Daily Archives: May 5, 2014

Mount Kisco Among Best Places To Live In New York | Mt Kisco Real Estate

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Real estate blog Movoto.com recently named Mount Kisco the fourth-best place to live in New York.

Movoto compiled a list of municipalities within the state with 10,000 people or more from the 2010 U.S. census. The site then ranked the 87 qualifying areas on the following criteria:

  • Total amenities.
  • Quality of life (cost of living, median home price, median rent, median household income, and student- to-teacher ratio).
  • Total crimes.
  • Tax rates (sales tax and income tax).
  • Unemployment.
  • Commute time.
  • Weather (temperature and air quality).

Mount Kisco ranked in the top 10 in three categories: unemployment (fourth), tax rate (seventh) and quality of life (ninth). The town of nearly 11,000 also excelled in weather, coming in at No.14.

Mount Kisco’s worst category was in commute time, ranking 55th out of 87 communities.

The overall score of 22 for Mount Kisco placed it just behind Mamaroneck, Tarrytown and White Plains, which took the top three spots with scores of 20.71, 21.57 and 21.86, respectively.

Overall, Westchester County communities dominated the top 10, taking 10 spots. Scarsdale, Harrison, Dobbs Ferry, Ossining, Rye and New Rochelle (tied for 10th with Saratoga Springs) all made the top 10.

Port Chester, Peekskill and Yonkers all sat outside the top 10, ranking 12th through 14th, respectively.

 

 

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http://mtkisco.dailyvoice.com/lifestyle/mount-kisco-among-best-places-live-new-york

Yesterday’s Herald Building Demo Looked Incredibly Unsafe | Bedford Hills Real Estate

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Herald%20Demo%20People%20Running.jpg
[Screen grabs from Miami Herald video]

This is one of those situations where the visual evidence should be presented without much added argument, because we do not yet have corroborating evidence, and frankly because it speaks for itself. The Miami Herald recorded yesterday’s surprise demolition of the old Miami Herald Building by Genting, its new owners (apparently the Herald found out about it not from Genting but from one of the construction teams that wanted press coverage). Visible in that video recording are (A) people running for it, and (B) a Metromover car gliding on its tracks through the giant cloud of dust as it was still spreading through the city. WTF? That is all, for now.

 

 

 

 

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http://miami.curbed.com/archives/2014/04/29/yesterdays-herald-building-demo-looked-incredibly-unsafe.php

What $3,400/Month Can Rent You Around New York City | Bedford NY Real Estate

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7 images


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↑ This full-floor townhouse apartment on Saint Johns Place and Fifth Avenue in Park Slope has three bedrooms, which is good, and a cat sleeping on one of the beds, which is adorable. It’s asking $3,500/month.

See how other neighborhoods stack up >>


Click here to view the full photogallery.

↑ On the Upper West Side, a corner one-bedroom in condop building on 89th Street is asking $3,300/month. It does not allow pets, but the building offers such amenities as a gym, doorman, concierge, roof deck, and laundry.

 

 

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http://ny.curbed.com/archives/2014/05/02/what_3400month_can_rent_you_around_new_york_city.php

Catching Great Yogi Berra Lists Longtime Home Base in N.J. | Pound Ridge Real Estate

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Location: Montclair, N.J.
Price: $888,000
The Skinny: Set aside any preconceived notions of what the home of an octogenarian baseball player with a propensity for folksy malapropisms should look like, and you won’t be surprised at the restrained, charming interior of the long-time home of legendary Yankees catcher Yogi Berra, which just hit the market in Montclair, N.J. The relatively tasteful look of the home just might spring from the influence of his late wife, Carmen, who was known for her elegance and of whom he once remarked, “I guess I’ve got a smart wife.” Home to the pair (who were married for over 65 years!) from 1974 until her passing in March, the former Yankee great is reported to now be looking to downsize. Though as the voluble Hall of Famer would say, “A nickel ain’t worth a dime anymore”, the asking price of $888K isn’t bad for a 112-year-old, six-bedroom home less than 25 miles from Yankee Stadium, especially one as obviously well cared-for as this one.

 

 

 

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http://curbed.com/archives/2014/05/02/catching-great-yogi-berra-lists-longtime-home-base-in-nj.php

 

 

 

 

House price confidence ‘inflating bubble’ | Bedford Corners Real Estate

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Britons have taken a one-way bet on house prices that could be creating bubbles in some parts of the country, research suggests.

Rapid growth in house prices is expected to continue over the next two years, according to a survey by Genworth Financial, the mortgage insurance group. It said that 72pc of respondents expected prices to keep rising until the end of 2016.

People living in London and the South of England were much more likely to believe that prices in their area would increase. The survey showed 80pc of residents in the capital thought prices would rise, compared with just 62pc of people in the North.

Rapidly increasing house prices have also made it harder for first-time buyers to get on the housing ladder.

More than four-fifths of the 1,000 people surveyed said saving for a deposit remained the key obstacle to owning a home. Genworth said 79pc of adults needed help from their parents to obtain a mortgage. “With most households anticipating that house prices are going to continue to rise, while wage levels will not, the difficulties they face in saving for a deposit are not going to go away,” said Simon Crone, the vice president of Genworth.

 

 

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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/houseprices/10808014/House-price-confidence-inflating-bubble.html

 

Lending standards aren’t getting looser | Armonk Real Estate

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Lending standards aren’t getting looser; the market is changing.

That’s the findings from a study by the Urban Institute.

Study authors Jun Zhu, Laurie Goodman and Bing Bai say that market composition change explains the decrease in average credit scores for conventional and Federal Housing Administration mortgages.

Despite rising home prices, the mortgage lending rules have remained tight, inhibiting housing demand and economic growth, they say.

The price of FHA mortgages compared to agency loans with private mortgage insurance have driven would-be FHA borrowers to the GSEs, according to the report.

“Our analysis shows credit scores on conventional mortgages sold to government-sponsored enterprises like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac averaged 752, down from 758 a year earlier. Credit scores on purchase loans backed by FHA declined even more, averaging 686, a 11-point drop down from 697,” the study says. “But pooling the loans together reveals that credit scores actually remained the same. The average credit score of all purchase loans stayed around 730 during the one-year period—no actual credit easing.”

 

 

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http://www.housingwire.com/articles/29884-urban-institute-lending-standards-arent-getting-looser

Housing recovery divided | Chappaqua Real Estate

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Monday Morning Cup of Coffee takes a look at stories across the HousingWire news desk, with more coverage to come on bigger issues.

As the first-quarter earnings season starts to come to a close, a new trend started to unfold in CEO letters to shareholders, according to an article in CNBC.

CEOs usually send the letters along with the company’s proxy statement in the spring because proxy statements are due within four months of every company’s fiscal year ending.

The article explained that most CEOs have a tendency to take this time to boast about their accomplishments.

But this year was a little different, with some CEOs taking the opportunity to rmark on recent, not-so-grand events. A full list of CEOs telling it like it is is available in the original USA Today article.

JPMorgan Chase (JPM) CEO Jamie Dimon dealt with a year filled billions of dollars of settlements, mostly related to mortgage securities.

“The bad news was bad,” he wrote. “The most painful, difficult and nerve-wracking experience that I have ever dealt with professionally was trying to resolve the legal issues we had this past year.”

However, Dimon stressed that despite all of the negative, JP Morgan came out strengthened. And, despite the loss, Dimon’s 2013 compensation package was raised to $20 million.

Thousands of homeowners will open their mailboxes to a pleasant surprise as Everbank Financial is prepared to write $1,050 checks to 25,389 of its customers, even though no errors were found in reviews of their foreclosure files, an article in The Washington Post explained.

 

 

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http://www.housingwire.com/blogs/1-rewired/post/29896-monday-morning-cup-of-coffee-jpmorgan-ceo-tells-all-housing-recovery-divided-across-nation

Home Advisor Cost Guide: Roofing | Mount Kisco Real Estate

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Cost Guide: Roofing

When installing a new roof, the biggest decision you’re going to have to make, outside of choosing which roofing pro to hire, is what material to use. If you’re replacing an existing roof this will likely be an easier decision, as there’s a good chance you’ll go with the same material you’re replacing. The decision gets a bit more complicated if you’re building a new home. However, before jumping into the pros and cons of each material, let’s take a look at the two factors that will affect your budget independent of the material you choose.

Not surprisingly, the size of your roof plays a big role in determining the project cost. And if you’re going to be talking to a roofer, it helps to know some of their lingo – specifically, the term they use to measure the size of your roof. While many contractors base their estimates on square footage, roofing pros go by squares, where each square is 100 square feet. So if your roof is 2,000 square feet it will be 20 squares. The more squares, the more the project will cost (most of the time).

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http://welcome.homeadvisor.com/costguide_roofing?m=homesense&entry_point_id=27783150

Step Inside the 1946 Offices of Architect Morris Lapidus | South Salem Real Estate

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14 images


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Despite being best known for speckling Miami with the Neo-baroque and Modern hotels that have since defined old Miami architecture, in the 1940s, architect Morris Lapidus actually had an office headquarters on New York City’s 49th Street. These photos, snagged from the Library of Congress’ Gottscho-Schleisner Collection, were taken years before Lapidus got his most famous commission, Miami’s (James Bond-approved!) Fontainebleau Hotel, and in fact the interiors are far from bold, a surprise coming from a man whose design philosophy was “if you create the stage setting and it’s grand, everyone who enters will play their part.” Sure, there may be no sweeping curves or layer-cake chandeliers, though the photos are far from boring. Have a look at the midcentury office delights—floating bookcases! wood paneling! glass partitions! a hand coming out of a wall!(??)—in the gallery below.

 

 

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http://curbed.com/archives/2014/05/02/step-inside-1948-offices-of-architect-morris-lapidus.php

Clinton Hill Mansion Owned by Two Ex-Mayors Wants $9.875M | Waccabuc Real Estate

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↑ In Clinton Hill, this gorgeous, 9,000-square-foot mansion is, according to the listing, “SPLENDID BEYOND BELIEF.” For once, that’s some brokerbabble we can really get behind. William Tubby built the house for Brooklyn mayor Charles A. Schieren before Brooklyn and Manhattan were consolidated and, according to rumor, Prohibition-era mayor Jimmy Walker also lived in the house for a time. There’s a lovely library with floor-to-ceiling shelves, a living room with “a hidden projector screen,” six wood-burning fireplaces in total, and a massive backyard and patio. It kind of looks like a less-whimsical/cluttered version of that house from The Royal Tenenbaums. Last year, it hit the rental market for $14,000/month, but now it’s looking to sell for an impressive $9.875 million.

 

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http://ny.curbed.com/archives/2014/05/04/clinton_hill_mansion_owned_by_two_exmayors_wants_9875m.php