Monthly Archives: July 2014

Housing recovery continues to make progress | Chappaqua Real Estate

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The housing recovery is continuing to trend in a positive direction, but more work needs to be done to help the economy fully recover, the Obama administration said in its June housing scorecard, which is a comprehensive report on the nation’s housing market prepared by U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the U.S. Department of the Treasury.

June’s housing scorecard echoes the sentiments of the last two housing scorecards. In May, the administration cited overall positive trends in the housing market, but cautioned that the harsh winter slowed growth while the economy continues to recover from the Great Recession.

In April, the administration also noted the tough winter as a challenge to the year’s housing performance.

June’s scorecard identifies growing equity and a rebound in the sale of new and existing homes as positive trends.

“The June Housing Scorecard shows the housing market continues to make progress as we move into the summer months,” said HUD Assistant Secretary for Policy Development and Research Katherine O’Regan. “Sales of new and existing homes are up, equity continues to grow, and foreclosures starts continue trending down. While these are all signs of a healthy recovery, given the severity of the housing crisis, we must stay committed to helping homeowners.”

 

 

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Scorecard: Housing recovery continues to make progress

Future of housing in question | Armonk Real Estate

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The housing industry remains guarded as second-quarter earnings are estimated to trend down slightly for most U.S. banks, presenting a questionable future for the market.

Kroll Bond Rating Agency released its Q2 2014 Bank Earnings Preview, which cautioned that there will be persistent challenges in areas such as mortgage finance, capital markets and net interest margins for the next several years.

And banks will feel the weight of that, Kroll said.

“Over the next several years, we believe that the business models of large banks will be changing significantly as the importance of mortgage lending and servicing declines relative to other activities. Indeed, among U.S. depository institutions, credit unions are the only sector currently increasing their exposure to the mortgage market,” the report said.

Volatility in market interest rates and a lackluster economy spurred a difficult first quarter, and the second half of the year won’t be much better as “a lack of visibility as to the future direction of interest rates will be a reoccurring theme for banks and markets during the rest of 2014.”

The first bank to release its earnings will be mortgage giant Wells Fargo (WFC) on Friday morning.

While the bank is the market-share leader in the origination and servicing of 1-4 family mortgage loans, Kroll cautioned, “Given the decline in mortgage lending volumes experienced by WFC and other large banks, as well as the zero-rate policy of the FOMC, it may be difficult for the bank to deliver positive revenue growth in 2014 and beyond.”

During the first-quarter of 2014, Wells Fargo reported record net income of $5.9 billion, up 14%, or $1.05 per diluted common share, around expectations.

 

 

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Future of housing in question amid 2Q14 earnings release

 

Mt Kisco Mortgage Rates | Mt Kisco Real Estate

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Freddie Mac (OTCQB: FMCC) today released the results of its Primary Mortgage Market Survey® (PMMS®), showing mortgage rates little changed after initially easing slightly higher from the previous week which was largely fueled by a better than expected jobs report showing labor markets improving.

News Facts

  • 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 4.15 percent with an average 0.7 point for the week ending July 10, 2014, up from last week when it averaged 4.12 percent. A year ago at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 4.51 percent.
  • 15-year FRM this week averaged 3.24 percent with an average 0.6 point, up from last week when it averaged 3.22 percent. A year ago at this time, the 15-year FRM averaged 3.53 percent.
  • 5-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) averaged 2.99 percent this week with an average 0.4 point, up from last week when it averaged 2.98 percent. A year ago, the 5-year ARM averaged 3.26 percent.
  • 1-year Treasury-indexed ARM averaged 2.40 percent this week with an average 0.4 point, up from last week when it averaged 2.38 percent. At this time last year, the 1-year ARM averaged 2.66 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 increased for the week as the labor market appears to be improving. Based on the employment report, released last week, the U.S. economy added 288,000 jobs in June, gained 224,000 in May and increased by 304,000 in April. Also, the unemployment rate in June fell to 6.1 percent from 6.3 percent in May.”

Westchester County Second Quarter Real Estate Report Shows Decrease in Sales | South Salem Real Estate

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The following information was sent in by the HUDSON GATEWAY ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®, INC.–

2014 SECOND QUARTER RESIDENTIAL REAL ESTATE SALES REPORT

Westchester, Putnam, Rockland and Orange Counties, New York

 

Closed residential real estate transactions during the second quarter of 2014 slackened in relation to the same period last year. Realtors participating in the Hudson Gateway Multiple Listing Service, serving Westchester, Putnam, Rockland and Orange Counties, reported 3,195 closings in the four counties, a decrease of 9.2% from the 3,519 closings reported during the second quarter of last year. These grand totals comprised sales of single family houses, condominiums, cooperatives and 2-4 family dwellings.

 

 

 

The second quarter closings largely reflected listing and showing activity that took place during the early months of the year. Many data providers and analysts, including the National Association of Realtors, ascribe at least some of the slowdown in sales here and nationally to exceptionally difficult winter weather conditions that discouraged prospective purchasers from getting out and researching properties of interest. The lower Hudson region undoubtedly experienced some of that effect, but in our case there may also have been an equal or even larger effect from a simple market correction of the fast pace of sales in 2013 and the first quarter of 2014.

 

 

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http://scarsdale.patch.com/groups/real-estate/p/westchester-county-second-quarter-real-estate-report-shows-decrease-in-sales6652441

Elements of Farmhouse Style | Cross River Real Estate

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The American “farmhouse bathroom” is a bit of an oxymoron. Most original farmhouses were built at a time when the only bathroom was an outhouse. And when farmhouse owners did eventually bring plumbing inside, they didn’t actually build a bathroom; they took over a spare bedroom or other room and put a toilet, sink and stand alone tub in the space. This focus on practicality and function continues to drive the style’s popularity today.

Here are eight elements of a modern-day bath with farmhouse style.

farmhouse bathroom by JAMES DIXON ARCHITECT PC
JAMES DIXON ARCHITECT PC
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1. Make it look like a spare room. Again, think back to the time when farmhouse owners switched from an outhouse to an indoor bathroom: Most people ran their new plumbing into a spare bedroom or an attic space. So the new bathrooms were generally spacious and had odd ceiling angles. Plus, it meant that the orientation of the bathtub, sink and toilet didn’t always line up like you see today. Following this approach is a good first step to nailing the style.

Architect James Dixon used the spare-room concept with this New York bathroom, which is actually part of a newly built home. He intentionally made the ceiling pitch down at odd angles to make it feel like the bathtub, sink and toilet were plunked down in an old attic space or extra bedroom. “I live in an 18th-century farmhouse that was once a lot of small bedrooms. Some were converted to bathrooms,” he says. “They tend to be very quirky, so making a new bathroom look this way makes them look more believable.”

Painted antique wood flooring helps convey the style as well.

farmhouse bathroom by Colin Cadle Photography
Colin Cadle Photography
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2. Minimal accessories. “To me a farmhouse is kind of the simplest early house built for practical reasons,” says interior designer Alison Kandler. “You built a porch because sitting outside in Oklahoma was hot. You picked hexagon tile because it was cheap and practical. You built a pitched roof so rain would fall off and you wouldn’t get leaks. There was always a practical side to everything. It’s not ornate. It’s not overdecorated.”

Indeed, most of the people who built farmhouses were interested only in providing four walls and a roof over their head. They didn’t have the time, interest or cash to focus on ornament or details in the wood or construction, so they just kept it simple. Make sure your farmhouse bathroom champions function and repurposing, rather than ornament.

3. Stand-alone bathtub. A claw-foot tub is almost a requirement in a farmhouse bathroom. It’s what you would have seen in original farmhouses when built-ins weren’t around or practical.

farmhouse bathroom by Kelly & Co.
Kelly & Co.
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Of course, when we talk about farmhouse style, we’re actually talking about modern farmhouse style. “And that’s a good thing,” says interior designer Kelly Mittleman, who channeled farmhouse style in the bathroom seen here. “You don’t want to replicate the rusticity of yesteryear and have it look clunky or silly like a set piece.”

And farmhouses differ around the world and even regionally in the United States. A New England farmhouse from the 18th century looks and feels different than something in the Midwest, for example. But the general spirit is universal. “When most people think of a farmhouse, they think of simple, no-nonsense details and sturdy construction,” says Dixon.

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http://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/28690511?utm_source=Houzz&utm_campaign=u556&utm_medium=email&utm_content=gallery1

How Soon Will China’s Real Estate Market Bounce Back? | Waccabuc Real Estate

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Is a housing crash imminent in China? China bears would think so. Home prices in major Chinese cities like Beijing and Shanghai are slipping, and transactions are taking a nosedive. The real estate market has entered what is arguably the deepest correction since the 2008 financial crisis, causing fears of a hard landing that might also drag down the entire Chinese economy.

So how much trouble is the real estate market actually in? According to the China Index Academy, an independent property research organization owned by real estate portal SouFun, housing prices in the 100 cities it monitors dropped 0.5% in June from the previous month, greater than the 0.32% month-on-month decline recorded in May (the first price downturn in 23 months).

English: The skyline of Shanghai, China.

The skyline of Shanghai, China. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

But falling prices is not the most alarming signal, at least not yet (compared with the same period last year, prices were still higher in most major cities). It’s the distinct drop in transaction volume that is making economists nervous. As per SouFun’s data, transactions across major cities fell 19% year-on-year in the first six months of 2014, while new home transactions in Beijing and Shanghai fell drastically by 48.6% and 32.8% respectively, according to other research firms.

“That’s an indication that the demand is small, and so eventually prices will move too,” says Liu Jing, professor of accounting and finance at Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business, who closely follows China’s real estate market. “You can already see prices come down in several cities.”

 

 

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http://www.forbes.com/sites/ckgsb/2014/07/08/how-soon-will-chinas-real-estate-market-bounce-back/

Count the Bison in NYC’s Most Taxidermy-Filled Apartment | Katonah Real Estate

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For some, the wonders of nature are too majestic not to have stuffed, mounted, and hung above the chaise longue. For an especially committed subset of that worldwide fraternity of taxidermy lovers, there’s no need to put away one’s collection of fauna when shooting listing photos. After all, who’s to say that a roaring catamount can’t bring together a living room? Recently profiled in the New York Times is the Upper West Side apartment of author, journalist, and socialite Gregory Speck, which gives the most taxidermy-filled home in Brooklyn a run for its money. Apparently there are over 200 dearly departed furry friends decorating the place— acquired from “museum liquidations, taxidermist castoffs and hunters whose wives wouldn’t allow them to hang their trophies in the house”—so many that, rather than go through the hassle of taking them down to document the place for its $3.395M entrance onto the market, Speck had the Halstead Property marketing team digitally remove them. Behold the rest of this menagerie below, and head to Curbed NY for the retouched, fauna-scrubbed glamour shots:

 

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http://curbed.com/archives/2014/07/07/gregory-specks-taxidermy-filled-apartment.php

Own a Modernist Home in an Architects’ Utopia for $1.4M | Bedford Hills Real Estate

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26 images


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This circa-1948 International Style three-bedroom was designed and inhabited by Norman and Jean Fletcher, two founding members of The Architects Collaborative, or TAC, which was started in 1945 when Bauhaus mainstay Walter Gropius teamed up with a group of young architects. The very rectangular 3,400-square-foot abode is part of the planned community of Six Moon Hill in Lexington, Mass., an early TAC pursuit that saw most of the founding partners (Gropius excluded) building houses and starting families on 20 bucolic acres they bought together. The Fletcher residence, which was last sold in 2013 for $1.34M, has the same flat roof, vertical wood siding, and walls of glass shared by the original Six Moon Hill homes, and also shares their communal commitment to keeping bedrooms small and shared spaces expansive. Back in 2004, one resident told the Boston Globe that “things have changed since the ’50s and ’60s, when everyone was running in and out of everyone’s houses.” But at least a decade ago, the socialist spirit of the place lived on in “great community traditions, like snowstorm parties.” The ask, for admittance into this Bauhaus-inspired American experiment? $1.398M.

 

 

 

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http://curbed.com/archives/2014/07/07/own-a-modernist-home-in-an-architects-utopia-for-14m.php

The Kitschiest French Manor in New Jersey Wants $6.4M | Bedford Real Estate

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Location: Mendham Boro, N.J.
Price: $6,400,000
The Skinny: “Old world craftsmanship”, “attention to detail”, “Work of Art”, and “discerning buyer”: phrases like these strung together in the context of a real estate listing should be a warning to the unwary and unschooled homebuyer who, flush with a pre-approved mortgage and eager to buy, is all too apt to be gulled into believing that hideous design somehow equates to high-class residential property. One look inside this gaudy “French Manor” out in the wilds of New Jersey should disabuse any prospective purchasers of that notion, but the sad truth is that riotously patterned wall treatments, garish, hand-painted coffered ceilings, and awful furniture at least have the benefit of being infinitely more interesting than the plain white walls and boring, half-empty great rooms of most modern McMansions. And, come to think of it, aren’t many of the grand homes we celebrate today (i.e. the Biltmore Estate, the Breakers, El Furiedis) just palaces of kitsch that have benefited from the burnishing, patina-inducing effects of passing time? Maybe one day this home, with its absolutely over-the-top chapel (with its weird stained-glass depiction of a saint solemnly tickling the ivories) and its creepily haunting painting of a barkeep (“Your money is no good here, Mr. Torrance”) will be celebrated as a sui generis masterpiece, made the subject of coffee table books and PBS documentaries, and be entered into the pantheon of Great American Homes. Until then it can be had for $6.4M.

 

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http://curbed.com/archives/2014/07/07/the-kitschiest-french-manor-in-all-of-new-jersey-wants-64m.php

Here’s where Realtors expect home prices to grow the most | Pound Ridge Real Estate

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Home price appreciation is slowing markedly, and a survey of members of the National Association of Realtors shows they generally expect home prices to increase in all states and the District of Columbia over the next 12 months, with most of the heavy growth in Florida, Texas, and California, among other states.

That’s the consensus from the May 2014 Realtors Confidence Index.

The median expected price increase is 4%.

Expected price movements depend on local conditions relating to housing demand and supply, demographics, and job growth, the survey says.

Click the map to enlarge.

The difficulty in accessing mortgage financing and modest expectations about overall economic and job prospects are factors underpinning the modest price expectation.

The expected price growth was highest (red) in states with low inventory levels, strong cash sales, and strong growth sectors (e.g., technology, oil).

 

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http://www.housingwire.com/articles/30552-heres-where-realtors-expect-home-prices-to-grow-the-most