Happy Halloween!

It is Halloween 2011 and some people dress up as ghosts and goblins while some dress as homeless people?
Joe Nocera of the New York times published an article about a foreclosure law firm, Steven J. Baum, which deals with mortgage issues for large banks such as Bank of America, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, and Wells Fargo holding a "Homeless Halloween Custom Party." Photos of this party were leaked to Nocera  through a previous employee and needless to say, many people are outraged. The pictures showed current employees dressed as homeless people and mocking people who have lost their homes. In addition, it is said the firm is already under investigation by New York's attorney General for a possibility of filing misleading pleadings, affidavits and assignments.

Real Estate Unfair Practices

 The Real Estate Agents Authority (REAA) has been in existence since November 2009 to ensure that fraudulent and unfair behavior in the Real Estate World are kept at bay. It is publicly open for people to complain against certain Realtors to the REAA and some examples found for unfair and/or illegal practices include:

• Telling vendors to pay for advertising they don't need for benefit of the agency, including a cut to the agent, and not the property. 
• Setting too high of prices to obtain business and then pushing the vendor down. This can also be practiced by setting too low of prices to get buyers and then trying to push vendors down.
• Not disclosing the realtor is working with this property for a close friend or relative

These are just a few things for new home buyers and sellers to be wary of when working with a realtor.

NC and IN rank in Top Three States for Lowest Closing Costs!

Bankrate.com conducts an annual closing costs survey by collecting online Good Faith Estimates for a $200,000 mortgage in major cities within each state to compare the average closing costs across the nation. What was found in the 2011 Nation Closing Cost Survey? The top three states to get the lowest average total closing costs are as followed:

1. Arkansas: $3,378 average
2. North Carolina: $3,410 average
3. Indiana: $3,430 average

Two of the top three states are serviced by Aapex Financial Solutions, North Carolina and Indiana. Visit our website at http://www.aapexfinancial.net/ to find the nearest branch for you!

Keep in mind these figures are averages over 10 lenders in each state and acquired by putting 20% down on a $200,000 mortgage to buy a single family home. Closing costs can vary depending on each situation.

Click HERE to see where your state ranks

Baby Boomers Could Help Get Properties Off the Market

LifeGoesStrong.com is an interactive website that allows both consumers and vendors to get a look inside the retail world through continuous polls. One that may strike the attention of those in the real estate world is the new poll that was conducted through Oct 5-12 and based on 1,410 adults, including 1,095 baby boomers. The national survey was conducted online and was supervised through Associated Press polling unit.
What was found regarding what was important to baby boomers regarding their real estate was that the most desired thing they wanted overall was to be close to their children. In addition, almost a quarter of baby boomers said they were interested in moving out of their current community during their retirement, which may help get some of the current properties off the market. Three out of ten baby boomers polled stated there is a chance they are looking to purchase a home for their retirement.

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Home Prices up Barely, But Still Up

The most recent Standard and Poore's Case-Shiller report, a home price data base derived from the non-seasonally and seasonally adjusted home sales, shows that the overall US home prices have gone up 0.2 percent in August of this year within the non-seasonally adjusted levels. What is even more important about this information is that it makes August the fifth consecutive month of real estate pricing gains which implicates a slight up in the industry.

The complete data can be seen HERE