Monthly Archives: March 2014

Prep your home properly before you put it on the market | North Salem Real Estate

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Selling a house is a major undertaking. Where do you begin? First you’ll need to establish a big-picture view of how to prepare it. This ideabook will help you do that, so you can get your home in shape to sell quickly at the best possible price (without breaking your budget).

The project: Get a home ready to sell.
Why: Taking the time to prepare your home before putting it on the market can help it fetch a higher price and increase buyer interest, making for a quicker sale. Taking a big-picture look at what to do to get your home ready to sell will help ensure that you make the best decisions and stay under budget.
Things to consider: It makes sense to start with the outside of your home, since that is what potential buyers will notice first. Shoot for nice landscaping, a freshly cleaned exterior, a driveway and walking path in good repair, a well-lit porch and an eye-catching front door.
Make a list early on of all of the repairs your home needs, from the tiny (change a lightbulb) to the major (new roof) before deciding what to get done. The fact is that the cost of most repairs and upgrades will not be recouped in the sale price, so focus on taking care of the minor repairs and tackle bigger projects only if you feel you must.

Rug Designer’s Funky Murray Hill Townhouse Wants $6.2M | Waccabuc Real Estate

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Loria Manne, who has designed her signature Lamontage rugs for such venerable institutions as Brown University, the University of Chicago, the Rubin Museum of Art, and the Gramercy Hotel, acquired this Murray Hill townhouse along with her husband in 2000 for $2.85 million. Now they have put it back on the market asking $6.195 million, though it appears that they made some improvements in the meantime—the house is still described on Streeteasy as a three-unit, four-story building, while the listing says that it is a six-story single-family home. The teal facade also looks fairly recent, as do all the colorful walls inside. Other highlights include the roof terrace, many fireplaces, and, of course, lots of rugs.

 

 

http://ny.curbed.com/archives/2014/03/18/rug_designers_funky_murray_hill_townhouse_wants_62m.php

Here Now, The 10 Richest Neighborhoods In New York City | Cross River Real Estate

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[Original image via Curbed Flickr Pool/Vivienne Gucwa]

Following the example set by our sister-site, Curbed LA, we too are dissecting the Higley 1000, a list that uses information from the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey 2006-2010 to rank the nation’s most affluent neighborhoods according to their mean household income. In their coverage of the list, Atlantic Cities notes that denser urban areas are subject to more variance than the suburbs, whose large-lot exclusionary zoning keeps them the territory of the uber-wealthy. So only somewhat surprisingly, NYC environs far outshone city neighborhoods to take the list’s top spots. Coming in at the most affluent neighborhood in the nation on the Higley 1000? Greenwich, Connecticut’s “Golden Triangle,” where a mean household income is $614,242 annually. The first New York City ‘hood to appear on the list ranks 90th. Think you can guess what it is?:

10) Upper East Side: ($278,040)

9) Cobble Hill: ($281,303)

8) Beekman Place: ($283,316)

7) Forest Hills: ($288,699)

6) Dumbo: ($295,153)

5) Tribeca: ($332,138)

4) Carnegie Hill: ($333,067)

3) Flatiron District: ($347,688)

Inventory of homes for sale soars 10 percent in February from a year ago | South Salem Real Estate

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Rising home prices are bolstering seller confidence, fueling rapid growth in the number of homes for sale in many markets in February, according to a report issued by realtor.com today.

Median list prices were up 7.6 percent from a year ago in February, to $199,000, and the inventory of homes for sale rose 10.1 percent, to 1.74 million. In other words, there were 160,000 more homes for sale than the same time a year ago.

Out of 146 markets tracked by realtor.com, 99 experienced annual growth in listings, with 63 of those markets seeing inventories swell by 10 percent or more.

Median list prices and inventory were up on a month-over-month basis as well, rising 2.1 percent and 4.3 percent, respectively, indicating that 2014 home sales, which got off to a slow start in January, have potential to grow as the spring buying season gets underway.

But even with the recent surge in listings, inventories “are still extremely low,” realtor.com said in summarizing the overall picture.

“Seller confidence is the factor to watch as we head into the spring homebuying season, and these are very encouraging indicators — not only are more homes coming onto the market, but typically we don’t see a rise in asking prices this early into the year,” said Steve Berkowitz, CEO of realtor.com operator Move Inc., in a statement. “This is the market these sellers have been waiting for.”

– See more at: http://www.inman.com/2014/03/18/inventory-of-homes-for-sale-soars-10-percent-in-february-from-a-year-ago/?utm_source=20140318&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=dailyheadlinespm#sthash.7ipS3omW.dpuf

Mortgage apps decline 1.2% week after big spike | Bedford Hills Real Estate

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A week after a big spike of almost 10%, mortgage applications fell 1.2%, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s weekly mortgage applications survey for the week ending March 14, 2014.

The MBA’s measure of mortgage loan application volume fell 1.2% on a seasonally adjusted basis from the week ending March 7.

The refinance index decreased 1% from the previous week. The seasonally adjusted purchase index also decreased 1% from one week earlier.

The refinance share decreased for the sixth straight week to 56.5% of total applications, down from 57% the previous week. ARMS stayed the same share of activity at 8% of total applications.

The MBA said the average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances ($417,000 or less) decreased to 4.5% from 4.52%, with points decreasing to 0.26 from 0.29 (including the origination fee) for 80% loan-to-value ratio loans. The effective rate decreased from last week.

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with jumbo loan balances (greater than $417,000) decreased to 4.39% from 4.41%, with points decreasing to 0.19 from 0.20 (including the origination fee) for 80% LTV loans.

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages backed by the FHA decreased to 4.13% from 4.18%, with points decreasing to 0.18 from 0.21 (including the origination fee) for 80% LTV loans. The effective rate decreased from last week.

The average contract interest rate for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased to 3.52% from 3.53%, with points decreasing to 0.25 from 0.28 (including the origination fee) for 80% LTV loans. The effective rate decreased from last week.

 

http://www.housingwire.com/articles/29353-mortgage-apps-decline-12-week-after-big-spike

 

Katonah’s Caramoor Will Be Honored By ArtsWestchester | Katonah NY Real Estate

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The Caramoor Center for Music and Art of Katonah will be honored by ArtsWestchester at its Arts Awards luncheon on Friday, April 4 at the Westchester Marriott.

Caramoor Center will receive the Innovator Award for In the Garden of Sonic Delights, a large-scale outdoor sound art exhibition that runs from June through November 2014 at five sites in addition to Caramoor: Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art (Peekskill), Jacob Burns Film Center (Pleasantville), Lyndhurst (Tarrytown), the Neuberger Museum of Art at Purchase College (Purchase), and Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture (Pocantico Hills).

The project has been in development for more than five years and features 15 new site specific works by nationally-recognized artists including Laurie Anderson, Bruce Odland and Bob Bieleck.

The complete list of winners is on the ArtsWestchester website.

The awards luncheon will at the Westchester Marriott on April 4. A reception begins at 11 a.m. followed by luncheon at noon. Tickets, sponsorships and luncheon journal ads may be reserved by calling (914) 428-4220 x326 or emailing afabrizio@artswestchester.org

 

 

http://bedford.dailyvoice.com/news/katonahs-caramoor-will-be-honored-artswestchester

New York Ranks As Worst State For Taxpayers | Chappaqua Real Estate

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New York is the worst state in the country to be a taxpayer, according to rankings released by WalletHub.com.

The Empire State ranked 51st (including Washington, D.C.) with an average annual state and local tax burden of $9718, which is 40 percent higher than the national average, according to WalletHub.

Wallethub ranked each state in the following categories to come up with its ranking: Real estate tax, state income tax, local income tax, vehicle property tax, vehicle sales tax, sales and use tax, fuel tax, alcohol tax, food tax and telecommunications tax.

New York’s neighbors didn’t fare well in the rankings, either. Connecticut was ranked no.48 while Vermont, New Jersey and Pennsylvania ranked 45th, 44th and 39th, respectively.

Wyoming ranked as the best state to live in as a tax payer with an annual average tax burden of $2365, or 66 percent below the national average.

Alaska, Nevada, Florida and South Dakota rounded out the top 5.

 

http://chappaqua.dailyvoice.com/news/new-york-ranks-worst-state-taxpayers

 

Great agents and technology: One without the other only takes you so far | Bedford Corners Real Estate

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Providing a comprehensive set of rental and for-sale listings that’s accessible via mobile, and employing a stable of “highly experienced agents” helps Urban Compass stand out from the competition in the fragmented New York City market, says co-founder and CEO Robert Reffkin. “We’re making every part of the process online, in mobile. Search, schedule, visit, apply, pay — all integrated from listings to CRM,” Refkin says.“There’s no reason why if I’m working with you, and we go look at an apartment, and you realize you want something slightly different, you want a different neighborhood or you want a terrace, that I should have to tell you, ‘OK, let’s go back to my office, and we’ll look for things together.’ “

 

– See more at: http://www.inman.com/2014/03/19/great-agents-and-technology-one-without-the-other-only-takes-you-so-far/?utm_source=20140319&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=dailyheadlinesam#sthash.m9LLjiP2.dpuf

How to figure out share of ‘pocket listings’ in the market | Chappaqua Real Estate

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How many home sales are taking place outside of the multiple listing service in your market? Clareity Consulting’s Matt Cohen says MLS executives around the country are showing an interest in getting to the bottom of that question, and he’s written a blog post explaining how to do just that.

Pocket listings are not new, but recent inventory shortages in many markets could be creating conditions — lots of buyers competing for scarce listings — that are ripe for real estate brokers and agents to close deals outside of the MLS.

A study by Silicon Valley-based MLSListings Inc. suggests that pocket listings constitute a significant and growing chunk of home sales. That study found that pocket listings made up 26 percent of home sales in five Northern California counties in the first quarter of 2013, up from 15 percent in 2012.

A wider, but still limited, study of four large U.S. counties from CoreLogic earlier this month suggested that MLSs played little or no role in nearly half of home sales in 2013, offering more insight into a topic which has generated plenty of rhetoric, but not a lot of hard data, in the industry.

– See more at: http://www.inman.com/2014/03/19/mls-execs-get-guidance-on-how-to-figure-out-share-of-pocket-listings-in-their-market/?utm_source=20140319&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=dailyheadlinesam#sthash.6fhNlCSz.dpuf

Vince Vaughn bought Lane Kiffin’s old home in California for $6.5 million | Armonk Homes

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WIth Lane Kiffin now in Tuscaloosa as Alabama’s offensive coordinator, he needed to sell his Los Angeles-area house he lived in while he was coach of USC.

He found a buyer who is more famous than he is.

Actor Vince Vaughn has purchased the house for $6.5 million according to the Los Angeles Times. Per the Times, the house “features vaulted ceilings, a stone fireplace, six bedrooms and seven bathrooms. The three-car garage opens to a gated driveway” and “the half-acre lot has a swimming pool and spa, a guesthouse and an outdoor kitchen.”

 

Kiffin listed the house in December for an asking price of just under $7 million.

You likely know Vaughn from “Old School” and “Wedding Crashers” and in case you’re still somehow drawing a blank on who he is, here’s his Yahoo Movies bio.

Kiffin was fired as the coach of the Trojans in September. After visiting with Nick Saban and his Alabama staff in December, Saban hired Kiffin to succeed offensive coordinator Doug Nussmeier in January.

When he was visiting with Alabama to help “evaluate” the Tide’s offense, Saban called him “a really good offensive coach.”

He was dismissed from his duties at USC after the Trojans lost to Arizona State 62-41. A former offensive coordinator for USC who had head coaching stints with the Oakland Raiders and the University of Tennessee, Kiffin was 28-15 in over three seasons as USC’s head coach.

 

 

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/ncaaf-dr-saturday/vince-vaughn-bought-lane-kiffin-s-los-angeles-house-173105793.html