Monthly Archives: August 2014

Tread Lightly Around the Rickety Homes of Wilderness Dwellers | Katonah Real Estate

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6antoinebruy6.jpgPhoto by Antoine Bruy via Art the System

From 2010 to 2013, French photographer Antoine Bruy spent his life threading through the remotest regions of Europe, capturing the daily existence of the ultimate in civilization-eschewing people. His Scrublands series tells the stories of individuals and families whose extreme brand of self-reliance translates to, among other things, the most rudimentary and ramshackle of homes—think “The Burrow” from Harry Potter, but without all the magical bits holding it together.

 

 

 

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http://curbed.com/archives/2014/08/04/houses-wilderness-people.php

 

Year-over-year US home prices show a slowing gain | Bedford Hills Real Estate

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U.S. home prices rose in June by the smallest year-over-year amount in 20 months, slowed by modest sales and more properties coming on the market.

Data provider CoreLogic said Tuesday that prices rose 7.5 percent in June compared with 12 months earlier. That’s a solid gain but less than the 8.3 percent year-over-year increase in May and a recent year-to-year peak of 11.9 percent in February.

On a month-to-month basis, June prices rose just 1 percent, down from 1.4 percent in May. But CoreLogic’s monthly figures aren’t adjusted for seasonal patterns, such as warmer spring weather.

The slowing price gains should make buying a house more affordable. Prices had risen sharply last year, along with mortgage rates. At the same time, Americans’ paychecks haven’t risen nearly as fast, having increased roughly 2 percent a year since the recession ended — about the same pace as inflation. Many would-be buyers, particularly younger ones, were priced out of the market as a result.

Sales of existing homes fell in the second half of last year and have only modestly recovered since then. They rose to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.04 million in June, the third straight increase. But that was still 2.3 percent fewer than the pace a year earlier.

And a measure of signed contracts slipped 1.1 percent in June, suggesting that sales might cool in coming months. It typically takes one to two months for a signed contract to become a completed sale.

More homes have been put up for sale, though the supply remains generally tight. There were 2.3 million homes for sale at the end of June, 6.5 percent higher than a year ago.

 

 

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http://seattletimes.com/html/businesstechnology/2024242168_apxhomeprices.html

 

Fed says U.S. banks easing loan standards, credit demand rising | Bedford Real Estate

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Banks made it easier for Americans to get loans in recent months and demand for credit also increased, signs that the U.S. economic recovery is gaining steam.

The U.S. Federal Reserve said on Monday that banks eased their lending standards “for many types of loan categories amid a broad-based pickup in loan demand.”

The assessment was part of the Fed’s quarterly survey of senior loan officers, and was based on the responses gathered in the first two weeks of July from 75 U.S. banks and 23 U.S. branches of foreign banks.

The results are a positive signal for both the U.S. housing market and for business investment.

Many banks eased standards for mortgages lending, and domestic lenders were also making it easier for businesses to qualify for loans, the Fed said.

Economic growth in the United States surged between April and June, and most analysts expect the economy will keep growing at brisk rates during the rest of this year.

 

 

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http://finance.yahoo.com/news/fed-says-u-banks-easing-180945440.html

 

Why mortgage rates haven’t risen as expected | Pound Ridge Real Estate

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By most estimates, mortgage rates were expected to climb this year, with rates on the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage predicted to exceed 5%. Instead, rates are now lower than they were this time in 2013 — much to the advantage of mortgage shoppers.

There are a few reasons why higher rates never came to pass.

Rates on the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 4.15% for the week ending July 10, according to Freddie Mac’s weekly survey of conforming mortgage rates. A year ago, rates averaged 4.51%.

“In January, we were projecting at the end of the year that the 30-year would be 5.1%,” said Leonard Kiefer, deputy chief economist with Freddie Mac. “We most recently revised that down to 4.4%.

Supply and demand

Economists had largely expected rates to rise once the Federal Reserve indicated it would taper its purchase of mortgage-backed securities through its quantitative easing program, Kiefer said. Rates did, in fact, rise spike upward due to that indication last summer.

But when the Fed actually began purchasing fewer of these securities, mortgage rates began to fall. That’s because the tapering ended up coinciding with a reduction in mortgage originations — which means fewer mortgage-backed securities were being issued, Kiefer said.

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http://finance.yahoo.com/news/why-mortgage-rates-haven-t-145257442.html

Affordable housing draws middle class to inland cities | Bedford Corners Homes

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Americans have never hesitated to pack up the U-Haul in search of the big time, a better job or just warmer weather. But these days, domestic migrants are increasingly driven by the quest for cheaper housing.

The country’s fastest-growing cities are now those where housing is more affordable than average, a decisive reversal from the early years of the millennium, when easy credit allowed cities to grow without regard to housing cost and when the fastest-growing cities had housing that was less affordable than the national average. Among people who have moved long distances, the number of those who cite housing as their primary motivation for doing so has more than doubled since 2007.

Rising rents and the difficulty of securing a mortgage on the coasts have proved a boon to inland cities that offer the middle class a firmer footing and an easier life. In the eternal competition among urban centers, the shift has produced some new winners.

Oklahoma City, for example, has outpaced most other cities in growth since 2011, becoming the 12th-fastest-growing city last year. It has also won over a coveted demographic, young adults age 25 to 34, going from a net loss of millennials to a net gain. Other affordable cities that have jumped in the growth rankings include several in Texas, including El Paso and San Antonio, as well as Columbus, Ohio, and Little Rock, Ark.

 

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http://finance.yahoo.com/news/affordable-housing-draws-middle-class-014410351.html

Actress Mischa Barton facing foreclosure on $6.4M Beverly Hills mansion | Chappaqua Homes

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Looks like actress Mischa Barton should have bought in The OC instead of Beverly Hills, as she is now $100K behind on her mortgage payment on her $6.4 million home, according to TMZ.

Barton just got slapped with a default notice — obtained by TMZ — informing her she’s skipped more than 100 grand in payments … triggering the foreclosure process.

The crib is awesome — 8 bedrooms, 11 baths, 3 guesthouses all on 1.2 acres. She bought it for $6.4M in 2005 — when “The O.C.” was a big deal, and took out a loan for $4.2 million.

The show went off the air in 2007 — and Mischa’s been trying to unload the house since 2010 … when she listed it for 8.695M, but no one bought it. She re-listed in 2011, and again … no takers.

Her last ditch effort was attempting to lease it for $35K/month last year … but that move appears to be way too little too late.

Source: TMZ