Today (8-8-2008) , there are about 628 homes for sale in Cherry Hill NJ. Of these 461 are single family homes and of those the prices range from about $164,000 to $2,950,000.   The median price is about $319,000. There are dozens of neighborhoods. ==================================== zipcode: 08002 approximate median asking price for a single family is: $279,900 (range: $164,900 - $464,900)  ==================================== zipcode: 08003 approximate median asking price for a single family is: $375,000 (range: $170,000 - 2,950,000) Ranch: Approximate median asking price is: $364,900 (range $219,900 - $899,975) (20 homes) Split Level: Approximate median asking price is:  $273,000  (range $170,000 - $429,000) (24 homes) Colonial: Approximate median asking price is: $364,900 (range $... 08/08/2008

I will be the first one to say that I hate negative news and the media that just misleads you with negative news from one point of view. But what about the reality of it? Quick preview of the last years misfortunes..... -- Many unstable markets & sellers panicking -- Many mortgage programs dropped, especially most stated loan programs -- Home values declined at one point, but more stable now, but still lower     Now, with more news about FHA loans, a possible 1/2% raise in monies needed for FHA loans from the borrower, and the possibility of the DPA programs (down payment assistance programs) being instinct, it could get tougher. Renee  Burrows wrote this post,  http://activerain.com/blogsview/609532/Natural-Market-Forces-are, in which she makes a great point. Real Estate is local. But,... 08/07/2008

  Here’s the Cherry Hill Real Estate market update for June 2008.  Pended units for June were down 17 and Sold units were down 26 compared to June 2007; listed units were down 47 versus 2007.  This has led to a current inventory of 635 units.  Cherry Hill has been averaging 57 units sold per month which means there is currently 11 months worth of inventory in Cherry Hill.  This matches the overall Camden County market, which has 11 months worth of inventory. Year to date listed units are down 192 (a 19.8% decrease), pended units are down 165 (a 44.5% decrease) and sold units are down 174 (a 52.9% decrease).  See how this compares to the Camden County Market. Over the last 3 years the average number of units pended and sold in June was approximately 95 & 124 respectively.  This June, the... 07/31/2008

What is the Mortgage Pro Week in Review, for those that are new to Active Rain or those that haven't come across these in past weeks?  It's 1 member from AR that volunteers their time to read any mortgage related blogs in a course of a specified week. And these posts don't have to always be written by loan officers. If there is a good one written by a realtor, a title person, an appraiser, etc, etc.....they are always welcomed. Basically, we are trying to pick the best of the best in one week to help all of us better understand new programs, the mortgage & real estate crisis, and overall, just to better educate everyone on what is going on in today's mortgage market. And by reading these, I am sure many of us could learn at least one thing new each time. I know I do.   The last several... 07/15/2008

FHA Loans & FHA Mortgages :   I earlier wrote a post about your basic cash-out types of mortgages, both for FHA loans and for Conventional loans : Cash Out Mortgages - FHA loans vs Conventional loans - Part 1 This post showed that your best out cash-out scenarios would typically be best with FHA loans and that you could even go an additional 5% higher for cash-out. Now I want to move onto a more difficult topic and that would be Jumbo cash-out mortgages.  What is a jumbo mortgage?  Any loan amount from $417,001 to $729,750.  Now, here is the issue. In regards to FHA loans, depending on the county that you live in, you could go up to a loan amount of $729,750. The stimulus package allows all conventional loans to go up to $729,750, regardless of county. But, it all comes down to your len... 07/12/2008

  The thought occurred to me that with gas hovering around $4 per gallon in the Cherry Hill area, perspective buyers might think twice about driving around to Open Houses. If you’re a serious buyer in the $200,000- $250,000 price range and you’re considering Cherry Hill Condos and TownHomes; I would like to make your decision to come out on Sunday, July 13th, a bit easier. Tomorrow, Sunday 7/13/2008, I will be holding an Open House at 806 Chanticleer in Cherry Hill from 2-4pm and invite you to stop by. To make your decision easier, the “gas” is on me. I will be handing out $5 gift cards to a local Convenience Store that also has Gas stations attached at some of their locations. This should cover the gas it takes you to make the trip. There will be a limited number of cards available and... 07/05/2008

  How many times do we use the phrase, "I am so busy, there is not enough time in a day". As a professional mortgage banker, helping people with FHA loans and Conventional loans, I have been very busy the last few months. And there are times, no matter what month or time of day, I am beyond busy. At times, I will admit, I will ask someone if I can call them back in a few minutes, maybe an hour later, or that night. Sometimes, I will just ask them if I can speak to them tomorrow. I have always believed in setting my clients expectations to a certain level, no matter how good or bad the news is.   But are you the other type of person that is not organized, who always says you are extremely busy, but you aren't doing much? Or you just get to people after you are done lounging at work? A h... 06/24/2008

  Here’s the Cherry Hill Real Estate market update for May 2008.  Pended units for May were down 48 and Sold units were down 48 compared to May 2007; listed units were down 72 versus 2007.  This has led to a current inventory of 633 units.  Cherry Hill has been averaging 64 units sold per month which means there is currently 9 months worth of inventory in Cherry Hill.  This outpaces the overall Camden County market, which has 11 months worth of inventory. Year to date listed units are down 148 (an 18% decrease), pended units are down 153 (a 49.5% decrease) and sold units are down 148 (a 60.7% decrease).  See how this compares to the Camden County Market. Over the last 3 years the average number of units pended and sold in May was approximately 112 & 101 respectively.  This May, there we... 06/21/2008

  Dear Mr & Mrs Borrower, "What kind of payment do you want and or feel comfortable with?"  This is a question that I always ask right in the beginning. But in many cases, what I get from the consumer when asking this question is, "what is my interest rate". And then I try to go into detail, asking my question over again and another question asking what your goals are in the near future when buying your new home. There are several reasons why rate should not be an issue. Let me tell you a quick story about good old Mr. Rate. I had a borrower that called me up because a realtor recommended them to me. He had previously shopped with two other lenders, but that was a full week before I had spoken to him. I quoted him a rate on a Monday. Rates started to go up by the middle of the week and... 06/20/2008

Dad, Where to begin.....  I remember moving around a lot, not happy most times, because we were always leaving friends behind and had to make new ones on the fly. I didn't like it at the time. But looking back throughout the years, it has made me a better and stronger person. I was shy back then, but it challenged me to make new friends. I have learned to take the good with the bad. Looking back, just as much as we had to sacrifice some, you had to sacrifice also.     As much as your worked long hours to support us, you always found a way to support me in my activities. If it wasn't Indian Guides, to Boy Scouts, or helping coach some of my basketball, baseball, or soccer teams, you found a way. I can still remember early on, when I was around 7 or so, how you would come home after 10 h... 06/14/2008

FHA loans are now acting slightly based on previous foreclosures and first payment defaults. Yes, there is some risk in any loan. HUD/FHA has been around since 1934 and even though they truly pride themselves on helping first time homebuyers and those with challenged credit, they are now raising certain requirements. Nobody ever is in business to take a loss on anything. I delayed in writing about this, as so many others have been publishing this new change and the chart, because it was never official. So many loan officers fail to realize that anything that is agreed upon with HUD, is not official until they send out their mortgagee letter. Hud released this mortgagee letter 08-16 on June 11th, 2008. So it's now official. Any and all FHA loans that are registered with a FHA case number... 06/14/2008

  Blogging..... what a great concept.  Thanks to Brian Brady, I might have never found Active Rain. I have been blogging since October 4th, 2006. I still don't know it all, but I am learning as I go. You just need to be patient. But you do need a blog plan. You do need to know and understand the basics. And if you don't know, don't hesitate to ask anyone some questions. As I tell my clients, not asking a question is a dumb question. So, what are the basics. I wrote a blog at the beginning of the year, How to Market yourself in 2008 - Blogging - Techniques & Ideas - Part 2 of 3, which gives you some ideas on how to blog and searchable words. The gurus of Active Rain have made it semi easy for you to realize what titles might get searched more often than none. Your title of your blog is v... 06/08/2008

No matter what the general consenus has been that we are in a bad housing market, that buyers can be picky choosers, and houses have dropped in value..... if you need to sell, you sometimes need to be creative. You need to keep an open mind. I am not here to knock realtors, but you need a real estate agent that is open-minded to all financing options and who is very knowledgable and creative. I wrote a blog the other day, Nehemiah/AmeriDream Down Payment Assistance Programs (DPA's) - Are they that bad?, where some realtors came out openly and stated that some offers have been turned down because of the financing that was being provided by that buyer's lender. Don't you want to sell your home?  If it's legal and proven, why fight it?  Just because a realtor says that they are profession... 06/07/2008

FHA loans have been the choice of mortgages as of lately in many parts of the country for numerous reasons. What I do hate hearing is that they have taken the spot of the subprime loans. This is not true by any part of the imagination. This statement is from those that are inexperienced in both the mortgage industry and the real estate industry. The subprime loan for many years could go down to a 500 credit score, as long as you had more money down. But your rate was usually higher. The better your score, the less you needed to put down, the lower your rate. Sounds good, right?  Wrong, because the subprime rate was always higher than the FHA rates. To compound this, so many thought just because you had a conventional loan, that you had the better loan. This was not always true when put... 06/01/2008

  I am not sure what it's like in your part of the country, but what a gorgeous day. And especially for Memorial Day. Thanking all the men and woman that served our country and for those men and women who are currently serving our country. Also, for those of you here on Active Rain that had or have sons, daughters, or family members that served and who are currently serving our country. My thoughts and prayers go out to each and everyone of them and your familys. At times, it just seems like yesterday and some days, it seems like forever. Forever, gee, 20 years ago this past February 18th, was my last day in the US Army.  Here I am, with my mom in St. Louis, with a 3 day pass in between basic training and AIT.   Mortgages may be boring, but a good loan officer will always finish a good ... 05/26/2008

Renting your home with an interest only loan. Doesn't sound as enticing, does it. Are 'interest only' loans just like renting your apartment? An interest only loan is a type of mortgage program that allows your to pay a lower mortgage payment to where the interest is paid up front and the principal is paid back at the end of the loan or term. Many interest only loans tell you that you have to start paying back the principal by the 10th year.   Interest only loans scare me. If you really think about it and break it down, when buying a home, it's an investment. Sure, your investment will grow with equity down the road. And let's not use today's market to make interest only loans look even worse. Let's pretend business is as usual from previous years. The majority of the people wanted int... 05/24/2008

Mortgages and points, sounds like evil words, right?. It could save you thousands. I have been doing this for almost 16 years now. When I first got into this industry, I heard client's lawyers and accountants tell their clients not to do mortgages with points associated to them. Or it was the typical family member or your next-door neighbor that got this great deal with zero points and that this was the way to go. Even the talk radio shows that might have been talking about one specific thing in regards to points and zero points, but that you came into the middle of the program. So who should you believe? Don't believe this....  "points are suppose to mean that we as loan officers make more money." Now, there are many that abuse points to make more money, but this should not be the nor... 05/21/2008

  Here’s the Cherry Hill Real Estate market update for April 2008.  Pended units for the April were down 18 and Sold units were down 22 compared 2007; listed units were down 13 versus 2007.  This has led to a current inventory of 624 units.  Cherry Hill has been averaging 63 units sold per month which means there is currently 9 months worth of inventory in Cherry Hill.  This outpaces the overall Camden County market, which has 11 months worth of inventory. Year to date listed units are down 78 (a 12% decrease), pended units are down 106 (a 43.6% decrease) and sold units are down 101 (a 55.5% decrease).  See how this compares to the Camden County Market. Over the last 3 years the average number of units pended and sold in April was approximately 98 & 81 respectively.  This April, there w... 05/20/2008

How many of you at one time or another bought a house or refinanced your mortgage and ran into one problem or another. May it have been the realtor who was not able to give you the correct answer or the loan officer who strung you along and then changed things last minute. I have never said that I am perfect or that I know it all, but it does come down to honesty, integrity, knowledge, and very good service.  What about you first time homebuyers that have never experienced buying a home or refinancing for the first time. I truly believe that there are some key phrases that can sometimes be cause for concern, known as Red Flags. And just because you have done this before, does not mean that it will not happen to you. If you hear some of what is mentioned below more than once, especially... 05/17/2008

  Realtors, do you not only hurt your seller from selling their home, but possibly hurt the buyer from buying their dream home? Why do you have anything against a FHA loan? Do you over think? Do you just go off of what others say in the real estate industry? Because of the media?  Do you play the role of God? Hey, giving advice is your job. But giving bad advice?  Before you think or pass judgment, shouldn't you research? FHA loans are not bad. And if this was the case, why would you accept and offer that was 100% conventional financing?  Do you know that these types of loans have to be re-run though DU to make sure that it can still be done?  This is the same on many loan programs. But not on a FHA mortgage, because it can be manually underwritten. Especially with the ever changing gui... 05/10/2008