The Realtors Relief Foundation has launched its 2023 fundraising campaign with a goal to raise $5 million this year. The annual initiative by the National Association of Realtors (NAR) aims to provide housing relief to victims of hurricanes, floods, wildfires, and other disasters.

As a member of the NAR, we are kept abreast with news from across the states via a monthly magazine with all kinds of reports on the market and our industry. Sometimes it’s hard to relate with other parts of the country, as local real estate is what we concentrate on. There is a list of four states that are listed as most at risk, in regards to the real estate market.

I'm happy to report New York is not one of them. California, Illinois, Delaware and our neighbor New Jersey are listed in the reports I've read. I'm concerned more about banking news, for now. The failure of Silicon Valley Bank, hopefully, is of its own doing and not a trend that will be affecting other banks and buyers being able to secure a mortgage. This would certainly change the market numbers in a hurry. On a national level there are concentrated efforts to increase affordable housing, budgets are being aligned to include billions of dollars toward this effort. I'm not sure how they plan to accomplish it, but there is no doubt a strong need for affordable housing. Not just purchasing, but rentals are scarce, and the cost is getting unaffordable for so many. We see global reports as well and it’s not just here in the US that housing is a problem. We have many international buyers, and one of the interesting classes I recently took was about understanding other countries’ customs. I know we aren't allowed to ask what nationality the buyers are, so it can be hard to distinguish sometimes.

Fair Housing

April is just around the corner and so is Fair Housing Month. The New York Association of Realtors (NYSAR) has a number of classes scheduled to fulfill the required continuing education courses that a realtor must complete every two years. Classes offered are using the Zoom platform to make it easier for agents to attend. The classes concentrate on fair housing, ethical and legal practices, diversity and fair lending for mortgage brokers, just to name a few. Our requirements have changed in the last year to include more hours of fair housing, diversity, implicit bias, and the law. I like the Zoom classes, because you can interact with fellow realtors and the instructors — much preferable to online classes. I just recently finished up a few classes to qualify for my renewal in April, and one class had to be online; I wasn't available the date it was offered on Zoom. Pure torture!

Real Estate Updates

Local real estate news… yes we are still shy of active listings, and yes the prices are holding steady. Actually, I did a more thorough search than my normal daily look at the inventory of the area and was surprised at some of the listings and sold prices. I didn't expect to find so many homes listed with higher price tags, many sold within days, so the demand is still there, I don't expect it will change much for now. Our milder winter has helped keep the buyers looking, and I've been told by several that they want to beat the spring buyers so they can avoid a bidding war.

And on a serious note... please don't touch switches, thermostats or other things that could cause serious problems, as it did in one of my listings. Frozen pipes caused serious damage, and what did we discover? Someone shut off the furnace emergency switch in the basement. I don't think it was done maliciously, but a red face plate on a switch shouldn't be touched. Thankfully, the homeowner had insurance but is still out the deductible. I can't point a finger, because seven agents and their buyers had been through the house five days prior to our deep freeze we had last month.

Here is my monthly update on single-family homes for sale in Ulster County. The count as of March 14 was 185. The number of listings per price range noted below come from the Hudson Valley Catskill Region MLS.

$99,500 to $199,999: 11
$200,000 to $299,999: 27
$300,000 to $399,999: 35
$400,000 to $599,999: 36
$600,000 to $749,999: 28
$750,000 to $999,999: 18
$1,000,000 to $4,995,000: 30

Remember, I love what I do! Please call me at 845-901-4553 if you are interested in listing your home, or are ready to buy.

Gail M. Vesely is New York State Licensed Real Estate Broker and owner of Lucille Hand Real Estate, located in Napanoch. She has a Certified Negotiation Expert designation, is a current member of the Board of Directors of the Hudson Valley Catskill region MLS (formally the Ulster County MLS), Chairperson for the MLS Wawarsing Caravan, serves on the MLS Grievance committee and past Board of Directors member on the Ellenville/Wawarsing Chamber of Commerce. Gail has been recognized for her sales achievements for the past 6 years from the Ulster County Board of Realtors.