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Ulster County Deeds and Mortgages to Be Made Available Online

August 21, 2010 By Ulster Real Estate Leave a Comment

The Ulster County Clerk is announcing that deeds and mortgages will be made available to be searched and found online beginning September 1st.  Although making these records online is a welcomed advance, the $50/month subscription fee is a bit prohibitive.  Apparently, a one-time access fee will be $5 for those who do not want to subscribe on a monthly basis.

Since these records are public, I’d love to see Ulster County make them available as a service to its citizens in an online format without a fee.  For Realtors who are not so close to Kingston and currently have to travel to the county building, having these important real estate documents available and easily accessible online would save them lot of time and expense.

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Homebuilder Confidence Down Nationally

August 17, 2010 By Ulster Real Estate Leave a Comment

The National Association of Home Builders publishes a monthly report on Homebuilder Confidence that acts as a key real estate market and economic indicator.  Their August report revealed that homebuilder confidence was at an index of 13–which is a decline for the third month in a row.  An index of 50 is the breaking point for positive sentiment, so an idex of 13 is a pretty pessimistic outlook.

So what does this report mean for Ulster County?  Following the national trend, there are certainly less new homes being bought and sold in Ulster County.  However, Ulster County does not have the oversupply of new homes that is symptomatic of over-exuberant building in areas like Florida, Arizona & Las Vegas.  Towns here are relatively conservative in approving subdivisions and require much more due process and due diligence to occur before building can begin.  Larger neighborhoods springing up overnight are certainly not the norm in Ulster.  Green building is a very popular trend in the area that has helped retain interest in new construction homes.  So while this Homebuilder report paints a pessimistic view of new construction homes at the national level, several factors insulate Ulster County from being as dramatically effected by tough national economic conditions.

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New York Highest in Per Pupil Spending

August 13, 2010 By Ulster Real Estate Leave a Comment

A Public Education Financial report by the Census Bureau revealed that in 2008 (most recent available statistics), New York state recorded the highest spending per pupil.  While the amount spent per pupil does not always correlate with better overall schools, Ulster County students enjoy great teaching, advanced courses and outstanding extra-curricular activities. I often get comments from clients that relocate from other parts of the country are impressed and very satisfied with the level of education their children receive compared to their previous location. Spending was over $17,000 per pupil according to the report.

As it pertains to real estate, property values are often impacted by the desirability of the school district where the property is located.  Strong schools make Ulster County an attractive place for families with school-aged children.  However, there is certainly a trade-off since higher spending can increase the school tax burden and make it particularly difficult for individuals on a fixed income.

I often get comments from clients that relocate from other parts of the country are impressed and very satisfied with the level of education their children get compared to their prior location.

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Ulster County Real Estate Transaction Database

August 12, 2010 By Ulster Real Estate Leave a Comment

During my normal course of reading about the news online I stumbled across a helpful resource for buyers and sellers who might not have access to all of the tolls that Realtors® have at their disposal.  The Poughkeepsie Journal maintains a database of homes sold in the Hudson Valley region.  After executing a search it returns a lot of helpful information about Ulster County Real Estate transactions.  The database lists the town, address, date of sale, sales price, buyer, seller and even has a link to map the property.  Real estate transfers are part of the public record, so the Poughkeepsie Journal is compiling and packaging this information for the benefit of others.

The only drawback about the database is that is is a few months behind in Ulster County.  The most recent results are from the end of May.  Because of the lag in reporting the data, a Realtor® is still the best source for up-to-date statistics and more detailed information about properties that have sold.  Ulster MLS listings also capture a lot more data about the characteristics of the homes and properties sold.  Nonetheless, this is a tool that is worth using periodically to monitor transactions that might occur outside of the MLS.

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Local Credit Union Trying to Eliminate Mortgage Tax

August 10, 2010 By Ulster Real Estate Leave a Comment

The Hudson Valley Federal Credit Union is seeking to appeal a decision in order to take advantage of its non-profit status to reduce or eliminate the need for customers to pay a mortgage tax.  If Hudson Valley Federal Credit Union is successful with their appeal, they would be able to offer significant savings to their customers that other for-profit banks could not.  Currently, Ulster County fits in the category of New York counties with the lowest mortgage tax rate at $0.75 per $100.  On a the purchase of a $300,000 home, that would yield a mortgage tax of $2250–certainly not an insignificant amount.

You have to give credit to HVFCU for being aware of this potential loophole and fighting for savings it can potentially pass on to its members.  It will be interested to see what the outcome of their appeal is.

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