Category Archives: Armonk

Borrowing again: Mortgage debt increases most in 6 years | Armonk Homes

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First mortgages increased 2.8% from the same period a year ago, marking the largest year-over-year increase since September of 2008, according to the most recent Equifax national consumer credit trends report.

The total balance of first mortgages now sits at $7.97 trillion — the highest since December 2011.

Currently, delinquent first mortgages, those 30 or more days past due, represent 5.65% of the outstanding balances, dropping more than 22% from the same time last year.

In addition, the total balance of first mortgages 90-days past due or in foreclosure is less than $27- billion: a six-year low and a decrease of nearly 27% from the same time a year ago.

“The decline in mortgage balances from accelerated amortization and foreclosure write-offs has finally been overcome by increases in mortgage debt due to home purchase lending,” said Amy Crews Cutts, Equifax chief economist.

“This trend should gain additional momentum as we head into the spring and summer home buying seasons, which increases the volume of new loans coming in, while at the same time rising home values and improving employment conditions should push down the incidence of mortgage defaults,” Cutts continued.

Meanwhile, the report also found that the total balance of home finance write-offs year-to-date in February is $17.9 billion, 41% lower than the same time a year ago, and the total balance of home finance write-off dollars in 2013 was $149 billion, a decrease of more than 30% from 2012.

For the first time in four years, the total balance of home finance debt, which hit $8.58 trillion and includes first mortgage and home equity, increased year-over-year for three consecutive months.

 

http://www.housingwire.com/articles/29409-borrowing-again-mortgage-debt-increases-most-in-6-years

 

Spring Has Sprung, But Snow Is Likely To Return To Westchester | Armonk Real Estate

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Winter is officially over, but the first full week of spring in Westchester is likely to bring accumulating snow.

The latest forecast from accuweather.com calls for the potential for between 2 to 4 inches of snow Tuesday, with higher amounts toward the coast. The snow could start late Tuesday morning followed by periods of afternoon snow. You can view the accuweather.com forecast here.
Monday will be a mostly sunny day with a high between 30 and 32 degrees, according to the National Weather Service. The overnight low will be around 20-22 degrees.

Tuesday’s high temperature will be between 35 and 37 degrees. There is a chance of morning flurries on Wednesday.

 

http://armonk.dailyvoice.com/news/spring-has-sprung-snow-likely-return-westchester

Existing home sales stay in winter slump | Armonk NY Homes

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Existing-home sales slowed again in February, falling to their weakest pace in 19 months.

Last month’s seasonally adjusted annual sales rate was 4.6 million, down 0.4% from the previous month, the National Association of Realtors said. January’s sales rate was down 5.1% from December.

Cold weather, limited supplies of homes on the market and higher interest rates than a year ago have held back the real estate market over the fall and winter months.

The sales rate has been trending lower since last July, when it peaked for last year at 5.38 million.

Sales of single-family homes also are lower. Last month, they fell 0.2% from January’s level and 6.9% from a year ago.

The harsh winter’s impact showed in last month’s sales by region. The annualized rate of sales fell 11.3% in the Northeast and 3.8% in the Midwest, but rose 5.9% in the West and 1.5% in the South.

NAR said higher prices and restrictive mortgage lending standards are also affecting the sales. Many first-time buyers have been priced out of the market. They accounted for 28% of February’s sales, down from 30% a year ago, 32% in 2012 and 34% in 2011.

“Some transactions are simply being delayed, so there should be some improvement in the months ahead. With an expected pickup in job creation, home sales should trend up modestly over the course of the year,” said NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun.

 

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2014/03/20/feb-existing-home-sales/6632595/

Historic Aspen Cottage With New Wing Asks a Colossal $18M | Armonk Real Estate

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Location: Aspen, Colo. Price: $17,995,000 The Skinny: Some enterprising developers in Aspen have renovated a tiny historic cottage, added an adjacent modern wing, and slapped a mind-bogglingly huge $17.995M price tag on it, which is one way to get around pesky preservation ordinances while still cashing in on a perpetually hot luxury market. The cottage, which was built in 1885 by a local candyman and now functions as the compound’s guest house, has been returned to its original exterior appearance, while the interior has been renovated and modernized. Its two-story modern addition is crammed into the same lot as the old home, and adds 6,000 square feet of living space, including five bedrooms, eight bathrooms, and a rooftop patio with tremendous mountain views. The décor is what you might expect from a luxury spec home, tasteful and uninspired, creating the sort of atmosphere where, per the listing photos, you’d feel comfortable casually tossing your fur throw on an easy chair before heading out for a long day on the slopes

 

http://curbed.com/archives/2014/03/18/historic-aspen-cottage-with-new-wing-asks-a-colossal-18m.php

Vince Vaughn bought Lane Kiffin’s old home in California for $6.5 million | Armonk Homes

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WIth Lane Kiffin now in Tuscaloosa as Alabama’s offensive coordinator, he needed to sell his Los Angeles-area house he lived in while he was coach of USC.

He found a buyer who is more famous than he is.

Actor Vince Vaughn has purchased the house for $6.5 million according to the Los Angeles Times. Per the Times, the house “features vaulted ceilings, a stone fireplace, six bedrooms and seven bathrooms. The three-car garage opens to a gated driveway” and “the half-acre lot has a swimming pool and spa, a guesthouse and an outdoor kitchen.”

 

Kiffin listed the house in December for an asking price of just under $7 million.

You likely know Vaughn from “Old School” and “Wedding Crashers” and in case you’re still somehow drawing a blank on who he is, here’s his Yahoo Movies bio.

Kiffin was fired as the coach of the Trojans in September. After visiting with Nick Saban and his Alabama staff in December, Saban hired Kiffin to succeed offensive coordinator Doug Nussmeier in January.

When he was visiting with Alabama to help “evaluate” the Tide’s offense, Saban called him “a really good offensive coach.”

He was dismissed from his duties at USC after the Trojans lost to Arizona State 62-41. A former offensive coordinator for USC who had head coaching stints with the Oakland Raiders and the University of Tennessee, Kiffin was 28-15 in over three seasons as USC’s head coach.

 

 

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/ncaaf-dr-saturday/vince-vaughn-bought-lane-kiffin-s-los-angeles-house-173105793.html

The Coming Real Estate Bubble | Armonk Real Estate

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Three and a half years ago, my newly married household acquired an actual house, a 1,750-square-foot slice of paradise in Washington’s Eckington neighborhood. In real estate euphemism, the house is what’s known as “lightly renovated,” the neighborhood “transitional.” “Lightly renovated” meant that some stuff had been done, most of it badly, but the HVAC dated from the Paleozoic, and the yard . . . um, better not to speak of the yard, unless you’re a Hollywood location scout looking for somewhere for your heroin-addict protagonist to bottom out.

“Transitional” meant . . . oh, you can figure it out. We had gone north of H Street and east of North Capitol to the unfashionable precincts of the city’s Northeast quadrant. The most common response, when we told people where we lived, was “Where the hell is Eckington?” The second-most-common response was, “Wow [rapid eye-blinking]. I could never live there. It’s too far from everything.”1

Now some of the same people who politely suggested we were crazy for buying so far east are lamenting that they can’t afford to buy in our neighborhood. Lest you think this is schadenfreude, let me point out that some of these people are friends I very much want to live near me; I would even give up a little of my real estate price appreciation to make that happen.2

The point is, something insane has happened to Washington real estate prices in those intervening years. There’s a feeding frenzy over single-family homes in neighborhoods that are barely within walking distance of a metro. This cri-de-coeur was recently posted on a local real estate blog:

My husband and I are in the process of purchasing our first home.
Our realtor has put a focus on the Edgewood and Brookland neighborhoods since it previously looked like you can still get a house for a reasonable price.
However we have been baffled by these two recent purchases.
Are we really looking at spending nearly $600,000 for an up and coming neighborhood? Have we missed some big announcement for something coming to the area? Are we ever going to find something in our price range of under $500,000 if we want to stay in the District?
We are becoming discouraged.

http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2014-03-17/the-coming-real-estate-bubble?cmpid=yhoo

NAHB housing index for March at second lowest in 10 months | Armonk NY Homes

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The National Association of Home Builders monthly housing market index took a dramatic dive in February, and gained back one point in March, far below analyst expectations.

The HMI ticked up to 47, the second-lowest it has been since May 2013. NAHB says the primary culprit is the weather.

“Significant weather conditions across most of the country led to a decline in buyer traffic last month,” said NAHB Chairman Kevin Kelly. “Builders also have additional concerns about meeting ongoing and future demand due to a shortage of lots and labor.”

The full report can be viewed here.

The NAHB index gauges builder perceptions of current single-family home sales and sales expectations for the next six months as “good,” “fair” or “poor.” The survey also asks builders to rate traffic of prospective buyers as “high to very high,” “average” or “low to very low.”

Scores for each component are then used to calculate a seasonally adjusted index where any number over 50 indicates that more builders view conditions as good than poor.

Details for March once again show serious weakness in traffic, at 33 vs February’s 31. Weakness in traffic points to a lack of first-time buyers and underscores the continued importance of all cash buyers in the housing market.

 

http://www.housingwire.com/articles/29324-nahb-housing-index-for-march-at-second-lowest-in-10-months

Fully Restored Charleston Single-Style Home Asks $4.35M | Armonk NY Homes

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Location: Charleston, S.C. Price: $4,350,000 The Skinny: The past is a strange place, one where wooden barrels were high technology, and the men who made them became so wealthy that they could build houses that would stand for more than 220 years, like this Charleston single style home that has presided over Meeting Street since at least 1798. It’s certainly hard to imagine the modern equivalent of this home lasting well into the 24th century, where it could be fussed over by preservationists eager to maintain whatever design characteristics wind up being deemed representative of our era. (Mother-in-law suites? Distended garages? Recessed lighting?) But probably cooper James Mitchell wasn’t considering the Long Now when he began construction on his home way back when. Like many Charlestonians building on narrow lots, he went with the functional single style, which was popular at the time. Named for the one-room width of the house as seen from the street, the style had superficial variations but the core elements, such as floorplans that were replicated on each story and piazzas that ran along the front door elevation, remained constant. This particular home has recently undergone an extensive renovation that restored its piazzas and added a modern wing designed by W.G. Clark. It’s asking $4.35M for five bedrooms and four bathrooms across 5,900 square feet.

 

 

http://curbed.com/archives/2014/03/14/fully-restored-charleston-single-style-home-asks-435m.php

4 million renters want to buy. Can they? | Armonk Real Estate

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As the housing market moves slowly into recovery, more and more Americans are gaining confidence and hoping to jump into home ownership. The home ownership rate has been dropping steadily since its high of 69.2 percent in 2004 to now just 65 percent. Millions lost their homes to foreclosure and millions more never entered the market, fearing falling home prices.

Now, 10 percent of U.S. renters say they would like to buy a home in the next year, according to a new report from Zillow (NASDAQ:Z), which surveyed renters in the nation’s 20 largest housing markets. If all the renters who said they wanted to buy a home in the next year actually did, that would represent more than 4.2 million first-time home buyer sales, about twice the number of first-timers in 2013.

First-time home buying has actually fallen to the lowest level ever recorded by the National Association of Realtors, at just 26 percent of sales in January. These buyers usually make up roughly 40 percent of the market. Interestingly, the majority of the renters who said they wanted to buy felt they could afford home ownership, despite rising home prices and rising mortgage rates. The trouble is there is just not that much out there to buy. Home construction is still recovering at a slow pace, and prices for newly built homes are far higher on average than for existing homes.The number of homes for sale is rising slightly but is still well below historical norms across most markets.

 

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/4-million-renters-want-buy-130353560.html