St Lawrence Properties' Blog: For Sellers

Yes Sellers, times are tough! But Please, Don't go to jail over it!

The internet is filled with schemes to sell your house, but what they don’t tell you is that some of these, OK, most of these schemes are illegal. My local TV station had a nice story tonight about a home owner who is raffling off his 1.6 million dollar home for $50 Bucks. Yes, 1.6mil  for $50 bucks.   http://wcbstv.com/watercooler/raffled.off.home.2.1155130.html

They showed you the house, told you about the seller and even promised to return 98% of the entry fee if he fails to sell the 30,000 raffle tickets. But they never told you it was illegal. Since he sold 10,000 tickets so far through his PayPal account, he has earned $10,000 in fees! Not a bad investment for illegal gambling.…

Sunday, August 22, 2009

Larry Jensen, Principal Broker at St. Lawrence Properties, LLC for New York and Connecticut and motorcycle enthusiast participated in the 2009 Dream Ride on Sunday to help raise money for the Special Olympics. Close to 10,000 motorcyclists from 7 different states participated in the ride all meeting up in Farmington, CT for a Lunch Gala.

The mission of Dream Ride 2009 is to raise much-needed funds for the thousands of Special Olympics athletes; the funds generated in each state will remain in that state. As an organization, Special Olympics contributes to the lifelong development of children and adults with intellectual disabilities. For those individuals and their families, Special Olympics has become a symbol of hope. For…

WPMLS released their mid year results and the news is astonishing.

First to congratulate Larry Jensen for ranking in the Top 20% of over 7,500 agents in Year to Date Production.

Now onto the news. Out of over 7,500 active agents (down from more than 8,000 the year before) 5,000 agents had no production! 1,000 agents only did one transaction and 1,500 agents did two or more transactions.

So what does this mean? The reality is harsh, but not new. These stats are not a result of the economy or technology. These results are a tried and true principal...Pareto's Principal. So on the surface, a Buyer or Seller may look at the number...7,500 agents, ready willing and able(?) to help you buy or sell a home. The reality is there are 7,500 agents, but fewer…

Maybe you saw the new, read a blog, heard people talking about it.

On May 12, 2009 the following Press Release was issued:

Improvement Coming to Buyer Tax Credit?
Shaun Donovan, secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, said that the Federal Housing Administration is working on a plan that will permit its lenders to allow home buyers to use the $8,000 tax credit as a down payment.

Previously, most buyers wouldn't receive the funds until after they filed their tax return, and that deterred some people from using the credit. The NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® has been calling for the change.

“We all want to enable FHA consumers to access the home buyer tax credit funds when they close on their home loans so that the…