Daily Archives: January 11, 2013

Low inventory: There’s not an app for that | Cross River Real Estate

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Technology can solve many problems, and it certainly makes it easier to conduct business in an organized and cost-efficient way. But there are problems — or maybe I should call them challenges — that no one has an app for.

Right now there are not enough homes on the market in my area. Buyers who want to work with me are asking for help finding that perfect home, and I am struggling to find a home that might work for them.

Normally I would be showing at least 10 homes on an average weekend in January. I met with one buyer last weekend. This weekend I am scheduled to show one property that’s a long shot for this particular client, and we both know it.

It is just wonderful that interest rates are low and my buyers are preapproved and ready to go. Except we are not going anywhere because I don’t have anything to show them right now.

 

Each morning, I walk from my bedroom to my office. After stopping at the coffee pot on the way, the very first thing I do when I log on to my computer is look for new listings. On a good day there are 15 to 17 new listings.

Not a lot to choose from — especially considering that is for the entire city, and encompasses all price ranges and housing styles.

Currently there are only 793 homes on the market in St. Paul, Minn., and only 614 that don’t already have offers on them. You’d expect at least twice as many homes to be on the market, and 2.5 times more listings would be better.

Active listings in the St. Paul, Minn., market, January 2003-2013


Source: NorthStarMLS.

The number of homes on the market has gotten smaller in each of the last several months, but the number of buyers is remaining fairly steady. Prices have gone up, but only a little.

This isn’t like 2006 when buyers would outbid each other to win the home they wanted. If buyers offer more, they have trouble getting loans approved because of low appraisals.

Listings are getting a lot of showings, but it isn’t like it used to be when we could expect an offer after 10 to 12 showings. Perhaps buyers are leaving no stone unturned and looking at homes that they would ordinarily ignore.

The homes that are selling the fastest are low-priced foreclosures and fixer-uppers, and we are slowly running out of them. I know dozens of people who would love to sell their homes, but they will not or cannot because they’re underwater, i.e., they owe more on their homes than they could sell them for.

In an attempt to get some more listings, I recently reviewed all of the listing appointments I had last year with sellers who didn’t end up listing with me. In most cases, the homes were never put on the market. One is now owned by a bank.

As I reviewed my notes, it looked like in many cases the potential sellers could not afford to sell their homes or did not want to take a loss and so they still own their homes. Some moved on and are renting their homes out. I am in the process of contacting each of them to see if they are still interested in selling.

Yesterday I was delighted when a prospective client called looking to sell a unit that’s exactly what one of my buyers is looking for.

The appointment before that did not go nearly as well. I was told by a seller that she “has” to have an amount for her home that’s about 40 percent more than the market will bear right now. The seller said she’s willing to wait for the home to appreciate, no matter how long it takes.

Right now there is about a three-month supply of homes on the market. Six months is often said to represent a better balance of supply and demand.

There are fewer Realtors than there were last January, too, but not half as many. It isn’t at all unusual right now for an experienced agent to have no listings.

Employment rates are better than they were last year, and now that we are past the presidential elections and some of the fiscal cliff angst, home values should start to rise. As they slowly rise I hope some of those people who want to move will put their homes on the market, so that we all have something to sell.

I talk to other agents around the country, and many of them see the lack of inventory as one of their main business challenges right now.

I, for one, plan to spend more time reaching out to potential sellers, especially those I know and who have contacted me in the past two years.

The inventory of homes on the market continues to fall. There are fewer homes on the market today than there were on Jan. 1.

 

 

 

 

via inman.com

 

Landlord having trouble evicting marijuana dispensary | Waccabuc NY Real Estate

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Q: I read recently about a California court that refused to evict a commercial tenant (a medical marijuana dispensary). California has legalized medical marijuana. Does this mean that California landlords cannot evict for medical marijuana use on their properties? –Stephen S.

A: You’re referring to a November 2012 decision by the Alameda County Superior Court, in a case known by the name of the marijuana collective, Harborside Health Center. The dispute between Harborside and its landlord is currently being litigated in federal court.

Briefly, possession, use and sale of marijuana is a federal offense; but in California, the Compassionate Use Act gives patients and their suppliers immunity from state prosecution if they adhere to the provisions of the act.

In the Harborside case, the landlord signed a lease with the cooperative many years before, allowing it to operate the cooperative. But the U.S. Department of Justice has been targeting cooperatives in California, accusing them of breaking federal law. Many think the DoJ is motivated by a belief that dispensaries are selling marijuana to just about anyone (no one can seriously dispute the ease of obtaining a medical marijuana card).

Federal prosecutors cleverly used the cooperatives’ landlords as their hammer: The feds sent letters to the property owners, threatening civil forfeiture of their property if they continued to allow it to be used to further a federal crime. Many landlords sent eviction notices to their tenants, as did the Harborside landlord.

But Harborside refused to move and the landlord was forced to file an eviction lawsuit. The eviction was based on a section of California law that provides for terminating a lease when the tenant has used the property for an “unlawful purpose.” (California Code of Civil Procedure §1161(4).)

The state court concluded that “unlawful purpose” must be understood solely with respect to California law, not federal law. Because the collective had complied with the provisions of the Compassionate Use Act, its activity was not “unlawful” under state law, and the eviction could not be upheld under that section of the law.

The state court’s decision emphasized that the landlord had not based its eviction on a breach of a private right of the landlord under the lease — namely, a clause prohibiting the tenant from disobeying all applicable laws. Of course, the landlord could hardly advance such a claim, because its own lease detailed the tenant’s anticipated use of the premises (as a dispensary).

The Department of Justice continues to pursue a forfeiture action against Harborside’s landlord. After the state court refused to evict Harborside, the dispensary’s landlord took its case to federal court. The judge overseeing the case recently denied the landlord’s requests for preliminary injunctions that would have shut the dispensary down.

Well now, back to your question. Good residential leases specify grounds for termination, and explain that they must obey all applicable laws. Failure to obey all applicable laws is a ground for termination that is separate than using the property “for an illegal purpose.”

The state court in the Harborside case wisely didn’t venture an opinion as to whether the case would have turned out differently had the basis for the suit been “failure to obey all applicable laws,” beyond pointing out the possibly fatal hurdle for the landlord of trying to argue this theory when the landlord knew full well at the outset what the tenant was about to do.

I’m sure you’re wondering even if the landlord had no advance knowledge of his tenant’s use of the property, is there really any difference between “using the property for an illegal purpose” and “failing to obey all applicable laws”? Maybe not, but we won’t know until someone litigates the question.

Q: I purchased a new carpet, some appliances and a hot tub for the condo I bought to use as income property. Can I deduct these costs from my taxes? –Rex F.

A: The cost of getting your rental business up and running is called a startup expense. You can deduct up to $5,000 worth of startup expenses in the first year you are in business, and the remainder in equal amounts over the next 15 years. Put another way, if your business were up and running, and you incurred these costs and could deduct them as regular operating expenses, then you can deduct them when the business begins as startup expenses.

The tricky thing about startup expenses is making sure you’ve categorized an expense correctly. These expenses include minor repairs needed to get a business or property up and running, but they do not include an improvement to the property, which is a capital expense.

So, for example, if you spend money repairing the furnace, that’s a startup expense; but if you buy a new furnace, that’s a capital expense, which is treated differently. It’s depreciated over the item’s useful life, which is five or seven years for most personal property. The carpet, appliances and hot tub are probably personal property. (IRC Section 195.)

via inman.com

Bedford Hills Realtor | Trend Alert: Emerald Green the Color for 2013

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Source: Jamie Drake Design

By Marie Proeller Hueston

Whether you bathe the room in emerald green or use it as an accent, there are plenty of ways to incorporate 2013′s Color of the Year into your home, even if your decor is not so trendy to start. Here some of our favorite examples.

Subway tiles

Source: susanjablon.com

Glitter glass subway tiles from Susan Jablon would surely dazzle in virtually any setting. The mosaic tiles are back-mounted on mesh for easy installation.

Glass cabinet pulls

Source: Signature Hardware

Signature Hardware‘s green-glass cabinet knobs add a touch of emerald to kitchens and baths. The pulls are offered in three sizes — 7/8-inch, 1 1/8-inch, and 1 3/8-inch — with either nickel or solid brass accents.

Depression glass

Source: Ruby Lane/Aquisitions

There is plenty of emerald green to be found in glassware, including vintage Depression glass. These fluted green glass salt and pepper shakers from Ruby Lane prove the point beautifully.

Dutch oven

Source: Wayfair.com

Lodge’s Dutch oven in emerald green is the perfect choice for a stylish stove. Skillets and panini pans are available in the same jewel tone. Available at Wayfair.

Flat-weave rug

Source: ABC Carpet & Home

Inspired by the energy and color of Brazilian Carnival, ABC Carpet & Home‘s Rio Collection carpet is handwoven from recycled silk. Available in 2-foot, 3-inch by 8-foot, 8-foot by 10-foot, and 9-foot by 12-foot sizes.

Wallcovering

Source: Elle Decor/Geoffrey Sokol

Cover the walls in emerald with this Glazed Abaca grasscloth from Phillip Jeffries. Available in 36-inch, pre-trimmed rolls — plus seven other sensational hues.

Paint

Source: Benjamin Moore

Looking for an easy way to enliven a room with color? Paint it! Emerald Isle from Benjamin Moore is just one of the 1,232 pure, saturated colors in the company’s Color Preview Collection.

Pendant lamp

Source: iroka.co.uk

 

Why settle for just the color when you can have illumination, too? This dome-shaped Emerald FLY Suspension Lamp from Kartell comes with a 7-inch clear cord and dome-shaped ceiling canopy. Available at Lumens.

Silk pillows

Source: Etsy/StudioTullia

Sometimes it only takes a hint of color to get the look. These 18-inch square, emerald green silk pillows from Studio Tullia on Etsy would make for delightful, on-trend accents in any space.

 Related:

Bob Vila is the home improvement expert widely known as host of TV’s This Old House, Bob Vila’s Home Again, and Bob Vila. Today, Bob continues his mission to help people upgrade their homes and improve their lives with advice online at BobVila.com. His video-rich site offers a full range of fresh, authoritative content – practical tips, inspirational ideas, and more than 1,000 videos from Bob Vila television.

Note: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinion or position of Zillow.

via zillow.com

California association signs with Rapattoni | Katonah NY Real Estate

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The Nevada County Association of Realtors has signed a multiyear contract with Rapattoni Corp. to use the company’s multiple listing service software and service.

Based in Grass Valley, Calif., the Nevada County Association of Realtors has approximately 640 members, who will join about 200,000 users of Rapattoni’s MLS products nationwide. the company said.

Rapattoni’s Web-based MLS system is compatible with the Internet Explorer and Firefox Web browsers, and can be operated natively on PCs and Mac computers; it also works on most popular tablet devices and has a map-centric, touch-based interface, the company said. Rapattoni plans to release a smartphone version of its mobile interface early this year.

The agreement with Rapattoni will allow the Nevada County Association of Realtors to implement a couple of optional features built into the MLS system. One of these is Secure Logon, which features RSA Adaptive Authentication from information technology company EMC Corp. and is designed to prevent unauthorized MLS access and identify fraud and malware threats.

The other is a real estate statistics tool that generates TrendVision reports powered by Trendgraphix Inc. The reports show current, historical and seasonal trends in real estate pricing, inventory, and days on market, Rapattoni said.

“We are looking forward to the implementation of the Rapattoni MLS and the powerful new tools we are bringing to our members,” said Kathy Hinman, the Nevada County Association of Realtors’ executive officer, in a statement.

The Wilmington Regional Association of Realtors, a local Realtor association in North Carolina that serves about 1,700 members, signed a multiyear contract extension for Rapattoni MLS in December.

via inman.com

Mt Kisco Realtor | 5 Cheap and Easy Fixes Before You List Your Home

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Thinking of listing your home? Of course, you’ll want to get the best possible price. Before you call a major renovation squad for a TV-style home makeover, try these cheap and easy fixes to increase your home’s appeal.

Declutter

Start with the easiest fix of all. Pack up and hide or store some of your possessions. Stash your collections of porcelain dolls or “Star Wars” figurines; the less of your stuff potential buyers see, the more likely they will be to envision themselves — and their stuff — in the home.

Add curb appeal

Next, take a look at your home from the street. Could it benefit from a little landscaping? Clear away any dead plants, trim back limbs and bushes, and check out your local home improvement store’s garden section. Small flowering plants and other foliage is very affordable and easily adds instant charm.

Deep clean

The next easy fix is to clean. No, really clean. Pressure wash the driveway, and have your tile and carpets professionally cleaned by carpet cleaners in Boise. Clean your window treatments and remove scuff marks around the baseboards. All the little things that may go unnoticed from day to day will make the home look much better when they are all sparkly-clean.

Go neutral

Watch about 20 seconds of any real estate reality show and you’ll surely hear a prospective buyer lament about the owner’s poor choice in color. “Oh, it’s so … blue.” This is like nails on a chalkboard to real estate professionals because it is literally one of the easiest things to change. The solution: Repaint some of your boldest walls a good old off-white or beige neutral. It will also help you start to detach emotionally from your home as you enter the sale process.

Kitchens and bathrooms

Kitchens and bathrooms are the two rooms that really sell a home. Give them a quick mini-makeover by making a few inexpensive hardware changes; towel racks, accent shelves, even light switches and utility plate covers are cheap and easy to fix. Also, refer to No. 1 and stash your family photos on the refrigerator and deep-six the extensive pile of magazines in the restroom.

With these five tips, you can give your home a major makeover on a budget in the hundreds versus the thousands and get it ready to list for top dollar.

via zillow.com

Fitch Ratings Calls for Housing Price Correction | Bedford NY Homes

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Home prices are overvalued and price growth is not being driven by fundamentals but by technical factors that could easily change, advised Fitch Ratings Friday. The ratings service believes national prices are 10 percent overvalued, but will likely drop by no more than 2 percent due to inflation. Low prevailing mortgage rates, the limited supply of existing homes for sale (either due to the few foreclosure completions or the number of underwater borrowers who cannot sell), and the anemic levels of new home construction are facilitating affordability and feeding demand. They are also offsetting weak fundamentals like unemployment, low wage growth, Fitch said in a special report. In addition, Fitch stated it believes price movement is “highly dependent on the pace of distressed sales and liquidations.” For example, states such as Michigan, Arizona, and Georgia have been able to dispose of their distressed inventory quickly and have also seen “both steeper drops and quicker stabilization,” while states with long foreclosure timelines-New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut-may see price declines. In order to determine sustainability, Fitch conducted an analysis using its Sustainable Home Price (SHP) model. The ratings agency found 22 metros out of 41 are currently “undervalued” or “sustainable,” while five were categorized as “overvalued” by 5 to 10 percent. In 2010, 23 metro areas were overvalued by 10 to 25 percent. The report highlighted hardest hit metros such as Phoenix, Atlanta, and Riverside, noting they are now beginning to recover and are currently considered “undervalued.” New York and New Jersey, though, were categorized as overvalued by 10 percent to 15 percent, hindered by their large inventory of distressed properties and long foreclosure timelines, according to Fitch. And, high unemployment could hurt Los Angeles and Union, New Jersey and lead to a roughly 10 percent decline. On a national level, Fitch said price growth “is likely to be muted or even modestly negative in the near-term as liquidation volumes increase and expand supply, particularly in the lengthy judicial states where inventory has been off the market.” Fitch warned “short-term price movements can be misleading when the impact of distressed properties has been withheld from the market.” “Many models place a high value on price momentum, which can skew long-term projections. Another factor differentiating our model from many in the market is that our projections are in real terms as opposed to nominal dollars,” said Stefan Hilts, director of Fitch Ratings.

via realestateeconomywatch.com

Pound Ridge Homes | Fannie and Freddie have a Florida Problem

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Despite falling delinquency rates among lenders as a whole, delinquencies increased for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac borrowers, especially in Florida. Coincidentally, CoreLogic announced today Florida leads the nation in the size of its foreclosure inventory.

The Federal Housing Finance Administration reported today that the percentage of loans held by Fannie and Freddie missing one or two monthly payments increased in the third quarter and a substantial number of the GSEs’ delinquent borrowers have missed more than one year of mortgage payments. Some 2.08 percent of Fannie and Freddie’s total borrowers were 30-59 days delinquent at the end of the third quarter, compared to 1.99 percent at the end of the second quarter.

Some 3.39 percent of Fannie and Freddie borrowers are seriously delinquent. Approximately 29 percent of borrowers delinquent a year or more are located in Florida.

In fairness, the GSEs are not only lenders to have problems with Florida, which is leading every list for delinquencies and foreclosures. CoreLogic announced today that at the end of November Florida leads the nation among states with the highest foreclosure inventory as a percentage of all mortgaged homes: Florida (10.4 percent), New Jersey (7.3 percent), New York (5.1 percent), Nevada (4.7 percent) and Illinois (4.7 percent).

At the end of the third quarter, the same time period reported by FHFA, all lenders reported a sudden and surprising upswing in delinquencies. :Lender Processing Services’ September Mortgage Monitor reported delinquencies were up 7.7 percent from August, representing the largest monthly increase since 2008.

“September’s increase in the delinquency rate was indeed significant, but the overall trend is still one of improvement,” Blecher said. “Despite the monthly jump, delinquencies are down 30 percent from their January 2010 peak, and our analysis revealed some interesting factors related to the spike. Of course, one month’s data does not indicate a trend. We will be monitoring these factors over the coming months to see how the situation develops.”

Guess where delinquencies were highest? Florida led the nation with 12.7 percent of its mortgages in foreclosure and 20.8 percent-one in five-of its mortgages is delinquent.

via realestateeconomywatch.com