Southern New Jersey Overlook

When looking at the year-to-month actual statistics (using the most recently completed month of August vs. July, June, May, April, March and January) for Burlington County, the results for residential homes on the market, sold, average price and days for sale before close is charted as follows:

See previous article for prior year 01/200X year-to-date comparisons.

This shows that the trend is still slowly downward, but hopefully will soon begin leveling.

The current inventory is 4185, with an average monthly Sold of 342, yielding a backlog of 12 months to sell off the inventory at current rates of sale.

Copyright 2008 by Lawrence Yerkes. All Rights Reserved.

When looking at the year-to-month actual statistics (using the most recently completed month of August vs. July, June, May, April, March and January) for Camden County, the results for residential homes on the market, sold, average price and days for sale before close is charted as follows:

See previous article for prior year 01/200X year-to-date comparison.

This shows that while the trend is now slightly downward, it appears that it is attempting to level and hopefully will soon begin to reverse direction.

The current inventory is 4494, with an average monthly Sold of 357, yielding a backlog of 12 months to sell off the inventory at current rates of sale.

Copyright 2008 by Lawrence Yerkes. All Rights Reserved.

When looking at the year-to-month actual statistics (using the most recently completed month of August vs. July, June, May, April, March and January) for Gloucester County, the results for residential homes on the market, sold, average price and days for sale before close is charted as follows:

See previous article for prior year 01/200X year-to-date comparison.

This shows that the trend is continuing to show a downward tendency, it appears to be slow, and hopefully will start to level and even reverse direction.

The current inventory is 2563, with an average monthly Sold of 199, yielding a backlog of 12 months to sell off the inventory at current rates of sale.

Copyright 2008 by Lawrence Yerkes. All Rights Reserved.

When looking at the year-to-month actual statistics (using the most recently completed month of  August vs. July, June, May, April, March and January) for for Mercer County, the results for residential homes on the market, sold, average price and days for sale before close is charted as follows:

This shows that the trend is leveling and soon beginning to reverse direction.

The current inventory is 2556, with an average monthly Sold of 263, yielding a backlog of 9 months to sell off the inventory at current rates of sale.

Copyright 2008 by Lawrence Yerkes. All Rights Reserved.

When looking at the year-to-month actual statistics (using the most recently completed month of August vs. July, June, May, April, March and January) for Salem County, the results for residential homes on the market, sold, average price and days for sale before close is charted as follows:

This shows that the trend is still slightly downward and hopefully may be attempting to level and even soon begin to reverse direction.

The current inventory is 642, with an average monthly Sold of 39, yielding a backlog of 16 months to sell off the inventory at current rates of sale.

Copyright 2008 by Lawrence Yerkes. All Rights Reserved.

Here are some of the Realty Reality blog articles that appeared during the past month of August:

Renter's Insurance
While homeowner's insurance is almost an assumption for anyone buying a home and auto insurance is mandated by law, renter's have never sought insurance protection in large numbers. Studies have shown that as few as 40 percent of all tenants are covered by renter's insurance. With tenancy rates once again on the rise, now is a good time to examine the benefits of renter's insurance...

What To Do When facing an ARM Reset
This August, some homeowners have been feeling a little more than the usual heat. By the end of this summer, over 300,000 subprime adjustable rate mortgages will "reset" from lower introductory rates to current market rates. The change in rate can equate to a tough-to-stomach bump in monthly payments, especially for loans that feature extra-low "teaser" rates...

Grill Tips for Your Backyard Barbeque
Summer time or any nice warm day is the right time to head out of the kitchen and into the backyard for a little cooking al fresco. Whether a quiet evening at home with the family or a full-fledged block party, there's nothing quite like a meal freshly cooked and hot of the grill. Here are some grilling tips for novices and BBQ pros alike...

Improved VA Benefits Aid Disabled Veterans in Adapting Homes
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) will use a locality-based approach in raising ceilings on its no-downpayment home loans from the current $417,000 to as much as $729,000...

2008 IRS Report of Foreign-Controlled Domestic Corporations
The Internal Revenue Service(IRS) ay released the summer 2008 issue of the Statistics of Income Bulletin, which features tax year 2005 data on the growth in profits and tax liability reported by foreign-controlled domestic corporations...



For real estate resources, help and support services in acquiring or selling properties in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, Visit my web site: LawrenceYerkes.com
    
and visit Besthomes-NJ.com to shop for the latest New Jersey Real Estate property listings (Residential, Commercial, Multi-Family, Farm, Land).   

Copyright 2008 by Lawrence Yerkes. All Rights Reserved.  

Microsoft recently release it's new Internet Explore 8 Beta 2 for public downloading.  While the look is not dramatically different from Internet Explorer 7, it does have several new and enhanced features that many will find attractive: Accelerators, InPrivate Browsing and Blocking, SmartScreen filter, Search Suggestions, Web Slicing and more.

If you currently have custom applications that specifically require IE 7 to run, then you may not want to download and install IE 8 for now (as it will replace your current version of Internet Explorer).    However, if you are technologically adventurous and want to take advantage of the new features, then the Beta 2 release of IE 8 may be worth the inherent risks in using beta software.  Also, there is a feature in the current release of IE 8 that may allow you to experience the new features as well as access sites as if it is IE 7 -- that feature is called "Compatibility View".

In the past, when upgrading to a major new release if IE, you faced many compatibility issues over an extended period until all web sites and applications were upgraded to properly work with the new version of the browser.   With Compatibility View, you now have the capability to switch to a compatibility mode that will act and look to the web site (or application) you are accessing as if it was IE 7.  This means, in many cases, you can take advantage of IE 8 features now, but when needed, you can just click an icon and switch your browser to function like IE 7.   

I've downloaded and installed IE 8.  As I've already stated, it overwrites and replaces IE 7.  On most of the regular sites I've accessed, I've noticed little difference other than some minor display formatting problems.  Sites that will not work with IE 8, resulting in browser hanging and/or displaying an invalid browser message; so far have exhibited no problems after switching to Compatibility View mode.   

As Microsoft explains, "A new UI button, which is coupled with policy settings, controls the Compatibility View feature. The button is located in the navigation bar, just to the right of the Address bar and next to the Refresh button. The button only appears when it is practical to switch into Compatibility View, for example when you view Standards mode webpages. In all other cases, including Quirks mode webpages or an intranet site that is already being displayed in Compatibility View, the button is hidden."

A Few Examples:
1. Our local regional MLS (Trend), will not work and gives you an error message if you attempt to log in using IE 8.  After I click on the Compatibility View icon, it works.  [Note: Officially, Trend will not support IE 8 until it is officially released in it's final non-Beta form.]



2. Our RE/MAX of New Jersey web site works fine for public access.  For agent administration, it allows you to log in, but certain features would hang in IE 8.  Again, after switching to Compatibility View mode, the features then worked.

3. ActiveRain.com for the most part works in IE 8.  The exceptions I encounted so far were the automatic lookup window that pops up when typing in blog tags and some minor display formatting. Both issues were resolved in Compatibility View mode (IE 7).  There was also some sporadic problems with not being able to copy and past between browser windows, in IE 8.   [Note: This blog was done entirely in IE 8, with temporary switch to compatibility mode for entering tags so I could view the tag pop-up window.]


Caution: If you're currently required to use a version of Internet Explore previous to IE 7, then do not install IE 8 as you will not have compatibility with older versions.

UPDATE: See comment about McAfee software

Compatibility View also automatically remembers a site when you revisit it by maintaining a list of websites for compatibility (IE 7) mode; allows you to manually add sites to list; and lets you set all website and/or intranet sites to compatibility view mode.  Settings are accessed via the "Tools" drop-down menu on the IE Command or Menu toolbars.
 

Copyright 2008 by Lawrence Yerkes. All Rights Reserved.