to finish up the mini supercollider I’ve been working on in the basement.   Finally he said, “Comeback next year and maybe we can do another April first story.”

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We’ve been talking about move up buyers coming into the market.  This home would be a great one for them to check out.  

It’s got all the items move up buyers would be looking for.   In fact the sellers enlarged their home and up-sized and completely refurbished the kitchen, added a beautiful sun room, and a rear deck.

The open house will be Sunday, April 1, 2012,  from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. at 42 Park Circle in Middletown.

It’s a great neighborhood too.

I hope you’ll be able to come.   Please contact me for more information.

Art Livesey   ArtLivesey@ArtLivesey.com       845-479-7093.

42 PARK CIRCLE DR, Middletown, NY 10940 (MLS # 515222)

View Virtual Tour

You're going to really like the enlarged and renovated kitchen in this tip-top condition colonial style home. The cherry wood kitchen has an island, eat in dinning area and is adjacent to a beautiful sunroom, and exterior deck. This home also has a formal dining room, large living room, a finished basement family room, 2 baths, 4 bedrooms and a 1 car garage. There is also a laundry area on the first floor. The sun room features beautiful windows with views of the rear yard. The rear deck will be great for entertaining. The yard has a park like setting with attractive landscaping and mature trees. The home is in very good condition, is move in ready, and shows pride of ownership.

Property Type(s): Residential

Last Updated	4/12/2012	Tract	n/a
Year Built	1970	Community	Wallkill Town
Garage Spaces	1.0	County	Orange County
Total Parking	1	Walk Score ®	35

Price History

Schools

Additional Details

Features

Location

Listing information deemed reliable but not guaranteed. Read full disclaimer.

Listed with CB/Lazier Realty

(view all details for MLS #515222)

 Pent Up Move Up Buyers — Your Time Has Come

42 Park Circle, Middletown NY Open Sunday 4/1/12 1pm to 3pm

This is one of the best times in our history to buy a  home.  That’s what the experts  and the majority of Americans are saying.

Today’s low interest rates and home prices are something you don’t want to be missing out on.   Often we just think of first time buyers, not buyers who want to move up to a larger and perhaps nicer home.

This weekend I have an open house at a Colonial Style Home in Middletown.  A nice well kept home many buyers would consider a move up property.    The chart above shows you what it costs today, and what it may cost in 2016.

The historic low interest rate we have now is great but it won’t last for ever.    If it goes up 2% in 4 years look at how much more you’ll  be paying.  If prices appreciate just 2% a  year, the purchase price of the property would be higher too costing you more.

Indications are the housing market is in store for a positive change.   Today we have great opportunity for buyers.   Don’t get left behind by inaction.   We can help.

If you’re a move up buyer with a house to sell,  look for an upcoming post where we’ll talk about selling in today’s market.  Sellers everywhere are in the same boat with prices they are not happy with on their homes they want to sell.  But as you’ll see in the post, selling now and buying now with prices  and interest rates still  low can be a good move for you.  We’ll show you the numbers and you can decide.

Art

Art Livesey

ArtLivesey@ArtLivesey.com

845-476-7093

Recently the Times Herald Record published a story showing that the fair-market rent for a two-bedroom apartment in Orange County is now $1,189 a month.

As a real estate salesperson I wanted to figure out how much home can you buy for that much a month?   Maybe its more home than you can get by renting?  Maybe someone reading this says let’s check out buying instead of renting.  Who knows they might even want me or another REALTOR to sell them a home.   Let’s find out.

Keep it Simple — Stick To the Monthly Cost for this post:   We know that when you rent you have to pay security, usually one to two months rent.  When you purchase a home you have expenses including a down payment and closing costs.   For this post we’ll just stick a total of $1,189 monthly cost.   This would be for your rent, or for principal and interest and property taxes if purchasing.   During a home buyers consultation with a REALTOR or mortgage advisor you can get all the details on what the closings costs would be for your purchase.

Ok!  What Price Home Can I Buy For a Monthly Cost of $1,189?  Out comes my calulator.   After doing some trial caluations it looks like $189,000 is  the maximum home price you can squeeze out of our monthly cost  Here’s how it breaks down:   If you buy a home for $189,000 and make a 3.5% down payment ($6,615)  your mortgage amount would be $182,385.   Your morgtage payment ( principal and interest) on a 30 year loan at 4% interest would be $871 a month.   This leaves you ( $1,189 – 871=$318)  $318 a month for the property taxes.  ( $318 x 12= $3,816)  Your property taxes could be up to $3,816 a year.

$189,000 Is The Max Purchase Price – Are there any homes in that price range?

Check out the chart below.  There are more than 600 homes currently listed for sale in Orange County, NY for $189,000 or less.    According to the Greater Hudson Valley Multiple Listing Service the average home in this price catageory has 1,324 finished square feet, 3 bedrooms and 1 bathroom.

Maybe there will be a home you’ll like.  I hope this post has got you thinking about buying instead of renting.  The rental market is expected to get tighter and more expensive in the years ahead.  Right now is a great time to think about locking in your housing costs with the historic low interest rates being offered.   Imagine locking in a fixed rate 4% loan for 30-years and having no annual rental increase to worry about.

Next steps:

1. Start checking out some homes for sale.   Use the home search function right here on my site or one of the other sites you visit.  Maybe you’ll find some homes you’d like to check out in person.
2. Take advantage of a free buyer consultation with a REALTOR.    This will be a big benefit for you in helping you learn about and understand the steps involved in the buying process.
3. Get pre-qualified or pre-approved for a loan.   Your REALTOR can help you with information on what loan programs and financing are being used for the kind of property you are interested in.   Your REALTOR may also be able to recommend a mortgage professional for you to work with.  Someone who is successfully getting buyers loans locally in today’s market.

I have put together what buyers tell me is an excellent consultation program.  It has helped many buyers become home owners.  I offer it free of charge to interested buyers. 

Thank you for reading this post.   This truly is one of the best times in our history to buy a home.   Don’t let the opportunity pass you buy without checking out the possibilities for yourself.

Best Regards,

Art Livesey

ArtLivesey@ArtLivesey.com

845-476-7093