Monthly Archives: June 2013

Mortgage rates rise at fastest pace in 10 years | North Salem Real Estate

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Mortgage rates are at historical lows, but they are increasing at the fastest pace in a decade, Businessweek claims in a new article.

Earlier this week, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said the Fed plans to taper off purchases of mortgage-backed securities once the unemployment rate hits 7%.

The news sent stock markets plunging around the world, the article noted.

“If people believe house prices are going up, credit availability will evolve,” said Paul Willen, a senior economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. “There is too much money to be made lending to homebuyers. Lenders will find a way.”

 

Mortgage rates rise at fastest pace in 10 years | HousingWire.

Key takeaways on rising home sales | Mt Kisco Real Estate

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If you exclude November 2009, when home sales spiked amid a frenzy to claim a tax credit for first-time home buyers, home sales are running at their highest rate in six years, writes the Wall Street Journal.

The National Association of Realtors reported on Thursday that sales in May rose to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.18 million homes. They reached a level of 5.44 million in November 2009, and 5.27 million in May 2007, when the housing market collapse accelerated. They hit a low of 3.45 million in July 2010, after the last round of home-buyer tax credits expired.

See the key takeaways from the Wall Street Journal on these rising home prices here.

Key takeaways on rising home sales | HousingWire.

Tight inventory of Cape Cod mansions make prices soar | Waccabuc Real Estate

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Brokers said many wealthy Cape Codders are trading up. Other buyers see the Cape as a strong investment, with bigger properties still selling at a 20% to 50% discount to the Hamptons in New York.

CNBC has learned that billionaire William Koch—the sailor, wine-collector and brother of famed conservatives David and Charles—is putting his historic compound on the private island of Oyster Harbors up for sale.Robert Paul Properties, an affiliate of Luxury Portfolio International, is about to list the property for $15 million.

Koch is selling after he purchased a nearby estate previously owned by Rachel “Bunny” Melon for $19.5 million, according to reports.

The top listing in Martha’s Vineyard, the Obamas’ favorite summer retreat, is a property called Herring Creek Farm, a 25-acre estate on the market for $19.5 million. The farm sits on a private corner of land off Slough Cove. Located on the southeast part of the island, the property features sweeping views of Edgartown Great Pond and the Atlantic, writes CNBC.

 

Tight inventory of Cape Cod mansions make prices soar | HousingWire.

Second-home sales shift to Generation X | South Salem Real Estate

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The average age of a consumer looking to buy a second home is 50, said Chris Kelsey, president of Long Cove, a private community on Cedar Creek Lake built to give Dallas-area families a close-to-home getaway. 

“A lot of people are wondering how the desires of consumers are changing now that we’re coming out of the recession,” said Kelsey. 

The whole second-home industry has been predicated on Baby Boomers, said Kelsey, although the industry is now crossing the threshold from Boomer to Generation X. 

“Boomers are becoming grandparents,” said Kelsey, who noted that their motivation for buying is often for extended family. On the other hand, Generation X is simply approaching the natural point in life where a second home becomes a feasible option. 

What’s interesting, notes Kelsey, is the language used by the Baby Boomers compared to Generation X. Boomers often refer to their second home as a “vacation home,” while Gen X typically calls it a “second home.”

“This distinction is important to them because they don’t see their resort property as a place for vacation,” said the Kelsey & Norden Resort Real Estate Survey. “Instead, they think of it as an extension of their regular lives, a second home where they are connected to a community of like-minded friends and can provide their kids an alternative experience to their urban or suburban neighborhoods. And with the shift comes a similar shift in vocabulary.”

Kelsey added that Gen X is notorious for its distaste for gated communities and their dislike of inclusivity. “They may want a gated community, they may just not want to celebrate the fact that they’re in a gated community,” said Kelsey. 

 

Second-home sales shift to Generation X | HousingWire.

Increasing mortgage rates will not ruin the housing recovery | Katonah Real Estate

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Although the era of low mortgages rates are beginning to dwindle away, the housing market is still projected to keep recovering, an article in CNN Money said.

The article explains that higher mortgage rates will not derail the housing market for three reasons.

First, interest rates alone do not drive up home prices, with additional factors like unemployment factoring in.

Additionally, investors armed with cash played a large part in the recovery by buying a lot of foreclosed properties with cash, foregoing the need for a mortgage.

Meanwhile, mortgage rates are still low historically.

Rates are close to what they were in Spring 2012, and people thought the rates were amazingly low then, the article said.

 

Increasing mortgage rates will not ruin the housing recovery | HousingWire.

New York luxury real estate is booming | Bedford Real Estate

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Yolanda Barnes, director of research for Savills, an organization that focuses on international real estate, comments:

There’s a great deal of interest in New York, which is seen as relatively cheap compared to other global cities.” As such, foreign investors who are looking for a new home, who need a vacation spot, or who work on an international level and want to set up a home base in the United States, are turning to New York City as a wonderful place to invest in luxury real estate at a fraction of the cost when compared to the price tags associated with other global locations, such as London.

 

New York luxury real estate is booming | HousingWire.

Surging home sales stir new housing bubble fears | Pound Ridge Real Estate

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There are differences between this run-up in prices and the housing bubble that preceded the financial crisis, said Gary Thomas, theNational Association of Realtors‘ president.

“The boom period was marked by easy credit and overbuilding, but today we have tight mortgage credit and widespread shortages of homes for sale,” Thomas said. The improved housing market and mortgage rates still near record lows, despite a recent rise in rates, is pulling buyers back in the market faster than it’s prompting sellers to put homes on the market. Buyer traffic 29% above a year ago, but the supply of homes for sale is actually down 10%, writes CNNMoney.

 

Surging home sales stir new housing bubble fears | HousingWire.

Home construction climbs 5% in May: McGraw Hill | Chappaqua Real Estate

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At a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $495.7 billion, new construction starts in May advanced 5% from April, according to McGraw Hill Construction.

Much of the uptick came from nonresidential building, which registered moderate growth for the second month in a row after its sluggish performance at the outset of 2013.

During the first five months of 2013, total construction starts on an unadjusted basis were reported at $187.6 billion, down 3% from last year.

Residential building advanced 3% in May to $206.8 billion.

Single-family housing also edged up 2% in May, the company noted.

The rate of activity for single-family housing continues to be high by recent standards, with May up 26% from the average monthly pace during 2012.

By geography, single-family housing in May revealed gains in the Midwest, up 6%; the West, up 5%, and the South Atlantic, up 2%, respectively.

 

Home construction climbs 5% in May: McGraw Hill | HousingWire.

Forget about Marketing: Concentrate on Blogging | Armonk Realtor

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Well, recently it seems like a lot of bloggers fancy themselves as marketers. You can’t read a post on a blog without seeing a load of other bloggers commenting at the bottom, with a link back to their own site. Of course other bloggers use black hat SEO tricks and other shady tactics in order to drive traffic to their blog. Each to their own you might say, but at the end of the day life can be much, much easier.

If you publish blog content that’s truly awesome, everyone else will market your blog for you.

If you seem to spend half your life trying to promote your blog with your efforts never coming to fruition, now’s the time to stop. There’s a reason why things aren’t working out – and you can bet your bottom dollar that it’s the actual content in your blog posts.

Sorry to have to break it to you, but your blog posts suck.

 

Forget about Marketing: Concentrate on Blogging : @ProBlogger.

Florida’s Foreclosure-fatigued Families Flee | Mt Kisco Real Estate

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Some 20 percent of owners of properties making their way through the torturous foreclosure process are abandoning their homes rather than hoping for a miracle or waiting until the bitter end eventually comes.

RealtyTrac released a report today showing that as of June owners had vacated 167,680 foreclosure properties nationwide, representing 20 percent of all U.S. properties in the foreclosure process. These owner-vacated foreclosures are in addition to 544,274 bank-owned homes nationwide that have been foreclosed on but not sold to a third party.

In addition more than 650,000 homes in the foreclosure process have not been vacated by the homeowner but are likely to end up as short sales, foreclosure auction sales or bank-owned sales in the future, bringing total foreclosure-related inventory on RealtyTrac to nearly 1.4 million.

“Efforts to prevent unnecessary foreclosures and mitigate their impact on home values have resulted in a foreclosure process that takes an average of 477 days nationwide, and more than two years in some states – which is holding many of these must-sell properties off the market,” Blomquist said.

“Even if all these homes flooded the market simultaneously they would likely not cause the once-feared double dip in prices given supply constraints from non-distressed sellers and stronger demand. Given these market dynamics, it’s not surprising to see that Florida, Illinois and New Jersey – states with three of the four longest foreclosure timelines – have all had laws take effect in the last six months that speed up the foreclosure process on vacant properties. These laws should help provide some extra supply and possibly help reduce the threat of another housing price bubble forming in these markets.”

Of the total 167,680 vacant foreclosure properties nationwide, Florida documented the most by far of any state, with 55,503, fully 33 percent of the national total. Illinois posted the second highest total (17,672), followed by California (9,802), Ohio (9,723), and New York (9,173).

 

Florida’s Foreclosure-fatigued Families Flee | RealEstateEconomyWatch.com.