Monthly Archives: June 2014

The reality behind NAR’s spin on home sales | Pound Ridge Homes

No matter what housing market conditions we are experiencing at any given time, one thing is as predictable as the sun rising and setting each day: The National Association of Realtors will say that “Now is a great time to buy or sell real estate.”

In Trey Garrison’s piece “4 charts show the phony thrill of existing home sales” appearing online in HousingWire on June 23^rd he wrote that NAR recently put out a news release announcing existing home sales were up 4.9% in May over the previous month.

He then gives graphic evidence through several charts that actually show when sifting through additional data, the NAR “good news” turns out to be no more than spin. Supporting that notion is his comment that although the May 2014 increase over April is happy news indeed, it is actually 5% below the figure of May 2013.

While this constant spinning is no surprise to anyone who has been in the housing business for as long as I have (30-plus years) and who has extensive experience in public relations, it should give one pause when trying to determine the true health of the housing market and overall economic conditions.

It is one thing for the Obama administration to continually put out misleading (at best) information trying to convince the American people that we are in the middle of not just a housing recovery, but an economic one as well when nothing could be farther than the truth, it is another when the private sector follows suit.

NAR, which has long been a distinguished organization, serves an exceptionally large constituency – Realtors across America.

And, yes, it is true that they would rather disseminate positive, encouraging information about why it may be desirable to buy or sell real estate to be supportive of their membership.

http://www.housingwire.com/blogs/1-rewired/post/30426-effinger-the-reality-behind-nars-spin-on-home-sales

Mortgage apps continue slide after last week’s free fall | Bedford Corners Real Estate

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Mortgage applications continued their decline after last week’s 9.2% free fall, dropping another 1% for the week ending June 20, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey.

This comes despite mortgage rates continuing their decline, and a serious slowdown in home price appreciation.

The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, decreased 1% on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier to the lowest level since April 2014. On an unadjusted basis, the Index decreased 2% compared with the previous week.

The Refinance Index decreased 1% from the previous week to the lowest level since May 2014.

“Another dip in mortgage applications is particularly disappointing after the welcome news of increased home sales earlier this week,” said Quicken Loans vice president Bill Banfield. “While we have seen many of the indicators regain the footing they lost in the recession, housing cannot reach its stride until the employment picture attains stability.”

$16M For a Winged Modern With a Massive ‘Play’ Basement | Chappaqua Real Estate

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Location: Las Vegas, Nev.
Price: $15,900,000
The Skinny: If the design of this sleek, modern home in Las Vegas puts you in mind of some of the newer resorts that have sprouted up along the Strip, there’s a good reason for that. The 13,000-square-foot luxury manse was designed by its owners, the resort architects Jon Sparer and John Klai, who between them have had a hand in designing hotels like Mandalay Bay and the Luxor Twin Towers, as well as overseeing the renovation of The Palms and the Hard Rock Las Vegas. The home—dubbed J2 after the architectural duo’s first names—features a rare Las Vegas basement with 6,000 square feet of entertainment options, including a bowling alley, spa, maple tree bar, 2,000-bottle wine refrigerator and screening room, which is connected to the rest of the three-story house by an elevator whose floors are marked “Play”, “Eat”, and “Sleep”. The five-bedroom, nine-bathroom home also boasts green design features such as rammed earth walls, a roof wing with solar panels, and shaded glass walls. It’s asking $15.9M.

Record-breaking $147 million home once sold for $120 | Armonk Real Estate

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The most expensive home in the history of the United States once sold for $120. Not $120 million. 120 dollars.

The record-breaking sale occurred last month when hedge fund manager Barry Rosenstein bought a property that can only be described as a “spread.”

Rosenstein bought the property in the East Hamptons in New York for $147 million. According to an article from Forbes, the property once sold for $120.

Admittedly, the $120 sale did take place in 1901, but that’s still an astronomical amount of appreciation for the value of the property. In fact, it’s an appreciation of 122,499,900%. That’s 122 million percent!

The property’s history is particularly fascinating. According to the Forbes article:

The property’s roots trace all the way back to Lion Gardiner, who in 1639 and with a grant from King Charles I, settled ”Gardiners Island” in the bay off Long Island’s South Fork, creating the first English colonial settlement in what would become New York State. Gardiner purchased the property from the Montaukett Indians for “one large dog, one gun, some powder and shot, some rum and several blankets, worth in all about Five Pounds sterling.”

In its time, the property has been owned by a group that included: Pan Am founder Juan Trippe; insurance salesman and tennis promoter Julian Myrick; grandfather of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis; James Lee; Howard Dean, grandfather of the former presidential candidate; and A. Wallace Chauncey.

In recent years, Christopher H. Browne, the value investor who was managing director of New York investment firm Tweedy, owned the property until his death in 2009. He purchased it for $13.4 million in 1996. He left the property to his partner Andrew Gordon, who died of cancer in 2013.

Rosenstein purchased the property for nearly $115 million more than Browne paid for the property in 1996. And for nearly $147 million more than David Gardner, Lion’s descendant, paid for it in 1901.

http://www.housingwire.com/blogs/1-rewired/post/30398-record-breaking-147-million-home-once-sold-for-120

Mark Cuban talks housing and student loan bubbles | Mount Kisco Real Estate

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Billionaire Mark Cuban (who may or may not be Batman) talks about the student loan bubble, which he says will burst and end badly for colleges, just like the housing bubble. These collapses, he says, will put colleges out of business.

“It’s inevitable at some point there will be a cap on student loan guarantees. And when that happens you’re going to see a repeat of what we saw in the housing market: when easy credit for buying or flipping a house disappeared we saw a collapse in the price housing, and we’re going to see that same collapse in the price of student tuition, and that’s going to lead to colleges going out of business.”

HousingWire’s favorite CNBC reporter turns her attention and her fabulous deltoids to the surge in apartment rentals, which is driven in large measure by the aforementioned student debt problem, housing affordability and tighter lending standards.

National apartment occupancy in May soared to the highest level in at least six years, according to Axiometrics, an apartment data and research company. Ninety-five percent of all units are filled, even as thousands of new units are becoming available.

“It’s a pleasant surprise because it’s coming at a time when new supply is flooding the market,” said Stephanie McCleskey, Axiometrics‘ director of research. “One reason occupancy is rising is that, not only are people moving into these new units, but they’re also moving into Class B units at a lower price point.”

http://www.housingwire.com/blogs/1-rewired/post/30392-mark-cuban-talks-housing-and-student-loan-bubbles

National prices now just 12% off their peak | North Salem Real Estate

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Home prices nationally rose 0.9% in April, which is up 6.4% year-over-year, according to the most comprehensive and latest report from Black Knight Financial Services.

The report is based on April 2014 residential real estate transactions.

This puts U.S. home prices at just 12% off their 2006 peak.

The Music City, Nashville, hit a new peak in April. It was among seven of 40 largest metro areas to do so.

Click below to see the chart.

Nineteen of 20 largest states see month-over-month growth with no declines.

Looking at the states, Georgia and Massachusetts led monthly gain with 1.6% monthly growth, while Iowa and Arizona brought up the rear with 0.4% and 0.0%, respectively.

http://www.housingwire.com/articles/30399-black-knight-home-prices-up-09-for-april

Housing inventory jumps 11.8% but first-time buyers still locked out | Waccabuc Real Estate

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After plunging throughout 2012 and for much of 2013, and rising only modestly through the beginning of this year, the inventory of all for-sale homes nationwide spiked in May, jumping 11.8% year-over-year according to Zillow (Z).

But most of those gains in inventory were made among homes priced in the middle and top one-third of home values, according to Zillow Real Estate Market Reports.

The number of homes available for sale in the most affordable price bracket, those homes most sought by first-time homebuyers, fell year-over-year in 28 of the nation’s largest metro areas analyzed by Zillow.

“It’s good to see overall inventory rising. It’s likely that many would-be sellers have decided to capitalize on recent home value gains, particularly as the pace slows, and list their home for sale now in order to move into a new home while mortgage interest rates remain low,” said Zillow chief economist Stan Humphries. “But persistent inventory constraints at the low end of the market continue to make it a tough environment for first-time and lower-income homebuyers. Low inventory and high demand can lead to rapid price spikes, which make homes even more difficult to afford for many buyers. Hopefully the inventory gains we’re seeing in the middle and upper tiers of the market will begin trickling down to the most affordable homes soon.”

http://www.housingwire.com/articles/30393-housing-inventory-jumps-118-but-first-time-buyers-still-locked-out

Demolition Slated For Fire-Damaged Bedford Hills Home | Bedford Hills Homes

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A fire-damaged house in Bedford Hills is scheduled to be torn down soon.

Bedford Supervisor Chris Burdick, in an interview, outlined the options, which involve the owner. Either demolition of the house must begin by Friday, June 20, or a postponement can be given if $125,000 in performance funding is posted and the owner signs an agreement.

Burdick cited possible injury and trespassing as problems at the structure.

The home was damaged by a three-alarm fire in January 2013, and several departments provided mutual aid, Daily Voice reported in the aftermath.

In a memo, Steve Fraietta, Bedford’s building inspector, outlined several issues and recommended that the house at 109 Stone Bridge Lane be demolished.

The listed owner of the property is Ryann McCarthy. He could not be reached for comment, although his attorney, a video of the Tuesday, June 17, Town Board meeting shows, said that his client began bringing equipment.

In the video, there was also discussion about the timeline possibilities. Addressing the paid extension option at the meeting, Burdick mentioned that the completion deadline would become Aug. 15. A condition of the demolition permit, Burdick explained at the meeting, was completion by July 15.

The 11 Most Expensive Studios in NYC Are Here to Upset You | Cross River Real Estate

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Earlier this week, Twitter caught wind of the fact that there is a 532-square-foot studio in 205 West 76th Street listed for $1.075 million, or $2,020 per square foot. From the uproar that followed, one would logically assume that this is the most expensive studio apartment in New York City, however—as you may have guessed by now—that is hardly the case. Here now, we present to you an additional 11 studio apartments currently on the market for more than $1 million in NYC. Can you guess how much the most expensive one is asking? Better question: do you even want to?

http://ny.curbed.com/archives/2014/06/19/the_11_most_expensive_studios_in_nyc_are_here_to_upset_you.php

3 Things You Didnt Know About Solar In Developing Countries | South Salem Real Estate

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1.3 billion people in the world lack access to electricity. They depend on mostly kerosene to use as light at night, which gets expensive over time and poses a lot of health risks at home (think toxic fumes and accidental fires). But there is a viable solution already available today: affordable solar energy. In the last 5 years, the cost of solar PV technology has dropped so drastically that companies are sprouting up all over the developing world to manufacture and distribute affordable solar products to light up unelectrified homes. These products range from basic torch lights to entire solar home systems that can power multiple lights, cellphone charging, radio, and even TV. So what’s enabling the off-grid solar revolution? Here are the three main reasons:

End-User Financing That Makes Sense

While the cost of solar has gone down, many of the 1.3 billion off-grid population still find the price tag on most solar products prohibitively expensive. However, solar companies have coupled their solar products with financing plans that allow customers to purchase solar products according to their level of income. These plans include monthly installments or weekly installments that span from 3 to 18 months. Some companies even go further and sell solar energy as a service similar to how people in the developed world pay their electric bills. In those cases, each family pays to keep their solar powered electricity services on, and the service will be cut off if the family stops their payment.

Looking at examples of what people currently spend on energy will put these costs and financing plans in context. A typical rural Indian household spends Rs. 150 to Rs. 300 each month on kerosene lighting. If we include diesel generators the cost goes up more. They end up spending a significant part of their overall income, which leaves them with not much funds to do anything else. A micro-grid solar project that was funded on SunFunder’s crowdfunding platform ends up costing each household Rs. 100 a month and it gives them clean, bright solar lighting and overnight cell phone charging. Solar is more affordable and better for the people’s health.

Buying Bedford Real Estate

Robert Paul Realtor buying Bedford real estate

Monthly Archives: June 2014

The reality behind NAR’s spin on home sales | Pound Ridge Homes

Mortgage apps continue slide after last week’s free fall | Bedford Corners Real Estate

$16M For a Winged Modern With a Massive ‘Play’ Basement | Chappaqua Real Estate

Record-breaking $147 million home once sold for $120 | Armonk Real Estate

Mark Cuban talks housing and student loan bubbles | Mount Kisco Real Estate

National prices now just 12% off their peak | North Salem Real Estate

Housing inventory jumps 11.8% but first-time buyers still locked out | Waccabuc Real Estate

Demolition Slated For Fire-Damaged Bedford Hills Home | Bedford Hills Homes

The 11 Most Expensive Studios in NYC Are Here to Upset You | Cross River Real Estate

3 Things You Didnt Know About Solar In Developing Countries | South Salem Real Estate

End-User Financing That Makes Sense