REAL ESTATE IN KEARNY/NEWARK....FROM A REALTORS VIEW

Interactive Web site takes the guesswork out of buying and relocating with unique dynamic class-based gradient color heat maps.

San Jose, CA (PRWEB) November 19, 2007 -- Imagine being able to accurately pinpoint a property’s future value, so that everyone from investors to brokers to agents to developers can make informed and profitable purchase and location decisions. REmapper™, the newest and most innovative real estate Web site to hit the Internet in years, delivers just that and more.

REmapper™ announced the long awaited beta launch of the new web-based mapping and graphing tools today. REmapper™ offers a system of proprietary algorithms that take much of the guesswork out of real estate investing and a unique location analysis tool. The site applies proven statistical analysis to the latest economic and demographic data. Unique data such as block level business growth and vacancy are updated monthly and quarterly, allowing everyone to consider forecasted values when buying or selling property. By filtering through up to 640 variables that affect property values at the block level, REmapper™ will help investors make smart, informed decisions, and give real estate professionals and agents a tool to sell with quality information, like no other.

As they say, its location, location, location, NOT market, market, market OR county, county, county. So if location is important, REmapper is a core tool for anyone to everyone in the real estate industry.

Most Real Estate sites simply have what’s on the market and price trends. However, what is most important to the investor or home owner or real estate professional, is what affects price movement at the local level. Typically price alone has anywhere from 45% to 75% of what affects price movement, say the mathematicians at REmapper™. REmapper let’s Real Estate professionals view the remaining variables in both real-time rendered gradient maps and least-squared monthly regression lines (to reduce outliers) to the block level. With such unique monthly and quarterly variables as: new jobs, new businesses, growth, income change, and the latest vacancy figures which statistically makes up for what is missing in the elements than just looking at prices.

The REmapper™ method has been in development from more than two decades, starting from one MBA’s passion to know which investment was best. With quick visual answers backed up by solid data and statistics. That is the essence of REmapper™.

REmapper™ uses a combination of GIS (Global Information System) technology and reliable demographic and economic data. Embedded mapping algorithms and proprietary financial modeling algorithms are then applied, delivering dynamic gradient heat maps that show specific locations with high potential for price appreciation. Gradient maps are uniquely dynamic, rendered in real-time, and zoom-able to the block level, so that investors or developers can pick the right block to investigate.

Dynamic maps, as opposed to static or simple mashups. Each time the user zooms, the maps are re-rendered on the fly and the scale in the legend changes, based upon the XY axis of the map. The maps dynamically change every time the user zooms in-or-out of an area. Real estate is all about location, location, location, and locating the right street within the right block or block is critical. All real estate is relative, and each time the maps are rendered relative to the area, or zoom level. Find the best block within a zip code or the best street within a county to build or invest is what REmapper delivers. Simply put, revolutionary…

During the initial release, visitors can log into the Web site and subscribe for a trial period of 7 days and view income changes. REmapper™ users may select a geographic area as small as a city block or as large as the nation, and then use simple forecasting tools to chart the expected future value of properties within that area. With simple, easy-to-use tools, REmapper™ promises to democratize real estate information.

REmapper™ is a subscription-based service, much like the Multiple Listing Service and other tools used to assess the real estate market. A variety of subscription plans are available, giving users a number of affordable options. Subscribers can also view many variables at the same time with a consolidated report that shows market trends in a graphical format.

Real estate professionals who become subscribers will have a unique competitive advantage with their ability to geographically and statistically pinpoint the exact property that will create a high appreciation investment opportunity. Agents and brokers may also purchase a subscription for dynamic, customized newsletters that they can send to clients and prospects within a targeted geographic market.

About REmapper™
REmapper™ Corp was founded in 2004. Located in the heart of Silicon Valley, REmapper™ provides interactive dynamic maps and graphs that deliver economic data and forecast values for the real estate industry. For more information, visit www.REMapper.com.

Barb and Herb Kenny of Chester thought that both the time and the market were right to invest in real estate for their young adult daughters.

Malorie Kenny, a 24-year-old teacher in New York City, had been living in Jersey City for two years. Her younger sister, Brittany, 22, got a teaching job in the city as well.

"I have two daughters who said they would love to live together," Barb Kenny said. "They were ripe and ready and the location in Jersey City was a good one. And we did it for an investment for ourselves. Living in the city is my dream, and Jersey City is on the rise."

In May, the Kenny parents closed on a two-bedroom, two-bath condo in Mandalay on the Hudson, a condo conversion project with spectacular views right on the Jersey City waterfront. The real estate is in the parents' name, and the daughters pay rent that almost covers the mortgage.

"They're in a nicer area than they would be on their own," said Kenny. "To a certain extent, you could say we're spoiling them, but not really. We wanted to make an investment anyway. If the time wasn't right, we wouldn't have done it."

Some parents buy the home themselves, and use their children's rent payments to help with the mortgage. Others provide the down payment, either through a gift or a loan or by becoming part owner of the home. Still others co-sign the mortgage, especially if the adult child's credit is not strong. And some parents contribute large amounts of cash so that their adult child can afford a better home in a better neighborhood.

Whatever the approach, parents who head down one of these paths needs lots of financial savvy and a good deal of common sense to avoid potentially disastrous pitfalls.

Mary Boorman is senior vice-president of marketing and strategic planning for Pinnacle Cos., which handled the condo conversion at Mandalay on the Hudson as well as the Siena in Montclair. She said that particularly over the last year she's seen many customers whose parents assisted with the down payment at the complexes, where prices start in the low $400,000s.

"Nine times out of 10, these young people have good earning potential and the money to sustain the mortgage, but they don't have the down payment to get in the door," she said.

Helping an adult child to buy a home can be part of estate planning. Right now, estates of more than $2.5 million are subject to estate taxes. That will drop to $1 million in 2011, unless Congress takes action. Financial planners often recommend that parents with larger estates begin transferring their inheritance to their children year by year, giving their children the maximum $12,000-per-spouse gift that the government allows, tax-free.

Peter Traphagen of Traphagen & Traphagen Certified Public Accountants in Oradell, presents this scenario.

"Let's say that a $96,000 down payment is required on a $400,000 home, and the parents wanted to lend the child the $96,000," he said. "The husband and wife can each give $12,000 a year. What would happen is that the parents would gift the child $12,000 and $12,000 for 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011. They would use their annual gift-tax exclusion to effectuate repayment of the loan."

Traphagen said that banks might not look kindly on another loan on the property when doing a mortgage analysis, and so the loan might have to be portrayed as a gift.

Phyllis Gallucci, president of Platinum Capital Group in Lincoln Park, said that if a member of the immediate family -- cousin, brother, sister, mom or dad -- is giving the buyer the down payment as a gift, the mortgage company will need to see a gift letter from the family member and proof of the family member's ability to give the gift.

Gallucci said she's seen parents take money from their 401(k) retirement accounts to help a child finance a home purchase.

She's also seen parents refinance their own homes to pull out equity to give a child buying a home.

That can spell trouble.

"Some kids are going into foreclosure, and parents are losing their money," she said. "It's really a vicious circle."

There are other consequences to consider.

Attorney Henry Klein of Klein and Radol in Englewood explained that parents often give money to their married son or daughter, but don't treat it as a loan.

"Children buy the property and, years later, regrettably there's a divorce," he said.

"Then the issue comes up about satisfaction of what is now seen as a loan. Parents need to protect themselves. If they don't protect themselves, it's deemed a gift."

Meanwhile, experts say parents should think long and hard before agreeing to co-sign a mortgage for a child.

"If the child defaults on the loan, then the co-signers are liable," said Klein.

"If parents are considering co-signing, they should consider having themselves on the title as well. If they are taking a risk on the mortgage, they need the protection of having themselves on the deed as well."

Financial planner Traphagen said he never recommends that parents co-sign a mortgage.

Elizabeth Givener got three generations involved in the purchase of a one-bedroom condo in Hoboken.

"My son Josh was going to Rutgers Law School, and he and his fiancee were living in a hole: a fourth-floor walk-up in what I thought wasn't such a great neighborhood," Givener said. "I have a mother who is elderly, and who eventually is going to be leaving me an inheritance. I approached her and asked whether she would be willing to pay for Josh's apartment, essentially giving me part of my inheritance early."

Josh, his mother and his fiancee went house-hunting for six months.

"I wanted new construction from the beginning," Elizabeth Givener said. "We looked at a lot of older places. You really don't get much for the money in Hoboken. And a lot of older places don't have parking."

They eventually settled on a condo at the Upper Grand complex, where the father of one of Josh's friends had purchased a unit for his son.

The Giveners got a pre-construction price of $350,000. Using money from her mother, Elizabeth Givener paid cash and put the title in her name. Her son pays maintenance and taxes of about $750 a month.

Josh said, "We had to wait two years, but we got really good pricing. In the old brownstone where we were living before, rent was through the roof. Now, I'm paying far less."

Elizabeth added, "This allows my mother to witness the good she's done in her lifetime. And Josh could eventually end up owning the condo: We have to see how the future goes. In the meantime, it's a creative solution."

It almost that time:  The Swanepoel TRENDS Report, a publication detailing the Top 10 trends shaping the real estate industry every year, is once again nearing its final stages of research. This year, The 2008 Swanepoel TRENDS Report is expected to exceed last year’s 159 pages and should weigh in around 170 pages, according to a spokesperson for The Report.

In an article filed by RISMedia:

As the residential real estate brokerage industry moves through the 10 - 15 year industry transition - one that is creating confusion, turmoil, retirement, regret and frustration, but above all huge opportunities in the industry - brokers and agents alike are in dire need of quality research and guidance concerning which trends will impact the business, show a strong tendency toward longer term growth and/or have a possible structural impact on the residential real estate industry.

Information for The Report is based on: origin of the concept or trend; the driving force behind it; its lifecycle and maturity; the industry demand or need for the result; its growth pattern and its potential impact on the industry.

In 2007 the Top 10 trends were:

1. The Impact of New Real Estate Business Models such as Internet Real Estate, Multi-level Marketing, Flat-fee MLS and Annuity Brokerages.
2. The Democratization and Standardization of Real Estate Information including the changes in Multiple Listing Services.
3. The Importance of Competing, Combating or Collaborating with Web 2.0.
4. Finding New and Better Ways to Work with the New Consumer / Generation X.
5. Dealing with the Growing Poor Image of Real Estate Real Estate Brokers and Agents.
6. The Changing Consumer and Realtor Demographics.
7. Understanding the Race for Brand Recognition and Critical Mass
8. The Opportunities of Globalization, Immigration and Minority Markets.
9. The Changing Role of Realtor Associations.
10. The Legacy of the Housing Bubble, Foreclosures, Fraud and Declining Commissions

Read the full article HERE.

In an article published by Real Estate Weekly:

"Seventy-eight percent of registered voters polled last month in a survey commissioned by the National Association of Home Builders said they'd be more inclined to purchase a home with environmentally friendly features if the government offered incentives or rebates. Among those who said they'd be willing to pay more for a green home, 74% said they'd be willing to pay no more than an extra 10%."

So, what exactly is a green house? In my mind I get a vision of a glass enclosed building that is full of plants. The term has a whole ‘nuther meaning these days. A green house is a home that uses sustainable building materials and energy efficient design. The concept of SUSTAINABILITY involves RENEWABLE ENERGY and CONSERVATION OF RESOURCES, according to GreenHousing.net.

While Green Housing seems to be a current trendy buzz phrase, there is no doubt that an affordable energy efficient home is the wave of the future. Keeping up with the Joneses has become, whose home is more energy efficient.