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Blizzard in Bedford NY | Bedford NY Real Estate

Bedford NY Snow Storm today!!

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US Population Grows 10% – South and West Grow Most | Pound Ridge Real Estate

The U.S. Census Bureau on Tuesday released the first results from the 2010 census. It showed there are 308.74 million Americans, an increase of 27 million or 9.7 percent since 2000. 

About 13 million of the increase is new immigrants, while 17 million came from births by existing residents. Nearly 80 percent of the population growth was among minority families, with Hispanics registering the biggest gains.  

Most of the population growth is in the South and West. The 10 fastest-growing states had average population gains of 21 percent. The states were: 

1. Nevada
2. Arizona
3. Utah
4. Idaho
5. Texas
6. North Carolina
7. Georgia
8. Florida
9. Colorado
10. South Carolina 

States with slower growth included Ohio, New York, and Illinois. Michigan was the only state that actually lost population.

 

NAR Article

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Wish You A Merry Christmas

When a person wishes you “Merry Christmas” they are implying several things. First, the “Merry” part is a wish that you will find the season, more specifically the occasion, as cheerful, hopeful and joyous. Agreeable or pleasant are applicable too, with joyful probably being the single closest definition. 

The occasion to be joyful about is Christmas. The word Christmas is derived from “Christ’s Mass” which has its roots in the Middle English “Christemasse” and the Old English “Cristes mæsse.” 

Christ, of course, refers to Jesus Christ. The “mass” in this case comes from the English meaning and tradition of a religious feast in honor of a specific person. Christmas Day is the feast day of Christ. Christmas also means the larger season around Christmas Day or the 12 days of Christmastide. 

Christmas day, December 25th, is the celebration of Jesus’ birth. The announcement of the Angel to the Shepherds in the Gospel of Luke clarifies the sentiment behind “Merry Christmas“: “…the angel said to the Jews, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Messiah the Master.”

 

Read more: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_does_Merry_Christmas_mean#ixzz192I697Wq

 

Robert Paul

Chappaqua NY Estate Sale Tips | Chappaqua NY Real Estate

In some cases, I suppose the family of the deceased may be able to handle the estate sale in a garage sale manner but for the greatest amount of profit, a true estate sale is the key. This is especially true if you are dealing with an enormous amount of sellable items.

The first thing you want to do is NOT throw anything that could be sold. Old rotten clothes or broken glass items are one thing that you may do away with but there are so many other things most people consider trash but others find as a treasure. Some of these are old matchbook covers, business ballpoint pens, children’s games (even if missing some pieces), books with ratty covers, any age magazine (even the National Enquirer types), costume jewelry (the gaudier the better), fake flowers in ugly flower pots, lighters, family photos, old shoes, hats and even underwear. For everything your family member held onto, there is someone else in the world that will be willing to buy it. The price on the item may only be twenty-five cents but that is a quarter more than you had before.

The second thing you will want to do is decide if you want to do the sale yourself or hire a professional. The advantage to doing the sale yourself is you don’t have to pay a percentage of the money to someone else. The true professional give you a large number of other advantages IF you pick a good one.

Check into the person before signing any contract. Find out if the person does estate sales on a regular basis or only when the notion (or a desperate person) strikes. Check with your local Better Business Bureau. They may have comments on the person you are using. These comments may even be good ones. Avoid the fly by nighter that isn’t knowledgeable in all the various item possibilities. A professional will come with a virtual library of reference books, the amateur tries to bluff their way through and stick any price on something.

The next step in a profitable estate sale is advertising. I am sure most people have seen the homemade, garage or estate sale signs tacked up to fence posts or telephone poles with writing that is too small or simply illegible. In most cases the only thing you can do is hope there are arrows on each sign and that they are facing in the correct direction.

Most professionals will have signs printed up with the address, directions and some of the top merchandise (dolls, antiques, depression glass and tools) listed. In fact they may even have two different sets of signs created. The only difference being one will say Estate Sale while the other said Garage Sale. About three days before the big event post the signs in about a five-mile radius of the house. Remember signs aren’t all the advertising possibilities.

For the entire week before the sale ads should be placed in all the major (and minor) newspapers. This may cost $50 to $60 but in the long run will pay off. Make sure the ads give exact directions from the closest freeways or major roads as well as greater detail than the signs as to what all is offered. There are people that check for these types of sales on a regular basis. Not all of them are going to be antique dealers either. That is why you want to list as much as you can to catch the eye of readers.

Estate sales take time. Depending on the volume of merchandise, the sale can take from a week to several weeks to get ready. Garage sale mentality will be to slap everything on the floor or on a table as is. When having an estate sale, take the extra time to clean the better pieces like glassware, pottery, porcelain and nice pieces of furniture. People are more likely to not only buy but to pay more for something that looks good and not covered in greasy dust or dirt.

You may also want to group like items together. If you have sixteen complete sets of carnival glass, each with their own punch bowls, compote, candy dishes, pitchers and egg dishes, have an area set aside for the carnival glass lovers. If you have fine china, Depression glass, stem wear, Waterford crystal and such, display them so their beauty can be seen. You could even set the items up as if for a dinner party so buyers could see the pieces “in action.”

If you have a large volume of knick-knacks put up additional shelving to spread the items out. By placing thirty or so items on a small table, you have a greater chance of someone’s clumsiness getting something broken. Most buyers don’t worry about being careful since it isn’t their stuff they are dealing with. Nor is it their money.

Money is an issue in itself. A professional will usually make sure there is only one person handling it and only one person who can mark the price down on an item to make a sale. A great deal of money can be lost if you have five friends helping you and each one is knocking fifty cents to a dollar of each item sold. The best rule of thumb is to not mark anything down during the first part of the sale. If it is a three-day sale, wait until that third day to mark things down. Also go through before the sale several times and check prices on items to get them firmly planted in your mind. Buyers switching prices on a $70 1959 Barbie with a fifty-cent McDonalds toy isn’t at all uncommon. Security is always an issue.

If you are going to have possibly large amount of money exchanging hands, hiring a security guard or off duty policeman is often a good idea. Other precautions include making sure there is only one way into and out of the house, anyone coming in with large purses or coats are watched continuously and station a person in each room of the house. These will greatly reduce the theft rate. You will also want to make sure you do not keep any large sums of money. Make repeated trips to the bank if necessary. This may be difficult if you are running the sale yourself.

If you decide on a professional estate seller you should check them out thoroughly. Get references from previous clients. Make sure you get a written contract spelling out exactly what you get for your twenty-five to thirty-percent. Find out how often they do estate sales. Do they stay busy and if not, why? Go to one of their sales as a buyer before signing the contract. This is an excellent way to develop a true impression of how the person will run the sale. Research, advertising and professionalism are the keys to a successful estate sale. If the customer looks and sees a poorly run, cheap type of set up, they are more likely to pay only garage sale prices. If the customer sees a professionally run outfit that has taken the time to display, clean and mark each item, they are much more likely to not only pay better prices but also return on the following days.

One last thought on having a true professional do your estate sale. They have an established clientele that follow them to the various sales. If you plan on selling the real estate property where the estate sale is being held, let them know. Many times the professional can sell the house by letting the word out to anyone who asks and the best thing is you don’t have to pay a commission for the sale unless you want to as a thank you. A professional can relieve so much of the headache and heartache that goes with an estate sale but you must make the final decision of which way you want to do the sale. Regardless of the way, remember the difference between the estate sale and garage sale mentalities as far as display, advertising, security and pricing.

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Happy Festivus !!

“Happy Festivus” is the traditional greeting of Festivus a holiday featured in “The Strike” episode of Seinfeld. The episode first aired on December 18, 1997. Since then many people have been inspired by the goodness of the Seinfeld holiday and they now celebrate Festivus as any other holiday.

According to the Seinfeld model, Festivus is celebrated each year on December 23rd. However many people celebrate it other times in December and even at other times throughout the year.

The original slogan of Festivus is “A Festivus for the rest of us!” Instead of a tree an unadorned aluminum pole is used, in contrast to normal holiday materialism. Those attending Festivus may also participate in the “Airing of Grievances” which is an opportunity to tell others how they have disappointed you in the past year, followed by a Festivus dinner, and then completed by the “Feats of Strength” where the head of the household must be pinned. All of these traditions are based upon the events in the Seinfeld episode.

US Commerce Dept Reports November New Sales – Inventory At 40 Year Low | Bedford Corners Real Estate

New single-family home sales rose in November but to a lower- than- expected rate , a government report showed on Thursday, highlighting the weakness in the housing market even as the broader economic recovery gains momentum. 

The Commerce Department said sales increased 5.5 percent to a seasonally adjusted 290,000 unit annual rate after a downwardly revised 275,000 unit pace in October.

 

Analysts polled by Reuters had forecast new home sales rising to a 300,000 unit pace in November from a previously reported 283,000 unit rate. Compared to November last year, sales were down 21.2 percent.

 

Housing remains mired in weakness against the backdrop of a 9.8 percent unemployment rate and high foreclosures. Data on Wednesday showed sales of previously owned homes rose last month but remained at depressed levels.

 

At November’s home sales pace, the supply of new homes on the market fell to 8.2 months’ worth from 8.8 months’ worth in October. There were 197,000 new homes available for sale in November, the lowest since March 1968.

 

The median sales price for a new home increased 8.0 percent last month from October to $213,000. Compared with November last year, the median price fell 2.7 percent.

Reuters Article

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Jude Law And Sienna Miller Buy $12 Million London Townhouse | Luxury Real Estate

Jude Law and Sienna Miller have plunked down $12,298,650 for a London townhouse, and perhaps a modicum of relationship stability following a relatively tumultous period. British actors Law and Miller met during the filming of Alfie in 2003, but split up in 2005 after Law began an affair with the nanny of his three children with former wife Sadie Frost. They each had their flings (Law had a fourth child with New Zealand model Samantha Burke), but eventually rekindled their romance. 

Though not married, the couple’s new 5,092-square-foot home certainly represents something of a commitment. With four floors and a finished basement, the Georgian-style home has 7 bedrooms and 5.5 bathrooms. A small walled and gated courtyard leads into a grand reception hall that befits the home’s history, which dates back to 1820. Click to the jump for house photos. 

 

Full Story

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Chappaqua NY Needs Less Roommates For Real Estate To Expand | Chappaqua NY Real EState

What does the American economy need to get back on its feet? The key may lie in housing, which remains in the doldrums. Recent data does show existing home sales are rising, but increasing mortgage rates won’t aid recovery. What would help tremendously would be fewer roommates.

While it’s true that stalled construction and population growth are gradually taking a bite from the country’s glut of vacant homes, hard times mean more people are shacking up together and fewer immigrants are climbing the fence. When this trend reverses, better times for everyone — from cable operators and builders to Home Depot — will follow.

As an investment theme, “household formation” may sound wonky. In fact, it’s a key factor in how the economy will perform in the coming year. The measure basically calculates how many healthy cells there are in the U.S. real estate body. When foreigners move in and buy a home, or the kids move out and into an apartment, the number of households increases. That, in turn, creates an economic ripple effect.

A small rise in household formation has a beneficial effect on large swaths of the economy, and with it on earnings and the stock market more broadly. Most obviously, sales of new homes and the materials needed to build or refurbish them increase. Homeowners buy appliances from General Electric, speakers from Best Buy and Sherwin Williams paint. Cable companies like Comcast and Time Warner  sign up new customers, and utilities turn on more light bulbs. Allstate writes more homeowner policies.

The trouble is, despite robust demographic numbers, this figure has been growing sluggishly in recent years. The government estimates that fewer than 400,000 households were formed in each of the past two years ending in March. The average should be around 1.4 million per year, based on how people behaved prior to the financial panic.

Indeed, it’s a big reason for the continuing overcapacity in the housing market. Fewer than 800,000 new housing units were erected in 2009 and the number should be roughly the same this year. That’s the slowest pace by far in four decades. The real estate glut should largely be history given such a glacial pace of construction. Yet rental and homeowner vacancies remain at elevated levels.

So why is household formation down? Difficult economic times have forced people to try to save money — and the biggest cost to cut is habitation. People are more likely to shack up and share apartments, and homeowners take on renters to help with the mortgage. The footprints in the data are easily spotted. The percentage of 25-to-34 year-olds living at home is at a three-decade high, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Even divorce rates are down. Arguing, it seems, is cheaper than paying two mortgages.

Hard times also mean America isn’t as attractive a destination to jobseekers. The number of legal immigrants living in the United States fell in 2009. Moreover, illegal immigration appears to have fallen sharply, based on border interdictions.

Some of these changes should unwind over time. Checking accounts fill, mortgages amortize, and thirty-somethings realize how hard it is to meet prospective mates when living at home. Eventually, people strike out or decide that having a tenant in the basement is not financially worth the noise and invasion of privacy.

Moreover, real estate prices have fallen by about a third from their peak in most cities, according to the Case-Shiller index. This makes it easier to afford rent or a down payment. Rental vacancies peaked last fall, and home vacancies in late 2008.

Yet higher rates of employment, and more certainty over jobs, would be a greater spur, as they are strongly linked to household formation. People are reluctant to move out or buy a home if they aren’t working, or think mass firings are imminent.

Therein lies the chicken and egg enigma. Construction is typically one of the first sectors to recover from a recession. The continuing property glut means employment is about 2 million below its 2006 peak, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Since it hasn’t revived, the United States is attracting fewer immigrants and people aren’t forming households.

Full Story

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Pound Ridge Homeowners Should Buy a Second Home in Florida Now | Pound Ridge NY Real Estate

Case-Shiller’s September housing report came out worse than expected, confirming to any doubters that the housing double dip is here.


National home prices dropped 1.5% in September.The new data will worsen Case-Shiller’s already bearish outlook for the housing market.

Earlier this month, it forecast a 7.1 percent drop in prices from Q2 ’10 to Q2 ’11, with price stagnation through Q2 ’12. This is a brutal forecast, which would have wide economic consequences.

Five years after the housing peak, markets in Florida, Nevada and California would remain down around 60 percent.  If you want to move to warm weather this is probably the time to find a buy of a lifetime in Florida, California or Arizona.

The Worst Markets According to Case-Shiller research.

#15 Prescott, Ariz.

Forecast change 2010:Q2 to 2012:Q2: -14.3%

Forecast change from peak to 2012:Q2: -49.9%

Median home price today: $170,000

Median home price in 2012: $146,000

Source: Fiserv Case-Shiller

#14 Salinas, Calif.

Forecast change 2010:Q2 to 2012:Q2: -14.6%

Forecast change from peak to 2012:Q2: -65.7%

Median home price today: $247,000

Median home price in 2012: $211,000

Source: Fiserv Case-Shiller

#13 Pensacola, Fla.

Forecast change 2010:Q2 to 2012:Q2: -15.3%

Forecast change from peak to 2012:Q2: -37%

Median home price today: $142,000

Median home price in 2012: $120,000

Source: Fiserv Case-Shiller

#12 Cape Coral, Fla.

Forecast change 2010:Q2 to 2012:Q2: -16.2%

Forecast change from peak to 2012:Q2: -65.8%

Median home price today: $100,000

Median home price in 2012: $83,800

Source: Fiserv Case-Shiller

#11 West Palm Beach, Fla.

Forecast change 2010:Q2 to 2012:Q2: -16.3%

Forecast change from peak to 2012:Q2: -54.8%

Median home price today: $212,000

Median home price in 2012: $177,000

Source: Fiserv Case-Shiller

#10 Punta Gorda, Fla.

Forecast change 2010:Q2 to 2012:Q2: -17.7%

Forecast change from peak to 2012:Q2: -61.4%

Median home price today: $135,000

Median home price in 2012: $111,000

Source: Fiserv Case-Shiller

#9 Orlando, Fla.

Forecast change 2010:Q2 to 2012:Q2: -18.4%

Forecast change from peak to 2012:Q2: -59.1%

Median home price today: $155,000

Median home price in 2012: $126,000

Source: Fiserv Case-Shiller

#8 Atlantic City, NJ

Forecast change 2010:Q2 to 2012:Q2: -18.5%

Forecast change from peak to 2012:Q2: -39.2%

Median home price today: $220,000

Median home price in 2012: $179,000

Source: Fiserv Case-Shiller

#7 Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

Forecast change 2010:Q2 to 2012:Q2: -18.7%

Forecast change from peak to 2012:Q2: -57%

Median home price today: $203,000

Median home price in 2012: $165,000

Source: Fiserv Case-Shiller

#6 Gainesville, Fla.

Forecast change 2010:Q2 to 2012:Q2: -18.8%

Forecast change from peak to 2012:Q2: -37.8%

Median home price today: $175,000

Median home price in 2012: $142,000

Source: Fiserv Case-Shiller

#5 Phoenix, Ariz.

Forecast change 2010:Q2 to 2012:Q2: -20.5%

Forecast change from peak to 2012:Q2: -61.4%

Median home price today: $144,000

Median home price in 2012: $115,000

Source: Fiserv Case-Shiller

#4 Ocean City, NJ

Forecast change 2010:Q2 to 2012:Q2: -20.6%

Forecast change from peak to 2012:Q2: -37.1%

Median home price today: $305,000

Median home price in 2012: $242,000

Source: Fiserv Case-Shiller

#3 Miami, Fla.

Forecast change 2010:Q2 to 2012:Q2: -21.21%

Forecast change from peak to 2012:Q2: -61.7%

Median home price today: $190,000

Median home price in 2012: $145,000

Source: Fiserv Case-Shiller

# 2 Las Vegas, Nev.

Forecast change 2010:Q2 to 2012:Q2: -21.7%

Forecast change from peak to 2012:Q2: -66.1%

Median home price today: $153,000

Median home price in 2012: $112,000

Source: Fiserv Case-Shiller

#1 Naples, Fla.

Forecast change 2010:Q2 to 2012:Q2: -24.6%

Forecast change from peak to 2012:Q2: -62%

Median home price today: $260,000

Median home price in 2012: $196,000

Source: Fiserv Case-Shiller

Read more: Full Article

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Lewisboro NY Home Prices Will Be Flat Through 2015 | Lewisboro Real Estate

The recovery of housing prices will take at least four more years, according to a monthly survey of 110 leading economists and real estate experts, significantly longer than previously estimated.

Housing prices will rise only 7.2 percent by 2014 and the aggregate value of U.S. single-family homes four years from now will be roughly $1 trillion less than the economists projected in May, said Terry Loeb of MacroMarkets, the firm conducting the survey, which is based upon the projected path of the S&P/Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price Index over the coming five years. 

”For the first time, in this month’s survey, our panelists provided their expectations through 2015. Less than 3% of the panel expects negative change in 2015, and at +3.7 percent, the average of the forecasts for that year is slightly higher than the average annual rate of national home price appreciation that prevailed in the decade prior to the historic bubble.  Yet, at +7.2%, the average projection of cumulative home price performance through 2014 reached its lowest point since survey inception for the second consecutive month,” said Robert Shiller, MacroMarkets co-founder and chief economist.

“The survey data we collected this year have consistently pointed to price stability in the intermediate- to long-term, which is reassuring in light of the volatility in actual home prices we have witnessed during the past few years.  However, most experts foresee a longer road to recovery, and materially lower price performance in the coming years than they did just a few months ago,” said Terry Loebs, MacroMarkets managing director.

Since the third quarter of 2006, near the height of the housing boom, prices have fallen 28 percent by the third quarter of this year, according to the S&P/ Case-Shiller US National Price Index.  The index rose 14.2 percent from the first quarter of 2009 until the second quarter of 2010, when the housing tax credits were in effect.  The latest MacroMarkets Home Price Expectations Survey was conducted during the period December 1st through December 15th.

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