Daily Archives: February 20, 2014

Scandinavian-Influenced Manse on the Sound Asks $18.5M | Bedford Corners NY Real Estate

 

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Location: Fairfield, Conn. Price: $18,500,000 The Skinny: Taking his cues from “large scale Scandinavian residential architecture” and Dutch dairy barns, architect Jason Chai worked with famed interior designer Stephen Sills to create Sasco, a modern waterfront estate which has been the subject of an extraordinarily precious Architectural Digest cover story. The 17,000-square-foot home—which sits at the top of an immaculately landscaped, 600-foot lawn that stretches all the way to the shore of the Long Island Sound—features wood-plank siding and a distinctive gambrel roof clad in zinc shingles. Inside the home, Chai worked to break up the cavernous volume into livable, human-scaled rooms, but much of the credit for the interior’s organic feel has to go to Sills and his idiosyncratic design choices. The six-bedroom home doesn’t necessarily forgo grand spaces, but with the exception of the large sitting rooms, smaller, high-ceilinged rooms are the rule here. Built for a cousin of the architect in 2003, Sasco is now on the market for $18.5M, representing a $2.5M PriceChop from what it originally listed for in September.

 

http://curbed.com/archives/2014/02/19/scandinavian-influenced-manse-on-the-sound-asks-185m.php

 

Stop losing buyers because of horrible listing photos | Katonah NY Real Estate

 

Since cameras have been getting better and better over the past years, why are the photos most real estate agents take not getting any better? Most agents take photos of rooms without a thought as to what it will look like in print or online. The photos in the MLS can be very poor, and some agents don’t even put in photos at all.

Below is a list of the 10 mistakes I see most often in our MLS.

1. Photographs that still have the date stamps on them. Not only does it look bad, but most often the date is more than a few months old!

Crooked House  2. Crooked photos of the inside or outside of the home. Most everyone has a photo editor that will automatically straighten  your photo. Use it.

3. Blurry or out-of-focus photos. You should always take several shots of each room so that if some are blurry, you have others to use.

 

 

– See more at: http://www.inman.com/next/top-10-photographic-crimes-real-estate-agents-commit/?utm_source=20140220&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=dailyheadlinesam#sthash.huReBwmN.dpuf

How to Encourage Google+ Fans to Share Your Content | Bedford NY Realtor

 

Are you using Google+ to promote your brand or content?

Do you want to find Google+ fans who love what you do and will share it with others?

When people share your stories, campaigns or products with their friends, they’re giving it their stamp of approval and their friends take notice.

This word-of-mouth marketing is invaluable, but how do you find these super-fans?

In this article, I’ll show you how to use Google+ to find the evangelists who want to tell the world about you.

How Do You Find Your Best Fans?

As a marketer, you want to find people who engage with your message and amplify it, spreading it on to others. These loyal fans, your brand evangelists, fall in love with your company and tell the world.

Google+ can help you find and engage with your evangelists, and lead you to a wider pool of potential clients. The process includes finding potential candidates, seeing which of those actually engage with your campaigns, and finally, those who share your campaigns with others (your true evangelists).

Prepare for Your Search

Before you start your search, create three empty Google+ circles to help you keep track of your evangelist candidates.

  • Potential candidates
  • People who engage
  • My 100 brand evangelists

 

http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/encourage-google-fans-share-content/

Notice to potential homebuyers: Mortgage rates keep ticking up | Bedford Hills NY Real Estate

 

Average fixed mortgage rates up slightly for the second week in a row, according to Freddie Mac’s weekly Primary Mortgage Market Survey.

“Mortgage rates crept up further following the uptick in the 10-year Treasury yield  as minutes of the Federal Reserve’s last meeting indicated little possibility of a pause in the central bank’s reduction of bond purchases,” said Frank Nothaft, vice president and chief economist, Freddie Mac.

“Housing starts in January fell 16% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 888,000 units, below consensus forecast,” Nothaft added. “Permits were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 937,000 in January, also below consensus.”

30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 4.33% with an average 0.7 point for the week ending February 20, 2014, up from last week when it averaged 4.28%.

A year ago at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 3.56%.

15-year FRM this week averaged 3.35% with an average 0.7 point, up from last week when it averaged 3.33%.  A year ago at this time, the 15-year FRM averaged 2.77%.

5-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) averaged 3.08% this week with an average 0.5 point, up from last week when it averaged 3.05%.  A year ago, the 5-year ARM averaged 2.64%.

 

 

http://www.housingwire.com/articles/29034-notice-to-potential-homebuyers-mortgage-rates-keep-ticking-up

How To Make Your Ikea Furniture Look Like It Doesn’t Come From Ikea | Mt Kisco NY Homes

 

Ikea’s furniture has become so ubiquitous that it’s difficult to make it stand out.

To deal with this problem, several new businesses are offering add-ons that make furniture look like it doesn’t come from the Swedish mega-chain, reports Katarina Gustafsson at Bloomberg News.

Here are a few businesses that are dominating the quest to upgrade Ikea furniture.

1. Bems

Bems sells coverings for Ikea beds, couches, and chairs. The brand is somewhat pricey—a slipcover for an Ikea sofa costs about $800.

bems IKEA

 

Bems

2. Prettypegs

This brand sells unique furniture legs compatible with Ikea. In most cases, four pegs retail for $75-$100.

 

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/5-startups-furniture-look-doesnt-195800593.html

Home Sellers Can’t Sell If They Can’t Find a Next Home to Move Into | Waccabuc Real Estate

 

There’s some good news for U.S. homeowners in early 2014, especially those who want to sell.

Data from Seattle’s Redfin citing figures culled from 19 major real estate markets show home prices up 14.3% in January from a year earlier. All 19 markets posted gains on home values.

At the same time, there is a lack of homes for sale, with inventory down 9.4% from a year earlier due to a lack of “demand growth,” the company says.

Redfin says only 28% of its customers made an offer on a “for sale” home last month, compared with 42% at the same time in 2013. That’s the case even as homebuyers taking in visits to homes remains stable at 50% — it’s just that those visits aren’t leading to offers.

Home sellers are still bullish.

The number of American homeowners who say “now is a good time to sell” rose 4% in January. Holding them back is a fear that they won’t be able to find a good deal on a next home.

“Most of my home-selling clients worry the most about what will happen after they sell,” says Paul Stone, a Denver real estate agent. “With so much competition in the market, they fear they will have to move in with their in-laws if they can’t find their next home quickly.”

 

http://www.thestreet.com/story/12402063/1/home-sellers-cant-sell-if-they-cant-find-a-next-home-to-move-into.html?puc=yahoo&cm_ven=YAHOO

Could You Afford a Median-Priced Home in These US Cities? | South Salem NY Homes

 

According to a new report by HSH.com, an online mortgage and consumer loan information site, it depends. The cost of owning the roof over your head fluctuates considerably from city to city.

A hefty $115,500 annual salary will get you an average house in the San Francisco metropolitan area, where the median home price is $682,410, leaving you with a $2,700 monthly mortgage payment.

If that seems too expensive, simply head east to Cleveland, the cheapest city for housing on HSH’s list, where $19,000 a year in pay will buy you an average home with a $453 house payment. Median-priced homes in Cleveland go for $112,800.

In Seattle, a base salary of $59,130 is enough to purchase a median-priced home of $344,400. On the East Coast, Atlanta homes average $142,400, requiring a $24,391 paycheck to cover the $569 mortgage payment.

Do these numbers seem reasonable to you? Actually there’s a huge caveat with these figures.

Using its mortgage rate data and fourth-quarter median home prices from the National Association of Realtors, HSH.com calculated how much a homebuyer would need to earn to afford the principal and interest payments on a median-priced home. The figures do not include property taxes, insurance and other expenses.

 

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/could-afford-median-priced-home-225740361.html

Why is the Miami real estate market burning so hot? | Pound Ridge NY Homes

 

Strong demand for real estate in the city styled the “Capital of Latin America” resulted in a third consecutive record sales year and two years of double-digit price appreciation.

That’s the word from the 31,000-member Miami Association of Realtors and the local MLS down in the land of Cuban press sandwiches, sunshine, salsa and sexy swimwear.

“Record demand for Miami properties from both domestic and international buyers resulted in another sales record in 2013,” said 2014 Chairman of the Board of the MIAMI Association of REALTORS Liza Mendez. “We expect strong demand to continue in 2014 for Miami real estate but are encouraged that more homeowners are listing homes for sale, creating more balance between buyers and sellers.”

There were 30,041 homes and condos sold in Miami-Dade County in 2013, setting a new annual record that is 8% higher than the previous record set in 2012. Sales of single-family homes last year totaled 12,901, an increase of 12.5% compared to the previous year’s total of 11,463. Condominium sales increased 4.6%, from 16,383 in 2012 to 17,140 in 2013.

 

http://www.housingwire.com/articles/29031-why-is-the-miami-real-estate-market-burning-so-hot

Washington housing market uneven in fourth quarter | South Salem NY Real Estate

 

Washington state’s housing market softened in the fourth quarter of 2013 compared to the quarter before, but remained stronger than a year ago, according to the Runstad Center for Real Estate Studies at the University of Washington.

Sales of existing homes declined 8.6 percent in the September-December quarter of 2013, but still were 9.2 percent higher than the same time in 2012.

The seasonally adjusted sales rate was 91,340 homes, meaning that if the quarter’s pace continued unchanged for a year, that number of homes would be sold.

“Washington’s housing market is finding its balance,” said Glenn Crellin, associate director of the Runstad center. “Sales throughout 2013 totaled 93,730 units, well above any of the last five years, but still well below the pre-recession frenzy.”

An inadequate supply of listings available for sale continues to be a problem and contributes to increases in home prices, Crellin said.

The statewide median home sales price during the fourth quarter was 6 percent above a year ago at $256,300. Price increases were especially strong in the metropolitan Seattle area.

Median prices were lower than a year earlier in 16 counties, but most declines were less than 2 percent. Median prices ranged from $70,000 in Lincoln County to $421,000 in King County.

 

http://south-everett.villagesoup.com/p/washington-housing-market-uneven-in-fourth-quarter/1117564

 

Deliquency, Foreclosure Rates Welcomed Back To Pre-Crisis Levels | Cross River NY Homes

 

The end of 2013 showed broad improvements in delinquency and foreclosure rates, dropping to their lowest levels in six years, reports the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) in its Q4 2013 National Delinquency Survey.

The delinquency rate for mortgage loans on one-to-four-unit residential properties decreased to a seasonally adjusted rate of 6.39% of all loans outstanding at the end of the fourth quarter of 2013 – the lowest level since the first quarter of 2008.

The delinquency rate decreased two basis points from the previous quarter and 70 basis points from one year before. (The delinquency rate includes loans that are at least one payment past due but does not include loans in the process of foreclosure.)

The percentage of loans in the foreclosure process at the end of the fourth quarter was 2.86%, down 22 basis points from the third quarter and 88 basis points lower than one year before. This was the lowest foreclosure inventory rate seen since 2008, the MBA notes.

The non-seasonally adjusted percentage of loans on which foreclosure actions were started during the fourth quarter decreased to 0.54% from 0.61% – a decrease of seven basis points and the lowest level since 2006.

The serious delinquency rate, the percentage of loans that are 90 days or more past due or in the process of foreclosure, was 5.41% – a decrease of 24 basis points from last quarter, and a decrease of 137 basis points from the fourth quarter of the year prior.

 

http://www.mortgageorb.com/e107_plugins/content/content.php?content.15065