Monthly Archives: March 2014

What we will—and won’t—learn about home prices this week | Bedford Corners Real Estate

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Housing market data have been mixed over the past few months, as harsh winter weather has appeared to put a damper of homebuying. Investors will get some more data on housing in the days ahead, when new home sales, pending home sales and home price data are released. But even if these numbers come in soft, some experts say the U.S. housing market is just getting heated up.

“We’re still in the very preliminary stages of a housing market upturn,” said Carl Riccadonna, senior U.S. economist at Deutsche Bank. “Housing is extremely seasonal, and there’s a high season and a low season. This low season is particularly low due to the weather, and housing numbers have been vulnerable.”

“In next week’s data, new home sales will be pretty lousy, just because buyer traffic has been depressed. But I’m personally waiting to see the March and April data to see what happens in the spring buying season,” Riccadonna told CNBC.com on Friday.

New homes sales for the month of February are set to be released by the Commerce Department on Tuesday morning. The consensus expectation is for sales to come in at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 449,000 units, below the 5½ year high of 468,000 that was recorded for the month of January.

In other housing data that will emerge this week, the S&P/Case-Shiller home price index for January will be released Tuesday as well. This is designed to give investors an indication of the trend in real estate prices. And on Friday, pending home sales data from the National Association of Realtors, which tracks sales that have not yet closed, will give an indication of the demand for houses.

 

http://www.cnbc.com/id/101510605

U.S. existing home sales edge down in February | Pound Ridge Homes

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U.S. home resales dropped slightly in February to a 19 month-low as cold weather and a shortage of homes for sale continued to sideline potential buyers.

The National Association of Realtors said on Thursday home sales dropped 0.4 percent to an annual rate of 4.60 million units, the lowest level since July 2012, and in line with economists’ expectations. January’s sales pace was unrevised at 4.62 million.

Even though temperatures remained chilly in February, pinching sales, a modest improvement in inventory on the market indicates buyers are expected to jump in soon.

“The weather surely cannot get any worse,” NAR economist Lawrence Yun told reporters. “The new supply will help tame price growth.”

The median existing home price rose 9.1 percent in February to $189,000 from the same month in 2013.

Mortgage rates have risen almost a full percentage point in the past year and the increase in house prices has far outpaced income growth, making home-buying less affordable.

In addition, there has been a shortage of homes for sale on the market. Home resales have declined in six of the last seven months, having peaked in July.

The number of previously-owned homes available for sale at the end of February represented a 5.1 months’ supply, still tepid but up from 4.9 months’ worth in January. A healthy market has about a six-to-seven month supply.

 

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/u-existing-home-sales-edge-140005910.html

 

6 Photos Every Listing Should Have | Waccabuc NY Homes

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So, you got the listing. You loaded it all up online. And it looks pretty good, right? A “nice” description with “nice” pictures might make a “nice” first impression. But that might also be its last impression, given buyers’ approach to ruling listings in and out.

Buyers’ approach is, in a word, ruthless. Buyers have lots of online listings to get through, and very, very limited time. They review online listings against a backdrop of lots of priorities and considerations battling for their mindspace: their financial priorities, family plans, space needs, aesthetics and the must-haves and deal-breakers of anywhere from 1 to 4 people—or more. So, when they peruse the hundreds of listings on Trulia in your area, maybe yours will make it into the 40 properties they favorite.

But then they cull the list. And narrow again. And narrow again to get down to, say, 15. They send those to their agent. And the agent cute those in half to get to the list of homes they want to show that weekend. Both buyers and agents are prone to cutting properties that look “nice,” but may or may not have critical deal-making features, when the features simply aren’t photographed.

So, your job is not just to get your listing noticed, or onto the list of 40. It’s also to make sure your listing is not one of the 25 that gets cut before Madame Buyer ever gets in the door. Trulia listings can have unlimited photos each, so shoot away! Here is a short list of oft-omitted pics that should make it into every single one of your online listings.

1. Front of House

I know. Seems super basic. But the truth is, there are lots of listings on the interwebs that don’t include any sort of image of the home’s exterior elevation, for a variety of reasons. Sometimes the agent’s rationale for not including a front exterior image is as simple as a telephone pole or electric lines obstructing the view of the home or that there was a dumpster or construction truck blocking the house the day pics were taken.

Nonetheless, today’s increasingly savvy online home buyer interprets the lack of a front of house pic as a red flag that they should be afraid of the property: very afraid.

2. Backyard

You only need to house hunt with a couple of clients with backyard musts to begin to understand how many otherwise well-crafted online listings, some which contain literally dozens of interior images, lack images of a home’s outdoor space. Buyers who have pets, children, hot tubs, urban farming fantasies or some combination of the above will want to narrow down the online listings they decide to visit to those which seem likely to suit their outdoor space needs.

 

 

http://www.trulia.com/pro/sellers/6-photos-every-listing-should-have/?ecampaign=tnews&eurl=trulia.com%252Fpro%252Fsellers%252F6-photos-every-listing-should-have%252F

This Carriage House With a Secret Pool Wants $85,000/Month | South Salem Real Estate

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24 images

This 25-foot-wide house on East 83rd Street was once J.P. Morgan’s carriage house, and if the 19th century industrialist could see it today he would either be really impressed or run away screaming, because the entire house—from lighting to music to thermostats—is controlled via touchpad. And that’s not even the most intriguing part: apparently, the kitchen floor can slide open to reveal a swimming pool. (The pool is not pictured, but that’s okay—it doesn’t sound like something people would want to see pictures of.)

The house’s owner, businessman Karan Trehan, bought it with his wife in 1995 and they renovated it together, filling the 7,200-square-foot building “with artwork and heavy Anglo-Indian furniture, reflecting their shared Indian background.” After the couple separated in 2007, Trehan renovated the house again to reflect it being a sick bachelor pad. All the art is now for sale, and the house is available to rent at $85,000/month. Make sure you get a look at that pool before you sign the lease, though.

http://ny.curbed.com/archives/2014/03/20/this_carriage_house_with_a_secret_pool_wants_85000month.php