WCBS 880 Special Series On Housing: It's A Mixed Picture In Queens
NEW YORK (WCBS 880) - In the southeastern Queens neighborhood of Cambria Heights, realtor Richard Gibbs says he wishes there was some way to wall off the short sales and foreclosures weighing on prices.
"The short sale or foreclosure is a distress sale. The market, as far as I can see, is still going down," he says.
"The longer it takes for the market to clear, the more all properties are impacted," says Jonathan Miller at Miller Samuel Appraisals.
He says, by one study, foreclosures in New York and New Jersey are now a more than 900-day-process, on average.
"I'm shooting myself in the foot, because I am a real estate broker. But this is not the market to sell if you don't have to sell. If you need to sell than you have to be more realistic with the pricing," says Gibbs.
A buyer's market is not always pretty.
WCBS 880's Paul Murnane In Queens
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"We're one of those families that got caught up in the whole financial issue and everything. So, that's why she's selling it," says Trudy - that is, of course, if the lender goes along and if they can get they're asking price.
She says her mother is hoping to sell with a $90,000 loss.
"It's very difficult to gauge exactly that moment when you hit bottom," says Dennis Rappaport of Cozy Homes.
He is, on the whole, optimistic.
"You have people that have been renting an apartment and they really want a home," says Rappaport. "That's four years of people putting off buying."
