Monthly Archives: June 2013

Flash Flood Watch Issued For Mt. Kisco Friday Morning | Mt. Kisco Real Estate

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WESTCHESTER COUNTY, N.Y. — The National Weather Service issued a Flash Flood Watch Thursday afternoon for Westchester County.

Flash flooding is possible with widespread heavy rainfall coming Friday and into Saturday ahead of Tropical Storm Andrea. The flash flood watch went into effect just after 2 p.m. Thursday and is expected to last until 2 p.m. Saturday, according to the NWS.

The NWS previously issued a hazardous weather outlook for Westchester County for Friday with heavy rainfall and urban and small stream flooding possible. Rain totals are predicted to be 2 to 2.5 inches or more from the low pressure system and its extensive tropical moisture, according to a previous report.

For more on Tropical Storm Andrea, residents are asked to visit the National Hurricane Center website. Residents can also visit FEMA’s website to learn more on how to prepare for hurricanes and tropical storms.

 

Flash Flood Watch Issued For Mt. Kisco Friday Morning | The Mt. Kisco Daily Voice.

What To Do This Weekend In And Around Bedford | Bedford Real Estate

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CHAPPAQUA, N.Y. – Wondering what’s going on this weekend in and around Chappaqua, Mt. Kisco, Bedford or Armonk? The Daily Voice has your back! Here are some events set to take place this weekend around your town. For a more extensive listing, please visit our Events page.

Friday, June 7

Art Exhibit: Photographs from Robert Pincus will be shown all day in the Mount Kisco Public Library. 100 East Main Street, Mount Kisco.

Game Club: 3 p.m. Middle and high school students are welcome to play board games. North Castle Public Library, 19 Whippoorwill Road East, Armonk.

Movies in Millwood Park: 8:30 p.m. The first annual Movies in Millwood Park will begin with “Happy Feet” under the stars next to Rocky’s deli. 235 Saw Mill River Road.

Katonah Fire Department Carnival: 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. Tickets: $1.25 each; 22 tickets for $25; 36 tickets for $40 Kiddie rides 2 tickets, all other rides 3 tickets. Sat. June 8th ride all afternoon for $22 from 1-5 pm.

Chappaqua Library Fabulous Used Book Sale: 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Friends of the Chappaqua Library will hold its annual used book sale in the Chappaqua Library Theater. 195 South Greeley Avenue.

Saturday, June 8

Art Exhibit: Photographs from Robert Pincus will be shown all day in the Mount Kisco Public Library. 100 East Main Street, Mount Kisco.

Learn Tai Chi in 2013: 10:30 a.m. Make tai chi your new hobby in 2013 at the North Castle Public Library with certified Feldenkrais movement and tai chi instructor Lawrence Attile. 19 Whippoorwill Road East, Armonk.

Chappaqua Farmers Market Outdoor Season: 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.  The Chappaqua Farmers Market welcomes shoppers for their third season with new offerings.  The market’s spring/summer season takes place outdoors at the Chappaqua train station.

Chappaqua Library Fabulous Used Book Sale: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friends of the Chappaqua Library will hold its annual used book sale in the Chappaqua Library Theater. 195 South Greeley Avenue.

Katonah Fire Department Carnival: 1 p.m. to 11 p.m. Tickets: $1.25 each; 22 tickets for $25; 36 tickets for $40 Kiddie rides 2 tickets, all other rides 3 tickets. Sat. June 8th ride all afternoon for $22 from 1-5 pm.

Sunday, June 9

Learn and Play Mah Jongg: 1 to 2:30 p.m. For those who don’t know how to play Mah Jongg – or don’t even know what it is – this is your chance to find out. Downstairs Children’s Room in the North Castle Public Library, 19 Whippoorwill Road E., Armonk.

Chappaqua Library Fabulous Used Book Sale: 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Friends of the Chappaqua Library will hold its annual used book sale in the Chappaqua Library Theater. All remaining books on Sunday are FREE. 195 South Greeley Avenue.

 

What To Do This Weekend In And Around Bedford | The Bedford Daily Voice.

Rising prices widen homeownership availability gap | Mount Kisco Real Estate

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Across all 100 metros, less affordable markets tend to have high price gains. The correlation between the year-over-year price gain and the mortgage-payment-versus-wage measure is 0.3 (statistically significant at the 5% level). That means that homeownership affordability is becoming more unequal across the U.S. — the gap between more affordable and less affordable markets is growing. To see what this growing gap means for the housing market, read the full blog post byTrulia.

 

Rising prices widen homeownership availability gap | HousingWire.

List of improving housing markets grows | North Salem Real Estate

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After dipping slightly in May, the number of U.S. housing markets on the mend increased by five, bringing the total to 263 in June, according to the National Association of Home Builders/First AmericanImproving Markets Index. 

The IMI, which includes entrants from all 49 states and the District of Columbia, reveals metropolitan areas that have shown improvement in housing permits, employment and home prices for at least six consecutive months. 

This month, 29 new markets were added, while 24 were dropped from the list. New entrants included Salinas, Calif.; Sioux City, Iowa; Chicago; Topeka, Kan.; Baton Rouge, La.; Laredo, Texas; and Philadelphia, Pa. 

“This is the fifth consecutive month in which the IMI has designated more than 70% of U.S. metros as improving,” observed NAHB Chairman Rick Judson. 

He added, “While that’s a good sign that the housing recovery is on solid footing, we know that various challenges are slowing its progress — including continuing issues with credit availability for builders and buyers, as well as appraisals that aren’t keeping up with the rising cost of construction.” 

According to NAHB Chief Economist David Crowe, it is normal to see some seasonal fluctuations regarding the IMI list. “Meanwhile, it’s worth noting that the number of improving markets is now more than three times what it was in June 2012,” he noted.

 

List of improving housing markets grows | HousingWire.

Rent from Steven Spielberg for a mere $125,000 a month | Waccabuc Real Estate

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Sure, it sounds like a lot of money to spend every 30 days on just 1.08 acres, but the spread, which includes 130 feet of beach frontage, a massage room, and a screening room (and, let’s face it, Spielberg has been known to go hog wild with his screening rooms), looks like a downright bargain compared to the houses down the block, writes AOL Real Estate.

 

Rent from Steven Spielberg for a mere $125,000 a month | HousingWire.

Freddie: Borrowers strengthen their household budgets with refis | Cross River Real Estate

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Borrowers who refinanced their homes in the first quarter will save approximately $7 billion in interest over the next 12 months, Freddie Mac said in its first-quarter 2013 quarterly refinance report.

The enterprise’s quarterly report is culled from data on sample properties in which Freddie Mac has funded two successive conventional, first-mortgage loans, with the second being a refinancing.

The overall data shows consumers strengthening their balance sheets by using low mortgage rates to move into reduced monthly payments. In other cases, they are refinancing into shorter loan terms or obtaining a safer long-term, fixed-rate mortgage.

Freddie says in the first quarter $8.1 billion in net home equity was cashed out during the refinancing of conventional prime-credit mortgages. This figure is virtually unchanged from the previous quarter, but substantially down from the peak cash-out refinance volume of $84 billion in the second quarter of 2006.

Of those borrowers who refinanced during the first quarter, 28% shortened their loan terms, 68% kept the same loan terms as the loan they paid off and 3% chose to lengthen their loan terms, Freddie Mac said.

About 85% of those who refinance a first-lien home mortgage maintained the same loan amount after refinancing their mortgage or lowered their principal balance by putting more down at the closing table.

About 95% of refinancing borrowers selected a fixed-rate loan in 1Q.

In fact, 87% of borrowers with a hybrid ARM selected a fixed-rate loan when going through a refi in the first quarter.

Meanwhile, Freddie says the Home Affordable Refinance Program has helped 2.5 million borrowers refinance since its inception through March of 2013.

HARP loans represented more than 20% of the first-quarter refinance loans acquired by Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae.

For all those loans refinanced through HARP in 1Q, the median depreciation in property value hit 28%, with the prior loan having a median age of 6 years.

 

Freddie: Borrowers strengthen their household budgets with refis | HousingWire.

How rising mortgage rates may affect the recovery | South Salem Real Estate

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The news of rising rates has caused bond investors to begin selling out of their 10-year Treasury positions, driving yields for these bonds above 2%. Since mortgage rates correlate closely with Treasury yields, they have followed suit, rising about a quarter of a percentage point in just a week, writes Forbes.

“In Middle America I don’t see much impact since homes are so affordable,” explains Lawrence Yun, chief economist of National Association of Realtors. “The more expensive coastal regions… is where one will begin to feel the first decline or impact.”  

Yun suspects that California metro areas and east coast hubs like Boston, New York and Washington D.C. could begin to experience slackening sales because low-interest monthly mortgage payments in these relatively pricier places have helped make homes seem more affordable to more buyers despite the fact that relative to income, principal amounts are still expensive.

 

How rising mortgage rates may affect the recovery | HousingWire.

Impact Of Mortgage Refinance On Housing | Bedford Hills Homes

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Mortgage refinance applications have been taking a hit recently.

This morning’s MBA purchase applications showed that refinance index was down 15% for the May 31st week.

The refinancing index is down four straight weeks, and was down 12% the previous week.

Refinance applications tends to be more sensitive to a rise in mortgage rates.

The MBA 30-year fixed mortgage rate climbed from 3.59% in the first week of May to 4.07% in the first week of June. The decline in refinance activity reflects the rise in mortgage rates, Ed Stansfield, chief housing economist at Capital Economics explained in an email interview.

There are three key reasons to watch this data.

First, despite the recent sharp rise, mortgage rates are still at low levels. So the impact on refinance activity shows that both the housing market and overall economic confidence are still “fragile” and the the recovery is dependent on the loose monetary policy.

Second, is the impact on consumer spending, which Stansfield doesn’t think will be “large.”

Third, for those with adjustable rate mortgages (ARM) the rising interest rates have been a bigger blow. “This could offset some of the benefits of falling unemployment on delinquency rates, though again I would not really expect this effect to be large based on the rise in mortgage rates seen so far.”

 

Bedford New York Real Estate | Bedford NY Homes by Robert Paul Realtor » Blog Archive » Impact Of Mortgage Refinance On Housing | Bedford Hills Homes.

It’s Time To Sell Your House | Mount Kisco Homes

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Mortgage rates are on their way back up.

U.S. household net worth just hit an all-time high.

These are among the reasons why Zillow CEO Spencer Rascoff says it’s now time to sell your house (via Jim the Realtor).

In an appearance on CNBC this morning, Rascoff says an ongoing lack of supply — the result of people still trapped by negative equity — and steady demand will only drive rates up further in coming years,

That means it’ll be more expensive to buy a home at a given price down the road than now.

He explains:

If you have any equity in your home and you’re thinking about selling in the next couple of years,” he continued, “[it’s] probably best to sell now, even though home values are continuing to rise.

Imagine yourself buying a $300,000 home today, and in four years you may want to trade up to a $500,000 home,” he said. “That home is not just that much more expensive—but because mortgage rates are going to be higher—it’s significantly more expensive. So the trade-up market is going to be very troubled in a couple of years.

Here’s the full clip:

SEE ALSO: 25 Reasons Why Chicago Is The Most Underrated City In America >

 

It’s Time To Sell Your House – Business Insider.

Impact Of Mortgage Refinance On Housing | Bedford Hills Homes

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Mortgage refinance applications have been taking a hit recently.

This morning’s MBA purchase applications showed that refinance index was down 15% for the May 31st week.

The refinancing index is down four straight weeks, and was down 12% the previous week.

Refinance applications tends to be more sensitive to a rise in mortgage rates.

The MBA 30-year fixed mortgage rate climbed from 3.59% in the first week of May to 4.07% in the first week of June. The decline in refinance activity reflects the rise in mortgage rates, Ed Stansfield, chief housing economist at Capital Economics explained in an email interview.

There are three key reasons to watch this data.

First, despite the recent sharp rise, mortgage rates are still at low levels. So the impact on refinance activity shows that both the housing market and overall economic confidence are still “fragile” and the the recovery is dependent on the loose monetary policy.

Second, is the impact on consumer spending, which Stansfield doesn’t think will be “large.”

Third, for those with adjustable rate mortgages (ARM) the rising interest rates have been a bigger blow. “This could offset some of the benefits of falling unemployment on delinquency rates, though again I would not really expect this effect to be large based on the rise in mortgage rates seen so far.”

But how significant is it?

“In terms of its significance, in my view, it is less of a concern than if home purchase approvals had fallen to a similar degree – they have been softening too, but not by as much,” Stansfield said. “After all, home purchase approvals are a better gauge of the strength of the demand for housing than the number of people who are switching from one mortgage deal to another.”

Bottomline: Stansfield expects the housing market to continue to recover but says this data shows that the recovery “may not proceed in a straight line.”

 

Impact Of Mortgage Refinance On Housing – Business Insider.