Geoff Gove's (geoffgove) Blog

Spent this morning at a productive meeting of Bloomfield Neighborhood Association today.Most of the meeting was spent updating our brochure and redefining the goals of the group. The BNA was established in 1997 to provide a forum for neighborhood groups to meet with Bloomfield's Mayor and to dis...

The advent of QE2 has led many pundits to make hopeful predictions that Mortgage rates would decrease through the winter -- or at least stay at current record lows. In the past few days, we've seen 30 year rates as low as 4.05%. Now, some are predicting that the Fed's efforts could backfire in it...

Yesterday, I talked to the owner of a 3 family homer who had fallen behind on his mortgage. He had lost his job and two of his tenants . After getting a lower paying job, he managed to get an agreement for a trial loan modification program through his mortgage holder.He told me that he has made l...

A century before the Multiple Listing Service and Realtor.com, the best way for a prospective home buyer to find out what was for sale was to walk into a Realtor's shop and see what he had to sell. If he was lucky,he could look at a single black and white print from a 5 x 8 glass plate negative.N...

If recent activity is any indication, there are significantly more prospective renters out there than buyers in today's housing market. While there are many reasons folks may have little choice in the matter, there may never be a better time than the present to invest in your own home. If you cru...

Our latest Snowmageddens brought back memories of one of the earliest comic books I can remember reading. Little Lulu was a plain Jane ageless pre-teen with a thimble-hat, whose parents were rarely seen or heard, but had countless humorous encounters with her boy friend, Tubby, brother Alvin and ...

Had an interesting encounter with a gent with a different approach to open houses. He's not licensed as a Realtor, but apparently gets paid to snag passers by(like me)  who he sees pausing in front of  steps to condo lobby -- from the relative warmth of his minivan a couple of houses away. He the...

  During my early photojournalistic years, I spent an unforgettable  Thanksgiving weekend in Haiti during the reign of Papa Doc. I'll never forget the beauty, dignity, and graciousness of the people I encountered in spite of their intolerable living conditions.  Hunger, brutality, and shantytowns...

We were always under the impression that members of the public are entitled to videotape public meetings but yours truly was recently stopped mid-frame by Bloomfield Planning Board Chairman, Alan LaQuaglia.  The Planning Board attorney gave no legal basis for his ruling so we wondered if there w...

Whether your a 1st time buyer, or a homeowner looking to refinance or modify your existing mortgage, it's more important than ever to "qualify" your lender -- just as they're qualifying you. The lowest interest rate isn't always the best deal. Closing costs and prepayment penalties, for example, ...