The Greater Capital Association of Realtors most recent monthly statistics indicate that the 393 closed sales in the six county region in February was a 17% increase compared to the same month in 2009.  It did however reflect a 17.5% decrease compared to February of 2008.

Following the same trend, the first two months of this year were up 7.5% from 2009 with 784 closed sales, yet still lagged about 22% behind 2008. In addition the region experienced a 16.7% surge in new listings at 1290. Pending sales were up 13.5% to 615 and there was a 7% increase in the median sales price of homes to $187,000.

James Ader, the association’s chief executive officer commented that “It has been some time since so many indicators were positive at the same time.“  Ader and other experts agree that the up to $8000 tax credit for homebuyers helped attribute to the significant increases in the Albany real estate sales.

Both he and the association’s president, Laurene Curtin feel that despite the fact that the credit will expire in April, the real estate market will continue to improve. Though she doesn’t see consistent across the board improvements every month and not at the levels of last month, she does expect the market to slowly start rebuilding itself.

Capital District homes sales were up 8% in December of 2009 compared to December of last year.

November sales this year also beat November sales from last year.

The news was especially good because speculators had predicted a slump in December. This prediction was based on the premise that the federal tax credit for buyers was due to expire at the end of November.

The $8000 rebate, speculators feared, was a huge factor in artificially boosting November sales. They feared December numbers would crash. However, the tax credit was extended and even expanded and helped keep the local numbers balanced for December.

According to Greater Capital Association of Realtors there is evidence to suggest that the local market is stabilizing. However it does remain a buyers market, with prices flat or down slightly.

The Capital District area has been largely unaffected by the worst recession in decades and remains a good place to live and work.

We have recently embarked on on the challenge of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for our website. For those who are unfamiliar with the world of SEO, it is the science (or art) of optimizing your website to become better positioned in the search engines for certain terms.

For instance, if you google “For Sale By Owner Albany” we consistently enjoy the #1 spot for our domain fsbosearch.com. In fact we have literally hundreds of keyword phrases that are in the #1 spot in Google, Yahoo and MSN. I will expand on this in a future post.

Interestingly, we are starting to see some positive results from our efforts. Our traffic is up significantly from this time last year. But the real interesting thing is that we are starting to see more and more traffic from outside the Albany NY Capital Region.

For instance, I was browsing through our traffic logs this morning and looking specifically at the recent visitors by location. Check out the two screenshots below (click on the images to enlarge):

As you can see, 10 of the last 40 visitors were from outside of the Capital Region. Furthermore, five were from outside of the country - 2 from India, 2 from Italy and 1 from France. While we know that 90% of all real estate is sold to local buyers it is encouraging to see visitors from outside the area on our site. Are these visitors on our site because they are truly searching for Albany Homes or because of some of our real estate related content brought them here?

We will monitor the traffic logs to see if this is a trend or simply an aberration. In either event we will post again with our findings. In the meantime, don’t be surprised if your phone rings from a potential buyer with an Italian accent!

Albany, N.Y. was named to the Forbes magazine list of the “Top 25 Strongest Housing Markets” in the country, ranking #21.

According to Forbes, the list is based on analysis done for the magazine by Moody’s Economy. Moody’s analyzed housing forecasts for metropolitan areas with populations over 500,000 through 2011.

Moody’s compared the forecasts to housing prices in the 2nd quarter of 2008 to determine how far prices are likely to drop before hitting bottom.

Albany accompanied it’s Upstate NY metropolitan neighbors Syracuse, Rochester and Buffalo on the list. Syracuse ranked #2, Buffalo #4 and Rochester was #15.

Forbes does not anticipate price increases in any of the metro areas before the end of the year, predicting the strongest metro areas will be “flat at best”. That is significantly better than Moody’s forecast of the 15 percent average drop for the entire country in 2009.

Originally uploaded by thekitchendesigner.org

Thinking about a home improvement project for your Albany home? When home prices are declining, the financial benefits of remodeling are not nearly as apparent as when home prices are high. Are you trying to maximize your investment in order to sell or are you looking to make your home a better place to live?

If your goal is to sell your home, you might want to reconsider spending lots of money on those high end projects and opt for practical, less costly alternatives. When the market is slow, you are less likely to recoup the cost of high end remodels.

If you are planning on staying for the long haul, then by all means make the investment that will maximize your comfort and enjoyment of the home.

According to real estate experts, the exterior of your home becomes a more important asset than the interior when trying to sell your home in a flat market.

When buyers have more to choose from first impressions become vital to the sale of a home. Curb appeal is more important than ever, with high end exterior renovations returning a better payoff than comparable interior projects.

Statistics show that home prices have fallen by an average of 7 percent nationally in the past year. But the value of home owners’ investment in remodeling projects has declined only 3.86 percent on average between 2007 and 2008, according to Remodeling’s 2008–2009 Cost vs. Value Report.

According to the report, on a national level, wood deck additions and all types of siding replacements returned more than 80% of the projects cost upon resale. Window replacements returned more than 76% of costs. A major midrange kitchen remodel returned 76% of costs, while a minor midrange kitchen remodel returned 79.5% of costs. Bathroom remodels returns were down from previous years to around 74.4%.

The Top 10 Home Improvement Paybacks
1. Upscale fiber cement siding (86.7%)
2. Midrange wood deck (81.8%)
3. Midrange vinyl siding (80.7%)
4. Upscale foam-backed vinyl (80.4%)
5. Midrange minor kitchen remodel (79.5%)
6. Upscale vinyl window replacement (79.2%)
7. Midrange wood window replacement (77.7%)
8. Midrange vinyl window replacement (77.2%)
9. Upscale wood window replacement (76.5%
10. Midrange major kitchen remodel (76.0%)

As illustrated in the above list, the home improvements that boost curb appeal offer the best return on investment. In fact, the only interior home improvements that made the top 10 were kitchen remodels.

Remember do your homework and consider your goals when planning a remodel project. Make an informed decision that will benefit your individual situation and maximize the return on your investment!