| Chappaqua NY Weekly Real Estate Report | 8/26/2013 | |
| Homes for sale | 108 | |
| Median Ask Price | $1,182,000.00 | |
| Low Price | $380,000.00 | |
| High Price | $24,750,000.00 | |
| Average Size | 3981 | |
| Average Price/foot | $363.00 | |
| Average DOM | 133 | |
| Average Ask Price | $1,567,844.00 | |
A house on the beach is enticing, but what about a lighthouse on the beach? More private owners are buying lighthouses to live in, which offers them a well-situated beachfront property and a full view of the coast. However, your image of this picturesque home could change once the blaring foghorn goes off. The Wall Street Journal has more:
“I do wonder if people know what they’re getting into,” said Richard Ventrone, an architect who has restored five Rhode Island lighthouses for the state’s Department of Transportation. “You’re hanging out in a tin can. If you get a nasty storm that comes through, you could be stuck out there.”
About 1 in 5 mortgage loan applications received by Quicken Loans are from borrowers seeking adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) loans, Crain’s Detroit Business reports.
Rates on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages averaged 4.4 percent with an average 0.7 point for the week ending Aug. 8, according to Freddie Mac’s latest rate survey.
Rates on five-year Treasury-indexed hybrid ARM loans averaged 3.19 percent with an average 0.5 point, and one-year Treasury-indexed ARMs averaged 2.62 percent with an average 0.3 point.
Quicken Chief Economist Bob Walters points out that homeowners move every seven to 10 years on average, and “all that security they’re paying for with a higher rate generally isn’t used.”
Source: crainsdetroit.com.
read more…
http://www.inman.com/wire/arm-loans-back-in-fashion-as-mortgage-rates-rise/#sthash.Nhbn6E8b.dpuf
I’m frequently asked if home prices are a bubble now. There’s certainly reason to wonder. In fact, I get that question a lot. To lay the groundwork, I recently explained what a speculative bubble is.
The key is that prices are being bid up substantially by people expecting a short-run gain. Price can rise because of fundamentals, such as greater demand or limited supply. Such price increases are not a bubble. However, fundamental changes can trigger growth, which sometimes leads people to believe the growth will continue, in turn leading to speculative buying.
Look at these home price increases, each calculated over the past 12 months:
Case-Shiller 20-city index: +12.1% FHFA’s House Price Index: +7.3 percent CoreLogic: +11.9% Trulia Asking Prices: +11% New single family home median: +7.4% National Association of Realtors existing homes: +12.2%
So do all of these statistics point to a bubble?
Is there good reason for home prices to rise? Sure there is. Look at the underlying demand growth. Population is growing, though slower than in the past. The number of people living in a household has dropped from its peak in 2008. That means we need slightly more houses for a given number of people. Mobile home sales have dropped so sharply that they hardly play a role in national statistics anymore. We need about 1.2 million new housing units per year, on average. Maybe it’s only 1.1 million, but it’s certainly something in that neighborhood. Housing completions last year totaled 650,000 units, far short of our average need.
We managed with low levels of new construction because we entered this era with a large overhang of houses built in the boom. We have now brought that overhang way down. The vacancy rate of non-rental housing peaked at nearly three percent but has dropped to just 1.9 percent. The long-run average is about 1.5, so we’re getting close to normal. For rentals, vacancy is down to 8.2 percent from a high of 11 percent. Average is about seven percent, but there was some drift up to eight percent even in the 1990s.
read more…
http://www.forbes.com/sites/billconerly/2013/08/13/is-housing-a-bubble-in-2013/
According to Inside Real Estate, Wells Fargo (WF) continued its reign as the top mortgage lender and provided 22% of all U.S. mortgages in the second quarter of 2013. Following suit was JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Bank of America (BOA) and Quicken Loans.
A complete chart, showing each mortgage bank’s originations can be found by clicking on the red link provided below.
Long Treasurys broke upward, out of the trading range of the last eight weeks. Not by much, but out, the 10-year T-note above 2.8 percent for the first time in more than two years — 2.86 percent at this moment.
Mortgages are stickier, the rise negligible (investors have lost fear of another refi wave), but the march toward 5 percent is underway. Two patterns are helpful, one 24 hours old, the other a 60-year vintage. Before discussing those, dismiss a false lead: The 17-nation eurozone enjoyed positive gross domestic product (GDP) in the second quarter, ballyhooed in the U.S. press as an “end to recession.”
A positive quarter is the technical definition of a recession’s end, but not even the Europeans believe this is anything more than a passing moment of stabilization. Yesterday’s trading was instructive. News that should have helped long-term rates did not: Egypt’s descent into civil war; 200 points off the Dow; and zero-gain industrial production in July.
News that overwhelmed all else and pushed up rates: New claims for unemployment insurance last week fell to a six-year low: 320,000. Thursdays’ market calculus is now persistent: Jobs override all. If employment is strengthening, the Federal Reserve will taper quantitative easing to zero within six months.
Thus stocks traded down on good economic news. I have never found a direct conveyor of QE cash to stocks, except running through the vacant minds of stock boosters. Whether real or imaginary, the mind prevails, but it does not say much for the investment-value underpinnings of stocks that good economic news is bad news.
The trading-desk shorthand for unemployment insurance applications is “claims.” Every U.S. recession since the big war has ended in the same pattern: Credit-sensitive housing and autos rebound as soon as the Fed cuts rates.
The job market is the last to recover, often lagging housing by two years.
read more…
http://www.inman.com/2013/08/16/march-toward-5-percent-is-underway/#sthash.ve1hvzwH.dpuf
Downtown Armonk’s Water District seeks more water and more water storage, according to North Castle’s Director of Water and Sewer Operations, Sal Misti. Director Misti spoke with allaboutarmonk.com about North Castle’s Water District #4.
The Water District #4 includes customers in Whippoorwill Hills, Whippoorwill Ridge, Wampus Close, and downtown Armonk’s commercial accounts, a total of about 370 accounts. There are an additional 117 homes in Whippoorwill that are in Water District #5, which are supplied by Water District #4.
Water District #4 uses four existing wells. The two wells located in Armonk’s Community Park are in good shape. But because of the close proximity of these two wells, they can only be run efficiently one at a time. During peak usage periods, other sources of water are needed. Monthly water usage over the past three years, at peak times such as in July 2010, was recorded as 600,000 gallons per day. During the summer, irrigation systems put a strain on the water supply.
The two other District #4 wells are located on School Street. These original wells were built in 1991 by the US Environmental Protection Agency. One is in bedrock and the other is a gravel-packed well. They are located next to each other, but draw from two different aquifers. The gravel-packed well is developed with a screen in the bottom of a column with a pump inside packed with fine sand. The gravel filters the incoming water which develops into the water supply. The wells have a limited yield because they require treatment due to the presence of iron and magnesium in the water. The treatment limits the wells’ production to about 100 gallons of water per minute from both wells.
The underground water quality in the District’s property has been tested for possible future wells to increase the water supply to downtown Armonk. But building new wells for public water sources requires a significant amount of regulations and conditions for approval from Westchester County’s Health Department. Misti explained, “It is quite a task to get a municipal well approved, it takes years.”
There are two wells in the Whippoorwill Ridge area on Old Route 22 that were taken out of service about 12 years ago because of high iron content. These two will require some treatment, but could add about 45 gallons per minute. The hydrologists recommend bringing the Whippoorwill Ridge wells back online to add much needed water to the system. Months of work is required to fix them; a request for proposal is required for the necessary work to surge and clean the wells, change the filters, and check the pumps.
IBM built its own wells at Business Park field in 1960s. The IBM infrastructure was approved and then turned over to Water District #4 to become part of the distribution system. IBM donated the park property to the town’s water district and extended the water main infrastructure to Maple and Bedford Road. The main line was continued to Whippoorwill Ridge on Old Route 22, across Route 22 and up to IBM’s facility. Public water became available for the Old Route 22 area.
read more…
From April through June of this year, an estimated 204,000 homeowners received permanent loan modifications from mortgage servicers. Of those modifications, approximately 160,000 homeowners received proprietary loans modifications and 44,860 homeowners received loan modifications completed under the Home Affordable Modification Program.
“Our mission since 2007 remains the same – to reach out and assist as many homeowners as possible using all of the tools at our disposal. In addition to the progress made via our solution data, HOPE NOW sponsored over 140 face to face events in more than 70 markets nationwide and has been a driving force in bringing together all mortgage stakeholders in the interest of improving the nation’s housing market,” said Eric Selk, executive director of HOPE NOW.
The mortgage industry completed more than 6.52 million total permanent loan modifications for homeowners since 2007. More than 5.31 million of those loans were proprietary programs and 1,223,449 were completed via HAMP.
In the second quarter, approximately 81,000 short sales were recorded, bringing the total to more than 1.32 million since December 2009. When combining both loan modifications and short sales, the total number of permanent, non-foreclosure solutions was more than 7.84 million.
Second quarter numbers were at an estimated 329,000 foreclosure starts, compared to 472,000 during the previous quarter, a drop of more than 30%, and 527,000 in the second quarter of 2012, a decline of 38%.
Interestingly enough, completed foreclosures in the second quarter were approximately 158,000 compared to 162,000 for the first quarter, down 2%. In the second quarter of 2012, foreclosure sales were at 185,000, 15% above current numbers.
Short sale completions in the second quarter were an estimated 81,000 compared to 84,000 in the first quarter, a drop of 3%. Year-over-year, short sale completions were down 25% from 107,000 in the second quarter of 2012.
Month-over-month, foreclosure starts were estimated at 97,000 in June compared to 115,000 in May, down 16%. Foreclosure starts were estimated at 52,000 in June were down 8% from May’s 48,000. On a monthly basis, short sales completed dropped 7% from 28,000 in May to 26,000 in June.
Delinquencies of 60+ days remained unchanged in June at 2.22 million.
But numbers don’t tell the whole picture. It’s important to know why foreclosures are on the decline.
Daren Blomquist, vice president of RealtyTrac, believes many markets have finally worked their way through the large batch of bad loans originated during the housing bubble years.
“On top of this, as home prices have now bottomed out in most markets, that is helping to lift all boats and allow some homeowners to avoid foreclosure through refinancing or even the sale of their home,” said Blomquist.
“Lastly, the persistent foreclosure prevention efforts over the past few years have waged a war of attrition on the foreclosure problem, helping to keep a lid on foreclosure activity,” he added.
Blomquist noted that regulations could be playing a key role in keeping foreclosures from going through. “In some cases, state legislation has slowed foreclosure activity quite dramatically — above and beyond the natural slowing of foreclosure activity that was already occurring,” he said.
Blomquist mentioned the example of California, where the Homeowners Bill of Rights that took effect in January, causing a 60% drop in foreclosure starts in a single month. “The still-unanswered question with regulations like this, however, is are they actually preventing foreclosures in the long-term or are they delaying them to next year or beyond?”
But the decline in foreclosures is a positive sign for the housing market. “Rising prices have helped some people regain equity, giving them an escape hatch to avoid foreclosure, and also giving them hope to keep making payments, rather than just walking away via a strategic default,” Blomquist said
read more…
http://www.housingwire.com/articles/26172-mortgage-modifications-up-foreclosure-starts-down
Americans think New Yorkers are rude but serve the best food and Louisiana has had a few too many, according to a recent survey.
Business Insider polled about 1,600 Americans about their views on the other states, asking them to identify the drunkest, dumbest and most overrated of the 50. The results were displayed in a series of amusing maps that tell you a lot about the reputations and stereotypes of different parts of the United States.
Not surprisingly, New York was deemed both the rudest and most arrogant state. People said the residents of Georgia and Minnesota were the nicest, but many states in the South received a large number of the votes.
RELATED: NEW YORKERS TOP LIST OF BEST TIPPERS: SURVEY
Even though the rest of the country doesn’t think New Yorkers are the most hospitable folks, they do admit that great food comes out of the Empire State. New York earned nearly 20% of the votes in that category, while California and Louisiana were also lauded for their fine cuisine.
Americans think New Yorkers are rude, Californians are hot but crazy: survey – NY Daily News.
Creating headlines that drive traffic and attracts readers is part art with a dose of science.
If you don’t learn how to write a good headline then the chances are you will have trouble attracting traffic to your website or blog. In a digital economy that can cost sales, because you need readers to turn up to buy your goods and services.
Newspapers and magazines have been perfecting the art for over a hundred years. Write a good headline and your circulation increases. Headlines are vital not just for newspapers but for advertisements both offline and online.
Even Facebook ads are not immune.
Twitter with only 140 characters is the perfect platform for honing headlines if you want people to click on the embedded link. Online stores need to create banners with headlines that make people click. The skill of headline writing is also vital for those important emails that you send out to your subscribers….if you want them opened.
The power of effective headlines was something I discovered after reading a series of printed marketing guides 20 years ago by Jay Abraham (an American marketing wizard). I implemented some of his ideas for print media and found they worked.
Print or web, the principles have not changed.
Writing a good blog post or article often starts with the headline and it flows from there. I often stop what I am doing (even a conversation..politely of course) and write down a headline idea. Don’t let that inspiration escape.
Stopping the car has been done on several occasions.
Headlines come in all shapes and sizes but some work better than others.
Here are a few types to get you thinking.
These lists can be 5, 10 or mega. The mega list is often guaranteed to produce a ton of traffic. It means you might have to spend longer writing the article but it will be worth it.
Example: “57 ways to Boost your Blog Traffic“
Everyone is trying to work out how to do something. How to be rich, beautiful or fit. Tell them how and they will not only read the rest but tell their friends about your article and retweet and share on Facebook.
Example of this “How to Get More Retweets on Twitter“
10 Awesome Headlines that Drive Traffic and Attract Readers – Jeffbullas’s Blog.