Monthly Archives: April 2013

San Mateo County home prices hitting new highs, selling above asking | Bedford Hills Real Estate

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After five years of declining home values, the Bay Area housing market is finally coming back. According to the real estate website Zillow, areas like Brentwood, Antioch and Richmond are still hurting with home prices as much as 66 percent lower than their peak values, but there’s a strong comeback in San Francisco and parts of the Peninsula like San Carlos and Palo Alto, and areas of the South Bay like Los Gatos.

In Belmont, the housing market is hotter than ever. One house is just over 1,000 square feet. It was listed for $725,000 and the winning bid came in at $100,000 above that.

A three bedroom home in San Carlos is about to go on the market, but don’t expect it to stay there very long. If recent activity is any indication, the house will sell fast and likely well over its asking price.

via abclocal.go.com

Housing Prices: What Can You Expect To Get? | Katonah Real Estate

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The size and features of houses in the different price ranges can vary widely in towns throughout Hartford County. Indeed, they can vary from neighborhood to neighborhood in the same town or city. And, what is standard in West Hartford or Glastonbury may not be found in Southington or Newington.

Ed Sutton, an agent from RE/MAX in East Hartford prepared a report for the Courant of what features you’ll likely get in different price ranges around greater Hartford. The prices ranges we looked at are: starter ($150,000-300,000), mid-range ($300,000-450,000), high end ($450,000-600,000) and luxury ($600,000+).

Click through the gallery to see what you might expect to get in each price range.

via courant.com

Bedford Village Sales Down 4% | Median Price Drops 14% | RobReportBlog

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Bedford Village NY Real Estate ReportRobReportBlog
20136 months ending 4/252012
24Sales25
$1,042,500.00median sold price$1,225,000.00
$370,000.00low sold price$384,800.00
$3,500,000.00high sold price$4,750,000.00
3705average size4625
$387.00ave. price per foot$309.00
171ave days on market246
$1,257,239.00average sold price$1,515,589.00
93.03%ave sold to ask92.54%
via trulia.com

Investors No Longer in the Driver’s Seat | Armonk NY Real Estate

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After accounting for one out of four home sales in the depths of the housing recession and fueled turn-arounds in dozens of markets where waves of foreclosures and battered home values scared off other buyers, real estate investors today are playing a greatly diminished role in the housing recovery.

The latest Campbell/Inside Mortgage Finance HousingPulse Tracking Survey results suggest first-time homebuyers and current homeowners, not investors, are in fact the major players in this year’s marketplace.

The active presence of non-investor homebuyers is helping create a remarkably strong market for non-distressed properties leading into the important spring-summer home buying season.

HousingPulse nationwide data for March show that current homeowners continued to dominate the overall home purchase market with a 42.2 percent market share, based on a three-month moving average. While that was down from the levels seen last fall, it was still up on a year-over-year basis. First-time homebuyers stepped up their activity, reaching an eight-month market share high of 36.1 percent in March.

Investors’ share of the national housing market fell to 21.8 percent in March, down from a peak of 25.3 percent of all transactions in May 2012.

Last week a leading analyst on single family rentals also argued that the housing recovery is being driven more by buyers seeking a place to live than by investors.

via realestateeconomywatch.com

Homeownership Makes Most Americans Poorer | Bedford Corners Real Estate

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From 2009 to 2011, the mean net worth of the top 7 percent of American households rose by 28 percent, while the mean net worth of households in the lower 93 percent dropped by 4 percent, largely because wealthy Americans have the bulk of their holdings in stocks and bonds while most Americans rely heavily on home equity for their personal wealth.

According to a Pew Research Center analysis of newly released Census Bureau data, from 2009 to 2011, the mean wealth of the 8 million households in the more affluent group rose to an estimated $3,173,895 from an estimated $2,476,244, while the mean wealth of the 111 million households in the less affluent group fell to an estimated $133,817 from an estimated $139,896.

Because of these differences, wealth inequality increased during the first two years of the recovery. The upper 7 percent of households saw their aggregate share of the nation’s overall household wealth pie rise to 63 percent in 2011, up from 56% in 2009. On an individual household basis, the mean wealth of households in this more affluent group was almost 24 times that of those in the less affluent group in 2011. At the start of the recovery in 2009, that ratio had been less than 18-to-1.

During the period of the study, the S&P 500 rose by 34 percent (and has since risen by an additional 26 percent), while the S&P/Case-Shiller home price index fell by 5 percent, continuing a steep slide that began with the crash of the housing market in 2006.  Housing prices have slowly started to rebound in the past year but remain 29 percent below their 2006 peak.

via realestateeconomywatch.com

Nearly Half of Homeowners Don’t Know Their Flood Risk | Bedford Hills Real Estate

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Despite extensive media coverage of the widespread, multistate flooding caused by Superstorm Sandy last fall and Hurricane Irene in the summer of 2011, 1 in 5 homeowners is still surprised to learn that home insurance does not cover flooding, according to a Bankrate nationwide survey as part of the April Financial Security Index.

The survey found that 18 percent of consumers didn’t know that a standard homeowners policy specifically excludes flood-related damage, while 81 percent were aware of the need to purchase a separate flood insurance policy from the federal National Flood Insurance Program, or NFIP, to guard against flood loss.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, which administers the NFIP, generally classifies properties as either at high risk or moderate-to-low risk of flooding. When consumers were asked if they knew for sure which category applies to their home, just more than half, or 51 percent, said “yes,” while 43 percent said “no.”

Bankrate’s survey was conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates International and involved landline and cellphone interviews from April 4-7 with a nationally representative sample of 1,003 adults in the continental United States. The margin of error is plus or minus 3.7 percentage points.

“I was very happy that 4 out of 5 survey respondents understood that standard homeowners insurance does not cover flood,” he says. “This number is a much higher awareness level than we’ve seen in the past.”

via realestateeconomywatch.com

Spring cleaning for spring sales | South Salem NY Real Estate

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Those of you who know me know I love every single day – each is its own special blessing. But I have to say the days of spring make me especially grateful. And this spring is proving particularly pleasant for Realtors because of a strong seller’s market and interest rates that are continuing to hover at historic lows for buyers.

These two factors alone can make your spring selling season bloom with business – if you’re ready. To get ready, you need to think about the tradition this time of year – spring cleaning.

To take full of advantage of this market, it helps to stop for a moment and consider what’s working and what’s not. This is a time to clean out the closets, a time to get back to the basics – because we know those basics work.

So with that said, here are some tips I’d like to offer to help make your spring fresher, brighter and, of course, more profitable.

  1. Dust off your operations – Pull out the dust rag and wipe down your operations to get a good look at them — give ‘em the old white glove test. First, make sure all of your operations focus on the customer. Remember, we’re talking basics here. You run a small business and the goal of business is to get and keep customers. If any one of your operations doesn’t help you complete that goal, get rid of it. You might start with this question: What can you change to make it easier for your clients to get what they need?

  2. Sweep out any bureaucracy – Over time businesses, and all organizations really, tend to sprout ugly little patches of bureaucracy – like nasty weeds. Put all of your policies and procedures under the microscope and look for anything that gets in the way of serving customers. Grab the broom and sweep out any and all inefficiencies. Ensure everything in your office points directly at the customer and gets them what they need – without any hassles.

  3. Vacuum up time wasters – So what’s your most valuable commodity? Time. If you’re not using it wisely, you’ll fail. It’s just that simple. And if you’re not using your time to get and keep customers, you’re not using your time wisely. My boss and the CEO of the company I work for, Bob Corcoran, always says the four tasks Realtors should always be doing are: listing, prospecting, selling and negotiating. I couldn’t agree more. Take a quick timeout to audit your day. List all the activities you typically do and then get rid of (or delegate) anything that doesn’t fall under one of those four tasks. Do that and you’ll do fine this spring – and the rest of the year.
via housingwire.com

Desire a Masonic temple? Detroit temple is heading for foreclosure auction | Waccabuc Real Estate

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Masonic Temples are staples in many U.S. cities, but one of them is having a tough go of it in this economy.

The 14-story Masonic temple in Detroit is in foreclosure, with its current owners owing well over $150,000 in back taxes.

The ABC affiliate in Detroit says the building – once the hang out of dozens of Masons – is slated for a September tax foreclosure auction.

via housingwire.com

NAHB calls on Congress to support housing tax incentives | Cross River NY Real Estate

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The National Association of Home Builders called on Congress Thursday to maintain its support for vital housing incentives in order to meet the nation’s growing need for affordable rental housing and homeownership opportunities.

The housing incentives include the Low Income Housing Tax Credit, the mortgage interest deduction and real estate tax deductions. 

“Homebuilding is an industry dominated by small businesses, so the idea of simplifying the complicated tax rules related to business has great appeal,” said Robert Dietz, an economist and assistant vice president for NAHB. 

Dietz added, “At the same time, our industry remembers painful lessons from the 1986 Tax Reform Act, when the commercial and multifamily sectors experienced a downturn due to unintended consequences.”

When housing is doing well, it spurs jobs and contributes to economic growth, notes Dietz. “For these reasons, we urge Congress to be cautious and thoughtful when it comes to housing and tax reform.”

via housingwire.com