Daily Archives: May 13, 2013

Is Paying Down Your Mortgage a Bad Idea? | Chappaqua Real Estate

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Making extra payments on your mortgage?
Many people do — they’re anxious to get that mortgage paid down as quick as they can. But especially with interest rates this low, that might not be the best place to put that next dollar.
So what are the top five reasons to postpone that mortgage burning party?

Your emergency fund is on the scrawny side.

Before you send another extra dollar to your mortgage company, beef up your cash reserves.
Sure, you are saving more in interest than you’re earning in your bank account, but what happens if you lose your job?
You can’t rip out your bathtub and sell it on eBay for grocery money. And the bank isn’t likely to loan you the money back while you’re unemployed.
Likewise, if you’re still saving for retirement, putting that extra money toward your retirement savings is a smart move.
You’ll be taking advantage of the power of compounding by putting the money to work for you sooner. You get an extra bonus if adding to your retirement savings garners you more of an employer match.

You are carrying other debt, like credit card debt or a car loan.

Those consumer loans should be paid down first.
It’s likely your credit card interest is higher than your mortgage rate, and your mortgage interest may offer you a tax deduction that you’re not going to get from a credit card or car loan.
Work on reducing your consumer debt to zero before even considering paying down your mortgage.

Capture the arbitrage.

Remember not that long ago when online banks were paying 3.5%? That’s about what you can get a 30-year fixed mortgage for these days.
Economies are cyclical; it’s only a matter of time until those deposit rates return, and go even higher. And when they do, you’ll be glad to have your money earning more in the bank than the bank is charging you on your mortgage.
Imagine the scenario where you could pay off your mortgage if you wanted to, but instead watch the interest you’re earning outpace the interest you’re paying.

Those extra dollars could be put to use elsewhere.

Perhaps your career could use a boost from some coaching or certifications?
The additional money you’ll earn year after year from investing in your working future may return loads more than the savings on your mortgage.

 

Is Paying Down Your Mortgage a Bad Idea? | Chappaqua Real Estate | Bedford NY Real Estate | Robert Paul Talks Life in Bedford NY.

Podcasting is a great content play | Pound Ridge Realtor | Bedford NY Real Estate | Robert Paul Talks Life in Bedford NY

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Podcasting is making a comeback thanks to a growing consumer demand for content. If you’re not listening to podcasts, or better yet, producing your own audio content, you better reconsider.
podcast

photo credit: Bill Selak via photopin cc
I’ve been publishing the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast since 2005. I got into podcasting as a way to create content and unlock opportunities to get in front of leading authors and industry experts.
Back then, podcasting was new, iTunes had just burst onto the scene and an army of podcasters embraced this new RSS driven way to syndicate content. But then social media came along and things like Twitter and Facebook made podcasting seem so last decade. (Heck, people even starting suggesting that blogging was dead!)
But then, a funny thing happened on the way to the evolution of all things digital. People started to rediscover podcasting as a tremendous way to package and deliver content in a new and intimate way. All of a sudden, everyone had a podcast listening device in their pocket (otherwise known as a smartphone), and the new iPhone even came with the iTunes Podcast app preloaded. As a result to the easy access, podcast listening again began to surge.
Some people still shy away from the term “podcast” much like they did “blog.” Here’s the deal, just like a blog, forget what you call it, creating audio content is a great way to tap the fact that people want to listen to content on their most personal device – their phone – and why wouldn’t you work your tail off to get invited into that place.

How I podcast

There are dozens of ways to podcast and I am by no means an expert on every aspect of the technology, but I will share what seems to work for me.
Blue Yetti USB Mic – This a high quality microphone with lots of professional type settings and will set you back about $100, but the quality sound is worth it.
Skype – I do all of my interviews over Skype as my guests are from around the globe. I use a SkypeIn 9 didget phone number so my guests can call from a phone if they like but more and more people connect directly via Skype these days.
I also use a Skype add on called Call Recorder so I can record directly in Skype and it also lets me split the tracks so I can edit them independently.
Garage Band – I edit on a Mac and Garage Band does a great job. I level the sound, add music, and edit some things out before saving to iTunes.
Libsyn – I use Libsyn to host and stream my podcast. I pay about $10 a month for this and it keeps my podcast separate from my web hosting.
Blubrry PowerPress – This WordPress plugin creates a player for my blog and handles the RSS technical stuff including passing the podcast to iTunes. I run my podcast on my regular blog and use the category RSS feed to splice those posts off.
Rev.com – Sometimes I will transcribe my podcasts as a way to essentially take one form of content and make another. Rev.com is fast and very affordable.
If you want to learn more about the technical aspects of podcasting, check out Podcast Answer Man – Cliff Ravenscraft.

My personal listening list

2012 became the year that a number of very well-known content producers embraced the podcast format, producing and distributing audio content in a very big way.
The following podcasts have become very popular in iTunes and offer tremendous content for those inclined to consume their content while driving, working out or simply hanging out plugged into a pair of earbuds.
Seth Godin’s Startup School: Recently launched on the Earwolf network, the Startup School podcast features highlights from a workshop Godin conducted with 30 up-and-coming entrepreneurs.

 

 

Podcasting is a great content play | Pound Ridge Realtor | Bedford NY Real Estate | Robert Paul Talks Life in Bedford NY.

New Zealand April Median House Price -2.4% Vs March; +7.0% on Year | Bedford Corners Real Estate

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WELLINGTON, New Zealand–New Zealand house prices eased in April from March but the fall is unlikely to provide any relief for the country’s central bank as prices remain sharply higher on the year.
Data from the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand, or Reinz, showed Monday that the national median home price totaled 390,500 New Zealand dollars (US$323,412) in April, down 2.4% on the month but 7.0% higher on the year.
The Reinz Monthly Housing Index, which uses all sales by Reinz members rather than just a median price, rose 0.8% in April compared with March.
There is growing concern about high housing costs in New Zealand as shortages in the country’s two largest cities–Auckland and Christchurch in Canterbury–drive prices. The Reinz data for April show house prices in Auckland were down 1.2% on the month but jumped 13.3% on the year, while in the Canterbury-Westland region, where Christchurch is the major city, prices fell 1.7% on the month but were up 10% on the year.
While demand in Auckland is being fueled by the city’s expanding population, Christchurch residents need new housing after 11,500 homes were destroyed in a series of earthquakes that have hit the region since Sept. 4, 2010. The government moved Friday to make building new homes in Auckland easier by streamlining urban planning and building permissions, while the central bank will increase capital requirements for the four large banks in relation to low equity mortgages from September.
However, Monday’s data show house prices elsewhere in the country are also starting to rise. “Several regions appear to be benefiting from the tail-wind generated by the strength of house prices in Auckland and Christchurch,” Helen O’Sullivan, chief executive of Reinz, said.
The number of homes sold totaled 7,104 in April compared with 8,128 in March and 5,676 in April 2012, while the number of days taken to sell a house, a gauge of underlying demand, rose to 34 from 31 in March and was down from 37 a year earlier.

 

 

New Zealand April Median House Price -2.4% Vs March; +7.0% on Year | Bedford Corners Real Estate | Bedford NY Real Estate | Robert Paul Talks Life in Bedford NY.

Twin Cities housing prices rise again | Bedford Hills NY Real Estate

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ST. PAUL, Minn. — A number of indicators point to continued improvements in the Twin Cities housing market.
The median home sale price rose to about $182,000 in April, according to a new report from the Minneapolis Area Association of Realtors. That marked an annual price gain of 12 percent. And it was the highest median sale price since September 2008.
Signed purchase agreements and completed sales also rose over the year ending in April.
But the market is still very tight.
“The demand has been nothing short of crazy — crazy high — the last six months or so,” said Andy Fazendin, president of the Minneapolis Area Association of Realtors. “And the listing activity is up about 7 percent over last year. However, it still is not even close to enough to absorb the demand.”
Fazendin says the tight supply of homes for sale is likely to continue for a while.

 

Twin Cities housing prices rise again | Bedford Hills NY Real Estate | Bedford NY Real Estate | Robert Paul Talks Life in Bedford NY.

Home prices near most affordable levels in over 30 years | Bedford Corners NY Real Estate

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NEW DELHI, MAY 12:  

Home prices may have been on an upward spiral for many years, but the cost of owning a house in India remains near the most affordable level in over three decades, shows data compiled by mortgage giant HDFC Ltd.

The average price of a home, purchased with a housing loan, rose to over Rs 45 lakh in the 2012-13 fiscal – marking the fourth consecutive year of uptrend from about Rs 25 lakh in the year 2008-09, HDFC has said in a presentation.

However, factors like an even greater surge in the personal income levels, tax incentives and lower interest rates, have resulted into houses becoming more affordable to purchase, it said.

As per an ‘affordability’ ratio compiled for over three decades by HDFC, the average cost of owning a house stood at 4.7 times of the annual income of the home buyer in 2012-13.

The affordability ratio, which takes into account the annual income of the home buyer along with the price of the house, stood at as high as 22 in the year 1994-95, but has been mostly on a declining trend since then.

This means that a home buyer, on an average, needed an amount equivalent to nearly 22 times his or her annual income in 1994-95, but an amount less than five times of the annual earnings is required for purchasing a house now.

HDFC has released this dataset as part of an investor presentation on its latest fiscal financial results.

Explaining the improved affordability in the housing market, HDFC said it has been possible because of rising disposable income, tax incentives (on interest and principal repayments) and affordable interest rates available to the home loan customers.

The lender further said that the mortgage market was also witnessing a high demand growth because of increasing urbanisation and favourable demographics of the country, where 60 per cent of population is below 30 years of age and there is a rapid rise in new households.

Interestingly, the affordability ratio has remained in the range of 4.5-4.7 for the five consecutive years now, although the home prices have nearly doubled in this period.

Excluding a temporary dip during 2008-09, the home prices in the country have been rising for 11 years now, after hitting the lowest level in two decades at below Rs 15 lakh in the year 2001-02. However, the average annual income of a home loan customer has almost tripled during this period from less than Rs 4 lakh to close to Rs 12 lakh currently.

To be precise, the affordability ratio of 4.7 during the the last fiscal 2012-13 is the fourth lowest ever figure, after 4.3 in the year 2003-04, 4.5 in 2008-09 and 4.6 in 2011-12.

 

 

Home prices near most affordable levels in over 30 years: HDFC – Business Line.

Maine’s Real Estate Report | Chappaqua Real Estate

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Today’s Real Estate Report – Maine
At Gay Realty Watch, we look for news to share with you about the gay real estate market – both lgbt real estate news and news specific to gay and lesbian real estate meccas. If you have a gay real estate story that you’d like to share with us, contact us at info@gayrealtynetwork.com.

Today, in our ongoing series about local real estate markets, we’ll take a look at home sales and trends in the Maine real estate market.

Overall, Maine home sales were up more than 8% in the first quarter of 2013 vs. 2012, the Bangor Daily News reports:

In Maine, home sales were up 8.3 percent in the first quarter of 2013 compared with the same quarter last year. During the same period, home sales in the Bangor metropolitan service area, which includes all of Penobscot County, were up 9.1 percent, while the Portland metropolitan service area — which is York, Cumberland and Sagadahoc counties — experienced an 8.6 percent rise in home sales, according to Nothaft.

Maine’s home prices have not seen a big spike, but then the market didn’t suffer as much during the recession as other states:

“You had a big run-up in home values, but it pales in comparison to what we saw in some of the real hot markets that are the poster childs for the boom and bust,” Nothaft said. “The decline in home values, while pretty substantive here in this market — 15 percent or so decline from the peak — is much more moderate compared to what we see in national indices and much more moderate relative to what we saw in the really distressed markets … like Las Vegas down 60 to 70 percent in value. So it’s a much more moderate boom and bust relative to other markets.”

Real estate business is up along Maine’s Midcoast as WCSH reports:

People in the real estate business in the Midcoast say they’ve seen a noticeable increase in business this year. Brokers say homes are selling in all price ranges, which is a change from the past few years, They also say that more people are looking at houses, apparently encouraged by a better economy and continuing low mortgage interest rates.

Up north, things aren’t going as well for The County. The St. John Valley Timesreports:

The number of existing, single-family homes sold (units) and volume (MSP) during the months of January, February and March of 2012 and 2013 for Aroostook County are as follows:

In this rolling quarter of 2012, 65 of the state’s 1,902 units were from The County. For this rolling quarter of 2013, 52 of the state’s 2,049 units were from The County. “Units Sold” therefore saw a decrease of 20 percent. MSP for this rolling quarter of 2012 was $79,000 in Aroostook County. MSP for this rolling quarter of 2013 was $74,500. “MSP” therefore saw a decrease of 5.7 percent. Aroostook County saw the largest percentage drop in Units Sold of all 16 Maine counties for this rolling quarter.

 

Gayapolis News – Today’s Real Estate Report – Maine.

Retail real estate landscape is looking different after the recession | Armonk Homes

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As New Jersey continues to emerge from the recession, observers are noticing changes in the commercial retail real estate landscape: Bigger isn’t better, but variety is. And for the time being, it’s a tenant’s market.

In 2002, vacant storefronts represented about 2 percent of the shopping corridors in the central and northern parts of New Jersey. Buildings didn’t stay empty for long. Because space was at a premium, rents were high.

When big box stores such as Bradlees or Caldors went out of business, other enterprises like Kohl’s or Home Depot moved in.

But as the dark clouds of the recession roiled over New Jersey, large and small retailers became tentative. A survey of lease renewals by CoStar Group, a commercial real estate information company, showed 10-year lease renewals for retail outlets began plummeting in 2005, while one-year leases climbed dramatically.


Ryan McCullough, a vice president at CoStar, said it was as if stores had been placed on “a waiting list for foreclosure.” Parent companies wanted to take a wait-and-see approach before making long-term commitments. At the same time, landlords, looking to hold on to their tenants, lowered rents.

By the fourth quarter of 2006, the vacancy rate had risen to 7.6 percent and rents were $20.92 per square foot, according to CoStar. In the first quarter of this year, however, the vacancy rate is 6.6 percent while rents average $19.37. And lease lengths are showing signs of growing longer again.

“Think of it as a sign of retailer confidence,” said McCullough.

Marta Villa, vice president of CBRE, a commercial real estate firm, said, “One reason for the longer lease is the lower rents brought on by the recession. If (a retailer’s) lease is coming due in the next 24 months, they want to get in there and tie up that space.”

Villa said it is part of the new mantra in the commercial real estate market: “blend and extend.” In addition to extending leases, she said landlords are also willing to shake up the mix of outlets on a property.

Landlords have “become more receptive to filling space with nontraditional uses, like fitness centers, or day care or medical centers,” she said. “Gyms are one of the major retail sectors on the move.”

Fast food franchises are also growing rapidly in New Jersey, Villa said, as well as quick-serve restaurants like Smashburger or Chipotles.

Part of the uptick in activity is the lower rents

“A couple of years ago, we were fielding a lot of rent reduction requests,” said Matt Harding, president of Levin Management. “We reviewed them and we did work with tenants. But over the past 12 months, the number is slowing, absolutely.”

 

 

Retail real estate landscape is looking different after the recession | NJ.com.

Buying a home after short sales and foreclosures | South Salem Real Estate

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Back when the Great Recession began, Cary Schneider lost a wife and a job. Because of that, he lost his house, too.
He’s since replaced all three. His is a tale of loss and recovery, both in love and finance.
This being a personal finance column, we’ll stick to the money part. Schneider is proof that people can pick themselves up and become homeowners again after foreclosures and short sales.
More of that is happening these days. The giant mortgage players — Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Housing Administration — require people who defaulted on mortgages to spend years in credit purgatory before they can get another house.
Six years after the bursting of the housing bubble began, those sentences have expired for millions. In the meantime, they’ve found jobs and built some savings.
Now, some are ready to buy.
“I’ve done more FHA loans for people with foreclosures in the past six months than in the past 17 years,” says Jeff Griege of Paramount Mortgage, who handled Schneider’s loan.
And so Schneider is now the happy owner of a newly built home in Imperial, which he shares with his new wife and her children.
“All my friends and family are amazed,” he says.
Back during the real estate boom of the last decade, Schneider and his former wife bought a new house in Jefferson County. They bought before they had managed to sell their previous house.
So, they signed up for an adjustable rate mortgage. The rate started low, but would jump much higher after two years. “I was leveraged and gambling,” he said.
But he thought the odds were with him. The plan was to refinance into a long-term mortgage once the old house sold. Then things started to fall apart.
His marriage broke up, and Schneider no longer had two incomes to support the mortgage. He lost his job.
The old home did sell, but Schneider no longer had the income needed to refinance. After two years, the rate on the mortgage reset and the payment jumped from $1,500 to $2,200 per month. He fell behind.
“I couldn’t do it. I called the finance company and begged. They said there was nothing they could do,” he said. By 2008, he was facing foreclosure.
“I was sitting on the couch, drowning my sorrows. I’d just received my first foreclosure notice,” he said.
Then a real estate agent knocked on the door, suggesting that he try a short sale. That’s a deal in which a buyer pays less for the house than the seller owes on the mortgage. The bank agrees to eat the difference, calculating that it would lose more money by foreclosing and trying to sell the house.
Banks have become much more amenable to short sales in the last two years. But in 2008, they were hard to get. Schneider owed $300,000. The bankers accepted a second offer for $260,000.
“I felt bad. It’s unfair to make a mistake and walk away,” he says. But he thinks the bank is also to blame for making him a risky loan. “There’s no way I should have been in that house. I couldn’t afford it,” he said.
Schneider started working again. He did a smart thing; he kept up payments on his other debts even as he was losing his house.
Foreclosures and short sales are hell on credit scores, and a decent score is important in getting a mortgage. A foreclosure can knock 85 to 160 points off your credit score, and people with high scores suffer most, according to illustrations supplied by the FICO scoring company.
But if you pay other debts on time, your score starts to improve in as little as two years, FICO says.
“If you have late payments after a foreclosure or short sale, that’s really going to make it difficult to get a new mortgage,” says mortgage lender George DeMare, managing partner of Midwest Mortgage Capital in west St. Louis County.

 

Buying a home after short sales and foreclosures | South Salem Real Estate | Bedford NY Real Estate | Robert Paul Talks Life in Bedford NY.

Iraqi Kurdistan Real Estate Market Makes a Comeback | Cross River Real Estate

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The economy of the Kurdistan region of Iraq fluctuates according to the state of relations between Baghdad and the Kurdistan Regional Government.
The mostly stable and now improved security situation has allowed economic progress and prosperity in the Iraqi Kurdistan region. Until recently, the economy and real estate market had been in a funk. Many Iraqi families have moved away from central and southern regions of the country, in addition to Iraqis living in Syria who left following the political crisis and armed operations between the state and the opposition in order to settle down in Kurdish regions. The last dispute between Baghdad and Erbil, however, has shaken their trust in their safety.A key indicator of the region’s economy, real estate, has been sluggish but has seen a dramatic improvement in just the last few weeks since KRG Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani negotiated an agreement with Baghdad in late April to end the boycott of the Iraqi government and Council of Representatives by Iraqi Kurdish ministers and members of parliament and cool tensions in Kirkuk and disputed areas.
Nariman Sadeq, owner of a real estate agency in Erbil, explained to Al-Monitor, “Lately, citizens have lost their trust in the market, and consequently real estate prices have dramatically dropped.”
Added Sadeq, “The prices of real estate in some regions of Iraqi Kurdistan have dropped by 30-40%, as the buying and selling process came to a halt a month ago.”
Sadeq, nonetheless, affirms that the market has been revived once again due to news about improved relations between Erbil and Baghdad. Sadeq expects an economic boom in the near future. “Earlier, properties were put on the market, but no one wanted to buy. Currently we see activity and signs foretelling an improvement in the market.”
Sadeq attributes the improvement to the detente between Erbil and Baghdad and the decision made by both parties to revive their former, amicable relationship.
A significant number of middle-income citizens in the Kurdistan region invested most of their money in the real estate market, which witnessed skyrocketing growth and a rise in prices, encouraging many others to follow suit

 

 

Iraqi Kurdistan Real Estate Market Makes a Comeback | Cross River Real Estate | Bedford NY Real Estate | Robert Paul Talks Life in Bedford NY.

Newsmakers May 12: Houston’s hot real estate market | | Bedford NY Real Estate

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The hot Houston real estate market is not likely cooling any time soon!
The Houston real estate market has been smoking hot for months. Experts said they expect the torrid pace will continue and several of those experts are guests on this week’s Houston Newsmakers with Khambrel Marshall.
Joining Khambrel this week was Danny Frank, the president of the Houston Association of Realtors, who said he expects the latest data will show that homes sales will show an increase of “upwards of 20 percent higher than it was [at] this time last year.”Quick Clicks
Will Holder, the president of Trendmaker Homes and the Immediate Past President of the Greater Houston Builders Association, said from what he’s seeing, there’s no slow down in sight.John Guess is the president of the Guess Group Incorporated, a real estate services company that specializes in commercial real estate. He said he “started seeing a change in the commercial market in the last quarter of 2011,” which led to 2012 being one his biggest years ever and 2013 is starting out the same way.
”We’ve got a bunch of pent up demand that has not been satisfied in the last two or three years so frankly I don’t think it can stop,” he said.
Even with the hot market expected to continue, there are ways you can navigate to a position where you can buy the home of your dreams, according to Steve Kyles, the Senior Loan Officer for Legacy Mutual Mortgage. He said one key is to make sure your realtor and lender are working together and then has three nuggets of advice.

 

 

Newsmakers May 12: Houston’s hot real estate market | | Bedford NY Real Estate | Robert Paul Talks Life in Bedford NY.