Monthly Archives: April 2014

Mortgage Rates up slightly to 4.33% | South Salem Realtor

Freddie Mac (OTCQB: FMCC) today released the results of its Primary Mortgage Market Survey® (PMMS^®), showing average fixed mortgage rates following an uptick in the 10-year treasury note and amid a week of soft housing data.

News Facts

30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 4.33 percent with an average 0.6 point for the week ending April 24, 2014, up from last week when it averaged 4.27 percent. A year ago at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 3.40 percent.
15-year FRM this week averaged 3.39 percent with an average 0.6 point, up from last week when it averaged 3.33 percent. A year ago at this time, the 15-year FRM averaged 2.61 percent.
5-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) averaged 3.03 percent this week with an average 0.5 point, unchanged from last week. A year ago, the 5-year ARM averaged 2.58 percent.
1-year Treasury-indexed ARM averaged 2.44 percent this week with an average 0.5 point, unchanged from last week. At this time last year, the 1-year ARM averaged 2.62 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 following the uptick in the 10-year Treasury note late last week. Existing home sales were essentially flat with a 0.2 percent decline in March to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.59 million. However, new home sales fell nearly 15 percent in March to an annual rate of 384,000, well below consensus.”

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. Additional information is available at FreddieMac.com, Twitter @FreddieMac and Freddie Mac’s blog FreddieMac.com/blog.

Should Uncle Sam really be subsidizing the American Dream? | Bedford Hills Real Estate

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It may sound like heresy to some in the industry, but Catherine Rampell has a point in the Washington Post today – a home is not a good investment.

Calm down. That comes with a caveat – it’s not a good investment as an investment.

Catherine even quotes the highly regarded economist Robert Shiller:

The fact that Americans still financially fetishize homeownership baffles me. Never mind that so many people lost their shirts (among other possessions) in the recent housing bust. Over an even longer horizon, owning a home has not proved to be a terribly lucrative investment either. Don’t take my word for it; ask Robert Shiller , winner of the 2013 Nobel Prize in economics who previously became a household name for identifying the housing bubble.

“People forget that housing deteriorates over time. It goes out of style. There are new innovations that people want, different layouts of rooms,” he told me. “And technological progress keeps bringing the cost of construction down.” Meaning your worn, old-fashioned home is competing with new, relatively inexpensive ones.

Over the past century, housing prices have grown at a compound annual rate of just 0.3 percent once one adjusts for inflation, according to my calculations using Shiller’s historical housing data. Over the same period, the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index has had comparable annual returns of about 6.5%.

Yet Americans still think it’s financially savvy to dump all their savings into a single, large, highly illiquid asset.

So yes, a home is a lousy investment in terms of returns next to other types of investments.

Rampell fails to mention, though, that if someone isn’t paying a mortgage, that same amount of money – or even more since renting is now more expensive than buying – is thrown away on rent regardless, unless you plan to live in a van down by the river.

But Rampell does have a point – the constant drumbeat of the voices that housing prices should, in perpetuity – continue to rise and at a rate faster than inflation is irrational on the face of it.

Homeownership makes sense because it makes sense, with a few markets being the exception. It’s value is self-evident not as an investment vehicle, but because 1) you won’t live long without shelter and 2) because unless you expect to be extremely transient, you build equity.

Experts say Colorado homes selling within days in hot real estate market | Katonah Real Estate

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Real estate and mortgage experts in Denver say houses across the state are selling in days, leaving few options for potential buyers to choose from.

Coldwell Banker Managing Broker Andy Sommer said metro Denver is a true hot market — attributable to job growth in the region and low supply — because those who already own likely refinanced and have a great rate and have no desire to leave.

“Many of our listings are sold within the first day and most of them with multiple offers,” said Sommer. “People are set. They’re financially sound, they don’t have to go anywhere and they are solid in their jobs.”

Jim Perkins, with First City Mortgage-Megastar Financial said northern Colorado is the same story.

“The most I’ve heard on one property was 16 offers on one house,” said Perkins.

For buyers who find something, experts say keep your eyes on it and make a move quickly, because if you don’t someone else will.

The most in-demand price range for buyers right now is anywhere in the $200,000 to $300,000 range — even up to $350,000.

If a home goes up for sale at that price and it’s priced right, experts said sellers are looking at an average of eight offers within two to three days.

So Helpful: A Map of Housing Prices at Every London Tube Stop | Bedford NY Real Estate

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In a big city, it can be tough finding an affordable apartment near work, especially if you want to use public transit to commute. A new map tool developed in London is making that search a little easier. Created by the apartment search website Find Properly, the tool reproduces the London Tube map, with rental and house prices (and links to property listings) detailed for each station. Click on the station, and the map reproduces the different prices at each stop along the line, creating a graph that sometimes looks like rolling hills and sometimes like a set of alpine peaks and chasms.

(If you’re having any trouble seeing or using the embedded map above, click here for the full version)

While the prices (and do note that they are listed by week instead of month) could make your eyes water, the map is nonetheless a remarkably helpful tool. Commuters can decide how many Tube stops and changeovers away from work they’re prepared to live, then work out what they can afford within that area.

Even for people who know London well, a map like this can blow assumptions out of the water by showing the gap between a neighborhood’s reputation and its actual prices. People have long paid very high prices, for example, in the North London hilltop district of Hampstead, attracted by its village-like 18th century streets and massive woodland park. The map shows that the neighborhoods further down the same hill – once considered a second-best overflow area – can cost even more. It also turns out that the South London area where I live is actually more expensive than the nicer neighborhood next door (time to move, perhaps?).

Browsing the map, some clear trends develop. Across town, rent rises and falls are far less spiky than those for house prices. This is especially true for one-bedroom apartments, less so the more bedrooms you add – though the figures don’t take into account the smaller size of city center apartments. For cheaper housing, you’re generally better off looking in the Far East of London. And for bargains? You’re best off looking in another city entirely.

Spring clean your way to being fit | Pound Ridge Real Estate

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Skip the gym and bust out the broom: These household activities torch up to 200 calories in just 30 minutes—nearly double the amount you’d burn pumping iron in the gym. Keep the routine up on a weekly basis and you’re bound to banish both extra clutter and inches. Read on to find out which projects will put a dent in your to-do list and prep your body for spring’s skin-baring clothing.

Building a Fire Pit | Bedford Corners Homes

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You could just build a fire somewhere, then put it out when you’re done. Or you could buy one of those metal basins at a place like Williams-Sonoma. But by actually digging into the dirt and constructing a pit whose sole purpose is to contain a campfire — by permanently incorporating it into the tiny speck on the earth that belongs to you — you are making a commitment. A commitment to your family, a commitment to your friends, and a commitment to having fun.

1. Decide whether or not to check if local laws permit the building of a fire pit in your yard.

2. Pick a location. Not under a tree. Some corner of the yard where you envision friends sitting around reminiscing about old times with love and friendship, plus old jealousies bubbling just beneath the surface.

3. Measure the hole. The diameter should be four feet or five feet. Make an X, with the axis at the center of what will be your fire pit. Use string to mark a circle on the grass around your X. Measure all of these with a tape measure or your feet, which are probably about a foot long if you have big feet.

4. Dig the hole. It should be about ten inches deep, with the sides gently angled out, like a bowl with a flat bottom.

Do-it-yourself design projects that are less crafty | Chappaqua Homes

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Pinha lamp

To create its customizable Pinha lamp, the London studio Raw-Edges took advantage of cork’s unique properties. As an insulator with low heat conductivity, it’s safe to wrap around virtually any bare lightbulb without the risk of burning the whole house down. And the fact that it makes a great pincushion gave the duo the idea for its shape: Four tiers provide the perfect platforms for tacking on a shade of your choosing, from graph paper to vintage maps.

Inside Gentrification Pundit Spike Lee’s UES Home, Now $28.5M | Armonk Real Estate

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19 images

Hot on the heels of reports that he might be moving out, director/self-appointed gentrification analyzer Spike Lee has switched brokers and chopped the price on his ridiculously fancy Upper East Side townhouse. Once asking $32 million with Sotheby’s, 153 East 63rd Street just re-entered the market with Brown Harris Stevens’ townhouse expert Paula Del Nunzio for a mere $28.5 million. The 7,000-square-foot house has five bedrooms, five bathrooms, and a glorious central courtyard. But perhaps more impressive is its celeb-studded provenance: he bought it from Jasper Johns in 1998 for $16.6 million, and the history extends back to the heiress for whom it was built.

50 Photos to Celebrate the Start of the 1964 World’s Fair | North Salem Real Estate

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50 images

Fifty years ago today, all eyes turned to Queens for the gala kick-off to the 1964 World’s Fair. It was an event whose size and scope were unparalleled, leaving New Yorkers and others today with countless indelible memories. Fast-forward half a century, and one of the last structures specially built for the fair that is still standing, the New York State Pavilion, was just named a “national treasure” by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. The pavilion opened to the public today for the first time in decades. While Curbed will soon have photos of the architectural relic in its current decrepit state, let’s fete the fair’s 50th anniversary with a collection of 50 historic photos shot when all the attractions were in their prime. Culled from the archives of the New York Public Library, the Queens Museum, and personal collections shared online, the images show the construction of iconic Unisphere, the international pavilions, the elaborate “Futurama” show from General Motors, and much more.

Home values in 20 percent of US housing markets headed for record highs within a year | Mount Kisco Real Estate

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Home values in almost 20 percent of all U.S. metros will surpass their housing boom peaks over the next year, and affordability problems that have begun to affect a fraction of markets may spread to others over the next few years, Zillow reported.

“The lows of the housing recession are becoming an increasingly distant memory as home values reach new highs and homes become more expensive than ever in many areas,” said Zillow Chief Economist Stan Humphries in a statement. “This is a remarkable milestone coming only two and a half years after the end of the worst housing recession since the Great Depression.”

Home values nationwide were up 0.5 percent from the fourth quarter of 2013 to the first quarter of 2014, and were up 5.7 percent from the same time a year ago, according to the latest Zillow Real Estate Market Report.

Over the next year, Zillow forecasts that national home prices will appreciate by an additional 3.3 percent.

Price gains have already pushed values close to or above their housing boom peak in about 12 percent of the 8,700 markets tracked by Zillow.

Among the more than 300 metros tracked by Zillow, home values in nearly 20 percent of them have already passed or are expected to pass their prerecession peaks over the next year. Those fully or almost fully recovered metros include Dallas, Houston, Denver, Pittsburgh, San Antonio, Texas, San Jose, Calif., and Austin, Texas.

– See more at: http://www.inman.com/2014/04/22/home-values-in-20-percent-of-u-s-housing-markets-will-be-more-expensive-than-ever-within-a-year/?utm_source=20140422&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=dailyheadlinespm#sthash.lzVRtVwk.dpuf

Buying Bedford Real Estate

Robert Paul Realtor buying Bedford real estate

Monthly Archives: April 2014

Mortgage Rates up slightly to 4.33% | South Salem Realtor

Should Uncle Sam really be subsidizing the American Dream? | Bedford Hills Real Estate

Experts say Colorado homes selling within days in hot real estate market | Katonah Real Estate

So Helpful: A Map of Housing Prices at Every London Tube Stop | Bedford NY Real Estate

Spring clean your way to being fit | Pound Ridge Real Estate

Building a Fire Pit | Bedford Corners Homes

Do-it-yourself design projects that are less crafty | Chappaqua Homes

Inside Gentrification Pundit Spike Lee’s UES Home, Now $28.5M | Armonk Real Estate

50 Photos to Celebrate the Start of the 1964 World’s Fair | North Salem Real Estate

Home values in 20 percent of US housing markets headed for record highs within a year | Mount Kisco Real Estate