Joshua Ferris' Blog: All Categories

After the real estate market hit a steady decline in mid 2006, home builders turned to incentives as a way to attract home buyers to their communities and to help differentiate themselves from the competition. When you start looking for a new home be sure to compare builder incentives as much as the communities themselves.

To help you choose, I have created a list of the top 7 new home buying incentives you should look out for:

Military or Civil Service Incentive - As a thank you to the individuals who serve in the military or are veterans of the military in addition to firefighters, police officers, EMTs and hospital staff, national home builder K. Hovnanian is offering $5,000 off the asking price of their homes, for a limited time, to people in these…

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Part of what makes 13 Case Court so special happens before you even walk in the door. When you first enter the community you can rest easy knowing that it’s gated which helps keep out unwanted or unnecessary visitors from driving through the community.

Then you have the clubhouse and other community amenities within easy walking distance of the Belmont model residing at 13 Case Court, once a builder’s model home. For example, the tennis court sits in a grassy hillside near Case Court while the clubhouse features a state of the art fitness center, heated outdoor swimming pool, playground area, well-appointed lounge and a kitchen should you need to prepare anything in the lounge area.

But the truly best part of 13 Case Court, before you even walk into…

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When Meadow Glen at Monroe first opened its doors to prospective home buyers, it was in an area of mostly woods and small commercial development but the builder of the community, K. Hovnanian, clearly had the foresight to see what the area would eventually become once the community was complete. Fast forward to 2007 and Meadow Glen homeowners are in the heart of it all with shopping, restaurants, highways, entertainment and schools all within a few minutes of the community. Read on to see the top seven reasons why you should be living in Meadow Glen at Monroe:

Monroe-Woodbury School District - With over 40 different clubs to participate in, well-known school sports teams and a low student to teacher ratio, there is much to love about the schools in…

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Buying a new home is great! You get to choose where your home will be built, add a sunroom here, third garage bay there and before you know it you are moving into your dream home. With all the options to choose from it is very easy to overlook crucial elements to your new home buying experience that could cost you greatly in both time and money.

Choosing upgrades with the lowest ROI or too many upgrades, period. – This is truly the most common mistake made by new home buyers who don’t consider the resale value of their home in the future. When buying a new home be sure to stick with the essential upgrades like two sinks in the master bathroom, high quality cabinetry and above all else, top quality padding under the carpeted areas.

Not examining your…

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What happened to the good ol' days back in 2004/2005 when real estate was more people friendly? Sure the market crash landed with ferocity similar to the late 1980s (so I've heard) and banks were stirred into a frenzy by the numerous bad loans made to subprime borrowers whose dreams were bigger than their pocket books could afford but I'm seeing the bloodshed coming from familiar, though unexpected, sources.

Most recently I had a relocating client whose been through the ringer when it comes to buying a home. After being unsatisfied with the REALTOR® their relocation company hooked them up with, they found me through an internet referral (Thanks Mona!) and I found a dream home for them on the first day. Shortly after moving forward on this house we…

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Townhouse communities have evolved from what some considered to be "first time" home ownership to resort-like havens with luxurious clubhouses and lifestyle amenities that include full maintenance of the exterior with snow removal from the driveways and walkways, manicured landscaping around the homes in addition to superb convenience to commuter transit, shopping and schools. Two communities that match the modern needs of townhouse buyers are now for sale and set to take Orange County NY Real Estate by storm. 

Brighton Green - Brighton Green is a new townhouse community in the town of Newburgh, NY. I have visited this community well over a dozen times in the past year or so and for good reason. There are four models to choose from with the Aylesford,…

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I was reading a blog entry about Woodbury Junction on Morgan Carey's blog and in the comments I found a piece written by Sid Cohen who apparently attended the private viewing event of Woodbury Junction in early September and had a very disappointing experience. See Sid Cohen's original comment below:

"I was at the Woodbury Junction opening in september and was prepared to make a purchase. It was the worst presentation I have ever witnessed. No actual models, no info on taxes or association fees untill I asked and they weren't sure about those. All and alll not a very professional operation."

Although this is certainly a scathing review of Woodbury Junction by a potential home buyer but I think there is a lot that we can all learn from this about how… Read Full Post

STOP!

*kicking and screaming*

 

* drops to the floor and rolls around*

 

IT'S NOT FAIR!

What does that sound like? A child's temper tantrum?

 

Close. Towards the middle of September I received a snarky phone call from the sales manager of Woodbury Junction who was very upset that I had written a community profile about her community and posted it on my website alongside other community profiles of both new and resale neighborhoods. She then insisted that I remove the community profile and noted that she wouldn't honor any co-broke agreements, past, present or future, with me and she was so "outraged" that she called two other communities to let them know "what I was doing" (thank you?).

Of the two communities that she threatened to call I…

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