WASHINGTON — Some major U.S. banks are concerned an effort by Democrats to help mortgage borrowers avoid foreclosure could lead lawmakers to scale back tough bankruptcy overhauls adopted two years ago, when Republicans were in power.

To help address defaults and foreclosures on subprime mortgages, lawmakers are pushing a bill that would allow bankruptcy judges to rework the terms and conditions of loans. Consumer groups have gotten behind the effort, and caught the ear of some Republicans from districts seeing mortgage problems.

DOMINO THEORY

• What’s Happening: Lawmakers are looking at ways to change bankruptcy law to help homeowners facing foreclosure.
• Leading to: Some lenders fear lender-friendly bankruptcy changes enacted by Congress in 2005 could be revisited, too, if lawmakers let judges rework mortgage terms and conditions.
• Next Step: House Judiciary takes up the mortgage legislation this week.The banking industry said such changes could dry up mortgage funding and make the cost of owning a home more expensive for all borrowers. “The bill will create risk — and the markets will respond to that risk by increasing the interest rate or the down payment that homeowners pay,” said Scott Talbott, senior vice president of the Financial Services Roundtable, an industry group.

Also worrisome for banks is the belief the bill could lead lawmakers to revisit a law intended to prevent borrowers from declaring bankruptcy to wipe out credit-card and other debts that they could afford to pay.

Financial-service companies fought for eight years to push the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act through Congress. Two years ago, with Republicans controlling the House, Senate and the White House, they succeeded. The law said certain debts couldn’t be erased, set up a means test for certain bankruptcy filings, cracked down on repeat filers and required borrowers to get credit counseling before filing.

Consumer groups and other opponents called the law a windfall for the credit-card industry. They said the credit-counseling and means-test provisions would force filers to pay additional lawyers’ fees, worsening their financial problems.

The new bill, sponsored by Reps. Brad Miller (D., N.C.) and Linda Sanchez (D., Calif.), would allow bankruptcy judges to change the interest rate and length of a mortgage for borrowers in bankruptcy, in an effort to avoid foreclosure. It could also potentially allow judges to change the balance of a loan. For example, if a borrower near foreclosure owed $125,000 on a house now worth $100,000, the judge could mark $25,000 as “unsecured debt,” which would make it much harder for the bank to recover that portion.

Several large banks, including Citigroup Inc., J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., and Wells Fargo & Co., have organized to fight the proposal. In a letter last month to House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, the banks and others warned that the bill would “prevent many low- and moderate-income Americans from owning homes.”

Lenders fear the legislation could open the gates to other changes to the bankruptcy law. Some in the Senate are considering a change to the law that would provide relief to students struggling with qualified college loans.

Mr. Miller said his legislation isn’t an overture to revisiting the 2005 law. He said his bill largely avoids making specific changes to the law and focuses more on the treatment of mortgages in the bankruptcy process.

Mr. Conyers said his panel could vote on the bill as early as this week. That could set the stage for action this month by the full House, where its scope possibly could be broadened.

Sens. Richard Durbin (D., Ill.) and Arlen Specter (R., Pa.) are working on a related bill in the Senate. The Senate Judiciary Committee may take it up early next year, according to a panel aide.

White House and Treasury Department officials have raised concerns about the proposals, echoing many of the banking industry’s warnings. “We think it could reduce mortgage availability…and increase mortgage rates, which could tend to compound the problem,” said White House spokesman Tony Fratto.

At this point, the bill’s supporters may have the edge. While many Republicans remain opposed, the bill puts some — especially those in the Midwest and other areas hit by rising foreclosure rates — in a difficult political position. One of them, Rep. Steve Chabot (R., Ohio), is working with Mr. Miller and Ms. Sanchez to craft an approach that would help borrowers avoid foreclosure in a way that is seen as less threatening to lenders.

Why the Fed will cut rates again

Thursday, Oct. 25
Posted 4 p.m. Eastern

Why the Fed will cut rates again

The Federal Open Market Committee meets Oct. 30 to Oct. 31 and the tenuous nature of credit markets assures another rate cut to come our way. Since Fed interest rate cuts typically take six to nine months to completely filter through the economy, how will the move help in the short-term?

The primary, and most immediate, impact of Fed action will be in the corporate, rather than the consumer, sector. Witness the stock market’s euphoric 335 point rise in less than two hours of trading following the Fed’s Sept. 18 announcement.

Another Fed rate cut serves to grease the skids in the all-important commercial paper market where large corporations turn for short-term funding needs. Companies’ hoarding of cash deprives the commercial paper market of the breathing room needed to function, which can drive interest rates drastically higher. On the other side of the ledger, sharply higher borrowing costs can impair the ability of companies needing cash to meet obligations or make needed investments. By taking the two steps of pumping liquidity into financial markets and reducing short-term borrowing costs — as the Fed has been doing — markets can return to normal operations. What exactly are normal operations? Normal operations would be regular breathing, as compared to the shortness of breath that has been lingering since August. The regular breathing of normal market operations is a basic component of economic growth. After all, if everyone everywhere sits on piles of cash, not lending or borrowing, how does an economy grow?

This is not to say that the consumer is left out. Consumers have been and will be beneficiaries of the Fed lowering rates. Rates on home equity lines of credit have dropped 50 basis points since the September Fed cut, and credit card rates have declined in four of the five weeks since that move. Mortgage rates have revisited the levels seen just prior to September’s Fed gathering, erasing the spike seen in the aftermath of the Fed cut.

And savers can thus far breathe a sigh of relief as deposit yields have hung tough despite the Fed’s larger-than-expected half-point move in September and even more pronounced declines in Treasury yields since August. The top-yielding savings accounts, money market deposit accounts and certificates of deposit — regardless of maturity — remain well clear of the 5 percent mark and another cut by the Fed doesn’t necessarily threaten to violate that threshold.

But the Fed’s action is warranted by the dark cloud hanging over the economy — the conditions in credit markets. Yes, the housing market is a consideration, but cutting interest rates isn’t going to make housing all sunshine and daffodils overnight, and the Fed is keenly aware of that fact. It will take time to weather the storm of the housing market, but that won’t happen without the normal functioning of credit markets to support business and consumer spending. And the economy won’t continue to expand if businesses and consumers stop spending.

Which brings us back to the most immediate impact of a Fed rate cut being in the corporate rather than consumer sector. Perhaps consumer spending isn’t likely to stop in its tracks. After all, incomes continue to grow, the labor market is tight, and as long as I continue to see a line of people willing to pay $4 for a cup of coffee, consumer spending is unlikely to roll over. But business investment is much more susceptible to a cold turkey turnaround, and another Fed rate cut should keep that scenario at bay.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. federal program that could help bailout troubled subprime borrowers is likely to be passed by Congress now that President George Bush has endorsed key elements of a reform package.

On Friday, Bush promised to help less creditworthy subprime borrowers refinance into new loans by relaxing some aspects of the Federal Housing Administration’s loan insurance for high-risk home buyers.

The Federal Housing Administration, set up after the 1930s’s depression, helps borrowers win favorable loan terms by guaranteeing mortgage payments to lenders.

In a speech delivered in the White House Rose Garden, Bush endorsed his administration’s plan to help less creditworthy borrowers by lowering the required downpayment for FHA loans and raising the limit on mortgages that would be eligible.

Those provisions were part of a reform effort that passed the U.S. House of Representatives last year but got bogged down in the Senate.

Through the spring, the federal department of Housing and Urban Development has tried to sell FHA reform to lawmakers and the House is due to vote on the issue when lawmakers return from their summer break.

Some Senate Republicans have resisted FHA reform but Christopher Dodd, the Democratic chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, has said that passing legislation is a priority.

The urgency of the ongoing U.S. mortgage market crisis and Bush’s endorsement on Friday means the reform is likely to pass soon, said Howard Glaser, a mortgage analyst based in Washington and former HUD official.

“The president is softening up Republicans who have slowed down reform in the Congress. This puts some wind behind the sails of the legislation,” Glaser said.

Benefits of the NMLS to State-licensed Companies and Individuals
——————————————————————————–
The Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System (NMLS) will streamline the licensing process for all state licensed mortgage companies and individuals and allow state regulators to provide better service to their licensees.
The NMLS will create a single record for each licensed company, branch and loan officer and each control person, regardless of the number of states in which they conduct licensed activities. Licensees will have access to this single record through a secure website 7 days a week, 362 days a year in order to make changes, apply for or surrender licenses.

Licensees will be able to conveniently check on the status of applications, amendment and renewal requests and will additionally be able to run reports concerning their company, branch and loan officer licenses.

Participating states have agreed to a single streamlined license renewal process that will merely involve a licensee certifying that their record is up to date, electronically paying any license renewal and/or processing fees, and submitting any required documentation (such as surety bond information) to the regulator.

For states requiring annual reports from its licensed mortgage lenders and/or brokers, the NMLS will streamline this process with standard loan volume and other questions to be answered for each jurisdiction.

Over the 2 year build-out of the NMLS, licensees can expect to see an even more streamlined process for providing criminal background reports to state regulators, electronic financial statement submission capability, and the ability to conveniently track testing and continuing education compliance.

In supporting the NMLS, the mortgage industry is supporting state regulators in improving the supervision of the companies and individuals that operate in the residential real estate finance industry.

Participating States

——————————————————————————–
To date, 37 state agencies have signed a Statement of Intent indicating their intent to participate in the Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System (see map).
The following states have announced that they will start using the NMLS January 2, 2008 and have communicated a transition plan to their licensees:

Kentucky Companies holding a Mortage Loan Company License or a Mortgage Broker License have from 1/2/08 to 6/20/08 to complete a record in the NMLS and submit to KY Office of Financial Insitutions for acceptance.
Nebraska Companies holding a Mortgage Banker License have from 1/2/08 to 3/1/08 to complete a record in the NMLS and submit to NE Department of Banking and Finance for acceptance.
Massachusetts Companies holding a Mortgage Lender License or a Mortgage Broker License have from 1/2/08 to 4/15/08 to complete a record in the NMLS and submit to MA Division of Banks for acceptance.

Reuters
H&R Block CEO: Mortgage market may be worst since ’30s
Thursday August 30, 8:30 am ET

NEW YORK (Reuters) - H&R Block Inc (NYSE:HRB - News) Chief Executive Mark Ernst on Thursday said the U.S. mortgage lending market may be facing its greatest crunch since the 1930s, when the country was in the Great Depression.

Earlier Thursday, H&R Block said it is renegotiating the sale of its subprime lending unit Option One Mortgage Corp. to Cerberus Capital Management LP.

The unit has suffered mounting losses and reduced staffing by more than half this year, and now has about 400 staff handling loan originations, Ernst said on a conference call.

Option One has also tightened its lending criteria because investors won’t buy many kinds of loans, amid “fear of anything that’s subprime,” he said.

“The mortgage origination market is in the midst of the most severe dislocation that it has seen in years, maybe the most severe since the 1930s,” Ernst said.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - National City Corp. (NCC.N: Quote, Profile , Research), one of the largest U.S. regional banks, on Thursday said it would fold its home equity business into National City Mortgage Co., a move designed to cut costs and respond to deteriorating mortgage markets.

Cleveland-based National City said some National Home Equity staff will join National City Mortgage’s wholesale division, but many sales and support jobs will be eliminated.

“We are continuing to closely monitor the market and will continue to take steps to ensure originations are appropriately in line with market conditions,” National City Chief Financial Officer Jeffrey Kelly said in a statement.

The move comes 10 days after National Home Equity, which originates loans and credit lines through mortgage brokers, suspended approvals as demand dried up in secondary mortgage markets.

National City said it will still offer mortgages, equity lines and loans through its branches, mortgage offices and a network of correspondents. The bank also said the mortgage unit will resume extending home equity lines when market conditions improve.

“We believe that the reduction in marketability of many mortgage products will continue for some time,” Kelly said.

National City spokeswoman Kristen Baird Adams had no comment about the number of job cuts or the estimated financial impact of the move.

(Reporting by Joseph Giannone)

Mortgage Brokers: The salesman factor
The right mortgage broker is golden - a pro who can put you in the ideal loan at the best rate. The wrong one can hang you out to dry.
By Amanda Gengler, Money Magazine writer-reporter
July 26 2007: 9:26 AM EDT

(Money Magazine) — In the next five years, 1.4 million Americans will see their mortgage payments more than double. Already, half a million homeowners are 90 days behind on their payments. Foreclosure rates are up 30 percent from 2006.

How did so many end up in trouble? Was it consumer overreaching or a bull market in bad advice? Many consumer advocates and legislators believe that the latter played a big role - and are blaming mortgage brokers, the independent agents who in the past few years have sold nearly 70 percent of the nation’s home loans.

” Note: The article below is non-sense since the programs brokers placed borrowers into were created and pushed by banks to brokers, they offered brokers incentives to put people into these loans, and remember, brokers don’t make or approve loans, lenders do”

Source:Bankrate.com

“We think brokers bear a lot of the responsibility for placing borrowers into these unaffordable loans,” says Allen Fishbein, director of housing and credit policy at the Consumer Federation of America. Critics like Fishbein warn that the system gives brokers powerful incentives to push consumers into toxic loans and little to fear if their customers can’t handle them.

Does this mean you should shun mortgage brokers? Not necessarily. A good one can save you time and thousands of dollars over the life of a loan - but it’s up to you to understand the loans you’re being offered and the fees involved. Here are the key questions.

Do I Even Need a Broker?
If you keep abreast of mortgage products, know exactly what is the best loan for your situation and have days to call banks, get quotes and make comparisons, you probably don’t need a broker.

“You should go to a broker if you want help,” says Jack Guttentag, founder of the Mortgage Professor website (at mtgprofessor.com) and professor of finance emeritus at the Wharton School. “Otherwise, shop online.”

Guttentag’s site ranks online lenders, including the virtual outposts of such institutions as Bank of America and Chase. Top picks, based on transparency of loan terms and fees: Amerisave and E-Loan. In late June, for example, E-Loan offered a $200,000, 30-year fixed mortgage at 7.125 percent interest and $912 in closing costs to clients with good credit.

If you’re not particularly confident about hunting down a loan, however, there’s a strong case for hiring a broker. Brokers tend to deal with many banks, so they can advise you on a wider variety of offerings than a single bank’s loan officer can. Plus, brokers have more time to shop than you (it’s their job) and have access to rate sheets and wholesale lending rates that banks don’t share with consumers.

That doesn’t mean you should assume every broker will always steer you to the cheapest possible loan. This brings us to the next question.

Whom Can I Trust?
The ideal mortgage broker is a seasoned professional who comes highly recommended. Unfortunately, the bubble swelled the ranks of mortgage salesmen by 100,000 in nearly a decade, to 334,000, according to Wholesale Access, so “seasoned” is a relative term. What’s more, while a broker must be licensed, most states set no minimum qualifications for the salespeople he employs.

Normally, hiring a professional would start with getting recommendations, but that’s tricky too. Friends may not know whether a broker got them the best deal, and real estate agents and financial planners may have financial ties to a broker.

So go ahead and get referrals, but don’t stop there. Search for local mortgage brokers on NAMB.org, the website of the National Association of Mortgage Brokers. Unlike many of the ubiquitous online mortgage advertisements (think dancing cowboys), which demand information from you and then sell it to brokers and lenders, NAMB’s site gives you brokers’ names and, in many cases, the rates and fees they’re quoting.

Then you can do the pursuing, not the reverse. Call at least three brokers for quotes - all on the same day, since rates change daily.

When you call, ask how much the broker stands to make on your loan. How straightforward the answer is may tell you all you need to know on the trust question.

Most earn their keep in two ways: by collecting part of your closing fees and by pocketing a variable fee from the lender called a yield spread premium - which banks increase to reward brokers for selling, among other things, a higher interest rate.

The problem with the yield spread premium is that it gives brokers an incentive to sell loans at elevated interest rates as well as attach features like prepayment penalties - in other words, to act in the bank’s interest, not yours. It’s another reason you should shop around even when using a broker.

One way to evade this inherent conflict of interest is to hire a so-called up-front mortgage broker. An up-front broker signs an agreement promising to take the same fee - typically 1 percent to 2 percent of your loan, paid by you, the bank or a combination - regardless of the terms of your mortgage.

Although the preset fee may not always represent a big savings over what a conventionally paid mortgage broker would collect, it does remove hidden incentives. Unfortunately, up-front brokers are still rare (go to upfrontmortgagebrokers.org to find any in your area), but you can always ask any broker to set his fee up front.

Whichever arrangement you and your broker agree to, check the firm’s complaint record with your state’s banking department (find its Internet address on the Conference of State Bank Supervisors website at csbs.org) as well as the Better Business Bureau’s site (go to bbb.org).

Am I Getting a Fair Shake?
Even if you’ve signed on a pro who comes recommended by people you trust, quotes a low rate and is frank about his compensation, you can’t check out of the process. You still need to be ready to stand up for yourself along the way.

Refuse to pay application fees. When interviewing brokers, make it clear that you won’t pay application or commitment fees. The only fees you should pay in advance are for appraisal ($350 or so, on average) and a credit report (around $20), says National Association of Mortgage Brokers president-elect Marc Savitt. And Savitt says that locking in your interest rate for less than 60 days should come free as well.

Know what can go wrong. A recent Federal Trade Commission study found that most borrowers don’t understand the fees or terms of their loan. Don’t be one of them. Ask your broker for the pros and cons of at least three different types of loans, says Steven Krystofiak, president of the Mortgage Broker Association for Responsible Lending.

With any adjustable-rate loan, make sure your broker explains how your rate and payment could change and what your worst-case scenario is. The loan disclosures you get will also document how high your rate can go. Make sure they agree with what your broker told you.

Negotiate fees. Once you’ve decided on a loan, scrutinize the closing costs. You’ll find them on the disclosure document known as the good-faith estimate, which the lender is required to provide within three days of your applying for a loan. The estimate should also include the yield spread premium, commonly listed as YSP or POC (”paid outside of closing”).

Pay attention to the total, not the individual charges. Nationwide, the total out-of-pocket closing costs for a $200,000 loan, not including taxes or your prorated portion of bank interest and insurance, average 1.5 percent. If the costs add up to much more than that, ask the broker to cut his fees.

At this stage your only outlay is probably the $20 or so for your credit check and possibly $350 for an appraisal, so you can still credibly threaten to go elsewhere if the fees seem unfair. Once you agree on the costs, ask the broker to guarantee them through closing.

Tolerate no changes. Brokers have no legal obligation to stick to their estimates. But they should do so, or at least notify you of any changes before closing. Request your final papers a day in advance and compare them with the good-faith estimate.

“There should be no surprises when you get to the closing table,” says Savitt. Demand that any changes revert to what was contained in the estimate. If the broker won’t budge, appeal to the lender.

And remember: When it comes to the home-lending process, there’s only one person who’s working just for you. That’s you.

It’s gotten a lot tougher for first-time home buyers to secure a mortgage these days.

With the mortgage industry rocked by soaring delinquency and foreclosure rates, particularly in the subprime loans made to people with weaker credit, lenders have become a lot stricter about doling out the dough. They have tightened their credit standards, requiring higher down payments, better credit scores and more documentation on income and assets.

These higher hurdles hit first-time home buyers, who often struggle just to accumulate a down payment, particularly hard, experts said.

“Even six months ago, it was pretty easy to get almost anyone a mortgage,” said Bethany Marten, founder of Baldwin-based Home Buyers’ Resource Center, a buyers’ agency, and Mortgage 1, 2, 3, a mortgage broker. “In the past, really marginal buyers could get mortgages. But we have a lot of people we can’t do loans for right now.”

Until earlier this year, home buyers enjoyed more than a decade of easy credit, which helped fuel the housing frenzy. Lenders not only loosened their standards but also created so-called “exotic mortgages,” which allowed people of lesser means and weaker credit to buy homes. Lenders offered mortgages requiring no down payment or carrying low initial interest rates for the first two to five years that made monthly payments affordable. Such mortgages made it possible for many first-timers to buy homes.

Now, a growing number of people are defaulting on those mortgages, particularly subprime ones made to people with blemished credit histories. As a result, lenders are pulling back on their offerings. In the past two weeks, for instance, several have said they are eliminating so-called 2/28 loans, which are usually subprime loans that have a lower fixed rate for the first two years before jumping to a higher adjustable rate.

Also, federal and state regulators are cracking down on lenders, saying they should take into account not only the borrowers’ ability to handle the monthly payments during the teaser rate but also when that rate expires and the payments grow.

Lenders said this practice will cut many people — including a lot of first-time home buyers — out of the market.

“It will preclude millions from buying homes,” said John Robbins, chairman of the Mortgage Bankers Association. Already “the industry is making the most conservative loans that it has in 10 years.”

Lack big down payment

Today’s first-time home buyers face many hurdles, experts said. Most of the ones whom Marten sees have saved less than $20,000 for a down payment, which may sound substantial but is typically less than 5 percent of a home’s price, she said. On Long Island, the median home price is roughly $445,000. Also, many have poorly managed credit or a lack of credit, so their FICO credit scores are 600 or below (out of a possible 850), said Marten, whose clientele is about 75 percent first-timers.

Until the tightening, Marten could find a lender for those with relatively poor credit or with little for a down payment or with scant income documentation. She could secure a mortgage for people with credit scores of 620 but with no proof of income or with small, if any, down payments. She could get loans for clients who needed 100 percent financing but did not have the best credit history.

She turned away maybe 5 percent of applicants.

No more. Now, she said, she tells about one-third of applicants that they aren’t going to qualify.

Loan officers are now being more stringent even when it comes to getting prime mortgages, which carry lower interest rates and are offered to people with stronger financial records, said Marianne Garvin, president of the Centereach-based Community Development Corp. of Long Island, which assists first-time home buyers in securing a loan. They are looking for credit scores of at least 660, up from 600 a few months ago.

“They want to see a stronger credit profile to get a conventional mortgage,” Garvin said.

Before he could get approved for a mortgage and enter a lottery for a CDC affordable housing development in Mattituck, Russell Smith said, he knew he had to improve his credit profile, which was about 600. So he pulled his credit reports last year, found some mistakes and cleared them up. He also caught up with payments on his student loans and took care of some outstanding debts. Finally, he raised his score to the high 600s — and got approval for a loan through a U.S. Department of Agriculture home financing program. He’s getting a 33-year fixed rate mortgage at 5.75 percent.

“They kept saying you need to do this and need to do that. I kept going back and forth,” Smith said. “But when they told me I was approved, it was all worth it.”

Lenders like to see savings

Newsday Article

I found this on Bankrate, its pretty interesting:

If you want free electricity from the sun but don’t want rows of pool-table-size solar panels spoiling the lines of your roof, there’s now an easier, more attractive solar option.

Building-integrated photovoltaic solar power, or BIPV, has taken the ugly and awkward out of residential solar power systems.

Simply put, BIPV is the mixing of solar power cells into materials you’d normally see on a building, such as roof shingles or the UV coating on a window or skylight.

It’s most popular application is the solar shingle, where solar cells are glued or mounted to the surface of a common roofing material, such as slate, cement or asphalt. The shingles are then installed like a traditional roof. The solar panels are no longer on the roof; they are the roof.

The technology has been around for about five years, but it’s become more popular recently, thanks to declining prices, federal tax credits and state incentives for homeowners installing alternative energy systems.

Homeowners qualify for a tax credit of 30 percent of the cost of a solar power system, up to $2,000. The credit, which reduces the tax owed dollar-for-dollar, was set to expire in 2007 but has been extended through 2008. Most states offer additional incentives, including grants, low-interest loans and state tax deductions.

When combined, incentives can lower the upfront costs of installing a solar power system by 60 percent to 70 percent, says Noah Kaye, director of public affairs with the Solar Energy Industries Association.

The typical American household uses about 10,656 kilowatt-hours of electricity each year, or about 888 kwh per month, which means a 6-kw solar power system would be needed to cover all of that home’s electricity needs.

A 1-kw BIPV solar roof system costs about $14,000 before incentives, says Art Rivera, marketing representative for Sunslates, a solar roof tile manufacturer in Sacramento, Calif. At that cost, the typical American family would have to spend $84,000 to generate all the electricity it uses.

Her is a link to their sites : http://www.atlantisenergy.org/sunslates2.html

— Posted: April 4, 2007

Long Island’s residential housing boom is as done as Britney Spears’ marriage to Kevin Federline, according to the latest statistics from Multiple Listing Service of Long Island.MLSLI found that the median closing price in October across the region remained flat for the third month in a row, down slightly to $437,000 from $440,000 in October.

Suffolk’s median close was $390,000, matching last month’s price, according to MLSLI, while Nassau’s median climbed $5,000 to $490,000.But, as Lynne Kleinman, an agent with Daniel Gale Real Estate in Manhasset, pointed out, Five thousand is almost hard to notice when you talk about that kind of money.While the market is slowing, it remains up from a year ago, when the regional closing median was $395,000. Suffolk’s homes commanded $361,000, while the pricier Nassau market fetched $435,000.

MLS’ statistics for Long Island include Queens.What we’re seeing nationally and what we’re seeing on Long Island is a softening of the housing market, said Pearl M. Kamer, chief economist with the Long Island Association.Local buyers have more to choose from. The regional inventory has risen steadily since January and is now just shy of 31,500, up from about 30,300 in October. In Suffolk, 12,943 homes are available, up slightly from 12,642 in October and 9,352 a year ago, according to MLS.Nassau has a tighter 8,806 units available, down from 8,514 a month ago, but up from 6,210 in October 2005.

From: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4189/is_20051212/ai_n15919479