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Business & Tech

Port Jeff Residents Chime in on the State of Real Estate

A sample of Port Jefferson residents match the attitude of those in national surveys that home buying still makes sense.

As I started my countdown to spring, thinking of warm sunny tee-shirt days, while listening to the forecast of the latest storm track, I read about three major surveys done in the last 75 days delving into Americans current belief in the value of owning a home:

  1. The National Housing Survey by Fannie Mae this past November.
  2. The Housing Survey by the Gallup Organization completed last month.
  3. The American’s Attitudes About Homeownership (AAAH) study completed by Harris Interactive for the National Association of Realtors

These surveys concluded that nationally people think that home buying still makes sense. One of the main questions which these surveyes addressed was "Is now a good time to buy a home?" The results of the national survey s are as follows:

Is now a good time to buy a home?

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  • AAAH: 78% of homeowners and 58% of  renters believe now is a good time to buy.
  • Fannie Mae: 64% of those surveyed said it is a good time to buy a home.
  • Gallup Poll: 67% of Americans think now is a good time to purchase a home

Often tauting that the real estate market is a local market, and being frustrated when national headlines paint a false picture of our local conditions, I decided to test these now positive perceptions by posing the same question to folks here in Port Jefferson to find out if the local opinion is in line with the national survey.

I hit the streets with notebook, pen and video camera, standing in the cold and smiling with curiosity as to how the folks felt about the housing market. From Uncle Giussepes to the down port harbor, the post office, the laundromat, and everything in between, I conducted my own survey of locals , as to whether or not now is a good time to buy a home:

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62% said Yes.

30% said No.

8% said they Did not know.

Though the question only requested a yes or no answer, I was often given an expanded answer supporting their  response. For those who thought that now is a good time to buy, the major decline in housing prices, low interest rates and  availablability of foreclosures were most often cited as the reasons.

Those who responded in the negative most often stated that they thought renting was a better option or that the economy remains too unstable to enter into homeownership at this time.

And those who were undetermined simply felt they had not followed the housing market closely enough to state an opinon.

I am happy to say that the results from our market appear to be much in line with what is still predominantly the consensus being indicated nationally. So, is it a good time to buy a house?

We are in an area which is protected—by water, land being at a premium. There is little new construction possible, unlike the building that was going on in Florida, Arizona, and parts of the midwest, where the losses of home values were much more severe. We have major hospitals, colleges and universities nearby, along with technology and industry which brings new prospects to our market regularly. The demand here will logically always be greater due to these factors. 

The number of contracts written on homes in Port Jefferson in January skyrocketed when compared to the same month last year (14 homes last months vs. only 10 homes in 2010 for the 11776 and 11777 zipcodes) indicating that the market is building steam. If you see the house you want and plan to stay there for years to come, now is a great time to buy it.

Amanda Eckart is a senior real estate agent at Jolie Powell Realty in Port Jefferson. You can contact her at 631-404-2215 or by email at amanda@jprealtor.com. Visit her online at www.pjvillagehomes.com

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