Monthly Archives: May 2013

New problem loans drop to lowest level in 6 years | Bedford Corners NY Homes

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As the market continues to march towards a recovery, the rate of loans that were at least 60 days late but current six months ago fell in March to its lowest level in six years, according to a report released by Lender Processing Services (LPS).

At 0.84 percent, the rate of “new problem loans” dropped below 1 percent for the first time since May of 2007, edging closer to pre-crisis levels, like those of 2004 and 2005, when rates averaged around 0.55 percent.

The report also found that the number of homeowners who are underwater has dropped dramatically since the depths of the housing crisis. In January of this year, 9 million people had negative equity in their homes, down from a peak of 17 million in January of 2011, LPS said.

On an annual basis, the number of loans with negative equity had plummeted by 41 percent as of January, LPS said.

www.inman.com/wire

Drought Tolerant Perennials | Chappaqua Real Estate

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In my neck of the woods precipitation comes one of two ways; either all at once or not at all. Spring sees ample showers, but as soon as the calendar turns to June the rain dries up. Unless there is an unusual weather pattern in play I can count on Arkansas’ summers to be hot and dry.

Rather than rely 100 percent on irrigation to carry the garden through, I choose drought tolerant plants that I know will survive extended periods without rain. By selecting the right plants for my dry climate I use less water and I don’t have to work as hard to keep the garden looking good during the dog days of summer.

To make things even easier I use a lot of drought tolerant perennials. Perennials will come back year after year without replanting and most are pretty low maintenance. Throw in drought tolerance and you’ve got something you can pretty much plant and forget.

Unlike annuals, many perennials bloom for a specific amount of time. Gardeners can create season-long interest by selecting spring, summer and fall flowering perennials and showy foliage plants.

Here’s a short list of drought tolerant perennials categorized by season.

Spring Flowering Drought Tolerant Perennials

Alyssum (Alyssum montanum)

Alyssum will form a dense mat of attractive foliage and spring blooms. Try River of Gold™ for its bright yellow flowers.

Zones 4 – 8; full sun; 6 to 8 inches tall with a 10-inch spread.

Proven Winners River of Gold Alyssum

Dead Nettle (Lamium maculatum)

Lamium is a low growing groundcover for either sun or shade. The variety Pink Chablis® has charming pale pink flower and frosty green and white variegated leaves.

 

Zones 4 – 8; full sun or shade; 8 – 12 inches tall with a 24-inch spread.

Proven Winners Pink Chablis Lamium

False Indigo (Baptisia hybrid)

Baptisia is a North American native plant that produces sweetpea-like blooms. Try one of the hybrids in theDecadence™ series for compact plant form and saturated color. Available cultivars include ‘Cherries Jubilee’ (maroon and yellow), ‘Blueberry Sundae’ (vibrant blue), ‘Dutch Chocolate’ (dark plum), and ‘Lemon Meringue’ (yellow).

Zones 4 – 9; full sun to partial shade; 30 – 26 inches tall.

Proven Winners Decadence Baptisia

Summer Flowering Drought Tolerant Perennials

Evening Primrose (Oenothera)

Oenothera has a loose, wildflower appearance that makes it right at home in cottage-style gardens. The cultivar Lemon Drop® produces fragrant, yellow blooms all summer. It is both drought tolerant and adaptable to poor soils. Because Lemon Drop® does not set seeds like some of its freewheeling cousins, it will stay put rather than pop up around the garden.

Zones 5 – 11, full sun; 8 – 12 inches tall.

Proven Winners Lemon Drop Oenothera

Perennial Sunflower (Heliopsis)

The bright yellow, daisy-like flowers of this North American native plant brighten the garden. The improved cultivar ‘Tuscan Sun’ boasts an extended blooming season and stays a manageable size.

Zones 3 – 9; full sun to partial shade; 12 – 20 inches tall.

Proven Winners Tuscan Sun Heliopsis

Butterfly Flower (Gaura lindheimeri)

This is one of my favorite “see through” plants. I like to position Gaura in the middle of a flower border so that the loose stems create a veil through which the background plants are seen. This creates a little mystery and added dimension. Stratosphere™ Pink Picotee and Stratosphere™ White will bloom May through September.

Zones 6 – 11; full sun; 12 – 24 inches tall.

Proven Winners Stratosphere Gaura

Fall Flowering Drought Tolerant Perennials

Sedum sp.

Sedums are a classic choice for low water gardens. There are both spreading and upright forms. The upright cultivar ‘Maestro’ puts on a spectacular autumn show with abundant bright purple bloom stalks and pink flowers.

Zones 3 – 9; full sun; 24 – 30 inches tall.

Proven Winners Maestro Sedum

Aster sp.

What would the fall garden be without asters? I’m particularly fond of the blue and purple varieties because the colors complement the red, orange and yellow of the season. ‘Sapphire Mist’ produces an abundance of large, lilac blooms on compact plants from late summer through fall.

Zones 4 – 8; full sun; 12 – 16 inches tall.

Proven Winners Sapphire Mist Aster

Bluebeard (Caryopteris sp.)

Caryopteris blooms are a splash of cool blue at the end of summer. Sunshine Blue® Caryopteris incana is one I grow. I love the color combination of the neon yellow foliage and periwinkle flowers.

Zones 5 – 11; full sun; 36 – 48 inches tall.

Proven Winners Sunshine Blue Caryopteris

Drought Tolerant Perennials Prized for their Foliage

Ornamental Grasses

Pair ornamental grasses with bold blooms or fleshy leaves to create an interesting texture combination. ‘Cheyenne Sky’ Red Switch Grass (Panicum) is part of my Proven Winners® Platinum Collection. It’s a chameleon that changes from blue-green to wine red over the course of the summer.

Zones 4 – 9; full sun; 30 – 36 inches tall.

Proven Winners Cheyenne Sky Switch Grass

Heuchera sp.

You’ll be amazed at the variety of color and pattern available with such an easy care plant. I’m a huge fan of the varieties in the Proven Winners® Dolce® Series, which range in color from chartreuse to almost black.

 

Zones 4 – 9; full sun to partial shade; 8 – 16 inches tall.

Proven Winners Dolce Heuchera

Wood Spurge (Euphorbia amygdaliodes)

This plant blooms in spring, but the foliage is its greatest asset. The cultivar ‘Helena’s Blush’ has variegated green and white leaves that develop bright pink highlights as the temperatures cool in autumn.

Zones 6 – 9; full sun; 16 – 20 inches tall and 20 inches wide.

Proven Winners Helena's Blush Euphorbia

Good to Know

Even drought tolerant plants need water just after planting, water your newly planted drought tolerant perennials weekly the first growing season.

 

 

http://www.pallensmith.com/articles

Deer Resistant Plants? Fact or Fiction? by P Allen Smith | Armonk Homes

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Raise your hand if deer like to graze in your garden. How many different tactics have you tried to protect your plants? Have you tried hanging bars of soap from tree limbs, sprayed predator urine or scattered human hair around flower beds?

While these inventive measures may work temporarily, a long term solution requires a holistic approach. First, you have to give up the idea that you are ever going to deer proof your garden. Unless you build a 7-foot tall fence around your place, there’s not much you can do to keep them out. Next, make your garden less appealing to deer. Stop planting their favorites like tulips, roses and hostas and choose plants that deer are less inclined to eat. A few plant characteristics to look out for are fuzzy foliage, an antiseptic aroma and a bad taste.

Are there plants that are 100 percent deer resistant? No. The truth is that deer will eat anything when food is scarce, but if your garden is filled with plants that deer find unpleasant, there is a good chance they will move on to the delicacies in your neighbor’s yard.

 

 

http://www.pallensmith.com/blog

Housing Crash Fades as Defaults Decline to 2007 Levels | Mt Kisco Real Estate

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First-time delinquent home loans fell to 0.84 percent of the 50.2 million mortgages in March, the first month below 1 percent since 2007, before a wave of defaults led to the financial crisis, according to a report today by Lender Processing Services Inc. The rate of first-time defaults, defined as loans that went from performing to at least 60 days delinquent, peaked at 2.89 percent in January 2009.

The decline in new problem loans shows that the recovering U.S. economy, falling unemployment and rising home prices, combined with more than four years of banks’ tightening lending standards, are propelling the worst real estate crash since the Great Depression into the rearview mirror.

“Mortgage quality is improving rapidly,” Mark Zandi, chief economist for Moody’s Analytics Inc. said in a telephone interview from his office in West Chester, Pennsylvania. “Once we’re able to work through this last bulge of foreclosed property, which I think we’ll be able to do over the next 18 to 24 months, mortgage credit quality is going to look absolutely beautiful.”

Mortgages at least 30 days delinquent or in some stage offoreclosure fell to 5 million in March, down from a peak of 7.7 million in January 2010, according to Lender Processing Services, a real estate information service based in Jacksonville, Florida. That’s still more than double the 2.2 million non-current mortgages of January 2005, when the housing market was rising toward its peak.

Lending Standards

Tight lending standards have made it harder for borrowers to obtain mortgages, helping drive down default rates while reducing the homeownership rate in the first quarter to 65 percent, the lowest since 1995.

The Federal Housing Administration, which offers loans to buyers with downpayments as low as 3.5 percent, has steadily raised its credit scores. In the third quarter of 2012, the most recent available, 97 percent of FHA borrowers had credit scores above 620 of a possible 850. In the last quarter of 2006, only 53 percent had a score above 620.

 

 

http://www.bloomberg.com/news

Fannie Mae: Homebuilding jobs far from normal | North Salem Real Estate

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Residential construction jobs faced a 41% drop between 2006 and 2011. With homebuilding predicted to return to normal by 2016, housing starts may double over the next four years,Fannie Mae said.

This return to normalcy also implies an improvement in residential construction employment. But many are wondering how many jobs will come out of this homebuilding rebound.

In its latest edition of Housing Insights, Fannie Mae studies the historical relationship between housing starts and residential construction employment coupled with Economic and Strategic Research’s housing starts forecast, to project future homebuilding employment.

If housing starts keep up with expectations and return to normal levels in 2016, it is predicted that residential construction employment will rise to nearly 2.5 million jobs.

Fannie Mae predicts housing construction will recover to a “normal” level of about 1.6 million units in 2016. But what does this mean for homebuilding employment?

Fannie’s forecast predicts that residential construction employment will increase by 412,000 jobs between 2012 and 2016. This 20% rise in homebuilding employment will nearly triple the forecasted pace of total job growth during this time period.

However, the pace of growth will not be quick enough to bring back all homebuilding jobs lost during the housing bust. In 2016, the number of residential construction jobs is expected to remain nearly 1 million jobs below peaks established during the housing boom.

 

 

http://www.housingwire.com/news

THE MOST POWERFUL FACEBOOK SMART LIST | Cross River Realtor

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One of the most underutilized features in Facebook is the ability to create lists.  Lists can be an effective way to funnel the noise that seems to present itself every time you log into Facebook.  Let’s face it, we have all made regretful “friend” decisions on FB and for some reason those are the people that tend to dominate our newsfeed.

Lists can help us to listen and communicate with the people that matter to us most.  If you aren’t usingFacebook lists at all, then you might want to start here.facebook geographic smart list

However, one list in particular stands apart from the rest.  The geographic smart list can be an extremely powerful tool for engaging local connections with relevant targeted data about real estate, without spamming and perhaps alienating your other Facebook friends.

Watch the video below for some tips on how to use it.

 

http://techsavvyagent.com/text

Home construction continues to add jobs | Waccabuc Real Estate

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Builders continued to hire more workers in April, though employment among an age cohort important to household formation slipped, according to today’s jobs report, which showed more overall growth than expected.

Residential construction jobs are up 4.1 percent year over year, towering about the overall jobs growth rate of 1.6 percent, said Trulia Chief Economist Jed Kolko, citing data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics today.

Total residential-construction jobs moved up from a seasonally adjusted 580,200 in March to 586,400 in April, according to the report. In April of last year, the sector supported 572,000 jobs, the report showed.

But that jobs growth lags compared to actual construction growth. Kolko chalks up the discrepancy to the fact that the number of jobs for every construction project is more than normal.

At the same time, today’s report also showed that employment among a cohort that is crucial to household formation, 25 to 34-year-olds, has slipped recently, dropping from 75.6 percent in December 2012 to 75.2 percent in April, Kolko said.

But Fannie Mae Chief Economist Doug Duncan said that the report was positive overall and “better-than-expected.”

– See more at: http://www.inman.com/2013/05/03/home-construction-continues-to-add-jobs/#sthash.c6qctOjM.dpuf

Property taxes are only part of the picture | South Salem Real Estate

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Cul-de-sac image via Shutterstock.Cul-de-sac image via Shutterstock.

Do you think your state’s property tax burden is too high?

Before you start complaining how high property taxes are in your state, take a look at the charts below to see not only property taxes are in your state, but total taxes.

Your property taxes may be high for a reason — for example, if, like Florida, your state has no income tax.

First, see how property taxes in your state compare with those in the other 49 states. The following chart shows the amount of local and state property taxes collected per capita in each state in 2009.

Property tax collections by state

StateProperty tax collections, per capitaRank
Alabama$50350
Alaska$1,72810
Arizona$1,11932
Arkansas$54949
California$1,46515
Colorado$1,27724
Connecticut$2,4732
Delaware$71243
Florida$1,58913
Georgia$1,09234
Hawaii$98335
Idaho$81340
Illinois$1,7829
Indiana$1,12431
Iowa$1,30522
Kansas$1,35319
Kentucky$66346
Louisiana$70245
Maine$1,64011
Maryland$1,20527
Massachusetts$1,8748
Michigan$1,45216
Minnesota$1,34620
Mississippi$79341
Missouri$92937
Montana$1,30123
Nebraska$1,43717
Nevada$1,31821
New Hampshire$2,2403
New Jersey$2,6631
New Mexico$60647
New York$2,1365
North Carolina$86738
North Dakota$1,16529
Ohio$1,13530
Oklahoma$59748
Oregon$1,17228
Pennsylvania$1,22725
Rhode Island$2,0187
South Carolina$97036
South Dakota$1,11133
Tennessee$74842
Texas$1,47514
Utah$86339
Vermont$2,0566
Virginia$1,43118
Washington$1,22626
West Virginia$70944
Wisconsin$1,63312
Wyoming$2,2854

Source: taxfoundation.org.

– See more at: http://www.inman.com/2013/05/03/property-taxes-are-only-part-of-the-picture/#sthash.rztFC7l4.dpuf

NY losing all its old churches | Katonah NY Real Estate

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Neighbors and parishioners of an East Village church are steaming mad over a developer’s plans to demolish the 96-year-old building for market-rate apartments — and it’s just one of many historic holy houses in need of divine intervention.

Douglas Steiner, head of the Brooklyn Navy Yard’s Steiner Studios, bought Mary Help of Christians on East 12th Street for $41 million in November. Now he has permits to raze the sacred site, which includes a rectory, school and parking lot, for residential property with ground-floor retail.

But preservationists say the Roman Catholic church can be saved.

Mary Help of Christians, built in 1917 in the East Village, will be razed for residential.

Helayne Seidman
Mary Help of Christians, built in 1917 in the East Village, will be razed for residential.
The Church of the Redeemer, built in 1866 in Boerum Hill, may face the wrecking ball.

J.C. Rice
The Church of the Redeemer, built in 1866 in Boerum Hill, may face the wrecking ball.

“This is heartbreaking,” said Andrew Berman, executive director of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation. “We hope [Steiner] can see the light and realize it’s advantageous to use something that’s special rather than demolishing it for something that’s a dime a dozen.”

The church closed in September as part of the Archdiocese’s plan to shut down 21 parishes due to declining attendance.

Nicholas Serracino, the Archdiocese’s chief architect at the time, styled the Italian Renaissance Revival church after Italy’s Basilica of Mary Help of Christians.

Also likely condemned to the wrecking ball is the 140-year-old St. Vincent de Paul on West 23rd Street in Chelsea.

The church’s former pastor, the Rev. Gerald Murray, told The Post the Archdiocese plans to sell the building, which was given a Classical Revival limestone façade in 1939.

In Soho, the century-old Our Lady of Vilnius is on the market for $13 million — more than a year after parishioners lost a lawsuit against the Archdiocese to stop the Romanesque Revival church’s demolition.

Boerum Hill locals have so far delayed the demise of Church of the Redeemer, which was rumored to be knocked down for a new residential building and church hybrid.

The 150-year-old Gothic Revival building closed last summer because it is structurally unsound. A spokesman for the Episcopal Diocese of Long Island, which owns the property, says church officials are still weighing their options for the site.

Meanwhile, Harlem residents are bristling at the partial demolition of St. Thomas the Apostle, a 106-year-old Roman Catholic parish on West 118th Street. The Gothic Revival church was first established for Irish immigrants.

Still, miracles do happen. St. Brigid’s Church in the East Village was spared the wrecking ball in 2008 after an anonymous $20 million donation. It reopened in January

 

 

 

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local

Positive Equity is Driving Down Defaults | Bedford Hills Real Estate

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Homeowners with positive equity in their homes have fewer problem loans and are outperforming the national average for defaults. Their default rates are close to pre-crisis norms.

The latest data from Lender Processing Servicers shows that the overall equity trend has been a very positive one. “LPS’ latest data shows that the share of loans with LTVs greater than 100 percent has fallen 41 percent from a year ago. In total, there were approximately 9 million such loans, or about 18 percent of active mortgages. Some states, including the so-called ’sand states’ (Arizona, Florida, Nevada and California), are still well above the national level, at an average 28 percent, but they, too, have seen improvement over the last year, with negative equity dropping over 40 percent across those four states since January 2012, said LPS Applied Analytics Senior Vice President Herb Blecher.

However, March data also showed that the further underwater a borrower gets, the higher those problem rates rise. Borrowers with loan-to-value (LTV) ratios of just 100-110 percent are actually defaulting at more than twice the national average. For those 50 percent or more underwater, we see new problem rates of 4 percent.

“There has always been a clear correlation between higher levels of negative equity and new problem loan rates,” Blecher said.

LPS reported foreclosure starts were down 8.2 percent month over month, while foreclosure sales rose 10.1 percent. LPS looked more specifically at that situation in California, where the recent passage of the Homeowner Bill of Rights (HBoR) appears to have slowed down the foreclosure sale process considerably. In Q1 2013, foreclosure sales nationally (excluding California) increased 13 percent from Q4 2012, whereas in California they fell 35 percent during that same period.

However, the HBoR does not seem to have had a similar effect on the state’s foreclosure starts which, while down significantly from 2012 levels, are in line with the rest of the nation’s decline in referral activity following the attorneys general mortgage settlement and FHA modification initiatives.

 

http://www.realestateeconomywatch.com/2013/05