Images of the 655 Park Avenue duplex
From Luxury Listings NYC: A duplex co-op at 655 Park Avenue — commissioned by a Rockefeller in 1924 — has sold for $16 million, according to city records. This marks the first time that the spread has traded hands in more than two decades.
http://therealdeal.com/blog/2014/03/24/grand-park-avenue-co-op-sells-for-16m/
Natural gas leaks — similar to the one thought to have caused an explosion earlier this month in East Harlem that leveled two buildings and killed eight people — are commonplace, according to federal records.
More than half of the 9,906 leaks in New York City and Westchester County reported to suppliers Con Edison and National Grid in 2012 could have harmed people or property, an analysis of federal data from the Department of Transportation showed.
The danger largely stems from the city’s aging network of gas mains made of leak-prone cast iron, wrought iron or unprotected steel, the New York Times reported.
Replacing the 6,302 miles of pipes won’t be cheap or easy — it could cost upwards of $10 billion, the article said. In traffic-heavy areas like Manhattan, installing new mains would likely cost up to $10 million a mile, according to Con Edison officials. Even if the funds are made available, replacing “vintage” pipes will take as long as 25 years, according to National Grid.
“Accelerated replacement is not the answer to today’s problem; it’s the answer to tomorrow’s problem,” Mark McDonald, who investigates gas explosions for insurance companies and landlords, told the Times. “What needs to be happening is increased vigilance, increased leak surveys to spot these problems before it gets into someone’s house.”
http://therealdeal.com/blog/2014/03/24/gas-leaks-put-nyc-in-perpetual-danger/
Curbed National has the story of a $12.9 million oceanfront house in Golden Beach designed by Carlos Zapata (the guy that did that space ship-like metal fountain on the Washington Avenue terminus of Lincoln Road) which claims to be the site of Franklin Delano Roosevelt‘s Winter White House. A little digging turns up little evidence to support this, except that Eleanor Roosevelt rented a house down the street, twice. A little more investigating might be in order.
http://miami.curbed.com/archives/2014/03/20/zapata-designed-house-in-golden-beach.php
All photos by Will Femia.
The New York Palace Hotel is without a doubt one of the city’s most iconic, given its prominent appearances in television and film alone. But taking a look around two of its triplex suites (on the 53rd, 54th, and 55th floors of the Palace’s Towers section) affords an even closer look at the crazy-luxurious options there following a renovation that just finished up last fall. The Jewel Suite opened in November, and it’s completely blinged out with baubles, art, fixtures, and furnishings by jeweler to the stars Martin Katz. Oh, and booking a night there comes with a diamond-studded band. Across the hall lies the Champagne Suite, with a temperature-controlled wine cave and expansive master bathroom. Both suites total more than 5,000 square feet, include private elevators, large terraces with hot tubs, and have floorplans more porn-worthy than many on the market. Oh yes, they’re a mere $25,000/night. Go on, enjoy the photos
http://ny.curbed.com/archives/2014/03/24/tour_the_palaces_wildly_lavish_25000night_themed_suites.php
It looks like something straight out of a Photoshop contest – an impossibly small-footprint residence on a tiny jagged rock jutting out from the middle of a river, yet it is entirely real.
river home close up
This house has survived its its precarious semi-cantilevered position for nearly half a century, withstanding the weather of the Drina River in Serbia and attracting attention from locals and tourists alike.
http://homes.yahoo.com/news/remarkable-river-rock-home-ultra-small-foundation-235852209.html
Get in while the gettin’s good.
That’s one way to sum up what homebuyers should know about mortgage rates in 2014.
Of course, there’s a little more to it than that, so if you’re looking to get the best possible rate in 2014 you should be aware of where mortgages stand and where experts think they’re going.
What’s happening now The good news is that rates are still attractive right now. In January, the average commitment rate on a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage was 4.43 percent, according to Freddie Mac. That’s up from last year, but still lower than the annual average of every year from 2011 back to 1971. (Freddie Mac was chartered by Congress in 1970.)
The bad news? Rates will continue to rise. How high they rise depends on two things: the Federal Reserve and the economy. Here are a couple of ways those two factors are affecting rates.
The Fed is scaling back its economic stimulus program The Fed has reduced its bond purchasing program, which helped to keep mortgage rates low. As it continues to scale back on bonds, rates will likely increase.
Investors just aren’t that into mortgage notes According to Reuters, “Upbeat trade data from China and an optimistic economic outlook from Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen whetted investors’ appetite for risk.”
So what does that have to do with mortgage rates? Confident investors don’t buy safe investments like mortgage notes — they bet on riskier (and more profitable) investments. That usually means that mortgage rates will go up.
Predictions for 2014 It’s likely that mortgage rates will rise above 5 percent this year, according to the Mortgage Banker’s Association (MBA).
“We expect mortgage rates will increase above 5 percent in 2014 and then increase further to 5.5 percent by the end of 2015,” said Jay Brinkmann, MBA’s Chief Economist and Senior Vice President for Research and Education in a press release. “As a result, mortgage refinancing will continue to drop, and borrowers seeking to tap the equity in their homes will be more likely to rely on home equity seconds rather than cash-out refinances.”
New U.S. homes sold at an annual rate of 440,000 in February, down 3.3% from January’s one-year high, the government said Tuesday. Economists polled by MarketWatch forecast sales to total a seasonally adjusted 440,000 last month. Sales climbed 37% in the Midwest after plunging in January, while sales fell in the Northeast, South and West. The median price of new homes edged up 0.4% to $261,800 last month. The supply of new homes on the U.S. market rose to 5.2 months at the current sales pace from 5.0 months in January. New home sales are 1.1% lower compared to one year ago, reflecting weaker demand because of higher mortgage rates and home prices as well as a bitterly cold winter.
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/new-us-home-sales-drop-33-in-february-2014-03-25?siteid=yhoof2
There was another sign Tuesday morning that the housing market is cooling off. Just a bit.
One of the nation’s most closely watched home price indexes inched downward for the third straight month in January, though prices climbed slightly after seasonal variations were taken into account.
The Case-Shiller Index saw prices tick down 0.1% across the 20 major cities it tracks, though they gained 0.8% when seasonally adjusted. Prices are up 13.2% compared with this time last year, but the quick pace of gains has clearly slowed.
“The housing recovery may have taken a breather due to the cold weather,” said David Blitzer, chairman of the Index Committee at S&P Dow Jones, which publishes the index.
In Los Angeles, where weather has been less of an issue than in the snowy Midwest and Northeast, prices slipped 0.3%, though they were up on a seasonally adjusted basis and were 18.9% ahead of last year. In San Diego, prices jumped 0.6%, their best January since 2004.From December to January, prices fell in 12 of the 20 cities Case-Shiller tracks. Still, Blitzer, like other real estate economists, remains optimistic that 2014 will be a solid if unspectacular year for the housing market.
“Expectations and recent data point to continued home price gains for 2014,” he said. “Although most analysts do not expect the same rapid increases we saw last year, the consensus is for moderating gains.”
The TV shows make it look so easy. You buy an ugly house, fix it up in a week or two and then sell it for a whopping $100,000 profit.
But as anyone who has ever tried it knows, house flipping is a lot harder than it looks.
“The math never lies,” says Brandon Turner, senior editor and community manager for BiggerPockets, a website for real estate investors, and a veteran flipper near Olympia, Wash.
And often, the math doesn’t add up to a sizable payday when you factor in the time, effort, labor and money to execute a flip. But that doesn’t keep people from trying.
Investors flipped 156,862 single-family homes in 2013, according to RealtyTrac, which defined a flipped home as one bought and sold twice within six months. The number of flips was up 16 percent from 2012 and 114 percent from 2011. The average gross profit for a completed flip — or more accurately, the difference between the first sales price and the second sales price – was $58,081.
Only 21 percent of those flips were foreclosure properties, according to RealtyTrac, down from 32 percent in 2011. And it has proved much more popular in some cities than others. Home flipping was up 141 percent in Virginia Beach, Va., 92 percent in Jacksonville, Fla., 88 percent in Baltimore and 79 percent in Atlanta. But it fell 43 percent in Philadelphia, 32 percent in Phoenix, 17 percent in Tampa, Fla., and Houston, and 15 percent in Denver. In 2013, there was a bigger increase in the flipping of properties that sold for $400,000 or more than in lower-priced properties.
“Investors have not lost interest in purchasing and flipping homes. In fact, now that we are seeing home price appreciation, they are more interested than…
http://news.yahoo.com/know-dipping-home-flipping-145712062.html
