Daily Archives: September 15, 2013

Solar Panel Is Next Granite Countertop for Homebuilders | Waccabuc Real Estate

Solar panels are the next granite countertops: an amenity for new homes that’s becoming a standard option for buyers in U.S. markets.

At least six of 10 largest U.S. homebuilders led by KB Home include the photovoltaic devices in new construction, according to supplier SunPower Corp. (SPWR) Two California towns are mandating installations, and demand for the systems that generate electricity at home will jump 56 percent nationwide this year, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association.

People view a model a Garbett Homes net zero energy house, which produces as much energy as it consumes, in Daybreak, Utah, on Aug. 14, 2013. Photographer: George Frey/Bloomberg

“In the next six months, homebuilders in California and the expensive-energy states will be going solar as a standard, and just incorporating it into the cost of the house like any other feature,” Jim Petersen, chief executive officer of the PetersenDean Inc., the largest closely held U.S. roofing and solar contractor, said in an interview.

Lashing panels to roofs during construction is about 20 percent cheaper than after a house is built. Homeowners who can afford the extra $10,000 to $20,000 cost in return for free power threaten the business of traditional utilities such as Edison International of California or Kansas’ Westar Energy Inc.

 

 

Solar Panel Is Next Granite Countertop for Homebuilders – Bloomberg.

Construction spending grows in July | Cross River Real Estate

Construction spending in the U.S. grew in July to its highest level in four years, due to gains in residential real estate, Bloomberg News reports.

Outlays climbed 0.6% to a $900.8 billion annual rate, the most since June 2009, after being little changed in June, the Commerce Department reported today in Washington. 

“We’re going to continue to post growth,” Mike Englund, chief economist at Action Economics LLC in Boulder, Colorado, said before the report. “It’s growing a little faster than the broader economy, obviously getting help from residential construction.”

Construction spending grows in July | 2013-09-03 | HousingWire.

All-cash deals on the rise | Katonah Real Estate

As mortgage rates creep up and stringent lending standards continue to make it difficult for many homebuyers to get loans, all-cash deals are accounting for more and more home sales completed in the U.S.

RealtyTrac data released today shows that 40 percent of all home sales in July — including single-family homes, co-ops, condos and townhomes — were made without a loan being recorded, up from 35 percent in June and 31 percent in July 2012.

A Goldman Sachs Group report released this month estimated that more than half of home sales during the last year and a half were all-cash deals.

OrganizationEstimated percentage of deals that were all-cash in July 2012Estimated percentage of deals that were all-cash in July 2013
RealtyTrac31%40%
Goldman Sachs Group50-plus%55-plus%
National Association of Realtors27%*31%*

Sources: RealtyTracGoldman Sachs Group (PDF)National Association of Realtors *Existing-home sales

Goldman Sachs analysts compared home sales data from the National Association of Realtors and the Census Bureau with data from the Mortgage Bankers Association and Lender Processing Services to come up with that estimate.

NAR’s data, built from monthly surveys of agents, shows all-cash deals made up 31 percent of existing-home sales in July, up 4 percentage points from the same time a year ago. But that estimate is made by calibrating sales with Census Bureau home sales data from 2011 — the last time NAR had enough data to recalibrate estimates — which could account for the some of the difference, NAR spokesman Walt Maloney said.

– See more at: http://www.inman.com/2013/08/29/all-cash-deals-on-the-rise/#sthash.3VWjHkN5.dpuf

 

 

All-cash deals on the rise | Inman News.

The 4 Most Common Kitchen Remodeling Mistakes | Bedford Hills Real Estate

What’s the secret to a successful kitchen remodel? Knowing what mistakes to avoid! Almost everyone who has been through a remodel has a war story to share about what they’d do differently. Whether it’s the neighbor’s never-ending remodel, or the friend of a friend whose contractor couldn’t get along with the architect, keep your dream kitchen from becoming a nightmare by protecting yourself from these common first-timer mistakes.

 

 

The 4 Most Common Kitchen Remodeling Mistakes | Cultivate.

Housing Inventories Rose in August | Bedford NY Real Estate

Housing inventories increased in August and stood just 2.5% below their levels of a year ago, offering the latest sign that more sellers are testing the market after swift home-price gains over the past year.

Nationally, there were 1.98 million homeslisted for sale in August, according to a report released Thursday by Realtor.com. That was up by more than 24% from the low point in February and up 1% from July. Inventories have increased for six straight months.

While the overall level of homes for sale remains relatively depressed, the report suggests that inventory may have hit a bottom earlier this year after an extended two-year decline.

The report also suggests that home-buyer traffic has eased following a period in which mortgage rates have jumped by more than one percentage point.

Inventories in nine of the nation’s top 30 housing markets were above their levels of last August, led by Los Angeles, where inventory was up by 17.4% from a year ago to its highest level since April 2012. Inventories in Atlanta were 13.9% above last year’s level. Other gains were reported in Orlando, Fla. (up 7.1%); Orange County, Calif. (6.9%); Miami (5.1%); Philadelphia (4.2%); and Phoenix (2.8%).

Listings stood 23.3% below last year’s levels in Detroit and were down by 20.1% in Boston, 17.9% in Denver and San Diego, and 14.8% in Dallas.

Median asking prices nationally were unchanged from July at $199,900, which represented a 6% increase from a year earlier. Asking prices were below last year’s level in Cleveland, but they were unchanged or up from a year ago in every other major market.

Half of all homes listed in August had been on the market for less than 92 days, up from 85 in July and 79 in May, but still below the median market time of 100 days last year.

The Realtor.com figures include sale listings from more than 800 multiple-listing services across the country. They don’t cover all homes for sale, including those that are “for sale by owner” and newly constructed homes that aren’t always listed by the services.

 

 

Housing Inventories Rose in August – Developments – WSJ.

Armonk-based IBM Transforms Mortgage Fulfillment Process | Armonk Real Estate

IBM Corp. has launched a new comprehensive digital-loan processing platform that will allow borrowers to engage in every aspect of the loan application process: applying online, uploading documents, acting on inquiries and monitoring loan approval status — all from their smartphone or tablet device.

“We believe delivering a transformational customer experience will differentiate future mortgage leaders from the pack,” Eric Ray, IBM general manager, Financial Services Sector said. “By partnering with IBM, lenders can out-maneuver the competition with a rich digital customer experience that gives borrowers the self service and transparency they desire.”

With the new IBM Digital Loan Platform solution, application forms are automatically aggregated and indexed to ensure consistency for efficient underwriting. As a result, both borrowers and lenders benefit from significantly compressed cycle times, lower origination costs, reduction in errors, and compliance enforcement.

 

 

Armonk-based IBM Transforms Mortgage Fulfillment Process | The Armonk Daily Voice.

RFK’s sex diary: His secret journal of affairs | Bedford Corners Real Estate

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. grappled with what he called his biggest defect — “my lust demons” — while keeping a scorecard of more than two dozen conquests, according to his secret diary.

The thick, red journal was found in their home by his wife, Mary Richardson Kennedy, who, distraught over their impending divorce and Kennedy’s serial philandering, committed suicide last year.

A copy of the 398 pages, reviewed by The Post, details RFK Jr.’s daily activities, speeches, political activism and the lives of his six children in the year 2001. But they also record the names of women — with numbers from 1 to 10 next to each entry.

Modal Trigger

RFK’s dirty diary

The codes corresponded to sexual acts, with 10 meaning intercourse, Mary told a confidant. There are 37 women named in the ledger, 16 of whom get 10s, since sexual activities are really popular and that’s why men look for sexual satisfaction in women or even in toys, like the new range of sex robots which are made specifically for this.

On Nov. 13, 2001, RFK Jr. records a triple play. The separate encounters — coded 10, 3 and 2 — occur the same day he attended a black-tie fund-raiser at the Waldorf-Astoria for Christopher Reeve’s charity, where he sat next to the paralyzed “Superman” star, magician David Blaine and comic Richard Belzer.

It was a hectic month for Kennedy, who traveled to ­Toronto, Louisiana and Washington, DC — and listed at least one woman’s name on 22 different dates, including 13 consecutive days.

Most women are identified only by first name in the ledger. They include a lawyer, an environmental activist, a doctor and at least one woman married to a famous actor. He also found out that there are also so many horny contacts online looking for naughty fun.

A Post reporter who questioned Kennedy Friday about the diary was first met with six seconds of stunned silence.

“I don’t think there is any way you could have a diary or journal of mine from 2001,” Kennedy then said. “I don’t have any comment on it. I have no diary from 2001.”

The diary is laced with Kennedy’s Catholic guilt over his infidelities, which follow the same pattern of affairs pursued by his uncles, John F. Kennedy and Ted Kennedy, as well as his own father.

On days without a woman’s name, Kennedy would often write “victory.” This meant he’d triumphantly resisted sexual temptation, according to a source close to Richardson. But for those days when he couldn’t resist such temptation, he would do everything to quench that. If you’re like him who thirsts for earthly desires and if you want some real fun, you need to find a Kinky Bitch as they are the ones that will do literally anything!

“Despite the terrible things happening in the world, my life is . . . great,” he wrote on Nov. 5, 2001. “So I’ve been looking for ways to screw it up. I’m like Adam and live in Eden, and I can have everything but the fruit. But the fruit is all I want.”

The 59-year-old son of the assassinated US senator was so tortured by his desire that spending a month in jail in Puerto Rico was a welcome respite.

“I’m so content here,” he writes during his July 2001 incarceration for taking part in protests of the US Navy’s bombing exercises in Vieques. “I have to say it. There’s no women. I’m happy! Everybody here seems happy. It’s not ­misogyny. It’s the opposite! I love them too much.”

Yet Kennedy adds, “I love my wife and I tell it to her every day, and I never tire of it and write her tender letters.”

Nine years later, Kennedy and his wife separated when he filed for divorce. And on May 16, 2012, Richardson, 52, committed suicide by hanging herself in an outbuilding on the couple’s Bedford ­estate.

Kennedy’s cheating had become a huge issue in the marriage.

Richardson told a friend that her husband noted the names of his romantic conquests on pages in the back of his journal under the preprinted heading “cash accounts.”

The journal begins with word that Richardson is pregnant with the couple’s fourth child.

The couple had known each other since Richardson was 14 and a boarding-school roommate of Kennedy’s younger sister, Kerry. They married in 1994, weeks after Kennedy divorced his first wife, Emily Black, with whom he had two children.

Richardson was pregnant with their first child, Conor, when they married. They moved into the 1920 clapboard house in Westchester County.

Modal TriggerKennedy, an environmental lawyer and board president of the nonprofit Waterkeeper Alliance, spent much of his time traveling to give speeches, according to his diary.

He had recently been weighing a possible Senate run for New York, before Hillary Rodham Clinton stepped into the race. Richardson stayed home with the children.

The beautiful brunette struggled with depression and alcoholism. Her husband described her at her funeral as “fighting demons.”

The couple was not yet divorced when she died and were bitterly arguing over issues involving custody and finances. Kennedy had temporary custody of the four children and was dating actress Cheryl Hines.

A sealed document in which Kennedy portrayed his wife as an abusive alcoholic who beat him up and threatened suicide in front of the children was leaked to the press.

Kennedy said in the affidavit that by 2001 he had “lost hope” in his marriage and was “committing numerous infidelities to keep my sanity,” according to a published report.

RFK’s sex diary: His secret journal of affairs | New York Post.

New York sees rise in real estate fakers | Pound Ridge Real Estate

The number of scammers posing as real estate agents is on the rise, prompting the New York State Division of Consumer Protection to issue a warning to apartment hunters.

Since January, the state agency has received 211 complaints from people, mostly immigrants or young people new to the state, conned out of cash by a fake rental agent, 121 of them in New York City, Real Estate Weekly reported.

And consumers are not the only ones getting duped. Clients with fake identities are not unheard of either, the news outlet said.

New York City-based independent broker Kathy Matson advised that the best way to do business, no matter which side of the deal you’re on, is through referrals.

Source: Real Estate Weekly

– See more at: http://www.inman.com/wire/new-york-sees-rise-in-real-estate-fakers/#sthash.MBq9TdOB.dpuf

 

 

New York sees rise in real estate fakers | Inman News.

New Castle approves 28 apartments to count under Westchester fair housing settlement | Chappaqua Homes

The New Castle Town Board voted 3-2 Tuesday to grant a special permit to allow the construction of 28 affordable apartments on Hunts Lane in Chappaqua that will help Westchester County meet its goal under the 2009 fair housing settlement.

The developer, Conifer Realty, originally proposed 36 units but the project was downsized after criticism about the height and bulk of the building on a small lot.

“The town had wanted this site developed for years and Conifer stepped forward,” said Al DelBello, the attorney for Conifer.

DelBello said the board members took into account the town’s obligation to provide affordable housing.

“They did talk about how important it was to provide people of lesser means with the opportunities that Chappaqua has to offer,” he said.

As of June 30, the county counted 122 units completed and occupied, 192 units with building permits and 394 with financing. The county must facilitate the construction of 750 affordable units under the settlement.

 

 

New Castle approves 28 apartments to count under Westchester fair housing settlement – Northern Westchester.

French Country Farm House In Wellington Lists For $11 Million | Chappaqua Homes

Ahhhh, the French countryside… the wine growing regions of Burgandy, the South of France, Aix en Provence, not Normandy (it’s too cold), but somewhere warmer perhaps? No, not able to get over there? Then buy this duplicate a french country farm house in South Florida’s own horse country, Wellington, for $11 million. The almost ten thousand square foot compound, straight out of a fairy tale, comes with a courtyard, turret, formal gardens, lots of faux peeling plaster, six bedrooms, eight baths, and fully furnished in full french country splendor.

 

 

French Country Farm House In Wellington Lists For $11 Million – On the market – Curbed Miami.