Monthly Archives: January 2014

Buyer’s agent builds blog audience by cutting Greenwich, Conn., down to size | Chappaqua Real Estate

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Instead of singing the praises of his local market, Greenwich, Conn., buyer’s agent Christopher Fountain has built an audience for his blog, “For What It’s Worth,” by tearing it down.

“The essence of his complaint,” writes the New York Times’ Landon Thomas Jr. in a profile of Fountain, is that “decades of easy money and ceaseless greed have created a glut of unsalable houses that will remain a blight on his hometown for many years.”

Fountain catalogs residents’ “run-ins with the law, debt-fueled implosions or plain old bad taste,” Thomas says, winning a “cult following” among the very people he’s making fun of: “financial titans who can afford to plunk down $5 million or more on a house.” Source: New York Times.

– See more at: http://www.inman.com/wire/greenwich-conn-agent-nabs-attention-with-blog-that-lambastes-local-real-estate/?utm_source=20140127&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=dailyheadlinespm#sthash.VtsefwpH.dpuf

The ‘McMansion’ is back | Armonk NY Real Estate

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Though the reign of the “McMansion” appeared to crumble during the housing crisis, demand for big homes has surged recently, The New York Times reports.

The average size of a new home reached an all-time high in 2012, and sales of homes costing more than $1 million leaped nearly 50 percent year over year in July 2013, according to The Times.

“The housing market is being driven by the move-up buyer, the luxury buyer,” Brad Hunter, chief economist and director of consulting at Metrostudy, told The Times. “And those who have strong incomes, secure jobs, their stock portfolio is doing well — they are able to buy whatever they want. And what they are buying is larger houses.”

Source: The New York Times

– See more at: http://www.inman.com/wire/the-mcmansion-is-back/?utm_source=20140127&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=dailyheadlinespm#sthash.eqeZnSWh.dpuf

Douglas Elliman lists 87-Acre Ridgefield Equestrian Facility For $55 Million | North Salem Real Estate

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Double H Farm, a 87-acre Olympic equestrian training facility and family home in Ridgefield, has hit the market for $55 million.

Canada’s top-earning CEO, Hunter Harrison, who heads Canadian Pacific Railroad, owns the property. He purchased the dairy farm in 2005 and transformed it into one of the country’s leading equestrian facilities. The property is listed with Sally Slater of Douglas Elliman Real Estate.

Double H Farm farm extends over 97 acres of rolling hills and vast fenced grass paddocks with never-ending views and dramatic sunsets. It has six bedrooms, seven bathrooms and 14,250 square feet of living space.

The circa-1765 property is rich in history. Formerly known as the McKeon Farm, it was the oldest working dairy farm in Ridgefield. Conservation property is adjacent to the farm.

Since 2005 the farm has undergone a series of renovations to turn it into a world-class Olympic-level equestrian facility and dream estate.

The house was built in 2009. Framed with vintage, reconditioned barn beams from Vermont, the entire house incorporates green technology, geothermal heating and air conditioning systems and radiant heat in the floors. An elevator goes to all levels of the home.

The living room has 38-foot ceilings, a massive limestone and fieldstone gas fireplace highlighted by a scaffolding of barn beams and a wall of glass overlooking the property. The formal dining room has cove lighting and a gas fireplace. The eat-in gourmet kitchen and family room has an informal dining area, top-of-the-line appliances and a massive center island. The fully outfitted outdoor kitchen is built into the screened porch off the kitchen. There is also an office with a gas fireplace.

The first floor houses the luxurious master bedroom with 20-foot domed ceilings, Venetian plaster walls, a limestone fireplace, a large marble bath with two showers, a hot tubs boise (Jacuzzi), a gas fireplace and his and hers closets in addition to a safe room.

The lower level features a state-of-the-art media room with a gas fireplace and a 105-inch plasma television, wine cellar, sauna, golf room with a putting green and golf simulator and a massage room/gym with a bath and steam shower.

The seven-car garage includes mahogany decks with two stone fire pits, a Jacuzzi spa with a waterfall, a Koi pond, an audio-visual room and a  “home networking’ system to work every system in the house.

An additional four-bedroom home and the totally renovated historical home, dating from 1765, grace the property sharing views past the pool and tennis court of a bucolic pond and paddocks.  Surrounding conservation land protects this special property for posterity.

Double H Farm features two barns with more than 40 stalls. The main barn has 20 spacious and airy stalls, four grooming and wash stalls in addition to laundry, tack and feed rooms. There are three staff apartments with living rooms and kitchens. The second barn, built for the breeding operation, has 14 stalls and two grooming and wash stalls.

For complete information on the property, view the listing website.

http://greenwich.dailyvoice.com/real-estate/87-acre-equestrian-facility-hits-market-55-million

Water Main Break Shuts Edgemont Road In Katonah | Katonah Real Estate

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A water main break in the downtown Katonah area Tuesday morning has caused Edgemont Road to be shut between Bedford Road and Katonah Avenue, Bedford Police said.

Police did not know how long the road would remain closed, saying it would be shut for “an extended period of time.”

The closure will affect passenger pick up at the Katonah Train Station. Passengers can be picked up in Commuter Lot 1 on Jay Street.

 

http://bedford.dailyvoice.com/news/water-main-break-shuts-edgemont-road-katonah-tuesday

 

 

The cure to zombie foreclosures | Mt Kisco Real Estate

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From 2008 to 2010, 8.7% of foreclosures filed in Cook County, Illinois, were zombie foreclosures, accruing to more than 5,800 zombie properties in the city of Chicago. But this is just the beginning.

According to a recent report from the Woodstock Institute, if the trend continues, there will be an additional 7,200 zombie properties in Cook County, including nearly 3,200 in the city of Chicago, by 2015.

“Zombie properties will make it harder for Cook County to recover fully from the housing crisis, especially in the neighborhoods where they are concentrated,” Spencer Cowan, vice president of Woodstock Institute, said.

“Zombies introduce an element of uncertainty that poses barriers to returning homes to productive use or finding creative ways to deal with blighted properties,” Cowan said.

When the foreclosure crisis hit Cook County, it reported 217,035 foreclosure filings and 89,327 properties sold at auction between 2008 and 2012.

And the county felt each one.

Since a zombie property is a foreclosure that has not been resolved for more than three years, usually because neither the borrower nor servicer has a strong incentive to assume responsibility, the houses are likely to be poorly maintained or blighted, which in turn threatens the stability of surrounding communities.

 

http://www.housingwire.com/articles/28743-the-cure-to-zombie-foreclosures

Should You Rent or Sell Your Home? | North Salem Real Estate

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Ryan Severino liked the location of his family’s home in Scotch Plains, N.J., but he also thought they needed more space. So in the summer of 2011, they decided to buy a bigger house. Mortgage interest rates were down, and so were home prices. “We were outgrowing our house,” Severino says. “We didn’t want to wait for prices to go back up.”

But one thing he didn’t realize was exactly how long it would take to sell the first house or to rent it, if that turned out to be the better option. “It comes down to more than pure economics,” says Severino, senior economist and associate director of research at Reis, Inc., a real estate research firm.

Finally, in the spring of 2012, eight or nine months later, Severino found a buyer for the first house. In the interim, Severino weighed the pros and cons of renting versus selling, and he reflected on the decision he ultimately made. “It was tough to sell it in that market,” Severino says. “We had the house on the market for sale while we were getting inquiries for renting it.” But Severino knew he didn’t want to be a landlord, and “didn’t want the money tied up in the house.”

Determining whether a property is a good investment takes research and analysis, and it’s wise to take your time in making the decision because it’s a major one, real estate experts say.

 

 

http://news.yahoo.com/rent-sell-home-204651328.html

Drop in New Home Sales | Cross River Real Estate

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Monthly data out this morning show sales of new homes fell 7 percent in December, to an annualized rate of 414,000, which was below the estimates of all 75 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. Sales are up 35 percent since the bottom of the market in 2011, but as Calculated Risk notes, they are still basically at or below the levels seen during the bottom of every previous recession. New homes sales are just one piece of the market. And as Trulia’s Jed Kolko points out on Twitter (TWTR), they’re a historically small piece right now.

More broadly, there are signs of “remarkable resilience” in the recovery, according to a Campbell/Inside Mortgage Finance HousingPulse Tracking Survey released last week. It found that nondistressed homes spent an average of 9.7 weeks on the market in December, or 20 percent less time than in December 2012. Also, homes are selling closer to their asking prices. In December, homes sold for 97.1 percent of their list prices, on average, up from 95.5 percent a year earlier.

 

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-01-27/the-housing-recovery-continues-despite-a-drop-in-new-home-sales?campaign_id=yhoo

Home prices fall back slightly in November, soar from a year earlier | Cross River Real Estate

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Home prices in the nation’s largest cities declined slightly in November from  October, as the market showed signs of cooling during the slower fall season,  according to a closely watched index.

The S&P/Case-Shiller  index of 20 large U.S. metropolitan areas, released Tuesday, fell 0.1% from  October–the first decline since November 2012. But prices soared compared to a  year earlier, rising 13.7%.

David M. Blitzer, chairman of the index committee at S&P Dow Jones  Indices, called November a “good month for home prices,” noting strong  year-over-year price appreciation.

“Prices typically weaken as we move closer to the winter,” he said in a  statement.

Western metros continue to lead the recovery. Prices in Las Vegas rose 27.3%  compared to November 2012; San Francisco 23.2%; and Los Angeles 21.6%.

The Case-Shiller index, created by economists Karl E. Case and Robert J.  Shiller, is widely considered the most reliable read on home values.

The housing index compares the latest sales of detached houses with previous  sales, and accounts for factors such as remodeling that might affect a house’s  sale price over time.

Nine cities posted price gains from October. Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Phoenix,  Miami and Tampa,  Fla., have seen 12 or more straight monthly increases.

http://www.latimes.com/business/money/la-fi-mo-case-shiller-20140128,0,5908610.story#ixzz2rhqtcUVQ

Home prices show signs of topping out | Katonah NY Real Estate

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Home prices are showing signs of topping out: The S&P/Case-Shiller index posted its first month-over-month decline in 10 months on Tuesday.

The annual measure of home prices still increased 13.7% in November, but that was only narrowly better than the rise posted in October.

The housing recovery was one of the stronger aspects of the economy last year, boosting household wealth and home construction.

But with mortgage rates climbing steadily since hitting record lows in May, it’s clear the housing recovery is starting to lose some steam.

“While housing will make further contributions to the economy in 2014, the pace of price gains is likely to slow during the year,” said David Blitzer, chairman of the index committee at S&P Dow Jones Indices.

But housing experts say that more modest price increases are probably a good thing for the housing market. The rapid increases of the last year are not sustainable, they said.

“Sellers used to seeing huge price gains month after month may feel some whiplash as that slows down,” said Stan Humphries, chief economist for sales tracker Zillow. But more modest price increases mean “the housing market is still a long way from normal, but it’s getting there.”

Case-Shiller: Home prices dipped in November | Bedford Hills NY Real Estate

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Home prices in November fell slightly for the first time since November 2012, as the combination of price gains earlier in 2013 and higher mortgage rates caused prices to reach a plateau, according to a leading index of housing-market activity.

The Standard & Poor’s Case-Shiller index of home prices in 20 top cities fell 0.1% in November. A separate 10-city index also fell by 0.1%, Standard & Poor’s/Dow Jones Indices said in a statement. The 20-city index showed prices 13.8% higher than a year earlier, while the 10-city index rose 13.7%.

The company said the dip is not a reversal of the housing recovery. Prices typically dip in November and this performance was the best for any November since 2005.

“Beginning June 2012, we saw a steady rise in year-over-year increases, (and) November continued that trend,” said David Blitzer, head of the index committee at S&P/Dow Jones Indices.  “The Sun Belt continues to push ahead with Atlanta, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, Phoenix, San Diego, San Francisco and Tampa taking eight of the top nine spots.”

Home prices are still rising despite last May’s jump in mortgage interest rates, Blitzer said. Mortgage applications for purchase were up in recent weeks, confirming home builders’ optimism shown in surveys by the National Association  of Home Builders, he added.

 

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2014/01/28/case-shiller-housing/4957633/