Daily Archives: January 10, 2013

NYC real estate broker confidence continues uptick | North Salem NY Realtor

1/9/13 3:02pm

New York City residential and commercial real estate brokers’ confidence levels hit their second highest ratings in December 2012 of the last seven months, according to the Real Estate Board of New York‘s Broker Confidence Index.

The Broker Confidence Index — tabulated on a scale of zero to ten, with five being neutral — was 8.12 in December 2012, second only to September 2012 when the confidence index reached 8.55.

Brokers were more confident in the market in December compared to November 2012, when in the aftermath of hurricane Sandy, broker confidence dipped to 7.55.

Waccabuc Real Estate | Housing inventory steadily declines in 2012

By December 2012, the number of homes on the market dropped 27% from the same month in 2011, according to Movoto Real Estate data.

In a typical year, the number of homes on the market rise in January and peak during the late summer and early fall. Normally, inventory falls during the colder months of the year and hit an annual low in December.

In 2012, however, inventory only dropped from January.

From November to December, inventory dropped by 9,551 homes, or about 9%. There were 105,077 homes available at the end of November, while in December there were 95,526 homes.

In 2011, the inventory declined by only 8% between the two months and 2010 only saw a 5% drop between the final two months of the year.

So what created this lack of inventory?

Most homeowners are nervous to sell their homes because they are either underwater or believe prices will continue to appreciate. Additionally, we are seeing a rise in investor demand coupled with a decrease in foreclosures.

This small pool of housing inventory pushed prices up significantly the past year. Unless this trend changes, 2013 will only be more of the same — a small inventory of expensive homes on the market.

mhopkins@housingwire.com

Building Momentum in Your Real Estate Business | Cross River Real Estate

Push vs. pull, law of attraction or just plain physics. There are certain laws of the universe at work in determining your success.

We’ve all experienced it. You get in a funk. Nothing seems to be working. You feel like you’re beating your head against a wall, your attitude tanks.  You’ve lost your mojo and so you retreat.

OR success after success, like a snowball effect, one thing leads to another. You’re on fire and you can do no wrong! Every time you turn around there are new opportunities landing in your lap seemingly out of nowhere!

Sir Isaac Newton knew a thing or two: His first law of motion states:

An object at rest will stay at rest and conversely, an object in motion will remain in motion, UNLESS compelled to change by another force.

Inertia

(as defined in Wikipedia)

  • A tendency to do nothing or to remain unchanged
  • A property of matter by which it continues in its existing state of rest or uniform motion in a straight line, unless that state is changed by an external force

Life can throw some curve balls and take you off track sometimes. Inertia is a natural response when things don’t seem to be going your way.  The problem of course is that no momentum can be built in a state of inertia.

Article continues below

–>

Ebb and flow is a natural phenomenon observed in the waves of the ocean, and in all life cycles.  We see it in Real Estate all the time. The same is true with business…Eventually the pendulum must swing back.

So how can you kickstart it and create some momentum to get things moving in your favor and create some opportunity?

Start with doing ANYTHING and incorporate these basic principles into your life:

Like attracts like.

  1. Spend time with other successful people.
  2. Review last year’s successes; rinse and repeat!
  3. Shake off any negativity and look for the positive!

Life rewards action.

  1. Commit to one small step you can make today. Focus on the little step, NOT the overwhelming hill you need to climb. ie: commit to writing one blog post a week or making one call a day to previous clients. Just getting CLEAR can be a step in the right direction.
  2. FOCUS! Try not to get sidetracked before you accomplish your goal.
  3. When you’re stuck, getting out for a walk to clear your mind and get you moving is a sure fire way to get you back on track!

 The pendulum must swing.

  1. Remember, this too shall pass. Nothing lasts forever which is great news when you’re in a funk, but kind of a bummer when you’re on a roll.
  2. Keep getting up. Trick is to enjoy it when things are going well and just breathe and keep moving forward when you’re being sucked back.
  3. Take the time to learn the lessons.

Don’t take it personally.

Whether you’re enjoying successful momentum or struggling to stay afloat, remember not to take it personally. Remain humble and don’t take yourself too seriously ~ It will be much easier to ride that wave.

Kenji Croman – Hawaiian Photographer and link image to: http://gokenji.com/

3 Things in Social Media You May Have Missed Over the Holidays | South Salem NY Realtor

This time between Christmas and New Years is always a challenging one. No matter how much you plan to work (or not work), there are always a lot of distractions; family in town, kids home from school, others working (or not working), and more. Like many of you, I am working and taking advantage of this somewhat quiet time before the start of 2013 and catching up on what I may have missed last week in social media.

There were three very significant announcements made in social media over the last week or so, that you want to make sure you know about!

1. Archive your tweets. For the first time ever, Twitter has announced on its blog that you can now archive all of your tweets. Previously, it was tough to see even a few days of tweets because they would simply “drop off” the Twitter radar and not be available to view. We know tweets have been catalogued by the Library of Congress for some time, but the ability to go in and download all of your previous tweets is a big step.

As a real estate agent, this is just one more step in the ability to archive conversations that you may have with clients and potential clients through Twitter. For many in compliance industries, like our friends in the financial services, mortgage and insurance industries, this is invaluable and will open the door to many more in those industries being able to utilize social media.

To download your tweets, according to the Twitter blog, “Go to Settings and scroll down to the bottom to check for the option to request your Twitter archive. If you do see it, go ahead and click the button. You’ll receive an email with instructions on how to access your archive when it’s ready for you to download.”

2. Capture and share videos instantly to YouTube. YouTube announced on its blog the new YouTube Capture app (available for iOS only for now.) This app allows users to point and shoot a video and then save and share it immediately to YouTube. This app is a huge improvement over the previous ability to send a video to YouTube – which always seemed clunky and take quite a long time to upload.

Article continues below

–>

In addition, the app allows you to do color correction, improve stabilization, trim your video and add music tracks. For agents who have been a little shy of doing video, this could be an interesting option – especially since it takes the cumbersome upload process out of the equation.

3. Facebook launched its ‘Nearby’ feature. Facebook announced a new feature available for iOS and Android devices called Nearby. Now, people can search via their app friends who have liked a location and who recommends it. You can also share locations that you like with your friends.

Personally, I think this is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of Facebook’s integration of local search into its app. For real estate professionals, this could be a huge opportunity down the line. Think of all the community, dining and neighborhood info you share with clients you are working with – imagine if that was tied to a listing on Facebook? It will be interesting to see the next iteration of this feature, but for now I recommend getting familiar with it – it’s certainly a big step for Facebook.

What else did we miss this week? Let me know in the comments below and what you think about these three big announcements.

I’d also like to personally thank all of you who read my posts here on Inman Next week in and week out. This is 339th post for Inman (can you believe it?!) Your support, comments, likes and shares do not go unnoticed! Wishing all of you a very happy and prosperous New Year! See you in January!

Existing Home Sales (NAR)- Dec 22, 2010 | Bedford NY Real Estate

Existing Home Sales

(12-22-10 Release)

                               Nov    Oct   Sep    Aug     Jul     Jun     May     Apr

Total  EHS             4.68   4.43   4.53   4.12   3.84   5.26   5.66    5.79

Months’ Supply      9.5    10.5    10.6   12.0    12.5    8.9     8.3      8.4

 Source: National Association of Realtors; 2010; annualized, seasonally adjusted.

 Highlights

  •  Existing home sales rose 5.6 percent to 4.68 annualized units in November from a month earlier.
  • November existing home sales pace is 27.9 percent below the pace of a year ago but the year ago number’s were highly biased upward due to the homebuyer tax credit program.
  • The months’ supply fell to 9.5 in November from 10.5 in October.
  • The median existing-home price increased 0.4% on a year-ago basis.

 Analysis

The relatively healthy monthly rise in existing home sales reinforces the outlook for housing demand in light of the temporary setbacks in foreclosure proceedings. The resale market also experienced a meaningful drop in the inventory of homes available for sale, reflecting the postponements due to the moratoriums on foreclosure proceedings.  However, the drop in inventory will prove temporary when the moratoria are lifted.

Looking ahead, home sales are expected to post modest gains throughout the year. The key drivers of housing demand: jobs, income and confidence, are not expected to break out of last year’s funk anytime soon. And a homebuyer tax credit is not in the offing this year to provide a temporary boost in housing demand like it did in the first half of 2010.

2011 will likely be an improvement over last year, but a full recovery in housing is not in the cards. A less than stellar economy combined with an excessive amount of distressed sales and depressed home values will keep a full fledged recovery at bay.

Case-Shiller Composites Sank to New Lows in Q1 | Pound Ridge NY Real Estate

All three headline Case-Shiller composites fell to new post-crisis lows in the first quarter of 2012, wiping out all price gains realized since prices peaked in 2006, a decline of approximately 35 percent through March 2012.

The Case-Shiller national composite fell by 2.0 percent in the first quarter of 2012 and was down 1.9 percent versus the first quarter of 2011. The 10- and 20-City Composites posted respective annual returns of -2.8 percent and -2.6 percent in March 2012. Month-over-month, their changes were minimal; average home prices in the 10-City Composite fell by 0.1 percent compared to February and the 20-City remained basically unchanged in March over February.

In addition to the three composites, five cities – Atlanta, Chicago, Las Vegas, New York and Portland – also saw average home prices hit new lows. This is an improvement over the nine cities reported last month.

In March 2012, 12 MSAs posted monthly gains, seven declined and one remained unchanged. Phoenix posted the largest annual rate of change, up 6.1 percent, while home prices in Atlanta fell the most over the year, down 17.7 percent.

Atlanta, Cleveland, Detroit and Las Vegas were the four cities where average home prices were below their January 2000 levels. With an index level of 102.77 Chicago is not far behind.

Prices in the Case-Shiller national composite index peaked at 189.93 in the second quarter of 2006 and fell to an initial low of 129.17 in the first quarter of 2009. It reached a new low in 125.79 in the first quarter of 2011. Prices recovered during the second and third quarters last year only to triple dip to 123.33 in Q1 2012.

Prices will Moderate in 2013 | Bedford Corners NY Real Estate

Home prices in 2012 finished the year strong, boosted off the market lows of early 2012. Hot markets in the year to come will reflect improving local economies and low price points.

Nationally, home prices in December rose 0.9 percent over the rolling quarter, nearly unchanged from November’s quarterly rate of growth of 1.0 percent. National year-over-year price gains picked up steam in December, coming in at 4.9 percent. December’s quarterly trends were mostly flat, indicating potential fiscal cliff and winter impact.  Closing the year out just shy of 5.0 percent, December yearly gains, as measured against the market lows at the start of 2012, will likely be a high watermark for the near-term recovery, according to Clear Capital’s Home Data IndexTM (HDI) Market Report with data through December 2012.

Mild quarterly gains likely reflect some pause from buyers who tend to put purchase plans off over the holiday and winter season and in the months to come, some potential buyers get priced out of the market.

Through 2013, national home prices are forecasted to grow by 2.1 percent. The more than 50 percent reduction is expected partly because of a higher starting price base, now a full year into the recovery. At the regional level, there are no surprises in year-over-year growth. The West leads while the Northeast continues to struggle. Market lows made fourth quarter prices look strong, and growth will moderate in the year to come.

“Overall the housing recovery still shows evidence of pushing ahead, as indicated by our December home price trends and 2013 forecasts. Quarterly home prices mostly mirrored those of last month and suggest that some buyers took pause in the initial winter months. Yet, looking back over 2012, national yearly price gains of 4.9% are still strong”, said Dr. Alex Villacorta, Director of Research and Analytics at Clear Capital. “The housing landscape, however, could quickly shift should the broader economy tumble back into recessionary territory. Whether by perception or actual decrease in buying power for the average consumer, residual effects of the fiscal cliff deal could cause housing to change course. But as it stands now, home prices have continued to show resiliency by posting their largest yearly gain in nearly two and a half years.

“2013 should be interesting for the housing market, where national gains should continue to see upward growth but likely at a more modest rate. Keeping in mind our current gains are off market lows at the start of the year, 2013 gains will be measured against a higher price floor after a full year of recovery. On a local level, we expect to see shifts in the status quo for some hot markets, like Phoenix, as some buyer segments get priced out of recovering markets. As those buyers search for opportunities, markets with improving local economies and low price points, like Minneapolis, could become the new targets. At the end of the day, there are still plenty of great deals to be had across the country, investors looking for decent return, and pent up homebuyer demand on the verge of materializing, ” said Villacorta.

The West experienced a continuation of impressive year-over-year growth, up to 11.8 percent in December. The ramp up in gains again reflects a market that was hard hit, and, like national prices, saw its lowest price level at the start of 2012. A forecast of just 2.8 percent for 2013 points to a moderating recovery for the West, as buyers adjust to a higher priced market.

The last time the South saw gains at year’s end was in 2006. So the region’s year-end gains of 4.0 percent marks an overall great year for the South. Only once this year did the region see gains over 4.0 percent, while 2.0 percent price gains are forecasted through 2013.

This time last year, the Midwest saw prices fall by 3.0 percent. Current home prices have notably improved with December prices rising 3.0% year-over-year, just 0.1 percentage point higher than in November. The Midwest’s recovery is forecasted to unfold into 2013, with expected yearly gains of 2.3 percent.

As expected, the Northeast saw the lowest rate of yearly growth among all four regions at 1.5 percent. While it was the first to see minor gains of 0.1 percent in January 2012, the regional recovery never took hold. Yearly price gains only broke out above 2.0 percent once over the year. And more of the same is forecasted in 2013, with yearly gains expected to hit only 1.4 percent.