Monthly Archives: March 2014

25 Biggest Real Estate Mistakes | Bedford Hills Real Estate

Leave a reply

HGTV has brought together some of the top real estate experts to compile the definitive list of the biggest mistakes we all make when buying and selling our homes.

25. Buying a House for Its Decor Remember that you are buying the house, not the things inside it, so make sure you see beyond the decorations and look at the bones of the home. Focus on the floor plan and the square footage. You also might want to measure the dimensions and graph out how that’s going to work with your belongings.

24. Not Providing Easy Access for Showings Make your house easily accessible to potential buyers. If there’s nowhere to park or it’s difficult to get into, buyers may just skip it and look at someone else’s property. 23. Not Researching the Neighborhood It’s absolutely critical that you research the neighborhood before you buy. Check out the area, amenities and the school system to be sure that your address corresponds with the correct school district. Also attend a community meeting, if possible. You’re not just buying a house, you’re buying a piece of that real estate and the land around it.

22. Losing Money With Auctions While the starting bidding price for a house on auction might be a good deal, it doesn’t mean the final price will be. Make sure that you are very strict with your budget when you are bidding; do not go over your final price because you got wrapped up in the excitement of a bidding war. Another thing to keep in mind is that when you buy a property at auction, you aren’t able to get any of the warrantees or guarantees, and you are not able to do a home inspection. Find out if the auctioneer is going to add those charges on top of the sale price as well as if there are any liens on the property. You could be responsible for paying the property taxes on that house you just bought, which could make what looks like a good deal into a really bad deal. 21. Trying to Make the “Hard Sell” While Showing If you are selling your house, you really shouldn’t be around at the open house. You might want to try to sell the place on all the reasons you think the house is great, but that might not translate to the buyer. If you leave, you allow the buyers to give unbiased objective feedback to the agent, which is only going to help you in the end. 20. Waiting Until Spring to Sell Your House Spring is the busiest real estate activity period, but that does not mean that people don’t buy houses 365 days of the year. That doesn’t mean you can’t emphasize your home’s seasonal amenities.

When the real estate market is really hot and is appreciating really fast, people tend to look at it like it’s the stock market. But playing real estate is nothing like the stock market; when you invest in real estate, you really need to take a long-term approach.

 

http://shine.yahoo.com/at-home/25-biggest-real-estate-mistakes-avoid-them-202100124.html

 

7 Facebook Marketing “Tips” and “Tricks” That Don’t Actually Work | Chappaqua Realtor

Leave a reply

 

People will go to all sorts of lengths to get attention from a small subset of Facebook’s 1.23 billion monthly active users. Sometimes it’s good — people focus on creating more compelling content or integrating Facebook with the rest of their marketing strategy. Though it takes more time, their Facebook Page grows steadily and actually delivers results. Continue reading →

Morgage Rates Average 4.37% | Armonk Real Estate

Leave a reply

 

Freddie Mac today released the results of its Primary Mortgage Market Survey® (PMMS®), showing average fixed mortgage rates edging up following a week with little new economic and housing news.

News Facts

  • 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 4.37 percent with an average 0.6 point for the week ending March 13, 2014, up from last week when it averaged 4.28 percent. A year ago at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 3.63 percent.
  • 15-year FRM this week averaged 3.38 percent with an average 0.6 point, up from last week when it averaged 3.32 percent. A year ago at this time, the 15-year FRM averaged 2.79 percent.
  • 5-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) averaged 3.09 percent this week with an average 0.4 point, up from last week when it averaged 3.03 percent. A year ago, the 5-year ARM averaged 2.61 percent.
  • 1-year Treasury-indexed ARM averaged 2.48 percent this week with an average 0.4 point, down from last week when it averaged 2.52 percent. At this time last year, the 1-year ARM averaged 2.64 percent.

Average commitment rates should be reported along with average fees and points to reflect the total upfront cost of obtaining the mortgage. Visit the following links for the Regional and National Mortgage Rate Details and Definitions. Borrowers may still pay closing costs which are not included in the survey.

Quotes Attributed to Frank Nothaft, vice president and chief economist, Freddie Mac.

“Mortgage rates edged up amid a week of light economic reports. Of the few releases, the economy added 175,000 jobs in February, which was above the market consensus forecast and followed an upward revision of 25,000 jobs for the prior two months. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate nudged up to 6.7 percent, the first rate increase in over a year.”

Freddie Mac was established by Congress in 1970 to provide liquidity, stability and affordability to the nation’s residential mortgage markets. Freddie Mac supports communities across the nation by providing mortgage capital to lenders. Today Freddie Mac is making home possible for one in four home borrowers and is one of the largest sources of financing for multifamily housing. For more information please visit www.FreddieMac.com and Twitter: @FreddieMac.

 

 

Design Lessons From Tiny Homes | Bedford Hills Real Estate

Leave a reply

 

There are small spaces, and then there are microspaces. The architects and designers who show at the MicroDwell exhibition specialize in the latter. Architect Lynne Reynolds’ Lean2 home is just 189 square feet. It’s inspired by 19th-century landscape follies and built with recycled aluminum billboard sections and translucent panels. Meanwhile, architectural designers Hunter Floyd and Damon Wake built their 200-square-foot Cinder Box home using glass and charred wood siding, finding a way to include a sofa, a desk alcove, bookshelves and a sleeping loft.
These tiny structures are joining a dozen others at MicroDwell 2014, the second annual small-space building and design exhibition held at the Shemer Art Center.  The projects, all well under the 600-square-foot maximum requirement, were designed and built by architects, builders, artists, hobbyists, students (high school as well as college) and others as tangible experiments to learn how to do more with less, as well as be creative with materials. This year’s theme was live-work, so many of the projects have office, commercial space or studio themes.
I checked out the event, which runs through March 23, 2014, and realized there’s a lot everyone can learn from living small.

Play with materials. Small spaces mean smaller material needs, allowing budgetary leeway to try something new, like the Japanese shou-sugi-ban-style charred wood siding used here on the exterior of Hunter Floyd and Damon Wake’s Cinder Box.
Use slim, low-slung furniture. Inside the Cinder Box, the tight space feels spacious with a sleek sofa, an almost-there coffee table and a slimmed-down chair.

Get a Perfectly Built Home the First Time Around | Pound Ridge Homes

Leave a reply

 

There’s a myth going around to the effect that you’ll never get your house built just right.  There will always be something you forgot, something you’d do differently, something that’s just not quite right.  I’ve heard folks tell me time and again that that’s just the way it is.  There’s just no getting around the simple fact that the house you build just won’t be 100 percent right.
Well, I have to say that this is simply not true.  There are steps anyone can take that will ensure that a house will be perfect, with no regrets.  Here are some of them.

Know thyself.  Who are you?  What do you like?  What do you hate?  What is your ideal living arrangement?  What is your favorite season?
What do you enjoy doing?
These are some of the many questions you’ll have to answer to create the perfect home.  You see, we simply don’t live in a space bounded by four walls, a ceiling and a floor.  While we all share a lot of common traits, each of us is unique.  So yes, start with a room count and a square footage and a style, but then take that to the next level by tailoring the plan to you and yours.

Unusual Mixes of Old and New in Texas | Bedford Corners Real Estate

Leave a reply

 

Any architect will tell you that the key to a successful building is a good client. Of course, what exactly a “good client” is can vary greatly. For architect Hugh Randolph’s renovation of a 1935 house in the Clarksville neighborhood of Austin, Texas, good clients were a creative couple who were passionate about the history of their house as they and their daughters became its newest residents.
Going so far as to document their research in a blog, Ryan and Kim Battle worked with Randolph to find inspiration in the house’s history. The result is a traditional house with modern touches that are sometimes subtle and sometimes overt, ultimately making something new and personal.
Houzz at a Glance Who lives here: Ryan and Kim Battle and their 2 daughters Location: Austin, Texas Team: Architect: Hugh Randolph; interior designer: Kim Battle; builder: Risinger Homes Size: 2,890 square feet (268 square meters) Photography by Whit Preston and Casey Dunn

The decision to buy and remodel the house started with Randolph’s taking a shortcut in his car one day along Palma Plaza and seeing the house for sale. He thought of Ryan and Kim Battle, who were living in one of his modern commissions at the time but wanted something smaller and more sustainable. Six months after the discovery, the Battles bought the property and hired Randolph to help them transform it.
Looking at the symmetrical, southwest-facing front, it’s hard to see any dramatic changes, outside of the three modern dormers that replaced an existing pair, and the standing-seam metal roof. The dining room is to the left of the entrance, and the master bedroom is to the right.

12 Key Decorating Tips to Make Any Room Better | Armonk Real Estate

Leave a reply

 

I hate to break it to you, but designers don’t follow a secret rule book. There are no hard and fast laws governing what we do. We are creative types by nature and love to imagine, dream and explore, following our intuition. That said, there are some rough principles that guide us to ensure a great result every time. They are just tried and true things that work. And these aren’t tricks or skills that take years to master. Anyone can do them from day one. Consider this a foundation for developing your own quirky, creative, rule-breaking intuition.

1. Pick the paint color last. I get calls all the time from homeowners who want to pick a paint color before they move in. I get the logic. Why not arrive to walls with a fresh coat of paint? Of course you can do it this way, but in my opinion it’s not ideal.
There are thousands of paint colors with various tints, tones and shades. And each one looks different from home to home, because light sources vary, meaning what looks good in your current home might not in your new one. You want the color that best complements your upholstery, artwork, rug and whatever else. You can pick that color only if your stuff is actually inside your home.

Rain Will Turn To Snow Late Wednesday In Mount Kisco | Mt Kisco Homes

Leave a reply

 

Rain is expected to fall much of the day across Westchester County, but as temperatures drop, it will turn to snow late Wednesday as yet another winter storm makes its way to the Northeast, the National Weather Service said.

Westchester will be spared the wrath of the storm, which is expected to drop as much as 18 inches of snow across northern New England.

The storm will begin as rain Wednesday, mainly after 4 p.m., with about a quarter of an inch possible. High temperatures will approach 50 degrees.

Rain and snow showers are expected Wednesday evening, becoming all snow after midnight. Some thunder is also possible.

Snow accumulations of 1 to 2 inches are possible in Northern Westchester. Less than half an inch is expected in Central and Southern Westchester.

Temperatures will drop into the mid-teens overnight with blustery southeast winds of 13 to 18 mph becoming northwest at 19 to 24 mph after midnight.

Dutchess County is under a Winter Weather Advisory from 6 p.m. Wednesday to 11 a.m. Thursday. The warning does not extend as far south as Westchester County. But it warns of sleet and freezing rain as well as a flash freeze overnight as temperatures fall.

 

http://mtkisco.dailyvoice.com/news/rain-will-turn-snow-late-wednesday-westchester-county

Why the future of real estate is peoplework, not paperwork | Cross River Real Estate

Leave a reply

 

Nearly everything in our lives has migrated online over the past decade. We shop online, read books on our tablets and stream movies through Netflix. We book flights ourselves and rent cars from an app on our phone. Handshakes have given way to email and Facebook ‘likes.’

The world has undoubtedly changed, but relics of our old lives remain.

This is especially apparent in real estate with the prevalence of documents, whether deadwood or digital attachments. Real estate professionals must close the gap – to succeed in an industry where human connections and experiences now matter more than ever.

More of the Same Won’t Cut It

Think back to how agents and clients closed deals in the past. The buyer and seller would meet with their agents to negotiate until they either reached a deal, or didn’t. If they reached a deal, they would shake hands and then document it. Over time, however, the document became the meeting place. It was scanned, mailed and inefficiently tossed back and forth to close a deal. Layer on the past 30 years of digital innovations, from the fax machine and scanners to email and Google Hangouts, and our industry is left with a convoluted mesh of yesterday’s technologies that solve yesterday’s problems.

 

 

http://www.housingwire.com/blogs/1-rewired/post/29259-why-the-future-of-real-estate-is-peoplework-not-paperwork

 

Getting a mortgage is easier, but only just | Waccabuc Real Estate

Leave a reply

 

Mortgage credit continued to trend higher in February, following a steady increase in availability since November 2013, the latest report from the Mortgage Bankers Association revealed.

The mortgage credit availability index edged higher 0.44% to 113.5 in February from 113 in January.

If the MCAI had been tracked in 2007, it would have sat around 800. The index was benchmarked to 100 in March 2012.

“For the third month in a row, mortgage lenders and investors slightly expanded credit offerings in February on net, as a result of offsetting factors,” said Mike Fratantoni, MBA’s chief economist.

“Specifically, the recently implemented QM/ATR sections of the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau regulations stipulate that ARM loans must qualify at the highest allowable rate for the first five years of the loan,” he continued.

 

http://www.housingwire.com/articles/29261-mba-getting-a-mortgage-is-easier-but-only-just